One of the things I love about ScreenFlow is how powerful and quick it can be to create a great-looking screencasts. As you get more proficient with the interface, you’ll start learning how much keyboard shortcuts can dramatically speed up your workflow. These are a few of the handy shortcuts I find myself using all the time:

• J and spacebar: Play and stop playing the presentation. This saves me from always having to click on the play button.
• Left arrow and right arrow: Nudge the playhead left and right in the the timeline. This allows me to position the scrubber right where I want it, without having to use the mouse.
• ; and ‘: Move the playhead to the next clip in my timeline. This is another way to easily jump from clip to clip within my timeline.

A typical edit session for me would start with my hitting the spacebar to start playing the presentation. When I see something I want to edit, I hit spacebar again to stop the playhead. I left arrow or ; back to my desired edit spot and use my mouse to select a clip to edit.

The other shortcuts I find myself using all the time are: T to split a clip, and Command-1, Command-2, … etc to bring up the various properties menus.

These are just a few of my favorites. What are your favorite keyboard shortcuts for ScreenFlow?

An interesting article recently ran in ExplorerNews.com about how a couple of high school chemistry teachers in Arizona are using screencasting in their classrooms with huge impact.

They are “flipping” their class. Flipping means that what students would have done in class, they do as homework, and what they would have done as homework, they now do in class.  The teachers create screencast videos to deliver their lectures, and assign them as homework. Then, in class, students can ask teachers questions as they work through problems that they normally would have done at home without any teacher help.

There is so much opportunity for screencasting in education. It’s an exciting time to be a student!

Be sure to check out some of our other posts on how teachers are using screencasting in their classrooms:

• Meet the ScreenFlow-er: Educator, David Besozzi
• Screencasts and Education by Paul McGovern
• Meet the ScreenFlow-er: Dr. Frank Lowney
• Meet the ScreenFlow-er: Scott Elias from Loveland High School

I love my iPhone. I mean, I re-e-ally love it. To the point that- apart from using a laptop for work – I hardly ever access the Internet with a laptop anymore. Even when it comes to watching videos on YouTube or through Facebook or the web…more and more, I find myself accessing them on my phone.

And, it appears, I’m not the only one. A recent e-Marketer survey shows mobile video adoption will continue on a steep upward growth path for at least the next four years. Some of the factors causing this growth are the overall strength of the smartphone market, strong competition among makers of mobile operating systems, and the availability of content for the different screens. The survey predicts that the number of mobile video consumers will grow from 45 million in the U.S. to over 78 million by 2015.

And, with both tablets and smartphones gaining in popularity, users are often toggling between their various screens (tablets, smartphones and laptops) throughout the day.

Needless to say, the explosion of smart phones and mobile devices has had an incredible impact on video marketing. Knowing these figures, screencasters and videographers who don’t currently create their videos with mobile users in mind should seriously start thinking about doing so.

Here are some tips to consider when creating video specifically for mobile devices:

Recording: 

• Aspect ratio: Work at an aspect ratio consistent with mobile output. The iPhone 4 output is 480×360. It’s difficult to work at this tiny size, but keep your project file’s aspect ratio at 4:3 to avoid black bars on the sides (curtains) or top/bottom (letterboxing). Some common 4:3 resolutions are 1024×768 or 800×600.
• Lighting: If you’re capturing video for mobile devices, be aware of lighting. Poor lighting is a greater problem with mobile devices and can reduce visibility on small screens. Shoot and adjust with this limitation in mind.

Editing:

• Keep it simple: Keep your movements large and to a minimum. You may need to zoom in closer than you normally would for demoing specific actions on-screen, but try to keep large sweeping movements to a minimum.

Exporting:

• Frame rate: Generally you can reduce your frame rate if you anticipate your viewers will be coming primarily from mobile devices. In general, if you have all types of viewers, a frame rate of 22 fps is a good compromise for reducing file size without losing quality. You could get by with 15 frames per second (fps) for mobile-only exposure. Experiment with what works best for your videos.
• Consider providing a mobile-specific video for your mobile viewrs. Use the export presets available in ScreenFlow. Several presets are designed for export to mobile devices: iPad, iPhone and iPod.

In general, when you’re producing a screencast or video, keep in mind that,  it WILL most likely be viewed by some of your audience on mobile device, so keep these tips in mind for the best experience for all.

Do you have any other tips specific to creating video for viewing on mobile devices?  Please share in the comments below.

Welcome to our final post of the year. As 2011 draws to a close, I am reflecting on 2011 and want to say thank you to everyone for all your input and support in 2011. It has truly meant a lot to me. As I look forward to 2012, I hope you have a wonderful New Year, and will continue to be an active member of the ScreenFlow community in 2012.

Here’s a look back at a few of our most popular posts of 2011:

1. ScreenFlow 3.0 is here: Not surprisingly, the most popular post this year was the announcement of ScreenFlow 3. With new features such as annotations, audio filters, and new export options, it’s been a well-regarded upgrade.

2. Tutorial: How to create a video trailer by Matthieu Blanco: It’s amazing what one can do with Keynote and ScreenFlow. Matthieu’s creations are inspirational.

3. Choosing the best screen resolution for your screencasts: An important factor to consider before you start your recording, this post outlines what it is and why it matters

4. Meet the ScreenFlow-er: Peter Schwartz: A very popular fellow with our readers, Peter has some interesting tips

5. How long should your videos be? Why I sat and watched a 23-minute video, and some tips on video length.

Happy New Year to all. See you next year.

Please let me know what kind of topics you’d like to see here in the future.

Someone recently asked an interesting question on the forum: What’s the best practice for dealing with a sloppy mouse cursor on a screencast?

I have a terribly annoying habit of jiggling the mouse cursor on screen in a subconscious attempt to emphasize what I’m talking about. Luckily, in ScreenFlow, I have several options for dealing with this.

One option: I can re-record my screencast and focus on keeping my hands steady as a brain surgeon. Not a very appealing option, frankly.

Another option is to remove my cursor altogether in post production. This is easily done by un-checking the “Show Mouse Pointer” box on the “Screen Recording Properties” panel. That might be a good option, but if I’m showing a website that requires lots of clicks or navigation, I risk confusing my audience if I remove my cursor altogether.

Luckily, there’s a third option: replace the recorded cursor with an image of my choice, and add smooth movement to it with a video action.

A very helpful user, Michael Glasser (AKA Prescott Computer Guy), was kind enough to create a video showing exactly how he does this. As he says:

I use my own image as a cursor. This has a number of benefits:

1. Helps with branding
2. Helps users follow the cursor
3. If I want to “fake” where the cursor is, I can do so relatively easily -- just stop showing the cursor and show the same image where the cursor “should” be.

See Michael’s video tutorial on how to replace your mouse cursor:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=To4v70huwAU

Michael also has created several PNG cursor graphics that he makes available for download. Thanks Michael!

I am honored this week to bring to you an interview with Chip Dizard. Chip truly is a Jack of all trades. A video producer, editor, blogger,  speaker, and a teacher … he’s done a bit of everything including video production,  web, and application development.  Chip is a long-time ScreenFlow user, which he uses for screencasts for his impressive number and variety of projects. Although I love the fact that he’s such a loyal ScreenFlow user, what I really respect about Chip is his work as a first-year teacher at an inner-city school in Baltimore. His teaching Vlogs, especially this one, give me an insightful look into his life as an interactive media teacher. Thank you, Chip, for taking the time to tell us about your workflows, and how you work with ScreenFlow. And thank you for all you do as a teacher.

How long have you been screencasting and approximately how many screencasts have you made?

I have produced over 150 video tutorials over the years and one of my most popular tutorials is about a Canon camera workflow that has over 27,000 views.  I started screencasting in 2008, and blogging about it since 2009.

As far as software goes, I have used Adobe Captivate, Camtasia Studio, Camtasia for Mac and Screenflow.  I changed to ScreenFlow exclusively after I saw the commitment to updates and excellent technical support.  I think it is both a simple and time efficient way to produce how to and show and tell videos.

For what purposes to do you make your screencasts?

I use screencasts on my personal blog chipdizard.com but mainly on my video production tutorial web site http://www.webvideochefs.com.  My partner and I both use ScreenFlow.  We share our production tutorials on YouTube and Vimeo as well as the main website.  We frequently will tweet and Facebook our videos as well.

 What kind of studio or set up do you have

I use a MacBook Pro primarily and my MacPro for After Effects and higher end graphics.  My other equipment includes a Blue Yeti Mic, and Logitech c910 HD web cam.

What do you find to be the most challenging aspect of creating your screencasts?

Producing screencasts on one topic and putting them in bite sized portions is a challenge.  Sometimes I want to put too much information in one tutorial when I could instead create multiple segments.  As I develop classes for WebVideoChefs.com that has become much easier.

What’s the process you use for creating your screencasts?

Many times for Web Video Chefs, my partner and I will meet on Skype and go over what we need to cover for the week. We also get many questions from Twitter and from Facebook, but our main goal is to see how we can inform and educate our audience to make better web videos.

As for the process, first I create a hand-written outline for my tutorials with the major points I want to cover. This helps me stay focused and keep “the main thing, the main thing.” Then, I will generally record the narration as I’m demonstrating a certain function on screen.  I try not to sound over-produced and I like the ad lib feel, rather than sticking hard and fast to a script.

 Are there processes you’ve changed as you’ve gotten more experienced? 

I have really used my experience as a teacher to focus on objectives. Every tutorial should have a mastery objective and I incorporate Blooms taxonomy  in my tutorials. I also focus on pedagogy as many people produce video tutorials, but my ultimate goal is for my students/viewers to get to the ‘why’ and not just ‘how’ to do a certain task.

Do you have a screencast that you’re especially proud of? 

My workflow for DSLR cameras video. These cameras are very popular and I gained a lot of notoriety by doing workflow tutorials when the cameras came out in 2009.

What other programs/accessories do you use besides ScreenFlow to create your screencasts?

I use Adobe After Effects to create our intros and use Skype to record our interviews for our web site.

As for cameras, I use a Logitech c910 HD web cam for Skype interviews and a Canon 7D for client video production.  As far as the HD webcam goes, I want to have the highest production value with everything I create.  Though HDSLRs are quite popular, I have mixed feelings about them.  The images are great if you know what you’re doing, but other things like synching audio can be a headache sometimes.

As for mics, I have been a huge fan of Blue Mics, I have used the Blue Snowball for about 2 years and now I use the Yeti microphone. I like the Yeti because you can change the pick up pattern and it gives you a radio quality mic sound. The con is that it is not as portable as I would like it to be.

Other than that,  Adobe Media Encoder is a favorite when I make DVD’s of my screencasts. I will export a high quality .mov and convert it to MPEG-2 for DVD.

What advice would you give to others about improving their screencasts and videos?

Go mobile, make your videos for iPad, iPhone and and Droids. Even provide a transcript if you can. There are many ways people learn and, if you can, try to touch on all of them.

What’s the stupidest mistake you’ve made when creating a screencast?

Not investing in a good mic and not having a professional sound.  Audio is always important whether you’re producing a traditional video or screencast.  Good audio is a big differentiator when it comes to producing quality and professional-sounding and -looking screencasts.

Besides ScreenFlow what’s your favorite program for the mac?

I love Evernote, it saves me so much time. I keep everything in there! I also like Final Cut Pro 7 and Avid Media Composer. And I use Adobe Media Encoder/Sorenson Squeeze to format videos for mobile delivery. Please feel free to check out our video production tutorials to see our work, and let us know what you think!!

Thanks for taking the time to visit with us, Chip!

We are happy to announce the availablity of ScreenFlow 3.0.3. This is a free update for existing ScreenFlow 3.x customers and a $29 paid upgrade for ScreenFlow 2.x customers.

What’s the big deal with this release?

It’s primarily a maintenance release that fixes some annoying bugs, including an evil memory leak that was causing some export errors.

The world is now a better place.

You can read our release notes for a full list of changes.

If you’re already a 3.x user, the easiest way to update is to “Check for updates” from within the ScreenFlow application. Alternatively, you can go to our website, where there are instructions on how to upgrade.

(The corresponding Mac App Store version will be coming out shortly as well – it is currently in the MAS review process.)