Figuring out explainer videos

[Andy Black]

I'll start creating whiteboard/explainer videos by posting my favourite business and life quotes.

I thought the first should be a favourite from MJ. This one is created in Doodly.

View: https://youtu.be/AztdQxOwlNE



To do:

1. Figure out where to post/host these. It's only on my personal YouTube channel temporarily.
2. Figure out a thumbnail?
3. Add sound (music? voiceover?).

 

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[MaxKhalus]

I like Sam Ovens's whiteboard videos. Alex Becker used to do something simmilar

 

[Andy Black]

I like Sam Ovens's whiteboard videos. Alex Becker used to do something simmilar

Are they ones where he does them on camera? I'm trying to move away from doing those ones.

 

[Andy Black]

I just posted this one to my LinkedIn and Facebook pages:

View: https://youtu.be/d8wrg5Da7CI

 

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[CountMonteCristo]

I like the idea, it's great to see curated quotes that put you in a certain mindset.

However, I don't think making it in video form adds anything and you probably wouldn't get far with this on YT. They'd be nice on Instagram as images, though. I'd follow your quote digest Or maybe on twitter, but I don't know much about what goes on there.

 

[JohnForte]

They'd be nice on Instagram as images, though.

I was even thinking of sharable GIFs?

 

[Andy Black]

I like the idea, it's great to see curated quotes that put you in a certain mindset.

However, I don't think making it in video form adds anything and you probably wouldn't get far with this on YT.

Yeah, YouTube isn’t the place for a one line quote.

I’m just getting my head round that style of video. I’d like to do a longer form version explaining things. They could have videos/images in amongst them.

As for the animated one line quotes: I’ve started posting them to Facebook and LinkedIn. I’ll see how it goes. Maybe it will attract the eye / make people stop scrolling momentarily, and if they like the quote they may want to read the rest of the post itself.

Here’s something I posted to LinkedIn, albeit with a static image not a video:



Here’s the one I knocked up quickly this morning:

 

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[Andy Black]

I was even thinking of sharable GIFs?

Nice. How do I create those?

 

[Andy Black]

They'd be nice on Instagram as images, though. I'd follow your quote digest Or maybe on twitter, but I don't know much about what goes on there.

I had a play on Instagram doing this last year (or before?), but as just images. I like having a bit of back and forth conversation, but the place was overrun by bots so I bailed.

I was thinking of Twitter, but for now I’ll stick to LinkedIn and Facebook.

 

[Kid]

However, I don't think making it in video form adds anything

In defense (or maybe as case study?), there are people who listen to audio book and read it at same time.

Edit:
Gosh i realized those videos don't have voice. Hmm...! What about doing voice over for those quotes?

 

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[Andy Black]

In defense (or maybe as case study?), there are people who listen to audio book and read it at same time.

Edit:
Gosh i realized those videos don't have voice. Hmm...! What about doing voice over for those quotes?

Yeah, I’ll get sound done later. I just want to produce one a day for a while to get comfortable doing them and then will add extra bits into the process.

 

[Andy Black]

I was even thinking of sharable GIFs?

Thanks for this nudge @JohnForte

I know these aren't quite whiteboard videos, but I think they look better.


1) Here's a GIF I created this morning

I also posted to LinkedIn and Facebook as a video.






2) I dropped this GIF into a new thread here.

I'll upload the video to LinkedIn and Facebook shortly.

 

[CountMonteCristo]

Thanks for this nudge @JohnForte

I know these aren't quite whiteboard videos, but I think they look better.


1) Here's a GIF I created this morning

I also posted to LinkedIn and Facebook as a video.

View attachment 33035




2) I dropped this GIF into a new thread here.

I'll upload the video to LinkedIn and Facebook shortly.


View attachment 33033

That's looking slick, Andy!

Maybe add your name or handle in there as a little breadcrumb, just in case these get shared around too much.

 

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[Andy Black]

That's looking slick, Andy!

Thanks!

Maybe add your name or handle in there as a little breadcrumb, just in case these get shared around too much.

Hmmm... I hadn't thought of that. (Cue sound of tyres screeching to a halt.)

Now then. Wtf do I put as the watermark?

 

[Andy Black]

I love this gem from Blaise Brosnan. ( @Kak ... I know you like this one too.)

We only have one boss - the market.

We don't have to wait a year to get her feedback, and we don't have to wonder what she really meant - she's brutally honest.

We're not rewarded for our colour or creed, for our degrees or certificates, for how long we worked, or how busy we've been.

We can't invoice for any of the above.

As business owners it can take a while to learn that the market doesn't care about the input
... that the market won't pay for activity.
... that being busy is not our goal.

It takes a while to learn that we can't invoice for input, only output.

 

[Andy Black]

Gary Halbert was one of the world’s best copywriters. His advice for people with writers block was to darken the page. Just start, even if it’s scribbling.

The same advice can be applied to anything:

Just start.

 

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[Andy Black]

About 15 years ago I spent €2k on a one week project management course.

The guy giving it was one of those wise old fellas retired from the corporate world and enjoying teaching the next generations.

I only really remember one thing from the course, and he told us it in the first 10 minutes and then said we could all go home (which of course we didn’t).

He said: “A project manager‘s job is to pass a test.”

Find out what the test will be,
what day the test will be performed, and then do what needs done to pass it.

If you need to deliver 37 red widgets by 13:00 on 01-Jun-20 then that’s the test that will be applied at that date and time.

“It’s 13:00 on 01-Jun-20. Did you deliver 37 red widgets to ABC specification?”

“No. You didn’t say it had to be ABC specification. You just said to deliver 37 red widgets which I have here.”

“Ah, but we need them to ABC specification.”

“But that’s not what you said, and not what we agreed.”

So part of your job is to define the test so if people keep changing their mind or engaging in scope creep then you can amend and agree the test accordingly.

“Oh, you need the 37 red widgets to be at XYZ specification? That’s going to cost $X,XXX more to be delivered on the original date and time.”

Simple right?


(I did wonder what we’d do as project managers if the businesses actually needed 15 blue widgets and not 37 red ones, to which he replied “That’s not your job. Someone in the business need to determine what’s needed or not. You’re the postman. You’re job is to deliver.”)

 

[Andy Black]

Dayum. What a great whiteboard video. Created by videoscribe I believe. Maybe with editing after.

View: https://youtu.be/c5-3gotpgz8

 

[Cameraman]

Dayum. What a great whiteboard video. Created by videoscribe I believe. Maybe with editing after.

View: https://youtu.be/c5-3gotpgz8

I hadn't come across Videoscribe before. Thanks for sharing. It looks very useful for some of the projects I'm working on.

 

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[Andy Black]

I hadn't come across Videoscribe before. Thanks for sharing. It looks very useful for some of the projects I'm working on.

Paddy Galloway has a great 30 min course on Skillshare explaining how he uses Videoscribe to create his videos.

 

[Andy Black]

I bought videoscribe and used it to create a 2 min intro to The Google Ads Jumpstart course.

I didn't bother putting in images or graphics. I don't think there was any need for this, and I want to get the outro done and then finalise the course.

I really like writing a script, reading it, editing the recording, and then creating the video after. I can see me doing this a lot more.

Curious what you think @Fox @Cameraman @Lex DeVille

View: https://youtu.be/5b8_iiArJgI

 

[Cameraman]

I bought videoscribe and used it to create a 2 min intro to The Google Ads Jumpstart course.

I didn't bother putting in images or graphics. I don't think there was any need for this, and I want to get the outro done and then finalise the course.

I really like writing a script, reading it, editing the recording, and then creating the video after. I can see me doing this a lot more.

Curious what you think @Fox @Cameraman

View: https://youtu.be/5b8_iiArJgI

Looking good Andy. It's very engaging watching the transcript come up on the screen. A couple of ideas that might enhance it further

1. Could you slow the delivery a little. It was very fast-paced which is good but could you pause or slow down in some sections to add greater impact? It felt a little like I couldn't keep up with the information at times.

2. Is there any scope for adding animated objects for additional interest? For example where you say "bleed cash away" could you show cash falling from the sky? Where you say "helped a startup build 120 million keywords" have lots of keywords popping up on the screen until they cover the video. This could help with the first suggestion.

I really like your script and delivery. It's very interesting. I'm going to investigate videoscribe further when I have finished publishing my book. You come across well.

I wonder if there is any mileage in combining the videoscribe approach with traditional video.

 

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[Andy Black]

Looking good Andy. It's very engaging watching the transcript come up on the screen. A couple of ideas that might enhance it further

Yeah, it's quite compelling to watch as well as listen.

1. Could you slow the delivery a little. It was very fast-paced which is good but could you pause or slow down in some sections to add greater impact? It felt a little like I couldn't keep up with the information at times.

Agreed about the pace being a bit fast. I'll do shorter sentences with more pauses in future. It's simple enough to increase pauses in the current audio using Audacity.

I may add those pauses when I import the file into Camtasia. Once I added the voiceover to Videoscribe I didn't seem to be able to amend it.

2. Is there any scope for adding animated objects for additional interest? For example where you say "bleed cash away" could you show cash falling from the sky? Where you say "helped a startup build 120 million keywords" have lots of keywords popping up on the screen until they cover the video. This could help with the first suggestion.

I was looking at that last night, but was going down a rabbit-hole.

Images and animations could really enhance the video. Especially for the stuff I do where screenshots or screenshare-videos are used a lot.

I really like your script and delivery. It's very interesting. I'm going to investigate videoscribe further when I have finished publishing my book. You come across well.

Thanks. It feels like a breath of fresh air to write, narrate, edit, THEN create the video. And not having to bother with talking head videos is very liberating.

I wonder if there is any mileage in combining the videoscribe approach with traditional video.

I think so.

Paddy Galloway mixes it up really well, as per his video breakdown of Beluga's channel (which I will keep rewatching and studying as my videos improve):

View: https://youtu.be/c5-3gotpgz8

 

[Cameraman]

Thanks. It feels like a breath of fresh air to write, narrate, edit, THEN create the video. And not having to bother with talking head videos is very liberating.

I think that's one reason I originally gravitated to doing screencasts . I like the scripting because you don't need to worry about missing important points.

Paddy Galloway mixes it up really well, as per that video breakdown of Beluga's channel:

You know, I watched this video when you first wrote about videoscribe. I hadn't realised how he had combined the two. I like the approach and it's one that would be very easy to do in something like Camtasia.

 

[Andy Black]

Here's the outro for my course. Not as fast paced this time.

View: https://youtu.be/vEFjM5MlmpM

 

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[Cameraman]

Here's the outro for my course. Not as fast paced this time.

View: https://youtu.be/vEFjM5MlmpM

I think this is a lot better for a course. The previous version felt more like a fast-paced YouTube video than a course. Nicely done.

 

[Andy Black]

I think this is a lot better for a course. The previous version felt more like a fast-paced YouTube video than a course. Nicely done.

Thanks.

I’ll redo that first one, slower, and with my background mentioned after why they should get live asap.

 

[Andy Black]

Dayum. I've just rewatched @MJ DeMarco 's great whiteboard animation.

Now I'm starting with Videoscribe I can see how much effort went into scripting, narrating, editing the narration, creating the animations, and then syncing the video to the audio.

That 9 minute video must have taken ages to do!

Here's the thread with the video:

• GOLD! - From Flat-Broke to Financial Freedom: How to Get Started When You Have No Money

 

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[Andy Black]

Nice channel with nicely done Videoscribe videos that aren't over complicated:

https://www.youtube.com/c/PracticalPsychologyTips/videos?view=0&sort=p&flow=grid

 

[Tom H.]

I've been working on my video production skills for the past several weeks. My videos are mostly a stream-style layout where I screencast with a facecam in the corner, or talking head + slides (I switch back and forth while recording using OBS scenes).

I am also interested in doing these type of explainer videos with Videoscribe or whatever.

Any recommendations for making Khan Academy style videos, i.e. whiteboarding live on the screen?

I think that type of production for an explainer video achieves a similar goal as Videoscribe, but without 10 hours of production time for a 10 minute video.