I am currently pre-recording lectures for a second course, having done one last term as well.
I thought I would share my set-up, offering you a chance to imagine the magic taking place.
Desk/equipment configuration
The first here view of the desk and equipment from an angle.
The first thing I would point out is that I have raised both my laptop and the monitor behind up on boxes and books.
The aim of this is to make sure that the camera is at eye-height.
As the camera is at the top of the laptop, having the second screen peering over it means that I don't have to look too far from the camera to view the information on the monitor.
Basically, I've got my script/prompts directly above the camera.
Screen configuration
I put the PowerPoint slides on the laptop and the presenter view in a window on the right side of the second screen to indicate what the next slide will be. To do this I start the presentation, then in the presenter view there is an option to 'swap screens' which puts the slides on the laptop and the presenter view on the monitor. Then I take the presenter view off full screen so that I can make it smaller and move it to the side.
I like to have the Panopto/Replay window on the left-hand side of the monitor. Then I can press record and see the time recorded and the image of myself to make sure it is working.
After pressing record on Panopto I then get the document to the front, get the cursor down to the presentation and click on that so that it will respond to my clicks thereafter.
Then I make sure I am smiling at the camera before welcoming everyone to the video.
Setting it all up in these ways is a bit of a faff of course. It takes a little while to get everything in place, but I think it is worth it. Once it is all set up everything is right where you need it and you can just go through your presentation without too much difficulty.
So that is it! That is the way I've been setting up for my lecture recordings.
What do others think? Does anyone have any thought, suggestions, tips or tricks?
6 comments:
Thanks Doug, this is useful. Unfortunately I don't have quite the same level of kit, but I'll try some of this if I can - I am currently using a thumbnail print out of my powerpoint as my prompt and a wrist watch for timing!!
Doug
I can see this is for the course which I will also attend, can't wait and thank you for all the effort. I have to say whilst the light to brighten your face, and professional mic are key, was wondering the role that the bottle of Grolsch plays :-)
on a more serious note - I find when recording into an inanimate device without the natural feedback of a human audience, that I sometimes become very monotonic and well...boring. So to avoid this I play back snippets to family and friends and get feedback to improve it. I also some times even have a few photos in front of me of people just below my screen, this helps with my imagination of a real audience.
Hah! Glad to hear you will be joining the course and are looking forward to it, 'Unknown'! The bottle originally contained some Germanic liquid but for the last few years it has only had water in it :)
... not convinced Doug re: the “water”
1) it is almost certainly not (in some respects) the same water you put in the bottle - perhaps suffering a non identity problem ?
2) how do we know the water continues to exist when you leave it at night unobserved ? (Or perhaps you leave a camera on the monitor?)
3) how do we even know the water exists in the first place - perhaps your eyes and taste buds are fooling you and it is still shockingly , some Germanic liquid 😀
Who knew this would end up being my most controversial blog post!
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