An Easier Way to Fix Your “Talking Head” Video Mistakes

Being a Screencast Specialist has its advantages.  You don’t have to ever worry about how you look in a video or take the time to memorize a script.  When you only show what is on your computer screen it eliminates a whole lot of other concerns such as lighting, choosing a camera and setting up a shot.

I do feel, however, that some videos are really better suited for the “talking head” format. So, for a recent salespage for my personal coaching service, I decided to add some video of myself (mixed in with some PowerPoints). My decision to get into a little full motion video and the resulting constructive feedback was worth getting out of my yoga pants and putting on a bit of mascara for a couple of hours.

The thing is…since I do these types of videos so rarely I’m always running into the same few problems:

1. Where to place the camera so I get enough natural light because I hate trying to set up lighting.

2. Whether to use a telepromter, memorize my script or just wing it (with some bullet points in front of me).

3. What to do about cutting out mistakes so the video looks professional and smooth.

In the video below I discuss some of my issues and ideas with Lon Naylor on one of our weekly Screencast Video Coaching webinars and he gives me some advice.

I think the lighting issue turned out fine.  I am just facing a big window and to warm it up I have a soft light bulb right in front of me.

But, I decide to do another “talking head” video I will definitely

  1. Shoot it from further away so I have a lot more options for using “jump cuts” (as discussed in the Screencast Coaching Video above).
  2. Try the idea of moving the camera around to simulate a multi camera shoot.
  3. Stay away from using fade transitions to cover up mistakes as they made me look like I was morphing into different people. And lastly
  4. Try using a teleprompter so I won’t even have to memorize any of the script at all

If you’d like to watch the final video and provide any other tips for me here you can take a look at it on my Private Camtasia Coaching page (shameless plug for my Screencast Coaching service). Just don’t come to me for coaching on full motion video. As you can see, I have a bit more learning to go on that one!

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Chris Moore Reply

Great idea about changing position, it saves setting up two cameras, just turn 45 degrees.

Lon Naylor Reply

One note: When we talk about a “zoom” in Camtasia here, we mean and “instant” zoom i.e. one with no duration. The footage will just “jump” from one zoomed sized to the next.

David Nassief Reply

Excellent idea using the zoom to cover-up the edits. Thank you so much for that valuable tip!

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