Tim's Tech Tips

First off, love your videos.

I respect your intellect and admire your strong, clear, and charismatic monologues that seem to be a trademark of your videos(at least the ones I have seen, haven't seen them all yet.)

[ho ho ho, you flatter me good sir!.... go on.....]

I'm a traditional 2d animator who is looking to spread his knowledge to those on youtube. Many of my fellow animators have taken to the internet as a way to spread their techniques on animation. I've tried many times to appear on camera and recite what the teachings will be. Each time I have stuttered, said 'uh' allot and eventually lost track of what I was saying. This surprised me as usually I tend to enjoy being the /funny guy/ of a group, and have no problem projecting myself.

 

As stated before, I respect your ability to monologue and I figure you'd be a pretty good person to ask. If you have any advice to give it would be greatly appreciated.

I thank you in advance for taking the time to read this. I understand if you are too busy to reply. But hey, nothing ventured nothing gained. Here's hoping.

Sincerely
KiltedAnimator

Well, I'll certainly do my best!

I do have a few points of advice. I don't know how well it would translate to a tutorial sort of format, but I'll share with you what I've learned over the past few years, and you can interpret for yourself what would be the most useful.

• Record the audio, and the video separately when possible. This allows you to edit the audio to exactly the way you'd like it to be. The audio will need the most editing (removing pops, ticks, stutters, misspoken words, etc.) and can easily be made to match the video.
• When you can't record the audio and video separately (as will probably be the case in most of your particular videos), don't be afraid to just say aloud "alright, cut that" so you remember in post-production, to cut out the error you just made. Then, repeat what you said/did.
• Use narrated screen-recordings. I found that when trying to explain a particular concept or event taking place on my computer, it's best if there is an example of that right in front of me. (I use Camtasia to record my screen. If you use the same program, note that F9 can pause the recording. I use this to alt+tab over to my "notes" if I need a reminder of anything I want to mention. Then I simply alt+tab back, hit F9 again to resume, and the video looks as if I never paused it because the screen I resume on is almost identical to the one I paused on.)
• Relax. Seriously! It's ok. You aren't speaking to a room full of people. You're sitting alone in your room, talking to yourself. It took me a while to figure out that I directly controlled my recordings, and could make myself sound as smart or as dumb as I want, and if I make a mistake, I can simply delete it. Just relax, and talk as if you're talking to yourself. If you make a mistake in a sentence, say "cut that", and repeat it. You can always fix it in post. :-)
• Don't over-use animations, transitions, overlays, titles, music, etc. etc. etc. Let your video speak for itself. Nobody will like a video *more* just because it has a neat effect in the transition. Look at Google! In a world full of over-complication, simplicity is attractive.
• Only use transitions if the screen has changed significantly. For example, if you cut from a shot of your desktop directly into a view of your web browser, that's a good place for a transition. If you're cutting from one scene to an identical scene, but you simply removed something in-between, do NOT use a transition.
• Don't be afraid to sit there and go "uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" while you're recording. Similarly, don't be afraid to cut out expanses of silence with no important content from the video, in post!
• Soundtracks - If you have a sound-track, it should be VERY quiet. LISTEN to the video. Can you hear yourself? CLEARLY? Is there a loud part in the song that might overtake your voice? Don't be afraid to use music, but don't feel like it's necessary in every video. Your content will speak for itself. The music should be peripheral, not integral.
• Again, if you use music, make sure it's quiet enough so you can be heard VERY clearly over the lyrics, but also just barely loud enough so people can make out the words if they listen closely. A song without words is even more preferable, however, because there's nothing to distract from your own words. (Classical music, and techno or beat tracks are preferred)
• Watch your video at least TWICE DURING EDITING (once while editing it, all the way through, making changes as you go, and AGAIN after you're finished to make sure it turned out ok)
• Once again, your video should speak for itself. Don't do anything too fancy. Record your screen, not your face, while narrating. Let people see what you're talking about while you talk about it, and don't fill it up with fluff. It will stand on its' own merits.
• If you use Camtasia or a similar screen-recording program, don't be afraid to use the zoom-n'-pan feature, to highlight certain areas of the screen so people can see what you're doing more clearly. Remember that everyone else's video quality won't be as good as it is on your computer, so if there's small text, or a slider on the screen or something, get as zoomed-in as you can get without cutting off anything important.
• Finally, never be vague. If you talk about doing something that isn't included in the video demonstration, don't leave it up to the imagination. Walk people through as if you're the first person on the planet to ever use animation software. Ever.

Hope this helps mate, and I look forward to seeing your videos. :-)