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Cameron Moll

Come In, We're Hiring (Authentic Jobs)

Find a job or post one at Authentic Jobs

Cameron Moll Cameron Moll is a designer, speaker, and author living in Sarasota, Florida (United States) with his wife and four sons. He's the founder of Authentic Jobs Inc, among other endeavors.

This site is a compendium of design, HTML5/CSS3, DSLR video, Apple, mobile, and other miscellaneous banter.

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Reimagining the Roman Coliseum in type.

Screencasting: Lessons Learned

published 31 March 2010

We’ve added a third job type to Authentic Jobs, specifically for contract positions. You can read more about the hows and whys over at the Authentic Jobs blog.

I’m repeating the screencast video here merely to give me a chance to talk about the making of it. Surprisingly, this is only the second screencast I’ve done throughout 11 years of doing web stuff. I’ve still got plenty to learn.

The above video was recorded using ScreenFlow. I’ve been using iShowU for several years to capture video for conference talks and the like. I even considered using iShowU coupled with Final Cut Express for this screencast.

Instead, ScreenFlow is like iMovie for screencasts. It allows you to not only capture what’s on your screen but also to edit the footage/audio and add additional media. Aside from a complaint about having to manually position your footage when zooming in and out for shots, the software is pretty easy to use—if you’re familiar with iMovie, using ScreenFlow will come naturally. I’ll be giving Camtasia a try in the near future for comparison. (Hat tip to Kevin Finn for suggesting ScreenFlow.)

For recording I used a Samson C30U USB Condenser Mic mounted on a Heil PL-2T Overhead Boom with Samson SP01 Shockmount. I’ve had the mic for a couple years now but haven’t used it much. I’m not sure I’d recommend the C30U for voiceover work, as I’m told it can be a fairly noisy mic. I have no experience with it, but the RØDE Podcaster USB Mic may be a better choice, and it even includes a headphone jack on the mic itself to prevent feedback delays. (Most USB mics will give you a slight delay if monitoring your voice via headphones plugged into your computer.)

I’ve got a Samson PS01 Pop Filter mounted on the mic, but you’ll probably notice it doesn’t prevent as much popping as it should. I ordered the BSW RE27 Pop Filter right after producing this screencast with the hopes that it will do a better job. I may even it double it up with the Samson filter, if needed.

The intro/outro music was actually thrown together using a couple loops in GarageBand. You generally can’t do a lot of wrong with a jazz kit and upright bass, so I figured it was a safe bet for now. But given the company is a formal corporation, I really need to invest in some quality music in the future.

Lastly, that voice. I clearly don’t have a career in radio in my future. Further, I chose not to script this piece, making it even less polished than it could have been otherwise. But I felt it was important with this first “official” Authentic Jobs screencast to allow customers and users to put a voice to the person behind the site. And frankly, we’ve been working on (and vacillating over) this contract feature for some time now, and it was time to finally put it out there—screencast polished or not.

Who knows, perhaps I’ll defer future voiceovers to those far more talented vocally than I, such as Dan Benjamin. For now, I hope the new contract job type helps in your search for the right candidate or job opportunity.

  1. cameronmoll posted this