How to Create a Professional-Looking Video Guide via Screen Capture

Video guides are currently in the rage, and you’ve probably encountered a couple in the past. As opposed to articles or even illustrations, video allows you to show someone exactly how to do something – while at the same time telling them what to do via a voiceover narration.

If you’ve already been perusing some of the video guides out there, you may have noticed that there is a stark and noticeable difference between them. Some resemble amateur productions, with shaky and choppy video as well as stuttered narration. On the other hand, others look much more professionally produced – being smooth, seamless, and with flawless narration.

To create a professional-looking video guide, the first thing you need to do is prepare.

Writing a Script Can Make or Break a Video

A big part of the reason why professional-looking videos tend to be so smooth and seamless often boils down to the fact that they are carefully scripted.

For any video, the script that you write is your plan, and it will contain all the details of the video that you ultimately want to produce. In a nutshell – it is the vision of your video, put down on paper, and as such it should contain:

• A breakdown of the scenes that make up the video.
• Details of what elements each scene contains along with what they’re portraying or doing during that scene.
• The voiceover narration that is to be read at various points of each scene that it coincides with.

Start by drafting a basic script, and then build on it. Be as thorough as possible, though at the same time bear in mind that although the script will be your overall guide you may very well have to adapt it later on.

Record Multiple Takes

Have you ever wondered why professional filmmakers often film multiple takes of a single scene? It’s simple really: Often a single take may not be perfect, so they film it until they have a take that is, or are able to edit together one that is from the multiple takes that they’ve filmed.

Seeing as you’re using screen capture to film your video guide, it should be no problem recording multiple takes. Keep going until you’re satisfied, but also be prepared to go back and re-record some scenes if you later find out that they aren’t up to scratch.

Putting it All Together and Adding Polish

After the recording is done and you have the raw material for your video guide, you will need to put it all together. Not only does this mean combining the scenes that you’ve recorded to form the video, but it also encompasses trimming unnecessary footage, and maybe even cutting and combining segments from different takes to get it looking just right.

During this stage you should also record and insert your voiceover.

Once that is all sorted, you should look to add the final touches to your video by adding a certain polish to it. In some cases this could be tweaking the quality or the look of the video by adjusting its color settings or applying filters, or it could be something more notable, like adding stylish transitions.

Every video is different and adding polish is often a question of taste, style, and approach.

Now that you know how to create a professional looking video guide via screen capture, all that you need is the software that will make it all possible. One of the best that has all the features you need is the Movavi Screen Capture Studio for Mac and you’ll find that knowing how to record screen on Mac with it is really intuitive, easy, and will feel completely natural.

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post.