Making narrated PowerPoint videos
Introduction
Making narrated PowerPoint videos
Skills: create a narrated video of a PowerPoint
presentation
Concepts: none
This presentation is an overview of a five-step procedure for
creating narrated videos of PowerPoint presentations.
In addition to interactive and continuous videos of the
presentation, we will create a transcript.
The instructor can use the presentation in class and the
students can study from the videos, transcript and PowerPoint
file.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike
3.0 License.
Creating
video
content
Step 1 –
create a
PowerPoint
presenttion
Where does this topic fit?
The presentation falls in the content creation portion of our
class – we will see how to create video content.
• Internet concepts
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Standard presentation format
Presentation
Presentation
body body
The first step in the process is to create a PowerPoint
presentation.
I try to follow good PowerPoint style and use images and an
occasional video or audio recording more than I use text and
bullet points.
I use a standard format for all of my presentations.
Each one begins with a two slide header that lists the skills and
concepts to be presented and shows where the presentation
falls within our top level class outline.
That is followed by the body of the presentation, typically
around ten slides.
The presentation ends with a three slide footer – a summary of
the presentation, self-study questions, and links to
supplementary resources.
I also standardize on style elements.
For example, my slide titles are always 32-point Calibri.
I use the slides for a live presentation in class before making
the video.
That gives me a chance to revise them based on student
questions and comments.
Step 2 –
write the
script
Write a script
Next I write a script for the video narration.
I tried it without a script at first – simulating a class
presentation – but found that I couldn’t do it.
There were too many pauses, “uhms,” and false starts.
Script for the video
Perhaps a more professional announcer could do it without a
script, but I found that I couldn’t.
I write the script in the Notes section of each PowerPoint slide.
As I write the script, I often find myself revising the slide or
perhaps adding a new one.
In addition to serving as a script, the slide notes are a
transcript of the presentation that the students can study
from.
I type the script in 20-point Calibri, which is big enough for me
to use while recording and small enough to be used in the
transcript.
When the slides and script are finished, I save the PowerPoint
file to use in presentations, and save the individual slides to
use in the video.
I save the slides in .png image format.
Step 3 –
record the
script using
Audacity
Record and edit the audio
Next, I use an open-source audio editor called Audacity to
record and edit the presentation sound track.
You can think of Audacity as being an audio editor in the same
way as you think of Word as being a text editor.
For example, you can select, cut, paste and move portions of
the recorded audio just as you can cut, paste and move
portions of a written document using Word.
If you’re not familiar with audio editing, pause the
presentation to look at the screen shot.
The Windows command menus are at the top of the screen.
Below that you see typical recorder buttons.
And the lower portion of the screen shows a time line with a
four second recording.
I’ve selected a half second of sound, which I can cut, paste, or
move.
You can also do things that are specific to audio data like
increase or decrease the volume of a passage.
I use Audacity to record the script, leaving a gap between each
slide.
Then I go back and edit it, removing any false starts and
leaving between one and two seconds of silence between each
slide.
When it sounds good, I save the audio in .wav format.
Step 4 –
combine the
slides and
audio to
make the
video
At this point I have copies of each slide, saved as a .png image,
and the sound track saved as a .wav file.
Create the video
PowerPoint
slides
Interactive
video
I use a video editing program called Camtasia Studio to
combine them, creating a narrated video of the presentation.
Audio sound
track
Continuous
video
I make two versions of the video – one is a normal, continuous
video that can be uploaded to Youtube or any other video site.
The other is a small Web page that appends a table of contents
to the video, enabling the viewer to jump from slide to slide.
That Web page can be uploaded to any Web server.
If Audacity and Camtasia Studio are new to you, you’ll have to
spend time playing around with them.
Each has many options, and each uses the same basic timeline
user interface.
The Camtasia
user
interface
If you’re not familiar with video editors, pause the
presentation and look over the Camtasia user interface.
Camtasia Studio
As usual, the program command menus are at the top of the
window.
There are two panes below that.
On the left, we see icons for the content that will be used in the
video -- eleven slides and the audio sound track.
On the right, we see the slide that is at the current cursor
position.
Across the bottom, there’s a timeline with the audio
soundtrack.
We position the slides in the timeline just above the audio.
At this point, I have added the first two slides to the timeline.
I will add the remaining slides one at a time, stretching them to
coincide with their portion of the audio.
This is easy because you can see the one to two second pauses
between the slides.
Step 5 –
create the
transcript
The final step is easy – import the PowerPoint presentation
into Word to create a presentation transcript.
Create the transcript
PowerPoint
slides
Presentation
transcript
After a class presentation, the students can study from the
PowerPoint file, transcript and videos.
These materials can also be used for self study in an online
class.
Summary
Summary
Create and test PowerPoint
Write video script
Record and edit sound track
Create video
Create transcript
I outlined a five-step process for creating a narrated video and
transcript of a PowerPoint presentation.
The PowerPoint file can be used for a live presentation in
class, and the students can study from it and the other
material.
I use Audacity and Camtasia Studio, but you could do the same
sort of thing using other audio and video editors if you have
and are familiar with them.
Resources
Topic modules pertaining to Audacity and audio recording and editing:
http://cis275topics.blogspot.com/search/label/audacity
Camtasia:
http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia/
Camtasia learning center:
http://www.techsmith.com/learn/camtasia/7/
Instructions for making transcripts:
http://som.csudh.edu/fac/lpress/presentations/transcriptinstructions.docx
Camtasia and Audacity settings:
http://som.csudh.edu/fac/lpress/recording/avsettings.docx
Self-study questions
I outlined five steps in creating narrated PowerPoint videos, what were they?
At the end of the process, we had a PowerPoint presentation and three other items – what were
they?
I use standard header and footer slides – do you recall what they were?
I saved the sound track and slides in specific file formats for input to Camtasia. Do you recall them?
What header and footer slides would be appropriate for a presentation you might make?