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The Workflow For Producing These Videos (So Far) Part 1

Hey there!

By far, one of the biggest questions I’ve gotten over the past few months is what process and tools I use to create these videos.

Actually, it’s changed over the time that I’ve been doing them, and that’s part of the joy for me – to hone and refine the process to get faster and better. And I’m sure it will change between now and the end of the year’s challenge.

So, I’ve split my process into two parts, recorded two videos, and I’ve also recorded my desktop so you can see, step by step, my process. Maybe it will spark some joy for you in your video production.

Here’s Part 1 of how I’m doing it – covering the actual recording of the video.


(Click/tap ↑↑↑↑↑↑ that red YouTube button to subscribe to my channel. You’ll get notified when I release new videos.)

Hope this helps!

David

All Episodes

One Step At A Time

Five Ways To Have An Excellent Coffee Date With Me

Five Ways To Have A Crappy Coffee Date With Me

Taking Advantage Of The Wisdom Of The Tribe

How To Be A World Class Complainer

The False Nobility Of The Struggle

Watch Out – The Rules Are Going To Change

“Show Me The Secret, Daddy!”

Coaching vs Consulting vs Facilitating

The Perils of Live Performance And Why Jeremy Kappell Should Not Have Been Fired

Let’s Welcome To The Stage…Failure!

Don’t Confuse Price With Value

Whiteboards In The Hallways

Go Wake Up Your Luck

Playing and Planning

The Two Things Most Talent Try to Accomplish Way Too Soon

10,000 Hours To Become Good At Something? Not Really.

The Curse of Knowledge

The Trick Charlie Munger Uses To Make Better Decisions

Everyone’s A Customer, Not Just Your Customers

“What do you mean, you’re a ‘process guy’?”

Pay Attention To Your Storytelling, Not Removing Your Breaths

How To Conquer FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out)

The Problem In Every Commercial Script

The Job In Every Commercial Script

The Secret In Every Commercial Script

How To Pick Your Stage Name

Voice Over Is REALLY Hard. Until It Isn’t.

Helping Make Resolutions Stick

ACX Jobs: They’re ALL SAG-AFTRA-Friendly

Non-Union? You Can Still Open An AFTRA H&R Account. What?

Who Says You Need To “Feel Like It?”

Are You Engaged?

Your Day Job Might Just Be Worth Keeping For A Bit Longer

Want To Learn Something Really Well? Teach It To Others

Don’t Confuse What Works With What You Like

The Lost Keys And The Microphone In My Elevator

My Insane Backup System Plus Two Helpful Tips

What Open Loops Are And Why They Work So Well

Two More Things For Which You Can Use Open Loops

Three Things Not To Say Or Do…When Trying To Learn Something New

Front Burner and Back Burner Project Management

How To Properly List The Accents and Dialects You Perform

My SAG-AFTRA Presentation On VO Demos (Part 1)

My SAG-AFTRA Presentation On VO Demos (Part 2)

A Simple, One-Word Decision-Making Question To Ask Yourself

Ready, Shoot…Aim

How You Can Use The MVP Model As A Performer

How Lazy Can You Be?

Avoid The Struggle Porn

The Robocall Equivalent Of Unsubscribe

Saying Goodbye To A “Failure”

Making Your Links Irresistible

HTTPS Is Not Just For Banks – It’s For You

The Threat That Made Me Create a New Page For LAME

The Resource You Must Guard Most Carefully

How New Media Is Using The Oldest Ad Model Ever

“You Could Be Hit By A Bus!”

Killing Customers With Kindness

I Found Out What She Was Podcasting About

How I Answered Voices.com’s Inquiry

Turning Mountains Into Molehills

Motivation: Your Three Big Needs In A Cool Little Package

Go Ahead. Multitask. But Try It Like This.

The Prodigy Game Doesn’t Deserve This Treatment

I Don’t Want To Go Blind

What Fair Markets Are, And Why Voices.com Isn’t One

Trevor’s Three A’s From Apple On Killing Customers With Kindness

Getting Ready vs. Getting Started

You’ll Never Believe Who Got Rejected By Harvard

There Is No Failure, Only Feedback

Who Is Your Most Dangerous Adversary?

73 Videos In, My First Hater Appears

If You’re The Smartest Person In The Room, Do This ASAP

Your Glasses And Crucial Laptop Positioning Info

One More Insanely Over-engineered Piece Of Gear: My UPS

The Crazy Backward Way IKEA Prices Their Stuff

Voices.com Complained To YouTube That I Violated Their Privacy

The Gig Economy: RIP?

For Your Health: Not Perfect. Just Better.

Celebrate Your Isolation!

Mr. Wonderful Is Actually More Wonderful Than I Thought

Let’s Finally Close The Digital Literacy Gender Gap

The Guaranteed Way To Completely Avoid Criticism

The Two Things People Judge About You Within Seconds

Prioritizing…Nashville Style

Are You Committed? Or Just…Interested?

Audible Retail Samples: Why They Suck And Why It Doesn’t Really Matter

How To Voice Copy That’s Set In Italics

Dyslexia, And The Palindromic Poem. The Wha?

Increase Your Chances Of Being Seen And Heard On Facebook

Jamie Has Some Thoughts About Fiverr

Is Simply Discouraging Distracted Driving Enough?

“Young People Are Just Smarter.”

The Real Purpose Of The “Can You Hear Me?” Phone Scam

Beware Of Overkill

Laying Down The Perfect Slate

An AMA Preview: The Word “Ethnic” – A Slur, Or An Essential Adjective?

10 Rules of Profitable Self Discipline from Napoleon Hill

AMA (Ask Me Anything): Here Are The Answers (Part 1)

AMA (Ask Me Anything): Here Are The Answers (Part 2)

AMA (Ask Me Anything): Here Are The Answers (Part 3)

AMA (Ask Me Anything): Here Are The Answers (Part 4)

AMA Answers Part 5 Plus A Medical Warning

Last AMA Answers (#6): Gear, Services and Success

A 7-Word Reminder: “Don’t correct people when it matters little.”

Do You Have A Plan? And Is It The Right One?

What’s Your Next Big Move? Are You Ready?

Build Your Future On Your Own Platform, Not Someone Else’s

I’m Leaving Facebook: Why Groups and FB Live No Longer Spark Joy

Time To Accept That I’ve Failed At Something – Happily

Crowdfunding Without The Internet: Pulitzer And The Statue Of Liberty

The Amazing Power Of Recognition And Badging

Might We Have A Possible Cause For Alzheimer’s?

Why Podcasting And Radio Are Out Of Whack

Value Enthusiasm, But Value Persistence More

Ten Ways To Make Money With Podcasts Besides Ads

One Quick Question To Find Out How Important Something Actually Is

The Workflow For Producing These Videos (So Far) Part 1

Why Not Wade? And…Why Not You?

Audiobook Narrators: How Paymasters Work, And The One I Recommend

Why Gen Z And Millennials’ Love For Audiobooks Is Crucial

American Idol: It’s All About Story, Not Just Singing

Less Beating Yourself Up, More Talking Yourself Up

Resist Oversharing. Instead, Start A Dialogue.

Vocal Care: It’s All About What Works For You

3 Biases You Should Be Aware Of

3 More Biases You Should Also Be Aware Of

Wow. People Really Grokked Biases. Let’s Tackle Fallacies.

Three More Fallacies You Need To Watch For

What’s Your Imprint?

Fallacy Follies, Volume 3

Two Last Big Creativity-Crippling Fallacies

Fail Sooner To Succeed Sooner

A New Lead Source For Performers: Voice Assistants And Smart Speakers

A Great Way To Handle Trolls and Haters

Quantity Does Not Usually Equal Quality

Is Facebook Truly A Monopoly? No More Than Microsoft Was.

Fear Of The Unknown, Or The Day Before My Surgery

A Strange Aspect To Performing That Should Be Cause For Protest, But Isn’t

Want To Grow? Don’t Go It Alone.

How Am I Doing? I’m Gobsmacked. That’s How Am I Doing.

Why I Give My Agents 10% Of Everything

Not Just Explainer Videos, But Video That Explain Things Spectacularly

Mental Floss To The Rescue: Skills You Can Pick Up On YouTube

What’s Better Than Willpower? Grit.

Regarding Apple’s App Store: Be Careful What You Wish For, Pepper

Of COURSE You Wonder What Porter’s Five Forces Are. Who Doesn’t?

Don’t Waste Your Time: Talk Shows Aren’t Meant To Be Fair

Sooner Or Later, I’m Really Going To Tick You Off

Just Because You Can Do Something Doesn’t Mean You Should

Wait, What? Audacity Records In The Background?!

Enjoy Your First Booking. Pay Close Attention To The Next Three.

Pattern Interruption And The Musicality Of Voice Over

Do You Still Have A Landline? Is It POTS? Wait, What’s POTS?

Increase Your VO Accuracy, And You’ll Increase Your VO Profits

Age Range Isn’t Really A Valid Metric For VO

What Is The Overton Window?

How To Stop Jealousy From Killing Your Progress

Even The Bible (And Game Of Thrones) Has One-Star Reviews

How Much Is Enough To Make Per Hour?

With Royalty Share Plus, ACX Makes Hybrid Stipends Official

Wait, Vices Can Be Good For Your Health?

What A Lovely Thing To Discover: Praise From CourVO

I Figured Out What I Provide: The Onboarding Performers Don’t Get

You Don’t Need Permission To Care Or Contribute

It’s Not Just You. It’s The Superstars, Too.

Do You Sometimes Think Irrationally? Maybe. Here’s How To Stop It.

The Struggle Of Announcer-y Versus Non-Announcer-y Voice Over

How My VAs Support Me And My Team

What Exactly Is “The Cloud?”

The Often “Most Difficult” Concept I Teach

Please Unsubscribe From This List. But Don’t Do This One Destructive, Lazy Thing.

Don’t Mistake The Joy Of Knowing For The Joy Of Doing

Why Giving Yourself Some Simple Homework Can Be Life-Changing

One Weird Trick I Do That Makes My Note-Taking Superhuman

The Worst Thing About The Biggest Money-Making Entertainment Category

What Can We Grab From A Schedule This Strict?

Get Better At Executing Today’s Plan By Starting Last Night

How To Create Useful, Organized Audition File Names

Where To Find Related PDFs For Audiobooks on Audible

I’m Halfway Finished. What Have You Valued Most? What Can I Do Better?

Our Digital Attention Span Is Incredibly Brief

“Serves You Right!” She Actually Has No Idea How Right.

Create A Safe Environment For Self-Improvement

Why I Use One Single Channel For Crucial Communication

The Even Cheaper AT-2020 USB Plus Microphone?

Fred Willard (and Billy West) On Quickly Creating Authentic VO Characters

Leo Makes Your Searching Spectacular

On Asking For Things Performers Can’t Do

How To Battle The Urge of “Efficiency”

One More Best-Of-Breed Way To Brilliantly Complain

Changing Audacity’s Sampling Rate To 48,000 Hz

10 Words Of Encouragement When You’re Stuck

Seek/Give Mentorship That’s Appropriate To The Journey

Two Cases Where You Might Not Want To Simply “Follow Your Passion”

Having Fun With Headphone Volume

Please Stop Rushing To Perform

Something To Consider: Everyone’s Internal Menu

One Crazy Key To Creativity: Pure, Unadulterated Boredom

For The Sheer Joy Of It

The Most Commonly Consumed Media Is…!

What’s Dangerous For Us To Care About

Please, Clever Copywriters…Stop Using This Term

Wait, Wait…What? They Actually Listened?!

Why You Should Take The Same Classes Twice

How Your Character’s Menu Informs Your Performance Choices

What Shouldn’t Be Your Metric For VO Success

Someone Awesome Who’s Also Rising To A 365-Day Challenge

Union Or Not, Start With Union Rates

O. M. G. Look What Matt Zurbo Did!

So Where Will That Huge Facebook Fine End Up?

The Root Words of “Typecast”

Avoid That One Obvious “That Worked” Sound We Make

Why Union Members Can Audition For Non-Union Work

200 Auditions. 1 Booking. A Ghost. Really?

I Can’t Do One Thing I’m Asked To Do Every Single Day

One Of Your Secret Weapons: Agility

Do Networking Events Make You Anxious? Let’s Fix That.

Project X Is Just About Ready. I’m A Bit Giddy.

The Difference Between Mansplaining and Advice?

Too Late, Melissa. You Already Are.

Help Me Solve A Lovely Mystery!

Speeding Up The Playback On The Audible App

Why Those Other Casting Sites Usually Aren’t Worth It

Raw YouTube Captioning

hey there it’s David H Lawrence the 17th
and I promised a few videos back to
create a video which is going to turn
into two videos on how I produce these
videos the workflow that I use the apps
that I use the process that I use and so
on and I will tell you that when I first
started at the beginning of the year
with this one video a day challenge it
was a different workflow and I’ve
learned an awful lot of things by doing
these videos day after day after day I
changed my camera I changed the apps
that I use the way I have the lighting
setup how I set the camera the flow of
information and so today in this video I
want to show you how I actually produce
the video itself and then in tomorrow’s
video I’m going to show you how I set up
YouTube and my blog to house the video
and publish the video and because I
usually do these videos ahead of time a
couple days I want to show you how I set
that up so that it automatically
publishes so the first thing I do I want
to show you this is my desktop this is
BB edit and BB edit is an app that I’ve
been using for decades
honest to god decades it’s been around
for a long time it’s a text editor it’s
kind of like word but it doesn’t have
bold and and pictures and thing that
just edits the text and so what I do in
this app is I have all of my different
episodes set up and today’s is episode
119 I pre write the headline and that’s
what’s highlighted there and then this
is the actual content that’s going to go
in the description of the video and in
the blog post come area that shows on
the web site so I write this ahead of
time so that I can just copy and paste
it as I need it I also use a notebook
you know I carry a notebook around with
me and I drop things down I send things
to myself via email I gather these
things as I need them and then I set
them up as future possible videos so
what I want to do is I want to show you
this process right here which is what I
do too
get it set up in the actual production
of the video itself so I take the notes
on potential topics I prep the text file
which you’re looking at there which is
BBEdit I write the headline I write the
content and then I come into my studio
here and I turn the lights on let me
show you what the studio looks like
before the lights are turned on and
you’ll get an idea of what happens oh
it’s very dark in here
so I turn the the back lights on this is
kind of the hair lights and so on in the
studio and then I have two lights set up
there and there that one is my key light
that’s it a hundred percent and that one
is my fill light which is at fifty
percent and that’s a standard along with
the hair lights a three point lighting
system and it’s all set up all I have to
do is come in sit down and get ready to
go so the next thing I do is I quit all
other apps
except for ScreenFlow so that I’m
getting the best possible recording
ScreenFlow is the app that I use to
record everything and I’ll show you that
in just a second so I sit and I’m gonna
disappear for just a second here I want
to show you what I do I start ScreenFlow
which is gonna record everything that I
do by going up to the menu I choose the
ScreenFlow icon and I choose configure
recording so now you’re going to see me
on the camera and here’s where I can
make sure that the lighting looks good
that I’m framed properly in a rule of
thirds framing and there’s a little bit
of a delay because you know of what I’m
doing here between this and the audio
but I also want to make sure that my
microphone is working so tap tap tap
it’s working just fine
so now what I do is I click on this
record button and this will go away and
I’ll get a count down so watch the count
down this is kind of cool it’s preparing
to record and just like in a studio it
goes 5 4 3 and so now I’m on camera and
the first thing that I do is I take my
slate and I snap it so that I can then
take that that little mark
on the screen and the actual and the
actual sound and I can line it up so
that the audio and the video match
perfectly so now I am starting I know
that my video and my audio is gonna be
lined up and I can actually do the video
so I take notes let’s pretend this is
the video part hey there it’s David H
Lawrence’s 17th and I want to talk to
you today about blah I give the bulk of
what I’m doing I ask for comments and
then I also make sure that I let people
know they can subscribe to my youtube
channel and that I can and I’ll do that
at the end of this video you’ll see how
I set that all up and I then say if you
want to see the latest video you can
look at that frame and I look over and
down just because that’s where those
icons are going to be and then I wrap
things up and I say thank you very much
for watching and I’ll talk to you
tomorrow so now I’m gonna go up and stop
the recording by going to that same menu
and choosing stop record and it’s going
to show me ScreenFlow so and now we’re
gonna edit this is what it looks like
when I look at what I’ve just done
you’ll see that there is a long file
here that basically is the entire video
right right and then what I’m gonna do
is I’m gonna do all the work for you
that I normally do the first thing I’m
gonna do is I’m gonna change the
document settings it records the entire
document as a whatever the size of my
screen is and currently my screen is
1440 by 900 but I want this to be 1080p
and so I change it to that
I update it and I make it a little bit
smaller so that I can see what I’m doing
so that’s the whole thing I’m gonna move
this over just a little tiny bit and I’m
gonna be adding some things now I’m
going to be adjusting some things so
let’s zoom in a little bit on this and
find the clapboard marker remember I
took the clapboard and where is it where
is it it’s right
okay okay so that’s where it is let me
go back over here and let’s zoom in a
little bit closer see here that’s the
sound but if you look at where the
actual slate meets itself it actually
meets itself there right so what I’m
gonna do is I’m gonna detach the audio
from the video this is the audio and you
can see that’s the actual sound of the
clapboard and I’m gonna move it over to
match where the image occurs right so
now when I play it see how it’s all
synced up now so that’s what I do so now
let’s just go find exactly now that I
have things synced up I’m gonna go find
where I start so there we go that’s the
beginning of it all right I’m gonna cut
this and basically I’m going to get rid
of the the extra but before I do
anything what I really want to do is
save this file so I’m gonna save this
and I go down to what I had before and
I’m basically just going to click on a
file name the last file name that I had
and I’m going to update it for the new
file name right it’s very easy for me to
do this this is a file name that I
created so that I know what the date is
what the episode number is and what the
what the time is that I want to have
YouTube publish it and then I save it
takes a while I won’t make you wait so
there we go it is now saved and now I
can get rid of the part that I don’t
need which is all that stuff at the
beginning I’m gonna zoom out on this and
bring it a little bit closer to the
beginning of the timeline and then I’m
gonna go to the end and I’m gonna find
when I
say leave me a message and we’ll talk to
you tomorrow
wait that’s a little early wait so
that’s where I go let me cut off that
little breath there all right I’m gonna
cut that get rid of that and so this is
right here the sum and substance of my
entire video and from here what I’m
going to do is I’m going to adjust a
little bit of the audio because in my
room I have lights that are older the
hair lights that I use are incandescent
and they have some ballast noise to them
so the first thing I want to do is go
over here to the audio and I want to
adjust this to minus 3 I’m gonna
normalize my audio to minus 3 but I do
that by saying 71 percent and it
basically makes all the audio 71 percent
and I’m going to smooth the volume
levels which is screenflow’s way of
using a leveler or a compressor to make
all the audio sound very similar so
watch what happens to the waveform when
it does that it gets bigger right and
then I’m gonna remove that that ballast
background noise by just a little tiny
bit just 20 percent I’m gonna get rid of
that and now if we listen to this you’ll
hear a difference in the audio you don’t
hear any of that ballast noise right so
now I want to basically just do a little
bit of cleanup work and then we’re gonna
publish to youtube so what I’m gonna do
is I’m going to open one of the recent
ones that I’ve done and I’m going to
grab the bumper from the one that I did
here and I’m gonna paste it in and line
it up I’m going to just copy that and
I’m gonna go back to our our other
project which is the current one I’m
gonna paste it in I’m gonna drop it down
so that I can put this not next to it
but actually over it and I know to put
it at about
6.5 that’s where we are right here is
about 6.5 seconds so now let’s watch
this and let’s see what happens so I
kind of popped right in there right so
one of the things that I have to do is
with this video I have to add a fade in
and a fade out and it’s a real simple
key command for me I just do that and
all of a sudden we have a fade in and a
fade out not only at this end but it
you’ll see in a second at the other end
see how I’d fade it in so that’s how it
fades in at the beginning and I’m gonna
go to the end and it’s gonna fade out
here as well right so let’s do that so
get to the end and I’m gonna paste that
same thing it’s still sitting on the
clipboard I’m gonna paste that same
bumper right here this is the bumper but
I’m gonna have it I’m gonna bring it
underneath what I’m doing as well and
I’m gonna slide it right to where I
stopped talking right there so I’m gonna
bring this here and I’m gonna preview it
right and that’s it basically let me let
me pull back out on the frame so you can
run the timeline so you can see the
whole thing at once so that’s the whole
thing and I’m gonna save it and the next
thing that I’m going to do is I’m going
to I’m going to publish it to YouTube
and the cool thing about ScreenFlow is
it has the ability to publish to any
number of social media networks you just
go down here to the publish to choose
YouTube right this is and and you
basically set up all of the the
Preferences the settings for publishing
to YouTube what format you want frame
rate if you want to save a copy to disc
which we’re gonna do so I’m gonna change
this to 60 frames per second because
that’s what I record in I’m gonna save a
copy to the disc the location I’m gonna
choose is the same location as where I
have the screen flows right and I’m
gonna make that name dot mp4 right
that’s the video that I’m gonna save and
then I’m gonna go next and it’s gonna
say what category do I want to be in I
always choose education the title I’m
gonna go back to BB
and I’m gonna slide up here and I’m
going to use the title that I wrote
already for this right something to copy
that I’m gonna paste it in then in the
description and this is all stuff that’s
gonna show up on YouTube in the
description I’m gonna grab all of this
which is what I’ve already written right
and I’m gonna paste it in here now
notice in the description on youtube
right now I don’t know what the URL is
gonna be for my blogpost but this is
where that’s gonna go I’m just gonna
publish it like this now but I’ll have
plenty of time to fix that before it
actually publishes you’ll see now I’ve
got another thing that I’m gonna do I’m
gonna type this V tags right and that’s
not really a word but when I hit the
spacebar it’s gonna fill up with all my
tags because I use a piece of software
called a text expander which knows to
type all that stuff in so that I have
all of these tags that I normally use
when I’m doing my stuff and I don’t have
any other tags that I add but sometimes
I’ll add tags if the video has a special
subject matter or something like that I
choose a thumbnail you see the some
nails that I do every day I choose some
thumbnail by just popping open the video
sliding along to a particular place
where I want to be let’s see yeah that
one looks fine I’ll do that one and then
I want to not make it public immediately
I don’t want it to be unlisted or
private I want to schedule it so what
I’m gonna do is I’m gonna schedule this
one this is number 119 so I’m gonna
schedule this one for the 29th that’s
April 29th and I always schedule my
videos for 7:30 at night Pacific time
the night before they’re published to
everybody in the morning so I’m gonna do
7:30 p.m. perfect and then all I do is
click on the word publish and it’s gonna
sit there and it’s gonna cook until it’s
published so what I’m gonna do in the
next video is I’m gonna come back and
I’m gonna show you what happens after
it’s finished publishing and uploaded to
YouTube ready to publish at a particular
point in time
and that’s basically how I record the
videos get them set up and ready to go
if you have any comments if you have any
questions if there’s something that I
went too fast on and you’d like me to
elucidate on it go ahead and leave me a
comment leave me a comment below this
video
if you’re not on vo to go go I’d love
for you to go there because that’s where
the conversation is kind of sane and
it’s moderated if you want to join my
youtube channel if you want to subscribe
to it go ahead and click on my face
there if you don’t see a face there’s a
subscribe button somewhere on the screen
and if you’d like to see the latest
video go ahead and click on that frame
YouTube will play it for you I’m David H
Lawrence the seventeenth and I thank you
so much for watching talk to you
tomorrow.

One Response to The Workflow For Producing These Videos (So Far) Part 1

  1. Veleka Gray May 3, 2019 at 7:19 pm #

    Bravo, my friend!

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