Table of Contents

Three Passes Method

This framework requires that we view/review the video three times.

1. Once immediately after recording but before editing to ensure that we said everything we wanted to and there are not any major hang-ups.

2. As we are editing, particularly after trimming, to make sure the trimmed sections make sense.

3. After we have finished editing, to ensure that the edits we have made make sense for the final product.

Don’t Fuss Over Small Details

No human is perfect and there are often noises and sounds that are out of our control. Not to mention our own idiosyncrasies. Only trim parts of the video if necessary! Some filler words are fine (and necessary while we finish a thought). Short pauses are also fine. However, if we find that we spent 10 seconds repeating the same word or saying different filler words or said nothing for that length of time, it is probably best to trim that a bit.

Edit the Closed-Captions

Panopto has automatic machine-generated captions enabled by default. However, these are only somewhat accurate and can lead to issues in understanding, particularly if we have students that require accessibility accommodations. We can, and should, review the automatic captions and update them as needed.

Edit Captions in Panopto - Transcript

• Edit/Add Captions (Text)

Additionally, if there are particular words that Panopto is not properly transcribing, such as uncommon names or places, we can make a Custom Dictionary Request.

Some other tips related to closed-captions:

1. There should be about 30 characters to a line (give or take a few)

   1. Characters are letters, numbers, periods, exclamation points, etc. and spaces

2. For one “closed caption”, there should be no more than two lines

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      Showing appropriate closed captions

       

3. If there are long pauses, make sure to explain what is going on between square brackets []. This helps students that need it understand what is going on. If there are long periods of silence, perhaps we are waiting for something to load, we can use [SILENCE], though it is better to use [Waiting for webpage to load]. For music, we can put [MUSIC].

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      Using square brackets to explain what is going on

       

4. Additionally, note that the University does have a certain amount of credits to pay for professional captions if we have a student that requires them. Reach out to Helpdesk or Student Accessibility Services if we need it.

More information on closed captions are available from the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative.

Consider Using a More Robust Video Editor

The Panopto video editor is good for simple video edits. However, if we want to add annotations to our video (such as arrows pointing to a particular part of the screen, website links on screen, keyboard shortcuts, important points, etc.), we will need something more robust. Below are a few that we like, in no particular order.

• Clipchamp can be used to both record and edit videos. Check out COLI’s quick start guide to Clipchamp or Clipchamp’s Training Center for additional tutorials.

• Kdenlive is a robust, near professional-grade, open source video editor. Download Kdenlive here and check out Kdenlive’s Support page for tutorials.

  • Note: If we use Kdenlive, we will probably want to use a different video recorder than Panopto. It makes it a bit easier to edit the video. We recommend OBS, but Windows comes with Windows Game Bar and Apple devices come with iMovie, which also doubles as a video editor.