Nailing the recording phase

There's a lot that goes into making your content look good – from minor details that elevate its quality to major choices that reflect your distinctive style.

Let's dive into the recording stage - the first step in crafting commendable content. There are a few things you can do while recording that will make your life much easier during the editing process. Consider recording step one of the editing process.

The Power of consistency

One trait that often flies under the radar but significantly impacts the quality of your videos is consistency. Every single video you create should feel like a complete and thoughtfully-crafted idea – it should reflect a unified creative vision, not sporadic thoughts strung together. Regardless of where or when you are recording, your content should emanate a consistent professional feel.

Consistency is what elevates your videos from being a hobby to a polished, cohesive body of work.

The recording checklist

A tool that I've found incredibly useful in maintaining consistency is a recording checklist. It's a simple system that removes the guesswork from recording and empowers you to avoid recurring filming oversights. Every time I've stumbled upon an error during editing that should've been addressed in the recording stage, I've added it to my checklist.

I strongly recommend maintaining your own recording checklist. As you get deeper into video creation, your customized checklist becomes an invaluable tool to remember the little things, like turning off distracting lights or closing curtains for better light control.

My recording checklist

This is my recording checklist, it might be useful to you:

• Turn on all the recording lights
• Hide the dock and status bar
• Change screen resolution
• Change desktop wallpaper
• Set any window to fullscreen
• Make sure screen, microphone, and camera are configured to record in ScreenFlow
• Close all other desktop apps
• Put phone in focus mode
• Put on glasses without lenses
• Check background for things that shouldn't be there
• Set up confidence monitor
• Close curtains
• Position microphone just off camera

Keep up the enthusiasm and momentum

Maintaining enthusiasm and momentum is the name of the game when it comes to creating lots of video over time. A well-thought-out checklist is a lifesaver here.

Without a plan (and a checklist), you might find yourself in a "What am I doing?" phase that can slow you down, and sometimes, lead you down the distraction rabbit hole (like checking Twitter). But, with the magic checklist in hand, you can simply follow your set routine, maintain your eagerness, and get right to recording.

The payoff

This well-planned preparation ensures your content exudes that appealing, polished feel consistently - a feature that distinctively marks your content and sets you apart.