Screen Casts Rock - Here's Who's Rocking Them Now
Screen cast videos are one of the most powerful ways to show off anything on the web. They are also quite difficult to do well. That sounds like a pretty sweet spot for specialization and sure enough, a new class of freelancers is emerging to fill the demand.
In this post we look at the work of four of our favorite screen casting freelancers. We think you'll enjoy their work and we hope that you can point us to some still undiscovered people making this kind of magic.
The Pioneers
Jon Udel, who used to work at Infoworld and is now at Microsoft, is widely considered the granddaddy of the screen cast. Another strong old schooler is Don from Screencasts Online, a site that has free and subscription tutorials about how to use a Mac. Don uses ScreenFlow, a wonderful Mac app you can buy for $100. We've been using Screenflow lately to make some screencasts ourselves.
The first freelance screencaster available for hire that we discovered was Molly McDonald, whose work at DemoGirl has made her the go-to screen caster for hire for many startup companies of late.
Here's a sample of her work, a screencast demo of mixtape site 8tracks.
The Up and Comer
Colin Sproule at InternetJogging has been making a number of great screencasts lately, most of them about using the Mac single app browser Fluid. We discovered his work when he made a great video about Muxtape in Fluid.
Here's another one he made about using Fluid and Threadless together.
You Just Missed Him
Michael Pick was one of the inspirations for this post, but now that we take a look we find that he's no longer available for freelance work! Pick's been hired full time by Automattic, the makers of WordPress. While we are happy for him, we are dissapointed that we won't be able to see his work around the web about apps in general. His departure from freelancing leaves a big hole in the market.
The Champs
The reigning champs of freelance screen casting have to be Common Craft. This Seattle consultancy found a hit formula in stop-motion line drawn illustrations telling stories about web apps. Their first, RSS in Plain English, is still the best way to explain RSS that we've seen yet. The production value is downright quaint compared to the more professional work they are doing now.
Common Craft's charming storytelling skills have lead to jobs from a list of companies, including Google and Twitter.
Here's Our Best Effort So Far
We just bought ScreenFlow ourselves and it's so much fun to use! Here's one video we made for a post this week. We're just starting to learn how to do this, but ScreenFlow makes it really easy.
There's Huge Demand
Proficient screen cast producers should be cleaning up right now. There is so much untapped demand for this kind of service. Who else do you know that offers this kind of service?
Want to be that person? Check out Beth Kanter's fantastic screen cast tutorial wiki. (See this awesome screen cast of Beth's, in fact.) The future of screen casting is wide open, but we sure are glad there's some great examples already for all of us to take inspiration from.
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Common craft rules -- great post @Marshallk http://bit.ly/10ccMe
Posted by: JungleG
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August 21, 2008 3:56 PM
thanks for mention.... screencasting is so much fun. why aren't there more folks doing it?
Screenflow is truly a game-changing application. Since I've found it, I've quit trying to explain how to do things to friends of mine, and just make them small videos. While I'm not ready to go Pro, it's definitely been a fun and easy way to share information. Also, with friends, you can teach them things and give them permanent access to the instructions, while also letting your personality come out. With that said, you didn't mention the all-time best screencaster, who is ALL ABOUT personality.
I'm not sure of his name, but "You Suck at Photoshop" is my favorite set of screencasts. You should really start at the beginning of the series and watch them all. They're fantastic. http://tinyurl.com/33bxkm. Maybe a bit dark and sad, but as I said, all about personality.
Thanks so much for including me and for pointing out other screencasters I was unaware of...very cool! I'm in awe of Common Craft. Their videos are very clever but not so much that you loose sight of what you're supposed to be learning. Also, Marshall, I loved your screencast yesterday of agglom. I use Camtasia for my screencasts but I've used ScreenFlow too. When I finally get my hands on my own Mac, I'll be using both.
Hey Marshall - thanks a lot for including me in such good company. Great to see some familiar faces - and loving your screencasting.
Beth's screencasting primer totally rocks and is THE go to resource IMHO.
You beat me to this - I was thinking about putting together a similar list myself. This way more than ten people get to read it, though, which is awesome.
You're definitely right about there being a huge demand for this stuff. Before I switched off the lights I had pretty much daily offers coming in - anyone thinking about getting into screencasting: stop thinking, and start screencasting.
I'd add to your list a few more folks:
* Josh Gunn doesn't make screencasts as such, but like Common Craft (who have stopped doing custom work to focus on their awesome store) he makes very cool explanation videos at Nutintuit
* Daniel Park runs DapperText", and wrote the book on Camtasia - literally.
* Don McAllister runs ScreencastsOnline and is an excellent, primarily mac-based screencaster. He's been making a full time living for some time now from his excellent Mac-focused video podcast, is very generous with sharing technical details in his forums, and is an all round sterling chap. I believe he does some custom work too.
* Israel Hyman is the genius behind Izzy Video, an incredible resource for anyone getting into Final Cut, or just looking to make decent video. His screencasts rock - they've even been licensed by one of the video sharing sites
* Ian Ozsvald has been making open source screencasts for a few years, and has just launched his own professional services wing ProCasts
And there a whole bunch more folks screencasting as *part* of what they do. My latest favorite has to be the awesome CSS Tips screencasts by Chris Coyier, who totally rocks.
Beyond tutorials though, all kinds of cool stuff is being done. There was that recent music video made using OSX, and before that came out I was working for John Pavlus on his awesome science news show for Scientific American - where the OSX desktop serves as a newsroom of sorts. Check it out if you're into science or screencasting: The Monitor.
I'll stop there, as I'm sure the spam guard already has me in it's clutches - but to end I'd just say that the nicest thing about the screencasting community I know is that people are very willing to compare notes and share information - it's kind of like ye olde days of blogging.
Just realized I missed Don in your article in all the excitement. Double hat-tip to the Don of screencasting ;)
And also wanted to mention that Vara, who make the awesome Screenfow, are totally awesome in the support department. I was blown away when I whinged about something on Twitter and had a fixed build of the app ready to rock within an hour.
Pragmatic Programmers, publishers of many technical books, have also recently launched a handful of screencast series:
http://www.pragprog.com/screencasts
Just wanted to remind that I did a top 15 list of great developer screencast sites in May for RWW: http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/15_places_to_find_great_screencasts.php
For my money, Ryan Bates Railscasts are still the best screencasts out there. And being free, it doesn't take much of my money to watch them. ;)
Thanks for mentioning me, Mike. Your work is great, and I have taken inspiration from you, as well as CommonCraft (of course). Screencasting and digital "funderstanding" FTW!
Marshall,
Thanks for pointing to another emerging trend in video.
Companies could radically lower thier cost of after sales support and training by incoporating elements of the screen casts.
The first to do so will significant improve their cash flow . And considering that most are hemorraging cash at the moment things like this can come too soon.
wow that's great i hope i could join there also. thanks for letting me post my opinion here.
It's something we've been doing for years - and it's great to see such wide usage nowdays.
screencasters.co.uk
Thanks,
Dan
Hi Marshall, I recently started doing screencasts for Intruders.tv (Ireland) -- ie.intruders.tv
I use Camtasia and have been enjoying it so much that I'm thinking about going freelance too.
Great stuff, Marshall. I agree with Michael Pick: The "Do It Again" music video screencast (http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=6kxDxLAjkO8) is amazing.
Easily one of the most impressive screencasts I've seen. Most hollywood videos don't get that level of video editing. I'd love to see a screencast of how that screencast was made!
I am an expert in this kinda work and have 15 years experience...
...but I don't have anyone asking me to do work. I see no "demand" for screen casts at all.
Great post and thanks for the double mention!
I've been screencasting for just over three years and doing it professionally for just over two. My main gig is http://www.ScreenCastsOnline.com and I churn out a 20 - 40 minute screencast every week mainly about the Mac. Every other week it's free and the intervening weeks, it's a members only show. They are all in HD (1280x720) for members as well.
I also do commissioned work and have done stuff for Apple, 37Signals, Smile on My Mac, Parallels, Agile solutions, Ringtone Feeder, all sorts of stuff. Just about to do a commission for the BBC.
I really enjoy the creative side of putting together a screencast although creating a new long form screencast each week is quite a challenge, but hey, that's my job!
Cheers,
Don
Thanks Marshall, we're honored. A quick note for clarity (I know it's not easy to tell). Google has hired us for videos, but the Twitter video was one we did on our own time. :)
I think you're here at Gnomedex - we *must* get together.
Go Common Craft! :)
Thanks for the mention! Expect a couple juicy new fluid screencasts in the next week or two!
Great post Marshall. Screencasts are helping us with customer service. It really makes for a very personalized approach when I am answering someone's question that may have come to me via email. Check out this Jing that I did for a recent customer inquiry.
http://screencast.com/t/HoDRhtGGStL
Keep up the great work. I am now a devout RWW reader!
great, i think i've been doing screencasting unwittingly to show off some of my work, using snapz for screen captures and after effects for editing, don't know if i would make a job of it though :-) will certainly look into screenflow.
video is great for showing prototypes, finished products, explaining something, telling a story in general.
Lots of talent here. Good work fellow casters. I second Michael's comment about the caster community. Every person I've asked about tips has provided them. I do that same.
Rock on
Shane
Hi Marshal and All,
My name is Oren and I am the CEO of EyeView. (www.eyeviewdigital.com). We have been creating online video tutorials using a variety of screencasts. Online video tutorials is our business and we have reached new picks of quality videos on explaining how to perform action in websites.
I'd appreciate if you guys can have a look and see what we have achieved in the screencast world.
Thanks,
Oren
Like what you're doing Oren. Nicely done.
What programs do you use to create your videos? Camtasia? PPT?, Koolmoves, etc, etc?
@Michael - thanks for the mention. I'd second the opinion that there definitely is professional screencasting work out there.
On top of my professional work in ProCasts, I'm also the 3 year co-founder of http://ShowMeDo.com - we host peer-produced screencast tutorials, mostly for open-source software.
Tutorials in ShowMeDo include Python, Inkscape, OpenOffice and Ubuntu. We've got a growing crowd of authors who like to give-back to open-source by helping with tutorial documentation via screencasts.
Ian
screencasts are a great tool for teaching!
michael verdi and i started http://freevlog.org to teach videoblogging through screencasting (in 2005).
i think it's a very powerful medium and i look forward to seeing more people learning how to share knowledge through it.
Thanks for this. I couldn't get on the Common Craft website?