I'm excited to be using so many of the skills found in Jonathan Hall's book, Rapid Video for Trainers.  While I am not using an iPad to shoot and edit video, the techniques are all the same.  I have a One-Touch camera, which is stupid cheap.  I do sometimes use Windows Live Movie Maker which is of course free.  If you haven't discovered Audacity yet, check it out.  Audacity is a freeware sound editing software program with tons of great features. 

Jonathan's book also discusses use of angles, cuts, a bit on lighting and so much more.  If you haven't purchased his book, I strongly recommend it.

The most useful tip for me is to create the story board first, rather than starting with a script and trying to fit video to the words.

My current Rapid project is my own take on Goofus and Gallant (let's see how many of you remember that one!), where I will have one supervisor doing things the right way, and another doing things the wrong way.  Videos, maybe 90 seconds to illustrate the impact of doing things right.  I'll post to YouTube when I'm done, probably end of April so you folks can see it.  I would love to see any current Rapid Videos you are doing if you care to share links.

You know Dan, the most useful thing I learned was to create the storyboard using pictures first.  I didn't really get how that worked when I read the book, but I was fortunate enough to attend his Rapid Video Bootcamp at ASTD in Lincoln, NE.  That's where it really made sense.  Old timers like me are used to starting with learning objectives (still the right thing to do) then writing a script, and finally finding pictures or video to support that script.

What Jonathan teaches is to plan out your story in pictures first.  The result is a huge reduction in dialogue.  In other words, the video is telling the story.  That is where the rapid part comes in; that is why short videos can tell the story (or the process/procedure) so effectively, where a wordy video loses viewer attention pretty quickly.

This is a link to a very short video shot as the end product of the bootcamp I attended.  The video is meaningless, but see how quickly my partner and I are able to teach a procedure.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/2c64m9yv34yv0b2/Elevator%20Etiquette.wmv

OK, I've finished a couple of videos.  Shooting and editing in just a few hours each.  Of course that doesn't include storyboarding and such.

These two videos are very short and will be used to reinforce classroom material.  A couple of characters teach us about SMART goals.

http://youtu.be/mL8FofG2C70

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v69oAjZEenc

Yes, yes, and yes.  This link is to a 45 second sample that I put together to demo the features you asked about.  The fades are abrupt, and I didn't fade when I overlaid the sound effect.  I only put about 3 minutes into this so that you could see it is possible.

The thing about Audacity, like any audio or video program, the user needs to be confident enough with software to poke a stick at it.  The manual is web-based.  I simply look up what I want to know, then tinker with it to figure it out.  It is incredibly powerful for a free software program.

If anyone ever wants to get together to work on a fun project involving either all this free software, or even Camtasia or Vegas, I am game.  Might be a great way to master some of these skills.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/p38cv4rnn6s98ch/Sample%20Audacity%20Effects.wav