I recently joined the ScreenChamp Awards 2013, a contest on screen casting sponsored by TechSmith.
I’m testing my video lecture making powers and see if I can grab that People’s Choice award. I’m very happy to have been selected as a finalist! I still consider myself new to screen casting and video lecture making.
I actually submitted two videos. The first one, Lecture on Structs and Pointers in C++, did not make the finals but the second one did. As for the topic, well, it’s about… Love 😀 Ahaha! Yes I know, the SSB (single-since-birth) programmer talks about love. Now before you think about romance, I want to clarify that my talk is about the 5 Love Languages written by… you know what… go watch the video here. Don’t forget to up vote and share it 😀
I originally wanted to give my whole 1-hour talk about the 5 Love Languages into this video lecture but I had little time to complete it. Sadly, I had to settle with just the Introduction, which is a teaser to give my audience reasons to stay and listen. I can actually give this talk without the need for normal presentation equipment like projectors and laptops. In fact, I have given this talk multiple times to some of my former students or friends over dinner at home, during lunch in the mall, and in the living area during sleepovers.
The challenge in making this video was that I had to make it interesting without knowing who I am. I think the reason why people listen to my talks is because they know me. But what if I gave this talk to complete strangers, people I’ve never conversed with before, how would they react? Also, since I’m targeting older teens, I need to make it appealing other than just showing myself. Thus, I decided to make use of drawings and hand writings. I enlisted the help of a former student who is great with art, Quina Baterna. I told her my concept and she gave me drawings of the wife, husband, logos for each love language, etc. We recorded her, drawing these icons on a white board using colored pens.

Quina’s Drawings
Unfortunately, I encountered problems when I started editing the videos. It turns out, I need a LOT more art to convey my interpretations. I’m no artist, hence, I searched for free vector art online. I found some but I lacked a lot more. Being pressed for time, I resorted to the unthinkable – draw them myself. Yes, that’s right. I drew. I couldn’t create a video of me drawing since I make so many mistakes and it takes me forever to make one. Instead, I used Inkscape to create my black and white, stick figures.
I tried combining Quina’s drawings with the vector art but they don’t seem to work out well. I made a decision to redraw all of Quina’s art using Inkscape. Using this technique prevented me from presenting the art being drawn on screen. Instead, I had the drawings animated by flying them in, scaling them, translating them, and changing their opacity.

My Vector Drawings
It took me a while to complete the video but I made it a couple of hours before the deadline. My friends commented that the video is such a cliff hanger or bitin. I will continue the video and include my whole talk which includes what the 5 Love Languages are and how to find out yours as well as other people’s Primary Love Language. For now, up vote my video and help me win 😀
Again, the video can be found here!
CREDITS to the following:
Free Vector Icons from http://www.endlessicons.com and http://www.clipartsfree.net
“Easy Lemon”, “Deliberate Thought” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b…
DISCLAIMER:
I am not nor am I related to Dr Gary Chapman, Northfield Publishing or Moody Publishers.
Camtasia and SnagIt from TechSmith