Screen Flow Instructions

Getting Started with ScreenFlow

ScreenFlow is a piece of software that will record what is happening on your computer screen, including mouse

movements, computer sound, your voice and even a video of you explaining a concept. It is all in the form of

an editable video file for you to share with your students. The file can be uploaded to your web site or to

Blended Schools. A Users Guide and Tutorial can be found at http://www.telestream.net/telestream-

support/screen-flow/support.htm.

To get started, double click on the software. You will see the “Setup” window appear on your screen. You will

need to determine if you want to record JUST THE SCREEN and MOUSE MOVEMENTS or add a video of

yourself too. This video can act to add a reinforcing effect to the presentation.

The first box at the top labeled “Record Video from” should be checked if you wish to record a video of

yourself as well as the screen. You will have to select a camera to use from the pull-down menu, either built-in

or one connected by firewire/USB.

The next box is the “Record Audio from”. If you are sitting in front of the computer, you can choose the built-

in microphone from the pull-down menu. The Revolabs xTag is the microphone that you may choose to use, if

you are going to use the PolyVision Board or be away from your computer during your presentation. You

probably want to leave the “Record Computer Audio” checked, so that any sounds from the computer are

recorded too.

To start the recording process, click the RED record button at the bottom of the window. The screen will count

down from 5. Then the recording will begin.

Once it starts recording, it is important to keep it going. Editing in the middle of the video file is more difficult

than cropping items at the beginning or end. So it is a good idea to do some “dry runs” first, so you have a

plan/script to follow during your presentation.

Keep going with you presentation until you are done or reach a stopping point. To stop recording, pull-down

the menu at the top right of your screen, that looks like a “Camera” and choose Stop Record.

After you stop, then the editing process will begin. The video window will pop up automatically.

In this example, I created a brief presentation, including a video of myself, showing how to check email online.

Below is the presentation ready to be edited. You need to SAVE the clip by pulling down the file menu and

choosing SAVE. Remember, save early and often.

The first thing to do is to click the PLAY BUTTON, so you can view the video and determine what you may

wish to edit. As you can see, there is a clip of me in the lower right corner to reinforce the presentation. If you

double click on it, you will see handles appear. You can resize or move/rotate the clip as you feel appropriate.

At the bottom of the window you will see two tracks called “Timelines”. One is the timeline of the video of me

and the other is the video of the computer screen.

The video looks pretty good. I think “Scaling” it would help to make the presentation better. First, click on a

video on the PREVIEW screen or down in the timeline. There are two separate videos. The one is of myself

making the presentation and the other is the video of the screen. I will scale both to create a different effect.

Play

Button

Timelines

Preview

Window

When you click on either video, you will see the size properties appear in the tab on the right and grey grab

handles appear around the clip itself. You can resize by sliding the sizer left or right, but I prefer to use the grab

handles on the clip. You can also pickup and move the clips as needed. Below, I resized both clips. There is

now a “Black” area around the edge of the screen. I like the way this looks and it does not take away from the

desktop portion of the presentation as much, since my clip is off to the lower right.

Adding a Reflection

Below, I added a reflection for demonstration purposes. As you can see, this visual effect is interesting and you

can control how much reflection is displayed. But for most situations, it is not as useful. Simply, check the

reflection box on the right and adjust as needed.

Adding a Textbox

The first thing I want to do is add a “Text Box” with a title in the beginning of the presentation. By clicking the

“T” tab in the upper right of the window, you can get into the text entry mode. To add a text box, you simply

click the Add Text Box button in the lower right of the window.

When you click the button, a text box will be inserted in a timeline at the scrubber point. A text box will also

appear in your PREVIEW window. Simply type what you wish in the box. You can edit font, text size,

alignment and even if you want an outline around the text. You can also choose to superimpose the text or put a

Reflection

Properties

And

Resizer

Preview

Window

background behind it. If using as a title box, you will probably want a colored/black background behind it. If

you are superimposing the text then you will not. Put a check in the Backdrop box if you want a background

and uncheck the box if you want to superimpose.

You can pick up the text and move it to where you want on the screen. From the timeline, you can edit when

you want to text to appear and how long you wish it to be visible on the screen. By sliding the text box left or

right, you can place it when you want it to appear. But grabbing

Cutting/Cropping Video

Cutting or cropping your videos can be easy. To “Crop” from the beginning or end is a three-step process.

1. Highlight the clip to crop down on the timeline. You will see a “Yellow” frame around the clip.

2. Place the “Scrubber” in the specific location when you wish to make the cut. Either you are cutting

everything before the scrubber or everything after the scrubber. In this case I am cropping from the

scrubber to the end.

3. Pull-down the EDIT menu and choose “Trim Front to Scrubber” or “Trim End to Scrubber”. In this

case I am selected the later, Trim End to Scrubber. ***You may have to repeat these steps for BOTH

clips.

Editing within the video is similar to editing using iMovie. Basically, you will have to cut the bad piece out of

the middle and slide the two good parts together. Here are the steps.

1. Highlight the clip to crop down on the timeline. You will see a “Yellow” frame around the clip.

2. Place the “Scrubber” in the specific location when you wish to make the cut.

3. Pull-down the EDIT menu and choose Split Clip. You will have to repeat steps 1, 2 and 3 to make

the second cut.

4. Then be sure to highlight the portion that you want to delete and press the “Delete Key”

5. Then slide the two good clips together. ***You may have to repeat these steps for BOTH clips.

Adding More Clips

You may want to add more clips or redo a portion of your presentation. If so, it is very easy to do. Simply, pull

down the file menu and choose “New Recording”. Then, like before do the “Set Up”, click RECORD and do

your work. Click “Stop Recording” like before. But this time a window will pop up, see below right to ask if

you want to ADD the recording to an existing presentation. Choose that and then the document. In this

example the document is Email Example. Click OK.

Adding a Callout

A “Callout” will help focus the viewer on something in particular. First, select the clip you wish to add the

callout too down in the timeline area. I am choosing the screen. Place the “Scrubber”, the time line where you

want the callout to occur. Pull down the ACTIONS menu and choose “Add Callout”.

Notice a HELP window pops up to give you some information. It is a video that you can play to show you how

the task you are attempting is done.

Then you will see all your clips to the right side of

your preview/edit window. You then need to drag

your clips down into the appropriate “Timelines”

where they go and line them up in sequence.

The purpose of a callout is to highlight the cursor/pointer for a time to bring it to the attention of the viewer.

Below you can see the “Spotlight” effect around the mouse pointer. You can see the “Red” scrubber down on

the timeline and the “Callout” also on the timeline. You may grab either edge of the callout to change the

length or you can pickup and move the callout to better suit your needs.

You can also get many special affect in with a callout. One in particular that is interesting is the ZOOM feature.

Make sure the callout is highlighted. To do some zooming, first click on the “Arrow” tab in the upper right of

the main window. This will take you to the CALLOOUT PROPERTIES area. Here you can adjust the side of

the callout, to “Zoom” in to make it easier for the viewer to see what you are pointing out.

Exporting a Video

When you are done editing and you want to create a self-contained video, pull down the FILE menu in the

toolbar at the top of the page and choose Export . . .

Next, you will have to determine the size and quality that best meets your needs. The bigger the size and the

better the quality, the larger the file becomes.

Below, you can see the formats available. Choose the best quality you can, depending on what you are going to

do with it. For example, to burn it to a CD/DVD I would choose HIGH quality. To upload to a server, you can

go for a lower quality. It may be something that you need to test to find what works best for your situation.

You can even choose a “Windows Media” format. When you have made your selections, click the EXPORT

button. Depending on the size/quality of the video, it may take 2 minutes to create the video or 15 minutes.