Most of what comes up in search results for this “Online Course Video Production” is product pages from websites like Coursera, Skillshare, Udemy and Berklee. All these have courses on video production. That’s not the same thing as this article. That said, this article is intended for the creator who already has an established course outline (or has already completed filming three modules), but now needs a production “playbook” to follow for the remaining modules. A studio set-up, a typical production day, how to create your own edit pipeline, and (the big one that almost nobody talks about in detail): when you should stop shooting yourself, and start handing over the camera to someone else. The patterns described above are based on our experience working with course creators at Vidpros weekly. For a longer pillar covering curriculum and scriptwriting templates, see our complete guide to educational video production.
What does “video production for online courses” really mean to course developers
Video for courses is not video for commercials. Video for courses is not meant to be flashy. It’s meant to show a paying student something he/she/they can apply, in an acceptable format, for as long as needed to deliver the lesson. You’ll want some clear audio. Some watchable light. A clean-editing script. And a pace the student can easily follow. Bluecarrot’s breakdown of costs for this type of video production gives us a rough estimate of the total amount of time it will take to produce each minute of video – approximately 2 to 4 hours of editing for each minute of video. This is where the discussion around budgets should begin – not around price of cameras.
The majority of course content is delivered via either talking heads (you on camera) and/or screen recordings (your screen, your voice, occasional inset of your face). Start building with these first.
Setting up a studio on a coaching budget
There are many things to consider when setting up your studio. There are many ways to get started. But order counts. First-time producers tend to spend too much money on the camera, and not nearly enough money on what the students see. In terms of what students notice: audio first; lighting second; camera third; background last.
Audio: a USB condenser microphone such as the Shure MV7 ($249) or Rode PodMic USB ($199), if you plan on recording in one place. Plan on moving? Rode Wireless GO II lavalier ($299). Any other option, even a $60 Fifine USB mic, sounds dramatically better than using your computer’s internal microphones.
Lighting: light is everywhere. Use two soft lights instead of one harsh light. A two-light softbox kit usually ranges in price from $100-$300 (Neewer, GVM, Godox). Position the key light at a 45-degree angle to your face and position the fill light on the opposing side at half power. This covers approximately 80% of the decision-making process regarding lighting. If you have a window in your room use that as your key light and add one fill panel to help manage shadows.
Camera: your modern smartphone (iPhone 13 or higher, Pixel 7 or higher) will shoot a 1080p talking head that no one will complain about. Do you want a shallow depth-of-field? Buy a used Sony ZV-E10 or Fujifilm X-S10 with a 35mm lens for approximately $700-$1,000. 1080p is the LMS standard, which Trainer Central explains in their video production guide.
Space: room tone absorbs sound and reflects it back. Soft furnishings absorb sound while hard-walled rooms reflect sound. Recording in a bedroom with a bed, rug, curtains and a closet full of clothes will sound better than recording in a “professional” home office with hardwood and bare walls. Record 30 seconds of room tone at the beginning of every recording session.
A reasonable starter kit: $500-$1,200. Everything included.
Pre-production: scripting and module outlines for clean editing
Scripts are always written first. The five minutes you save by being loose during filming will cost you ninety minutes in editing, every single Module.
An organized script will help with creating clarity when teaching. The intent of a well-created instructional video is to take as much “cognitive load” off the learner as possible. In casual conversation, we often use “filler” words, go back over previous information and add-in “tangential” information; all normal things in casual conversation, however, distracting for viewers watching your educational video. Through scripting and refinement, you can create a concise version of the material focusing on the most valuable points, so each minute of time spent viewing your video is directly focused toward meeting the intended learning objectives while maintaining a professional tone. It is this type of detail that sets a spontaneous video apart from one that students pay money to complete.
Here are Three basic rules for writing scripts that allow them to be edited cleanly:
- Write a short outline (five to ten bullet points) first, then write the entire script from that outline. Read it aloud. If you stumble over a word/sentence, the sentence is too long.
- Plan b-roll (slides, screen captures etc.) inside your script. Write [slide: Three mistakes] next to whatever part of the script needs to cover you when you cut a flub.
- Divide modules into five to twelve minute segments. Coursera researched and discussed this in their video production course, stating that completion rates decline sharply after twelve minutes.
A completed script for a ten-minute Module typically contains somewhere between 1,300-1,500 words at 130-150 wpm. Write in Google Docs, copy/paste into a teleprompter app (Teleprompter Premium, $24.99 lifetime subscription or BIGVU on iOS, $9.99/month) and read it back at 80% of normal speed on the first take to get comfortable with your cadence. Our talking-head shoot mechanics page includes our one-page setup checklist.
One-person production day workflow
Schedule an entire day. Four to six hours of recording yields thirty to forty-five minutes of usable course video per Bluecarrot. Rushing a session because you have other commitments to attend to is how you will end up with Three hours of recorded material and only one usable take.
It is very tempting on recording days to become your own critic (which can make it difficult to avoid re-recording parts multiple times). The problem is that you have limited amounts of energy. So approach this recording session as if you were performing: deliver each part with a high level of energy throughout the session. Accept some minor flaws along the way; a little bit of rushing through one or two phrases, or a slight hesitation will be easily taken care of when editing. However, an obvious decrease in enthusiasm/energy or a tired delivery cannot be fixed by simply editing. Your goal should be to get a ‘good enough’ take for all parts so you do not drain your mental resources from start-to-finish.
Setup: thirty minutes. Place camera on tripod at eye level. Check that both lights are positioned to prevent face shadows. Check that mic levels peak between -12 and -6 dBFS. Perform test recording sixty seconds in length and play back via headphones. Listen for room noise/rumble/mouth clicks/laptop fan. Fix everything you hear prior to recording seriously.
Slates every take. Say the Module number and take number out loud at the beginning of every take. “Module 3, take 2”. Future you will thank you when you go to sort 47 clips in the edit.
Two to Three takes per segment. If take #2 is good enough, send it off. Did you mess up a sentence? Stop recording for two seconds (edit break point), repeat from the top of the sentence. Do not attempt to pick up in the middle of a sentence. You will never match the energy.
Record screen content separately. OBS Studio (free) or ScreenFlow ($169 one-time payment) for Mac for recording screen content independently. Sync audio later. Recording screen plus webcam plus talking head all at once is a bad workflow practice.
Backup before stopping. External SSD + cloud storage. Two separate backup locations for every recording session.
The editing process: cuts, captions, lower thirds, and b-roll
Most people can accomplish 90% of everything they will ever want to do with their video through the free version of DaVinci Resolve, which is something anyone can learn to do in a weekend. If you primarily do screen recordings? You may want to consider Camtasia at $20/month for lecture-style templates. If you simply want to edit talking heads and are willing to do some basic text editing, Descript at $16/month annual can shrink a four-hour talking-head video down to 90 minutes. Adobe Premiere Pro at $22.99/month is the industry standard if you already know how to use it. Apple’s Final Cut Pro at $299 (for Mac users only) is likely the single best investment a creator could make who is planning to film fifty or more modules.
Choose one – do not shop around. Changing from one video editing program to another while creating a series of videos is essentially its own form of hell.
Basic video editing process:
- First rough cut: add recorded segments in the correct order. Remove dead air and flubbed sections. This step should result in a 30 to 60 minute video for each completed module.
- Second step – add b-roll and graphics: add images, animations, screenshots, lower thirds and other visual elements that help tell your story.
- Third step – audio polish: make sure your volume levels are normalized at -16 LUFS. Use a light compression effect on your voice and eliminate background noise such as humming.
- Fourth step – captions: use an automated caption tool and manually proof-read every line. Automated captions tend to miss product names and words that are pronounced similarly (homonyms). Coursera’s production course found captions can lift completion rates by 40 to 80%.
- Fifth step – lower thirds: display the speaker name within the first ten seconds of the video. Display section header titles at the end of each Module.
- Sixth step – export: save your final edited video as an H.264 MP4 file @ 1080p, 8-10 Mbps. MP4 files play anywhere – including Kajabi, Thinkific, Teachable, and almost all learning management systems (LMS).
For the second half of producing video – what to outsource versus what to do yourself – see our what to outsource vs keep in-house guide for per-step decisions.
Decision framework for outsource vs do it yourself
Your answer depends on two primary pieces of data:
- First – budget per module: how much money do you have available to spend on creating a single video?
- Second – hours available per week: what amount of time per week can you dedicate to creating videos?
- Third – frequency of updates: how frequently do you plan on updating existing content?
If you have fewer than $1,500 per finished module in budget, you have 12 to 20 hours/week available for video creation, your content will only update quarterly, and you’re willing to invest 4 to 6 weeks to develop skills necessary for video editing – DIY makes the most sense. Conversely – if you charge greater than $200/hour for your services, recording yourself for “free” creates a mathematical problem, you require polished video modules in less than 30 days, or DIY is slowing down your shipping rate – outsourcing makes the most sense.
We have actual examples from LearnExperts and Bluecarrot of pricing:
- Talking head live-action video finished: $35-$65/minute
- Video recording + edit + caption = $400-$1,200/video
- Animated explainer: $600-$1,500/finished minute
- Hybrid model (you record video; editor finishes): $300-$600/module
While hybrid is going to be the preferred model for most coaches, there is a lot to consider here. First – shoot the live-action talking-head portion of the video in your own studio. Then – send the raw footage off to an editor to complete the rest of the work (cuts, captions, b-roll & color). Using a hybrid model will reduce production time on video edits by approximately 60%. More importantly, you won’t pay per minute for a full-service production company. Our camera comparison article provides more insight regarding whether or not spending extra money on equipment is worthwhile at each level of production.
Recommended tools and software stack that we actually recommend
Recordings. Riverside.fm ($24/month Pro) is great for remotely interviewing guests. Records local lossless on both ends and syncs to cloud. Includes a built-in “Magic Editor” that allows for first-pass cuts on your recordings. For screen captures we recommend using either ScreenFlow on Mac ($169 one-time) or Camtasia on PC ($299 one-time).
Edits. Descript ($16/month annually) has made huge strides in recent years in making it possible to edit just by typing. This includes automatically transcribing spoken words into typed format as well as allowing you to insert graphics directly onto the timeline. Also included is DaVinci Resolve (free) which is an excellent timeline-based editing software without having to shell out money. Lastly – if you already know Premiere Pro ($22.99/month), stick with it!
Transcription/captioning. Both Descript and Gillian Perkins’ breakdown of her favorite course filming workflow discuss how fast she can create transcripts for her videos. In addition – YouTube auto-captioning works ok – but requires someone to listen through and correct mistakes (product names and homophones).
Host your videos. Vimeo Pro ($20/month) is great for viewing your branded video ads with no advertising displayed. Wistia ($24/month) provides very detailed video analytics. Finally – if you just want to host your videos somewhere where they can be accessed easily – YouTube unlisted videos are free.
Create visual elements. Create presentation-style decks using Keynote (free on Mac) or Google Slides. For creating low-res thumbnails, title cards and lower thirds – Canva Pro ($14.99/month) is a great option.
Total monthly cost of $80-$100 (or less depending upon how many subscriptions you cancel in favor of using Resolve and free hosting).
Frequently asked questions
What is the time required to produce an hour-long course?
DIY: from script to export – 60-100 hours, typically stretched out over 4-8 weeks. Hybrid: 20-30 hours of your time over 3-5 weeks. Full-service production house: vendor turnaround typically takes 4-8 weeks.
Do I need a green screen?
Almost never – a neutral wall with one piece of branded art reads much better than a composite image.
1080p or 4K?
Use 1080p. 4K will double file size and double editing time on most laptops while providing students no real advantage viewing a 13″ monitor.
Under $100 best mic?
15′ cable Fifine K669B ($35), Samson Q2U ($69), or Audio-Technica ATR2100x-USB ($79). Each sounds dramatically better than your laptop microphone.
Smartphone or DSLR?
Smartphone for the first course. iPhone 13 or later, Pixel 7 or later, 1080p @ 30fps. Mirrorless camera once you’ve shipped a full course.
Adobe Premiere Pro or Final Cut Pro?
On Mac and don’t already know Premiere? Final Cut at $299 one-time saves you $275 in the first year. On Windows or already have Premiere – stay where you are.
If you would like to completely bypass building out an in-house video production studio and instead want your modules edited by individuals that are already creating video content for courses daily,Vidpros has a flat fee for their monthly editing service. This allows Vidpros to take your raw recordings of each module and produce a completed final product. We will edit the first module at no cost using this option as long as you can provide us with a sample take.
