Behind the Scenes: How I make my videos.
People often ask me what goes into making one of my weekly videos. The short answer? A lot! But let me walk you through the process.
Pretty much every video I create has a sample project to go along with it. When I get an idea, I try to come up with a project that will not only help explain the topic but maybe even sneak in something extra that I think is useful or cool.
Once I’ve built the project, I tear it down and rebuild it from scratch—this time while writing a script that walks through everything I’m doing. I use a Markdown editor called Typora because it lets me include code snippets right in the body of the script, which is super handy.
Next, I open up Camtasia and record myself building the app again, following the script. I don’t talk during this part—just focus on the steps. When I’m done, I do a rough edit to cut out any mistakes or re-takes so the video flows smoothly.
Then I rewatch the whole thing and tweak the script in case I did something out of order or slightly differently during the recording.
Now it’s time for audio. I use Audacity to record myself reading the script. If I mess up, I just snap my fingers and repeat the line—it makes it easier to find those spots later when I’m editing the audio.
Once that’s all cleaned up, I bring the audio into Camtasia and sync it with the video. That’s also when I add any highlights, callouts, or visual touches to help things stand out. I’ll speed up some sections or freeze frames when needed to match the audio timing.
Almost done! After that, I go through the video one more time and add zooms and pans to help focus attention on what’s being coded or explained.
The very last step is recording the intro and adding the closing. The intro is the only time I’m actually on camera. I don’t do live coding and talking—I leave that to the folks who are better at it than me!
Altogether, the process takes about three days per video, which is why I usually stick to one per week.
Hopefully, the time and care I put into these videos come through when you watch them. I know my style isn’t for everyone, so I always include chapter markers in the video description so you can skip to the parts that interest you most.
And hey—if you find my pace a little slow, feel free to bump the playback speed up to 1.25x or even faster. I do that all the time with videos and podcasts myself.
