Facilitating is not for the faint of heart. Many people say that they fear public speaking more than they fear death. Then, to add that, being recorded- most people would say, “No thank you!" What I have created is a network of professionals or Final Cut enthusiasts and my local workshops is something that I, myself would want to attend- for free. Once I made the decision to film myself, I started thinking of more ways to make this workshop amazing and I felt that my workshop was so full of information, that I would want to buy it. Which is why I'm selling it. Also, many people wanted to see it but could not attend. Now they can! I really considered giving it away online but this does take a lot of work. 

Here's what I learned on a technical perspective: 

 First, I wanted to present at the front of the studio next to the screen, instead of behind the HD projector. I went to purchase an HDMI cable that would be long enough to run to the projector- it was about $150 at Best Buy. Of course I could purchase something cheaper online, or just use my Apple TV via extending the desktop. I just did not want to be concerned with low Wifi connectivity. What I found was a wireless HDMI transmitter that did not require wifi. It was also $150, made by ActionTec.

 Although there was a small delay, I had no dropouts or freezes. This was astonishing to me as I was presenting video while recording the screen. I'm using a 2012 High-end MacBook Pro with Retina. The output was 1080p which was exactly what I wanted to put for sale in my store online. The file size is pretty hefty for a 60 minute workshop, but I think the quality of the compression is worth it. I set up 3 cameras, a wireless sennheiser lav transmitting to a Zoom H6 outputting to the camera. The Zoom recorder also had a shotgun microphone for audience questions and recorded both channels separately to an SD card. The output to the camera from the Zoom had both channels mixed together, but this was only to get faster sync when doing multicam editing in FCP X because the quality would be much better than the camera's audio. As a backup audio source I recorded straight into my iPhone using a Rode SmartLav. Yup- I was wearing two Lavs. If you are interested in downloading my workshop, you can purchase it here. 

Oh, and the secret to filming yourself in front of a crowd to getting over the weirdness, a bottle of Francis Ford Coppola.