Creating a Video Without a Camcorder

You don't have a way to make a video recording because you don't have a movie camera or the one you do have is crappy. You're not particularly thrilled about spending 100's of dollars for a camera right now either. Well you’re screwed. No not really - there is a way to make a video without a recording camera. The caveat is that you will not be able to make a video with real time - real life video photography without a camcorder, so in a sense you are screwed.

The good news is there is an alternative method for creating very good videos without ever using any kind of handheld recording device. The trick is to use Microsoft’s PowerPoint Presentation application and a screen recording application like Camtasia Studio. If you've never used either of these programs don't worry, both are relatively easy to use but will require and hour or so to master.

To create the video you first have to determine the topic, create the text or verbiage you want to communicate then acquire the graphics appropriate for the presentation. Once you've done that, it's a matter of laying out or designing the presentation slides complemented with the animation to bring the video to life.

Once you're happy with the PowerPoint presentation you'll need to run and record it with a screen capture application. I use Camtasia Studio for this but there are other screen capture tools available. If you’re not familiar with screen capture it is the process of recording the activity on a PC screen while it’s happening in real time. In this case, you'll run and record the PowerPoint presentation you created.

Once you've made a recording of the PowerPoint you can import the recording into your video editing program then edit and produce the video for your audience. You can also at this time add a background sound track or even voice over narration making the video real professional like! Note with Camtasia Screen Recorder you can record a voice over while running the PowerPoint.

Here's one more super secret (it's not really a secret) that I'll tell you about. Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 has been redesigned with some fantastic features to make unimaginable good videos. PowerPoint 2010 offers new, dynamic slide transitions and animation effects that look similar to graphics you’d see on TV. Go here to see a list of the new features in MS PowerPoint 2010. If you want to go over the top with the creation of a marketing video or any other video for that matter, then this is the application you'll want to use.

There is no requirement to purchase PowerPoint 2010 to make good videos; older versions of PowerPoint will work as well. However PowerPoint 2010 will do an incredible job and make your videos the envy of your friends, colleagues and customers.

Here's the secondary trick for creating a video without a camcorder. Use the PowerPoint feature called "animations". With the Custom Animation feature you can add professional looking dynamic effects to the graphics and text you add to the presentation. You can make the graphics fly in, bounce in, fade in and with a number of other special effects give the video an active professional look.