Making Videos

Over the past 2 years, I've received several questions about how I make my videos. I work for a gym that doesn't allow me to video tape my actual classes, so when I decided to start making videos, I had to come up with a way to do it that didn't involve taping in a gym. My husband was familiar with some video-producing software, so he set up a green screen in our basement, put my step in front of it, and we were off!

I tape my routines on my video camera, bring the video into my computer, and then tell the software that everything that is the color of the green screen is to be "clear." Then, I underlay a photograph in the background (pre-modified to add my name), and the software knows that wherever the green screen is actually shows the photograph instead. That's why sometimes in my videos it looks like I'm stepping on something in the photograph -- that's when I have stepped onto my green screen, which does extend onto the floor.

Next, I overlay the music, carefully aligning the beats so that it looks like I actually used that music when I was taping. Last, I put in the words, and render the video into the format required by the websites I use. The whole process can take about an hour, depending on whether I goofed during the taping and need to cut and splice parts together. That can be very time consuming, so I try really hard to be perfect when I do the taping!!

I've had a lot of fun making these videos... selecting the background pictures, figuring out how to sneak my name in somewhere onto the photograph, and selecting the music. So, that's how I do it!