Telestream in Nevada City offers ScreenFlow, a video editing and screen recording application for Mac boasting a range of editing tools, graphics and effects, and easy video sharing.
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VideoScribe
Score 8.7 out of 10
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British company Sparkol offers VideoScribe, a video editing application supporting whiteboard style animations and presentations.
ScreenFlow is well suited to the creation of short video projects. When the project becomes longer than 10 or 15 minutes, the application seems to bog down independently of the configuration of the hardware on which is running. if you want to create animations, this is not the application to use
If you need to spice up your presentations but don't have the money/budget/team for full video production or animation, this software is for you. In skilled hands it can also look as good if not better than productions that would cost 5-6x more, including turnaround time. I think the basics of video still apply here, you want to have a story, a narrative, some storyboarding and an idea of where you want to go, but the tools this software provides will help you achieve that (and edit it later) quickly and efficiently
Screenflow easily records your desktop video and/or audio, with functionality that works even across multi-monitor setups.
The program has really incredible features for basic cutting and editing of the capture within screenflow once it is done.
The program has an impressive amount of options for expecting different formats of video and audio. I'm most impressed by the lossless audio and uncompressed video formats that give the best possible quality for importing into video projects.
It's fast and customizable! You can import your own vector graphics and PNGs to utilize or take advantage of their huge library of resources, from graphics to icons and sound
You don't have to have a background in animation or graphics (though it doesn't hurt) to utilize the program, really expanding who in your company can take advantage of it
The support and resource documentation is amazing. From multiple series of videos to text-based help and I believe if i remember correctly even emails when I first signed up, it's hard to feel frustrated or lost with how to start with all the support available
Some of the vector rendering for imported pieces could still use work, I've discovered a workaround for adding a stroke to images to help smooth the edge but this can be tiring
The PNG rendering often seems to be under a super heavy compression and can pixellate even higher-res images that are brought in. I utilize almost exclusively custom created graphics to use in this program so seeing that fixed would be great
It would be nice if there was a super-basic audio editor in the program, even something that didn't do much but let you edit the start and end of clips
It's simple to set up and use. The editing features are laid out in an easy to understand way making it the perfect go-to tool for a novice video editor and an advanced one. I will use ScreenFlow at times over other bigger tools like Adobe Premiere because it's quicker to make changes to videos.
It works well and fits into my workflow. The tools are much easier and straightforward to work with. Other video editing tools like Adobe Premier or Final Cut Pro are simply too complicated for this type of task.
Beginning with Adobe Premiere Pro - which I still use, it is a computer-power consuming product and has many more options for video production that are needed for training videos. There have been a few times where I have used Premiere Pro and taken the video and added it to what I do in Screenflow. Additionally, Premiere is a subscription-based purchase / rent - which I am not fond of whatsoever. Screenflow is my first choice.
Adobe Captivate is again, too much offered - hence the higher pricing and then the complexities that are not necessary. I can accomplish all that I need with screenflow and at a more reasonable price ... AND it doesn't crash -- in four years it never has.
I keep Snagit on my computer but find it is better for still image / screenshots vs video screen capturing. Screenflow is much smoother, quicker, and complient.
Camtasia has not produced a "Good" Mac version - Screenflow is much better in producing what I want, speed, and compatibility. Not to mention, major price differences.
Every video or graphics program has its own purposes, VideoScribe is very specifically for taking images, moving them around with nice visual transitions and having something come together quickly. I've also used it to animate infographics in far less than half the time it would have taken me in Premiere. It definitely has serious limits in the type of animation you can do, which is important to be aware of, but if that works within the framework and scope of your budget, then it's incredible.
Remember - the only limits to how sophisticated you can make this look are how creative you are, to begin with. I did things with this program I don't think I'd seen in any of their samples, simply because I have a background in it all and had a new set of tools to play with.
Won over $300k+ in new biz by changing from an old PowerPoint deck to a short (4-5 min) video and reframing how we shared the information
Modified the same deck to be shown at annual conventions as a less "pitch" and more "informational" way of educating the audience, and never saw as many people visiting our booth for information. Likely could attribute additional new biz leads to this effort as well
Got to save a LOT of money in the time and production of the deck which was then able to be utilized instead on other things to make future decks better, like a new microphone and better monitors. Seriously I can't believe how inexpensive this program is
