Lightboard Videos
- Daniel Rogers
- Lane Donovan
The lightboard is located in the Albertsons Library Video Production Suite (VPS).
Prepare!
Know what you are going to cover and say. Bring an outline or script for your lecture.
Reserve your film session using the following web page: Space Availability - Video Production Studio - Library Hours and Reservations - Albertsons Library
Contact Beth Allan and Dan Bixby over at Albertson's Library and let them know that you’d like to use the lightboard in the VPS…
Dan Bixby is the System Admin, danbixby@boisestate.edu (208) 426-4024
Beth Allan provides Spec, Web & Tech Support eallen@boisestate.edu (208) 426-1290
Speaker should wear a plain black shirt so they don’t distract from the text they are writing.
Bring a bottle of water and chap stick.
Procedure
Stop by the circulation desk to checkout the key to the VPS (Video Production Suite), an SD card and the remote control for the camera.
Pickup the keys and SD card at the front desk, and enter the VPS.
The camera and microphone/lighting/etc are permanently mounted in the VPS, and should be plugged in and ready for use.
Position the lightboard within the tape marks
Setup tripods and top bar (stored in black bag in closet) to hold backdrop.
Unfold black backdrop and clip to top bar.
Setup lights on each side, just behind the backdrop, aimed toward the back of the lightboard, so the light bounces off the glass, illuminating the speaker.
Open blue bag, and remove cleaning supplies, markers and power adapter / cord.
Plug into outlet, and plug other 2 ends into lightboard.
Turn on lights you'll use.
Turn off unnecessary room lights.
Turn off white noises if possible.
Position shotgun mic behind glass just in front of speaker and up out of frame.
Speaker stands on his side that is opposite the hand he writes with, and writes on his dominant side, to avoid having his body overlap the text he is writing.
Best Practices
Make sure you’re aware of the space on the lightboard that is within the frame, and the space that is outside the frame. It should be marked, so you can keep your writing in frame.
Wear plain black clothing. No distracting text, logos or patterns on your clothing.
Film in small sections (5-10 minutes each, maximum), then check each segment for video/sound/quality on the computer. You can edit them together in post production.
Keep videos short if possible to maintain student engagement. If you need to erase (much) or add another board, it's probably too long.
Avoid writing in over your face. If you’re right handed, stand to the left, so you can write to the right. Or vice versa.
Pause before and after speaking while looking at the camera. This makes editing easier.
Smile!
Introduce yourself in the first video of a series. No need to introduce yourself on subsequent videos in the series. They already know who you are.
It doesn’t have to be perfect. As long as you’re communicating relevant info and the viewer can see what you’re writing / drawing, and hear what you’re saying, it’s fine.
Don’t repeat yourself. Viewers can always rewind or watch the video again.
Set focus to manual and adjust the camera so both the speaker and written text are in focus. (If you use auto-focus, it may drift in and out of focus which is annoying.)
Make use of different colored markers. Use complementary colors to increase difference between them.
If you have a complex diagram / formula / drawing to make, draw it out first. Then begin speaking. When editing, you can fast forward the drawing part, or skip to the completed drawing, in order to shorten the video.
Don’t fiddle with markers. It creates noise.
Markers
When writing on the board, look at what you're writing. When talking about something on the board, point at it and look at it.
When you aren't writing or pointing, look at the camera. It may be helpful to seat someone under the camera.
Leave yourself a window. Or at least try not to draw horizontal lines through your eyes or mouth.
When pointing, try to point from the side, not from the back, so your fingers stand out against the black background.
Don't hold the marker when you're gesturing or pointing. Put it down, or hold it in your other hand.
Put the marker caps somewhere else altogether. The markers will be ok without their caps for the duration of a video.
Dry-erase and wet-erase markers squeak. To reduce squeak, use fresh markers and don't push so hard against the glass. With a light touch, you can mostly avoid squeak.
Liquid chalk markers don't squeak, but they need more care to keep the tip fully saturated.
Markers are slow to erase. To avoid smearing erase with a dry cloth first, and then remove any residue with glass cleaner.
Adding Powerpoint Slides and / or Graphics
We can use software to add pre-made slides or graphics to your lightboard presentation. While recording you’ll be able to see where the slide content / graphics are, so you can point to them, draw or write on them, etc.
Set the background of your slides and graphics to black. Anything that is black, will be transparent in the final lightboard presentation, and will allow you to draw or write in that black area.
If you want to write or draw on your slide or graphic, you’ll need plenty of black space within it. For this reason, images composed of non-black outlines work great.
Set the page aspect ratio to 16x9 before you start. Powerpoint is not good with page layout changes later; it will stretch your slide content. Here's a template Powerpoint deck.
Leave space for you. You become a character inside your Powerpoint slide. (You can also put all your content in a traditional corner inset.)
Try something other than the usual "bulletpoint talk". How about adding hand-written items interspersed with just a few Powerpoint bullets. Hand-written check marks. Or cartoon sketches but no text.
You can use a second monitor for notes, or even as a teleprompter.
You can make secret dots in dry-erase black, on the glass, using your Powerpoint in advance. Then you can point straight at those, which is much slicker than the "weatherman wave".
You can run a movie in Powerpoint, and even point to things in a movie as it runs.
Videos Tutorials
Our in-house video done by a former student: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1o1984kugJjCTox-4Z6DxIHD4jG1y6nv5/view?usp=sharing
The Australians (we love these guys)
Steve Griffith's youtube page with tons of use of the board: Dr. Steve Griffiths ♾️
Tips on using PowerPoint slides or graphics with the lightboard