What software is used to create video presentations like this?

November 16, 2017 4:41 AM

What is the likely process and software for creating Google Developer videos like this one? It's basically a slideshow, but with lots of builds and transitions, and some subtle sound effects, perfectly synchronised to the audio. They also have a speaker overlaid on top.

Taking just the animated slides for starters, most of that could be done with the animation tools built in to Powerpoint, Keynote or Google Slides. However, I'm guessing synchronising that to the audio is likely to be painful.

As for the speaker, I'm assuming you'd need a greenscreen setup to record video of the speaker with transparency, and you'd need video editing software to composite that on top of the slides.

If I were to create videos like this myself, what software would people recommend? Is Keynote or Google Slides a viable option? Would Premiere Pro do everything I want? Or is there something simpler, geared towards glorified slideshows?

posted by snarfois to Computers & Internet (6 answers total)

Best answer: I think you're on the right track. I'm guessing, based on my offhand exposure to this stuff working in film and TV studios, that they would've created most of the elements in different pieces of software - Google Slides or equivalent for the slides, the screencast software built into OS X for the live code examples, and green screen video recording with a teleprompter for the speaker - and then combined them using editing software like Premiere Pro (or Avid Media Composer, or Final Cut Pro). I'm also guessing that the camera moves (zooming in and out on the speaker) were done in the editing software, which means that they probably recorded the speaker at a high resolution so that it didn't look bad when they zoomed in.

Given the professional look of the production and the number of videos in the series, I assume that they would've sent it to a professional editor for editing (who'd use Avid, Premiere or FCP) and would've had the sound design done by a professional audio post house (who'd use something like Pro Tools or Cubase). However, if you've already got Premiere Pro, I think you could do most of what you need audio-wise in it without the need for additional software. You'll want to download one of the many free sound sample libraries that are available for the dings and the pings and the swooshes and the squishes.
posted by clawsoon at 5:52 AM on November 16, 2017 [1 favorite]

Two more things:

A number of the visual elements may have been created in Photoshop, in cases where the slideshow software didn't cut it. GIMP is available as a free alternative. You will learn about alpha channels if you don't know about them already.

It looks like there's no direct way to convert Google Slides to video. You can either screencast your slide presentation, or you can use PowerPoint, which does have a video export option.

Good luck!
posted by clawsoon at 6:05 AM on November 16, 2017

One more thing: If you don't already have Premiere Pro and you're looking for a cheaper option, my colleagues have regularly gotten requests from animators and leads for local installs of Wondershare or Vegas Movie Maker. They lie in between the free stuff and the very expensive professional editing software in terms of complexity and capability. They might be able to do everything you need for editing together your elements, while having a much lower learning curve and a much cheaper price tag.
posted by clawsoon at 6:25 AM on November 16, 2017 [2 favorites]

If you are doing this with Adobe software, I think you'd be using After Effects instead of Premiere to create and animate the graphics.
posted by beyond_pink at 7:15 AM on November 16, 2017 [2 favorites]

My only-semi-professional opinion is that you're primarily looking at AfterEffects there.
posted by soren_lorensen at 9:33 AM on November 16, 2017

I forgot about After Effects - definitely look into it.
posted by clawsoon at 5:28 PM on November 16, 2017