Sharing work on your webcam
YouTube - Watch this post's supporting video.
We can talk about showing prepared decks.
We can talk about showing creative work, whether that’s visual design, music or motion graphics.
Or we can just talk about sketching an idea.
Let’s take it in reverse order.
Sketching out an idea
If you get an idea while you’re talking to someone, a sketch is a great way to share it.
Now you could write on a bit of paper and hold it up to the camera. If the lighting is okay and the camera can focus up-close, maybe that’ll be alright. But it’s awkward.
Another option is Apple’s cursed Desk View feature.
But really you just want to be using Video Pencil.
With Video Pencil you see your computer’s webcam on your iPad and when you draw, it comes up on your computer’s webcam.
If you’re on Zoom, soon you’ll be able to connect Video Pencil with a Zoom App, on Mac or Windows.
For now, you’ll want to be on a Mac and use CueCam Presenter.
Download CueCam on your Mac, go through the installation process.
Then set CueCam as your camera in Zoom.
Put Video Pencil on your iPad, pull it out whenever you’re ready, and sketch away!
Or if your background is a bit busy, you can pull out a Blank Board with CueCam.
If it’s a real keeper, Video Pencil lets you save and share your finished drawing.
Now go and make some of that Sheep Saddle money.
Sending work-in-progress
Back in 2008 a friend brought me on to make some music for a brand marketing project for an agency.
The brief was vague and the pay was barely worth it, but I submitted some music, mostly using loop libraries and some samples I had lying around, and sent over some mp3s.
That’s when all the vague feedback began.
Well, that’s how I remember it, I found the email thread today and it was mostly “Can you make it a bit less dark?”. I was still pretty sad back then so I didn’t really understand what they meant.
Then the creative director came back with a list of songs to listen to, about a month too late. Rather than start again, I made my excuses and abandoned the project.
That experience made me grateful that I could keep my creative work separate from things that make me money, and stuck with me for a long time.
Jumping back in
I recently scored a documentary film for a local director.
When he asked for an update but I didn’t have anything finished to show yet, I used CueCam to make a video showing what I’d done so far, along with notes about my process.
I shared Logic Pro into CueCam (the audio comes in via CueCam’s Screen Sharing feature) and with my face cam on top. This meant I could show the timeline, talk about the arrangement and justify my approach.
When the music was playing back, I could wince at the bits I was least happy with.
I could also wave around physical instruments I’d used.
I’d even recorded video footage of the original recording, so I included that too.
Looking back, the video was pretty rambly, but it got the buy-in I needed, so I consider that a success.
A few weeks later I had a finished result, going from chaos to pretty good. (Check the video above to see a comparison!).
Creating a more structured video
CueCam makes it very easy to pull together a key points, images and video clips into smart cue cards.
If a slick presentation is what you need, it doesn’t take much to learn, but I won’t go into too much detail on that today.
Lessons
What did I really learn?
Sharing creative work over email is a terrible idea.
The client probably doesn’t have the technical language to explain why something isn’t working, and it can be infurating when you’re both speaking different languages.
You need to give enough context for your client to frame their feedback,and help them to buy into your approach.
The written word can only get you so far.
Video lets you synchronise what you’re saying with the media you’re sharing.
It lets you provide lots of extra information that would be an unreasonable thing for somebody to read through, but when put on video feels much more fair and acceptable.
Ideally you’d bring the client to your studio, sit them on a comfy sofa, give them a drink and tell them they’re looking great before pressing play, but when we’re working remotely, or asynchronously, we don’t have that option.
Making a video or doing it over a Zoom call with CueCam gets you pretty close.