Thank You, VideoScribe!

I want to give a shoutout to VideoScribe for making great software. I have watched a lot of explainer videos online, but before learning about VideoScribe, I assumed that only professional graphic artists could make white board animated videos. VideoScribe was so easy to learn how to use just by experimenting and playing around.

Adding little bits of animation and simulating writing on a write board alters a boring slide presentation into engaging video. My film has almost 8 minutes of video created in VideoScribe. That is almost a third of the whole film! All of the dense and complex educational information is presented in those 8 minutes. I have to explain what benzoic acid is, discuss survey statistics, and talk about FDA lawsuits. Without VideoScribe I would have been stuck with two unappealing choices: 1) remove a lot of important educational information or 2) accept that most people my age will use my film to cure insomnia.

I previewed the film before the final cut with several people of various ages from middle school to my grandfather, who is a retired professor and university dean. I like to watch reactions to specific parts of the film and see where engagement is high and where it wanes. Although I sprinkled in some live shots during my narration of the explainer video segments in order to help keep viewers attention, most people instinctively lean in more during the explainer videos. My grandfather was blown away that I could create this kind of animation on my own, as an actual white board was an innovative classroom tool when he was teaching graduate students. More importantly though, everyone seems attracted to animation regardless of age. Even when it is just a disembodied hand drawing a chart or dialog bubbles popping up over a vape pen, the animation seems to engage people to listen to my narration.

Thank you, VideoScribe!