I recently published my twelfth Skillshare class, and over the years I’ve experimented with different approaches to sequencing the filming and editing of a class. I thought it would be interesting and useful to document these and share what I’ve learned from the different approaches. 

Approach One: Film one whole class, then edit that class

In this approach I film the entire class in one or two days (preferably one). This includes all the demonstrations and ‘talking head’ videos (where I talk directly to camera). I then spend the next few weeks editing it. And yes, it usually is multiple weeks. It can take 3-4 weeks for me to fully edit a one hour class.

I’ve used this approach for six of my twelve classes to date and it’s my second favourite way of sequencing the filming and editing. The things I like best about it are:

• It gets the filming over with in one day. Getting everything set up to film can be time consuming and fiddly so only having to do it once it a blessing. 
• It avoids the pitfalls of having to set up and record multiple times – there’s always something you forget or that goes wrong (I made a bingo card of them – see below) so only having one day for that to happen reduces frustration
• It feels like a manageable amount of work. I’ll say more about this in the second approach, batching, but one class – for me – is about the maximum amount of filming I can easily accommodate in one day.

It does have drawbacks though:

• Reshoots. If there’s something wrong with the filming – say I’ve left a window open and the background noise is not easily edited out (real example) – or I had mic issues and the audio is unsalvageable (this has also happened) – or there’s been a wardrobe malfunction I didn’t notice at the time and can’t easily fix with clever editing (yep, that’s also happened) then I have to reshoot everything and that is absolutely soul destroying. It’s a whole other day I have to find, which isn’t always easy and will usually set me back at least a week. 
• It makes the art-making feel less pleasant for me because I have to do it all at once. For some classes, that’s fine, but for others, especially where there are multiple projects (like my bookbinding class), it can be a lot. It’s draining and I don’t do my best work. I feel that the quality of the last thing I make is usually not as good as the first.

If you want to do this approach, here’s something that can make it easier:

Shoot some test footage at the start with everything fully set up and CHECK YOUR FOOTAGE on as big a screen as possible and with headphones. Only once you are happy with everything – lighting, sound quality, desk set-up, what’s visible behind you, etc. – then start recording your lessons. 

Approach Two: Batching, i.e. Film multiple classes at the same time, then edit those classes

In this approach, which I tried in twice, creating five classes in total, I plan and film multiple lessons at the same time. The first time I tried batching I did two classes at once, the second time I did three classes. The theory is that this method makes you make efficiency gains and are more productive as you’re filling the editing ‘hopper’ with lots of stuff, so once you get into a rhythm editing, you can keep going and get more done in less time.

It’s my least favourite approach and one I will (probably) never do again. That said, it does have one good point: 

• Can get more stuff filmed in one go – in theory there are efficiency gains to be had.

But – for me – this is more than cancelled out by the drawbacks:

• All the issues of Approach One are magnified. If you need to re-film, you’ve got multiple classes to re-film. The art-making can become draining. 
• It also adds to the pre-filming time. It usually takes me about a month to work through an idea for a class and develop that into something that I think will provide educational value. If I am them doing multiple classes – even if they are related – then the development time is increased in proportion to the number of classes I’m doing all at once. 
• Most importantly, I don’t find it fun, or even pleasant. Piling the work up like this can feel overwhelming at worst, and just plain boring at best. Life is hard enough, there’s no sense in making it harder for the sake of ‘efficiency’.
• It never actually made class production any quicker for me.

All in all, this approach – which is cherished by many – did absolutely not work for me. It didn’t gain me any time, and just added stress. 

If you do want to do this approach, here’s something that can make it easier:

In addition to heeding the advice for my first approach, make the classes simple/easy. This should make them quicker to develop, and reduce the filming fatigue.

Approach Three: Edit on the go, i.e. Film one lesson, then edit that lesson, and repeat

This is how I made my most recent class Breaking Through Hesitation: Create with Courage. It came from considering the question ‘what would make class production more fun’, and then happening across a YouTuber (Kokohome) who has a similar workflow.   

In this approach, I filmed one single lesson, and then edited it before moving onto the next lesson. I usually managed to do both filming and editing in the same day, sometimes even doing a quick filming session on my lunchbreak, then doing my first round of edits that same evening. 

For the lessons that are mainly me talking to the camera (the introduction, conclusion, etc), I ended up shooting all of those on the same day as they were so quick to do, but the demonstrations were all done on different days.

This is, hands down, my favourite approach. Why do I like it? Well, I’ve found it has the following benefits:

• Catching mistakes early. If there is something that would require a re-film, it’s not so painful as it’s just one lesson, and it’s quick to do. If you start editing immediately after filming, depending on your schedule you might be able to re-shoot the problematic bit again immediately.
• It makes the art-making feel more pleasant for me because I was just doing one piece per day, so I didn’t feel particularly rushed or drained
• It removes the feeling I often get when there is a gap between filming and editing, that what I’ve filmed isn’t going to be any good. I get a sense of dread at times, worrying about what issues will emerge that will either take hours to fix in the editing suite or require a re-shoot. With this approach that was completely eradicated.
• It breaks up the dreaded ‘editing cave’ time – that period of 3-4 weeks where I’m stuck staring at my screen. Instead, the editing time was punctuated with periods of art-making and filming, which was a much more pleasant experience.
• And overall, it makes it more fun. This is personal, clearly, but for me this made editing more of a fun thing I got to do, instead of a chore. That’s priceless.

Drawbacks (I’m nit picking a bit to find something here):

• It stretches the filming to last over a fortnight, instead of in just one day. Depending on how you feel about filming that might be a problem.
• It brings the pitfall of having to set up and record multiple times – there’s usually always something you forget or that goes wrong. That said, doing small filming sessions every day made me better at remembering all the things you need to remember (charge the camera, turn on the lights, close the windows, etc etc.) 

If you want to do this approach, something that makes it easier:

Make your filming set-up as low-lift as possible, so that you can shoot quickly. For me this meant a bit of experimentation to find a spot to film in that didn’t take a lot of furniture moving and rearranging a room to happen, and also having a lighting set-up that was quick to put up and take down again. And have a checklist so you remember all the things you need to do.

I know everyone has their own take on this, and the received wisdom I’ve always been given is that batching is the way to go if you want to teach online. But alternatives are available. This last approach I’ve mentioned is a path that’s working for me, and maybe you’d like it too.

You might be interested in my other class production blog:

Different Approaches to Recording Audio