Fitness Videos
April 30, 2020
Origin Story
Early 2020, a pandemic hit the world causing many of our family and friends to practice social distancing (Remaining a recommended minimum of 6ft apart from those outside your household). Joe decided that he wanted to begin streaming his workouts online for his family. For his first session he used facebook live and held a private session for his family members. Him and I (Mary Anne) did the routine in our living room, but we didn’t plan ahead in terms of space and equipment and our internet connection was terrible so we heard there was a lot of lagging.
I had recently been using the video conferencing app Zoom at work so we decided to add details for our sessions to a webpage that we shared workout videos on. We eventually decided to make a separate webpage page with information about our live workouts and reserve the other page for videos of other instructors we liked. At the moment, there are only videos from 3 different instructors on there. We need to take more time to research other instructors.
Documenting Live Sessions
The Prototype
Naturally, as an Instructional Designer, I wanted to create videos that participants could watch on their own in case they weren’t able to make our live sessions. They would be more self-paced in nature, at least in comparison to the live workouts, because participants could pause the videos if they needed a break. They’re also useful for any bashful participants who may not want to workout live, although you don’t have to have your own video feed on during our workouts.
First, we began recording our live sessions. I wanted to create the least amount of work possible to produce these videos so we wouldn’t lose motivation to keep up with them. However, if you know me, it’s nearly impossible for me not to “make a production of something” as some might say.
Post Production Elements Included in Final Video:
Written Workout
I wanted to include text on the screen so the participants could get a grasp of the entire workout and prepare for the next move. The entire workout was presented in a dark grey. The move in play was shown in white and during the 10 second rest period the next move was highlighted in green.Timer
I personally find it useful to reference a clock for specific workouts. I’m a bit rusty with my After Effects skills, Adobe’s Animation Program, so I had to look up a tutorial for how to make a timer.Reference Video
Our original plan was to include the original zoom recordings, but we decided to record with an iPhone as well and that version was of better quality.
Challenges We Learned from:
Music
Joe played music from his phone during this workout. It wasn’t until far into the session that we realized explicit music was playing. This wasn’t ideal since the original audience Joe had in mind included an older generation of family members.Live Instruction
Joe doesn’t exactly live for instructing group fitness. I mentioned that he didn’t have to “put on the whole show” during these sessions. Especially because I knew having to do so would decrease his motivation to lead sessions. I wanted him to be able to enjoy these workouts too.Workout Space
Although it was a step up for us from the living room with ventilation and all, I was so embarrassed about how cluttered our garage looked. This encouraged us to tidy up a bit and you’ll start to see a bit more free space in the garage as our videos progress.
Instruction during Live Workouts
Incorporating Microsoft Powerpoint
I expanded on the idea that I wanted to decrease the amount of work Joe had to do during a live workout. One of my old classmates, Jimmy, taught me a workout around for animating with Microsoft Powerpoint. First he would create the final slide that included all of his content for that slide. Then he would create a sequence of slides, each with one less sentence. As you went through the slides it would appear that each new line was animated in.
I used this idea and created powerpoints for the workouts that included set rep counts and weren’t based on time spurts. I would log into zoom with a separate zoom account on my ipad and I would share my screen. This was a great idea, but there were a number of times I completely forgot to change it to the next slide. Luckily our video was still showing so if the participant was listening and watching they would know which move we were on.
To avoid the music fiasco, we decided to workout without music and instead add tracks in post. This was excruciating for us, especially since the workout from start to finish was 45 minutes, and we haven’t done it since. Also, although the powerpoints were designed to help improve communication and decrease the amount instruction Joe would have to provide, he still felt this unspoken obligation to instruct the same amount as he did before. Now, I think he bases it off of who the participants are and what their fitness knowledge and skill levels are.
I didn’t end up using the ppt slides for the final video because I used too much text on the slides and at the time I didn’t think the videos would appear large enough. My friend, Tracie Ortiz, who is also a fitness instructor, added text to her videos on the side. I’ve seen it in a couple of other videos and decided to give it a try.
New Strategies for PPT
Full Workout View
I took a second pass at the using the PPT slides and added slides for Joe to explain all of the circuits so we didn’t have to take long breaks in between for him to explain everything. With each new circuit I changed the background color of the slides.Text Size
I realized that if our screens were fairly close to us during our workouts, but if someone were viewing the video on their phone or were far from their laptop it would be hard to read the text if the entire workout was always on the slide. So I changed it to one move per a slide and increased the size of the text. One flaw in this is that there wasn’t a preview of what the next move was going to be. However, these moves weren’t timed so we could hold off on starting until everyone was ready.
During this session my friend, Tanya Domenick who is also a fitness instructor, had her kids join us. The kids had a lot of commentary and Tanya jokingly mentioned that Joe “Wasn’t getting paid to deal with them” or something of that nature haha to which Joe then replied, “That’s actually my job.” He explained the moves very well to the kids, which is something he does have to do daily since he’s a strength and conditioning coach at a facility for kids.
Experimenting with Layouts
Our friends, Aubriel Rivera and Hien Vo, tuned into one of our sessions and introduced us to workout videos on the Orange Theory website. I decided to use their idea of displaying a looping video for an AMRAP style workout.
For our first AMRAP style video, I (Mary Anne) got this workout from a friend, but when Joe saw it he immediately suggested we decrease the amount of reps. Decreasing to 10 reps per a move allows the participant to complete more rounds in the given time. Our aim is to present workouts that are accessible to a wide range of fitness levels. (New video linked to image)
For our second AMRAP style video I asked our friends, Danelle Javier and Darius Pilapil, to record videos demonstrating the moves. I wanted to start incorporating other people into the videos.
As it usually does, life started catching up to us. We were creating tons of content and I wasn’t taking the time to edit the videos regularly. Joe’s schedule starting changing at work and we weren’t available at the same time. In addition, I wanted to take less pressure off of Joe to create new workouts because we were attempting to do them 6 days a week. So we decided that he would only instruct 2 to 3 times a week and we would just screen share other work out videos. It helped to break up monotony, but it’s also a good way for us to get an idea of what other people are doing.
Stepping Up the Production
I know I’m capable of creating more “high level production” looking videos, but these have been rush edits for me and I honestly haven’t been editing a ton of video lately. I considered hiring someone to do them because I would honestly just prefer to be a producer, but I have to remember we’re not getting paid for these and they’re just a “passion project” for now. So we’re pretty much still in the prototype phase. That doesn’t mean we can’t take baby steps though…
Today I reached out to my friend Kris Nario, who is a graphic designer, and asked if he would be willing to put together a couple of color schemes for us to use. I don’t want to consider branding too heavily right now because we don’t have the mental capacity to dive into those discussions right now, but also because we don’t know what the scope of this project is yet or how long we will be committing to it.
I also reached out to my friend Carmiliza Riculan, who is a video editor and animator, and asked if she would be willing to sketch out some layout ideas for the videos. I will likely reach out to my friend, Vila Chheang who is also a video editor and motion graphics artist, to weigh in on the conversation because he’s fitness enthusiast as well. Ideally, I want to create a number of templates that I can just drop footage into so all I have to worry about editing is the text and music. Stay tuned to see where this project heads.
May 4, 2020
This looks terribly unorganized, but I think it’s safe to say I (Mary Anne) definitely learned my lesson and will absolutely be precomposing next time!
