Screencast Requirements

 
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You must submit a screencast with your application development entry. A screencast is a recorded demonstration of your application's features.

This document details:

  1. the requirements for your screencast;
  2. how to plan your screencast;
  3. examples of application features to demonstrate;
  4. an example of a screencast outline;
  5. the recording tools you must use to create it; and
  6. the hosting services you must use to publish it.

Requirements

Your screencast must:

  • be 4 to 5 minutes in duration;
  • describe the problem you intend to solve and the target audience for your application;
  • demonstrate your application's features;
  • include audio narration (if you are fluent in English) or subtitles (if you are not fluent in English) that describes the application features you are demonstrating;
  • show your reference list (if applicable) for 10-15 seconds.

Click here to see a screencast that meets these requirements.

Planning Your Screencast

Follow these steps to plan your screencast:

Step Task Subtasks
1 List the Features You Will Demonstrate
  • Make a list of your application's features. List these features in order of importance and note the screens that best illustrate each feature.
2 Create An Outline
  • Create an outline for your screencast. Your screencast must begin with a demonstration of your application's home page. Next, show the screen that illustrates the application's most important feature, followed by the screen that illustrates the application's second most important feature, and so on until all features are demonstrated.
  • Within the outline, detail exactly how you will demonstrate each feature. Note mouse-clicks and what you will say (if you are narrating your screencast) or write (if you are applying subtitles to your screencast).
3 Practice
  • Practice demonstrating your application while narrating each component (if applicable).
  • Time your demonstration and edit your outline until your demonstration is 4-5 minutes. If you do not have enough time to demonstrate all of your application's features, be sure to at least show those that are the most important.
4 Production Decisions
  • Decide which software you will use to record your screencast.
  • Decide if you will a.) record the screencast all at once; or, b) record portions of the screencast that you'll later merge into one file using video editing software.
  • Decide if you will narrate or subtitle your demonstration. If you narrate your demonstration, decide if you will use a microphone attached to your computer, or a handheld recording device.
5 Record and Publish
  • Record your screencast.
  • Apply subtitles (if applicable).
  • Carefully review your screencast. Re-record and/or edit if necessary.
  • Publish your screencast to a hosting provider's site.

Example Demonstrations

Here are some examples of application features that could be demonstrated in a screencast.

Application Application Features
Game
  • Home page
  • Select and control player
  • Earn points
  • Play and win game
  • Tutorial and/or help
  • Reference list
Database
  • Home page
  • Data collection and filtering
  • Data entry and editing
  • Reporting
  • Tutorial and/or help
  • Reference list
Online Shopping Cart
  • Home page
  • Select item(s)
  • Delete item(s)
  • Checkout
  • Confirmation
  • Tutorial and/or help
  • Reference list
Search Engine
  • Home page
  • Keyword entry
  • Search results
  • Data filtering
  • Tutorial and/or help
  • Reference list
Online Forum
  • Home page
  • Profile creation and editing
  • Post and respond to messages
  • Tutorial and/or help
  • Reference list

Example Outline

Here is an example outline for a screencast of a game. You can use this example to build your outline.

Screen Name Image Script
Home Screen Home Screen
  • Narration: We solved the problem: How can we teach students about the effort required to rebuild a community after a war? The target audience for our game is students, ages 6-22. The goal of the game is to remove land mines from a paddy field, to earn money to invest in village rebuilding projects. To start, click "Play Game".
  • Action: Click "Play Game".
Tutorial Tutorial
  • Narration: The tutorial shows you how to play the game. Click "Start" to take the tutorial.
  • Action: Click "Start".
Tutorial - Slide 1 Tutorial - Slide 1
  • Narration: Use the tractor to search for mines in the paddy field.
  • Action: Click "Space".
Tutorial - Slide 2 Tutorial - Slide 2
  • Narration: Click "X" on your keyboard to activate the radar detector. This shows you where mines are located, so you don't damage your tractor by driving over a mine. If you drive over too many mines, you can click "R" on your keyboard to restart the game.
  • Action: Click "Space".
Tutorial - Slide 3 Tutorial - Slide 3
  • Narration: The progress indicators monitor your health and the amount of radar detector battery that remains. If you step on any mines, your health will deteriorate.
  • Action: Click "Space".
Play Game Play Game
  • Narration: Use the arrow keys on your keyboard to drive the tractor, removing sections of the paddy field that do not contain mines. Leave the sections that contain mines.
  • Action: Use the arrows on your keyboard to move through the paddy field, while simultaneously clicking "X" to activate the radar detector.
Use Mine Removal Tool Use Mine Removal Tool
  • Narration: When you finish removing sections of the paddy field that do not contain mines, only the mines should remain. Use the mine removal tool to remove the mines. You earn $1 for every mine you remove. If you remove land that does not contain a mine, you lose $2.
  • Action: Click "Space". Then click the "Mine Removal Tool".
End Game End Game
  • Narration: When you are finished, click "End Game". Then, click "Add to Total" to add the money you earned to your total score. The game is finished.
  • Action: Click "End Game", then click "Add to Total".
Reference List Reference List
  • Narration: Here's our reference list.
  • Action: Display reference list for 10-15 seconds. Scroll slowly to display the entire reference list.

Screencast Recording Tools

Create your screencast using the recording tool of your choice. Here is a list of tools you might use.

Tool Platforms Supported Video Output Formats
Jing* Windows, Mac OSX Free version: Flash
Paid version: MPEG-4, Flash
Screencast-O-Matic* Any (online service) MPEG-4, AVI, Flash
CamStudio* Windows AVI, SWF
Quicktime X* Mac OSX 10.6 and above Quicktime
BlueBerry Flashback* Windows Free version: AVI, Flash.
Paid versions: MPEG-4, AVI, Flash, Quicktime, WMV
Wink* Windows, Linux Flash

*A free version of the software/service is available.

Hosting Services

Once your screencast is complete, you must publish it to a hosting provider's site. Do not publish your screencast to your school's web server; technical issues may prevent judges from viewing it there.

Your screencast must be published to a website address (i.e., URL) that does not require a username or password so that judges may view it. Here is a list of hosting services you might use.

Hosting Service
Beoscope*
Dailymotion*
Tudou*
Vimeo*
Wat.tv*
Youku*
YouTube*

*A free version of the service is available.