.svg){kind=logo}
You've recorded your presentation to share with your colleagues before the all-hands meeting, and you want to make the video more engaging before sharing.
There are many tools available in the Screencastify editor to do just this. But you also may want to do the opposite and suppress information on the screen that is either distracting or could bring privacy issues. To help protect data while not needing to remove entire portions of your video, the blur tool is an amazing tool.
Using the Screencastify Blur tool
Creating a video with Screencastify is done in only three clicks: open the extension, click record, and click stop when you’re finished with your video. Your video automatically saves to your Google Drive and opens in the Video Management Page – this is the location for everything you may want to do with your recording, including editing your video.
To get to the editor once you record a video, simply click ‘Open in Editor’. Your video will open in Screencastify Edit in a new tab. Now we’re ready to blur! Check out the video below.
Click your clip in the timeline at the bottom of the Edit window. Then, click on blur. A purple box will pop up on your screen with draggable corners.
Adjust the size and placement of the box so that it covers whatever you hope to blur out. On the right side of the screen, you can also increase the intensity of the blur so that viewers really can’t see what’s back there. When you’re happy with the placement and intensity of the blur, click "done".
In the timeline below, you’ll see a purple marker that shows where the blur is in the video. You can stretch either side of the marker with your mouse to make the blur stay on screen for as many (or as few) seconds as you’d like.
Keep focus on important content with Blur
When you create videos, it’s not only important to demonstrate what the most important information is, but also, to remove what’s not important to your creation.
No video is perfect — sometimes we click record and there are things in our recordings that could pose a distraction and make it difficult for digest the content. Using the Screencastify blur tool, you don’t have to be perfect the first time around. You can remove any distracting elements–a formatting panel, external application, or irrelevant information–from your video after you finish recording.
Covering sensitive data with Blur
Imagine you are sharing an example of a common misconception or mistake you've seen in your workplace, or a spreadsheet with customer data. You could record a video of the work and use the annotation tools to highlight your specific feedback on screen.
When it comes to sharing the video with colleagues, though, you probably don’t want all of your coworkers to know whose work you are showing. You can blur out any information that identifies the original person before you share. Now, all of your viewers can benefit from specific, actionable feedback, but without sacrificing anyone’s privacy.
Keeping watchers engaged with Blur
If you are removing distractions from your video or protecting customer data privacy, you will probably create a blur that lasts for a large part of your video, if not the whole thing. However, you can also use a strategically-timed blur to create a better experience. For example, you can make reviewing work more fun by blurring answers to questions and later revealing them
The blur tool makes it easy to create dynamic, and engaging videos. Click here to share your video on Twitter via the Watch Page link to show us how you use it!
