There are two main multimedia creation tools I use on my Mac: FotoMagico Pro and ScreenFlow. There are some overlaps between these two great programs. FotoMagico Pro is better at handling multimedia created out of lots of still images. You can also add audio and video, but the focus with FotoMagico is using still images. On the other hand, ScreenFlow is primarily a screen video recording program that has powerful editing abilities. If you are primarily shooting video of what's on your computer screen, or want to bring in video from other sources (such as Flip cameras and the such), then ScreenFlow is likely the best choice of these two applications.
You can download a screencast (i.e. a movie that shows what's on my computer screen as I go through various tasks) to see a practical example of a ScreenFlow production. In this case I shot a Keynote presentation combined with live audio. Later I edited the audio and video as warranted. The movie is 11 minutes long, is a 24 Mb download, and works beautifully on an iPad (as well as a computer).
ScreenFlow version 1 was a solid release, but with version 2 they have added important features that make editing and finishing your movie easier and better. The software will record what's on your screen, plus record your audio input, plus record the video from your iSight camera (if you have one) into one integrated recording. Once done recording you are taken to the ScreenFlow editing area where you do the regular stuff (delete, copy, and so forth). However the editing environment also allows you to do many additional procedures very easily. This includes swapping the computer cursor for a custom cursor (I like a big red arrow), adding text titles or descriptions where you want, creating chapters, easily adding transitions between movie clips, creating focus effects through features like magnifying towards one part of the screen, plus many other special editing options.
Years ago SnapzPro was the best screen recording program on the Mac. But the company that makes SnapzPro has not updated their software in a long time. Camtasia Studio on Windows is a wonderful program, but their sister app—Camtasia for the Mac—is not nearly as powerful or reliable as the Windows counterpart. That leaves ScreenFlow as the best application for creating cleanly edited movies on your Mac—especially when the main focus of the movie is on capturing what's happening on the computer screen. ScreenFlow is powerful enough to be a great multimedia glue application that combines video, still images, and audio even if you don't record any video of your screen! An über-powerful program like Final Cut Pro might be better, but ScreenFlow is much cheaper ($99, $90 for academics) and much easier to master relative to Final Cut Pro.
A search via the web will bring up many good reviews of ScreenFlow 2. However, some of these reviews have been collated on one page:
If you are considering making multimedia movies that play well on Windows, Macs, and iPads then you'll want to strongly consider ScreenFlow if you're a Mac-user.
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