because data structures are great awesome
So, you want to be in movies, eh? Oh, I see... your "professor made you do it." You know, we hear that all the time around these parts...
A bit of structure will go a long way on your videos. Lets see if we can't put a few reasonable requirements on your algorithms video to help frame your production.
Your video should come out as being 3-8 minutes in length. Now, two minutes is tight—if you're able to capture everything that concisely, congrats! More likely, it will take you 4-5 minutes to explain things well.
I expect this to be harder to do than you'd think.
Sadly, there can be no epic movies. YouTube limits us to 10 minutes. So, that's it: nothing longer than 10 minutes, no matter what.
Epic at the FBI Rock Club in Houston
Your video should have a script. That is, there should be a tangible, written artifact that you can hand in when you're done. While it might seem like a bit much, could you format your script in a reasonable manner? For example, here's a guide to script layout online. I found another on SlideShare which is a bit more concise.
Your script might not look exactly like those guides recommend, but it should be consistently organized, and clearly relate to the video you produced.
Take it from someone who spent a lot of time doing videos without a script this semester... a script is a Good Idea™.
(Script image CC @ Flickr.)
Your video should demonstrate the execution of the sorting algorithm that you chose. That is, we should understand the mechanics of how the sort works based on your demonstration.
Your demonstration should be highly visual. Remember: a future generation of you is the target audience, so produce something that you think you could learn from.
No pressure, though.
(Image CC @ Flickr.)
Your video should, along with demonstrating the mechanics of the algorithm, demonstrate the conditions under which we see best case, worst case, and average case performance.
For example, I showed in class how the Insertion Sort is at its worst when the list is exactly in reverse order. It works best when the list is almost completely sorted. So, your video should help us see and understand why the performance of your algorithm is effected by the ordering of the input data.
(Worst case image CC @ Flickr.)
While it doesn't have to be perfect, I hope you will take pride in your work, and do your best to produce a video that has reasonably high production values.
We can record your video one of two ways:
[ LIVE ] You can have your scripts and your props, and simply practice (beforehand) running the video as a skit. We set up the camera and the mike, and you run your video, one take, audio and video. (Well, you might have to do more than one take, but we do little to no editing after the fact.)
[ VIDEO THEN AUDIO ] Another way to achieve reasonable quality is to record the video and then record the audio/script over top. Then, the video timing is fixed, and you just have to record your script correctly. This lets us do more than one take (and even some "punch in" editing to fix small things) to get the audio "right." This takes a little more time, but if you have practiced, it should just be one take on the video, and one take on the audio.
Note that failing to practice 4-6 times as if it were the Real Deal™ will lead to a low-quality recording, and if you decide then to fix it, you're taking up my time because you didn't practice. So, make sure you're ready to go when we record.
You will present your video on the last day of class to an audience that will include your classmates as well as anyone else I can rassle up. This may include other students and faculty in the department or even colleagues of ours from around the campus.
You should have a short Google Docs Presentation ready that introduces who you are, the name of your algorithm, and then roll directly into the YouTube video presentation. Your presentation should be shared with me so that we can just log in once as me and then flip through everyone's presentations.
Your submission is, therefore, your script, a shared Google Docs presentation, and a hyperlink to your YouTube video.
In return for all of this excellence, I will do my best to provide a DVD of all of your videos before the exam period, so you can take them away with you to share with your families. Or, perhaps not. But I'll make the DVD regardless.
Oh, regarding the exam: the content of these videos will be fair game. So, make them good. 
Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 Licensed where possible.