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SegaMilestones:
Seems like an interesting idea, ill subscribe. :)

ClayYTOfficial:

--- Quote from: larryinc64 on September 30, 2014, 12:09:34 AM ---If you are looking for a good capture card, the Elgato Game Capture HD works fantastically with systems old and new.
I started using it for my Let's Play channel, Power Plaid Plays.

A few tips:
MUSIC!!! Adding background music to the talking parts can make a long and boring speech part more engaging. I find it makes a huge difference with my Let's Plays and other video projects.
Also balance the audio, don't go from quiet speaking to loud music. What editing software do you use?

The camera was flickering a bit as well. Though the lighting was good.

Also a pet peeve in your trailer, the passing off of every other sentence between 2 people, IDK why but this always annoys me. It always seems very unnatural. The guy with the beard speaks in a bit of a hammy cartoony voice. I did the same in early sessions of PPP, but I eventually dropped it after some practice. I suggest just making some random let's plays for practice speaking less stiff and more naturally to nothing, unless you are filmed in front of a live studio audience :D .
I for some reason think it might help if you two were sitting instead of standing. And maybe not holding a game case that you tapped every sentence.
also framing wise, Have your heads more centered, and try to show only the waist up when just talking, puts the focus more on the speaker. Watch some clips of the CUPodcast Pat the NES Punk does for a good setup.

I like hte idea, and I would like to see episode one when you have more of a final video other than the simple test.

--- End quote ---

Thanks for the constructive criticism rather than just telling me we sucked ;D

Since this is our first time really trying anything like this, we will take whatever input we can get to make it, at the very least, a decent show to watch.

The "Pilot" video, where I continually tap the case :-[, is more or less just me trying out the editing software. Which, at the moment is just iMovie as I sift through Adobe's options, and even take a look at Final Cut Pro. Also, the gameplay footage that is on that video is not how we will normally show it. Daniel (the guy with beard) has some way of capturing his game play, not sure if it's the same capture card you mentioned or not, either way though it looks much better than what the "Pilot" episode shows haha.

With the camera, I'm afraid we won't be able to control that as we are using the camera of a cell phone to record, so I'm assuming that the flickering is it attempting to autofocus. Which unfortunately is an option we can't turn off. Maybe one day we'll be able to afford a decent (real) camera :P -- This is more than likely where the issues with the audio comes from as well. I can separate the audio from the video and attempt to control it, but being that far from the phone's mic doesn't help us. Luckily, after some testing last night using the cheapo DIY lavaliere mics, controlling the audio and matching it with any other music will be much easier and not as much of a shock when it switches.

With the speaking in the "Trailer" video, I'm thinking (hoping) since that was more of a scripted thing to make sure we said the right info, the actual episodes should flow a bit more naturally as we won't be attempting to remember lines. Instead we'll have a general outline to keep us on track while speaking freely and naturally (while editing out all the "ums" I'm sure to throw in ;)) We will also probably be sitting in the actual episodes once we find a good position to film it from, so hopefully that will fix some of the framing issues :)

Thanks again for all the feedback! We really do appreciate it. I think by the end of the night my wife could have spoken the entire intro word for word haha. Hopefully we can take care of a lot of this and you can enjoy the first episode soon :)

(I just read through this again, holy crap I used a lot of smiley faces - my bad)

ClayYTOfficial:

--- Quote from: SegaMilestones on September 30, 2014, 01:18:39 AM ---Seems like an interesting idea, ill subscribe. :)

--- End quote ---

Thanks a bunch! We hope to be getting the first episode out within a month!

larryinc64:
For my videos I use:
Elgato Game capture HD - $150
2 Omnidirectional mics from RadioShack -About $25 each (Better for close range, they are less than a foot away from us when w use them)
Audacity for audio editing (Free)
Adobe Premiere CS3 - Video Editing
Adobe Photoshop/ Flash CS3 - Art and image editing
Cannon HD camera - $150

The camera I have is great! The film below was shot with it, No extra mics. It picks up audio very well and shoots very good quality video for the price. Battery life sucks a bit though. I'll give the name when I get home.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v01yDsAMhxQ
BTW, most of these scenes took a ton of takes, From flubbing and forgetting lines to forgetting to replace props (I forgot to reset the 2nt Keyboard a few times), we want to re-shoot the internal scenes. I was tired and was too deadpan and Matt did not know what to do with his hands.

Your first episode or session will never be your best. You will learn over time. Our first 3 sessions were mostly crap awkward stiff talking, In one episode I flat out started to read a manual.

ClayYTOfficial:
Awesome man, thanks for the tips and equipment prices/suggestions!

I attempted another test video while sitting down and using the new mics. Little bit more playing around with audio correction and I may be able to get it there. I'm a web designer/developer full time, but never really get to mess around with video, or actual graphic design (Illustrator, etc...) so this is actually pretty fun.

http://youtu.be/w3YgOYVIGvw

We'll need to play with framing when we get back together, as I know that really isn't the greatest place to put the footage :) I just wanted to put it in there haha.

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