So you've been watching WanderingWinder's videos. You've said to yourself, "Man, I can do that. But I don't know what I'm doing." Maybe you only played board games in college and never learned how to use a computer. Maybe all this newfangled recording technology goes over your head. Maybe I'm being a smart-ass and you just want the links.
PRELIMINARY STUFF- Make sure you have a computer that can handle recording videos. It's 2012, so I'm just going to assume that the majority of users on the site do. I can't tell you the exact specs you'll need here, but I'd suggest having at least 4GB of RAM and a processor that wasn't made in the 90s. You will also need hard disk space to store video files. I'd suggest having at least 50 GB of space just in case, but if you're running that low, you probably already knew you had storage problems.
- Test your microphone. You can do this by calling a buddy on Skype, doing a test recording, or whatever. Mic technology has come a long way, but there are some things to be aware of. Internal mics on laptops, for instance, tend to pick up keyboard sounds and fan noises, which can be impossible to remove in editing. Some mics will make clips and pops. How far you go in getting a good mic is up to you (some viewers don't mind extra noises) but for the best quality I suggest:
A) A headset mic. Even a cheap one is usually serviceable. They tend to have noise cancelling, which eliminates a lot of what I've mentioned above.
B) A standing mic with a pop filter (removes hard 's' sounds and such). This will run you more dough, and really I don't think you want to spend all that on recording commentary videos for free.
- Have some idea how you want to approach the commentary. This is an art (and a science I guess) and I can't give you the actual answers. WanderingWinder's videos are pure live commentary, so there's an element of thrill along with seeing how he thinks through games. Jonts26's videos were done with post-commentary, which lets him do a (possibly scripted) analysis of the game with the end result known. The latter takes more time to do, but doesn't mean it's objectively better. My videos are a mix of both: I record the audio as I play, then add stuff in later. All styles have their pros and cons, and the way you choose to record is up to you.
"I just want to stream my videos."If you aren't planning on posting videos to Youtube or an equivalent and just want to have people watching you play Dominion, then all you need is a streaming screen capture software. There are many, but the two I have tried and recommend using are Livestream and Twitch TV. If this is all you want to do, see my section about Livestream (I'm not covering Twitch TV, but the program you'd need for it is XSplit) but stop at the part about saving your videos.
"I just want to record live footage and don't care to edit my videos"The classic, easy way to handle this is by using
Livestream Procaster.
You will need to sign up for a Livestream account to use this method, but no worries, that will happen while you're trying to use the program. Procaster will stream your video for anyone watching your Livestream page (livestream.com/username), so you can tell your buddies to hop on there and watch if you like. Or don't tell anyone. Whatever, man. Procaster will also allow you to save the video file to your computer, and videos will be archived on your livestream account online until they get purged.
So after you install Livestream and get your account set up, follow my handy-dandy picture here to get your settings going, then click "Go Live"
After you "Go Live," here are a few other things to take note of.
And as far as Procaster goes, those are the basics. Once you have the program set up and settings tweaked, they should save for your next session and you won't have to tinker much anymore.
"I want to edit my footage"If you're planning to edit footage, there are a few more advanced programs you will need. No worries, nothing too complex. Some of it can get expensive, though, assuming you're working on a strictly legal basis here.
Note: I don't own a Mac, and I don't know anything about Macs other than Final Cut Pro is amazing should you have access to it.
The program that I use to both record and edit footage is
Camtasia. It has an even simpler interface than Procaster (the same guide can apply to it for the most part) but also allows for editing the footage you capture. There are other programs that can work, such as Fraps and Camstudio. FYI, Camstudio is horrible and you should never use it.
I am willing to write a fuller guide on using Camtasia to edit (someone request it if you want it, but since the software isn't free I'm not going to do so for now). Going over a few brief features here: Record the screen works a lot like Procaster. Produce and Share renders the video after you finish editing. Import Media will let you drag in audio files should you need to (useful if doing post-commentary, see below). Callouts let you put fancy text and images in your video. The most important parts of editing are shaving out portions of the video where nothing is going on (Notice in my example here, the Audio 1 track is almost never silent. That's because I edited dead space out, mostly at the beginning and end) and silencing bad audio (coughs, weird external noises, your Mom calling you on Skype, etc). However, you can also do things like add the current score or important cards (See jonts26's videos) or make notes about the game you forgot to mention during live footage.
Other tools that can come in handy if you are editing:
Windows Movie Maker, Sony Vegas, Virtualdub: These are alternative editing software options that work in Windows. WMM and VD are free, though I have had mixed results with both. Virtualdub particularly is very picky about the file format it's opening, which is a shame.
Audacity: The greatest audio recording software ever. It is FREE, it does everything you need pretty much. If you're recording post-commentary, I highly recommend doing it in Audacity and exporting the sound file. With a program like Camtasia, you can import the sound file and place it where it needs to be. This may require some editing to get it to synch, but honestly, video editing is pretty fun once you start doing it.
That's all for now. Is anything unclear? Do I need to add anything? Other video producers, feel free to weigh in.
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Topic: Recording Dominion for Dummies (Read 7304 times)