Producing gameplay videos that are impressive may seem easy on the surface, but there is a lot more involved than most people realize. If you want your footage to look good and the video itself to stand out, there are lots of improvements that you’ll need to make along the way.
Simply put it isn’t as easy as just hitting record and playing the game. Instead, you will want to try to use these tips when you’re producing gameplay videos:
Increase the frame rate – everywhere
Frame rate will have a dramatic effect on your video and how fluid it looks. But it isn’t just the recording frame rate that you need to worry about, it is the game’s frame rate too.
The frame rate that your game run’s at will affect how good its graphics look, which in turn will be captured by the recording. To improve it you’ll want to optimize your graphic settings, while keeping in mind that recording will require system resources that could affect it.
Handling the video recording frame rate is the easy part – so long as your screen recorder Mac or PC supports it. For example you could use Movavi Screen Recorder Studio for Mac.
Record multiple takes and replace footage with issues
Be prepared for the fact that you may need to record multiple takes so that you can replace any footage that has issues. If your game supports it you should have several game saves at different points that you can access to record the footage that you need.
When you do replace footage, try to look for a natural break point to cut in the replacement footage. For example a switch to the in-game camera would normally be a good place to cut in new footage.
Don’t forget the webcam and audio quality
Gameplay videos tend to either include webcam footage, or at very least audio commentary of some kind. Regardless of which yours is going to include, you need to take steps to improve its quality as well.
As a rule it is always best if you record the audio using a separate microphone. The built-in microphone on most webcams leaves a lot to be desired. In fact there are other steps that you could take, such as wearing a headset to minimize feedback, recording in a quiet location, and eliminating sources of background noise.
To improve the webcam video quality you should adjust the lighting, the position of the webcam, and make sure its white balance is right – at least.
Following these tips should let you produce far more impressive gameplay videos. However before you actually start recording, try to come up with a script (or at very least an outline) for your video.
Not only will the script help you to plan your video better, but it will also save time and help you to make sure that you record all the footage that you need. Some reshoots may be required later during post-production, but with a good plan you should be able to keep that to a minimum.