If you’re one of those people who spend most of their day browsing YouTube, you’ve most definitely come across a lot of gaming-related content, and often, some form of video game footage with commentary over it. Chances are, if you’ve found yourself here, you’re probably one of the millions of people who find themselves engrossed in such content and wonder how exactly they could carry out such a task themselves. If you’re questioning just how it is that these creators make their commentaries, you’ve come to the right place.
The thing that separates a good video game commentator from a bad one, is the amount of passion and effort they put into their work. To create a compelling experience for your viewers, you need to know how to put together your creation and edit it properly.
The fact is, we live in the age of low attention spans, and people aren’t going to want to consume content that they don’t find entertaining even for a bit. This is where editing comes in. You can use your creativity and the power of software to make content that highlights the most entertaining parts and cuts out the unnecessary.
If you’re truly interested in dabbling in the wonderful world of gaming and video game commentary, you need not look any further. Here is a comprehensive guide on how to edit a video game commentary to create work that can attract an audience.
Requirements to consider before Editing
Before you can get to editing your commentary, you first need to work on the crucial part of the process, i.e., making the raw footage itself. To help you in this process, we’ve prepared a step-by-step preparation plan for you to fully consider before making gaming content.
- Plan out your production cycle- Obvious as it is, this important first step is a great way to track your work and ensure that it gets completed as efficiently as possible. To start with, make sure you have a basic idea of whatever you plan on doing, and ensure that they all have a purpose and are feasible.
- Recording your footage- Once you’ve chosen a game to commentate over, you must consider how exactly you’re going to capture the required footage. Depending on the device you have, whether it is a console or gaming PC, there are dedicated video capture devices, and some apps, that can perform this function. While apps are plentiful on the PC (OBS- Open Broadcaster Software being a prime example), external video capturing devices are recommended if you want to record console gameplay.
- Audio accessories- If you’re planning on having your commentary be the focus of your video, it’s important to invest in decent microphone equipment. Internal Microphones and gaming headsets do have serviceable mic qualities; however, if you’re looking to make HD-sounding commentary, you’ll want to invest in a USB microphone. Adding a pop filter to this setup can also go a long way in enhancing audio quality.
Video and Audio Editing tools
The next most important thing to consider is how you’re going to work on your recorded footage. Choosing a good tool can mean all the differences between good and mediocre content.
For Video editing tools, we’ve compiled a list of some useful video editing tools for you to consider using yourself.
Film Impact is an elegant and professional tool that offers a broad range of creative tools and Adobe Premiere Pro transition effects that are used all over the world.
VSDC- VSDC is a lightweight video editing software made for people who are otherwise unfamiliar with video editing for windows. It brings a lot of features you’d expect from your video game editor.
iMovie- For macOS users, iMovie works great as a video game editor due to its seamless versatility and host of features.
InVideo- InVideo is a powerful online video editor tool that can help you make stunning, well-edited work with relatively minimal effort. It is simple to use and brings loads of useful features that work great for editing and jazzing up your footage.
For Audio, it’s worth considering recording it separately, as this gives you a lot more freedom with editing the commentary. For this purpose, you can use apps like Audacity, which lets you edit various details of the voice message before converting the format and putting it into the video.
The Editing Process
Now, to move on to the editing process itself, let’s look at the things you need to consider while editing.
To begin, watch your footage all the way through, along with the commentary. Then, look out for the following parts and cut them out-
- Dead space, or footage where nothing is happening.
- Boring and filler portions in the commentary serve no purpose.
- Any glitchy audio portions or awkward segments.
Any such spots in your footage, as well as any other undesirable elements you find yourself, are what you should get to removing first. After that, look at the audio footage of the commentary itself.
Here are some pointers to keep in mind while editing your audio-
- Keep Checking your Audio Levels- When you’re looking through your commentary, make it a point to make sure your audio levels are uniform across the video. Any audio waves you see hitting peaks that are considerably higher than the rest of the audio waves should be lowered down to go with the rest of the audio, for the sake of your audience.
- Depending on the tool you use, there’ll be options to reduce and filter out background noise. Make sure you implement this properly to your audio track, as audio disturbances can be one of the biggest de-attractions to a listener’s experience.
- If you’re adding background audio, make sure it’s properly integrated into your existing audio track with the respective edits and effects
- Try and focus on the most relevant and engaging bits of the commentary.
If you make sure to follow these pointers well and can edit your video together properly, you should create some gaming footage worthy of being on the front page of YouTube.
Summing up,
The whole process of editing can be a rather big mental roadblock for many people who are looking to get into the world of recording and posting gaming commentary videos. However, as long as you approach the subject with a willingness to learn, and keep all the pointers we’ve mentioned in mind, the process should go smoothly for you.