So now that we’re set up with our equipment, it’s time for the hard part.
For editing we run the most recent premiere Adobe Premiere (Creative Cloud), along with the program ‘HandBrake’. Why Handbrake? For those of you who aren’t familiar, the built-in DVR you can find in the XBOX app (comes with Windows 10) can record at higher frame rates, but often doesn’t CONSISTENTLY record at higher framerates.
Essentially what will happen is your footage will either gain or lose frames as it plays, leading to occasional de-sync between your voice and the video. Handbrake is used to level out the frame rates and thus give a more accurate sync between audio and video.
Speaking of being in sync, it’s important to give yourself an editing start point. For us, it usually involves going to the game menu and scrolling through options while simultaneously counting ‘1-2-3, 3-2-1′ into the microphone before a large CLAP.
What this does allow an identifiable point in both audio and video which you will use as a starting point for your project in editing. (the clap will show up as a HUGE spike in the audio waveform so all you have to do is align it with the visual clap on the screen). To save yourself some extra time later, write down the time of any significantly entertaining moments happened on a piece of paper next to you (or just make a mental note of it for later).
Once you’ve performed your sync, and put your video through HandBrake, you’ll be able to align both up properly in editing. Play your game as planned, and nearing the end, perform a sync again (just to make it easier to tell if your video has fallen out of sync at the end). Quit your recording and POOF! You’re ready to go.
When exporting audio files, it doesn’t really matter what container your sound comes in as long as it’s high quality and readable by your editing software. This also applies to your video footage. For transparencies sake we try and export as .wav in audio and .mp4 for video.
Once you’ve opened up your video editing software, import your audio and video to your timeline. Watch your video until you find the clap from your sync earlier and align it with the clap audio and VOILA! You’re all ready to start editing.
Use whatever tool you can in your program to assemble all the good parts of your video while leaving out anything dull. This is often done in a click/drag motion and found in many of the programs’ tutorials. Don’t forget to do the same with the audio as well as fine tune the levels to the appropriate volume.
That’s all for this week, NEXT WEEK we’re rocking the overlays and editing tricks to add a little flair!
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-Charlie Ze Newbie
