What do I need to start a video review show?

I was talking about this with a few friends, and I got a little curious. I have a general idea of what I would need, but nothing more specific than "microphone" or "editing software".

I'm interested both in what I'd need at minimum and what would be ideal, because I could imagine the ideal setup for a show would be VERY expensive. If I did start a show of my own, I'd imagine it would be the audio-only type, like with Yahtzee or Professor Otaku, so I'm also interested in the difference between the two in terms of setup (I know "no camera", but there may be something else).

edited 23rd Nov '10 11:47:39 PM by ShotgunNinja

With no camera you need to be able to express yourself without body language or visual gags; old radio shows would use sound effects to draw in the listener and make them able to picture the setup better.

I think if you want to do it seriously, then you'll need the following things:

- Good, quality mic. Cheap $5-$10 mics won't give you quality sound which you will need if you care about production value.

- Fraps or something to record your own footage from games, if you plan to review games too.

- Video editing software - I recommend Sony Vegas as it's intuitive and simple to use.

- If you don't have something to record your voice externally and you plan to do it on the computer, you need to decide if you're going to do the review (of a game) on-the-fly or would you rather record the game footage first and comment on it later. If you want to record even parts of your review on-the-fly (as you play), you'll need as powerful computer too. Unless we are talking about games from the 8-bit or 16-bit era.

- And of course, for a video show, you'll need a camera too. I recommend one that records on a HDD, connects to your comp via USB and records into a format that Sony Vegas can recognize directly, if you don't want to lose much of your precious time converting pieces of footage you will edit out upon realizing you didn't really needed it in the review in the first place... I myself use a JVC Everio GZ-MG 330, which is a great piece of technology, records in a quality what is enough for me (not HD, but pretty good in the SD department), and has 30GB space, which allows me to record more than enough. Oh, and another upside of having a camera is that it has a good enough mic to record your sound, so if you have one, you don't need to buy a quality mic for your computer.

- A tip regarding the camera: It might be a good idea to have it running constantly, because this way you won't miss any accidental but good bits you might improvise. And in the case of game reviews, you can record all of your running commentary with it, without killing your computer while recording the audio commentary while it records the game footage. And even if your computer is capable of this, it might still cause some sound issues. It's always better to have two separate tracks - one is your commentary and other is the game footage, complete with sound. Later on in the editing software, you can do anything with them.

- Tip #2: you absolutely need to write a script first or at the very least an outline of the review. Write down everything you think and want to say about the movie/game/book/whatever you're reviewing. It's better to write a structured script because then you can do some test recordings where you can react freely on what's going on, without the constant inkling in the back of your head which bugs you constantly not to miss telling X thing about it.

- And another tip: if you want to create an unique style, you need to have standards, and permanent points. For example: if you always examine the era and the context in which a given work came out, and talk about that at the beginning of your videos, in time, it becomes part of your style. Not to mention, that such things provide structure, which you will need if you don't want your reviews sounding like you are all over the place. And it certainly helps you writing the scripts too!

- Most importantly you'll need TIME. Lots of it. Even without additional video footage, you'll need to edit a 10 minute video for at least 4-5 hours to make everything right - even if you're not a perfectionist and just want to have an OK video up...

What things are you planning to review? Let me know if you need more info as I also plan to start reviewing. In my case, I plan to review SNES games and a few NES titles.

edited 24th Nov '10 2:55:48 AM by Sati1984

I'm not sure how much you know about this, but I was actually considering doing manga reviews. There aren't many others, and I figured I know quite a bit about it.

I'm interested in how much some of those things cost. For instance, I know computer programs that run from $150-$600, and I'm not sure which Sony Vegas would be.

Free

...why does your avatar make me think that's not the best idea?

Have you tried Source forge?