Tips for making a robot reveal video?

My school has been doing VRC for about 5 years now, and my coach wants us to do a reveal video and try to get our name out there. We have never done anything like this, so are there any tips for how to make a good one? Any help would be appreciated, thanks! :heart:

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Use a tripod and don’t cheap out on editing! Don’t be surprised if editing takes a lot longer than filming, its worth it!

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The SCA reveal took about 30 hours of editing from me

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It really helps to plan out your shots and what you want to record. Also make sure to sync the music to the scenes so the reveal looks and sounds nicer

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Or edit the music to sync to the video

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Yeah, the ending of my reveal took about 18 hours lul

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Do the full song for multiple robots but 1:30 to 2 min seems about right for one robot. After a while, it’s more of the same

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Yeah I’d definitely edit the clips to the beat of the song, try to get good lighting as well and get clips of your best runs. Your driver is gonna get a lot of good practice from filming, trust me.

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if you can get a better camera than your phone, use it. video quality is a large part of a quality reveal.

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This is true, but the newer IPhones can do the job fairly well.

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One other thing you can do if your real robot isn’t super great is you can animate a full 3:40 reveal with Blender. Seems to be working for me

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Frc team 254 has some rly good reveals you can look at for inspiration

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What are some free editing software that is easy to use?

Kdenlive is good, but I don’t know how easy it is to get working on Windows as it was developed for Linux and macOS. There is a Windows port but last I saw you have to build it from source. DaVinci Resolve is free but I have an issue with it crashing.

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I can’t believe I am saying this but. sigh imovie is not that bad.

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No no, don’t do that, it shows in the reveal and makes everyone hate it lul

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oh ok i had no idea. woopsy

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First of all, if you aren’t aware of video quality and Refresh rate, google it so you get a better understanding. But, generally speaking, a good top-notch reveal is 1080p60. Unless you have crazy access to fancy equipment like Supreme Alliance that uploads videos in 4k60.

The first cheapest way to improve your video quality is by using stabilization inside an editing software. If you have the right software, you practically get it for free. Here’s an example of a reveal that had very shaky video, but stabilization drastically improved it: 99402C | Hurricane Robotics - Katrina Version 2 (Reveal) - YouTube

The second cheapest way to drastically improve your reveals is with a phone gimball. They generally cost $100-200 which is very affordable if you plan on doing multiple reveals and record a lot. Here’s what using a phone gimball with mechanical stabilization looks like: 3674R - Turning Point New Years Reveal - YouTube

…and then there’s those teams who have a lot of equipment. For example, probably 169

I am suspecting they probably used probe lens (which they are REALLY expensive, like $1000 expensive)

If you are recording a reveal, make sure that you are recording in an area that is neat and tidy. We don’t watch your reveals to see what vacuum and washing machines you have. Be creative about location! Some good location examples can include
In a forest: 1200F Vex Starstruck Reveal 2017 - YouTube
In your school parking lot: VEX Turning Point 5408R Worlds Reveal - YouTube
On a football field: VEX 169 ITZ Worlds Reveal - YouTube

You can spice your reveal up as well if you’d like. If you have a drone you can make drone shots (Cost is roughly $300 for Phantom 3 Standard, kinda pricy unless you already have a drone), or you can have a fog machine (You can get some for as low as $30), or maybe LED lights (Can cost as low as $5).
… or just do a 400 and use a nothing but net robot to shoot out money

To simplify: When making a reveal, make it creative but still maintain professionalism

Hope this helps :slight_smile:

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So what you’re saying is don’t use Eurobeat music :thinking:

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I personally use Adobe Premiere Rush. It’s pretty much like a free version of Adobe Premiere Pro, but you only get 3 uploads.