What makes a great Yo-Yo video?

What do you think makes a great yoyo video?

Let’s delve a bit deeper than just saying “great tricks and great editing”, and instead try and grasp exactly what makes the editing or the tricks so visually appealing. :slight_smile:

(note: Some of the videos cited may contain explicit music.)

Editing:

Angles:

Do you prefer videos shot from just one angle (Hometown Hero, Advanced Scout) or ones that are shot from multiple?

Depth of field:

Do you like your depth of field shallower (Tatsuya 2013), or do you like to have a lot more of the scenery in focus?

Fisheye

To fisheye or not to fisheye? (Wooly Marmot 2, You and Your Smile)

Timing:

Is it important to you that the moves are editing in time with the music, or do you not think this is too important with videos?

Music:

Does the music chosen make a big impact on how much you enjoy a video? Do you think chilled out music is best (Diamondback) or do you like something with more punch (ReGEN) ?

Colour:

Is true colour the best option, or is throwing a filter on there the way to really bring something special out (Cascade, Sunrise)?

Theme

Do you prefer your videos to be sunshine and fun (Devinsupertramp) or darker and edgy-er (Prestige)?


Speed:

Do you prefer to watch tricks at full speed to get the full impact (Geometry), or do you prefer them in slow motion so you can see what’s going on more clearly (Scout)?

Frame rate:

25fps? 60fps? 120fps? Does it even matter?


Cuts:

Do you enjoy when a video has a long time between cuts, or do. you. like. It .to .cut. very. often?

Camera Work

Do you prefer a stationary camera (Reverse) or one that moves around? If it does move do you think it looks better all steadycam-like or do you like the rawness of a bit of shaky-handheld (Back in Black, Origami)?

Setting the mood

How about non-yoyo footage? Do you think it’s better when a video maker sets the scene with a bit of scenery footage beforehand (Eye of the Sea)? Do you like your videos to have a storyline (H is for Happiness, Stitches) ? Or do you like it to get straight into the tricks?

Video Length

Short and sweet (Orca Combo, Shop Throwdown) or long and thorough (Heartbeat)? Do you get bored if a video goes on for more than 2 minutes or is that how long it takes you to really get into it?


Tricks:

Length:

Do you prefer to see entire combos, or do you prefer more individual bangers? Does it matter to you if a combo is shown at various stages from different angles/distances (CZM8) or do you like to see the whole thing in it’s entirety (Berlin 2011)?

Speed: (Of the tricks, not of the video playback)

Do you prefer watching videos that contain faster tricks (Transcendence, Konstantin) or slower (Utopia, Triangle)?


What do you think is more important of the two if you were forced to pick… great tricks or great editing?


Now, I know that of course that there is room for variations of all of the above within the yoyo world. If all videos looked the same and had the same music and feel, we’d get bored really quickly. I’m just interested to know what you guys think makes a yoyo videos genuinely enjoyable to you personally.

Please don’t feel the need to be constrained by the criteria I put above, it was just to give you an idea of a few things to think about rather than me just posting “What makes a good yoyo video?”.

Feel free to post up your favourite videos here and explain exactly what it is you love about them. :slight_smile:

Ones with VK in them. :-X :stuck_out_tongue:

I like good editing, because although a trick may be nice if it is shown raw it won’t get the same effect as if exaggerated by editing to make it seem better. Angles makes it seem more into the video instead of distant and unrelatable.

I like a combo of different depths, and I don’t really care about fisheye.

I feel music is very important, probably twenty five percent is music because it sets a boring video from an engaged or exciting one. Type of music doesn’t matter as long as it fits to the vibe you want to show. Personally, I like natural colour but often filters give the video more personality.

I also love full speed, but also I don’t because sometimes I slow them down to learn the tricks ;D

Better the framerate the smoother it can be, looks nice

Too many cuts look a little displeasing to the eye, and I often find that one shot altogether looks natural, a little more comfortable.

I like stationary, and a theme to the video.

If the video is all of the above, I wouldn’t mind how long it is :slight_smile:

Tricks wise I don’t have too many preferences. Hit me with everytReal you got! I love any and all tricks.

Great tricks < great editing of only by a little bit.

The Real question is, what makes a great yoyo video for you, GAMBIT? :wink:

Speaking of which, I am reminded of something. Pm on the way to you!

wow Gambit you bring up some very good point’s here as a video maker myself I look forward to following this topic and using the input to improve my own videos as much as I can. But as far as what makes a video good for me? hmmmmm this is tuff but I will do my best.

ok… Camera work is very important in my opinion but it really depends on the video and the music and the tricks. Some videos a stationary cam looks better imo but in other videos a camera that pans around and does fancy stuf looks better like I said it really depends on the flow of the tricks the setting of the video etc.

Editing Also very important but it also depends again on the tricks and the setting of the video.

Example. if you see Zach gormly taking a selfy video of himself doing a trick its gonna look amazing no matter what with tricks like that you don’t really need editing for it to look good. But editing can always make it look better.

Another thing I think makes a difference that you didn’t really mention Gambit is string visibility and Camera Quality

For exAmple if someone post a video filmed on a smartphone that’s grainy and is just all around low quality I’m not gonna like the video as much just because it doesn’t look as nice.

But if someone films a video with a high quality camera and everything looks crystal clear I’m going to like the video a lot more.

And then string visibility if you can’t see the string clearly it kinda ruins everything because you can’t see the tricks and you can’t enjoy the video.

So those are my thoughts I hope I didn’t confuse you too much with that jumbled paragraph

Editing
Good editing is a must for a good video, you don’t want stuff to look raw because it sometimes looks unpleasing to the eye and sometimes can stick out like a sore thumb. In my opinion editing can make or break a good video.

Angles
1-3 different angles max otherwise it just starts to become over kill for a video.

Depth of field
Depends on the video however, I like a happy middle for those kind of things where you can see a little (like if it’s on a street) but not to the point where it becomes too much and a distraction from the actual yoyoing.

Fisheye
Don’t mind it my camera has a little of a fisheye view, however it can be annoying sometimes for tutorials and things of that nature.

timing
Decent timing is always good, I mean you don’t have to land an awesome banger every time the base drops but, it needs to look like you put an effort into the music and it’s timing.

Music
As Long as it sets a nice tone for the video and isn’t too dark and broody It’s fine

Color
I don’t mind a little color if it helps see the string then do it.

Theme
I always find videos with a theme fun they’re always entertaining and it helps when telling the story

Speed
A few speed combos here and there are always good but if it a whole entire video it gets boring.

frame rate
As long as it’s in HD I could care less about the frame rate

Cuts
Not too many and not too little it has to be decent to make the video look nice.

Camera work
Nice camera work is always good I can’t complain about it it depends on the story (if there is in the video)

Setting the mood
If it helps see the string go for it if not
I could care less about the mood.

Video length
A video between 1 minute and 4 minutes is generally a goo ballpark for me otherwise I start losing interest in the video or there’s not enough of a video for me to enjoy.

Tricks
If it’s a good video with nice composition the video the tricks I could care less about

Speed of tricks
As long as it’s not super speedy fast Yoyo tricks 24/7 for the video it’s fine.

Awesome music with your really good tricks being hit at music breaks maybe in slow mo to a bust out combo when the music intensifies. And good posture with confident (not cocky) camera faces, and definitely not awkward camera glances.

[/thread] :stuck_out_tongue:

Thanks for all the great responses guys!

Why thank you sir! I have yet to make a video as I really want to get my moves all polished before I put one out so I can make something that people will enjoy. So, I too think it’s great to get an insight from everyone as to what makes a good video so that when I do get around to making one, I know where to begin. :slight_smile:

[quote=“Buggot,post:2,topic:75625”]
Well personally, my favourite video of all time is this:

I love the dark sort of filter it has on it and the creative editing with the little glitches and stuff. Even if the video didn’t have awesome moves I’d still love the way that it’s edited in time to the music and the way that they use the multiple angles for different parts of each trick. The fact that he switches up the depth of field for the different shots is a good idea as well.

The music is a great choice as well. It starts a bit more chilled, then it drops but not into anything ridiculously heavy. I feel it helps build the video as the music gets more intense throughout.

Ah yes Erik, those are both very good points! A nice HD video always makes for enjoyable watching, and bad quality can definitely be offputting.

The string visibility is a huge thing. If you can’t see the string, how can you enjoy the moves? I find that if there is a video where someone is wearing a light shirt, or if they’re in front of a very busy background that makes the string more difficult to see, it takes a lot away from the overall experience of the video. :-\

Interesting that you prefer editing as a whole. Thanks for the insight. :slight_smile:

Thanks for the responses guys and gals. ;D

^it’s true though if a video is nicely well done and if it’s only a person doing a brain twister I’d rather watch that than grainy video from a phone even I’d it has better tricks.