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.
(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.