10 Camera Shots That'll SPICE up Your Board Game Videos!.

- Hi, in Fuji Koro, you're playing as samurai trying to gather as many magical items as possible while trying to escape and erupting Mount Fuji. The goal is to secure as many victory points as you can by defeating dragons, exploring the volcano and crafting gear.

Now, one example of what you can do in your turn is to move, and if you happen to move through another player, then you both have to agree in order for you to keep moving, but who doesn't want to fight? Now, this game is super fun because you have a ton of actions to choose from on your turn, but it would be more fun if each class of dragons had their own unique abilities to choose from.

Oh wait, was that 10 camera angles done in less than 40 seconds? Absolutely, and that my friends is how you walk the wolves. Now, the first camera angle is your standard tripod studio shot, which is the one you're looking at right now, hi. Now, this shot is good for introducing your video, it's also good for showing emotions, and it can act as a filler shot when you're explaining parts of a game that you can't exactly show, for example.

So, let's stick with Fuji Koro for the example for today, when you're explaining that the goal is to bring back as many magical items as possible for the Shogun, you can't exactly show that because there is no Shogun in the game. So, a good Photoshop for that, is the one we're doing right now.

And number two, is your top down shot. Now, this one is really good for an overview of all the components and seeing the entire board, because it gives you a general layout of how things are organized. It's also really good for gameplay, especially for games where you have to reach all over the place, in order to reach different components and perform different actions all across the board.

If you have a zoom lens, it is perfect for mounting up there, that way it's very convenient for you to just zoom in, zoom out. And it's going to save you a ton of time instead of having to move your tripod up and down, which is what I used to do for the past 95% of my videos.

Actually, the past 100%. Going forward, I'm going to be using a zoom lens. Now those two, which I'm sure you already know are your bread and butter. You see this in every single video, you have a tripod shot and you have your overhead shot for board game videos.

Now the next eight are not as conventional, but I wanted to give you eight more tools at your disposal. Now, these are ones that I've done in my past videos, and I'm also gonna be doing going forward, especially since I'm kind of done upgrading my studio, like my new table.

Now, number three is your over the shoulder shot. This one is great for gameplay, it's very immersive, and it's also very cinematic because your foreground is a little bit blurred out while your subject in the background is in focus. Now, you see this done a lot in movies where the person in the foreground is talking, but you don't see them talking because they're the ones that are blurred out in the foreground.

But then you see the reaction of the person that they're talking to in the background. So that's a very good cinematic shot that you can use, especially for gameplay videos. So if you do gameplay videos with a lot of people, this is a great option for you to have.

Now, number four is good for variety. Now, if you're not comfortable on camera and let's say you don't like staring at the lens, that's totally fine. One good way to kind of ease yourself into video making, is to do a side view. So in this case, you have your camera to the side and you're talking to someone in front of you.

Why? Because it's much easier to talk to someone, but to stare the lens at, to talk directly at the camera, it's very intimidating. And even if you are used to it, it's still has this little nerve-wracking thing. So this angle is perfect for that. Now that's also one reason why people use it often in interviews.

As another example, if there's a particular rule that involves another player, but since you're filming it by yourself, this angle is good for that. Like for instance, if you're going to say on the next player's turn, they're going to roll the attack dice, followed by the defense dice.

This angle is a good segue for that. Why? Because it implies that because you're not looking directly into the camera, you're talking about indirect actions. But also to keep it simple, it is great for introducing some variety. And number five is your rule of thirds, so this one is where your subject is taken up about a third of the frame, as you see right now.

Now, I use this a lot, especially my photography tutorials, because then I can show pictures on this side, but this is particularly good for board games because you can show photos of board games like this. You can show footage of you playing, and on top of that, there's a duality here because you can show your emotion and how you feel about certain components while showing the game itself.

For instance, look at the difference between these two clips. All I need is one solid roll, bam! All I need is one solid roll, bam! I'm obviously being a little bit dramatic here, but when am I not? The tight shot, is really good for emphasizing a particular point in the rule book, a important topic that you want to discuss, or maybe a particular intense passion of why board games should have included something or should not have included something.

However, it would make the viewer uncomfortable if you're always on a tight shot, especially for an extended period of time, just like right now, let's move on. Number seven is the point of view shot, and who says it is limited to only those that are biking and jumping out of a plane and scuba diving and doing all these crazy action stunts.

We can also use it for board games. If you have a GoPro, even though your footage may not look the best, you can at least use them for these kinds of shots, because it makes the viewer feel like they're actually playing the game. Or alternatively, you can have a camera with a small tripod right in front of you as well.

Number eight is the table top shot, this is a fun one. Now this is where you get all the intricate little details of how the miniatures were sculpted and the wooden textures on different Maples. You can show a ton of details and textures, and I would say this is actually the most satisfying shot in board games because it makes me just salivate over how good the components look.

Number nine, I'm just going to call this the follow action shot. So this is another one that does involve movement, but this is a great shot, especially when you're trying to emphasize a really impactful action. It works really well for checkmate like actions, for example, of an action that has a really big impact, those are perfect types of shots for those.

It also goes really well with whoosh like sound effects, where you're really trying to highlight that big move that someone just made. And lastly is number 10. So I kind of just developed this shot from doing these cinematic showcases, but I really like it because it provides the viewer with a very gentle reminder of what game we're playing or what the subject about this entire video is.

This is an over the shoulder shot, but with working components, what's also nice about this one is that you can use it with other components and not just the box cover, and you can also shift in and out of focus to emphasize, and de-emphasize certain components.

Again, another type of shot for you to include some more variety in your videos. And those are not just one or two or three, but 10, 10 board game angle types of shots that you can use in your board game videos. So if you do plan on using these, make sure that you are balancing how often and how infrequently you are using them.

What I mean is, you don't want to use a different angle every two seconds, but at the same time, you don't want a static shot, like this tripod one for like five minutes, right? You want to include some variety depending on the timing of what you're saying and what you're talking about, and when you're explaining the game.

What works for me, in order to find balance, is to really put myself in my viewer shoes and to really be objective about your footage. Like, okay, am I losing interest as I'm watching here, if you're losing interest in your own videos, which I do all the time, that means your viewers have probably lost interest in about half the time.

Focus on points where you really want to emphasize something without taking a flashlight at the viewer and saying, "Hey, pay attention to this." Remember, subtleties and details all add up. And the last thing which I know you're probably asking me now is, what if I don't have multiple cameras? Well, actually what I used to do with one simple camera was extremely inefficient, but it works, and it's what you gotta do in the meantime.

But what I actually used to do, is to take my camera off the tripod, stop for a second and film that specific part where I know I wanted a different angle or a different position, or just a different type of shot in general. Or especially for tutorials, I would go back all over again and do the whole thing over two or three more times, just to make sure I get different angles and different compositions.