Creating Video Content for IGN

Producing Video Content for IGN

IGN's mission is to tell stories, to inform and entertain readers, and celebrate games. Odds are, if you're taking the time to find every secret, best every boss and unlock every achievement, you're already really good at the "celebrate games" part.

We believe that the same principles applied to our articles, news and reviews should continue in the content that we produce for our wikis and guides - and to that end we've created a few guidelines to help get you started creating top-notch video content that will not only entertain our readers, but also save them hours of infuriating gameplay and self-loathing.

Getting Started

Capture Resolution

If you're capturing gameplay footage from a console, odds are you're recording your footage in either 720p or 1080p. That's great! However, if you happen to be capturing footage of a game running on a PC or a Mac, please be sure that it's running at one of those two resolutions (1280x720 or 1920x1080). Many people have awesomely large monitors, but that means that their games run at atypical resolutions (such as 1280x768 or 2560x1600) - and while that's cool, we want our content to look as shiny as possible. Since your videos are going to be exported and viewed in either 720p or 1080p, we'll want our footage to match that so it properly fits within the frame.

Using IGN assets

Since you've been selected (or "volunteered," nerd) to produce content specifically for IGN, then you'll want to make it look as professional as we try to make our in-house content look. That means using the same assets we do throughout the videos that you produce.

You can find any assets you may need here. This includes intro and outro title cards, fonts, transitions and title bars in both 1280x720 and 1920x1080.

Putting it all together

Once you've captured your footage and downloaded your assets, it's time to blend it into a delicious milkshake of entertaining and informative content. How you do this is up to you - want to make a montage of the best ways to blow s#!t up? Go nuts. Feel like doing an elaborate instructional commentary about each boss and their weaknesses? Fire up your mic and full steam ahead! The only guidelines we'll give you is at the beginning and the end - there's a certain amount of uniformity we need to maintain within the IGN brand.

In the beginning

You'll want to start each video with the IGN intro bumper, but it isn't as simple as just dumping it into your sequence timeline. You'll notice that the final few frames of that file are empty, so you'll want to unlink the files and remove those empty frames of video (keep the audio in tact, though - the SFX continue during those frames).

Once you've done that, add a brief Dip to Black and Exponential Fade onto the beginning of your gameplay footage. Usually a length of one second will suffice, but if you feel it would be better to slowly fade in, that's your decision - remember, these are basic guidelines to adhere to, not strict rules!

Finally, take the intro card audio clip and move it down one track, then butt your gameplay footage up to the end of the intro video. This will provide a smooth transition from title card to gameplay, and is more aesthetically pleasing than an abrupt shift or jump cut.

transitions within your video

The middle part of the video (or "all the actual content") is your creative playground. Yes, your videos should be informative, but they should also be entertaining. Put as much or as little of your personality into them as you like, and just remember to have fun with it.

Depending on what type of game your playing or how your structuring your videos, you may want to utilize a few different types of transitions from clip to clip. For example, if you're working on a fast-paced shooter like Halo or Call of Duty, odds are you'll be faced with more than a few deaths you may want to edit out. In situations like these, it will be more beneficial to insert a simple crossfade between clips.

If, however, you're creating a montage or compilation-style video (say for collectible locations), consider using one of the transition files in the folder above. They help differentiate between sections, especially when there is an in-game change of location or time.

Wrapping it up

Once you reach the end of your video - all the collectibles are collected or all of the commentary has been... commented... it's time to wrap everything up in a neat little package.

As you did with the beginning of your gameplay footage, add a Dip to Black and Exponential Fade to your final capture clip.

Add an additional half-second (either 15 or 30 frame) Dip to Black on the front end of the outro card and you're done! Hit export on that bad boy and get ready to send it down the river to publish town.

EXPORTING YOUR CONTENT

Publishing Your Content on IGN

While it is our hope that in the not-too-distant future IGN contributors / freelancers will be able to publish their content directly through IGN, sadly that day is not today.

In the meantime, once you've completed your video content, upload it as an unlisted video to a YouTube channel (it can be your primary personal one, or a secondary one you use specifically for freelance work). Add a relevant title, description and tags, then send us an email with all of your video links - we'll take it from there!