Capture For the Backseats
Learning how to capture good footage for game trailers is potentially as complicated as learning the entirety of film history and language, but here's a tip to help make good capture:
Treat it like theater.
What do I mean by this? Actors who've worked in both film and theater know there's a fundamental difference between the two. In film the camera is so close it can capture the most minute facial expressions, but in theater even the front row seats are still going to be several feet away from the actors. Therefore, the theater actor needs to act in a way which can be seen and understood by the audience members all the way in the back seats.
How does this apply to video game capture? In video games there are potentially dozens of decisions and actions made by the player in each moment whether it's for a cinematic 3rd person action game or a strategy game with dozens of units on screen at any given time. Those small decisions might be meaningful during play, but for the people whose hands aren't on the controls, it can look like nothing on screen is happening at all.
Those small decisions are like the film actor thinking about what direction they're looking at when, or the shape their mouth is making. For a theater audience, those decisions might as well be invisible because they can only see the body, limbs and head. Think about power ups or upgrades in a game which augment an ability by 20%; those are the equivalent of micro expressions in actor's face.
Therefore, you need to think like the theater actor. What are the BIGGEST and MOST DRAMATIC actions you can make as the player to illustrate an idea for the trailer? What player verbs will show distinct changes to what is happening on screen? What power ups look most different from the core abilities? What enemy animations will show how powerful they are, and indicate to the audience the obstacles they can expect?
In a trailer, subtlety will at best look bland, and at worst look like nothing is happening on screen at all. Capture for the people in the backseats. Think of broad sweeping motions. For example, if the player or enemy has a big laser attack, capture so the laser crosses the entire screen instead of just being localized to the left or right side. If the player character is dodging attacks, don't stick to one side of the screen; move around as much of the screen as possible so it's easy to see the player's intention.
For this shot I have several takes where because of my position on screen, the laser didn't look very long. So the take I used maximized the laser distance for readability.
This also applies for games with more limited action and/or animation. For a first person narrative game, bigger and more sudden camera movements more clearly show player intent, or for a point-and-click adventure game, walking across the entire screen to pick up an item is clearer than picking something right next to you.
The game capture artist is part filmmaker and part puppeteer, where the keyboard or controller are the strings. Clarity is king in a fast cut trailer, so the more dramatic the motion, the greater possibility it will be readable by the audience. The thing I most frequently see game developers try to do with their trailers is to show as much as possible; I think this is often the wrong approach. Show the important parts as clearly and as dramatically as possible, and the audience will leave with a better understanding of what your game is!
