How to Capture Video Game Footage on Your Computer

As creator of many Video Game Videos (including Music Videos, Skill Videos, and Machinema), I often get emails and messages from people asking for tips on how to make them. These inquiries range anywhere from asking what programs I use to asking for tips on the pacing and editing of the video. In response to those requests I have decided to make a little feature here on Associated Content about the resources, techniques, and tips I have and use in regards to creating Video Game Music Videos. Hopefully readers will find it helpful and inspiring, driving them to create these pieces of art themselves.

Before anybody, amateur or professional, can start making Music Videos, footage needs to be captured. After all, what is a video without any, well, video? Now, the way to capture this footage will depend on what kind of game you want to film. If it is a PC game, this process can be very cheap and very easy. If you are using either a Mac or a Microsoft Windows based computer, two programs can be easily used to capture footage from almost any computer game you play. The programs I use the most are FRAPS and GameCam. Both can be found with a simple Google search and are very easy to use and install. Be aware that while GameCam is free, FRAPS charges a small fee to unlock all of its features. With these programs, you just load up any game to play and press a pre-designated key to begin capturing footage of whatever is going down on your screen. Also be aware that capturing raw video is very space consuming, so you are going to want to have a hard drive with a lot of free space in order to save the videos. While these simple programs can be used to capture video of PC games, getting killer footage from PlayStation, Xbox, or Wii games can be a little trickier and more expensive.