Reveal Video Production

KnightKrawler has performed a review of past reveal videos, including a “plusses and deltas” review of each video. The purpose of this guide is to show the different approaches that have been taken over many years, highlight the things that worked well and things that can be improved in the future. See each video analysis below the recommendations.

General Observations

Know your audience. The Reveal Video isn’t for KnightKrawler students. It is for other teams who are scouting our robot. It is a commercial for the robot. Show it off. Make something people want to share.
A variety of shots impresses. Shots from on top of a ladder looking down or from carpet looking up are cool. Show close ups of the moving parts and blinky lights. Show the wires and hoses. Close up shots of the game pieces entering, leaving and moving through the robot are cool.
Use a tripod as often as possible for steady shots. Setup shots so you don’t have to pan/move the camera. Have the robot drive towards the camera for interesting shots. When using phone video, shoot all video in landscape.
Hiding the endgame strategy/mechanism used to be fun/cool, but with so much design on open alliance, it is now more important to show the best part of your robot for scouting. Show the really hard stuff your robot can do in detail (Example: 2022 End Game).
Showing students prototyping is great, but only for a small part of the video, focus on the end product. Consider putting most student shots in a recap video, rather than the reveal video.
Put the sponsors in the beginning of the video. Mark says, “Business in the front, party in the back”.
Get shots of the robot moving fast, not slow. Ask for the drivers to repeat something until you get the shot you want. Direct the driver on what to do for the shot. Setup the shot, get close.
Avoid shots of the robot performing badly or failing at a task unless it is intentionally (and obviously) used to show progression of a working mechanism.
Groups of shots are popular. 4 shots of shooting from different angles, 3 shots of driving over obstacles, 3 shots of game piece acquisition, 2 shots of climbing. Stack these shots together and show the robot working from a variety of angles. For example, highlight the indexer with multiple shots, then move on to the group of shooter videos.
When considering music, think about how moments in the song can correlate to moments in the video.

Planning Ahead for Rapid Production

Timelines for completing the reveal video are always short. Often students may only have 1 day from the time they capture their last shots until the final video is needed.
Create your video project ahead of time in Davinci, Premier Pro, CapCut, Final Cut Pro, Camtasia, or your video editor of choice
Establish a shot by shot timeline before any work is started.
Add all elements of the video as soon as possible. Title screens, sponsors, etc, can all be completed and added to a video before the robot is built.
Put in placeholder videos when planning. Take a photo/video of someone holding a piece of paper that says “climbing”. Take a video of someone walking as if the robot is driving to establish timing of clips. Complete the entire video to desired length with place holder videos. Then replace the place holder videos with real clips as they are collected.
When planning your video, plan to stack mechanism shots in groups. It is ok to repeat groups such as 3 shooting, 3 game piece acquisition, 2 shooting, 4 driving, 3 game piece holding, 3 shooting, 3 climbing.
Know what videos you need to shoot before the robot is complete. Work with programmers and the drive team to capture the clips you need. Great clips can often be captured during autonomous testing because the robot will drive specific paths and use specific mechanisms allowing for planning your shots around knowing exactly where the robot will be.
Pick a music track as an adequate soundtrack for your video before starting shooting. Do not hold up video production to look for music. Look for better music only after no more video production can be done, or in periods where you are waiting to capture better shots. Some music has dramatic pauses or suspenseful lead-ins that can enhance the video. Look for these only after you have the video you want, then tweak the timeline to fit as time permits.

Sample Reveal Script

0:00 KnightKrawler Robotics
0:04 Game Logo
0:05 Sponsors
0:09 Close up or robot guts - blinky lights
0:11 KnightKrawler Presents
0:13 Robot Title - Name
0:15 Students - prototypes, code, CAD
0:20 Robot close follow, pickup, shoot, drive
0:40 Close up of game piece manipulation - Gopro shots
1:00 End game
1:20 Week Zero Play & robot glamor shots with LEDs on
1:30 Close up of Sponsor Logos
1:35 Competing At - with Game Logo & FIRST Logo
1:40 End

Video Analysis of Past Reveal Videos

2016 Termite

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EExZtMKMvs0

Script

0:00 Sponsors
0:05 Title Screen - Termite
0:13 Week Zero Field
0:17 Focus Transition Robot Guts and Week Zero Fields
0:26 Close follow Robot - Shoot, Pickup, Drive
1:25 Subscribe Banner
1:30 End

Pluses

Heavy focus on robot
Good shots of robot mechanisms
Clear to see all robot capabilities

Deltas

No Bumpers
No “Competing At” Screen

2017 Hornet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcbxyVBFjZc

Script

0:00 Sponsors
0:04 KnightKrawler Title Screen
0:06 Kids running tools, sparks, soldering (smoke)
0:13 Title Screen - Hornet
0:14 Tight Zoom
0:18 Close Follow Robot
0:20 Time Lapse Week Zero Setup
0:26 Close Follow Robot - Pickup, Shoot, Score
0:57 Student Interview with Robot Scoring Match Play
1:17 Robot closeup + driving
1:22 Robot climb
1:27 KnightKrawler Logo
1:28 Competing At
1:35 End

Pluses

Heavy focus on robot
Good shots of robot mechanisms
Clear to see all robot capabilities
Some shots of students building

Deltas

Student interview OK, but unusual
Climb was secret weapon, should have showcased more

2018 Mantis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHKfmIl97jE

Script

0:00 KnightKrawler Presents Title
0:03 Title Screen - Mantis
0:05 Week Zero Setup
0:19 Close follow robot - pickup & score
1:09 Competing At
1:17 Sponsors
1:25 Ramp Shot
1:27 End

Pluses

Heavy focus on robot
Good shots of robot mechanisms

Deltas

Week Zero Setup not interesting
Camera shots of Robot jerky and focus issues
Robot driving slow
Missed opportunity to show robots on ramp

2019 Cricket

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8O_qmGGDcLA

Script

0:00 KnightKrawler Presents Title
0:03 Title Screen - Cricket
0:07 Match Video - Driving
0:10 On-robot Gopro - Pickup
0:17 Match Video - pickup- scoring
0:40 On-robot Gopro - Scoring
0:55 Match Climb
1:05 On-robot GoPro Climb
1:13 Sponsors
1:26 Competing At
1:30 Student thumbs up
1:33 End

Pluses

Heavy focus on robot
Ok shots of robot mechanisms

Deltas

Created post competition
All competition shots
Hard to see end game mechanism

2020 Scorpion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8a6Zm2X0jME

Script

0:00 “Reveal Video 2020”
0:03 Students - timelapse of meeting, prototyping
1:05 Close-up Robot - Drive Pickup
1:15 Match Shooting
1:27 Climb that didn’t climb
1:42 Unscripted Student Interviews
5:50 Competing At
5:53 Students Credits
5:62 Sponsors
6:15 End

Pluses

Ok shots of robot pickup and shooting

Deltas

Too many shots of student meetings - over 1 minute
Not enough shots of robot - 27 seconds
No close up interior shots of robot
Shooting video reversal - bad
Did not show end game
Don’t do interviews in reveal video
Don’t give credits
No one will see sponsors or “competing at”
Missing Slide that showed robot name
Missing KnightKrawler title slide

2021 Firefly

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFXXwLagg4Q

Script

0:00 KnightKrawler Title
0:03 Students Prototyping, Coding, Buttons
0:17 KnightKrawler presents
0:21 Closeup robot guts - blinky lights
0:27 Robot Title - Firefly
0:29 Close follow robot, Gopro - pickup and shooting
1:41 Endgame climb
2:12 Sponsors
2:18 Thanks for watching
2:24 Funny student clip
2:26 End

Pluses

Heavy focus on robot
Good shots of robot mechanisms
Clear to see all robot capabilities
Blue Banners in background
Good mix of close shots and go pro shots
Excellent job of showing game elements moving through robot
Demonstration of robot vision tracking
Good use of high (ladder) and low (carpet) shots
Closeup of sponsor logos on robot
Good demonstration of end game

Deltas

Long
Don’t put jokes in reveal video
No “competing at”

2023 Cicada

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlIfc1U3Z3Q

Script

0:00 KnightKrawler Robotics
0:05 Sponsors
0:09 Game Logo
0:10 Robot close-up guts
0:14 Students programming & prototyping
0:18 CAD
0:20 half second shots of students
0:20 robot balance - blue banners
0:27 Scoring, balancing, go-pro
0:44 Competition Match Play and Students
1:05 Alliance Selection animation and winning blue banner
1:19 Blur effect of robot driving
1:21 Robot Title - Cicada
1:25 Robot LEDs - pickup cone
1:30 Thanks for Watching, game logo, FIRST logo
1:37 Sponsors
1:43 KnightKrawler Logo
1:45 Funny students
1:50 End

Pluses

Good focus on robot
Good shots of robot mechanisms
Blue Banners in background
Good mix of close shots and go pro shots
Good demonstration of end game

Deltas

Title screen should have words in gold, logo smaller
Did not show baby bird intake
Not completed before competition
Competition summary in reveal video
Missing “Competing At”
Could have had more close ups of Robot mechanisms
Don’t put jokes in reveal video

2024 Scarab

https://youtu.be/7VQs6FM1P04?si=eBXKuc1qvrXVauO6

Script

0:00 KnightKrawler Robotics
0:03 Game Logo
0:06 Sponsors
0:08 Video and Photos of students design/prototype
0:45 Video and Photo of robot construction
0:58 Robot shooting
1:00 Robot Title - Scarab
1:01 Robot spins into frame
1:04 Game piece pickup (incomplete mechanism)
1:08 Game pice pickup and shooting
1:12 Climb
1:15 Shoot
1:16 Amp
1:18 Blinky lights - shoot
1:20 Trap
1:24 Shoot
1:25 Competition Schedule
1:30 End

Pluses

Game Logo right up front
Nice transition shot for Scarab Title
Good demonstration of end game
Good shot of CAD and CNC
Student footage was video rather than photos

Deltas

1 minute in before seeing the robot
Too much student footage
Mechanism shots could have been grouped
Light on robot content
No code shot

2025 Mayfly

https://youtu.be/O6UI0Y-qcZM?si=xmJ3-tBTxhLH3VAC

Script

0:00 Sponsors
0:03 KnightKrawler Robotics
0:05 Robot close-up - sponsors stickers spinning
0:07 Photos of students design/prototype
0:10 Robot close-up top down spinning
0:13 Students prototyping
0:17 Robot close up mechanism
0:22 Robot game piece acquisition
0:32 students programming & prototyping
0:40 Robot close up climb
0:43 Prototyping
0:44 Robot scoring
0:48 Robot Title - Mayfly
0:50 Robot scoring
1:30 Competition dates
1:25 Robot LEDs - pickup cone
1:30 Thanks for Watching, game logo, FIRST logo
1:35 Black Screen
1:42 End

Pluses

Good focus on robot
Good shots of robot mechanisms from interesting angles
Good shots working mechanisms
Blue Banners in background
Good mix of week zero footage
Good demonstration of end game
Shot of code while elevator moving

Deltas

Avoid static photos, all video is better
Too many student photos
All video should be shot in landscape
Most static shots of the robot aren’t needed.
No game logo
Black screen