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Media, Branding & Outreach·Lesson 8 of 29

Videography & Editing

Plan, shoot, and edit team videos - from quick social reels to the season recap and the optional Impact Award video.

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Why video matters

Video is your most powerful storytelling tool. FRC teams use it for social reels, sponsor thank-you videos, season recaps, the optional FIRST Impact Award video, and the separate Digital Animation Award. A great two-minute video can communicate your season better than a ten-page essay.

Types of FRC video

  • Match footage - mount a camera high and steady for full-field captures; The Blue Alliance archives match videos you can also pull from.
  • Build season vlogs / reels - short, vertical (9:16) clips for Instagram Reels, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts.
  • Robot reveal video - the hype clip you drop right before competition showing your finished robot.
  • Season recap / Impact video - a polished narrative of your outreach and team story.
  • Animation - the Digital Animation Award (for the 2026 FIRST AGE season, sponsored by Worcester Polytechnic Institute, WPI) asks teams to tell a story about technology's impact on society. The 2026 theme is "The Artifact That Changed Everything," inviting teams to pick one invention or material and animate how future generations might view it. Entries are uploaded to YouTube (or a similar service) and submitted via the official entry form, not the FIRST Dashboard. A related Safety Animation Award (sponsored by UL Solutions) runs alongside it - check the current WPI/FIRST pages for length limits and deadlines, which change year to year.

Shooting fundamentals

  • Stabilize: use a tripod, gimbal, or at least brace against something. Shaky footage looks unprofessional.
  • Frame rate: shoot 24-30 fps for normal motion; 60 fps or higher when you want smooth slow-motion of the robot.
  • Capture B-roll: lots of short detail clips (hands wiring, a wheel spinning, sparks of a saw) make editing easy.
  • Audio: capture interviews with an external or lapel mic; gym ambient noise destroys phone audio.
  • Get releases: make sure you have media consent for students who appear, especially minors, per your team and school policy.

Editing

Free and standard tools:

  • DaVinci Resolve - powerful, free, with excellent color grading.
  • CapCut - fast, mobile-friendly, ideal for vertical social clips.
  • Adobe Premiere Pro - the industry standard (Adobe offers education pricing).

Editing workflow:

  1. Build a rough cut to your story or music beat.
  2. Tighten - cut anything that drags; social clips should hook in the first 2 seconds.
  3. Add lower-thirds, captions (most viewers watch muted), and your logo.
  4. Color correct so footage matches; warm up that gym lighting.
  5. Use licensed or royalty-free music (YouTube Audio Library, Epidemic Sound) to avoid copyright strikes.

Exporting and posting

  • Export 1080p (or 4K) MP4 (H.264).
  • Export platform-specific aspect ratios: 16:9 for YouTube, 9:16 for Reels/Shorts/TikTok, 1:1 or 4:5 for the Instagram feed.
  • Keep a master high-quality file archived for reuse next year.

Key takeaways

  • Stabilize footage, shoot plenty of B-roll, and capture clean audio with an external mic for interviews
  • Use free tools like DaVinci Resolve or CapCut and always use royalty-free music to avoid copyright strikes
  • Tailor exports per platform (16:9, 9:16, 1:1) and consider the optional Impact Award video and the WPI-sponsored Digital Animation Award

Go deeper

Lesson quiz

Required

Answer all 3 questions correctly to complete this lesson.

1.You want crisp slow-motion shots of your robot scoring for a highlight video. What must you do at the time of filming?

2.Which frame rate is the long-standing standard that gives video a traditional 'cinematic' film look?

3.When assembling clips from multiple cameras in an editing timeline, what is a key best practice for smooth, consistent playback?

Answer every question to submit.