LATEST VIDEO! Its only a test video, so don't expect much from it. Just wanted to test out my new video editor.
[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgmLWi_rDdQ[/url]
Seeing as how it was my first video, I know I probably shouldn't have used fraps, but I'm a beginner at filming and source recording is kind of complicated for me. I've just downloaded WeGame, but my computer is now having problems with it, so I'll be testing stuff for now, trying to figure out why exactly its not working right. ANNNNNYWWAAAAAYS... if anyone has some great tips and advice for me, please post. Thank you!
Music doesn't suit me, but I think that has to do with taste. IMO these are the things you should work on.
Don't record NPC fights, it's unoriginal.
Get rid of the Fraps logo. I know you say source recording is hard so just crop out the Fraps logo or get the full version of it.
cl_drawhud 0 to get rid of hud elements. (I think this was a problem in only 1 shot)
[B]Get a story[/B]
Use Catmull Cameras. Smooth camera movement no jerky mouse movement.
Better action. NPC's in a static position shooting at whatever to me isn't that exciting.
Fix all that and get a plot or better action. Do something creative. Get better music. Music that [I]fits.[/I]
You had a great atmosphere, but the lack of catmull-cameras and a good framerate just made it mediocre. And aside from the plot cards, which were an extremely unoriginal way to present information, there was no story.
But, it's your first, so of course it's all forgiven. Catmull-cams. USE THEM!
[url]http://www.garrysmod.org/downloads/?a=view&id=56328[/url]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LST_VkTlKiE[/media]
I'm just going to leave these here...
Thanks guys. Really helpful.
And P.S.: Fumples, how do you propose I lay out the story?
ALSOOOOOOO... You don't wnat NPCs fighting... even though its a war video?
[QUOTE=Jrose14;22829724]Thanks guys. Really helpful.
And P.S.: Fumples, how do you propose I lay out the story?
ALSOOOOOOO... You don't wnat NPCs fighting... even though its a war video?[/QUOTE]
nonononon listen, npc war fights ARE original. The only thing is, they only are original based on what the content is about. EXAMPLE:
Enemy banana heads have come to seize planet nigretron from the evil black chinese people. BUT, before you have a fight scene (and any other thing you want people to pay attention to in your video) You need to have the interesting/emotional factor. What makes it interesting? I mean, why the fuck shoud I care about this battle? It's the story that you project beforehand that dicates the opinion of your viewers. Remember this. Don't listen to anyone that says that NPC fights are unoringinal, the key is to make it interesting. When you were watching Saving Private Ryan, and the soldiers are running up the beach, what do you notice in the background? Explosions, fuckin fire and shit, THAT'S what you notice. Think about that for a second.
Plus, you don't NEED to use npcs, you can also throw in the playermodel usage too.
Doesn't matter what you use, as long as it's bitchin'.
playermode l? You mean playermodel right? I could do that if I had more than one person working on the video. Who is me. One person fighting the air? Blah. And thanks for the rest of what you said. P.S.: I made a short video (only to show you guys and ask if I'm using these correctly) using source recorder and that camera tool. And the NPC controller, whatever. Tell me if I'm using the recorder and that camera tool correct. Thanks!
EDIT--- NEVERMIND THE VIDEO, IT CAN'T READ THE FILE. Somethings up with my video files and such, and I'll try to fix the video files.
[QUOTE=Jrose14;22832868]playermode l? You mean playermodel right? I could do that if I had more than one person working on the video. Who is me. One person fighting the air? Blah. And thanks for the rest of what you said. P.S.: I made a short video (only to show you guys and ask if I'm using these correctly) using source recorder and that camera tool. And the NPC controller, whatever. Tell me if I'm using the recorder and that camera tool correct. Thanks!
EDIT--- NEVERMIND THE VIDEO, IT CAN'T READ THE FILE. Somethings up with my video files and such, and I'll try to fix the video files.[/QUOTE]
Yeah playermodel
fix'd
[QUOTE=faolco1;22831171]Remember this. Don't listen to anyone that says that NPC fights are unoringinal, the key is to make it interesting. When you were watching Saving Private Ryan, and the soldiers are running up the beach, what do you notice in the background? Explosions, fuckin fire and shit, THAT'S what you notice. Think about that for a second.[/QUOTE]
Sooooo.... kind of like these screenies?
[IMG]http://i46.tinypic.com/2wnwkcl.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i48.tinypic.com/xap7us.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i46.tinypic.com/28kolfc.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i48.tinypic.com/2vuncar.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i47.tinypic.com/eprqs8.jpg[/IMG]
Yeah man, keep it up. Go for personal angles, one that don't capture the whole battlefield (unless you're going for an establishing shot) where you focus on one soldier and switch to a generalization of everything every once in awhile. Keep it intense, and no birds' eye views when doing this! (Again, unless your'e establishing)
[URL]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfh3ne88fPY[/URL]
00:16 - Guy throws up. Used to show grittyness of situation
00:56 - Bombs start going off. Kind of slowly leading into the shitstorm that's about to happen
01:20 - Do you see what they did there? They opened up the door, and like 4 people got fucking destroyed. That's to intensify the battle and show that the germans aren't fucking around.
***Do you notice how fucking loud this is? Bullet's whizzing by while he's walking up the water***
***Notice how the director has alot of shots of allied soldiers getting shot and dying, with intervals of closeups with german HMG's.
03:42 - Another slaughter festival.
Now throughout this scene, as the allies get up the beach, you'll notice that the allies don't see mto make any significant kills until the end of the battle. Now see how you want to do your battle scene. Who do you want to lose? Who do you want to win? How many casualties to you want your winning/losing team to take? All of these choices affect your audiences physcological response. Think about it, man. Oh yeah, notice during that entire clip, you didn't see one generalization shot, of the entire battlefield. (Well maybe one or two, too lazy to go and look) The director focused more on personal deaths and personal accomplishments than generalizing the entire battlefield.
NO POV SHOTS*******************
I hope I helped. Ask anymore questions and i'll be glad to help you out some more!
Alright cool. I'll be practicing some scenes. Do you mind if I post some of the videos? Like my practice ones and hopefully you'll be kind enough to point out whats wrong? (they will be from fraps, concidering my source recorder vids aren't working ATM, and they are for the eyes of the facepunch viewers only)
[QUOTE=Jrose14;22837236]Alright cool. I'll be practicing some scenes. Do you mind if I post some of the videos? Like my practice ones and hopefully you'll be kind enough to point out whats wrong? (they will be from fraps, concidering my source recorder vids aren't working ATM, and they are for the eyes of the facepunch viewers only)[/QUOTE]
Yeah man go ahead
K, thanks.
Edited original post. New video with some suggestion taken into it's notice.
Now see, that was not what I was talking about. My friend, it looks like you followed the exact opposite of the advice I gave you.
You took a catmull camera shot and swooped it around the entire battlefield, creating a type of birds eye view shot. The audience isn't interested in generalizing it, they're interested in seeing fuckers get pwned by massive antlions, CLOSE UP. No more birds eye view shots.
And establishing shot is basically a shot that captures the entire battlefield and let's the audience get acquanted with their view. We got a bit TOO acquanted, we needed closeup shots of the action.
Also, try to refrain from using heavy/dark/shitty metal in your films, it can make or break the atmosphere, (but usually breaks it)
Excuse my spelling I just had a fucking tornado acouple hours ago and I cannot think correctly
Ah well. Its hard to tell just when a SINGLE combine is going to get impaled by an antlion.
And you had a tornado? Any coladeral damage?
[editline]01:53AM[/editline]
And what kind of music should I use?
[QUOTE=Jrose14;22889626]Ah well. Its hard to tell just when a SINGLE combine is going to get impaled by an antlion.
And you had a tornado? Any coladeral damage?
[editline]01:53AM[/editline]
And what kind of music should I use?[/QUOTE]
Yeh, looked and felt like a tornado anyway. We drove around our town, and most of the trees were split in half. It was pretty cool.
Music wise...you can start by watching acouple movies that you like and taking the soundtrack from there (just to start). You can also look around for a composer (probobly on youtube) and head to acouple sites like [URL="http://www.musicbeyond.com"]www.musicbeyond.com[/URL]. Usually, the way to go is to get tracks that are made for films/videos.
Faolco's giving some great advice. In a few weeks when I get back I'll be uploading a video on how to do up-close and personal shots.
Here's an example of the type of battle you're going to want:
[URL]http://vimeo.com/9632506[/URL]
(that's actually a preview of an unreleased video of mine, I keep a sort of archive of that stuff on Vimeo.)
I understand I may look a bit self-centered posting one of my own videos, but if you would look you can see that it includes all of the shots I believe Faolco's helping you achieve.
When filming that segment, there was only TWO people involved, and only one was on screen at once.
My brother was the rebel on-camera, and I was either running around like an idiot on the camera in the background, or standing behind the cameras.
Now, as you'd see, I did not use a SINGLE POV shot which swept the battlefield. I know that it's for dramatic effect, and trust me, my first few videos used it to shit ([URL="http://www.youtube.com/user/fumples"]www.youtube.com/user/fumples[/URL], the original Atomic Riders episodic series used them a lot) but I eventually learned how to work Catmull-Rom cameras to my advantage.
That's actually a good suggestion. If you go on that 'Fumples' youtube account and watch my first-ever video 'Atomic Riders Episode One' all the way up through 'Atomic Riders Episode Four', you'll notice how my own cameras slowly leaned away from POV shots. Try using my own videos as a guide.
When you keep the action up-close and tight, you'll notice, above all, that the action looks FOCUSED. When the action is tight and focused, the viewer can fully become immersed in it, and can receive the entire experience as opposed to just seeing random gunfire. Now, that's not to say random gunfire isn't a bad thing, such as what Faolco said about Saving Private Ryan, it's REQUIRED in the background to enhance the experience, however it should not be relied entirely on.
[B]Focus on specific people as opposed to the battlefield[/B]
Let's say variable A represents a character progressing through a battle, and B is the battle in general. As a timeline, your video should go something as follows:
AAAAABBAAABABAAAAAABB
Notice how most of the focus is on the character, and little is on the battle. That's not necessarily giving you permission to get swooping shots, POV shots are almost ALWAYS a bad idea as it just shows laziness, however that could be something such as the camera panning away from the man to just show some quick fighting. Nothing huge.
What you're doing is the following:
BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB
When you have too much focus on the big picture, it gets overwhelming for the viewer. Have you heard that awesome quote about the internet? It goes something like: 'Getting information from the Internet is like drinking from a fire hydrant'. That is analogous to what you're trying to achieve here. You're giving the viewer too much to look at, and not enough direction as to what he should be looking at. It's like having ten seconds to Find Waldo in a picture.
Now I understand that was a fuckload of text, and to be honest there's no TL;DR for it. I am just pouring out my own input, because to be honest I was in the exact same position you were, if you took a look at my videos.
I would honestly suggest you read ALL of it and take it to heart, as that entire wall of text was written directly out of my own experience and how I matured and improved as a filmmaker. It's about as raw and honest as I can get. Soon, I will be uploading a tutorial on how I do my camera effects.
I seriously and honestly hope this helped you, I spent probably 45 minutes writing this.
[QUOTE=FumplesAlt;22895396]Fumples's fantastic information[/QUOTE]
That was great, Fumples
And remember, neither of us are trying to be self centered, we're just trying to help you and maybe even help the community. (whoever looks at this thread :V)
I never thought you were self centered. :unsmith: Thanks Fumples. You too faolco1. I'm working on a.. third video... I think its the third... well I'll try to be a bit more up close.
Edited original post. Its just a test video, so there's not really a story. I made it mainly just to check out my new video editor before I registered it (to get rid of the logo and add more features) because it would cost a few bucks. Its a bit more close with the fighting, shows only small areas at a time (except in the beginning, where it shows lots of the alleyway). Enjoy, and please tell me if theres anything wrong (BESIDES THE LOGO) with it.
Woah Fumples, that was some intense stuff. Was it all done in-game!?
[QUOTE=Jrose14;23156638]Edited original post. Its just a test video, so there's not really a story. I made it mainly just to check out my new video editor before I registered it (to get rid of the logo and add more features) because it would cost a few bucks. Its a bit more close with the fighting, shows only small areas at a time (except in the beginning, where it shows lots of the alleyway). Enjoy, and please tell me if theres anything wrong (BESIDES THE LOGO) with it.[/QUOTE]
You're really improving. Instead of using one shot of the entire battlefield, you put in a bunch of shots of the action happening real time. I would suggest that you remove the black fade in/out though when doing action scenes because it detracts from the intensity and makes the video move slower. Also, make use of the zoom in function of the camera tool in gmod. Zooming in your shots so that they are really close to the characters being attacked simulates alot of unrest and anxiety. Use this to help show the tides of battle and who is winning/losing, or the effects of the battle on the participants.
You also included a shot of the zombies breaking through the barricade. This shows to us, the viewers, what is happening in the battle. The humans have just lost one of their key defensive positions, and the tide has turned largely because of their opened flank. This is crucially important for keeping your fighting interesting.
Like look at this example. Say that I took a bunch of shots of soldiers/zombies fighting, then all the sudden a birds eye view of the zombies in the human base. It would look really bad, thus you need to create the groundwork for the zombies entering the base. Every little bit counts when doing stuff like this. Here's an example of a battle between two sides, one defender and one attacking.
A) Shots of the enemy approaching to the fort.
B) As the enemy soldiers become close to the fort, get some zoomed in shots of the soldiers in the fort showing emotions of fright or anxiety. Soundtracks are also really important, you suspensful or eerie tracks to your benefit.
C) The enemies begin charging at the fort. This is where shit gets real. Your protagonist team opens fire. (What happeneds here is up to you in terms of who you want to show losing alot of men and who you want to show winning the battle, think Saving Private Ryan again)
D) the enemies fire missles at your fort, resulting in a shitload of damage. Now, if you wanted to create the feeling of alot of distress and problems, get a fuckton of shots of the wall collapsing and soldiers reacting. This will show the audience how serious and important that wall was!
Bear in mind this is just an example, but i'm just trying to help as much as I can.
Alright. Cool. And thanks. I'll actually try to make a video kind of like that... well... jsut very slightly. Oh and, should the shots just instantly clip to eachother? Or should their be something inbetween besides that fade in, fade out stuff?
[QUOTE=Jrose14;23317049]Alright. Cool. And thanks. I'll actually try to make a video kind of like that... well... jsut very slightly. Oh and, should the shots just instantly clip to eachother? Or should their be something inbetween besides that fade in, fade out stuff?[/QUOTE]
When it comes to action scenes, you really don't want to put anything in between the clips because it disolves from the "feeling".
So no, no fade in and outs
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