3dot - Encounter

[sMull]

A friend and i just finished this short movie, enjoy

2404.org (x264)
filefront (x264)
2404.org (XVID, a bit lower quality, for those having problems with x264)

[imported_mn9500]

Re: 3dot - Encounter

that was awesome, just the rap part at the end was a little wierd, but its the credits so that doesnt count. 10/10.

[AFEDslayer]

Re: 3dot - Encounter

Dling

[sMull]

Re: 3dot - Encounter

Thank you mn, and yes i didn't want to make the credits serious so i put that clip there :P

[D|sso]

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HolyCrap, that was honestly brilliant work! Right off the bat, we could tell that you are talented in editing and such, and that this sure would be a high quality movie.

Indeed, It was, and it lived up to my expectations! It's amazing how your plot went perfectly insync with the character animations, with him turning off and on the radio, and nodding to the beat; pure brilliance!

I felt the intensity as the tank loomed over him, and your views from his perspective were great, Xalius better like this one! :p

[ShapeSh1fter]

Re: 3dot - Encounter

, we could tell that....

:) you and your invisible friend again....:p

[N2K]

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Nice camera movements

[Sir. XaliaS]

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Lol, D|sso, I sure did!

sMull, you have the camera fluency now, it's exactly the sort of directing I was encouraging. You nailed it in recording and in the editing. The smart motion blur in Premiere really helps to add that extra polish.
Quality was excellent, very crisp! for which I can expect that you have one of those wonder systems for using fraps.
However, above everything the story was easily understandable and well acted, made it a joy to watch.
Thankyou.

[imported_John-Paul]

Re: 3dot - Encounter

Truly amazing work, guys! I sure hope everyone who frequents this forum takes the time to download this video and admire its quality. Everything from the editing to the camerawork, visual quality, shot composition, superb use of sound and overall originality was first-rate.

I only wish more movies like these were being made because I'd love to see one or two BF2 videos of this calibre every single week.

[Sir. Xios]

Re: 3dot - Encounter

Very good, I agree with all the other comments.

[imported_John-Paul]

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Hey, sMull, whilst I'm awaiting the arrival of crc2005final.zip (48% right now), I just wanted to ask you a couple of quick questions.

I wanted to know, firstly, what kind of experience you have with film-making and editing in general, because you obviously have a great flair for both.

Secondly (and this is something I'm particularly keen to learn) what method / technique did you use to achieve such fluid camera movements? I've only done one BF2 movie thus far (the one mentioned in my sig) and I spent a lot of time trying to achieve extremely smooth camerawork. Clearly, an entirely different technique was used both in the official BF2 videos created by DICE's video director, Roland Smedberg, and in this film of yours. The results are phenomenal, to say the least!

Could you shed some light on the technique? I'm assuming it was a matter of recording footage with a relatively high resolution and then using framing tools in post-production to give the appearance of camera movement during the recording process because I honestly can't think of any other way to achieve motion so fluid.

I'm yet to experiment with that technique but it's definitely atop my list of things to try!

[sMull]

Re: 3dot - Encounter

Both of us thank you for the comments, really glad you enjoyed it

John-Paul, if i understand what you are asking, to get less choppy camera movements i captured most of the scenes in slow motion (5%-25%), this way i can slowly and more preceisly move the camera and follow the action, and then simnply speed up the movie in Premiere. This also gets rid of low framerates (for example fraps captures it at ~20-30FPS, but if i capture the scenes in slow motion and speed them up in Premiere the footage becomes smoother).

By the way, how did you find CRC2005final? :P It and Insane were the first movies i made and that's all the experience i have.

[imported_John-Paul]

Re: 3dot - Encounter

Thank-you for your reply!

By the way, how did you find CRC2005final? :P It and Insane were the first two movies i made and that's all the experience i have.

I have finely-honed detective skills!

Actually, no, that's a lie. :p I just used Google and checked out your 'Previous Posts' on 2404.org.

Truthfully, I'm amazed that you used the slow-motion technique and not that "framing adjustments in post-production" method because the results you achieved were so damn good. I, too, filmed difficult shots at 5% the normal speed but when I watched your movie, I just couldn't envision myself using that technique to get those results. As you know, it's still fairly time-consuming and difficult, so I couldn't help but wonder if some other method was being used. (By the way, the other method for smooth camera movement is one that I'm yet to try but it seems really promising.)

Sorry for all the questions but ... did you use a joystick or mouse to move the camera? Or both?

[sMull]

Re: 3dot - Encounter

Didn't know about the other ways, can you explain how framing adjustment works? I used mouse only, worked well although some shots were harder because i had to keep steady for a longer time.

[imported_John-Paul]

Re: 3dot - Encounter

A mouse only? I'm even more impressed! I absolutely hate using the mouse for camera movement for the same reason; it's very difficult to achieve the steadiness required for a lot of shots.

The other technique is one that I don't even know for certain was used in the game's promotional videos but on closer inspection of them, it seems possible.

As to how it's done, well ... just keep in mind the fact I've never actually tried it myself! I've only made a bunch of assumptions based on things I've read here and there.

A while ago, I became interested in what I termed the 'shuddering camera' effect wherein an explosion, for example, was accompanied by the controlled shuddering of the camera. I guess when you're filming something like the opening of "Saving Private Ryan," it's just a matter of physically bumping or moving the camera with a controlled violence so that an explosion is accompanied by the effect. I always thought it was a cool way to add a sense of realism and impact to those shots.

In Machinima, of course, the same effect can be achieved by jerking the mouse around but I've seen game-based films where the shuddering camera movement accompanying an explosion was far more controlled. There was just no way someone was shoving a mouse around. So, I figured the effect was achieved in post-production and, sure enough, there were a number of tutorials to be found on the subject of "motion sketching," as it's sometimes termed.

I think Xalias has experimented with it a bit, so perhaps he can shed some more light on the subject. My impression, however, is that you can adjust the framing for shots and thereby create a very controlled shudder to accompany relevant footage.

Using the same basic technique, I figured it'd be possible to film in resolutions higher than your intended video and to then make adjustments to both the scale and position of your frame.

Here's something on the subject from Machinima.com:

- Say your target is to have a video at television resolution, which is 720x480 at a .9 pixel aspect ratio (640x480 at 1.0 aspect).
- Shoot the footage at resolutions higher than that. 1024x768 or higher is great if your rig can handle it, but 800x600 will give you a little bit of room, though not really enough to make a very big difference.
- Shooting at such a high resolution gives you two options to mess around with: the scale and position of your frame.
- Say you're shooting a dialogue scene that doesn't require any difficult choreography or camera work. For these situations, you probably just want to scale down the clip so that it just fits over the 720x480 project frame.
- For difficult action scenes where the timing of actors and camera are impossible to have full control over, position is much more useful.
- If your project is 640x480, and your source footage is 1024x768, that gives you 384x288 pixels to mess around with. If you've got a great action shot but the action happens a bit towards the upper-left corner of the frame, move the footage down and to the right, so that the action now occurs in the center of the frame.

When I read that information, it basically confirmed my theory that you can achieve high-quality camera movement -- very fluid / smooth -- by filming simplistic shots in a high resolution and then using framing and scaling tools to move the camera around in post-production.

Like I said, though, I've never actually tested it myself. For all I know, it might be ridiculously time-consuming and laborious, in which case those of us keen on smooth camera movement might as well continue using a mouse and filming in slow-mo.