LESSONS 3 and 4 (COMBINED): NAVIGATING, EDITING and PUBLISHING in MOVIE MAKER

[Demetrios of Messene]

First few comments on the work of fellow students:

@SPQG_Juba: Your second video is no longer available for some reason. I have watched it though and I really liked your effect with the monocle (or whatever a single binocular is called)!

@Finlander: Fitting music and some very nice close-ups!

@Hesus de bodemloze: Very nice intro and aerial shots!

@ Mitch, Your humble servant: I find that the choice of music really adds to the movie. Some really nice blasts, as well!
____________________________________________________________________________________


Now, back on my project, I reworked my film with RTW movie_maker. I also used FRAPS (a registered version, that's why no watermark), mm live and mm 2.6 for the slow motion clip.



I improved on what The Nanny pointed out for my first attempt (clipping, jerky camera moves, unit description boxes). I believe that there is still room for improvement, but in general I am satisfied with my progress.

I have one main question:
mm live does not support slow motion (neither by default nor by add-ons)
mm 2.6 does not support output at 720p by default, so the clips do not match the clips from mm live. I believe that there is an add-on to include output at 720p, but I could not find it. Any words of advice?

[Nanny de Bodemloze]

First few comments on the work of fellow students:

@SPQG_Juba: Your second video is no longer available for some reason. I have watched it though and I really liked your effect with the monocle (or whatever a single binocular is called)!

@Finlander: Fitting music and some very nice close-ups!

@Hesus de bodemloze: Very nice intro and aerial shots!

@ Mitch, Your humble servant: I find that the choice of music really adds to the movie. Some really nice blasts, as well!
____________________________________________________________________________________


Now, back on my project, I reworked my film with RTW movie_maker. I also used FRAPS (a registered version, that's why no watermark), mm live and mm 2.6 for the slow motion clip.



I improved on what The Nanny pointed out for my first attempt (clipping, jerky camera moves, unit description boxes). I believe that there is still room for improvement, but in general I am satisfied with my progress.

I have one main question:
mm live does not support slow motion (neither by default nor by add-ons)
mm 2.6 does not support output at 720p by default, so the clips do not match the clips from mm live. I believe that there is an add-on to include output at 720p, but I could not find it. Any words of advice?

Well mate, your first draft was a very good effort but this is a 500% improvement. You took care of all the technical flaws, and I couldn't spot any mate, great job...I know fixing those little things is tedious. The only suggestions I have left now are stylistic and subjective, but are quite minor:

- the music gives it a frenetic feel...and often, people make the knee jerk mistake of automatically making the pace and speed of the vid match the music without considering other possibilities. You did not make this mistake...the clip lengths and camera pans are flowing and longer, and a nice contrast to the music. However, the occasional indulgence CAN be effective (but like I said...this is subjective, so not a hard recommendation). So, for example, at :29, when the music changes a bit, imagine a very quick sudden zoom in, like a sudden jolt of adrenaline to the heart, followed by faster camera movement for another 2 heartbeats or maybe even a bit more. Then back to your normal pacing. Another technique is to decrease the length of clips bit by bit as the video progresses, like sprinting at the end of a race. Just something to ponder as you prepare your final render next week.

RE 2.6 vs Live...I have almost no experience with Live, but I do know the program can render in HD but has fewer editing and effects options. I'd say stick with whatever you did in this vid. The red uniforms against the blue sky is very stark and catchy, and those vibrant colours are coming through very nicely in the 720p render. Stick with that for your vid.

I'd also like to note that while the RTW graphics are more dated than newer TW, the smoothness of this vid and the high framerates here really illustrate where priorities should lie between smoothness and graphic detail.

Very well done!

Nanny

[LuckyLewis]

Hey Dementrios, that is an amazing improvement, that is so much better than your original draft. Very impressive. I think The Nanny covers most of the feedback but for the 720p for 2.6, I was wondering if you have tried Windows Movie Maker 2.6 Enhancement Pack 2010? Apparently it allows 'New rendering profiles that allow 1080p and 720p resolutions' along with hundreds of new effects, including a slow motion effect as slow as 10% and several camera shaker effect. I wish I noticed this earlier myself, looks like a nice tool! Watch the youtube video on that page to get an idea of the new features the packs adds, and if you like it, you can download it here. Keep in mind this pack only works for 2.6 though!

Video of it:



Lewis.

[.Mitch.]

Thank you for that Lewis! I'll grab that for XP.

[.Mitch.]

Is there a possibility of putting lesson 5 up?

I'm going to have a bash at improving my vid some more, would just be useful if theres anything I might need to know for lesson 5.

Thanks

[Nanny de Bodemloze]

Lesson 5 is going up later tonight. Mostly, it is a compilation of our observations so far and general suggestions for finishing touches. In practice, it is mainly one more week for people to complete their vids

[.Mitch.]

Lesson 5 is going up later tonight. Mostly, it is a compilation of our observations so far and general suggestions for finishing touches. In practice, it is mainly one more week for people to complete their vids

Ok, great, thanks mate!

I'm not in any rush, just eager is all.

[BURNY26]

Im trying to get the record function to work on audacity but i keep getting this after ive pressed record :"error while opening sound device. Please check the input device settings and the project sample rate"

Ive searched the net ,but didnt found solutions ,even while lots of persons seem to be having this prob .
So any ideas ?

[Nanny de Bodemloze]

sorry mate, I've never used audacity...are you trying to record in-game sound?

[BURNY26]

yes indeed ,can you suggest maybe another sort of audio recording program ?

[MasterBigAb]

I use it, too, have had no problems with it yet, but may be you could try out some solutions which worked on this forum:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=506356

if not may be AudioRecorder ?

[Nanny de Bodemloze]

also, FRAPS records audio, and does a pretty good job of it

[BURNY26]

Hast been solved, ive tried that audiorecorder ,but the program wouldnt start . Not even when unin and reinstalling and executing as admin . Than i tried Easy audio record ,but had a streaming prob .
than i tried AVS audio editor ,but i wasnt even able to press record .

EDIT : but with fraps i dont have the audio that corresponds to the cameras

[.Mitch.]

Well you could record the clip in fraps, place it into Movie Maker and then save that movie as a .mp3 or some music file.

You now have the sound of the clip but not the clip.

[Nanny de Bodemloze]

Well you could record the clip in fraps, place it into Movie Maker and then save that movie as a .mp3 or some music file.

You now have the sound of the clip but not the clip.

I thought about that solution also, but then I remembered that you are allowed only independent audio track in MM. You can have in-game and music, but the in-game audio track is only reserved for audio associated with a vid clip. Therefore, if Burny also wants to run music, he can't dub in in-game sound separately.

However Burny, you could record in-game sounds with FRAPS during a battle that isn't the exactly battle in your vid, you could dub that in for a portion of your vid before the music starts. (just brainstorming outloud here...at very beginning of vid, no music, black screen, about 4 seconds of battle sound, or of the general's speech or whatever, then cue the music and the rest of the vid?). Don't worry about "authenticity" of dubbing in sound from one battle and using it in another...Master and I do it ALL the time...the trick is to have it make sense and be un-noticeable.

If you really can't get your in-game sound started PM me and we'll work out something else.

[BURNY26]

is there a way of diszabling the white data in the upper left corner in cined ?

EDIT :Nanny ... what on earth ..... what are you saying ?
can i like paste audio and video in MM and than save as avi file?

[MasterBigAb]

Don't know if it is possible with MM but video files can normally also just be put in the audio line (at least in my programms)
There are also some programms which should be able to convert the file

Don't you have another programm which was already installed from the beginning on your computer ?
normally each one has some audio recording programm fronm the sart - check out if you have something like media under equipment...

[.Mitch.]

I've got a serious problem!!

Movie Maker will no longer allow me to save my movie to my PC!!

I get this...



Im starting to get waaaay worried now.

[BURNY26]

No ,dont seem to have such a program but you are right Master ,i was just mixing up FRAPS in audio with the render before i read your post. They do not match perfectly but you cant notice the difference of time delays . this i save than as avi file ,the proper audio and video in one . But im quite appaled with the poor graphic quality that is the avi file . The audio is good ,but the video ... not so sharp as the render .Kinda dissappointed to see all the hard work learning to use cined result in such a poor quality .

[MasterBigAb]

No ,dont seem to have such a program but you are right Master ,i was just mixing up FRAPS in audio with the render before i read your post. They do not match perfectly but you cant notice the difference of time delays . this i save than as avi file ,the proper audio and video in one . But im quite appaled with the poor graphic quality that is the avi file . The audio is good ,but the video ... not so sharp as the render .Kinda dissappointed to see all the hard work learning to use cined result in such a poor quality .

Select best quality possible for your computer, that's what Lewis told me (my empire renderings with MM also got bad quality)

@ Mitch: Sry i have no idea what causes that as i don'T work/use MM - but try googling the exact error message, often you find hints or solutions or reasons for such problems