LESSON 5: FINALIZING YOUR VIDEO (Final Assignment Due June 16th)
LESSON 5: FINALIZING YOUR VIDEO
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
OK folks, we're rounding the final turn, and the finish line is in sight!
At this point, many of you have posted draft vids for comments and suggestions, mainly technical in nature. A few of you have some RL things, and needed an extension on posting that draft...that's cool, just don't give up!
The goals of the final lesson are:
fine-tuning your video by fixing technical errors, reviewing the text and story flow so that it matches your intended purpose and audience from Lesson 1 (or your updated plan if it has evolved over time);
rendering at the highest possible quality; and
posting the final version of your video on Youtube and submitting it for final assessment.
After looking at your vids from Lesson 3/4, we have compiled some general observations and suggestions to help you with fine-tuning and rendering your video.
Once you've finished your video but want some feedback before releasing it publicly, you can always use Youtube's unlisted feature to send it privately to some friends - remember, they might spot something you didn't see and another person's view is always useful for that extra feedback before the release!
Smoothness over quality - your video may have the best graphics but it's certainly better if it can be enjoyed as a result of a lack of performance issues.
Watch every second of the video, and if something that may not be right catches your attention, ask yourself this: if I watch this again in a month, will this little thing bother me? If your honest answer is yes, fix it.
Pacing...the final edits are a good place to clean up the "pacing" of your video: the speed and length of clips in conjunction with the message and the music. Watch a rendered draft in good quality, then open up MM and trim/add to the clips to make sure you create a logical and natural pacing.
While grinding away in the filming and editing of your video, it is easy to lose sight of the purpose. Step back and ask yourself...is my video still true to its purpose for being, or has it strayed and lost focus? If I am helping to advertise the work of other people, have I touched base with them to get their input on my draft?
Play back your video back several times, nothing is worse than rendering a video only to realise you've made a silly mistake e.g. repeating a clip or bad transitions or a spelling mistake.
By the end of the video production, you most likely hate it as a result of constantly watching it during the editing process. Do not fear this, as the first time viewers will still enjoy it!
Render in the highest quality setting available for your edition of MM. If you are using 2.6, Lewis has provided an invaluable tip on how to render in HD.
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
"Try 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:
Fill in useful information into the Youtube text boxes, such as in "more info" for the vid where you could provide links, mods used, etc.
FINAL ASSIGNMENT (due June 16th)
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
For the final assignment, you will submit a finished video on Youtube. To successfully complete the course, your video must meet the following criteria:
be between 1 and 2 minutes in length (some latitude will be given past 2 minutes, but not much );
the video must contain in-game audio at some point;
text must appear at some point;
a minimal demonstration of effects and/or transitions (at least once in the video...overlapping of clips counts);
the video must have minimal appearance of HUDs, radars or tabs, and mouse cursors. In some cases, we recognize that complete elimination of these elements may be impossible, but an attempt to "clean the screen" must be demonstrated;
the video must be smooth...submissions that are excessively choppy will not be passed.
**IMPORTANT**At some point during this lesson, we ask you to take a few minutes and send a PM to Finlander, answering the following questions for feedback and improving future courses. Finlander will be forwarding these PMs to the professors, but he will remove the names so that the feedback remains anonymous. Please answer the following questions:
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
My expectations for the course were:
Met?
Not met?
Exceeded?
My single biggest learning experience was...
To improve this and similar courses, I would suggest...(please name at least one thing)
Any other comments?
Cheers everyone! You can post drafts during this lesson for further help and comment. Just let us know which vid is your final submission Have fun, and happy hunting!
Last edited by Nanny de Bodemloze; June 20, 2010 at 09:11 PM.
Re: LESSON 5: FINALIZING YOUR VIDEO (Final Assignment Due June 16th)
So when we upload our final version to youtube (Im not there yet) we should upload it as so that everyone can see it, as in not unlisted?
Dam, thats gona make me anctious, realising that the whole world can now see my work.
And the few effects I have now started adding for my final version, may not be noticeable to you. For example I have used a "movie effect" from the pack provided by Lewis.
It makes my clips look much more like a dreery scene, should I point the things out to you that you that are neccesary to pass but you may not notice, or do they have to be noticeable by all?
Re: LESSON 5: FINALIZING YOUR VIDEO (Final Assignment Due June 16th)
You don't have to upload for everyone to see, as long as you post it here, unlisted or not, it is okay. You can always make it public if you want though, as mentioned in the lesson, it is always a good idea to get some extra feedback using unlisted before releasing it to the public, but yes, no problem making it public once you have posted it!
Muh signature is so out of date all muh pictures died.
Re: LESSON 5: FINALIZING YOUR VIDEO (Final Assignment Due June 16th)
Originally Posted by ♔Mitch, Your humble servant♔
So when we upload our final version to youtube (Im not there yet) we should upload it as so that everyone can see it, as in not unlisted?
Dam, thats gona make me anctious, realising that the whole world can now see my work.
And the few effects I have now started adding for my final version, may not be noticeable to you. For example I have used a "movie effect" from the pack provided by Lewis.
It makes my clips look much more like a dreery scene, should I point the things out to you that you that are neccesary to pass but you may not notice, or do they have to be noticeable by all?
Me too.
Ya the wording in Youtube's security section can be a little confusing. "Unlisted" means that if you post the link here, anyone can see it who has that link. But anyone doing youtube searches, or accessing your youtube mainpage through other means will never see it listed. So, "unlisted" is the best setting for this course. If you want, you can always make it public, and then anyone doing any searches that match your vid will find it
You don't worry about having to draw our attention to effects...we've combed through hundreds of hours of other vids and our own, and we can spot effects the same way we'll see a split second clipping flaw You just make a vid that meets the requirements and we'll notice it mate
Last edited by Nanny de Bodemloze; June 08, 2010 at 11:53 AM.
Re: LESSON 5: FINALIZING YOUR VIDEO (Final Assignment Due June 16th)
This is what I got.
It was a great adventure to make this vid.
-I fixed the cameras 2 times, becouse I forgot to save them. (I was almost saving my vid when I noticed that my cameras were the old ones.)
-Finaly, after I saved my vid with correct cameras, I noticed that my sounds were in the wrong place. So I had to fix it.
-Then, my Movie Maker crashed 3 times when I was saving it. (the reason was effect called 'contrast +15')
Okey, after I downloaded my vid to youtube, I noticed that there is still some small annoying things. Maybe the most horrible thing was my 'credits' which doesn't fit at all!
Now I hope my vid is good enought to pass this lesson. (if not, give me some time so I can fix it.)
Re: LESSON 5: FINALIZING YOUR VIDEO (Final Assignment Due June 16th)
Originally Posted by Finlander
This is what I got.
It was a great adventure to make this vid.
-I fixed the cameras 2 times, becouse I forgot to save them. (I was almost saving my vid when I noticed that my cameras were the old ones.)
-Finaly, after I saved my vid with correct cameras, I noticed that my sounds were in the wrong place. So I had to fix it.
-Then, my Movie Maker crashed 3 times when I was saving it. (the reason was effect called 'contrast +15')
Okey, after I downloaded my vid to youtube, I noticed that there is still some small annoying things. Maybe the most horrible thing was my 'credits' which doesn't fit at all!
Now I hope my vid is good enought to pass this lesson. (if not, give me some time so I can fix it.)
Well, i'm really sorry to tell you, and don't really know how to express myself without sounding too harsh, i'll try it anyway:
Re: LESSON 5: FINALIZING YOUR VIDEO (Final Assignment Due June 16th)
Final assignment: (posted right before the official deadline ...didnt saw that one coming)
It has been quite an endeavor learning to use Cined!
It is a great editor but it should be polished .Those weird bugs were really a pain in the ass, like the broken replays and the merging of FRAPS with cined to have an audio taped video.
I m going to try out that vegas editor and see if i can swim in that bottomless program ,since Movie Maker had a lot of missing stuff for Win7 64 .
Nonetheless im very glad to have joined this course.
A BIG thx and rep to our patient ,friendly and wise tutors: the nanny ,Luckylewis and MasterBigAb
Son of the now supersilly walking MasterBigAb/戦国無双
Re: LESSON 5: FINALIZING YOUR VIDEO (Final Assignment Due June 16th)
wow Burny that is a definite PASS! The biggest thing I notice is that the way you combine the music with the visuals, the viewer is on edge the whole time...there is a sense of urgency, without any let-up. Love it!!
Small point, but I don't know how you get that audio to be so crisp...in my vids, I don't think the sounds are that good...I'll have to look into that
Re: LESSON 5: FINALIZING YOUR VIDEO (Final Assignment Due June 16th)
Originally Posted by ♔Mitch, Your humble servant♔
Alright!, Iv finally finished... its late I know, but my PC exploded (literaly) so let me off...
It's got everything I need in it, Iv added some ingame sound, re-input choppy clips, added some effects.
Its not been up long, so the quality might increase after like 10 mins.
Damn i almost cried
That was impressiv, very good use of emotions i think, it really catches the watcher
I have only one advice, regardign the ingame sound:
When you hear it you also hear music from ingame, i would put it off for recording, and also it would be better if you have the ingame sound at almost all scenes, it's alittle bit strange to have it one time, and than total silence again the next three scenes, but beside that, it is really great man
Have a +rep
Re: LESSON 5: FINALIZING YOUR VIDEO (Final Assignment Due June 16th)
Thanks Ab!!
Yeh, some very good critisism. My plan was to have all music with no sound, hence I didnt think the ingame music would matter, then I realised we need to have sound.
But like you said, having sound in all places, even if its a lot quieter than the music would be best, Ill probably do this in future.
Thanks again!
Have some rep back for you great course with the guys.
LESSON 5: FINALIZING YOUR VIDEO (Final Assignment Due June 16th)
);
Have fun, and happy hunting!
) we should upload it as so that everyone can see it, as in not unlisted?
Originally Posted by MasterBigAb
(if not, give me some time so I can fix it.)
,ive just recorded the audio with Fraps and merged them in moviemaker.
