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

[SPQG_Juba]

well, just finished to play with the new toys this course gave me. I reworked my draft, and actualy im pretty pleased with the outcome. Especially thedebugged camera is great fun, and makes things much easier.
I didnt saw any major flaw, like fps drop,... But ic u notice something, pls let me know. Also all kinds of remarks are more than welcome, especially stuff like the harmonic compilation of the sequences, the transitions, scenes that seems to be misplaced, .....






Cheers


SPQG_Juba

[Nanny de Bodemloze]

well, just finished to play with the new toys this course gave me. I reworked my draft, and actualy im pretty pleased with the outcome. Especially thedebugged camera is great fun, and makes things much easier.
I didnt saw any major flaw, like fps drop,... But ic u notice something, pls let me know. Also all kinds of remarks are more than welcome, especially stuff like the harmonic compilation of the sequences, the transitions, scenes that seems to be misplaced, .....

Cheers


SPQG_Juba

PM sent mate

[MasterBigAb]

@ SPQG_Juba
Sorry but i only can repeat what The Nanny already told you, this lesson is for Movie Maker.
When you make a lesson we have to decide what programs we use/allow etc and we decided to start with Movie Maker as it is one of the easiest programs to handle and we made this course mostly for total beginners - so it is fine, of course if you are an advanced user and use Sony Vegas, but we can and won't provide help in this course officially !
And you will also not finish this course officially, but we can help you inofficial via pms, so please pm someone of us, liek Nanny already told you more than one time...

[Nanny de Bodemloze]

No worries, Juba's vid is good We talked and I'll be helping him on the side with the Vegas end of things... He may even help with a Sony Vegas course in future (hint hint)

[SPQG_Juba]

Hrm... I'm a total beginner, its the second time I ever touched a video, didn't even reworked a picture, so pls don't think I just want some attention or stuff....

[.Mitch.]

Ok, as you know, Im doing a WW1 vid. As such I want to get some nice shots of the artilery flying in from the sky. The ones I have suck, Ill explain why.

My trouble is, that I cannot get smooth camera pans from the sky to the ground. It either goes too quick and my vid comes out way stuttery or it just missed the arty altogether.

Has anyone got any tips of how to get smooth camera shots when coming down from the sky to the ground, the ones I have are useless.

Thanks!

[Nanny de Bodemloze]

@ Mitch - in the preferences.script file, where you unlocked the camera, there is also a camera speed setting...I think the default is 15. Lower it, and then re-lock the file, and that will help your camera speed.

I would have posted this in Lesson 2, but I just learned of it the other day.l

[LuckyLewis]

Also, try not to move the camera straight after hitting the record button, give it a few seconds to process and then move, from my experience if you move directly afterwards, expect some bad performance. But that might not be useful in that situation.

[.Mitch.]

@ Mitch - in the preferences.script file, where you unlocked the camera, there is also a camera speed setting...I think the default is 15. Lower it, and then re-lock the file, and that will help your camera speed.

I would have posted this in Lesson 2, but I just learned of it the other day.l

This is helping loads even at a first glance! I just gota get the right speed now. Fiddling is required.

Also, try not to move the camera straight after hitting the record button, give it a few seconds to process and then move, from my experience if you move directly afterwards, expect some bad performance. But that might not be useful in that situation.

This is actualy a very good tip indeed, often I find myself moving the camera, and then start recording, it seems to have trouble for like 5-10 seconds getting itself started and my panning clips are usaly messed up.

I always try to remember this now.

[Finlander]

Hello everyone! Here is my humble video callded 'The Last Scot'.



Nanny, it is only 10 seconds to long!
Unfortunately there is no game sounds now. And I deleted few scenes and the 'into' from video that it would be shoter.

[MasterBigAb]

Hello everyone! Here is my humble video callded 'The Last Scot'.



Nanny, it is only 10 seconds to long!
Unfortunately there is no game sounds now. And I deleted few scenes and the 'into' from video that it would be shoter.

Ok, i will post my criticism: (pls note Fin, i know you're good movie maker so i will be harder judging you - nope but i will just point out the "bad" things, not that you think i didn't recognize the good ones or didn't like it - it indeed is good)
First which is a very small detail indeed but i'd change the weather circumstances the next time (to rainy or cloudy as i think such light blue looks too "unrealistic" and not really real (but you can't change it for this vid, of course so for the next time
What really fitted for the firing trebuchet, the shaking doesn't fit for 0.23 of your vid, it is to slow in my eyes and you also have glitching not only at this part which si very sad sometimes...
Also it would be nice to have some ingame sound - i sometimes "cheat" when doing that, i don't recod the sound from every camera and put it to the track, i have some general (infanrty-march/cavalery-march/fightings/etc...) sounds you often need for fitting scenes - just as a small tip
At 1.18 the shaking also doesn't really fit - and liek the nanny also already said, i'd cut the scenes before the cameras stop moving for some smoother result
1.40: i think you see the soldier too long

Really sad there are so many clippings and "graphic mistakes" in it, they sometimes ruin some scenes which could be even way better without it

[Nanny de Bodemloze]

@ Finlander

Great vid mate!!

Overall, the pace, tone and atmosphere were excellent. The right combo of battle scenes, individual shots. I really liked that you didn't overdo fast camera action. There was nothing cheesy in it.

OK, some detailed observations and critique...

There were a few times when your camera was moving, and then the camera came to a stop right before the clip ended. Example :19 ...there were a few other spots, mainly in the first minute of the vid. For a smoother look, cut those clips a little shorter, and transition to the next clip before your camera has stopped. You did this properly later, and it looked much smoother.

:25 clipping...partial arms and bodies
:35 good battle scenes
:54 clipping
1:11 clipping
1:18 camera jiggling for archers...perhaps a little less...I think I know the effect that you are going for, a handheld ground-jiggling motion...but with archers firing it looks odd...if you wish to go for that effect, use a battle charge or horses or artillery fire...or make an adjustment to the camera motion...I don't know, but it just isn't quite right yet
1:34 camera backing up literally through a soldier's body...real life camera wouldn't do that
1:47 can't see face of falling soldier...interesting...at first, I thought this was odd, but then I got thinking about it and thought that you did that on purpose, and that there is metaphor in that image, so then I decided I liked it

So, for suggestions, go back and fix the clipping; trim the ends of those parts where the camera is moving then stops right before the next film clip for smoothness; re-look at the 1:18 archer clip. If you do those things, you'll buy enough time to add the beginning and end you wanted

Also, even if it is faint, we need to see that the student can demonstrate the use of in-battle sound, even if it is brief. Make it far background, maybe just 1 or 2 key moments.

Very well done mate!! It really was captivating to watch.

Nanny

[.Mitch.]

Gah no don't say that !!! Lol, I muted all of my battle clips because of the specific 'effect' I wanted for my video.

Does this mean I will fail? If I just include battle sound at random points it will spoil the effect Im going for..

Oh, dag nabit..

[Nanny de Bodemloze]

From lesson 1:

We will impose a few impose a few limitations/parameters on your video for this course, and on our demonstration video:

• you must use music at some point in the video;
• you must use in-game sound at some point in the video;
• your video will be between 1 and 2 minutes in total length;
• you will use screen text at some point in the video;
• all footage will be in-game (campaign, battlefield, or menus), but you cannot use in-game movies (like the intro movies);
• all TWC rules apply regarding foul language or abuse;
• you must obtain the permission of the subject of your video if it is referring to the work of a fellow TWC member (i.e. I need need LuckyLewis' permission ...do I have it Lewis? Lewis? Where did he go??).

Don't fret Mitch...you are likely to do 2 or 3 more drafts before all this is finished anyways . This is normal for working out all the bugs. If you don't like the effect, make two vids...one for the course, and one that you will apply for your mod. Just put in the sound for a short part to show you know how to do it, render it, then turn of that sound and do another render for whatever use you want

[.Mitch.]

From lesson 1:

Don't fret Mitch...you are likely to do 2 or 3 more drafts before all this is finished anyways . This is normal for working out all the bugs. If you don't like the effect, make two vids...one for the course, and one that you will apply for your mod. Just put in the sound for a short part to show you know how to do it, render it, then turn of that sound and do another render for whatever use you want

Sounds fair, I guess I forgot about lesson one, seen as the plan went out the window like I told you.

Anyway, when my PC explodes because I had to do two (or more) renders.

Guess who Im blaming.


EDIT: Also will I be penalised for my video being like 20 seconds over 2 minutes or something?

[Finlander]

Thanks nanny for the tips!

1:47 can't see face of falling soldier...interesting...at first, I thought this was odd, but then I got thinking about it and thought that you did that on purpose, and that there is metaphor in that image, so then I decided I liked it

Yes, I liked more his arse. I also liked it.

1:18 camera jiggling for archers...perhaps a little less...I think I know the effect that you are going for, a handheld ground-jiggling motion...but with archers firing it looks odd...if you wish to go for that effect, use a battle charge or horses or artillery fire...or make an adjustment to the camera motion...I don't know, but it just isn't quite right yet

Yeah agreed. But maybe it will look better when I add the sounds.

[Nanny de Bodemloze]

Yes, I liked more his arse. I also liked it.

LOLOL here I was reading into it...doesn't show his face, so he is representative of the Scots in whole rather than the suffering of one individual. He is nameless, because he is a nation. His anguish is hidden, we see his back, like we have turned our backs on him.

Nope. You just liked his arse. LOLOLOLOL


@ Mitch - ya, your plan may have gone out the window, but the lesson plan did not If your MM crashes, call Bill Gates. I'm sure he'll get right on it. LOL cheers mate

[.Mitch.]

Can I add the battle sound as one of the things I do in lesson 5?

I'm in a real nice rythmn right now, I dont wana end it by messing with the music and battlesound, I just wana get a first draft done, is that cool with you?

[Nanny de Bodemloze]

Can I add the battle sound as one of the things I do in lesson 5?

I'm in a real nice rythmn right now, I dont wana end it by messing with the music and battlesound, I just wana get a first draft done, is that cool with you?

yes...for this lesson, the draft vid is all we need on youtube...as long as the final product has the sound, that's fine

[LuckyLewis]

That is a very good draft Finlander, I think you have some nice criticism to work on provided by MasterAB and the Nanny though! Your VOTM entry was very impressive, so once you have made the necessary changes, I'm sure it will be rather excellent!