Zond Flight Part 1

[cobrabase]

high quality file at:

 

http://hosted.filefront.com/cobrabase/

 

 

You tube version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgD6HBQNYR8

 

A project that has taken me over 2 months so far. I know most of you will not care for it as it is not non-stop action nor is it special coloring but the angles took me a long time to master and customize. All of the Russian spoken from the soundtrack comes from heroric cosmonaut transmissions. I even took the time to try to align certain words in Russian with dialog. Watch carefully and listen for the word "Buran."

 

Okay... so it starts a little slow and is artistic. My music selections may rub you the wrong way. I like it, I'm proud of it. :)

 

I have been told that it is impossible to make an entertaining lock on movie based on a realistic 'beyond-visual-range' scenario.

 

I challenge that assumption.

 

Part 2 to be completed Thanksgiving day 2008.

 

Made without Sony Vegas or any editing software besides MS movie-maker.

 

The action came from recorded tracks of 3 actual fights flown by the creator.

 

Credits to follow in part II.

Edited November 16, 2008 by cobrabase

[arthuro12]

we're sorry this video is no longer blah blah D:

[cobrabase]

Slow down chester.... give the youtube boys a chance to upload it.

 

You can always download it directly from filefront as well.

[cobrabase]

Sooooooooo..... no one likes it eh? Well, I tried. Part 2 is in the works. I ask that you try it out as well before you pronounce judgement on the whole movie.

[DTWD]

I will download it now and give it a watch.

 

Regards

Paul

[DTWD]

Ok it's not bad actually.

 

Although I have a few suggestions if I may:

 

1) Fix the sound, the quality really detracts from the overall presentation.

 

2) Look at maybe improving the bitrate of the video as well, it was a bit pixely at times.

 

3) I would loose the interchange between in game and real life footage. The viewer can dispend belief if it's not made obviose. The change makes it obviose your watching in game footage.

 

4) I would re-render the footage and follow glowings suggestion on the half frame rate trick, it fell over a few times, which again hampered the imersion.

 

5) Work left to right, and right to left. Pick a side for team 1 to work from and one for team 2 to work from. The interchanging directions confuses and breaks the effect of the two teams flying at each other.

 

6) I can never fault anyone for using any music by Bill Brown!

 

7) It still felt exciting even though it was BVR and there was no "dog fighting" as such.

 

8 ) I want to know what happens next!?!?! :D

 

Overall C+, but a lot of the above can be fixed with a bit of knowledge (ask away) and better tools.

 

Regards

Paul

[DTWD]

Oh I forgot to add, I would emphasise the BVR a bit more, visually I mean.

 

Maybe a crash zoom to the other aircraft and maybe draw the battle out a bit, make it feel like it's beeing faught over range, get some radio chatter going. I want to feel like it's me in the fight and strugling to kill those targets.

 

As a viewer I want to see the guys I am rooting for overcomming the odds and obsticals, so try and tweak the story so it seems a bit more dificult.

 

Also think about making the two "good guys" look a bit different, I didn't know who was shooting. I also didn't care, but if you build up the charectors a bit it should become important.

 

Regards

Paul

[DTWD]

Sorry me again.

 

I feel like I am being overly critical. It's a good start especially with the tools your using.

 

I don't want to discourage you, but I want to help you out as well.

 

Please remember these are just my opinions and this is your project. Take and use whatever ideas you want. I am just trying to help.

 

Regards

Paul

[cobrabase]

I welcome the opinions and the ways to improve Paul! Thanks for taking the time!

 

The bit-rate bothers the hell out of me too. If you notice by the time the Eagles show up things appear clearer. I learned to manually set the amount of compression but the master was already done by then so I had to incorporate the older footage.

 

The live action was just an thought I wanted to experiment with. :)

 

I'll look into the half bit rate trick. Cut scenes too boring? I wanted to give some of the characters a little life through the subtitles. Primarily I wanted to see if by customizing the angles I could make the movie appear to appear without that "stock" feel. I know that it shines through sometimes but it's my first real effort.

 

If you want to know what happens... lets just say that you get a chance at the Mirages that killed your two friends.

[104th_Crunch]

A great vid! Nice work. I enjoyed watching a Lock On based vid with a story. Look fwd to part 2.

 

What terrain mod do you use?

[DTWD]

I think the quality settings are down to the software your using, your just not going to get the control you require.

 

If you don't want to spend any money and plan on using movie maker for the rest of the project I would strongly suggest you output from Movie Maker as uncompressed AVI (if it's even possible) and download VirtualDub along with some codec packs. It will allow you to fine tune your compression. In fact to be honest I do this kind of thing for a job and I find myself frustrated by the tools we have at work, at home I usually end up breaking out VirtualDub at some point.

 

I noticed you put "bit rate trick", I assume it was a typo, but I will just confirm it's the frame rate trick, it's nothing to do with bitrate.

 

And no the cut scenes make the video, without them they would be seemingly un-connected pieces of footage. If anything I think you should have a few more or the ones you have a little longer. I felt that at times I didn't have enough information about what was going on. I was torn whether or not to mention it as I wasn't sure if it was intentional. I am sure in these real life scenarios they don't have a clue what's going on at times either and I felt like the lack of information at points helped this feeling of almost desperation.

 

The one thing I would look at doing, as I have said previosly, is through these cut scenes help us realise what these pilots are feeling and the things they have to overcome.

 

I know it's very difficult to do a great deal on the charector progression front as all you have is what Lock On can produce and sound.

 

Which brings me nicely onto that actually, sound is at least half of a scene in any film or well made TV program. Even if the screen is filled with death and destruction the right choice of sounds/music can make it a sad or a happy scene or anything in between.

 

Regards

Paul

[Peyoteros]

Agree, the sound could be better. You need better video editing soft than MS Movie Maker... Try Adobe Premiere or something... In general it's not too bad. Waiting for the second part :thumbup: Good luck!

[cobrabase]

A great vid! Nice work. I enjoyed watching a Lock On based vid with a story. Look fwd to part 2.

 

What terrain mod do you use?

 

Mods included:

 

http://www.lockonfiles.com/modules.php?name=Downloads&d_op=viewdownloaddetails&cid=118&lid=445&ttitle=LOFC_Scenery_Mod_Merzifon_v1.3#dldetails

 

http://www.lockonfiles.com/modules.php?name=Downloads&d_op=viewdownloaddetails&cid=118&lid=445&ttitle=LOFC_Scenery_Mod_Merzifon_v1.3#dldetails

 

Sorry that I chose Winter as the season but the storyline called for it.

 

Paul, yes, I made a typo and said bit-rate. My bad. It's framerate.

 

I wanted to keep all the quality up and uncompressed but the damned movie-maker doesn't have that option.

[cobrabase]

And no the cut scenes make the video, without them they would be seemingly un-connected pieces of footage.

If anything I think you should have a few more or the ones you have a little longer. I felt that at times I didn't have enough information about what was going on. I was torn whether or not to mention it as I wasn't sure if it was intentional. I am sure in these real life scenarios they don't have a clue what's going on at times either and I felt like the lack of information at points helped this feeling of almost desperation.

 

The one thing I would look at doing, as I have said previosly, is through these cut scenes help us realize what these pilots are feeling and the things they have to overcome.

 

I know it's very difficult to do a great deal on the charector progression front as all you have is what Lock On can produce and sound.

 

Which brings me nicely onto that actually, sound is at least half of a scene in any film or well made TV program. Even if the screen is filled with death and destruction the right choice of sounds/music can make it a sad or a happy scene or anything in between.

 

Regards

Paul

 

 

You feel this way about the cut scenes? Really?! With everyone enjoying incredible fast-pace work like Glowing Amraam's I figured that I would get hammered using cut scenes after setting up the storyline with so much wording in the beginning. I figured everyone wants scenes to RAPIDLY move between each other at Japanese animation pace. I was told once by Glowing Amraam in one of my test movies earlier that I held camera views too long so I figured I had to haul ass.

 

Neat! Well, I learned something about the community's tastes!!! You guys want MORE STORY??!!! You people surprise me. I thought only us old guys wanted to know background before pulling the trigger.

 

Regarding sound... please know how few channels I can balance on the limited software I have. I try to keep things as balanced as the scene allows depending on what is happening. Some of my favorite music from or Lord and God Hans Zimmer is coming up in part 2.

 

I replaced a lot of the effects in the scenes in order to get rid of a lot of unwanted sim effects like my wingman talking to me in English. One still pops up in part 2 but it doesn't seem to ruin the ambience. Cutting in the sound is a limited problem of mine but I deal with it well. GETTING LEVELS BALANCED is something my software can't really do. Sorry about that guys. But, like I said, I'm still learning and progressing.

 

I want to thank you all for not slamming me but giving me honest and HELPFUL critisism. I can't get better unless I know:

 

a. what you like

b. how to do it.

 

:)

 

I have to admit... I'm all nervous about posting part 2. I frankly want to go back and start fresh but to be honest... I've put too much work into it the way it's built already. Despite my reservations and the strong desire to put my head in a cyber hole, you all have been so accepting of my attempts in this little movie of mine that I want to follow through.

 

So... I have the last fight done and I have to make an ending and credits this weekend. I haven't thought about it much, maybe it will all gel Friday night and I can get cutting.

 

The bottom line on this project was that I wanted to make as cool a movie as I could trying a series of ideas with my limited resources. I'm not worthy to even TALK to Glowing Amraam but I wanted to throw my hat into the ring of making a flick here and there because I'm really interested in the creative side of editing and movie making.

Edited November 13, 2008 by cobrabase

[Flyby]

I don't make videos, but i know what I like. I enjoyed this one very much. I thought it had "atmosphere".

Flyby out

[DTWD]

It depends on what your trying to achieve with your video. Glowing's approach is a more an action film trailer type of aproach. Fast cuts and pounding music giving the impression of speed. That is fine for what it is, but if your trying to tell a story it's useless, unless of course the story calls for an intense action sequence. If you watch his video's they get the heart pounding but they are only loosly tied together, there is no back story, what your trying to do is different.

 

Just a quick glance through the IMDB top 250 will show you that story counts, although trying to get enough variety of matierial out of LOMAC may be difficult you have shown that it can be done with the right approach.

 

What your trying to do is a little different to what people tend to do with LOMAC. It's not action set pieces it's a progression of an action story and a story needs exposition, we need to know what's going on and for what reasons, we need charectorisation etc.

 

Post part two. Then if you want go back and re-capture parts of the this story, re-edit etc and release a directors cut :D.

 

Don't forget all films go through different cuts of varying quality and test audiences and some end up very different in the end.

 

With any media/design work I do I always work under the principle that you need to be prepaired to cut your favorite part, be it film, audio a part of a design, anything. Go into your projects objectivly and your work will be better for it.

 

Good luck with part 2, I am looking forward to it.

 

Regards

Paul

[cobrabase]

Gentlemen... I have had a brilliant story idea as to how to end the movie. Not something I was originally going to do but the end is going to have a great twist....

 

Oh man.... it just hit me in the middle of work and it's an AWESOME ending! I SOOOOO want to tell you all but it will ruin it.

 

I've got to get to finishing this ASAP!!! Might take me a while but it will be worth it. Something is going to happen on the way home.

 

If you like a good story... this one will be for you.

 

I think i found the reason why the compressed format was so crappy... I needed to set the format to high quality Large.

Edited November 15, 2008 by cobrabase

[cobrabase]

Third act of the drama. Zond Flight 1.5 ready for downloading.

Also, a newer better quality version of part 1 is also available.

 

 

http://hosted.filefront.com/cobrabase/

 

 

 

 

 

Youtube locations:

 

part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dF57PVyiQ0M&fmt=18

 

part 1.5

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9131ZtlM3A0&fmt=18

Edited November 16, 2008 by cobrabase

[jpm1]

@Cobrabase nice vid but there are lot of lags maybe you should try creating a virtual disk and store your Fraps captures there . can't assure you it'll work but that costs nothing to try ..

 

Edit : to have the virtual disk automatically created at each start just create a shortcut and put it in the start folder

[cobrabase]

@Cobrabase nice vid but there are lot of lags maybe you should try creating a virtual disk and store your Fraps captures there . can't assure you it'll work but that costs nothing to try ..

 

Edit : to have the virtual disk automatically created at each start just create a shortcut and put it in the start folder

 

Okay... give me step by step instructions to making a virtual disc. Are you saying my FRAPS framerates are too slow? I'm following what you mean like 50%. I may not see lag because I'm too used to seeing it as "normal." I want to get this fixed.

[jpm1]

Okay... give me step by step instructions to making a virtual disc. Are you saying my FRAPS framerates are too slow? I'm following what you mean like 50%. I may not see lag because I'm too used to seeing it as "normal." I want to get this fixed.

 

ok , i'm not sure it'll work but as i said that costs nothing to try

 

1-do the run command (Windows - R under XP)

2-type subst x: way replacing x by the first available drive letter on your system for example i and way by the way to the folder you want to assign the drive to (between commas) example subst i: C:\"Documents and Settings\your name\My documents\My videos\Fraps" , click on ok your should have a new disk in your Windows explorer just set it as the videos destination in your Fraps program , you're done , do the tip i said in my precedent post to have the disk created at each system start that should be ok . if you encounter any problem i advise to make a search in your Google native language search engine , i think you should find easily , don't hesitate to repost if you experience problems

 

 

Cheers jpm1

[cobrabase]

ok , i'm not sure it'll work but as i said that costs nothing to try

 

1-do the run command (Windows - R under XP)

2-type subst x: way replacing x by the first available drive letter on your system for example i and way by the way to the folder you want to assign the drive to (between commas) example subst i: C:\"Documents and Settings\your name\My documents\My videos\Fraps" , click on ok your should have a new disk in your Windows explorer just set it as the videos destination in your Fraps program , you're done , do the tip i said in my precedent post to have the disk created at each system start that should be ok . if you encounter any problem i advise to make a search in your Google native language search engine , i think you should find easily , don't hesitate to repost if you experience problems

 

 

Cheers jpm1

 

Okay JPM1, my schedule will allow me to give this a try around Wednesday but I am anxious to see if this will help. Be ready for questions as machines typically don't like me. LOL

[104th_Crunch]

1.5 was great! I was glued to the screen the entire time ;) You have a knack for dramatic story telling.

 

My only suggestion is to have the comms/voiceovers lower in the mix. I had the speakers cranked for the music and when the voices cut in, my wife had to yell at me to turn it down :)

[cobrabase]

1.5 was great! I was glued to the screen the entire time ;) You have a knack for dramatic story telling.

 

My only suggestion is to have the comms/voiceovers lower in the mix. I had the speakers cranked for the music and when the voices cut in, my wife had to yell at me to turn it down :)

 

 

I will fix that flaw. I just played it back and holy crap you're right... hope you didn't have anything glass broken from the shockwave of your speakers. I'm partially deaf from motorcycling without a helmet and then flying helicopters (both when I was younger) so sometimes I screw up just how loud things can be.

 

You can't go wrong with "Devoe's Revenge" in a soundtrack. One of my favorites.

Edited November 17, 2008 by cobrabase

[DTWD]

Ooooh that was good!

 

Getting better cobrabase, keep up the good work.

 

Regards

Paul