18 replies to this topic

[Koniving]

Tomorrow will be the posting day of a video I've been working on.

Keep in mind that this is actual gameplay, edited a bit, and it was chosen specifically for the final stand at the end of the match. Originally the footage was going to feign night vision, and probably would have been scrapped if not for the final stand. Of course, that final stand ruins the illusion of it being night. That aside, please read on and tell me what you think either here or on youtube.

Below is the footage as is.

There will be musical inserts, an opening sequence (already made but not posted) which features the MWO starting banners + a mechwarrior 3 intro audio snippet set to screenshots from MWO's media to set the stage.

"It is the 31st century and mankind is once again at war. The battlefields of the future are dominated by huge robotic war machines known as Battlemechs. Piloting these awesome weapons of war are men and women, the elite of the elite, knowing that each battle could be their last. They are... Mechwarriors." Fades to the following:



Edits since posting this have included shortening the walk to base (32.4 kph is pretty slow). Use of Mechwarrior Online Theme Concept (below) in the last minute of the final stand. Credits roll.



What I would love to know, is what Mechwarrior 2 and/or MW2 Mercenaries tracks would fit best with the footage. Anyone?

Edited by Koniving, 19 November 2012 - 11:24 AM.

[Koniving]

Forever alone...

[The Cheese]

Preface: I have no professional experience as a reviewer. Anything below is personal opinion only.


For all that is holy, redo the whole thing from the POV of a faster mech. Watching an Atlas fire LRMs for 6 minutes is dull as a sack of doorknobs.

The ending is good, but you need to do something about the "DEFEATED" screen. Perhaps make a fast fade-to-black when you are destroyed so that the screen blanks out before the scoreboard appears.

I'd redo the voiceovers to coincide with things that you can see going on in front of you, or perhaps things that you turn suddenly to see. There's a lot of chatter going on that doesn't feel like it's actually part of the battle you're in. Also, add some static, mechanical noises and weapon fire sounds to the voice clips. They're too crisp.

Crank up the music just a touch when things get tense.

On a personal preference note, I'd go with something more modern than the MW2/Mercs tracks. They have nostalgia value, but that's about it.

Sorry if it's harsh, but you asked for critique.

[Mr Mantis]

I had a hard time watching it, to be honest I had to skip to the end. you could make it less boring by splicing in a bunch of matches and have it be from different mechs, like an entire lance.

(People talking... lrm lrm lrm... more people talking.)

didn't mind the night vision, didn't care for the voice clipits. that one guy must have been in a gausspult to take someone down in one hit.

The voice of the computer is good, it even made me nostalgic about mw2

[Celestial]

Might wanna use a different song if you want to be more unique with your video.

[The Cheese]

@Celestial

Not a fan of the song, but that video is a lot easier to watch. Lots of action, some good simulated 3rd-person views, events synched with the music. Nice.

Missing a certain punch though... Can't put my finger on it right now.

[Creovex]

The Cheese, on 19 November 2012 - 07:00 PM, said:

For all that is holy, redo the whole thing from the POV of a faster mech. Watching an Atlas fire LRMs for 6 minutes is dull as a sack of doorknobs.

^^^ Sad but true... What he said.

[Fooooo]

Well the OP did say that was the uncut and un-edited version, just the raw match he was going to chop up etc I think.... ??

So that vid isn't the "end product" from what I understand.

Keep at it Koniv, personally its taking me forever to cutup / edit my vids into something decent....its been a long time since ive done one.


That said, Celestial thats a pretty cool recruitment vid. Like cheese said it feels like its missing something.

Tho I think, to me anyway, thats because its short and meant to be a recruit vid, not a straight up kill vid / comedy vid / story vid, so watching it like its something it not gives that impression.....(if that made any sense at all.. )........nonetheless its good.

Even somewhat feels like it could be a trailer for the game.....

Edited by Fooooo, 19 November 2012 - 09:57 PM.

[Koniving]

Thank you so far. I may wind up cutting it to just the end, however I wanted to show the support roll at the beginning, be sent to home base, and have a final stand there.

I have another set with a series of faster mechs in urban combat for the speedy CoD fans, so that's another video entirely.

It's true though, some of the com chatter feels out of place (MW3's voice acting was notoriously awful). Though I had hoped that the chatter between them would give us the impression that the other players were alive, and not just when I looked at them.

[Koniving]

It was meant to be a bit of a story vid. One memorable thing about some of the intros of Mechwarrior, such as MW2 (presuming the mercenaries version? Don't know, I own titanium. But yeah, the one with Alpha Assault) and MW4, in which the 'hero' is screwed and dies in a final stand.

Thought of inserting some snippets of news feeds from Mechcommander 2, however the year was wrong so any info would be out of place. Overall I'm trying to give a solid idea of the setting for those not entirely versed in the lore.

I'm now wishing I didn't have night vision on, but trying to re-record that situation and getting that shutdown/overheat glitch to happen so perfectly again is about one in a million.

[The Cheese]

Koniving, on 19 November 2012 - 10:04 PM, said:

Thank you so far. I may wind up cutting it to just the end, however I wanted to show the support roll at the beginning, be sent to home base, and have a final stand there.

I have another set with a series of faster mechs in urban combat for the speedy CoD fans, so that's another video entirely.

It's true though, some of the com chatter feels out of place (MW3's voice acting was notoriously awful). Though I had hoped that the chatter between them would give us the impression that the other players were alive, and not just when I looked at them.

The sequence of events is fine. You just need something to make the time in between fights more interesting.

You're mistaken in thinking that it's the "speedy CoD fans" who would find this more interesting if it were faster. There's "slow, lumbering death", and then there's "Holy crap, when will something happen?".

I think the chatter being there is fine, but the voices don't actually sound like they're in a mech, yours or theirs. They drown out the noise of your mech with crystal clarity, while there's no background noise or interference that suggests they're in mechs of their own.

[Mayhem McCrea]

Despite it's flaws, which have already been adiquately pointed out, I quite liked the video. And I liked how you managed to stick to the time honored mechwarrior video tradition of "Suddenly: Atlas."

Suggest recording more footage on the same map and cobbling together an alternate perspective, cutting quickly to one of the "other members of your lance" and showing heated battle that is "out of your atlas's vision."

[Koniving]

I can lower their voice, but I imagine music in general would drown out the mech anyway. I have MWO's sounds ripped, and could insert the sounds over the game itself for those that need to be louder, but I believe in general that the mech's sounds are already made to sound muffled through the transparent steel cockpit. Though you are right, the voices could at least use some 'clicks,' perhaps a wee bit of static as they get damaged. Some gunfire overheard as they speak, since they're the ones in all the action at the beginning.

The travel time was cut by about a minute, with a fair chunk of where I was stuck also cut.

I'll cut the score screen out. Thought of adding some of the rarely heard mechmove sounds with some of the damage, which normally only play when your mech has been legged and even then play with a muffling filter. The raw sounds could easily be added in the background of any horror imagery and enhance them (they're freaking terrifying; the open beta used parts of them as their little semi-dubstep beat).

[Koniving]

Mayhem McCrea, on 19 November 2012 - 10:14 PM, said:

"Suddenly: Atlas."

Wasn't much of a choice there, it just happened. I loved how the overheat powerdown glitch made everything flicker and haze over, and when the Atlas came I was like "Yeah, I'm gonna make this work into a vid somehow."

Mayhem McCrea, on 19 November 2012 - 10:14 PM, said:

Suggest recording more footage on the same map and cobbling together an alternate perspective, cutting quickly to one of the "other members of your lance" and showing heated battle that is "out of your atlas's vision."

Had considered that. Though on hindsight, if I splice in a bunch of other mechs fighting from their perspective then how might I explain "Why's that dumbass in the Atlas running around with night vision?" o.O; But I'll leave that without explanation.

[Mayhem McCrea]

Koniving, on 19 November 2012 - 10:27 PM, said:

Had considered that. Though on hindsight, if I splice in a bunch of other mechs fighting from their perspective then how might I explain "Why's that dumbass in the Atlas running around with night vision?" o.O; But I'll leave that without explanation.

Easy. The other perspectives are all also you, silly. Just flick that night vision back on and bam, everyone's using night vision.

[Protection]

You can use it to show off your teammates as well:

[Jman5]

I dont know if this is possible for you, but if you want to better tie in the voice chat with various mechs, perhaps you can do some subtle zoom-in to indicate which mech is talking. For example when your little jenner friend in front of you was in trouble and died, you could zoom in a touch to show the viewers he is the focus of the audio.

Good luck with your editing. I do really like that ending.

[Xelchon]

Well I will have to agree with the critics about the LRM stuff at the start and its length, I don't mind it actually but for the general audition it gets boring. However, I think you should not skip any parts, since this is a video with the story of a single mechwarrior. The answer to how is simple: Put another video entirely, since its not very hard to remake all the other voice additions.
I loved how you did the voice stuff and all, and it truly got me nostalgic, altough I think in some places it was a bit too much.
As for music, tbh if you put a more action packed match, It may not even need the soundtrack, since having none also adds to the realistic feel.
I have to admit catching an ending like that again would be a bit troublesome, however; it does not necessarily have to end the same way. GG. See you on the battlefield.

Edited by Xelchon, 19 November 2012 - 10:59 PM.

[Koniving]

Jman5, on 19 November 2012 - 10:44 PM, said:

perhaps you can do some subtle zoom-in to indicate which mech is talking. For example when your little jenner friend in front of you was in trouble and died, you could zoom in a touch to show the viewers he is the focus of the audio. Good luck with your editing. I do really like that ending.

I'll have to swap editors to do that, but that could be a possibility. I also gave thought to it, and figured out that I could take the advanced zoom effect and use that to create a picture-in-picture window showing either a mech, or a pilot's perspective, to give the impression that the other mech is communicating. I'd rather post it on the monitor, but I don't have Sony Vegas and have no idea how to use it.