Tutorials and questions on making Basic Videos and Movies

[DoolittleRaider]

Here are some additional suggestions and considerations with regard to basic movie-making which might be of interest/use to new movie-makers. These are mostly well-accepted guidelines employed in professional big-screen cinema/movie productions, many of which were specifically adapted to Flight Sim movies during the first decade of amateur IL-2 movie-making.

Of course, when it comes to individual Director’s creativity in making movies, there are no Mandatory RULES, per se…and there are certainly none for the 2012 COD/IL-2 Series Movie Competition. Just go for it!

Cinematography:
Do not stay with the "Trail camera-view" for extended periods, which has your foreground aircraft always locked/fixed in the middle of the screen. That is the way a Flight Sim Game is viewed/played 90% of the time, Inside-Cockpit-POV locked to Center of screen with occasional switches to external centered trail view; but that continuous “Center-View” actually creates an artificial game-like appearance in a “Movie”. Use a mix of various cameras/views. Also, it is possible to crop and move your frame in post-processing so that even in Trail, your foreground aircraft will not always be in the dead-center. The "Rule of Thirds" is one that is nearly always worth considering. The same holds true for any other external view…try to avoid having the aircraft of interest always dead-center. Also, look into Camera shake options (which might require some specific post-processing software) or other off-center cropping techniques.

Never manually pan in a movie…that instantly destroys any immersion, causing the viewer to instantly think “Ahh…he’s moving his Mouse now”. Use TIR or varied padlock controls, or a free-flying camera plane, to get your panning effect.


Editing:
Pace: A Rule-of-Thumb is to change shots/cameras/views at a good brisk pace; usually suggested at an average 14 per minute for action scenes. That sounds like a LOT...but if you watch the best movies (IL-2, COD, or Hollywood big screen action movies) you'll realize that is what they do.

Shot Transitions…Hugely important! Here is a good Wiki discussion of Shot Transitions.

The “Cut” type transition is most common and very effective, and the “Straight cut” serves most purposes. In flight sim movies, with lots of dogfighting and other aerial chase type action, the “Parallel cut” is very frequently used. See the Wiki discussion of the Parallel Cut.

In addition to the Cut transition, there are other useful Transition options, such as fade-outs/fade-ins (Fade-to-Black is classic) and ‘dissolves’; Note that in movies with a linear Story line, transitions are often used to imply a passage of time. Repetitious, and especially back-to-back, use of the Fade-to-Black transitions is probably not a good idea for a Movie with a Story. Even artistic, non-linear Movies, should probably avoid sole use of only FADE transitions.

There are, of course, scores of extraordinarily Fancy shot transitions available within Windows Movie-Maker alone…Spirals, exploding flower petals, split screens, Diagonal wipes, Star bursts, Curtains rising and falling, etc etc etc. They have a place, a use, but should probably be avoided, or used very sparingly, in all but the most Thematic, artistic, poetic, Music-Video type movies.

In sum: Vary your types of shot transitions, but when in doubt, keeping it simple works best.

The F3 FLY-BY mode:
Specifically with regard to Flight Sim movies, it is recommended to avoid repetitious “Flyby mode” shots, and emphatically recommended to avoid back-to-back fly-bys of the aircraft of interest! Separate the fly-bys shots with other camera views. The fly-by mode is always very Cool looking, dynamic and full of action, yes…but a few go a long way…and the effect can be numbing after a bit if over-used.


General comments on Story-telling:
Voice-Over Narration is a very effective technique to tell a Story (which is VERY important in the Competition). In flightsim movies, radio chatter dialogue is also very effective. Be sure that the audience can identify who (which aircraft) is ‘speaking’…Without human actors/faces, that is easier said than done.

If Subtitles are used, they should be on screen long enough for viewers seeing them for the first time will have sufficient time to read and understand than you as the Director/Movie-maker would require. Try reading the subtitle three times, yourself, which will then be long enough in duration for the first-time reader in the audience. Try to keep the verbiage down...use shorter phrases, etc, so the viewer can take in the dialogue at a glance if possible, specifically during action scenes/sequences…The viewer should not be distracted by reading a multi-line sentence or paragraph. Of course, in setting the stage in the Intro for a movie, or a major ACT within, more expansive commentary can be used effectively…I refer you to the famous scrolling Text opening of the original Star Wars movie (Episode 4).