[DoolittleRaider]

@Freycinet. Thanks for your comments/perspective. I agree that it may not be feasible or necessary to strictly categorize, but for discussion purposes, maybe just distinguishing between Two types of "productions" would work. I have edited my first post accordingly, and expand a bit below on the nature of the two types:

"Movies": Productions involving significant cinematography (camera/view selection; subjective, objective, POV angles and perspectives, etc), and incorporation of significant editing and other post-processing techniques. The best movies have a screenplay, however simple, conveying a "Story", which has a Beginning (setup), Middle (crisis) and End (resolution). Outstanding IL-2 and Rise of Flight Movies have been as short as 2 minutes, and as long as One full hour.

"In-Game Videos": Productions which consist primarily of Raw game-captured 'footage' [WYSIWYG], usually with only a limited degree of cinematography/editing and no other post-processing beyond the addition of a musical soundtrack and/or narration and/or subtitling. These may show in-game Icons, text, hud displays etc, or they may be abesnt/removed to increase immersion. In-Game Videos usually are "action-focused' with a relatively simple purpose/story, or no story at all. Videos can also be of widely varying duration, of course.


Post-processing defined as:
Editing, as in selection of shots and clips from recorded Trks, and compiling them into scenes and sequences to best convey the 'story' of the movie.

Adding Special Effects (SFX), such as 3d CGI animations; Green Screen compositing of human actor sequences; In-camera Effects such as zooming, slow-motion, shaky cam, etc; video effects such as color desaturation, film grain, motion blur, etc; use of a variety of optical filters.

Adding a Soundtrack including other than In-Game sounds and music. For example, addition of Voice-over narration or radio chatter dialogue, aircaft engine or weapons sounds, Sound effects such as explosions, air raid sirens, etc.

Adding/inserting other media, such as photos, documentary film footage, etc.


I would consider that 98% of the hundreds upon hundreds of IL-2 and COD youtube "movies' would fall into the "In-Game Videos" category. They serve many purposes, are interesting from a variety of perspectives, are fun to make, and can be 'engaging' to the audience; they are comparatively easier to make than..."movies".

Movies, on the other hand, when done well are works of art, and immensely time-consuming projects, as any experienced IL-2 Movie-maker/Director will confirm. As a result, and unfortunately, many of the best IL-2 movie-makers got burned out after a couple of projects...others have found it necessary to take Leaves of Absence for extended periods of time.

Comments are welcomed and encouraged.

S!