Cliffs of Dover Video Thread V1.0 [Closed]

[David198502]

Originally Posted by Les

Just caught up with this video. Wasn't really interested in watching a sightseeing video, but thought I'd give it a look. Then the AC/DC song started playing and I thought, oh okay, I'll watch this even if just to listen to that. Then you synched up the song to the first explosion and I almost laughed out loud. Cool, this could be fun. So I sat back and watched one of the best-made stunt-flying/showing-off video's I've seen.

Was impressed by the flying skills, the choice of locations, and the fact that you didn't show at least one crash when the lyrics, "...watch me explode..." were playing. So, yeah, good job. Very competently shot and edited I thought. Nothing too fancy, but it didn't have to be.

I did think maybe some of the stunts/set-ups were a bit too similar, to the point of becoming repetitive, and I personally would rather not see the same action repeated when cutting between camera views, but in the context of the overall video I wouldn't call those choices mistakes.

Wouldn't mind seeing that kind of clean and straightforward, almost analytical and documentary-like filming & editing approach applied to other aspects of the game too. If the subject-matter is interesting enough in it's own right, it should be watchable even without using a lot of the 'cinematic' embellishments that too easily come across as clichéd and distracting anyway.



Edit - Well there you go, you posted the 'War' video while I was writing about the other one. Good job again. It's hard to cover 'action' well, and to be honest, I wasn't as impressed with how you handled that as I was with the stunt-flying video. But you know, I think it's testament to your video-making skills that I was less concerned about the technical aspects of the video, than I was with its 'theme' or overall 'statement'. The action was conveyed well enough that I could just take it for granted and look for the video's 'message' or 'point'. And in that regard, I think the song you used and the images weren't really complimenting each other properly. I kept waiting for the Bf-109 we were following to get destroyed, to show in action what it was Edwin Starr was singing about, that war is good for nothing, no-one wins, everyone loses. But the Bf-109 just kept 'winning'.

Not that I think it really matters, but basically, my point/opinion is this. When you reach a certain level of technical video-making competence, a level that I think you're at or very near, you can do more than just showing stuff happening, you can use those skills to tell stories, or convey ideas and concepts to your audience. You can 'say' things through your video's, or just give them extra emotional depth, evoking anger, or laughter, or sadness etc., so that people can experience them in more than a one-dimensional, superficial, way. Not saying you have to, or that you should, and as I said in my original post, those same skills can be used to just show off different aspects of the game for those who are interested in that. And as far as it goes, there's nothing wrong with just making video's because you enjoy doing it, which is largely what I myself have done with Cliffs Of Dover. Just pointing out some other options, in case you weren't aware of them. Don't take it personally btw, what I'm saying applies to anyone with the ability to string a coherent sequence of images together, and it's said because I want to see more good Cliffs Of Dover video's (dammit lol )

hey les!all i can say is waoh!thx for the positive feedback and moreover really constructive criticism.i hear what you say, and you are 100% right.

the only point i disagree with, is that i for myself dont or at least didnt consider myself competent enough to tell true stories with my "productions",
because of the simple fact that it didnt came to my mind.
all i focused on, was to record my missions in a way, that the viewer is able to comprehend the single incidents in the storyline.(i hope this sentence makes sense,as im not a native speaker)

where i totally agree is the too much pronounced repetition of camera angles and similar scenes.i unfortunately became only aware of that, after i finished the video and was too lazy to rework it because i was happy with the overall result and considered it as a success of what i was trying to achieve with my second attempt.
the same goes for my third one.i was happy enough with the outcome of it.
i consider myself as a total noob when its about making vids, especially when i look at other vids posted here.i use windows movie maker, and im not very creative either.
but you gave me a hint with your post.....trying to tell stories, awake emotions.that will be the aim of my next project.
but i think this will take longer than the usual three hours of work, from flying the mission to the end result.
thx again for your comment les!!!

Edit: i actually died in my third mission/vid in an entertaining way.i crashed while i was trying to shoot the british tanks...i hit the ground with my left wing and lost more than the half,while i was pulling the stick to climb again.so i elevated a bit until i finally smashed the ground again.but i survived the crash and the bf came to a standstill near the enemy.i opened the canopy and looked in the back where i suddenly faced tracers.the first injured me, and the second one was a headshot.
i really wanted to implement that, but what you see in the vid is only the half of the mission.actually there comes a second raid of 110s to bomb the tanks again, and i do some more ground attacks until i crash.the problem was that it was late and i got really tired.furthermore my girlfriend wanted me to come to bed.