S!

A quick stop and think for all those making films.

It takes a long time and takes a lot of work, but the work needs to be creative and not just a selection of in game images.

Anyone can throw together game footage, but can you tell a story.

This is I think the best footage I have seen of a simple music video made in machinima that tells a story, has great cinematography, and has great cuts. This is not new, this has been around for ages and no doubt many of you have already seen it.

This is what you are striving towards.

http://blackaceproduction.com/Downloads/StillSeeingBreen.wmv

Made by Paul Marino.

This video should be studied very hard. Look at the fast cuts, the fades, the sequencing, everything.

Now look at your own work and see if it can be improved after seeing this. You will not get anywhere near as good as this, but it might make you think about being more creative, and less robotic.

I'm with you BA.

From my perspective, I can see that IL2 movie making has went the same way that the big machinima community has gone - the tools are so easy to use now that any old thing is getting thrown up (pun intended).

It's all subjective I guess. Some people like to watch quick videos of online action, some don't.

There is a distinction and it was GL2 that made it clear to me with the term 'Filmmaker'. You, me, the guys from Wingmen Productions, the old trail blazers and some new guys are Filmmakers. The majority of stuff we are now seeing could at best be described as being done by video makers, or at a push, movie makers.

I would love to see more guys becoming filmmakers. Make a film with a meaningful purpose!

It's all about the 'idea' for a film. The idea could be a story (the best idea), a music video, a promo, a documentary and so on, but there has to be a good solid and strong idea from which the film is born.

So that's my challenge to the 'young' pretenders - get a big idea!

Best Regards

Some notable examples of top-notch music videos from the flight-sim community include Requiem, Come With Me (both IL-2), and Dualality (LOMAC). (Links to all of these can be found at Joe90's Flight-sim Machinima site--see the link in my sig block.) At their heart, these are shoot-em-up's, but the filmmakers were so creative in their execution that each was an instant classic. Those films (music videos) show you can do an awful lot in just a few minutes if you do it well.

It used to be that just about every film released around here was basically a one-song music video. Then the community sort of moved away from that towards longer films. Music shifted from songs to movie scores. But I think most new filmmakers would be well advised to follow the same path. Start with bite-sized music videos, then progress to longer films ("shorts") around 8 to 15 minutes in length after you've got the nuts and bolts of cinematography and editing down AND have some sort of a story to tell.

I mean no disrespect to those who haven't gotten past the shoot-em-up phase. As I said in another post, you have to start somewhere. And at the end of the day, this is just a hobby. You push yourself as far as your time and interest allows. Make whatever sort of films you want. If you're having fun with it, that's what counts.

But as Monty said in another post, a big part of the fun of filmmaking is seeing the reaction you get from your audience. If any filmmakers are wondering why their films don't generate much if any reaction, pay attention to what people have been saying in this post. It isn't that the old guard is too snotty to appreciate good work from a newcomer, and it isn't that there is some sort of "club" in this forum that you're either a member of or you're not. The reason most new films don't generate more interest is that those who have been around here a while have seen so many films of similar quality (and with similar stories) that it's usually a case of 'been there, seen that, bought the T-shirt.' Years ago (and I've been involved in this community for around four years now--longer than I've had this user name) just about any film got a lot of attention, but those days are long past. The bar has been raised quite a bit in that time. If you want to impress viewers any more, you need to offer more than just fast cuts and explosions. You need to take your filmmaking skills to a higher level, and that includes learning how to tell a good story.

From what I've seen, the IL-2 film community is one of the best among all the communities associated with any particular game. I hope the new blood will continue to learn and push themselves to higher and higher levels. The bar around here can still be raised quite a bit in every area of filmmaking.

If only we could enhance some of the scenery.