The Movie

[jjmcgarvey]

I am really impressed by some of the stuff that you guys have produced. I am tempted to get involved in this stuff also but then I remind myself that I have enough to do to just keep up with my current projects. I will leave the movie making to those who are showing such great skill at doing it.

Let’s jump back to what I had originally proposed. I had wondered if it was possible to create a workable movie that might be along the lines of a scenario that I then laid out. I think that you guys have amply demonstrated that you are indeed quite capable of making a movie like that.

The purpose that I had in mind for this movie was to use it in conjunction with a recruiting poster to be posted in SIMHQ and Fergal’s.

SO!!! The question is…Do any of you wish to take charge of this project? Many of the shots can be taken by different individuals working off line. The rest require us to fly as a group under the direction of who ever is making the movie. Roller liked taking some of the shots in front of buildings with squad ID’s on them. You can only get one squad on the bulding but I can create alternative building files to use. Some of the lettering gets distorted so you might pick out what building that you wish and give me the sigh that you want on it.
I can also edit music so that it takes up little room and cut it to length.

I thought that it was an interesting idea back then and I would like to see it done. From the comments that were made about the ones that you posted, I think that it would make a big impression.

ANY VOLENTEERS???

[Spitty]

Hello gentlemen...

I for one would be happy to indulge into this project whole heartedly.  The problem that I have with the Growler is that it flickers a ton.  I cannot seem to find a happy medium for this problem.  Sometimes it works great / sometimes it is hopeless.

I took some movies of us from our last flight on Wednesday the 17th and it was a flickeing through out the time I had it on.  Could not get a length suitable for posting without the frames flickering.

I have adjusted the setting that Dumo requested and still it flickers horribly. 

I can put together a movie with all of us in flight but I would have to do it off line.  This will be a project that will take me a couple of weeks to put together so I can have great shots of all of ours planes and also put together some action shots.  I would need from the group a decission about if you would want it in "Period" black and white or in color.

I have several original 352nd pics on my HD that I could incorporate into this movie as well if you wish.

I leave this to all of you to decide.  Just let me know and I will start to get the info together.

Spitty

[Dumoulin]

Hello Spitty,

It will be good to have few colors pics or fragment of movies in the intro...but have the main part of the movie in B&W... IMHO....
BTW...it will be good you post for us...the standards you willuse for this(those) movie....
As format codec used..resolution (frame/sec and codec  are very important to know for allow the merging of cutted scenes)..so we will be able to participate ..sending movies..you able to use by cutting..etc...

PLEASE....SURF SAFE....

Military regards.

[Roller]

I've got all these snippets. (Some strung together in this video)
Except these are all in Fraps. It's almost impossible to shoot something down with fraps,
but the vid still comes out pretty smooth.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ERWRXyLLOo

What I like about it is, instead of trying to edit pieces within a long guncam, every time
you start, then stop Fraps, it makes an individual video. Then you just add the pieces to
MovieMaker. Fraps gave me the best viewable size in conjunction with FPS. I save them as
WMV files. These seem to make them the smallest size.

Spitty, I can send you all these snips, (They can be sorted by name,....er...um.....sort of........)
I basically took a bunch of pieces with the 352 doing an escort of the Yankee Lady, as the basis for
the snips. I also put the aged effect on a few guncam type snips, and didn't like it. I like the way you do
them better, and the snips I have are clean. (Only put the effect on this video.)
Spitty, I like your intros, effects, and credits.  I tried to get some guncams as nice as yours, magnified, but
just couldn't get any as nice as yours. But in this video, there are a few nice snips.
(I believe we all either have to use guncam, or fraps in order to mix our snips. But if we use guncam, I gotta
start over!
Roller

[jjmcgarvey]

Hey Spitty,

Watch out! You are coming very close to having this thing as your baby. As I stated, I am not qualified to give authoritive opinions on how it should be done. I can give opinions based on ignorance and that is it.
You are telling us that you are having troubles with your camera shots. That is only a small part of the job. We probably have enough cameramen. What we need is a director / producer. Formulate an idea of what you want the finished product to look like. I suggested that this be used in conjunction with a poster for recruiting purposes. You select a theme and composition. Decide what shots can be done by one person off line, what shots require other members to be on-line with you. Assign the roles and give the directions. Delegate jobs and responsibilities! Snap the whip and scream commands. Beg, plead and snarl! Get the footage and edit it. Redo what doesn’t work out.

I was very impressed with some of the stuff that you guys have done. All of you have a real talent for this sort of thing. So far, none of the movies have had a coherent theme, I.E. a beginning, middle and an end. Most of the pieces have been very good. What is needed is a coherent whole.

My thoughts are that the first production should be sort of an introduction to the 352nd FG. I would prefer it to be in color. Following productions can be mission orientated, I.E. Escorting, Dog fighting, Intercepting, Interdiction, etc. etc. Those are just my opinions; they count for nothing!

The people who do the work are the ones who should make the decisions. They know what has to be done and have the responsibility for doing it.

[Dumoulin]

Hello Roller,

Little technical here
No matter of movie are made with Guncam ... FRAPS...or eventually any other video capture tools (it's plenty around..like Camstasia..etc)..the problem is the framerate.....
Try and you will seen ..it's impossible to join (mix or whatever) cutting scenes who have differents framerates nevertheless they are in the same format (WMV , DivX .. etc..)
It's also true for the sound in the video (must be same specifications)
I just tell this...as it's pain in ass..and time consumming for convert all the different cuts to a same framerate ..etc...when it's possible.
Sometime the convert will have a lost of quality as result.
That's why I ask ..what type of videos Spitty make....so it's more easy for him when he work with is movie studio to have already movies for work with same framerate ..etc..

PLEASE....SURF SAFE....

Military regards.

[Roller]

So far, none of the movies have had a coherent theme, I.E. a beginning, middle and an end. Most of the pieces have been very good. What is needed is a coherent whole.

I get the feeling that you guys didn't watch the whole movie I posted. Yes, the front of the movie was the same thing
I posted when I first started. But there is more. I was trying to show the whole "coherent" theme.
352nd take-off,
Bomber take-off,
352nd join bombers,
109's and 190's coming in,
Bombers merging with 109's and 190's,
352nd going after bandits,
some guncams and shootdowns,
bombers dropping,
rejoining.
Now, either you guys started to watch and decided you saw it already, so didn't watch the rest, or you watched the
rest and it STILL sucked, or didn't make sense! Believe me, if it sucked, you can tell me!
In any event, I mainly posted it for Spitty to see if he could use any of the 'parts.' I believe they were all done in
you-tube-ready size. (Dont recall the exact setting?) Let me know Spitty.
Roller

[Dumoulin]

Hello Roller,

Indeed...the first part of the movie was same as posted time ago...and of course...I was mistified ....
Very good movie.....
I don't ask you to made a remake..ROFL... but what was your settings in FRAPS for the framerate.. ?
Seem's you have few stutters along the movie.... (just a obcesed techie remark... ) 

PLEASE....SURF SAFE....

Military regards.

[Roller]

Yo Dumo,
I'll have to check when I get home. I never changed the settings in fraps,
so it was default. I believe it is in 425 x 350.
I'm wondering if we are speaking of the same thing when you say frame-rate,
and I say resolution? Fraps DOES have a frame counter that can be displayed
while capturing, but I don't believe it is adjustable as far as 'rate.' But I will also bet
that if I look at it, I'll probably understand what you mean!

Anyway, while taking captures, I noticed that although my view was jittering all over the place,
the capture itself was pretty smooth. I tried to make guncam captures like Spitty's, where you use
the front pitless view, then magnify it with the +key on the numpad. If you maintain your distance,
you can keep a bandit in this view for a long time. I could do the same in fraps, but it was not smooth,
and if you tried to shoot it, the jumpyness always made me miss, thereby making the capture useless!
I saw no need for a bunch of guncam misses!   But the captures come out much smoother than they
appear while you are taking them.
The posted video has more than 50 separate little videos put together in MovieMaker. I dont, or can't find
wav or mp3 music files that I want, but I just got an e-mail from Dumo for software that will allow me to
take music from already existing videos or music!
Alright, back to work,
Roller

[Dumoulin]

Hello again Roller,

Well ......

Resolution = resolution
Framerate = framerate ....
See the picture .. and check the numbers contained in the red delimited aera... that's what I call the framerate.
Try to play with this number ( standard or customs) tosee if you have a amelioration of your resulted movie....
What will happen ..is maybe more stutters whith a high framerate value (when you capture the movie)..but maybe also a better rendering when you willplay the movie....
Frankly I must test myself again....but in FS 2004 (where I have more experience with FRAPS) the value 50 give me a smooth capture and a smooth movie as result.
But FS2004 = not  EAW ...for sure ..



PLEASE....SURF SAFE....

Military regards.

[Dumoulin]

Hello again and again ... Roller

Tested FRAPS in EAW (with the settings as show in the picture posted above in my other pos!!)
Very good results on my side...(pratically no stutters when capturing and no stutters in the resulted movie!!)
The small movie in attachement .....

PLEASE....SURF SAFE....

Military regards.

[Roller]

Hello again and again ... Roller

Tested FRAPS in EAW (with the settings as show in the picture posted above in my other pos!!)
Very good results on my side...(pratically no stutters when capturing and no stutters in the resulted movie!!)
The small movie in attachement .....

PLEASE....SURF SAFE....

Military regards.

Should have known you knew exactly what you were talking about!
Yes.............fps setting......I'll check it when I get home, but I believe it is at 30.
Your video! Very smooth!
Roller

[Roller]

Just checked it.........it was at 25!

back to the drawing board..........

Roller

[Spitty]

Sorry guys...

Been busy at work, which is where I am now, and haven't had any time to leave posts this week.

Roller / unfortunately I haven't been able to watch your new vid yet due to time constraints as with Dumo I haven't seen yours either.

I do not have a day off until Wednesday night so I probably won't get to spying these vids until after our flight Wednesday.

I'll post some ideas and answers for the vid / movie obver the next couple of days.

Spitty

[Spitty]

Hello gentlemen...

Take a look at this and see how it looks.

http://rapidshare.com/files/13523653/352_BW_Movie_Shots.wmv


or here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeinSv0NChQ

All of the shots on this vid I have in color as well.

Spitty