AAR Video: Tunis Harbor 5/22

[Catman1975]

OK everyone this is my first video and I'm looking for feedback. Well feedback and suggestions. Was the file size too big? Quality too low/too high? I did not do a lot to the video, just zoomed in on some ticket counts and the scoreboard at the end and tried to mute my teamspeak, member joined/member left sounds, but I would like to know what people look for in a video. I know that I need some text and since I always seem to die a lot, I thought about speeding up the scenes of me looking at my respawn screen, but what else should I do?

Video details:

I had started this round in CarRamRod's squad, but my game froze and I had to stop the game through Task Manager. When I joined the game I could not join a team until I spawned, that is why I'm not near my squad leader, Damonte, in the beginning of the game. We start off the game with a pretty sizable ticket deficit (~60) and we end up winning with a few left over

If you get bored you have to make sure to fast forward near the end where Damonte enforces the TG server rules.EDIT this happens about 14:30


Yes I ran into the walker - dumb.

http://files.filefront.com/Damontes_.../fileinfo.html

[Damonte]

I would like to state for the record that while I wish that I had FRAPS'd this round, I had absolutely no idea that Catman had actually done it.

I now go to watch the video with anticipation and trembling.


- After Watching the Video -

That was actually a pretty good round. I was very pleased with how well the squad stuck to their orders, and there were some critically timed revives of that silly squad leader who went and needlessly got himself killed.

Oh the irony of the player at the end who stole the buggy, and happened to have the word 'Bunny' in their name.

[Lorian]

Originally Posted by Catman1975

Yes I ran into the walker - dumb.

I do that when there's nowhere else to run, try to go next to one of its legs or something where it can't get you. Never works though...

[WaffleHousChef]

Good overall video, I see you choose 2M bitrate. Since you asked for suggestions, I'll give some feedback for ya. I'm not an expert or anything, but these are some impressions I had from watching your vid.

- Add some tunes. It helps gloss over the dead space, and can add to the mood depending on what tunes you pick or just use the time as an outlet for your favorite songs. You have an audio track you can mix some songs on, might as well take advantage of it.

- Credit your squad up front. If you remember (or jump to the scoreboard and write it down) you should put in a title page to let people know ahead of time who it is they are watching. The scoreboard is always at the end, and people may not watch the video a second time through, so this way they know who is green named while they are watching the video. Just a cool thing to do, I think.

- At ~1:10 in there is a big jump cut when you're on top of the building where the scene changes so rapidly it's disorienting. I'm not sure if this was an overlap on the editor between clip files or intentional, but I would try to use smoother transitions, if available.

- Compressing dead time like hunkering down during OS or the wating to spawn screens might be worthwhile.

- Zooming on the Score. You don't have to zoom so close on the ticket counts. They are perfectly readable during normal video play, so a zoom there would be for emphasis rather then video clarity. Most extreme zooms in videos are on the minimap, so that you can see what's going on that you can't when the video is normally playing. When you mega zoom the scores two things happen. First, since the counters are at the top of the screen, and your zoom centers them, half of the screen is black and is wasted space while you're zoomed in. Second, You eliminate all the action that going on during the zoom because it's off screen so all the viewer sees is the score and hears the action. I would recommend either keeping the top of your zoom even with the top of the video and not zoom in so far, or make use of the black area at the top to add commentary text during your zooms.

[Catman1975]

Thank you Chef,

I started adding some tunes, but they seemed to overpower the audio, even when I lowered the gain on the track and everytime I picked a song it did not seem to fit, I will work this in for future projects.

I knew that I needed a Title screen, but I was kind of anxious to get the video out and get feedback. I will probably go back and add one later.

I just finished watching the video myself and I had been playing around with cutting out some excess parts but I did not like how it was turning out and I forgot about that one at 1:10.

I will definitely work on the dead time.

I had zoomed on the score so that if I uploaded the video to google/youtube the score would be visable.

Thank you for the comments.

[marstein]

The video has good quality and I like the absence of tunes. The main purpose for an AAR video should be to tell a story. You could voice-over and point out some key things to the audience. I would like that.

[Lorax74]

Nice video.

I have a question, not about the video/editing, for you and others that I see do the same thing.

A few times during the video you show your kits and I noticed that all but the kit you are using are empty and you did not equip a Squad Leader beacon or drone. I have to say, as a frequent squad leader (SL for short), nothing is more frustrating than grabbing someone's kit to perform a revive and getting stuck without a drone or beacon.

Sometimes when I form a squad, I will make a request for what item to bring in that slot and if that's not available then "load the beacon". But I have to say, when an SL doesn't make a request, always equip something, it doesn't matter what just as long as the slot is not empty (though I would request that nobody bring the Reinforcement drone that makes squad members respawn faster, I feel it removes valuable revive time from the clock). A good thing might be to ask what item the SL wants, or if you don't feel like asking just default it to the spawn beacon. Also, if something happens to your SL (they crash to the desktop, get kicked for a Supporting Member, etc) and you end up as the new SL, you won't have to worry about altering your kit the next time you spawn, you'll already be ready.

Concerning the kits, why not load up the other kits during the initial 90 second wait to start a round? Or during those slow times defending or waiting for a respawn? Or right after you join a squad but have not yet spawned? If the SL calls for a kit change to either handle a walker, APC, or wants a recon kit to supplement the Otis, etc, you'll have to either hustle to put a kit together in time or you brush off the request hoping someone else will fill the role instead. It's fine if you only want to play assault, or recon, or engineer, or support, whatever, but at least set yourself up to be versatile.

In closing, I think the only acceptable time to not load a SL item or fill out a kit is when you don't have the unlocks yet. Otherwise put something, anything, in all of your kits.

Sorry if this came out in a jumble, I wrote it fairly hastily and now I'm off to work, and very late at that....

-lorax

[sc1ence]

Enjoyable vid. Thanks for sharing. waffles tips I thought were good ones and I would agree with them. Putting your squad up front I am not sure if it is that important. I kind of like that people discover who is in the squad as the story unfolds. Music is a good call, even if it sort of soft in the background.

generally speaking, you want to keep your vid under 10 mins.

I like the higher 2.2 bitrate as the visual quality is superior to a 1.1 bitrate. it is worth the increase in file size imo.

fast forwarding through spawn waits, or making a nice cut is worth the effort. even if you end up just shaving a min off the vid, it makes for better action. sometimes I will use that down time to insert a title screen explaining something depending on the goal of the vid.

I end up recording about 4 hours of fraps before I find a round worth editing and posting. I usualy play for about 2 hours and record the whole thing (roughly 80 gigs raw avi format). Then I go back and look through it to see if there is anything worth reporting in a VARR (video after action report).

we really need to get a fraps squad going one of these days. it would be great to have all the different perspectives in one vid.

[Catman1975]

Originally Posted by Lorax74

Nice video.
A few times during the video you show your kits and I noticed that all but the kit you are using are empty and you did not equip a Squad Leader beacon or drone.

I swear I usually have squad leader equipment. I usually wait until I see what the SL equips before the round starts and add it before I spawn. Since I joined halfway through the round, I wanted to help as soon as possible, I rushed and forgot the SL equip.

Originally Posted by Lorax74

Concerning the kits, why not load up the other kits during the initial 90 second wait to start a round? Or during those slow times defending or waiting for a respawn? Or right after you join a squad but have not yet spawned? If the SL calls for a kit change to either handle a walker, APC, or wants a recon kit to supplement the Otis, etc, you'll have to either hustle to put a kit together in time or you brush off the request hoping someone else will fill the role instead. It's fine if you only want to play assault, or recon, or engineer, or support, whatever, but at least set yourself up to be versatile.
-lorax

I used to load all of my kits in the beginning, but I found by the time I got to the squad screen most of the squads were already full. I started equipping my assault and then after I join a squad I will equip my support then engineer before I spawn. I found that if I have tried to fill out my other kits when I am waiting for a respawn, I would get close to getting the kit equipped and then I suddenly respawn with a kit that I was not supposed to have and the kit would have no unlocks. Usually if a kit is needed and I do not have it equipped I will deselect my spawn take the extra couple of seconds to equip that role before spawning in the next time.

Sc1ence: I'll be on this weekend and up for FRAPsing if you are on Thanks for the feedback.

Marstein: I will probably forgo the voice over, but add some text to point out some things.

[Pablo]

Originally Posted by sc1ence

we really need to get a fraps squad going one of these days. it would be great to have all the different perspectives in one vid.

Hmm, having multiple perspectives for a squad video would be great. I'd be up for helping out if you need someone.

[Anospa]

Sc1ence, a good number of us 3rd have FRAPs going now, I hope to have it in about a week or so.

[rage4order]

Great vid Catman, I agree with others, I enjoy a bit of music in the vids, especially a bit of rock or something with a killer beat. Look forward to your future vids.