First EQ2 Video: "Returning"

[ObsidianB]

This music video is the first one I have ever done for EQ2, it's also the first video I have ever done with Vega Studio as my editing software, so it's a bit experimental all around.The music and the video have a few different meanings, but it's roughly about my characters return to Norrath after a personal event has cut him off from it for almost a year.I hope everyone enjoys it <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdaCc4FCtqk" target=_blank>Returning</a><div></div>

[Kyriel]

<DIV>This is very pretty. I actually likesome of the lip syncing and syncronizing to the music...  tho it made me depressed to see the arrows and glow... I think thevideo would rock if they wernt showing :smileywink:</DIV>

[ObsidianB]

Actually... didn't really know there was an option to shut those things off. Will have to remember that for next time, thank you.<div></div>

[Irr]

Excellent music video!  Zem is right, the lip sync was almost perfect!   I also appretiate the debt you accumulated to bring us this movie!  haha!<div></div>

[ObsidianB]

Thank you very much! I'm really glad you liked it! <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /><div></div>

[cba3]

<DIV>Nice video you made there.. awesome music, very emotive </DIV>

[ObsidianB]

Thank you! I'm happy you liked it!! <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /><div></div>

[Drakaran]

I hope you don't mind some constructive criticism, especially since this is your first, I wouldn't want to scare you away from doing more.First off, the lighting is way too low in a lot of the scenes, I suspect this is because you haven't corrected your gamma up a bit. I guess you could have also corrected this in post while you were editing, but getting the light right in the original feed is more important.I'm not sure I really understand your music selection tying into the theme of "Returning"... I was expecting "Returning" meant like returning home, but that's not the message I got from watching. Mainly it was just soloing mobs in a few zones... Did you have a storyline and maybe even a story board?You reused scenes, but the scenes that were repeated didn't pull the story together... It's an interesting idea to use a repeating scene to underscore a theme, but maybe you didn't nail the application?  I could see you using it like the chorus of a song... anyway..I feel like you might have something there... just that you lost the story to what you considered the Cool Factor.Maybe if he was returning after a being gone... you could have started by showing him in a cell somewhere... like RoV or maybe WC or something, then have him escaping... and at the end making it back to Q?<div></div>

[Eybietie]

<P><FONT color=#66ffcc>well in my opinion its allright if music and story do not fit together ( i mean the lyrics of the song ) if the feeling is right.<BR>its a music video so its allright i guess. if he likes *cool factor* then its ok.</FONT></P> <P><FONT color=#66ffcc>a video can be also enjoyable without real story but freaking cool stuff in it.</FONT></P> <P><FONT color=#66ffcc>and yes it was all about soloing mobs and fd but does this matter? i think not. it looked cool just<BR>as it was intended to be.</FONT></P> <P><FONT color=#66ffcc>i really liked it and i liked most the end which was nice done. dynamic, action and stuff. its harder to get<BR>the right shots then making a story ( lets say mostly ) especially while fighting when also recording without UI.</FONT></P> <P><FONT color=#66ffcc>keep it up</FONT> </P>

[ObsidianB]

<div></div>Both <a href="../view_profile?user.id=29871" target="_blank"><span></span></a>Eybietie and Drakaran are right in their own way.First of all, I did state that the video didn't have much of a story line. My character ~was~ returning from a long seperation from his home city (aka, I was gone from EQ2 for almost a year), and the video is loosly based on that idea. If you listen to the words of the song, think of them as my character saying them to norrath in general. "Come on, break me down, I'm not running from anything you can throw at me... not any more"... that sort of thing.I will admit that the video was quite limited. It wasn't suppose to be a "fighting" video. That was suppose to be used only to underscore what was being said. Some may not view it that way, but that's their choice in the long run.On to quality... The video was recorded at half scale, uncompressed. (I view at 1024x768, so it was recorded at 512x384... yeah, a little odd). My gamma is actually up compared to my desktop standard, but I did not over-bright the screen. I actually enjoy my shadows in game. In my opinion, the video capture was quite good. The reduction in brightness could be due to YouTubes translation of the video. I was unaware of it at the time, but the original video was compiled to .wmv format (not considered a proper format for YouTube) and so they did some converting. Going from compressed .wmv to compressed .mpg might account for some light degredation as well a video degredation, but, even still, I was happy with their conversion. I would be more than happy to post the original .wmv version of the video for people. Any suggestions for a good, free, video storage site?Anyway, that's my explination. I hope you both enjoyed the video for what it was, in any case.Thank you for the comments <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /><div></div>

[Kari]

<P>I like the feel of this movie a LOT</P> <P><img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></P> <P>Well done</P> <P> </P>

[ObsidianB]

Thank you! I'm very happy you liked it! <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /><div></div>

[Bacci]

<DIV><FONT color=#ffff00 size=4>As someone who doesn't know the first thing about creating something like this... I was very impressed.  I think it was awesome!  </FONT></DIV>

[ObsidianB]

Thank you very much! I really appreciate it <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /><div></div>

[cba3]

Are you going to make more Obsidian?  <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />  Practice makes perfect right?

[ObsidianB]

Hehe... yes, I do plan on making more. I have a couple ideas, I'm just seeing if I can find actors willing to participate. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /><div></div>

[cba3]

<P>finding the initial actors doesnt seem to that hard.. its just getting them back for follow up shots that appears to be the difficult bit</P> <P>good luck with that!</P> <P>Morianne, kithicor</P>

[Terayon]

I see alot of opinons have already been imparted but I feel the need for my two cents. I Love to see people take the time to tell the story of their character with more than pretty words and good punctuation. Sure the lip-sync could have been more precise, but for a first try, id say its pretty [expletive haxx0red by Raijinn] good. I almost made a Kerra Zerker... ( then I remembered I hate all that training, lol)<div></div>

[ObsidianB]

It may seem a bit ironic, all considering, but I am a bit of a quiet person, so, for me, finding actors is not an easy task. Within the game I really only know a small handful of friends, which I do not actually know in person, so to ask them to help me make the video is sort of like taking away from their play time. Oh, I'm sure they think it's fun. Actually, there is a small scene one of my friends helped me with in which he kicked my rump, but he had to take time away from questing with the group he was in at the time to do it. I really appreciated that, but feel guilty as well. All in all, it's a little hard.Also, in terms of making a character driven video... I would love to make a video directly related to my characters backstory (of which I now have two "back" stories on the same character... hehe), but to find the right people to play the characters in my back story... it's a project I just don't yet know the people to help me with it yet.<div></div>