• Log InLog In
• Register

E-Sports Documentary in the works. - Page 2

69 CommentsPost a Reply Prev 1 2 3 4 Next All

Kentor United States5784 Posts March 04 2009 19:42 GMT #21 will there be a cool voiceover?

GhostOutlaw United States37 Posts March 04 2009 20:13 GMT #22 Tadzio, Your absolutely right about that. I have considered doing that and depending ont he overall response I get I may start screening for some webcam interviews. It's more of a last ditch effort though to fill content just because I can only use very high resolution web cams due to technical restrictions of the documentary. As for the VO question, I am going to try to use the interviews to guide the story as much as possible when visuals cannot be easily explained. That's the nature of explaining something foreign to anyone, a human touch makes the medicine go down a whole lot easier. I am avoiding the Voice of God (see history channel if your not sure what this is) entirely if possible as it's a dated technique and in this point in time considered a weak practice in film making. To explain a bit more about the interviews, basically what I'm trying to create is a simple greenscreen effect. The TV studio at my school has a setup for greenscreen and I want to do all the interviews on that. From there I can cut in actual gameplay footage, event footage or just about anything I want to use as a backdrop for the interviews. The purpose for this is many fold: for those unfamiliar with the game, they get to meet a player and see some action going on, for players learning the game they get to see footage of how it works and whats going on and it builds a comfort zone. Once you see something so many times you feel OK about it. A brief example is an ad for a soda brand. You've never had it but if you pass a billboard for it every day, see your friends drinking it, see the vending machine for it, see a commercial for it, eventually one day you'll see it in the store and buy it because your brain will tell you 'Oh, i've seen that somewhere, I know it's ok'. Catch is, you've never had it! Brand familiarity, simple concept, applies in so many ways. This is why I want as many interviews as possible done at my studio on the green screen so I can put in whatever footage I want and that fits! Talking heads and VOG are techniques of the past and today considered weak. Overall I am happy with the response I am getting. So keep it coming!

Pieguy314 Canada262 Posts March 05 2009 00:06 GMT #23 Although you might not consider any webcams, you could ask people to record themselves if they have a camera behind a greenscreen they can make themselves (which isnt very hard).

Luddite United States2315 Posts March 05 2009 00:27 GMT #24 what there's no way you're gonna get 50 pros or even top amateurs to travel to NYC on their own budget for this. Maybe you could just do an audio interview, and show pictures of the player.

s.a.y Croatia3840 Posts March 05 2009 00:36 GMT #25 Ask Nony about Korea. And Tasteless too. Add audio to the movie and voila.

GhostOutlaw United States37 Posts March 05 2009 00:41 GMT #26 I am avoiding webcams but they are not completely out of the question. One reason I am avoiding it is because of the difference in quality for cutting it in. Basically a greenscreen, as you indicated, is not hard to make. You're 100% right, What is difficult, expensive and time consuming is properly lighting it. And thats what makes all the difference. Just lighting alone will create continuity errors if there is a difference between the shots. This creates immediate problems with utilizing the green screen since it depends on near perfect lighting. I have been working out a way to work with webcams today though and how to effectively fit them in. That doesn't mean I can sacrifice live interviews, it just means those who felt they were too far away, or, obviously were to far away, LOLEUROPEASIA, will most likely be viable subjects as well! More info coming but please keep contacting me with your information.

The.Crow 619 Posts March 05 2009 01:02 GMT #27 Hey, I did about 100 video interviews last year, though most of them are with WC3 and CS players but you are interested only in the SC ones right? Here are the threads: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=79796 http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=63213 http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=74532 In that Coverage Item you can find for example one with Blackman: http://www.mymym.com/en/coverage/384/26.html And I also did some with Tasteless on a Blizzard event but can't find it right now, might me somewhere on myMYM under home->coverage If you need those vids in full quality, lemme know.

GhostOutlaw United States37 Posts March 05 2009 01:06 GMT #28 <3 The.Crow When I get a chance to sit down I will see what I like and think I can use and probably request that in full quality. We can set that up privately though. Are you the same the.crow who wrote the mathematics of warcraft?

The Storyteller Singapore2486 Posts March 05 2009 01:09 GMT #29 I think Ghostoutlaw is right in rejecting webcam footage. The problems caused in format, resolution, lighting and sound are just not worth it. No TV station would accept such footage unless it was a truly compelling subject like UN abuse of people in a warzone or something. I haven't seen the concept, but I think 50 interviews is way too many. For a typical one hour documentary we do 2 long ones and 5 short ones (fewer, if possible).

The.Crow 619 Posts March 05 2009 01:13 GMT #30 I doubt, I hate maths! hehe Personally I think the best interviews are the ones from WCG USA Qualifier last year... All the guys like Nony, inc and co I interviewed were in really great mood. If you need anything else, just lemme know... since I don't have the job at myMYM anymore, I got plenty of time Can you like explain the concept a bit more? Like what is the target audience and what's the goal of the movie?

GhostOutlaw United States37 Posts March 05 2009 01:21 GMT #31 Storyteller just made a good point. I want a lot of interviews for a reason. 1) Todays style is rapid fire editing, doing it and doing it well are 2 different things. It takes a LOT of footage to make it work well because of how intriquet the cutting actually gets. 2) I want so many people to show how many different people are actually involved. If I show a doc with a homogenous population, yea i might be able to pull it off but a stronger message is sent if I can show a really wide variety. This is an example of one of the sequences that I have that I really want to do. This is how I want to open it. Fade In - Inside Studio Subject #1 Hi, My name is ----. Cut to Subject #2 Hi, My name is ----. Cut to Subject #3 My name is ----. Cut to Subject #4 And so on. Each cut is accelerating in hold time, cutting to as many players as possible just getting their name in. Cut to Subject #XX 'Hi, My name is (Ideally someone most notable) and I -' Audio cut in of ALL subjects, good and loud: 'Play Starcraft!' Ideally I would want one big group picture of everyone there but I'll make that sacrafice. Maybe it seems cliched but the message I am trying to send I think it fits. And it's totally open for change since I haven't started shooting yet. I want to immediately create the impression of a massive amount of people, good diversity, and a lot of energy. And that's just my intro. But I hope that clarifies why I want so much content. As the editor for this and editing past projects, personally I prefer to work from a feast rather then a famine (of video footage). Although working with the famine has its benifits. (provided the footage is dog poopy!) Thanks everyone!

GhostOutlaw United States37 Posts March 05 2009 01:30 GMT #32 I'm holding off on releasigna ll the details of the documentary immediately since it is a documentary. And what I mean by that is, often times it is not unusual for a documentary to be COMPLETELY changed during the time between pre and post production because of the footage gathered or a host of other factors. Basically my target audience though is anyone who DOESNT play starcraft. Naturally it will appeal to SC lovers and players because it is their interest but the goal of the doc is to create awareness of the existence of this community, the competitive community, and the effects the game has had on culture. The enormity of the impact of starcraft practically goes hand in hand with how much of an impact WWII had on the world. Cultures have completely changed, both consciously and subconsciously because of this game. I want to show the game, show some of these changes, show what it's like and really give people a feel for the game and the community. I want to raise awareness, create exposure. Honestly, for class the doc needs to be 10 minutes. Upon me starting my preproduction work it immediately spiraled out of control and will most likely end up being a full length documentary! And honestly the response here has been the best so far. Although I have gotten response from other places I posted looking this has been the best. Because of that I'm going to tell you guys a little secretsecret. I decided to throw up a miracle and see if blizzard wants to have any fun with this. I'm honestly not even expecting a response from them. But if their willing to work with me in any way shape or form I would be absolutely ecstatic. Like I said, throwing up a miracle.

The.Crow 619 Posts March 05 2009 01:48 GMT #33 I see, I just think it is hard to realize that, as you only have vid interviews that are finished already and you cannot set up an interview with those players making them say things like 'hi my name is... and i play sc'. Like the idea to make it rapid... I think you also need something like the story line. What message should that movie tell the ppl? Is it for casual ppl or the sc fans? etc

GhostOutlaw United States37 Posts March 05 2009 02:02 GMT #34 I'm directing it towards people who don't even know that the competitive community exists. I want to create awareness and get more people into it. Basically help drive forward the chance to make the American and European gaming scene big like Korea instead of a basement subculture. You say gaming tournament a lot of people think a small dark room with a lot of smelly pizza pie faced teenagers. Sometimes true but that's really not the case. What I am hoping to get out of the interviews is 2 stories. One of the players and one of the game itself. Starcraft is released, players flock to game. Starcraft sales reach X million, tournaments start popping up. Starcraft is X years old, WCG/ESWC/ all that fun stuff start hosting tournaments and making this a big deal. The story is how starcraft came to be what it is now and the relationship between game and players, players and players, players and developers (yay patch 10 years later!), and the game and many other aspects of the world. For example, there is now a Starcraft course being taught at UC Berkley. Another example of this is a professor at (insert university here, i forget at the moment and don't feel like digging through my research cause i'm about to head out) who teaches a military science course and one of his key tools is Starcraft. Basically starcraft was released as a game and became so much more. I want to show and tell how that happened. The beauty of the interviews is that when I'm firing the questions I can not direct the answers but ask questions that will get coverage of topics I want talked about to narrate the story. I do have a bunch of this mapped out I'm just hesitant to release too much at one time especially with all the other fun stuff I have going on. But keep picking my brain, responses might be slow for the next day or so but i'm still reading!

ocoini 648 Posts March 05 2009 02:04 GMT #35 Seeing as they are teaching starcraft in university class in UC Berkeley http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=86501 You might want to interview some of the students, and possibly the teachers of that class for your doc. Atleast maybe throw that info in there somewhere, because it's quite unique. They might be able to explain how they are useing intellectual analysis of sc to branch out to other subjects. And makeing it an art(like chess). But guess you might have to travel to them for the interviews, possibly they have a similar green room on that campus that you could use there if you travel to interview them? I dunno. http://www.berkeleystarcraft.com/VODs.html

The Storyteller Singapore2486 Posts March 05 2009 02:23 GMT #36 Oh, I see where the 50 interviews come in now. In that case you don't really need interviews, you just need voxpops. I still think 50 might be a bit OTT, but maybe I'm imagining it wrong. I would do this: Find out if there is a big event where SC players will congregate. If not, maybe suggest a party to watch a big MSL match or something. Then you can go there with your stuff and get all the bites at one shot. Alternatively, since you are planning on having really, really quick cuts, you might be able to get away with just photos of the later faces. Because your cuts get faster, you might end up with "Hi, my name is..." "My name is..." "Name is..." "..." "..." "..." And then finally insert rapidly changing photos and overlay fake audio... it will be too fast to tell. That way you can get everyone to send you high res photos in a certain format from a certain angle. Lighting won't matter much because the photos are flashing so rapidly.

The Storyteller Singapore2486 Posts March 05 2009 02:26 GMT #37 Also think carefully about visuals. It was torture trying to get the visual variety in Korea because so often you end up with a bunch of people sitting around and clicking. Lectures are nice intellectually, but visually, they're again people sitting down. Computer gaming does not lend itself to visual media, no matter how many effects are thrown in, so you need to figure out some good sequences, even if it's 10 minutes long. This is especially so if you intend it to be for a non-gaming audience.

YPang United States4024 Posts March 05 2009 02:43 GMT #38 dude good luck man, i'd really want to see success..

GhostOutlaw United States37 Posts March 05 2009 04:29 GMT #39 Side-by-side Action. Thats how I hope to solve the issue of the games being a sit down sport. If you need a good example of side by side action or are unsure of what I am actually talking about, watch the new 007 movie Quantum of Solace. The horse race/chase scene and the opera/chase scene are probably some of the most well-done side-by-side action in film. It's rather difficult to get right but when it is done right, it is remarkably compelling. Sigh, just gave away one of my aces! Another reason for the large number of interviews, well 2. 1) I know I'm not going to get 50+. So shooting for that and ending up with less but still a viable amount is what I'm looking for. 2) Not to say it up front but I'm more then willing to bet most of the players will have little to no media experience. The mass amount of interviews function almost as a casting call. If I do 50 interviews I would expect to have a few VERY strong characters in there but still not many. Where if I isolate myself to 10 interviews, I may end up with many weak characters and no one with a strong enough interview to really guide the doc. Am I going to get 50? Probably not. Would it be sweet? Yea, but if I get 20 that should be more then enough. Engineers golden ratio - 22:1. For every 22 ideas, theres maybe 1 good one. For every 22 people, maybe there's 1 good one! lol Thanks for the support. Keep the information flowing though! I definitely need to know of any up coming events and anyone available for interview. Numbers are looking great so far but the more the better!

DanceCommander United States1808 Posts March 05 2009 05:21 GMT #40 Wow this sounds really professional, best of luck to you and I can't wait for the final product!

Prev 1 2 3 4 Next All

Please log in or register to reply.