Because it's good: A Mass Effect fan video
And by “good,” I mean “wow, someone put a lot of effort into this and made it look really professional!”
Yes, yes, I know…it has nothing to do with Ultima per sé. That’s okay…it’s just a really well-done piece of work, and worth remarking on:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2XnfINmlDM&fs=1&hl=en_US]
Garrus FTW!
One can find various things in Mass Effect to complain about, but I don’t think the characters are one of them. There are some truly memorable, phenomenally well-written (and well-acted) characters in the game that bring it no end of richness.
(via)
OK–It’s time that someone helped me to understand this.
I see lots of these–“An excellent Fan Video”, “His use of timing and cutscenes are fantastic”, etc., etc.–
I don’t get it. If I am correct, here’s how it works:
STEP 1-A fan video captures some of the already rendered scenes from a video game. He then superimposes *TINY* snippets of gameplay action in between (where he just ran around a bit), and then downloads and inserts some cool random techno music (that he did not make himself)–(total effort-30 minutes).
STEP 2- He stops the video at a closeup of a character’s face, and takes a snapshot–puts it in photoshop, makes it B+w, and adds the character name–drops them into the video 6 or 7 times. (Total effort-30 minutes). Pushes it up to the internet to resounding awesomeness!
To me, this is just cutting up someone else’s work, and posting it under your name–it’s much akin to those old ladies who buy rubber stamps of pretty flowers, stamp them on a piece of paper, glue lace around the edge, and sell them as greeting cards at craft fairs. It’s very nice and all, but they don’t deserve a medal and a parade.
I’m not joking–can someone explain this to me, because I’m obviously missing something?
Joe
Don’t get me wrong, guys–I don’t mean to sound like a jerk or anything. The videos are fun, but when these things go viral, I get confused. The guy who spent hours/days/weeks creating that Enterprise thing in Minecraft deserves far more kudos than the guy with a game and a free video tool.
Well, here’s a few remarks:
1) The overall quality of the sequences he uses is high; he didn’t just mash a bunch of trailers he downloaded from YouTube together. Probably, he played through ME1 and ME2 with FRAPS running in the background, grabbing gameplay footage. Or, he found high-quality downloads of the various videos and cutscenes that contribute to this footage (he must have done so in some cases; there are some scenes in the Kaidan and Ashley sections that I do not recall being in the game, at all).
2) There is an art to editing, which this guy groks. It’s one thing to just cut a bunch of scenes together, but there is a right way and a wrong way to do that. The wrong way is to just cut at will, without taking into account things like cutting from motion to motion. The right way is to use techniques like that, and to align cuts and climactic moments within sequences to the soundtrack. The editor here does both, which lends an almost professional feel to the work.
3) The freeze-frames: yes, creating them is relatively easy, for guys like us who know how to do it. That doesn’t actually mean that his use of them is not worthy of note for its competence and style; they are well-chosen stills, the text is appropriate, and the colouring equally so.
4) The choice of soundtrack: excellent. Off-beat, for sure, but excellent even so.
So even though, yes, he’s not using original material, what is very evident by the work is that this isn’t some guy with a shiny new MacBook and a freshly-installed copy of iMovie. Not that he maybe couldn’t have used iMovie to make this…but whatever tools he did use, he is highly proficient in the use of.
At least, that’s what I notice about the video, the technical proficiency. I mean, I love Mass Effect and think it boasts an interesting and deep range of characters, but what really gets me about this video is that it has a very professional, polished quality to it that obviously tells of the skill of the guy who produced it.
It doesn’t win any awards for originality, but I’d let the guy edit a trailer for me any day of the week.
Although, I do quite agree about the Minecraft Enterprise guys. Who I have drawn attention to on the site here in the past, I hasten to point out.
Without stirring the pudding, here’s an excellent example of a/v editing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcLTaMpRl2o
Game over.
Not bad, not bad.
@wtf_dragon – Thanks for the feature and praise!
@joe – Since you were honestly interested in understanding the point/process of a fan tribute video, here are a couple of notes for your information (that may help you relate a bit more):
1. Sagequeen is not a “he” but a “she” (full disclosure: my wife)
2. This is her absolute _first_ video edit/project and she _became_ proficient in the process on her own.
3. The video was not so much an attempt to “go viral” as it was a labor of love of a very committed fan. You praise the minecraft guys for working “hours/days/weeks” on their project, but sage logged well over 40+ hours on that video, and that is not to mention the months of FRAPsing that allowed the project to even happen. If you haven’t played ME1/ME2 it is a highly varied game with many decision points. Rest assured that sage has been through a shockingly high percentage of the game material with her many replays.
4. This is an exhaustive tribute of _every_ playable squad-mate in the game, not just sage’s personal favorites. Her point in doing this was to share with some latecomers to the game how all of the squad-mates are cool and worthy (ME2 players never really get a sense of ME1 characters).
5. The music played is released under a Creative Commons (professorkliq.com, guns blazing) license. It is not just a “steal and use” scenario, it is a “collaboration encouraged” scenario and chosen due to the ambiance it gave to the project.
6. Part of the reason that it wasn’t just a “30 minute” mashup video is because of the time it takes to map the action and cuts to the rhythm and sections of the movement. Make no mistake. That was methodically and painstakingly intentional.
7. The “game play” video that she did get was necessary due to the lack of cinematic footage of some characters in ME1. She has learned some modding/hacking techniques to even get a direct-able, in-game camera in the first place. It is not perfect but is certainly deeper than “I FRAPSed my play-through”. The end video made use of 150+ individual, (and personally captured) cinematic clips that were then trimmed and spliced per character (which is not how they are in the cinematic)…and this is just the footage that that made it in.
8. I can see your point that a video of a video game is derivative, but it is clearly labeled as a “tribute”. It is not trying to pass itself off as a standalone “work”, and indeed credits _everyone_ involved. That said, if you compare the video to other tributes/fan vids (and even the game), you can see that it cuts a unique swath through the ME world. That effect is both something that “fits” in the world, and also is uniquely created by sage.
9. I will grant you that some works are less unique and more derivative, but is there any creative project that isn’t a bit derivative? Wouldn’t building a spacecraft replica of something _other_ than the Enterprise be less derivative? In that project, the “creativity” is actually just the re-imagining of an existing artistic design to a new 3-D media (minecraft). Not that I would knock that project…
10. I believe in the creative project. There is something sacred about making something that didn’t before exist. If you have seen the movie “Ratatouille”, then you will be familiar with the idea that the most humble creation is far more valuable that the most sophisticated criticism. Artistic creation is one of the few beautiful things in life.
So, to answer the question: Sage made the video:
A. As a tribute to a game that she loves
B. To share an idea with like-minded individuals
C. To learn how to edit and produce video
D. As an artistic, creative project that allowed self-expression
E. Because she wanted to
Consider this to be an honest and earnest response to your question. If you find yourself in a position to make a video game fan-vid that you believe in, post back here and I would be glad to check it out and appreciate your work.
With Regard, Bladeward
Hey Bladeward, thanks for stopping by…and for explaining in greater detail the efforts and pains your wife put in to making this video. I just watched it again…it’s still a treat!