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Been working on familiarizing myself with the video editor. And as such I made a first project for myself, a tutorial really. And would appreciate some feedback. It is very bare bones with the only difference between it and gameplay being the camera, but for now that is all we’re getting from me. So, some constructive feedback please?
________SPOILER ALERT________
First video is always the hardest one. Good job. Almost 4 minute clip, there is a plot and some nice editing. I can see you put a lot of effort in making this. I only disliked the focus on dead bodies but hey, this is GTA after all.
I wanted to start of by advising to add some music, which you already did. You could try to sync the moment when the bullets start flying with the moment the music switches to the more enirgetic part (2:40 in your second video). The ending was a lot better to. I never did any (pro)video editing myself, so i guess you just got to experiment with some different things and find what works for you!
Constructive criticism :
Too many camera rotations (better to favor the fixed camera that follows the movement
The camera that passes through the car is to review.
It lacks flexibility in some transitions between certain camera movements during the sequence shots
The rest is entirely in the mind of your character 😀(Sorry I realise this is slightly necro-posting but only just came back to gta and you know how much I like the vids!)
Awesome job bud 🙂 Takes a while learning the editor, especially getting to understand how those spectacularly ANNOYING blends work! There’s a few tricks to doing them sequentially to make them link together without losing tracking or making them feel artifically jerky, so if you’re still making vids, be happy to chat!
As you mentioned, takes a while to get the hang of stuff but once you’re feeling more used to it, I’d definitely recommend having a play with the other tools in the editor:
Depth of field – is bloody awesome, I used to use it way too much simply because of how good it was, but it really makes everything stop feeling like a game – just by shifting the depth of field, you can tell the viewer a bit of a “story” without having to move the camera at all.
Effects – are normally massively overused and I’ve been guilty too! But less is more, you can get some super filmic effects if you apply a filter, but generally tweak down the intensity and saturation (depending on what you’re doing ofc!)
Vibration – takes a bit of fiddling to get used to, again less is more imo, but it adds a lot especially to dynamic stuff I think? The weird thing is if you do it right, people won’t even notice it because it seems so “natural” – a quick shudder of a static ground cam as a car goes past, gentle vibration from an in-car cam etc – but it’s just another thing that makes stuff feel “real”.
Biggest thing is you’ve obviously got artistic sense (christ that sounds patronising, sorry its not meant like that!) – I loved the bit in the 2nd cut around 2:38 I think it was? The whole build-up-snap-snap-snap thing 😀 Syncing time is a bit of a pain in the butt and the limited transitions in the game editor are a bit of an arse so if you can be bothered, it might be worth looking at 3rd party video editors? I normally setup and record the scene in the game editor, export it, then cut it and put any additional audio on in a freebie 3rd party multichannel editor.
Anyhow, my (belated) two cents, great work bud! Look forward to seeing more stuff!
Another year another video trial! I like to think I have improved a lot, very very happy with the long takes in the alley.
Wow. That’s pretty amazing, and a huge leap forward!
In terms of editing, you’re clearly at a level where you’re starting to get constrained too much by the rockstar video editor. In particular, the editor doesn’t support transitions beyond simple cuts. I use blender’s video sequence editor to edit material (a bit of a learning curve but it’s open source and completely free): https://www.blender.org/
There’s various places where some sort of a blend transition would work better, for instance at the time when you introduce the cops. You’re changing location quite far, so a simple direct cut is not the best way to indicate that you change location. Actually you’re using a sort of match cut, where there’s no content to the match. A match cut is very powerful, it’s good to use them (sparingly) but if you do, use them well.
There’s also some places where I’d try to cut better on the action. A good one is right at the start, maybe the red light could have been emphasized and then when it flicks to green, you can move back to focus on the moving car. E.g. car arriving at light and breaks. Cut to traffic light. When traffic light switches to green, cut back to starting car. Basically, cut on action is the main rule of the continuity editing. Our brains are used to this.
There’s also what you show in each cut which you can think a bit more about. For example, the way you delay the following of the protagonist’s car along the road in the few seconds after, I’m not sure why you introduce the car that’s following it? Doesn’t really needs to be shown. And the moving back and forth is a bit confusing.
During the chase, there are also some continuity problems, where I can only understand the geometry because I know the layout of the city very well. Maybe your audience will be forgiving. Best ask someone who doesn’t know the city to see if you should move the camera a bit differently. Here again I think you should think about cutting more on the action, rather than “the car moved out of my frame so I need to change the camera”. Some shaking on the camera can enhance the feeling of the chase.
Story is good. I especially like the ending. The phone conversation is cut short which is something I’d address. Perhaps I would introduce the protagonist earlier and more clearly link it with the car. Maybe show her getting out of the car with a gun before the action starts? I got it immediately, but still. In a continuity edit that’s the sort of thing you would think about. Or maybe you want to keep the mystery for a bit. 🙂 That’s fine too.
Also occasionally the 180 degree rule is violated. It’s not that you always have to stick to it, but if you violate it, think carefully. It creates some visual confusion with the viewer. A simple example again is your final shot. We see the protagonist from the left, then from the right, for apparently no reason. It feels out of place. I also didn’t get why the cut is necessary. Generally, I’d try not to cross the line of vision (unless you intentionally want to create that effect, and of course this happens).
Finally, there’s places here and there where, in my view, you can cut some material out to improve the flow without taking much away from the story. We don’t need to see the entire trajectory of everything. Your audience is very good at filling in the gaps.
Anyway, these are just some things to take away and think about. Obviously you should realize your vision for your project. Regardless of all the comments, I should say, this is really excellent work. You’re on your way to become the next Spielberg. 🙂
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