On Your M-Arc - Video reviews

You use a blue and white title screen with white text. I'd argue you should wary about overlapping the white on white so that it's easier to read. Otherwise the pacing and camera work seems good.

The only possible gripe I can pull for the video is that it appears you used some of your footage twice. Seems to me a video like this is "words to listen to while I also show you some pretty pictures", so there should have therefore been different "pretty pictures" all through.

Otherwise, well done.

Little bit of an update, iTrials and lack of inspiration has been stifling me on this one. I want to make a "good" grindhouse style trailer, but not sure where to start. Here's most of the cut footage I have at the moment (video deleted). As well as some initial titles, still need music, and probably an over the top narration. Would like to find some good grindhouse style trailers, haven't found a whole lot on YouTube, not entirely sure what to search for.

Also, I'm looking to expand my videos to include AE Q&As, but I need some questions. They can be anything, from "what's your favorite arc" to "how do I do ____" to more silly/random questions. Please post questions here to help keep that thread alive to hopefully get some questions from non-AE people.

I didn't go in-depth, but searching YouTube for "cheesy horror film trailer" alone turned up 444 hits. Maybe looks for "70s horror film trailers" or (better yet) "Hammer horror film trailers" might garner you some good stuff - can't go wrong with Hammer films.

I'd post a question in your other thread, but I think I know most corners of the AE system, except maybe for putting GMs into a mish. :P

Drakule vs. The Werewolf Bikers from Hell is live! I may do one more editing pass on it, and I've considered adding voices to it, but I'm not sure. I'd love to hear opinions one way or the other.

It looks unfinished. It either needs a voice over or more of a dialog thread interspersed between the video shots. A lot of the shots "linger" and the whole thing could be tightened up.

I liked the film/grain effect on the open. To get the 'grindhouse' feel, I'd keep it throughout and add in some jump-cuts and film burn-thru's with a movie projecter sound effect.

Heh, you could even add a MST3K-esque silouhette to the bottom of it for more b-movie schlockiness!

Can't quite do all those kind of effects Backfire, but I did make another go at it. Updated version here. I'll keep them both up for now until I can possibly get some feedback from LaserJesus and see which one fits the best, or make any more slight adjustments.

The voice-over made a lot of difference.

Ha! These look cool.... I will first update my arc with the new steam punk pack adds... and then I am very curious how you would do on a horror story

But feel free to peek around... I will prob have the changes to teh mobs appearance done tomorrow.

Nice to have a reason to update again...

Well.. it was more work then I thought so not completely done yet :S

On Your M-Arc Q&A is now live! Check it out here and let me know what you think!

Also, if you like these videos and would like to show your appreciation, and possibly even help contribute to getting a better video editing suite (or a better quality microphone), you can send a donation through paypal. Just send it to my wife's e-mail Pufflenymph (at) hotmail.com. Thanks for watching!

You may want to check audio settings since around the middle, the music starts to drown out your voice. Also, your link to Hellguard's music seems broken/incorrect. Otherwise it was a nice visual guide. Off the top of my head, I think you should have actually showed the button for setting an objective to not be required. Taking into account that this is aimed at beginners, those outside AE regulars actually may not know where to look.

I'm considering deleting most of the older playthroughs of the arcs where I went on to do an official "On Your M-Arc" review. I now feel like they don't contribute much, and may somewhat dilute the views on the actual reviews. If anyone wants their playthrough to remain up, I will oblige - or if anyone has a good reason for me not to delete them.

Here's something for Wrong Number to hopefully cheer her up a bit during this time. Finally finished all of the trailers for the 2010 Player's Choice Awards with this one. I'm really happy with the way it turned out, though as always, I appreciate feedback and can always make changes. Next up is a trailer for Zamuel's Dhahabu series. I'm still available for reviews, so sign up anytime!

Hey Bubba! Just found your thread - Awesome stuff here, the effort you put in really shows. I'd be interested in seeing a video review of Storming Citadel if you fancy doing one. Arc ID 379488. It's the only one of my arcs not buggered by the Dev's AWFUL STUPID CRAPPY PROFANITY FILTER SYSTEM THAT NEEDS TO BE RECTIFIED AS SOON AS, ARE YOU LISTENING, AEON?

Eco.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow [The Incarnate System is] Jack Emmert all over again, only this time it's not "1 hero = 3 white minions" it's "1 hero = 3 white rocks."

What editing tools are you using? I've been using xFire, then into Windows Movie Maker..and then add some text via youtube after I upload it. Am interested in what others use, maybe something you pay for, more professional, etc.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SupaFreak Nah, there's no showing up of anyone. Some won't like my style, some will. I've seen every one of yours and I very much enjoy them so far. I'm looking to be inspired by other's ideas and maybe give something to spark imagination in others who make videos. Nothing more. You're doing great, and I hope you keep it up if you so choose to. The snowball starts at the top of the hill... not the bottom. PEACE!

Are you still looking for arcs to review? If so, I've just revamped two of mine, taking changes that made them unplayable into an opportunity to make them work. Arcs #372627 (Operation Oedipus: Glory of our Empire) and #505627 (Operation Oedipus - Day of Infamy). I'm after opinions on how to improve them, and I could certainly use the publicity.

Operation Oedipus a Malta-based story, meant to be run after the Crimson arcs, and it's meant to bring a conclusion to the fight against Malta. I play it at least as serious as Crimson, because this is a Malta arc, and anything else would be wrong. It's particularly long, increasingly global in scale, and soon goes from having grim undertones to just being outright grim. It's intended for Heroic types, but marked Vigilante because the sort of things that start happening could foreseeably upset people who want their heroes to work paladin-style. Both arcs are meant to be played together, but I've split it so that the first arc is a self-contained story if need be. As a warning, some of the missions are very long, all but a handful of the enemies are Malta, and I've gotten inventive with some of the fights and that makes some unusually difficult. I've not got a level-appropriate character that hasn't beaten them yet, but I have had to reduce the difficulty sometimes.

I'd particularly like an opinion on mission 3 of Day of Infamy. There's two distinct ways I could play it, and I'm not entirely sure which is better. I'd like your opinion on whether it's better as-is, if somewhat hammy, or if it'd feel more right if the map was almost completely empty so as to get across the desolate feel, at the risk of making the mission more or less devoid of gameplay purpose.

Thanks.

Thanks! I'll add them to my queue! Though uberschveinen, is there one out of the two arcs you would prefer to have reviewed? I'd rather let others have the chance to jump in rather than doing two in a row for one person.

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Originally Posted by DeathSentry What editing tools are you using? I've been using xFire, then into Windows Movie Maker..and then add some text via youtube after I upload it. Am interested in what others use, maybe something you pay for, more professional, etc.

I'm pretty sure this was directed as SupaFreak who has more editing tricks than I do. But I thought I'd answer as well, I use FRAPs and Windows Movie Maker.

Oh, I was asking more if you could do them as a single review, because they're meant to be one story. If that's not an option, Glory of our Empire would be better, since it actually functions as a standalone arc. I can only imagine someone doing Day of Infamy by itself is going to have absolutely no idea why things have gone from the canon standard to ATLAS PARK INVASION OH GOD NOW THERE'S NUCLEAR KOREANS AND IT'S ON FIRE AND DID I JUST BEAT UP ALL OF D17.

It's hard for me to tell how 'seperate' they can be in practise. For all I try to look at it objectively, I've spent so long trying to take something and make it the way I want to be that any attempt I make to look at it the way it actually reads is going to contain an irreducible element of seeing it the way it was meant to go.

I haven't given up yet. But I did move, and was without internet for about a week. And then when I got it back I was just in the mood to play and not make videos just yet. But now I'm ready to get back in the swing of things. I did some shooting today, though a lot of that may not come to light for a little while at least. I've got to postpone Zamuel's trailer due to the filter bug, and I'm working something out with the Blood Countess arc. I may do a short review for the short Storming Citadel next while I work out what exactly I want to do next. Hope to have something to show soon!

And this one came together very quickly, which makes sense for such a short arc, and one I'm already quite familiar with as I've already done a text review for it back when it was newly published.

On Your M-Arc #8 - Storming Citadel #379488 by @MrCaptainMan