My First Real Dogfight

[Rustyduktape]

Finally started to record my IL2 gameplay, and caught this pretty good clip yesterday! I'd love to hear what you guys think. Open to all criticism on both my piloting as well as what would help to make a more entertaining video. Thanks for checking it out! 

 

[unreasonable]

I will not comment on piloting except to say that you should ignore 99% of what you are told, watch the film yourself, identify a small number of obvious errors (say 3) and make an effort not to repeat them next time you fly. Do the same thing each flight and you will gradually eliminate the worst parts of your flying which will itself add to your ability to survive. Then you can start worrying about more sophisticated tactics and so on.

 

On the filming: welcome to the film making world. Be careful - it can be as addictive as the actual game and absurdly satisfying!  

 

Thoughts - constructive I hope -  on your film:

 

There is a reason why most popular music comes in songs averaging about 3 1/2 minutes long.  I expect a number of people might have clicked on your film, seen that it was 16+ minutes long   and then stopped it and did something else.  Edit, edit and edit. And then edit again.  Do not be afraid that editing is somehow "dumbing down": it is rather respecting that your audience have other things to do! Once people trust that they are likely to enjoy your films you can make them longer if you want.

 

I like in principle the idea of an introduction to give a narrative base to the film: these things work best as a story.  But the text is far too long: I could not read it all before the film moved on, even if I had wanted to, which I did not.....    Edit and edit again - you can use subtitles to put parts of the story as overlay during the film too, so less "wall of text" needed. Text in bite size pieces please - show, do not tell.

 

I bet you could take that film, edit it down to under 4 minutes with a few added text subtitles and you would have a superior product.

 

Next steps in your film hobby - should you chose to accept them  - are using external views and then music. You will need to use tracks to capture external views rather than only recording using screen capture, but it is worth the effort since looking at the cockpit view all the time can get a bit boring for the casual viewer.

[Rustyduktape]

I will not comment on piloting except to say that you should ignore 99% of what you are told, watch the film yourself, identify a small number of obvious errors (say 3) and make an effort not to repeat them next time you fly. Do the same thing each flight and you will gradually eliminate the worst parts of your flying which will itself add to your ability to survive. Then you can start worrying about more sophisticated tactics and so on.

 

On the filming: welcome to the film making world. Be careful - it can be as addictive as the actual game and absurdly satisfying!  

 

Thoughts - constructive I hope -  on your film:

 

There is a reason why most popular music comes in songs averaging about 3 1/2 minutes long.  I expect a number of people might have clicked on your film, seen that it was 16+ minutes long   and then stopped it and did something else.  Edit, edit and edit. And then edit again.  Do not be afraid that editing is somehow "dumbing down": it is rather respecting that your audience have other things to do! Once people trust that they are likely to enjoy your films you can make them longer if you want.

 

I like in principle the idea of an introduction to give a narrative base to the film: these things work best as a story.  But the text is far too long: I could not read it all before the film moved on, even if I had wanted to, which I did not.....    Edit and edit again - you can use subtitles to put parts of the story as overlay during the film too, so less "wall of text" needed. Text in bite size pieces please - show, do not tell.

 

I bet you could take that film, edit it down to under 4 minutes with a few added text subtitles and you would have a superior product.

 

Next steps in your film hobby - should you chose to accept them  - are using external views and then music. You will need to use tracks to capture external views rather than only recording using screen capture, but it is worth the effort since looking at the cockpit view all the time can get a bit boring for the casual viewer.

 

 

Thank you very much! Yeah I've started to record everything and find myself wanting to do more and more of this, haha. I guess you're right about it being addicting! I'll definitely take your advice, that all makes sense, and I'll definitely be thinking of those things as I start to put more effort into some content. I want to run with the idea of creating a story around the video like I tried in this one. I think it could be more entertaining to immerse a viewer in a visual story, try to make it a little more dramatic (and shorter ). Anyways, thanks again for the advice, I appreciate it!