Jump to content
XCOMUFO & Xenocide

* The Long Awaited Film


dipstick

Recommended Posts

Yep, after a two week sabbatical I have returned, bearing gifts. I may not have done any CTD stuff (sorry Breunor :rolleyes: ) but I have produced a mediocre film-type thing. I have utilised one of my eJay pieces for it as well as only using Windows Movie Maker - I am sure the art dept can make immeasurably superior things, but I enjoyed making it.


I have already noticed quite a few discrepancies - such as it being too fast in places, but it will have to do for now.

Because it won't let me upload, you will have to replace the _ with 'v'
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don't worry Dipstick, we haven't changed the locks while you were gone. :D I liked the swirling green of the text, but for the longer text entries the text didn't appear soon enough to read as you noticed. Due to the constant input of the project members, it's hard to keep something like that up to date unfortunately. It's a good effort though, is it possible/easy to update particular images or slides?
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey I only used what I had.

Well it is easy to change slides, the last one is one that I would change. It is also easy(ish) I think to alter the text. So that shouldn't be a problem. Edited by dipstick
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Drop the XCOM stands for... say X-Corps instead..

And idea, instead of using the Cloack, use the Viper and you may ask fidel to give you some live shots of its animation too..

Greetings
Red Knight
Link to comment
Share on other sites

41 downloads! I am impressed. I will update it as soon as I can - but I do have an exam soon as well as a great deal of other work, so it may be a couple of weeks.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Weeell let me look again at the music. I did sort of just click on a random piece and thought that it would do.

The date I thought was the hoped time of release of v1, but I could have been wrong. Sorry.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
whoa, I've only been gone a month and so much has happened!! :D

That video is fantastic. It's nice that its small enough to post widely and be downloaded easily. Great job!

A couple of points I would make though:

1. The music at the start does seem a little out of touch, something dark and moody would be quite good, with some deeper sounds and maybe a bit more of a bass line.

2. The text towards the end is quite fast, since you are looking at the picture behind and by the time you focus on it it has gone. Perhaps less is more? By including some shadowy references to Xcom and Aliens, the people in the know will be captivated by this new Xcom game, and the people who've never heard of the series will be intrigued. (I assume that the point of the game is to bring them to the website?)

3. A really nice effect I saw on the EVE:Online video was at the end when they were showing sceens. The camera cuts slowly speeded up and got faster and faster to almost a blur and then, at the end ....wham! There was the final screen and the title! The video could do that (if you're up for it) and it would be a great opportunity

Feel free to comment on any of these....
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, all I can say is, I have a free day monday - day off school, so I think I know what my day will be booked with.

@Magicandy:

1) The music, as I said was just a random piece, I probably will change it. At the moment I am desperately trying to find all the pieces that I have created over the years - several formats of various hard drives and slapdash backups have left me in a precarious position.

2) I know about this, while I was making it, it seemed a lot slower, maybe I flipped the wrong switch.

3) That was the general idea at first, I started with my original slide show ages ago, and that speeded up visibly, maybe I will make the next one up to that fast.

4) Relates to the point above, and your first comments. This film was made by Movie Maker 2, so I am surprised quite a few people like it, including you. The effects on the first few pictures were done by said program.

@ everyone

looks like v2 will be incoming soon. I will change the entire thing, although I shall most likely use the same/similar text and source material. I will probably add more to have enough to speed it up. Don't know what the filesize will be though.

finally, if there is any new work that has been done in the meantime, which is final/good/colourful or all of the above, I will be available on the weekend to download. I can use movies and stills, so anything goes. Just make sure it is in a (relatively) standard format please :D
Link to comment
Share on other sites

any of the xenocide backgrounds I made can be used up on the main page. I'm sure any of Crix's concepting for the aliens can work as well.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I now have access to a fast connection, but I forgot the damned flash drive. I hate my memory (or lack of..) Let me try next weekend; btw, I actually have TWO more films to upload. I could try via modem, but that could take a LONG time, let me see...
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
HERE WE ARE!!!

Finally, here are the sequels to the above film. All three (2 new) films are done in completely different styles, and the final film contains a different sound track. I have tried to keep the sizes small, and 4mb each is about all I can squeeze. I do have the original 10mb file which is much better. They are viewed best when maximised in Windows Media Player - the quality is quite pleasant. :rolleyes: Edited by dipstick
Link to comment
Share on other sites

looks cool. The only thing i could really question is what pictures you use. Some of those crafts arn't ours, but were some we took inspiration of. And some of the text is hard to see as its green...you could try with some other-colored edges?

looks good. The music could be one of those thay the music department made.

I'd go with the 2nd one, it seems better, especially with the text, the odd way it comes to the screen. And the first ufo pics were just incredible.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

version three was much better. Biggest problem with it is that green text. we really need to relagate the scrolling text to only dark backgrounds to keep it readable or try adding a 1-2pt black stroke to the text so that it stands out on lighter backgrounds. As mikker said, some of those images weren't our or are very old versions of some of the assets. If it helps, consult the art department before you use and image so we can make sure we don't rip off other sites or violate copyrights. Edited by Vaaish
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Copyrights, copyrights!!!


Point taken, I just used whatever I found in the huge mass of things that I scrounged of Micah. If you look closely you will see a distinct pattern of the same pictures on all the versions, that is because out of the huge mass I selected quite a few 'good' ones. I personally prefer the third one too. :D

I used green text because it is our colour, but I will look at altering it for visibility - all well and good being green, but if you can't read it! :D
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Third one is best, I agree with mikker about the music though. It should be something from our music department. And about the pictures too, some of them are really old.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mhh the latest is not as good as one of the first ones... seriously you should go back to something more on the line of the first ones... with better pics only.

BTW the models from Kenny Axeman Mitchell had not been used... except the art department leaders say me the opposite.

Greetings
Red Knight
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry old chap but these two aren't as good as the first one you posted.

Some things you need to be careful of though is not to use stuff that we're not using. IE that picture of the guy's head from the front and side. I don't know where that's from but it isn't xenocide. As RK says Kenny Axeman's stuff isn't being used other than one of them, the vtol craft (and thats been changed too).

Also I'd avoid using unskinned models in the movie, it doesn't do it any justice. Finally it would be best as others have said to use xenocide music, or upload the movie with no music so one of the music members can write something for it specifically.

Though I like the 'amiga' style music you have on there it doesn't fit the right mood we're trying to portray with xenocide.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

One thing I've learned during my days in filming (and post-production) is that any text must be visible long enough so you can read them three times. This avoids people concentrating too much on the words so they can still see what is happening.

Maybe you will want to speed the texts up when the pictures come in faster, but in the beginning it makes no sense.

I agree that the unskinned models don't measure up to the beauty they could be - I especially noticed when you showed the tank (with textures) having a turret without textures.

So... basically: good work but it needs a tweak here and there. :D
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Amiga styles!!! AMIGA STYLES!! WHy I ought'a! :cussing:

Ok then, I think I will leave the music to the music dept. What I will do is pester the art dept on which pictures I can use. Is there an art asset list in the same style as the CTD one? If there is, then that would be perfect for this kind of thing.

When I am on here on a weekend, I will also see about downloading all the music depts efforts. Is there an asset list for that too? Sorry about all the questions, but these asset lists would help immensely.

@Fabguy, that is interesting to know about the text being read 3 times. I will keep that in mind. For some reason the text speeds up/slows down of its own accord sometimes.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not sure about the text being needed to be read three times, but IMO, I think you should summarise the running starwars style text into short snippets, so people have more time to look at the pics..?
You know, like a few sentences at the bottom corner of the screen?
thats in my opinion though, I might not be right..:)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are several soundtracks available off the web viewer, just go to [url="http://www.projectxenocide.com/artassets/viewer/audio/"]http://www.projectxenocide.com/artassets/viewer/audio/[/url] and you can download them from there in mp3 format.

I concur with not using wip models, browse through some of the threads in the Images forum, starting at the back to find the latest and greatest. We haven't updated the completed designs thread in a while, but there is some progress within those threads. Is it possible to make a shot where you have 3 parts, like one half the screen and then the other half split in half again? Then in those spots where you have the quick changes to match the music, you could just fill in each cell. Sort of like a comic book cell layout, with inserts I guess. That would help slow down the image presentation.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, funny you should mention that, I have just done that with a movie I did of my school :D

I did it by making jpgs from Publisher of each frame. It works fine :D
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It that case, thank you :D

In fact, I have just looked at a freebie from the News of the World, a compilation of goals - and from the sound of it I think they use eJay, or something VERY similar on that - the sounds were almost identical. (just defending it as a last stand)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
hi, i';ve only seen the 1st one, but it looked cool :)
one thing which i dont know if it was just my pc or not, but the last 2 green text displayed only seemed to appear on screen for about 1 second, and i couldnt read them in time.


my sound cards locked-up, so i need to reboot before i can see the other two - LOL :D
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 9 months later...
Guest Azrael

*casts Resurrection on dead thread*

Just wanted to point this thread to those who don't know it, like myself until last night, check the movies, they are good, especially the first one, needs some tweaks, but they are good, and dipstick said he'd do a new one with updated pics and things :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would indeed be willing to do another one - but at least I will use music from the sound dept, and art that is actually current :blush1:
Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...