production

Production


how it went

Filming was very stressful and it didn't go well for awhile, the cameras were already set up when we got there as springboard left them up for me after filming earlier in the day. After that  moved the cameras around to where i had planned for them to go from my research and planning. I set them up so they were higher than the monitor, this made it look like the cameras were looking down at the people on camera but it made it so you couldnt see the monitor they were plaing off making it look more professtional. I also made sure that the cameras wer placed where you could only see the collar of the player up so they didn't take up much of the screen making it so in the edit they don't take up too much of the screen where i had planned to put them. We got out the xbox's and the tables, set up the chairs so they fit where they would be in the camera view perfectly. I made sure that none of the outside of the set was visible on camera, this ment moving cameras and the green screen more. When springboard came back in to help we had to set up all of the equipment then set up where it would be recorded to, the normal place where they save the videos wasn't working because it had to be in such a strange input from the xbox because the black magic things wouldnt accept the xbox for ages and it seemed for a couple of minuets that i couldnt live edit it at all but luckily we sorted it and that worked and everything just got saved to a computer. When we wired up the tv's and xbox's we found out that they couldnt connect to the internet without being plugged in to the wall so we had to find wires and move around things, we figured out eventually how to do it, We placed one  xbox on a table and that was plugged in near the door then the other one was half way accross the studio on a chair with a really long hdmi lead getting it to the tv, it was attached by ethernet in the sound booth.

The recording went okay after that but as that had taken two hours to sort out we had a lot less time than expected and two people had to go home erlier than the rest, i figured we would still be able to record both games but have two less people on the last game. Then we started the filming, alex and locren went it went really well and really smooth, i spent the whole time doing the live edit and caitlin was on sound for me. with three people each on a camera, through the game the camera operators were talking and the players could hear it so that wasn't so good. Other than some minor issues the games went really well, we had some issues like the timer not going off and changing to the wrong map but it went really well and im very happy with it. The main issue is how long it took, by the time we had finished it was very late and we didn't have time to record the second game that i had planned and made a map for so i am very annoyed at that but at least i know to be faster next time to be able to do everything i planned.

Live editing this was really good and helepd me quiet a lot, i really enjoy using the black magic's and editing using it all so i was really happy when i found out i could use them. When i found out i could edit using them i realised i couldnt edit it how i wanted or use the graphics i had made so i had to figure out how to do it all and how i was goingto changeit but i remebred in my reaseach i saw a photo of someone how was playing a game and instead of a graphic the player was in they were just greenscreened in to the corner and i thought it was really clever so i moved the cameras so the people didn't take up much of the screen and used the key to sort out the green screen where i placed the game feed so it looked like they were infront of the game and you could easily see both. When editing i used the board and changed from camera angles so you could go from both players to one and switch between the cameras, i did also try it without having the people on the screen but i decided it looked at lot better with them on screen.


Before playing i had to chose all of the settings we were playing on and what map they would be on and i even made a map for hide and seek although it was unused but i made two different attempts.


Hide and seek

Settings

This is the weapons and damage for the seekers. they could give damage but they could only kill with a sword, they get no grenade but they were allowed the armour ability sprint so they could run somewhat. This was so it was harder for the seekers to get the hiders giving them a minuet to try escape like you couldn't from a gun but not to easy to run away as they will be able to run.

I set up the infection options which are the seekers so there are two of them to begin with and i sorted out all of the points and what makes you a zombie so it is okay for new comers to the game. i made it so if you accidentally die you don't turn and if someone in your own team tries to kill you it doesn't matter i also made it so all kills got one point and being last man standing gets 2 points.

I kept the shields and health how it normally is mostly, i made it so theirs no extra over shields and it all regenerated normally so it was fair and wasn't too hard to kill people.

I made the apprentice of the player as black so they would blend in when running around and might not be spotted as easily so giving them more options on how to hide.

I made the movement so everyone is slight faster so they can run through open land faster making them harder to find.

For the players wepons and damage i set them to have a gun that wont be obvious if accidenly fired but i also set it so they set no damage and can not kill the zombies or hurt them at all making the game that be harder and more interesting.

In this game there is normally a small rador that will show anyone that moves in a certain radius, i turned that off so people could sneak around easier and hide without that high of a chance of being found.

I made the zombies appearance to look like zombies which is just a dark green and is hard to distinguish from the black of the other characters and therefore it will be hard to see who you saw moving when their running around but you can still see a difference when they get closer.

I made the game have an unlimited score but a time limit of 15 minuets. this was so the zombies could kill as many people as they could or someone would have to hide and avoid being killed being killed for 15 mins to win.

Map 1 

I made a map for hide and seek and got some of my taregt audience to play it and asked them what they thought but unfotunatly it didn't seem to interest them much i was told it was too open and a bit everywhere also that the hiding places were obvious. But this is how i made the first one. 

This is what the area looked like before i added the map. 

The first thing i did was add walls to make an area that couldn't be escaped but was big enough to play in and almost loose each other. 

I added pre made bulidngs around the area then made a rock corner for hiding in, i also made the ground different levels to confuse people or to help when evading death. 

After i used all of the bulidings i could i made some of my own using plain 5x5 flat blocks and moving them around, after this i added small path ways. 

Some of the bulidngs were very open and easy to see in like this 3 story tower so i added walls around then and covered the windows and some doors for different buildings. 

Map 2

The second map i made i had some help with and i had all my feedback from the old one so i knew what to add and how to make a great map. This is how i made it. 

This was the area before the map was created. 

This is what it looked like after about 15 minuets, i had added some rocks around the area to make small hiding places and added a couple buildings in different places around the map. 

After this i added more buildings and some walk ways with obvious and secret places to hide while having them spead out but close, we carefully placed every buildings so you could run between them and no one from the other side of the map or even near you would notice. 

We added extra blocks and rocks around the place so there are lots and lotsof blind spots and you can barely see whats around you let alone accross the map. We also added some protection to buildings but not as much as before as i got told there needed to be more ways to esacpe from buildings so we only covered a wall or two.

I am really happy with this map and i feel like it would have looked really good and been really fun to play with, i made it so the zombies spawn in a block on another island and after 30 seconds they are allowed to run in to the game where as the players spawn in a big buildings in the middle so they can have 30 seconds to run and hide before the zombies come out.

Tournament

For the settings of the tournument i forgot to take photos but i didn't change much, all i did for those settings is chose the guns. Energy swords and DMR's these esact wepons were chosen for a reason.
DMR
im my reserch most of the MLG's i looked at used dmr's they are good at medium to far range making them really clever and easy to use and giving everyone equal opportunity but they are not good up close. They are also good as they have a scope and they are easy to use to kill anyone even if your only new to the game but the downside is every time you get shot they un-scope and it takes a second to sort it out again.
Energy sword
These weapons are really clever, being a fun play on the lightsaber they are really liked but this isn't why i chose them. They are a really simple weapon easy for anyone to use and they are really good for close up which is what the dmr cant do so something needs to, it also makes the player be closer and fight more face to face than across the map. There are two ways to use the sword and if you hit another person with one you could kill them in one shot or close to but also if you clash with their sword it will damage you both but wont kill you.

I also added a time limit of 10 mins as i thought 5 mins would be too short but 15 was way to long however not many battles go close to 10 and one ran over when the limit wasnt set. I also made it so the amount of points to win was 10 so someone had to die 10 times until the other one wins.





 Post production

My post production went about as rocky as my production. it all started well untill i started on my opening sequence. i started editing and cut togther my main show by removing the start and end of each clip adding a fade to black transition and put them all togther, this was 54 minuets long. then i started on my opening sequence. i had a really goo plan to make this.
First i found the quote i wanted from each person then their screenshot. when i screen shot it i moved it to photoshop and added some graphics coming out of the person. to do this i used the polyshap selector and made a shape that was simmlar to some i had seen in my reserch. After i made them i added my quote the persons name. i couldn't add the names for awhile as the computers hardly took my font but eventually i got that sorted and chose a good font for the rest. I keep all of these layers separate. i sorted out the photo then, to have the graphics behind the person i copied the person on to a top layer then to make them stand out i blurred the background layer. I planned to edit this to that the text could move and fade in to the graphics but when i tried it i just made the text move along under the person so i figured out back on photo shop that if i selected a square that would be where the text would be before fading in then copied it and out it above the text it made it invisible and i was able to make the text move.




While doing my post prediction i made a lot of screen recordings so i will describe beside them now whats happening in them and what technical things i used. below the recordings are what i didn't record and what i did to build my final product.

screen recordings

At the start of this screen recording I quickly showed the screenshot I had taken on the photo tool attached to premier pro and added to the video so it seamlessly fit in. Then I showed on Photoshop how I was making my graphics for my opening sequence, this is the first one I was making so you can see in this video me figuring out the best way to make it properly. 

First I copied Alex off the screen and made him on his own layer then I tried to add a blue and made the background green instead. Finally I was able to use the Gaussian blur to make the background blurry and Alex stand out, I went through how much I wanted it to be blurry and decided to made it so you can still easily see the background but it is also blurry enough for Alex to stand out. 

After this I used the polygon tool to create my graphics, inspired by ones I have seen from my research on major league gaming. It took me a couple attempts to make it perfect from what I wanted. After I created the shape I filled it in purple so it created a layer, after this I used the gradient tool to make it blue to fit my theme, I used a gradient so the graphic looked slightly less 2D and made it look more professional. 

I then recreated this step but with some other graphics to fit the text, I made this purple to fit the theme I have chosen from my research. 

I added text to the graphics next, I used the halo font for the name on the text although I did think about using the halo font for the quote but it looked a little strange and hard to read so I changed it but I went through a few different ones for the quote but before I added the quote I had to go though and find one so I watched the video again and tried to find something good to listen to. You can also see on the recording me using the audio hardware to make sure my headphones were the output of premier pro.  

Next I put the photos in to premier pro and made it so it all saved as individual layers, after this I added the parts layer by layer building it up so the parts could move and the text could roll in. 

Next I used the key frames and changed the position so it moved from left to right but you could see the text before it moved to the position I wanted to end in so I figured out a way around this, I noticed I couldn’t see the text when it went under Alex so I figured out if I copied a square of the bottom layer and put it over the text you wouldn’t be able to see it until it went in to the position  I wanted it in, once I had finished I exported it back to premier pro and added it again. 

Now I was able to move the text and it look good I set the name and quote to fade on from the left but I realised it looked a little strange then both coming in at the same time so I staggered the fade in time and made it so the quote came in after the title.

That was how I figured out how to make the graphics for me opening sequence and I’m really happy for how it worked out it looks exactly how I wanted it. 

This screen recording shows the trouble I had that made me work so late, it’s the reason I am so behind now. 

My graphics for my opening sequence stopped working, I still have no idea what happened or how it happened.

You can see in this screen recording that each layer I saved had messed up somehow, it went from a layer being just text to having a background and some graphic and whatever else decided to attach itself to this layer. You can see that I tried to hide some layers and I went over to a graphic that was working to see what was different. 

The thing that was worse about these is the same graphics with tom in are all over my other graphics, they still include the other people but also tom and other things. 

This recording went on for awhile as I tried different things to try fix it. 

First I tried re saving the photos and trying again but as they were inputted in to premier pro they messed up again. 

I then tried to save each layer as an individual psd and export them back in to premier pro. 

As I was doing this I realised my bins were all messed up so I sorted them out and organised my premier pro I spent ages to put everything in different bins, each person had a bin and the footage had one, I made it all fit and well organised. 

After that I added the individual layers of a graphic to see if it would work. 

But again it failed and messed up and I don’t know why but it didn’t work and why tom was still all over it. 

You can see in this video that I went through photoshop looking at each layer and showing how they all look then I clicked on them all in premier pro and they’ve all messed up. 

I keep trying to re save it or import it different and everything wasn’t working. 

After awhile my premier pro crashed and I lost all of my bins and everything I had done for about an hour and when I re-opened it the photos still weren’t working. 

This screen recording shows me making my opening photo for my sequence. 

First I downloaded a load of photos of things from halo.

I started by dragging in a graphic and removing the background but I did this by selecting the background then investing my select and copying and pasting the layer over it as the original layer was in a strange format. Then I used tools to make the layer small. 

I repeated this with some other graphics. Once I had three things I copied decided to add some shadows although I have never done this before.

I started by copying a layer of a skirmish, I moved it around to try make it all work but I couldn’t make it look right, I tried to rotate it, use the warp tool then the prospective tool, and finally figured out how to make it look how I wanted, I remembered the angle I had changed it so the others would be the same. I then made the layer black and lowered the opacity so it looked more like a shadow.  

I repeated this step with the other layers, moved around the layers so it all looked professional and how I had imagined it.  

I then did the same on the other side of the graphic with the Spartans but I reversed the shadows. 

After I finished places the people I then changed the background to black so I could find any bits of background that I missed when removing it. 

In this video I made the background for the graphics. 

To do this I picked a halo background and decided to add a spaceship to it and an explosion in between the alien and Spartans. 

I found a photo with a ship and the lasers coming out of it making an explosion and thought I’d add it in the background of the photo but I realised it didn’t look right. 

I made a laser to go with the ship and make the explosion, to do this I made a line and changed the outer glow so it looked the same as the other lasers from the other photo. Then I took the ship and pasted on to a new layer and made the laser look like it was coming from it. Then from a third photo I took the explosion made by the ships and put it on a new layer and made it fit with the other background. I matched it where the laser was to the one I made. 

The I used different tools to make it mix in with the background but I went back on it then tried some other things like the burn tool that made the red really dark, after this I used the blur tool to blur some bits. I had to rasterize the background layer so it would mix with the new layer better and make it look professional. 

After this I noticed the explosion in the middle didn’t have much colour so I copied the coloured bit and put it in the middles and used the smudge tool to make it look like fire and lava and to make it fit. 

After this I tried to make the laser look better or add another one. 

I made a new laser that was slightly thicker so it stood out more and I tried to make it more blurred but it just made it wider or softer but I couldn’t figure out how. 

After this I added the title but I didn’t have my font on the computer I was on. 

I added the text made it black then copied it made another layer of it and moved that one slightly above and to the left of the text then added a Gaussian blur to make a shadow on it then I made the title red again and saved it. I tried to add the font I wanted but I couldn’t. 

This is my final i might make another edit for you to watch thats shorter if i have time.