A Guide To Making A Montage - Topic

Member

Posts: 22,659

Joined: Jul 30 2008

Gold: 9,925.00

Jul 10 2010 05:52pm

Ok. Since i have long lost the last thread, heres the updated version.
Im Posting this to try and Help people make a montage that is both enjoyable to watch, and also impressive.
This thread is also directed to a serious gameplay montage, disregard the majority of the Basics if you're making a Funtage
Ive worked with people to make montages that went up on big youtube Channels, and have done GFX For some other

Basics

A Call of Duty Montage is going to be the main point of this thread, but most of these points can be put to other games.
A Montage is a compilation of Highlights, or Clips consisting of, but not limited to the following.

Sniper Spree's (Multiple sniper kills, preferably Quick Scopes, and No scopes within quick succession Hardscopes can be used if the clip consists of 5+ kills in quick succession, or Collateral's)
Multi-Kill Gun sprays. (Preferably 4+ in very quick succession)
A Clutch in Search and Destroy, or an Ace (One person killing all opposing members)
Multi-kill with Predator Missile (Preferably 5+, but 4 is usable)
Random Throwing Knife Kill (Across Map)
Multi-kill with Semtex/Frag/C4/RPG (Stay away from Tubes, unless its 5+)
Capture Card
How to save your clips
Necessities for Clips
Editing and Music, The music should match your editing style, but ill get to that later.
GFX (Text, Intro, Outro)
Estimated Time of Completion from start to finish

The qualification of a clip is completely up to you, But from my experience the only montages i see that are put on big channels consist of this type of gameplay.

Capture Card
For the ones who are Serious, the HDPVR is a foolproof way to go -> http://www.amazon.com/Hauppauge-1212-Definition-Personal-Recorder/dp/B0018LX0DY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1278803634&sr=8-1
Its a simple capture card, that can be set up relatively easily once you know what you need. -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSLht14-vi0

Another option is the Black Magic Intensity Pro. Its alot more complicated, its actually a video card that you install into your computer -> http://www.amazon.com/Blackmagic-Design-Intensity-Editing-Express/dp/B001CN9GEA/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1278803634&sr=8-6

If your budget is a bit more limited, the Pinnacle Systems "Dazzle" is a cheaper way to record gameplay, but the quality of the video will suffer ->http://www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSite/us/Products/Consumer+Products/Dazzle/

Most Dazzle's can only record in Standard Definition. And im almost positive the HD PVR can only record HD Gameplay. So if you dont own an HDTV, but want to record HD, you will have to purchase an HDTV as well as a HDPVR or Black Magic Intensity Pro

Quality
A Huge part of a good montage is good quality of the clips.
Although it may take longer to render the video clip, it will be worth it.
-> Quality settings for the HDPVR: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJOL9ODRCS4
-> Quality Settings for the Dazzle DVC 10: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmw2VvqqLCw&annotation_id=annotation_704346&feature=iv#t=29s

Saving your Clips
The best way to Cut, and Save clips is to have a notepad next to you when you play. When you get a good clip, or want to watch something over just right down the time from the PVR, and come back to it later.
When Saving your clips, keep things Organized. Have a folder on your desktop Labeled however you want. Rename the cut and rendered clip to something descriptive. The Map, the details of the clip or what happened, and how long it is if you feel the need.
When its time to edit, it will be easy to find, or when you need to send it off to be compiled and edited it will make things much smoother.

Editing
*Important* Editing takes a while to learn, its not something that can be picked up quick, and look like a "Big Name Montage"
If you are unfamiliar with editing programs, I suggest Sony Vegas Pro 9. If you look hard enough, you can find it, but be careful i do not condone pirating or stealing of software. If you are made of money, it will cost about $600.00 - http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/vegaspro

Search Google and Youtube for tutorials on how to edit in a montage style - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4oNCq6r-xo

If you cannot find the time, or effort to put into editing, you can find an editor. Some big name editors will not edit for a small timer, no matter the quality of the clips. Why i dont know, but again, if you look hard enough you can find someone to edit for you. The bad part about this, is communicating what you want it to look like or the effects to someone else, will never be how you imagined it.

Some key things to think about in editing

Syncing the Shot or event with the beat or climax of the song
Color Correction
Lighting
Graphics and Typography
smooth transitions (Again depending on the music choice and your preferences)
Not Over Doing it
Communication with your editor, Ask to see a small preview and talk about how the project is going, if he needs more clips or not etc.
Aspect Ratio ->http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztb0MgGAi04

All of the above have tutorials, just search google or youtube.
[*]Music choice (Depending on your editing style, or what kind of editing you're looking into. Music choice can make or break a montage. Screaming death metal usually isnt a good choice for it. Also stay away from overused songs. Its pretty much your own choice, just a suggestion

How long should you record?
A good montage in my book is atleast 5 minutes long. Some epic projects go up to 10, but most often times those are community montages consisting of 5 or more players submitting clips
You should record every game that you play, write down the time if you get a clip, or if something crazy happens. If nothing happens that game, into the trash bin that recording goes.
Most montages from highly skilled players, can take weeks to complete recording, sometimes more.
Record until you (and/or your editor) are comfortable with the amount of Clips, again communication is key with your editor if you have one.

How long does editing take?
My friend, who was a pretty good editor made several previews (about 1 minute long) in 1-2 days each
Some big projects can take weeks or even months to finish. But that is up to the editor to work on it diligently

Submit your montage to a channel on youtube, Might get it featured on there page

Post it here on Jsp if you want some CNC. If you followed this guide you should have no need for cnc

[URL]http://www.youtube.com/user/TopNotchMultimedia
[/URL]http://www.youtube.com/user/PS3Comedy++
Two youtube channels that have some extremely good montages

If you feel that i missed anything please feel free to post it. But id like to keep this topic to a minimal spam

This post was edited by Wound on Jul 10 2010 06:10pm