Movie making tutorial #1: How to make a dogfight movie

**2012 EDIT: This was written in early 2007, so some of the things explained here works differently in our current DCS versions**

Hi guys. This text is from my other thread "after effects test clips", and thought that others might benefit from this info, especially if you're interested in making your own movies :)

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Oh and the "secret" to movie making? Well...

First of all....

Think about "what kind of movie do i want to create?".

Next, find a good music track (or more) and imagine scenes while listening to it. Just picture something in your head as you're listening to the music.

Once you've found something you like, fire up lockon while fraps is loaded (i actually recommend fraps over the in-game .AVI tool if your pc is strong enough).

Start LOMAC.

Go in the mission editor.

Now start making SCENES for the movie. Don't make "missions", as this will NOT be shown in the movie anyway, no matter what you're making.

You should build your movie up by creating scenes. Sometimes, i just go random and create the end parts first. But it really doesn't matter what order you make the scenes, as the final result of the movie will be put together in the editing software.

So, let's make a simple example here. Let's make a "dogfight" movie, with a beginning - middle - and end.

You want a nice intro for the movie with slow scenes and nice music.

Time of day should be early dawn, or at sunset (optional, of course). Find a suitable airfield and create lots of jets parked around, some jets flying overhead at low alt (for this, just create 1 waypoint for them, so that when your other jest on the ground are taxiing, these jets will fly overhead at, hopefully, the right time. This just adds "immersion" and makes you think the world is "alive").

Also create some trucks moving around here and there. Don't overdo it though, just make sure that they are there in your scene when recording.

This will basically be AI jets, so just hit "FLY", and go into the game and just start recording from good angles, using ZOOM quite often. Just think about how this stuff is shown in the real world, either in movies, or how you've seen it on the discovery channel. Where are the cameras placed?

Are they shaking? Are they zoomed in? Are they far away? Are they BENEATH the jets? Are they attached to the jets? Maybe there are helicopters flying high above filming down? Just use your imagination and make the shots look as convincing as possible.

And also, for fraps, slow the game down once (ALT-A slows down - CTRL-A speeds up - SHIFT-A returns to normal speed)

Fiddle around with the angles and capture as many clips as you can, but make sure you use variation in your clips so we dont see the same thing over and over. This will just bore the viewer.

And another important thing, use SMOOTH mouse panning. And let me just say this now, for very slow moving jets taxiing, avoid at all costs to try to follow them with the mouse. Even I have trouble panning when things move so slow. So to avoid this, find the jet you want to "pan after" using F2. Next, when you've found the jet, hit CTRL-F11 to unlock the camera in time and space so you can now move it wherever the heck you want.

Find a good spot somewhere a little far away from the jet, place the camera VERY close to the ground. For this to work, you have to make sure that "CameraTerrainRestriction = true" is set to "CameraTerrainRestriction = false". You can find this little line in the "server.lua" file located here:

"..Ubisoft\Eagle Dynamics\Lock On\Config\View".

Now hit CTRL-F3 and the view should now work as the default Flyby-view for your selected jet.

Ok, let's move on.

Record some take offs, some flying and so on. If there is time and the music fits, you can also show the same thing for the enemy jets.

Now let's move on. Let's go for the dogfight scenes.

Let me use my last dogfight movie "SPEED" as an example.

After the text "let the fight begin", you see the jets pass by each other REALLY close and fast. Now, how do you achieve this?

Simple.

In the mission editor, select your time of day, season and weather.

Next, place your jets somewhere on the map, maybe not TOO high, as you want to capture the feeling of "speed" and movement, and this is very difficult to achieve at very high altitudes.

Create your flight (yes, you have to be one of the jets in this case, at least that's what i recommend).

Doesn't matter what jet you're flying, this is up to you. Create your wingmen as well.

Now, to get a shot like i had in "SPEED", make the speed of your flight around 900-1000 or so. Create your enemy jets as well, but place them flying DIRECTLY at you, same alt, and very close to your flight. This basically means that when the mission starts, you'll either fly into them crashing, or, if you're lucky (as i was :P ) the jets will fly between you, or right next to you.

Also, make your own jet immortal.

Now, why would you do this?

Well, this is how it works really. You want to entertain your viewers. And for this, using realistic tactics and BWR fighting, and maybe a couple of quick and boring sidewinders kills at close range just wont cut it. Players see this kind of stuff 24/7 in-game. Why show them something they're already used to seeing?

You're making a movie now. Not a lesson in dogfighting.

But hey, this is just how i see it. Unless you're making a historical and accurate (realistic) movie, this is how you should do it. (*my opinion back in 2007*)

Ok, i mentioned that YOU were supposed to be one of the jets. Well, this is kinda optional, but the reason why i want to participate in my own dogfights is because i can do stuff that the AI never does.

When you're DIRECTLY behind an enemy jet, dont just fire the missle at it as soon as you get lock. No no, dont do that. Do some crazy manouvers as you're following it. Try maybe to miss with your guns at purpose. Roll your jet and such. He turns right, you do a roll to the left, and stop the roll when you're alligned with his jet, and THEN you start making your turn.

And try to roll with your jet at times when firing the sidewinders. It just kinda looks cool seeing your jet do this from the external view.. ;)

Now, do these dogfight scenes a couple of times, maybe randomize the number of jets, what weapons you're using and so on and so on.

Remember to save these tracks (oh right, for gods sake, before starting any of these dogfights, you HAVE TO HIT CTRL-R, and NOT push the FLY button!)

Ok, name your track whatever you want.

Next, hit "edit track" or something like that from the pulldown menu in the mission editor.

Now, remove the ugly bar at the bottom by pressing "Y" twice. Also, in the options menu, make sure you have turned OFF "subtitles". It kinda ruins the immersion if you see the text "maximum G" pop up now and then.

And since your jets will literally pass eachother within the first 2 seconds of the track, slow time down 3 times or so BEFORE YOU UNPAUSE.

Now, hit CTRL-F11 and move your camera RIGHT between all the jets, either looking at the enemy jets, or your own jets.

Zoom in a little (pretty optional here imo). Now, fire up fraps, and UNPAUSE.

Things will move VEEERY slow now, but thats a good thing. You wont miss a single frame at these speeds. :P

And after you successfully captured this shot, move on. Unpause EVERY time you're looking for a different shot. Now from here on out, all you need to do is slow the game down 1 time. So, hit SHIFT-A to return the game to normal speed, and now press ALT-A. Your only worries from here on out is coming up with good angles and zooms to make the shots look appealing.

Do this a few times and just use your imagination for different scenes. Use real movies as reference as well.

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Ok, the dogfight part is over. Now the ending.

Depending on the music, you have to somehow find a way to make the ending of your movie fit the music theme and mood.

So if the music is slow, or sad, show lots of burning wrecks on the ground, maybe some damaged jets returning to base. Maybe the weather has changed, and also time of day? Is it raining now?

Just play around with some ideas.

There really is no easy way to explain how you should end your movie, but just end it in a way you think is suitable.

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Ok there you have it. You've just created a dogfight movie. Of course, this "movie" is just tons of clips in your FRAPS folder.

If you're using VEGAS to edit your movie, import every fraps footage into vegas.

Oh and i strongly recommend you use REAL jet sounds. The in-game sounds are so weak that they will kill the immersion by 80% or more. Players already know how the game sounds. So you want to give them something new and fresh in the sound department.

I am fortunate enough to have gathered hundreds and hundreds of sound files over the years, either from other games, airshow movies found on the net, or recordings from different movies.

But, as you may have noticed, in my last "speed 2 teaser", i didnt include any sound at ALL. This is because the music really fitted better without any sound. Plus, its nice to make a movie now and then that really doesn't have any sound at all, but this really depends on the type of movie that you're making.

Now for Vegas editing, things are a little more complicated.

But in general: Play around with contrast, and make the colors a little darker.

For shots that are "dead still in the air" (as in the CTRL-F11 views), if you're camera is just standing still in mid air, add some movement to it using "crop/pan". Also add blur to the shots that are very fast paced, such as when jets fly by your camera really close as you're panning after them. This adds realism and the feeling of speed.

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Well, i really hope this gives you some insight in how i make my movies. :)

There are plenty of others methods to make movies, but this is just a simple example really.

So play around with ideas, camera angles, music, sounds, anything. When it all comes together, it might be pretty good.

Good luck!

:)

Regarding the jet sounds, there are a couple of jet sounds here:

www.therecordist.com

BUT, i must tell you, that these sounds are pretty much already USED up. I've used these sounds in many of my previous movies, and other movie makers has also used these sounds, so they're not very "unique".

But the other method to gather jet sounds is just to record the sounds from airshow movies and stuff :)

Download this little program found here:

http://forum.lockon.ru/showthread.php?t=16466&highlight=Locfg

Very easy to customize your default F4 view :)

Example:

http://www.3rd-wing.net/LOCFG/screenshots/locfg_4.jpg

To "unlock" the camera in F2 view, press SHIFT-ESC.

You can now look around while the camera stays fixed to your jet (or whatever you're looking at, this works for ground vehicles as well).

For the shaking, press SHIFT-J. :)

Yeah, maybe, but they would be different though.... i'm thinking at least add some story to it.

Contrast

glow

"movie looks" plugin (downloaded from the vegas website, although i cant fint it there anymore..)

Thats it, pretty much :P

Oh but with after effects....man, i dont even know what im using anymore...

I just add some stuff to make it look cool ;P

Haha ok. Looking forward to seeing an entire movie with after effects :D

 

It must take a while to achieve that look. It takes me forever to mask out a background in vegas!

 

Are you using AE PRO?

Heck, i as well am looking forward to seeing an entire movie made with after effects! :P I know it will take even more time, but man, the end result will be awesome... i really want my first "AE made movie" to be special... kinda as how my first good lomac movie was made using "VEGAS" - Superior Fighters. :)

And yes, im using AE Pro.