Research
Proposal
This year I have enjoyed majority of the courses we did ,with editing and filming being my favourite and illustrator work being my least favourite. I have been influenced into creating something from a courses I enjoyed which is editing as I think i was pretty good at it and developed a decent skill at it. The main skills I have developed this year from the courses we did in premiere pro and after effect would be how to make good, smooth and effective edits. I also learn't a few things that we didn't do in the course but had to do something on our own which was green screening. I always wanted to gain the skills needed to create a short frag-movie in a video game which is what I am aiming to create in this project and I think I learn't some of the skills I need to create it as majority of the things I will need to do is in the game it self, along side to the frag-movie which won't be the main thing in the video anymore as it isn't the best thing to do on an FMP. The main thing I will be looking at creating now will be a documentary about the teams history, a bit about each player and their significance in the team, their achievements and their downfall to their splitting apart at the end of 2018.
My whole concept and idea for the documentary is to inspired by a well-known ex professional Polish Counter-Strike team that were the longest lasting E-sport team playing with the same roster for about 8 years without changing. The main reason I got inspired is because I used to take this game extremely seriously and my goal was to become like one of the pro players on that team, I looked up to each one of them each day and personally think I was pretty close to getting to that level a few years ago. The whole idea of the documentary that will also include a short frag-movie inside of it is to take a look down memory lane at the team and also take a deeper look at the team, each player in individually and also the reason for the falling apart. The main things I will need for this to work out will be; Premiere Pro, Counter-Strike:Global Offensive, Photoshop, After Effects, Nvidia ShadowPlay, HLAE and possibly Audition. I will have to do a lot of research about creating a frag-movie to start of with as that will be the hardest part, I will need to look at how to make each clip smooth and effective and how to have an impact on the viewers. The other things I will have to research about is the teams history which I have a good knowledge about already but there is always things I didn't know and could be really interesting to include in the documentary. My goal is to have an impact on people that also have a knowledge of the game and the team and also try and prove to some people that think you can't really have a career in gaming.
I will try to note down any mistakes I make and make sure I don't make the same ones again. I will also note down how I solved the mistake and how to avoid it in the future. I will also try to note down any good things in the work so far.
Documentary Legnth at least 6 minutes long
Name of Documentary: CS:GO| The Virtus Plow- Polish Beasts
Genre: Memory
I think that if I learn all the skills needed to create a good documentary and also to create a good looking frag-movie within the documentary the outcome will be amazing and a lot of people will enjoy it. I'm going to aim to create something that a lot of people will enjoy ( not only people that enjoy gaming and have knowledge on the team and the game) and a really professional and good looking documentary that touches on a lot of information about the team.
My target audience for this documentary is going to be mainly people that are into video games, age in this instance doesn't really play a part as there is people that are in their early teens and there is also people that are full adults in their late 40's that enjoy and play this game and other video games. The only part that age might play in this is with the knowledge of the team and their past as that will mainly be young adults, it will have an emotional impact on them if they were also attached to game in some way. The origin of where my target audience comes from also doesn't play a massive part in this but as it's an ex polish team I will try and aim it at mainly polish people and I think it will reach a lot of polish people. It will also reach the most popular regions that people play this game in which would be Europe and USA as that is where the biggest amount of players are.
Thankfully I won't be effected by the issue we are having with the college being closed as I won't be using a camera or any equipment for, only I won't be able to get is constant feedback from classmates and teachers which would of helped a lot but there is a lot of other ways I can get feedback from.
All the work I will be doing I will be doing by myself and I will from time to time rely on some professional editors that have edited these kind of video clips before and can explain a few issue that I might run into. Other than that it will be all on my own.
SCHEDULE:
Week 1 16/03/2020
Come up with ideas for my FMP and get feedback from supervisor and class and see if my idea is suitable for the FMP. Make any changes suggested to me by my supervisor
Week 2 23/03/2020
Start on my proposal and complete it and create a schedule i'm happy and confident with. Get feedback on the proposal from my supervisor and change anything that he suggests needs to be changed or improved.
Week 3 30/03/2020
Start doing research on the skills I will need, how to achieve the skills, what programs I will need to use and what resources. I will also look at over documentaries that are on YouTube and get some inspiration from it, I will try and get in contact with the creators of the documentaries for any support or explanations I might need with creating my own documentary.
Week 4 20/04/2020
Continue doing research on all the skills I will need to have to create this documentary (Intro , Thumbnail, cinematic shots if I decide to use them). Start on research on the team and the whole organisation and start gathering information that I will use in my documentary. Also start practising the skills I will need in my documentary.
Week 5 27/04/2020
Continue practising the skills and trying to develop more advance skills along the way. Start on a script that I will be using during the documentary. Get feedback from supervisor on my research so far.
Week 6 - Pre-Production week 04/05/2020
During this week, finish off the script and start getting all the software together that I will need to use, start also planning out each day what I will be doing during the 2 week production period. Make sure I have all the software and that they are all working with no issues.
Week 7 Production Week 1 11/05/2020
In the first week of production I want to get the easiest thing out the way first and that will be the creating the thumbnail for the video. I want this to take a maximum of day and a half. After that start gathering all that I will be using and storing them in a folder and not doing anything to them at the moment. After that I will start on creating the intro first, I also want to start on the introduction of the organisation part of my documentary, where I will need to get the clips I want to use and cut them and also record the voice over for it. Get constant feedback from supervisor and the editors I'm in contact with
Week 8 Production Week 2 18/05/2020
For the final week of production I want to continue on the editing of my documentary, I want to continue with each part of the documentary which would be 'Introduction of all player' and ' Downfall of the team' I will need to gather all the clips for it and edit them up, I will also need to add my voice over that I will record during that week as well. Get constant feedback from supervisor and the editors I'm in contact with
Week 9 Feedback 25/05/2020
Get feedback from my supervisor and change anything that he says should be changed.
Week 10 & 11 Evaluation 01/06/2020 & 08/06/2020
Start on the evaluation part of the project, answer all the questions that will be asked to the best of my ability, finally sign off the year and complete the project and wait for results!!
Idea for the layout of the video:
Inspiration
I've had a lot of inspiration to create this video. My first idea wasn't suitable for the FMP and that is where I got majority of my inspiration from, I will still include some of the things I planned on having in my initial idea but of course I had to adapt to make sure I pass.
My inspirations for a lot of this was mainly frag-movie creators on YouTube, some of the work that they produced is out of this world and I always wanted to have a reason to learn how to create my own one and have a go at it.
Anthony Perfetto (YouTube Content Creator)
Anthony Perfetto is an Italian content creator/ editor. He is one of the creators that inspired me the most to create a frag-movie. I've been following him for over a year now and have loved all of the videos he's created as they are unique and have amazing editing skills. His work is unique compared to others as his editing skills and his transitions between clips are something else, he's really knowledgeable on how to make transitions look really smooth and also is a really talented editor.
Tunggren CSGO (YouTube Content Creator)
Tunggren is an editor I've been inspired by recently. I've been watching a lot of his edits recently as after finding out his is the editor for one of the top CSGO pro players in Sweden that I follow on social media. The thing that is unique about Tunggren that I realised and really liked is that he knows how to add mood and tone to a video and edit, he know how to add emotions with his edits - being that through the music he uses or the way he edits his clips and the effects he uses on them. That is something that I really wanted to know how to do and learn as that is something I will be wanting to use in my video as there will be a few emotional clips and of course I don't want them to not have any mood or tone on them. He is also know for creating humour and laughter through his highlight clips, being that using funny moments or just editing in a funny way. That is also a thing I wanted to learn how to include in my video. Overall he is a really talented editor but a less known one.
Fuze (Content Creator)
Fuze is my biggest inspiration when it came to a csgo edit, being that a frag movie. Just under 3 years
ago he released a video that made me grow this passion for creating my own edit. I've been watching and supporting him for over 5 years now but it was only 3 years ago where one of his edits shocked me. The thing with Fuze is that he is probably the most unique editor out there, most of his edits take him months to create but the outcome is unreal. He really takes editing to another level creating something that no one could think is possible. After watching his first big edit I instantly got inspired to create my own but never had a reason or motivation to but thanks to the FMP I am finally able to complete something I've always wanted to. With Fuze's edits he changes the video completely, he adds a lot of effect being that completely different graphics, portals or just creating a really interesting mood and tone in the video.
In 2019, he realised Nevermore 2 which is an improved a lot better edited video which took him over a year to create. I do aspire to be able to create edits like his, maybe not to the same level as that is almost impossible and will take years to learn, but just be able to edit to a really good standard and have a really good knowledge of the programs and how to use them to get the best effects. That is one of the reasons I still follow fuze because one day I want to be able to come out with a piece of work close to his standards and I think that the documentary is a good start.
Nevermore #1
Nevermore #2
Research
All programs and software I will be using and what for:
HLAE - Half Life Advanced Effect
This software will be the main software to create any transitions and cinematic as it inputs more scripts and allows to do more camera work inside of the game as with the basic commands you couldn't get far and wouldn't be able to do a lot nice shots. HLAE is a collection of tools that enrich the engine and is the main tool used for movie making. You can apply various effects to each frame when capturing demos. HLAE is a plugin for the game so I will also of course need to game to make this work. When I have downloaded the demo of the game I will be getting the clip from, with HLAE I can create frame points and create smooth transitions. HLAE will require a lot of learning to master the use of it.
Adobe Premiere Pro
This is where all the clips will be mounted and edited in. I will be using premiere pro as this is the program I have learnt how to use over the 2 years I have been at Long Road, I have also used it a bit before joining Long Road. Inside of premiere pro I will be creating all the effect I will use, all the transitions will be edited inside of this.
Luckily due to the situation with Coronavirus the latest version of Premiere Pro along with all other Adobe software are for free. This will help out as I have an older version and that is missing a few plugins and a few options the newer version don't have.
Nvidia ShadowPlay
The use for this software is pretty simple, I will be using this program to screen record the transitions created and the transitions from the game. The reason I will be using this software as after doing research online I found out this is the best software to use for these types of things as it doesn't ruin the video quality and it doesn't lose any frames when recording compared to any other software like OBS or Fraps.
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop will be the main and only program I will be using to create the thumbnail for the video and I will also use it to create any overlays that I will have in the video for example Player names that will pop up on the screen.
Over the few years I gained a few skills in Photoshop and will be able to create all the things I will need for my video without an issue and with no big problems.
My goal is to create a unique looking thumbnail that will stand out in YouTube as I will be posting this as a public video and hoping to gain some views.With the pop up that will happen in the video will be pretty simple to create as it will just be a rectangle with the players name in the box with the team logo next to it.
How create cinematic shots in Counter-Strike:
The place I got my inspiration for the intro from was from a frag-movie I saw where the person created a really cool looking intro. (Time frame 1:10-1:37)
After watching this video, the intro was the main thing that caught my attention, I liked how the camera zoomed out and showed text as well, I also liked how there was transitions into moments from the teams history. I decided to look around on YouTube and other platforms to find a video that could help me out and explain how to create an intro like this. I also decided to contact the creator of this video and other editors asking for help in and explanation as I think the best tips and explanation would be from the actual person that made the intro.
I was successful with getting hold of the creator of this video on twitter (@ANPerfetto) and he was able to guide me through a bit with the struggles I might come across, he was able to link me to a short playlist that has videos for beginners which help and explain how to create cinematic's and other things in the game.
I was linked with a whole playlist, each video was unique and taught me something new in each one. The main one I was interested in was the cinematic one as all I was going to create was a simple backwards movement and add text to it.
In my opinion, the video I was linked was helpful but I think it didn't go into a lot of detail. As I said it is for beginners so of course he will just go over the basics, but in my opinion it was a bit too basic and there wasn't too much information. Even though the video was great and actually helped me a lot with what I need to do and how to get set up to create this I think I will need to look around for a better video online so that I can get a lot more information on how to create a good intro.
I will try and create a short clip with the tips I got from this video and I will then evaluate the outcome of it.
Final test edit:
Screenshot of Timeline in Premiere pro
Evaluation
Overall, after completing my first ever intro using HLAE and premiere pro, I realised that it takes a lot of time and effort to create a nice smooth intro. With HLAE you had to create camera paths which the camera would follow of course, this is the part that took the longest as the slightest shake of the mouse would ruin the whole cinematic shot, overall it took me about an hour or so just to create the cinematic shot that lasts 15 seconds. I think my try at it didn't look the worst but also not the best, the text looks a bit basic and could of had a bit more effects on it. I also think I could of made the camera movement a tiny bit smoother when it was turning round corner etc. The thing I would do differently if I was to redo this intro, would be make the camera path a bit smoother around corners and also make the text a bit more bold and effective and not make it look so basic. I think that it fits into my project as this is the type of intro I will be going for in my final video but probably in a different location as this one seemed a bit too hard to work with ( of course I'm not going to go with the easiest location but this one was a bit complicated at times and I think I might start stressing if I can't get it right in my final piece). I didn't really come across any issues, the only issues I had were making the turns smooth and also actually knowing how to use everything in the program which took me a bit to learn about. I think I will try and re create this exact intro again but fix the issues I had which were; text too basic and the camera movement wasn't smooth enough when turning around corners.
Feedback from Professional Editor
Second attempt at intro:
INSERT VIDEO HERE WHEN COMPLETE
Colour grading
Here is a few examples of thumbnails I've liked and been inspired by:
The main thing that I like in this thumbnail is its simplicity which is something I always like going for because in my opinion simplicity is the key to creating something powerful as viewers won't have a lot to focus on and won't get lost in the thumbnail or whatever it is you're creating. The only thing that I would change in this thumbnail would possibly be the picture as it shows them winning a tournament, I would personally go for a picture of the whole team, like in the thumbnail below. I would also add some text like 'The Virtus Plow- Polish Beasts' or ' Documentary about Virtus Pro' so the viewers know what they will be watching, I also like the colours in this as they represent the team and I will be sticking with those colours to continue to represent the team.
This thumbnail has to be my favourite as it has the team logo, picture of the team and a bit about the team it self, it also is simple but really eye catching. I will most likely design mine around this one as it has everything I would want mine to have in it.All I would change in mine would be the information, I would add the title of the video and what the video is. I will use the same colours that this thumbnail has, also probably use the same image if I can find it in better quality online.Overall this is thumbnail for me is the ideal thumbnail for my video.
This has to be my least favourite thumbnail. There is too mch going on in the thumbnail and it looks a bit too messy, looks like someone grabs images and just thrown them onto a background. One thing I like from this thumbnail is going to be the font used as it's simple but bold. I will try my best to find out what the font is called and I will use it in my final thumbnail.
Here is a few pop out overlays I could create:
I like this one because it's basic but effective as well, the only thing I would change would be the colour as it doesn't fit in with the colour and theme of the team. I would have to change it to orange black and white to make it fit in instead of purple. I also would want to add a logo into it so make look even better.
How to create thumbnail
On YouTube there is tens if not hundreds of thumbnail templates designed specifically for creating one for counter-strike, that is not something I will be taking advantage of as I think that is just an easy way out and is also not showing what you create because all you do is un hide some layers and hide some and you have a decent looking thumbnail created. The issues with this is that it's not really your work as it's from a template and also you can't really challenge yourself or show of your abilities. It's an option that a lot of people use but I prefer to do learn it myself and re-create something I was inspired by
This was the first YouTube tutorial I came across. It didn't really help me out a lot as the majority of the video was blasted with loud music and had little commentary on top of it. There was moments in the video that were sped up as well which wasn't helpful. In my opinion this tutorial wasn't helpful and my next step from this will be to find another one that will be more helpful and I can actually learn from. I will not be creating a draft attempt from this video as I haven't learnt anything from it.
This was by far the most helpful tutorial I found. It was long and had a lot of explanations in it. I was able to learn a lot of things from this video. In the video the person goes over every small and big detail to make the thumbnail stand out and make it look good. I will use this tutorial to create my first attempt at a thumbnail and see my skills and my abilities at creating my very first thumbnail. My goal after this video is to watch it and step by step and create the same kind of thumbnail as his. After that I will try again but create a my own type still using the same concept.
Step by step:
After watching the video again and following each step I managed to create my own version of the thumbnail, the image I was able to find online and same as the font, I was able to get it from the video. The video was pretty well detailed on how to do each step, there was moments where the person was confused himself but at the end he managed to explain it very well. All I changed in my version was the colour and the text so that it's not a complete copy. I also changed the colours that he used.
Step 1:
To start off all I had to do was find the image I wanted to use and place it onto the canvas and make sure it fits in and I had to remember to not ruin the aspect ratio.
Step 2:
The next thing I had to do was mask over the weapon with the pen tool, this took a bit of time to do and I had to make sure that I've gone over each part of the weapon and hand so that there isn't any places that are missing and would ruin the look. I had to do it a few times as I missed it a few times and didn't do it smoothly enough (going too far away from the weapon leaving too much background in the mask).
Step 3:
Next, whilst still being on the pen tool I had to right click in the middle of the mask area and click onto 'make selection' and the press OK, this will create the selection around the weapon.
Step 4:
Then, I had to click onto the 'rectangular marquee tool' and again right click in the middle of the selection and click 'Layer Via Copy' this will create a copy of the mask I did around the weapon, this will allow me to create the effects of a shadow and any strokes etc.
Step 5:
After that, I had to change the white background to white and change the opacity of my background down so it creates the effect above. The point of this was to darken the background but keep the weapon bright and in focus of the thumbnail.
Step 6:
This step was all up to preference and I could do whatever colour I wanted to. I decided to stick to the colour of the weapon to make it stand out a bit more. All I had to do was go into blending options and play around with each option until I created an effect I was happy with. The blending effects I used were Inner glow, Inner shadow, Satin, Gradient overlay and Outer Glow. With all these options I stuck to the colour orange to make it fit in with the weapon.
After that, I had to create the text. I used the font 'Long Shot' and I stuck to the same colours used in the blending options for the weapon. I had to create the text and then go into blending options and again, play around with each effect to create an effect I was happy with. The effects I ended up using were Stroke, Gradient overlay, Outer Glow and Drop shadow. Also, to create the tilt effect of the text I had to go into Edit -> Transform -> Perspective. Again like before I had to play around to see in which variant the text would look the best.
Step 8:
The final step, I had to get a brush and make it extremely big, I then had to zoom out and do small strokes around the canvas to give it a bit of a orange glow. I left out the top where I added a stroke of white to make it stick out a bit more. It's not really noticeable but it does create a nice effect compared to not using it at all.
Final Piece
Evaluation:
After completing this thumbnail with the help of the video, I learn't a few tips and skills to make a thumbnail and I think with the skills I learn't from this video I am almost fully confident with creating my final thumbnail that I will use in the documentary. I think my attempt looked good, there was a few issues which I will try and fix next time which was the masking, I think I could of made it a lot cleaner than it is. It's not terrible but could be better of course. The thing I would do different the next time I try and create a thumbnail like this is of course use different images and the main thing would be the masking. I think I can also try and play around with the effects a bit, experiment with different colours and see if it would look better that way. This thumbnail fits in really well into my project as I can easily replace a few things in the thumbnail and create my final one using it, it has the colours I want to use it's got the simplicity I'm going for in mine and it also fits into the topic.
I will try and re create another thumbnail using this tutorial but do it without watching it and use completely different images. I will try and improve the issues I ran into before and try and experiment with other colours.
Attempt 2 at thumbnail:
Evaluation
After creating my own version of this thumbnail with completely different images and not using the tutorial just trying to remember it. I was able to come out with a thumbnail that I really liked and am proud of. With this one I had to do a few things differently. I wanted to blur the background out but if I did it normally it would also blur the weapon, so after masking out the weapon which I took a lot more time on this time and made sure it's extremely clean I had to make a copy of the weapon and then blur out the background on the first copy. This only blurred the background as the weapon is a separate layer and is higher in the layer order. Overall I think the outcome of this thumbnail was a lot better than the first one I made. Personally if I was to create another thumbnail I wouldn't change anything in the way I created the thumbnail, the only things I would change of course would be the images I use and the colours I will use. As I said before this thumbnail fits in very well into my project and I could easily change it around to create my final thumbnail that I will use in my final video. I already have a picture in my head of how I want the thumbnail to look and it won't look like any of these most likely. With this thumbnail I didn't run into any issues as I knew what I was doing so I didn't find anything too difficult as it was all straight forward and easy to do.
Attempt at overlay
Evaluation
After creating this simple overlay I realised that it's not going to take me a lot of time when creating my final one meaning that I will be able to locate the time I was prepared to use on creating this on other things that would be a lot more important and beneficial. I think overall my outcome of the overlay was good, I really liked how the text came out with effects on it. The only thing I think could of come out a bit better was the logo. I think that the orange circle is a bit too plain and hasn't got any effect to it to make it pop out a bit more, it's not a crucial thing but will be a thing I will make sure to remember to do when creating my final video. The thing I would do differently when creating my final one will be to play around with the effects a bit more on the logo of the team to make it stand out a bit more and be a bit more punchy. I think that this fits in perfectly into my project and I will probably end up using this exact font and the effect on the text in my final video. Overall in creating this overlay I didn't run into any difficulties or issues, it was a pretty basic, easy and fast thing to create, of course I could of made it take me a lot longer to make if I wanted to make it extremely punchy and effective but this was just my first attempt at it so I didn't want to spend a lot of time on this.
Colour Pallet
This colour pallet is for my thumbnail and overlay I will have in the videos. The reasons I picked these colours is because I wanted it to fit in with the team and the colours they have as their logo. The teams logo used to consist of orange and white before they re-branded and changed it to purple and green. I will be sticking to the old colours because it's about the players that played in the team back in the day so I want it to fit in correctly. I also picked a few colours similar to orange because I will be using them to create effects such as a stroke or shadow and to not make it all look basic sticking to one colour. The darker colours will be mainly for text and maybe some outlining.
Font
Font for thumbnail and overlay
I picked a few fonts to play around with, I will be using these throughout the video and also in my thumbnail that I will make. I decided to stick to basic fonts as I didn't want something too complicated and too over the top. I got all these fonts from DaFont.com. My least favourite font has to be 'Long Shot' in my opinion I think it's too complicated and just doesn't look like it will fit into any of the things I might need to use it for. My favourite has to be 'Azonix' as it's basic but really effective and I will definitely be using it in my thumbnail and probably in my overlays as well. I will probably use 'OK-Esport' for my intro and any video edits that I will have to add text that won't be an overlay. Overall I like all of the fonts but only some of these in my opinion fully suit what I will need them for.
Sketch of thumbnail idea
Research about the team:
About organisation
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtus.pro
https://liquipedia.net/counterstrike/Virtus.pro
Jaroslaw 'PashaBiceps' Jarzabkowski
Sources:
https://www.esportsearnings.com/players/1488-pashabiceps-jaroslaw-jarzabkowski
https://liquipedia.net/counterstrike/PashaBiceps
https://www.hltv.org/player/317/pashaBiceps
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ij7eSGISPls
Sources:
https://liquipedia.net/counterstrike/Snax
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1Rvwu4KD54&t=65s
https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janusz_Pogorzelski
https://www.hltv.org/player/2553/Snax
Wiktor 'TaZ' Wojtas
Pawel 'Byali' Bielinski
Sources:
https://liquipedia.net/counterstrike/Byali
https://www.hltv.org/player/5386/byali
https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pawe%C5%82_Bieli%C5%84ski_(e-sportowiec)
Filip 'Neo' Kubski
Sources
https://liquipedia.net/counterstrike/NEO
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEO_(video_game_player)
https://www.hltv.org/stats/players/165/NEO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAiU9MO2aVg&t=56s
Downfall of Virtus.Pro
Sources
https://luckbox.com/esports-news/article/virtus-pro-decline-polish-csgo-iem-katowice
https://www.hotspawn.com/the-death-of-virtus-pro-and-the-future-of-polish-csgo/
https://www.dailyesports.gg/the-gradual-demise-of-virtus-pro/
https://www.rivalry.com/esports/downfall-virtus-pro
Voice-over
Quick notes:
Costs will be around £60-£160 which is something I'm capable of paying. Prices differ for the person I go with as each person charges different amounts for the amount of words in the script. I will have to look at the most valuable ones where I will look at the price for the amount of words in my script, turnaround time, amount of revisions and most importantly the voice.
Currently exploring on a website called fiverr and have found a few options and i'm in contact with them trying to get the best deal possible.
Script for video:
Pasha:
One of the core principles of virtus pro, is that their team was basically built around Pasha. One of the reasons it was built around Pasha is not was he one of the best players in Counter-Strike and can have great impact. He was the kind of player that would decide what he would do each round and play the way he wants and feels comfortable doing kind of impulsively. he wouldn't play like everyone else that would get told where to play and how to play each round. When he was on his game and was able to do the things he wanted he had a massive impact not only on the outcome of the game but also on the team.
Links to clips I will cut bits from:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77HZjP6f5Hk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAiU9MO2aVg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1Rvwu4KD54
This year I have enjoyed majority of the courses we did ,with editing and filming being my favourite and illustrator work being my least favourite. I have been influenced into creating something from a courses I enjoyed which is editing as I think i was pretty good at it and developed a decent skill at it. The main skills I have developed this year from the courses we did in premiere pro and after effect would be how to make good, smooth and effective edits. I also learn't a few things that we didn't do in the course but had to do something on our own which was green screening. I always wanted to gain the skills needed to create a short frag-movie in a video game which is what I am aiming to create in this project and I think I learn't some of the skills I need to create it as majority of the things I will need to do is in the game it self, along side to the frag-movie which won't be the main thing in the video anymore as it isn't the best thing to do on an FMP. The main thing I will be looking at creating now will be a documentary about the teams history, a bit about each player and their significance in the team, their achievements and their downfall to their splitting apart at the end of 2018.
My whole concept and idea for the documentary is to inspired by a well-known ex professional Polish Counter-Strike team that were the longest lasting E-sport team playing with the same roster for about 8 years without changing. The main reason I got inspired is because I used to take this game extremely seriously and my goal was to become like one of the pro players on that team, I looked up to each one of them each day and personally think I was pretty close to getting to that level a few years ago. The whole idea of the documentary that will also include a short frag-movie inside of it is to take a look down memory lane at the team and also take a deeper look at the team, each player in individually and also the reason for the falling apart. The main things I will need for this to work out will be; Premiere Pro, Counter-Strike:Global Offensive, Photoshop, After Effects, Nvidia ShadowPlay, HLAE and possibly Audition. I will have to do a lot of research about creating a frag-movie to start of with as that will be the hardest part, I will need to look at how to make each clip smooth and effective and how to have an impact on the viewers. The other things I will have to research about is the teams history which I have a good knowledge about already but there is always things I didn't know and could be really interesting to include in the documentary. My goal is to have an impact on people that also have a knowledge of the game and the team and also try and prove to some people that think you can't really have a career in gaming.
I will try to note down any mistakes I make and make sure I don't make the same ones again. I will also note down how I solved the mistake and how to avoid it in the future. I will also try to note down any good things in the work so far.
Documentary Legnth at least 6 minutes long
Name of Documentary: CS:GO| The Virtus Plow- Polish Beasts
Genre: Memory
I think that if I learn all the skills needed to create a good documentary and also to create a good looking frag-movie within the documentary the outcome will be amazing and a lot of people will enjoy it. I'm going to aim to create something that a lot of people will enjoy ( not only people that enjoy gaming and have knowledge on the team and the game) and a really professional and good looking documentary that touches on a lot of information about the team.
My target audience for this documentary is going to be mainly people that are into video games, age in this instance doesn't really play a part as there is people that are in their early teens and there is also people that are full adults in their late 40's that enjoy and play this game and other video games. The only part that age might play in this is with the knowledge of the team and their past as that will mainly be young adults, it will have an emotional impact on them if they were also attached to game in some way. The origin of where my target audience comes from also doesn't play a massive part in this but as it's an ex polish team I will try and aim it at mainly polish people and I think it will reach a lot of polish people. It will also reach the most popular regions that people play this game in which would be Europe and USA as that is where the biggest amount of players are.
Thankfully I won't be effected by the issue we are having with the college being closed as I won't be using a camera or any equipment for, only I won't be able to get is constant feedback from classmates and teachers which would of helped a lot but there is a lot of other ways I can get feedback from.
All the work I will be doing I will be doing by myself and I will from time to time rely on some professional editors that have edited these kind of video clips before and can explain a few issue that I might run into. Other than that it will be all on my own.
SCHEDULE:
Week 1 16/03/2020
Come up with ideas for my FMP and get feedback from supervisor and class and see if my idea is suitable for the FMP. Make any changes suggested to me by my supervisor
Week 2 23/03/2020
Start on my proposal and complete it and create a schedule i'm happy and confident with. Get feedback on the proposal from my supervisor and change anything that he suggests needs to be changed or improved.
Week 3 30/03/2020
Start doing research on the skills I will need, how to achieve the skills, what programs I will need to use and what resources. I will also look at over documentaries that are on YouTube and get some inspiration from it, I will try and get in contact with the creators of the documentaries for any support or explanations I might need with creating my own documentary.
Week 4 20/04/2020
Continue doing research on all the skills I will need to have to create this documentary (Intro , Thumbnail, cinematic shots if I decide to use them). Start on research on the team and the whole organisation and start gathering information that I will use in my documentary. Also start practising the skills I will need in my documentary.
Week 5 27/04/2020
Continue practising the skills and trying to develop more advance skills along the way. Start on a script that I will be using during the documentary. Get feedback from supervisor on my research so far.
Week 6 - Pre-Production week 04/05/2020
During this week, finish off the script and start getting all the software together that I will need to use, start also planning out each day what I will be doing during the 2 week production period. Make sure I have all the software and that they are all working with no issues.
Week 7 Production Week 1 11/05/2020
In the first week of production I want to get the easiest thing out the way first and that will be the creating the thumbnail for the video. I want this to take a maximum of day and a half. After that start gathering all that I will be using and storing them in a folder and not doing anything to them at the moment. After that I will start on creating the intro first, I also want to start on the introduction of the organisation part of my documentary, where I will need to get the clips I want to use and cut them and also record the voice over for it. Get constant feedback from supervisor and the editors I'm in contact with
Week 8 Production Week 2 18/05/2020
For the final week of production I want to continue on the editing of my documentary, I want to continue with each part of the documentary which would be 'Introduction of all player' and ' Downfall of the team' I will need to gather all the clips for it and edit them up, I will also need to add my voice over that I will record during that week as well. Get constant feedback from supervisor and the editors I'm in contact with
Week 9 Feedback 25/05/2020
Get feedback from my supervisor and change anything that he says should be changed.
Week 10 & 11 Evaluation 01/06/2020 & 08/06/2020
Start on the evaluation part of the project, answer all the questions that will be asked to the best of my ability, finally sign off the year and complete the project and wait for results!!
Idea for the layout of the video:
Start-
Here I will include a few clips with of the teams best plays ( maximum 3 clips) I will also have text appear introducing people to the video. The text I will have pop up will be, the title of the video, what the documentary is of, and finally who the video is made by. I will also need to find royalty free music to add to the background of this to make it sound better. With the text I will need to look at a lot of fonts and decide which one fits in the best and looks the best, there was one I saw in a thumbnail and I think it will be the best option, all I will have to do is look online to find the font that was used. I will also have to look at the colours I will be using in the text, I will need to also look which colour looks the best and is the correct colour to use in the video in relation to the context of the video. After creating my text in Photoshop I will need to export it and import it into Premiere Pro where I will edit it all together and make it look good. Another thing I will need to look at, is the music I will use, I will have to find the best place that does royalty free music (a place that does a variety of genres like chill& relax, hip hop, a bit of loud fast pace music) when I find the best place that does the best type of music I will have to decide what type of genre I will want to use in this part of the video. The process will be a bit long as I will have to listen to a lot of clips, put them into the editing software and see if it fits in the video, if it doesn't fit then I will have to listen to more and more until I find the perfect one. This part of the video I want to last a maximum of 15-20 seconds as it's just a quick into to the video and doesn't need a lot of attention.
Introduction of the organisation-
In this part of the video I will be going over the organisation that is Virtus.Pro, I will go over the origin of it and when it was created. I will then go into detail about how the team formed in Virtus.Pro and how this legendary and historical line-up was created. I will go over how long the team have been together all of their accomplishments and all other things they have achieved whilst playing in this line up together. I will need to research a lot online to find out the information on all this (how long they have been together, what they achieved). I will need to record myself reading all these information, I will need to create a script for all of this that I can read of. In the background I will have either some highlight clips playing of their best moments and I will also try and add the highlights of them winning an event when talking about their achievements. Also I might add music in the background but really quiet music so that it doesn't overlap the voice audio of me talking. I will try not to talk throughout the whole part of the video so that the viewers don't get bored. I will leave moments where it's the audio of the game with the commentators speaking with music in the background if it's a moment of them winning an even for example. This part of the video I will aim to be a maximum of 3 minutes.
Introduction of all players:
In this part of the video, it is pretty straight forward, I will introduce all 5 players that played in the team at the time, I will go over the basic information of who they are, where they are from etc. I will also go into the detail of the impact they had on the team and what their strengths and weaknesses were.I will need to do a lot of research online to find these information about these players, some of the information I know myself but there is a lot more that I will need. I will need to record myself reading this information and then I will have to add it into my final edit. I might also add some music in the background but not too loud so that it doesn't go over my voice over. I will also in the background have short clips from a 'player profile' video which is a basically a video that goes over the players life when all the way from the beginning to where they are now. Also there will be some highlight moments of their best plays in the game that I will include. There will be moments where I won't be talking and it will be the commentators talking so that the viewers don't get bored of my voice talking constantly. This part of the video I will aim to be a maximum of 6 minutes.
Downfall of the team and them splitting:
This will be the final part of the video where I will be going over the sad part of how the team split up and their downfall. I will go over what caused their splitting up and the start of their downfall. I will be needing to do a lot of research for this as I only have some basic knowledge of why the split up that is it. I will need to watch YouTube videos where the players are questioned about their splitting up and also read articles online that wrote about their splitting and also their downfall. With this I will have some clips in the background, most likely of their funniest moments and also their best moments. I will also have some music in the background that I will need to make sure isn't too loud so that it doesn't go over the voice over I will have to record for this. There will be moments in this too where I won't be talking and it will be the original audio from the clip instead so that the viewers don't get bored of my voice. This pat of the video I will aim to be a maximum of 5 minutes.
Inspiration
I've had a lot of inspiration to create this video. My first idea wasn't suitable for the FMP and that is where I got majority of my inspiration from, I will still include some of the things I planned on having in my initial idea but of course I had to adapt to make sure I pass.
My inspirations for a lot of this was mainly frag-movie creators on YouTube, some of the work that they produced is out of this world and I always wanted to have a reason to learn how to create my own one and have a go at it.
Anthony Perfetto (YouTube Content Creator)
Anthony Perfetto is an Italian content creator/ editor. He is one of the creators that inspired me the most to create a frag-movie. I've been following him for over a year now and have loved all of the videos he's created as they are unique and have amazing editing skills. His work is unique compared to others as his editing skills and his transitions between clips are something else, he's really knowledgeable on how to make transitions look really smooth and also is a really talented editor.Tunggren CSGO (YouTube Content Creator)
Tunggren is an editor I've been inspired by recently. I've been watching a lot of his edits recently as after finding out his is the editor for one of the top CSGO pro players in Sweden that I follow on social media. The thing that is unique about Tunggren that I realised and really liked is that he knows how to add mood and tone to a video and edit, he know how to add emotions with his edits - being that through the music he uses or the way he edits his clips and the effects he uses on them. That is something that I really wanted to know how to do and learn as that is something I will be wanting to use in my video as there will be a few emotional clips and of course I don't want them to not have any mood or tone on them. He is also know for creating humour and laughter through his highlight clips, being that using funny moments or just editing in a funny way. That is also a thing I wanted to learn how to include in my video. Overall he is a really talented editor but a less known one.Fuze (Content Creator)
Fuze is my biggest inspiration when it came to a csgo edit, being that a frag movie. Just under 3 years ago he released a video that made me grow this passion for creating my own edit. I've been watching and supporting him for over 5 years now but it was only 3 years ago where one of his edits shocked me. The thing with Fuze is that he is probably the most unique editor out there, most of his edits take him months to create but the outcome is unreal. He really takes editing to another level creating something that no one could think is possible. After watching his first big edit I instantly got inspired to create my own but never had a reason or motivation to but thanks to the FMP I am finally able to complete something I've always wanted to. With Fuze's edits he changes the video completely, he adds a lot of effect being that completely different graphics, portals or just creating a really interesting mood and tone in the video.
In 2019, he realised Nevermore 2 which is an improved a lot better edited video which took him over a year to create. I do aspire to be able to create edits like his, maybe not to the same level as that is almost impossible and will take years to learn, but just be able to edit to a really good standard and have a really good knowledge of the programs and how to use them to get the best effects. That is one of the reasons I still follow fuze because one day I want to be able to come out with a piece of work close to his standards and I think that the documentary is a good start.
Nevermore #1
Nevermore #2
Research
All programs and software I will be using and what for:
HLAE - Half Life Advanced Effect
This software will be the main software to create any transitions and cinematic as it inputs more scripts and allows to do more camera work inside of the game as with the basic commands you couldn't get far and wouldn't be able to do a lot nice shots. HLAE is a collection of tools that enrich the engine and is the main tool used for movie making. You can apply various effects to each frame when capturing demos. HLAE is a plugin for the game so I will also of course need to game to make this work. When I have downloaded the demo of the game I will be getting the clip from, with HLAE I can create frame points and create smooth transitions. HLAE will require a lot of learning to master the use of it.
Counter-Strike:Global Offensive
I will be needing to use this game to gather all the clips I will want to show of for any great moments the team have in game. I will have to download the demo clip from the hub that the game offers as they save all the demos from all major games that have been played since the game came out. When using the game and downloading all the clips I will need to set the base resolution and frame rate to get the best effect and output, which will be 1920x1080 Full HD in 60FPS.
I will be needing to use this game to gather all the clips I will want to show of for any great moments the team have in game. I will have to download the demo clip from the hub that the game offers as they save all the demos from all major games that have been played since the game came out. When using the game and downloading all the clips I will need to set the base resolution and frame rate to get the best effect and output, which will be 1920x1080 Full HD in 60FPS.Adobe Premiere Pro
This is where all the clips will be mounted and edited in. I will be using premiere pro as this is the program I have learnt how to use over the 2 years I have been at Long Road, I have also used it a bit before joining Long Road. Inside of premiere pro I will be creating all the effect I will use, all the transitions will be edited inside of this.
Luckily due to the situation with Coronavirus the latest version of Premiere Pro along with all other Adobe software are for free. This will help out as I have an older version and that is missing a few plugins and a few options the newer version don't have.
Nvidia ShadowPlay
The use for this software is pretty simple, I will be using this program to screen record the transitions created and the transitions from the game. The reason I will be using this software as after doing research online I found out this is the best software to use for these types of things as it doesn't ruin the video quality and it doesn't lose any frames when recording compared to any other software like OBS or Fraps.
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop will be the main and only program I will be using to create the thumbnail for the video and I will also use it to create any overlays that I will have in the video for example Player names that will pop up on the screen.Over the few years I gained a few skills in Photoshop and will be able to create all the things I will need for my video without an issue and with no big problems.
My goal is to create a unique looking thumbnail that will stand out in YouTube as I will be posting this as a public video and hoping to gain some views.With the pop up that will happen in the video will be pretty simple to create as it will just be a rectangle with the players name in the box with the team logo next to it.
How create cinematic shots in Counter-Strike:
After watching this video, the intro was the main thing that caught my attention, I liked how the camera zoomed out and showed text as well, I also liked how there was transitions into moments from the teams history. I decided to look around on YouTube and other platforms to find a video that could help me out and explain how to create an intro like this. I also decided to contact the creator of this video and other editors asking for help in and explanation as I think the best tips and explanation would be from the actual person that made the intro.
I was successful with getting hold of the creator of this video on twitter (@ANPerfetto) and he was able to guide me through a bit with the struggles I might come across, he was able to link me to a short playlist that has videos for beginners which help and explain how to create cinematic's and other things in the game.
I was linked with a whole playlist, each video was unique and taught me something new in each one. The main one I was interested in was the cinematic one as all I was going to create was a simple backwards movement and add text to it.
I will try and create a short clip with the tips I got from this video and I will then evaluate the outcome of it.
Final test edit:
Evaluation
Overall, after completing my first ever intro using HLAE and premiere pro, I realised that it takes a lot of time and effort to create a nice smooth intro. With HLAE you had to create camera paths which the camera would follow of course, this is the part that took the longest as the slightest shake of the mouse would ruin the whole cinematic shot, overall it took me about an hour or so just to create the cinematic shot that lasts 15 seconds. I think my try at it didn't look the worst but also not the best, the text looks a bit basic and could of had a bit more effects on it. I also think I could of made the camera movement a tiny bit smoother when it was turning round corner etc. The thing I would do differently if I was to redo this intro, would be make the camera path a bit smoother around corners and also make the text a bit more bold and effective and not make it look so basic. I think that it fits into my project as this is the type of intro I will be going for in my final video but probably in a different location as this one seemed a bit too hard to work with ( of course I'm not going to go with the easiest location but this one was a bit complicated at times and I think I might start stressing if I can't get it right in my final piece). I didn't really come across any issues, the only issues I had were making the turns smooth and also actually knowing how to use everything in the program which took me a bit to learn about. I think I will try and re create this exact intro again but fix the issues I had which were; text too basic and the camera movement wasn't smooth enough when turning around corners.
Feedback from Professional Editor
Second attempt at intro:
INSERT VIDEO HERE WHEN COMPLETE
Colour grading
Here is a few examples of thumbnails I've liked and been inspired by:
The main thing that I like in this thumbnail is its simplicity which is something I always like going for because in my opinion simplicity is the key to creating something powerful as viewers won't have a lot to focus on and won't get lost in the thumbnail or whatever it is you're creating. The only thing that I would change in this thumbnail would possibly be the picture as it shows them winning a tournament, I would personally go for a picture of the whole team, like in the thumbnail below. I would also add some text like 'The Virtus Plow- Polish Beasts' or ' Documentary about Virtus Pro' so the viewers know what they will be watching, I also like the colours in this as they represent the team and I will be sticking with those colours to continue to represent the team.
This thumbnail has to be my favourite as it has the team logo, picture of the team and a bit about the team it self, it also is simple but really eye catching. I will most likely design mine around this one as it has everything I would want mine to have in it.All I would change in mine would be the information, I would add the title of the video and what the video is. I will use the same colours that this thumbnail has, also probably use the same image if I can find it in better quality online.Overall this is thumbnail for me is the ideal thumbnail for my video.
This has to be my least favourite thumbnail. There is too mch going on in the thumbnail and it looks a bit too messy, looks like someone grabs images and just thrown them onto a background. One thing I like from this thumbnail is going to be the font used as it's simple but bold. I will try my best to find out what the font is called and I will use it in my final thumbnail.
Here is a few pop out overlays I could create:
This is by far my favourite one. The thing I would change in this one if I was to re create a similar one is the text font and the layout. In my opinion the text is a bit too basic compared to the logo. The thing that I like in about the logo is the glow around it that makes it stand out from the rest, I would probably want to either add a glow to the text or change the whole layout of it to fit in with how the logo looks like.
How to create thumbnail
On YouTube there is tens if not hundreds of thumbnail templates designed specifically for creating one for counter-strike, that is not something I will be taking advantage of as I think that is just an easy way out and is also not showing what you create because all you do is un hide some layers and hide some and you have a decent looking thumbnail created. The issues with this is that it's not really your work as it's from a template and also you can't really challenge yourself or show of your abilities. It's an option that a lot of people use but I prefer to do learn it myself and re-create something I was inspired by
This was the first YouTube tutorial I came across. It didn't really help me out a lot as the majority of the video was blasted with loud music and had little commentary on top of it. There was moments in the video that were sped up as well which wasn't helpful. In my opinion this tutorial wasn't helpful and my next step from this will be to find another one that will be more helpful and I can actually learn from. I will not be creating a draft attempt from this video as I haven't learnt anything from it.
This YouTuber is one I watched a lot before to get some basic tips on editing on Photoshop work, he is a well know creator and creates a lot of short videos that help people out. In my opinion this video was helpful as he explained a few basic things and went over some detail on how to create a thumbnail. He didn't go into further detail and the smaller detail like colour correction etc, which you wouldn't expect from a 6 minute video to fit all this information into. The way I will use the information from this video is I will try and create a basic thumbnail. My idea is that my next step from this video will be to try and re create the thumbnail he made whilst watching the video and following step by step and seeing the issues I run into and any problems which I will document below.
Step by step:
So I followed the tutorial step by step, of course I didn't have the same images as him so I had to grab them from google,also I changed the title to make more sense.
Step 1:
So first I had to create a canvas which was 1920x1080 pixels. After that I had to find an image of a location in the game and place it onto the canvas and make it the same size as the canvas, I had to make sure i'm not ruining the aspect ratio.
Step 2:
After that I had to add a blur to the image so that the focus isn't on the background. I used 'Gaussian blur' and had to set it to the right amount so that the background is blurred but not too badly so that you basically can't see anything.
Step 3:
Then, I had to add an image of the player models and the game logo. With this I had to make sure the there is no background, if there was then I would have to remove it using the magic wand tool. I then set it to the correct size I wanted remembering to keep the aspect ratio the same. I then placed it in the spot I wanted that was that step complete.
Step 4:
The final step, was to add text. I decided to use 'The Black Font' on the first line of text 'Test Thumbnail #1' I added a stroke, a gradient, glow and a shadow, this made the text stand out a bit more from what it was at the start. To the second line of text 'Basic Thumbnail' all I changed was the gradient overlay, I changed it to orange to make it stand out more.
Final Piece:
Evaluation:
After completing this basic thumbnail I realised that with these skills it will be the perfect opportunity to use them to create my pop outs in the video with the players name etc. In my opinion, my attempt look good, it's simple and basic there was nothing hard that I came across, only small issue was the magic wand tool which at moments didn't work correctly but managed to get it to work at the end. I also think that this thumbnail fits into my project partially it fits in the sense its a basic thumbnail with the game and I can replace the images of the models to the team players and change the text, but my aim is not to create something as simple as this. The thing I'm going to do next is look for more tutorials and learn a bit more about creating thumbnails so that I can create the best thumbnail for my video. I will return to this when creating pop outs in the video most likely but that would be the most I would do with this tutorial.
This was by far the most helpful tutorial I found. It was long and had a lot of explanations in it. I was able to learn a lot of things from this video. In the video the person goes over every small and big detail to make the thumbnail stand out and make it look good. I will use this tutorial to create my first attempt at a thumbnail and see my skills and my abilities at creating my very first thumbnail. My goal after this video is to watch it and step by step and create the same kind of thumbnail as his. After that I will try again but create a my own type still using the same concept.
Step by step:
After watching the video again and following each step I managed to create my own version of the thumbnail, the image I was able to find online and same as the font, I was able to get it from the video. The video was pretty well detailed on how to do each step, there was moments where the person was confused himself but at the end he managed to explain it very well. All I changed in my version was the colour and the text so that it's not a complete copy. I also changed the colours that he used.
Step 1:
To start off all I had to do was find the image I wanted to use and place it onto the canvas and make sure it fits in and I had to remember to not ruin the aspect ratio.
Step 2:
The next thing I had to do was mask over the weapon with the pen tool, this took a bit of time to do and I had to make sure that I've gone over each part of the weapon and hand so that there isn't any places that are missing and would ruin the look. I had to do it a few times as I missed it a few times and didn't do it smoothly enough (going too far away from the weapon leaving too much background in the mask).
Step 3:
Step 4:
Then, I had to click onto the 'rectangular marquee tool' and again right click in the middle of the selection and click 'Layer Via Copy' this will create a copy of the mask I did around the weapon, this will allow me to create the effects of a shadow and any strokes etc.
Step 5:
After that, I had to change the white background to white and change the opacity of my background down so it creates the effect above. The point of this was to darken the background but keep the weapon bright and in focus of the thumbnail.
Step 6:
This step was all up to preference and I could do whatever colour I wanted to. I decided to stick to the colour of the weapon to make it stand out a bit more. All I had to do was go into blending options and play around with each option until I created an effect I was happy with. The blending effects I used were Inner glow, Inner shadow, Satin, Gradient overlay and Outer Glow. With all these options I stuck to the colour orange to make it fit in with the weapon.
Step 7:
After that, I had to create the text. I used the font 'Long Shot' and I stuck to the same colours used in the blending options for the weapon. I had to create the text and then go into blending options and again, play around with each effect to create an effect I was happy with. The effects I ended up using were Stroke, Gradient overlay, Outer Glow and Drop shadow. Also, to create the tilt effect of the text I had to go into Edit -> Transform -> Perspective. Again like before I had to play around to see in which variant the text would look the best.
Step 8:
The final step, I had to get a brush and make it extremely big, I then had to zoom out and do small strokes around the canvas to give it a bit of a orange glow. I left out the top where I added a stroke of white to make it stick out a bit more. It's not really noticeable but it does create a nice effect compared to not using it at all.
Final Piece
Evaluation:
After completing this thumbnail with the help of the video, I learn't a few tips and skills to make a thumbnail and I think with the skills I learn't from this video I am almost fully confident with creating my final thumbnail that I will use in the documentary. I think my attempt looked good, there was a few issues which I will try and fix next time which was the masking, I think I could of made it a lot cleaner than it is. It's not terrible but could be better of course. The thing I would do different the next time I try and create a thumbnail like this is of course use different images and the main thing would be the masking. I think I can also try and play around with the effects a bit, experiment with different colours and see if it would look better that way. This thumbnail fits in really well into my project as I can easily replace a few things in the thumbnail and create my final one using it, it has the colours I want to use it's got the simplicity I'm going for in mine and it also fits into the topic.
I will try and re create another thumbnail using this tutorial but do it without watching it and use completely different images. I will try and improve the issues I ran into before and try and experiment with other colours.
Attempt 2 at thumbnail:
Evaluation
After creating my own version of this thumbnail with completely different images and not using the tutorial just trying to remember it. I was able to come out with a thumbnail that I really liked and am proud of. With this one I had to do a few things differently. I wanted to blur the background out but if I did it normally it would also blur the weapon, so after masking out the weapon which I took a lot more time on this time and made sure it's extremely clean I had to make a copy of the weapon and then blur out the background on the first copy. This only blurred the background as the weapon is a separate layer and is higher in the layer order. Overall I think the outcome of this thumbnail was a lot better than the first one I made. Personally if I was to create another thumbnail I wouldn't change anything in the way I created the thumbnail, the only things I would change of course would be the images I use and the colours I will use. As I said before this thumbnail fits in very well into my project and I could easily change it around to create my final thumbnail that I will use in my final video. I already have a picture in my head of how I want the thumbnail to look and it won't look like any of these most likely. With this thumbnail I didn't run into any issues as I knew what I was doing so I didn't find anything too difficult as it was all straight forward and easy to do.
Attempt at overlay
After creating this simple overlay I realised that it's not going to take me a lot of time when creating my final one meaning that I will be able to locate the time I was prepared to use on creating this on other things that would be a lot more important and beneficial. I think overall my outcome of the overlay was good, I really liked how the text came out with effects on it. The only thing I think could of come out a bit better was the logo. I think that the orange circle is a bit too plain and hasn't got any effect to it to make it pop out a bit more, it's not a crucial thing but will be a thing I will make sure to remember to do when creating my final video. The thing I would do differently when creating my final one will be to play around with the effects a bit more on the logo of the team to make it stand out a bit more and be a bit more punchy. I think that this fits in perfectly into my project and I will probably end up using this exact font and the effect on the text in my final video. Overall in creating this overlay I didn't run into any difficulties or issues, it was a pretty basic, easy and fast thing to create, of course I could of made it take me a lot longer to make if I wanted to make it extremely punchy and effective but this was just my first attempt at it so I didn't want to spend a lot of time on this.
Colour Pallet
This colour pallet is for my thumbnail and overlay I will have in the videos. The reasons I picked these colours is because I wanted it to fit in with the team and the colours they have as their logo. The teams logo used to consist of orange and white before they re-branded and changed it to purple and green. I will be sticking to the old colours because it's about the players that played in the team back in the day so I want it to fit in correctly. I also picked a few colours similar to orange because I will be using them to create effects such as a stroke or shadow and to not make it all look basic sticking to one colour. The darker colours will be mainly for text and maybe some outlining.
Font
Font for thumbnail and overlay
I picked a few fonts to play around with, I will be using these throughout the video and also in my thumbnail that I will make. I decided to stick to basic fonts as I didn't want something too complicated and too over the top. I got all these fonts from DaFont.com. My least favourite font has to be 'Long Shot' in my opinion I think it's too complicated and just doesn't look like it will fit into any of the things I might need to use it for. My favourite has to be 'Azonix' as it's basic but really effective and I will definitely be using it in my thumbnail and probably in my overlays as well. I will probably use 'OK-Esport' for my intro and any video edits that I will have to add text that won't be an overlay. Overall I like all of the fonts but only some of these in my opinion fully suit what I will need them for.
Sketch of thumbnail idea
Research about the team:
About organisation
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtus.pro
https://liquipedia.net/counterstrike/Virtus.pro
- Russian e-sport organisation founded on 1 November 2003 by Sergey Glamazda
- It has division in a lot of other video games not only CSGO, such as Dota 2, League of Legends, Fortnite and others.
- In 2014 (January 25) Virtus.Pro signed the 5 players that formed the most historical line up in CS:GO history, they went of and won their first major that year (EMS One Katowice 2014) but then getting disqualified in the quarterfinal of ESL One Cologne 2014 by Team LDLC.
- 2015 was one of the worst years for Virtus Pro, as they didn't win any major events, the only even they won was ESEA 18th season which is an online tournament. That was one of the dips in their E-Sport history and people started doubting their skills.
- 2016, Virtus Pro made it to the quarterfinals once again of a major but unfortunate didn't end up winning it. Later in the year they came 1st in the Inaugural ELeague season. In December of that year they also announced that they will be re-signing the same roster for another four years.
- 2017 was the last year of the amazing Virtus. Pro, it was also their best year in history where they came 2nd times winning combined total of $250,000 and also coming first at DreamHack Master in Las Vegas where they won another $200,000
- In 2018, Virtus.Pro didn't qualify for any tournaments, they failed to even qualify for the easiest one that they always qualify for. It was the worst year in their history. In December of that year they decided to do a roster change getting rid of the veterans and replacing them with youth players.
- In 2019 Virtus.Pro had a complete re-branding changing their colours and throughout the year they changed their roster again and this time signed all of the players from the AVANGAR team which turned Virtus.Pro's CSGO team from a Polish team to a Kazakhstan team and this also made it the end of Polish Pro team in Counter-Strike.
Jaroslaw 'PashaBiceps' Jarzabkowski
Sources:
https://www.esportsearnings.com/players/1488-pashabiceps-jaroslaw-jarzabkowski
https://liquipedia.net/counterstrike/PashaBiceps
https://www.hltv.org/player/317/pashaBiceps
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ij7eSGISPls
- Jaroslaw Jarzabkowski AKA PashaBiceps
- Born April 11 1988 (32)
- Been playing Cs since 2004.
- In 204 we was voted the 3rd best player of the year by HLTV
- Before becoming a professional player he was a streamer and live streamed all his games, this is one of the ways he showed himself of to the world and had some big people being interested in him because of his unique play style.
- His play style is completely different to others, each round he decides himself what he wants to do and how he wants to play compared to others that listen to the coach telling them what to do.
- He was playing on amateur level until 2010, in 2011 he joined his first professional team ''ESC gaming' and won the last Cs 1.6 tournament.
- From 2012 until 2014 he was without a team and was constantly practising on the newly realised game.
- During his career he has won over $600,000 as of 2020.
- He retired at the end of 2019 but announced he will continue to live stream on twitch
- Pasha had the biggest impact on the team he was the player that everyone would look up to in the team and would try and play of his energy and motivation. If he had a bad day then that would impact the way each player performs.
- He's a beloved community figure and a role model for a lot of younger people.
- Pasha is a very open player and is the most liked and valued player probably in all of e-sport not only in Counter Strike. There is nothing you anyone can dislike about him, he's always friendly, happy and always offers help for others.
- After becoming joining Virtus.Pro Pasha said one of his goals is to rebuild a park in his small town in Poland where he grew up and also to buy his family a house.
- He is currently rated the 4th best player in Poland.
- His goal after retiring is to open a gym or start his own e-sport organisation
Sources:
https://liquipedia.net/counterstrike/Snax
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1Rvwu4KD54&t=65s
https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janusz_Pogorzelski
https://www.hltv.org/player/2553/Snax
- Janusz Pogorzelski AKA Snax
- Born July 5 1993(26)
- Snax started playing Counter-strike in 2000 (aged 7) in an internet cafe owned by his parents, at the start he only played the game for fun with his friends and didn't take it seriously
- in 2009 he joined his first ever team 'Voodoo'
- From the year 2010-2014 he has played in 4 other teams in both counter strike 1.6 and counter-strike:global offensive
- Snax is a really confident player, as well Pasha he is also a role model for a lot of the younger people and is probably one of the most liked people in the e-sport community jsut based on his personality.
- He was rated in the top 10 best player in the word for 3 years straight by HLTV
- Overall in his career he has earned over $600,000 just from tournament wins, this doesn't include his contract with teams and any sponsorship's deals he does or any other ways he earns his money
- He had a really big impact on the team as when he perfomed really well he was able to eliminate any player in his way.
- Snaxs main strengths were that he had incredible aim and also his focus and precision was on another level.
- He's currently ranked the number 1 player in all of Poland
- He's still playing counter-strike professionaly but for a different team after leaving Virtus.Pro in 2018, he plays for 'Illuminar Gaming'
Wiktor 'TaZ' Wojtas
Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOuw640cST0 (Polish Interview)
https://www.hltv.org/stats/players/161/TaZ
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TaZ
https://liquipedia.net/counterstrike/TaZ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77HZjP6f5Hk
https://www.hltv.org/stats/players/161/TaZ
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TaZ
https://liquipedia.net/counterstrike/TaZ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77HZjP6f5Hk
- Wiktor Wojtas AKA Taz
- Born June 6 1986 (33)
- Taz has been playing professional Counter-Strike since 2004 joining his first pro team 'Pentagram G-Shock'
- Taz was still at university and was struggling to combine studying and gaming. He had to make a really big life changing decision, if he wants to become an pro player or to become a lawyer or solicitor
- His first big achievement was becoming the best in his internet cafe and being able to play for free.
- It took Taz 15 years to achieve the point he was at which was also his dream.
- He also started playing Counter-Strike in an internet cafe like the other VP players.
- Taz and Neo(Another ex player for vp) played together for over a decade straight
- Taz is a really funny and energetic player that always looks at making his team the best and not only looking at himself.
- He's always wanted to prove that even though he's in his early 30's he can still beat and dominate a lot of the younger players in the e-sport scene, which he has been successful at a lot of times already.
- Overall in his career he has earned over $700,000 in just tournament wins not including his contract with the team and any sponsorship deals he has done, making him the 3rd richest e-Sport player in Poland
- Taz's main strength were probably his ability to stay calm under high pressure and also having incredible aim
- He was ranked the 6th best player of 2011 by HLTV
- At one point he was the oldest major champion
- Currently ranked 3rd best player in Poland
Pawel 'Byali' Bielinski
Sources:
https://liquipedia.net/counterstrike/Byali
https://www.hltv.org/player/5386/byali
https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pawe%C5%82_Bieli%C5%84ski_(e-sportowiec)
- Pawel Bielinski AKA Byali
- Born April 30 1994 (25)
- He career first started in a semi-pro team in cs 1.6, in 2013 he joined his first pro team in the new realised Counter-Strike game.
- Was ranked the 13th best player of 2014 by HLTV
- Byali played the hardest role in the team, and because of this he was able to really show of his skills and become the 2nd best player for Virtus Pro.
- He has won over $550,000 from tournament winnings alone, this doesn't include his contract with the team and any sponsorship deals.
- After leaving Virtus.Pro he decided to not play for a team anymore and focus on streaming and YouTube instead.
Sources
https://liquipedia.net/counterstrike/NEO
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEO_(video_game_player)
https://www.hltv.org/stats/players/165/NEO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAiU9MO2aVg&t=56s
- Neo Kubski AKA Neo
- Born June 15 1987 (32)
- Neo started playing at age of 17 with his dad and neighbours.
- Neo has been playing Counter-Strike since 2002 and since 2004 he played with one teammate all the time without a break (Taz)
- Neo is considered to be a mechanically gifted player with an intelligent mind for the game.
- Neo was voted the best player of the decade in 2010. In 2007 and 2008 he won the eSports award for Player of the year. Again in 2011 he was rated by HLTV as the best player of the year. He is considered to be one of if not the best player in Counter-Strike history.
- Neo is considered to be a very gentle and calm person and knows how to deal with stresful situations in game. He is also considered to be a very humble person, maybe a bit too humble, for the success he has achieved in life.
- Overall in his career Neo has earned over $740,000 from tournament wins, making him the 2nd richest e-Sport player in Poland.
Downfall of Virtus.Pro
Sources
https://luckbox.com/esports-news/article/virtus-pro-decline-polish-csgo-iem-katowice
https://www.hotspawn.com/the-death-of-virtus-pro-and-the-future-of-polish-csgo/
https://www.dailyesports.gg/the-gradual-demise-of-virtus-pro/
https://www.rivalry.com/esports/downfall-virtus-pro
- Virtus.Pro had a few situations where the fans and the community thoughts it's over for them, in 2017 is when people say the downfall started after losing in their major final against another team with only 2 rounds difference.
- After htis loss, VP couldn't even qualify for the easiest of tournaments and majors, coming close to last in all of them.
- Each time Virtus.Pro had a situation they were on a decline they were able to bounce back and show just how good they are and that they cannot be stopped
- The issue with the team was, because the played with the same roster for so long, only changing one player will not solve the issue as if they replace a player for a weakness of his, they won't find a player with the strengths he has. So when it finally came to changing one player, the team never played the same and quickly
- Even though VP were one of the top teams, they weren't a skill full team, the lacked good tactics but the tactics they did have were unique and no one could replicate the same with their skill, each player had something no other player could ever have.
- Their plays were chaotic but that is what created an alarming and terror feeling in their opponents
- There is also no players or teams close to the level and skill that Virtus.Pro had, and in everyone's eyes Poland will most likely never again see a medal or Championship being earned in Counter-Strike and after more than 4 years it's also most likely the end of e-Sport in Poland and a chance to reach any level close to this every again.
Voice-over
Quick notes:
Costs will be around £60-£160 which is something I'm capable of paying. Prices differ for the person I go with as each person charges different amounts for the amount of words in the script. I will have to look at the most valuable ones where I will look at the price for the amount of words in my script, turnaround time, amount of revisions and most importantly the voice.
Currently exploring on a website called fiverr and have found a few options and i'm in contact with them trying to get the best deal possible.
Script for video:
Pasha:
One of the core principles of virtus pro, is that their team was basically built around Pasha. One of the reasons it was built around Pasha is not was he one of the best players in Counter-Strike and can have great impact. He was the kind of player that would decide what he would do each round and play the way he wants and feels comfortable doing kind of impulsively. he wouldn't play like everyone else that would get told where to play and how to play each round. When he was on his game and was able to do the things he wanted he had a massive impact not only on the outcome of the game but also on the team.
Links to clips I will cut bits from:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77HZjP6f5Hk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAiU9MO2aVg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1Rvwu4KD54
Hi Jakub, your ideas has some legs to it, however how you execute it needs to changed and expanded. The frag-movie genre is too small scope for an FMP, we would be expecting something grander and more professional, such as a documentary. At present your current idea would not lead to a pass of the FMP. Please rethink in terms of what you could do, a documentary using found footage + original would be much more suited to this kind of project. I am aware that this might be disheartening feedback to hear, however, it is not necessarily a bad idea just needs to be executed differently. By doing so, you should produce a higher quality artefact and feel more rewarded
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