[CsMB]Gib007 Interview
World in Conflict Heaven: First off, tell everybody what kind of gamer you are. How long have you been playing and what do you prefer?
Kayron “[CsMB]Gib007” Mercieca: Originally I’m actually more of an FPS fan. I started back in the old days of Doom and Wolfenstein 3D and moved on to Quake and Unreal. I think the first ever RTS game I played was more of a hybrid between an FPS and an RTS; it was Battlezone. These days I’m still more of an FPS fan than RTS…if you’ve played Crysis and Unreal Tournament 3 you’ll know where I stand hahaha. I still do play RTS games as well…I’m a very big fan of the Command & Conquer series, especially Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars and more so, World in Conflict. I’ve found myself playing a bit of Colin McRae DiRT every now and then too so I’m quite open when it comes to games. These days I find it hard to have a lot of time for games though, being on my Masters year of a Physics degree, but I still keep up with them.
World in Conflict Heaven: Now, tell us a bit about how were introduced to World in Conflict and what your first thought of it was.
Kayron “[CsMB]Gib007” Mercieca: World in Conflict was one of those games that seemed to appear out of no-where for me. I wasn’t aware the developers of World in Conflict were also the developers of the legendary Ground Control series. If I had known that from the start, I would have paid more attention to World in Conflict, knowing their style of RTS games (more combat based than resource management, which is a refreshing change and very violent). I played the World in Conflict open beta a few months back and quite liked it, but it wasn’t too optimised at the time so it didn’t run very well on my system, and I didn’t play it much from then. When I downloaded the actual demo, I only played skirmishes, and it wasn’t too interesting, so I was still thinking if I wanted to buy the game or not. However, when I showed the game to my brother and tried it online and got used to the feel of it, I was stunned and immediately pre-ordered it from Play.com. The sheer violence, combat-based tactics, teamwork, realism, and purely amazing graphics were just too much to take in one single game!
World in Conflict Heaven: When you heard there was going to be a movie maker tool, what was your initial reaction? Did you think to yourself “yeah, that’s for me” or what?
Kayron “[CsMB]Gib007” Mercieca: At first I wasn’t even thinking of making movies for World in Conflict. I hadn’t been doing it for a few years, and so the thought didn’t cross my mind, all I wanted was the game to play it online. As time passed though, that instinct surfaced when I first played around with replays and I got hold of Fraps to record some clips and see what I could do with Adobe Premiere Pro after so much time. Of course, the camera movements were flaky since I was using the mouse to pan. The announcement of the Movie Maker Tool however was the ‘straw that broke the camel’s back’, it was too much to ask from Massive Entertainment to produce such a high-quality game (even for movie making) and also throw such a tool at us to use! I wasn’t fully aware of its features or how it worked when it was announced but had a good idea of what could be done with it. Ultimately, I held off making “Bombshell” (my first movie) until the tool was released…I wanted to take full advantage of the game’s capabilities for movie making so that I could make something amazing. Until the tool was released, “Bombshell” was but a soundtrack in a video-less Adobe Premiere Pro project!
World in Conflict Heaven: What experience have you had with this kinda thing in the past? Ever designed for games before?
Kayron “[CsMB]Gib007” Mercieca: I’ve only ever been making movies for one other game in the past, Lock On: Modern Air Combat. That’s another genre of game I’m into, but not as much these days. Since the game offered very high-class graphics (for the time), full control of the camera, and a map editor, it was perfect for movie making so this is when I learned the tricks of the trade and how to use Adobe Premiere Pro. It may surprise you that I don’t particularlly have any extra experience in movie making aside from one movie I made for Lock On: Modern Air Combat and the two World in Conflict movies “Bombshell” and “Infinitus Ruina”. I’ve not had the honour of producing a trailer for a game though (as of yet I hope!), which is something I’d be more than willing to do.
World in Conflict Heaven: What inspired you to make “Bombshell” and “Infinitus Ruina”?
Kayron “[CsMB]Gib007” Mercieca: “Bombshell”, being my first movie, was inspired by the graphical brilliance and continuous destruction offered by World in Conflict. Just playing through the replays I had saved, seeing everything exploding and the action unfolding constantly, pushed me to movie making and what I really wanted to make was a movie that was fast-paced and had attitude to really be complemented by an equally inspiring soundtrack. I think it turned out quite well, being my first actual movie and using the tool!
For “Infinitus Ruina” I must really thank all of you who have been so inspiring in your comments on “Bombshell”...your comments have actually given me further encouragement to keep at it. For the second movie I wanted more of a holistic feel and to be more chronological and single-event based than “Bombshell”. This is what made me choose a single replay to base the movie on and a soundtrack that would give a holistic feel to the destruction. It actually took me about three days to choose a soundtrack although when I first thought of what kind of movie I wanted to make, I knew exactly which replay to use and went for a match I recently played on the Hillside assault map. The map itself was also perfect graphically because of the ‘calm, little town’ feel of it with all the houses, the picturesque river, the farm, etc, and to have several carpet bombings ravage all of that was simply the best way to present my idea. hahaha.
World in Conflict Heaven: How much time and effort did you put
into both projects?
Kayron “[CsMB]Gib007” Mercieca: Given my lack of spare time these days, I can’t usually afford to sit down on my computer for two or three days straight to produce a movie, although that’s usually what it would take me if I work throughout the whole day once I have an idea and soundtrack selected. For both projects what I did was first decide on an idea of what to present, and a soundtrack to go along with the idea. Once I’ve got that set out, I go through replays several times, just moving the camera around to check out what I can capture (I do this for a single replay if it’s something like my second movie). This in turn inspires my idea, and I basically play through the soundtrack in Adobe Premiere Pro in parts to identify the feel of the music and key components of the soundtrack that would go well with specific things happening like a build-up to combat, a calmed scene, sheer destruction, holistic-sense combat, slow- motion events, etc, every soundtrack has its unique components and going through the soundtrack many times in parts allowed me to identify the key points to complement with specific video clips.
As I add video clips on to the video tracks in Adobe Premiere Pro, I edit the clips to time perfectly with the music and to have certain produced effects such as blurring and specific transitions that would go well at that point in the soundtrack and would complement previous and future transitions (‘simple’ does it a lot of the time, it just has to be perfectly complemented by everything as a whole). I also listen to the bits of soundtrack straight after the video clips I’ve just added to get an idea for what should go on there to maintain both the feel and the quality of what I’m producing. Overall, it took me about three weeks for “Bombshell” and two weeks for “Infinitus Ruina” although this was on and off as I would spend say three hours one day working on them and then the next two days I wouldn’t have time to spare but the following day I’d spend another two or three hours, etc. It takes time to decide what to record for a part of the soundtrack, to set up the camera to complement the soundtrack and previous and future footage and then to process the video clip in VirtualDub, and import it into the project to make sure it’s timed perfectly and looks great.
World in Conflict Heaven: What was the biggest challenge for
you making the two movies?
Kayron “[CsMB]Gib007” Mercieca: Given that I had previous experience and knowledge of what it takes to make a movie for a game in terms of what software to use, how to use the software, etc, the first challenge was mastering the Movie Maker Tool, although that in itself was well documented in the manual released by Massive Entertainment, so it was just a case of practice to see what it can do and how to do it efficiently. I guess it goes without saying that the biggest challenge in making the movies was in the editing. Having to time everything perfectly with the soundtrack, maintain the feel of the original idea the movie is based on and keep the viewer inspired to watch by producing something that complements itself in every way isn’t an easy feat. You can record many things with the Movie Maker Tool, you can even throw in good camera angles and slow-motion effects to get stunning clips but when it comes to sitting on Adobe Premiere Pro and editing everything to be perfectly timed and to go very well with the soundtrack and the rest of the clips and at the same time continuously inspire the idea of the movie is a whole different story.
World in Conflict Heaven: What kind of advice can you give to
new movie makers who may want to avoid the common problems
associated with learning a new tool?
Kayron “[CsMB]Gib007” Mercieca: First and foremost, decide on an idea to base your movie on. An idea would be certain main events the movie covers and a feel for it (what the viewer should be feeling when watching your movie). The choice of soundtrack is critical at this stage. Just imagine any normal movie, a horror movie say…what would it be like if it had no music whatsoever or just very badly timed and badly suited music?
The soundtrack should not only complement the idea and feel of your proposed movie, but also have certain parts that you can time stuff to…key notes, if you will. One of the hardest parts is over when you’ve got a concrete idea and a soundtrack to go with it. You need to sort out what software you need and for what purpose. Personally, I recommend you record clips with the Movie Maker Tool, even if compressed, and then use VirtualDub (which is free) to cut out the exact part of the recorded clip you want, apply some form of compression and also resize the clips to the final movie’s resolution. If you want to extract sounds and music from World in Conflict itself, there’s a tool called WinSDF for WiC you can use to open the game’s SDF files and extract files you can dub into your final product (given that the Movie Maker Tool doesn’t record audio). Finally, the main software…the program you will use to actually produce the final product. I’d recommend you have a look at Adobe Premiere Pro as it offers everything you’d want and need and is very straightforward to use once you get used to the interface and the way of doing things.
Don’t dive straight into a masterpiece of a movie, although there’s absolutely no harm in learning while making new movies and having the community comment on them to provide you with constructive criticism (never be discouraged to continue to learn more and produce something better). It takes practice to get things ‘just right’ and it isn’t always easy to do, especially with certain soundtracks and ideas that might be hard to complement. When you’re listening to the soundtrack, listen carefully for key parts that suit your idea for the movie and how certain scenes would appropriately fit those parts. This is the defining difference between producing a masterpiece of a movie and just slapping lots of video clips together with some transitions and pasting a soundtrack to go with it. It’s also the reason why a single clip might take you 15 to 20 minutes to set up and record for a specific part of the soundtrack, when the clip is just say 5 to 6 seconds out of a 3 minute soundtrack…it’s hard work at the end of the day!
As per filming, a few tips. Don’t leave the camera alone. Unless you really are going for a still shot (and don’t over- use these in one single movie) overlooking a battlefield say, the camera shouldn’t stop moving, even if it’s just moving to the side and very slowly, it gives immersion and fluency. Don’t use tacky transitions between clips like twirling out and then pixelating in, use more conventional ones like fade in/out, cross-fading between clips, and just plainly switching to another clip instantly (the transition you use should fit the soundtrack at that particular part, e.g. you wouldn’t want to fade out slowly when a soundtrack takes off into a fast-paced mode!). Vary the way things are filmed…on some clips you might want to just pan the camera, on others you might want to pan the camera but also bank and on a few you might want to also add in camera shaking…it’s all in variation (not over- using whatever filming technique you use is the key to not being repetitive). When you insert text into the movie (say for the title, your name, etc), unless the soundtrack suits it, don’t just put text in instantly and without effect. Fade in/out, make the text move slowly across the screen (or up the screen for credits for example), use blurring to add to the fade in/out effects, etc, but not over-doing the complexity or using tacky effects…it is after all, just text!
Overall, keep watching the parts you complete as you complete them, go back a bit and watch it from there to see how it all fits together. If you can see your original idea being presented and you start feeling exactly what you meant the viewer to feel, you’re on the right track!
World in Conflict Heaven: Now, you’ve probably heard about the
Movie Maker Contest hosted by ESL. Any plans on what you’ll be
submitting for that?
Kayron “[CsMB]Gib007” Mercieca: My clan, CsMB, signed up to ESL for tournaments, and I noticed the movie maker contest while browsing their website. Immediately I took note of the e-mail address for submission of entries. This was already after having completed “Bombshell”. When I saw all the encouraging comments about it, I submitted a link to the FileFront download of “Bombshell”. My second movie, “Infinitus Ruina”, has also been submitted. I’ve yet to confirm their submission though as there doesn’t seem to be any system on the ESL website to check submissions associated with your account, etc.
World in Conflict Heaven: So what are your plans for the
future? Should fans look forward to a new masterpiece sometime
soon?
Kayron “[CsMB]Gib007” Mercieca: I’m a physicist, so my plans for the future are, specifically, to do another Masters next year and then start a PhD. Technically I’m not part of the games scene, just as a gamer like most of you in this great community! I do however really enjoy making movies, especially for games like World in Conflict, which is so amazing for it and that doesn’t come round often. I will indeed be working on more and more movies of World in Conflict in the near future. In fact, as I write this I’m planning an idea for a third movie and will then venture onto deciding on a soundtrack for it. There are currently no ideas for the name (first I need to decide on the idea of the movie) so I can’t really say much at this time for lack of details. Rest assured that at some point soon, possibly before December or around the beginning of December, there will be a third instalment. Eventually I’d like to work on a longer movie but in a team with at least one other movie maker so I’ll be looking at all your movies and probably asking if you want to partner up!
World in Conflict Heaven: Well thanks for the interview, [CsMB]
Gib007. I’m sure the fans will really enjoy reading it! Are
there any shout outs you’d like to give now that you’re “in the
spotlight” as it were?
Kayron “[CsMB]Gib007” Mercieca: Thank you very much for the opportunity to take part in this interview and thanks to all of you for the encouraging words, it’s certainly a great community to put the time and effort into making good movies for! I will indeed take this opportunity to thank Massive Entertainment for an outstanding game, my clan CsMB for encouraging me and even using my movies to advertise our tournaments and all of you again for forming such a great community. I look forward to publishing my next movie!
