Video Editing Guide

By Dave "dgor" Gorman


Intro:

A well-edited video, from a game or from the real world, can have a real impact on any audience. The right timing, sequencing and soundtrack can transform even a relatively basic video into a masterpiece. These short (around 3-5 minutes) videos captured from games are what we'll be concentrating on in this topic - but the basic principals apply to any short movie. 

Many examples of these videos captured in Flight Simulator can be found on YouTube, Google Video and FS2004.com . A lot of inspiring (but real-world) aviation movies are also made by American Airlines pilot Kent Wien; www.kentwien.com

Before we begin, here are a few pointers on what you'll need for video editing:

Hard-drive space: Applications which capture directly from games rarely have time to encode the video. This means that even the clips needed for a short video will take up a good few gigabytes before you edit them. Don't worry though, the size decreases a lot when you are done editing

Memory (RAM):  Video editing eats up RAM at a phenomenal rate. A recommended minimum is 1GB - I have 1GB and my editor frequently crashes as it runs out of RAM - with the big un-encoded raw files, that's just the way it is and you have to deal with it. Remember to save your work after completing a section or whatever, so that if your system does hang you won't lose very much.

CLICK ON PICTURE FOR FULL SIZE VIEW

 

The FRAPS window in the "Video" tab. Note the options for video and sound recording, including where the raw video files will be saved. The unprocessed movie files take up a lot of space on the hard drive. This will dramatically decrease once edited.


Something to capture the footage: In games the number one choice for video capture is FRAPS. It's payware but a trial version is available; www.fraps.com

A video editor: Such as Windows Movie Maker. But you knew that by now, right? ( Not me Dave!)

Patience: Video editing takes time, and you can be certain that there'll be more than a few crashes, freezes, illegal operations, and plenty of other bugs we have Microsoft to thank for before you're done. In particular, it is easy to run out of RAM which makes your system very unstable and will most likely cause the video editor to hang.

First, a quick note about FRAPS. Many users report a massive drop in frame rate when using FRAPS. To get good performance whilst recording it is important to get the settings right. Firstly, set it to record at half the resolution. This makes both smaller files and dramatically increases performance. Next, set it to record at around 20FPS. 20 is the best balance between smooth movies and a good file size. If you are planning to just add music to your movie, you can save a few FPS by un-checking Record Sound too.

Already supplied with most computers is Microsoft's Windows Movie Maker. As video editors go it's pretty basic but everybody has it and it's simple enough to be useful for beginners. WMM and most other modern editors use a storyboard-type interface which lets you adjust speed, cropping and synchronisation fairly easily. This is very difficult to explain in words but once you see the layout you will probably have a good idea of where to go. Basically each video clip can be dragged-and-dropped into the storyboard on the bottom of the screen.
 

To start making the video merely drag and drop the video files into the storyboard at the bottom. You can preview the movie by selecting a clip and hitting the Play button on the right-hand window.


Sounds (such as music) can also be layered on top of the clips to give a nice accompaniment. Again, this all sounds a lot harder than it is in WMM - the layout is good and users should have no problem understanding it. Text can also be added, and there are a number of text movement styles and transitions to be selected from too. When you have finished your movie there is a Publish function available in the File menu which will let you build your movie in a video format such as .WMV. It's a good idea to keep the WMM file too, to make future editing easier.

Now that the technical stuff has been explained, here are some pointers that I like to use when creating my own movies:

Edit to music: A good song in the background can make all the difference. Try to pick a song that fits the mood you are trying to achieve in the video (in many cases I don't even start to make a movie until I have a good song to go with it). When you've done that, a nice touch (but not always a necessary one) is to manipulate clips clips to fit the rhythm of the music. I try to do this so that different clips coincide with verses and choruses in the music. A wide selection of royalty-free music is available here: www.freeplaymusic.com - however, I emailed them and if you want to put your video on the internet for anyone to download, you are required to buy a license. There is also a lot of royalty-free music here: www.vistaoz.org/music - you may also be able to get a song written for you if you're lucky!

CLICK ON PICTURE FOR FULL SIZE VIEW

 

Music or other audio files can be imported in the same way as videos (so can pictures). Just drag it onto the storyboard or Audio/Music layer of the timeline.

Use the "Save Movie File" option from the File menu to build your video into a proper WMV movie file.


Transitions: These can make or break a video. Subtle transitions at the right time have a really good effect, however new users in particular tend to get "addicted" to transitions and overuse them. Again, try to use the background music (if any) to decide what will fit better: a slow transition or an immediate snap to the next scene.

Text: Again, text can have a nice effect but it's important not to overdo things. Try to have the text colour and font co-ordinated throughout the video, and experiment with the different effects to find one that best suits your movie.

Tip: (which I have Mutley himself to thank for) is to add the following line under the [MAIN] section of your fs9.cfg or fsx.cfg file: HideInfoText=1 This works both in FS9 and FSX, it stops all on-screen messages from appearing and whilst it can make flying a little more difficult you get a nice clean video without annoying FS messages!


Of course, Windows Movie Maker isn't the only editing software out there. Many payware alternatives are more powerful but require more knowledge to operate than WMM. On the other hand, practice makes perfect, so by all means experiment with the more advanced editors if you want. At the moment I use PureMotion's EditStudio 4. I find it very useful but it tends to be quite unstable with larger videos as it runs out of RAM.

Hopefully that has been of some use to you. I am always happy to help people out with any problems they might be having so do feel free to drop me an email.

Below there is a link to a sample of my latest work Vertigo. This is my Flight AAL442 (with Mut himself onboard, from SFO to MIA. 6 hrs 30 mins of flying, 4 hours editing, and 2 hours building and uploading. Phew!
 

Vertigo
(23mb download wmv format)

Email dave.1337computers@hotmail.co.uk

 
  Mutley says.. . . .

If this whets your appetite for video editing then Dave's job here is done!

  

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