Heh.
Cutscenes are a pain in the butt to do, and by the length and complexity of these, I just know Sui spent weeks working on them.
Yes, I agree you want to use Zooms sparingly. But I'll add the "flying camera" needs a sparing use as well, and for the same reason: it makes the viewer consciously aware of the camera and its motions.
In any case, there's a difference between zooming and changing the tight FOV. What I'm arguing for I guess is that a few of these shots could be taken out and replaced with a static camera at different FOVs.
Okay, I'll give you the ideas on how I'd do it. This is your project, so I expect you to do it your own way; but since you asked for specific shots, here's my take
.
For example in the intro cutscene, you introduce the NATO camp and Larche via a flying camera at what looks to me to be .7 FOV.
Let's see if I can remember the NATO sequence:
A) Camera Flies to LST, then turns inland and flies to shore, overflies camp, making a few left and right turns.
B) a few left -to-right moving camera shots on the ground (one a reverse angle of the other)
C) a camera moving to the rear shot on the ground, tracking a truck
A) is probably worth keeping, but I'd simplify it a bit (=cut down on the swerves. make it look like a high-speed flyby of the camp).
but I think you might get a slightly less unsettling perspective of the camp by swapping out some of the follow-on moving camera shots (B and C) for a sequence of static ones. I'm a sucker for Wide-Angle/Normal/CU/ECU progressions, but you don't have to take my pedantry.
For Larche, I might suggest something a little different. The flying camera there is a little problematic, since it muddles the voice. We see the observer: we expect to see what he sees. Then the camera flies to the town and shows us more. I'm a fan of the cliche'd here:
Start with a static shot of the observer from the front (FOV ca .5) . If you can make him keep the field glasses on his face, great. Cut to a reverse angle, over the shoulder, FOV of 1 or so. (maybe less -- you want to be able to make out larche and ants down there). cutrsc the cheezy binos and pan across the action, finishing on some recognizable structure (like the last house on the main street). Cut to a FOV .7 shot from that house, panning on the activity.
---
Okay, now here's a suggestion you can use. The last shot of the intro ("here's a hard copy") would benefit greatly from a telephoto FOV (maybe .3?) to compress the distance between the pair, and the helicopter in the background. Actually, in general don't be afraid to back the camera up and use telephoto on the dialogs.
(or in general. Was just watching BHD again the other night, and the number of telephoto shots is pretty impressive)
---
I have no problem with long cutscenes provided A) they're done well, B) savegames are stationed around them and C) they occur at appropriate times in the mission. I think these criteria have been fulfilled.
@unitready: maybe a timeout feature too then.
On retries:
if you haven't, check the thread on the fp1985 forums concerning the savegame bugs. we've isolated a few of them now.
one thing: you shouldn't use the reserved variable
time for anything, at least not without a "bandaid", like:
_hack = 0
TimeOffset = 0
#loop
~1
if (_hack < time) then {_hack = time} else {TimeOffset = TimeOffset + _hack; _hack = time}
goto "loop"
Then use time + TimeOffset for all your time functions.
Topic: Facile Ground Feedback (Read 5434 times)