Armada - The Beast Is Unleashed

[ReFLeX_RFX]

Hey everyone!

After 2 months of hard work, I am finally finished with my movie featuring Armada!

I present to you, Armada - The Beast is Unleashed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCJ9_Wcaliw

I hope you enjoy it.

Why did I create this video?

I have known Armada a while now, and after I had holidays and he won Genesis 2, I got to thinking; We should do a project.
My aim was to display a video that brought the gaming scene to life and showed everyone just how intense and unreal it can be.
I hope you everyone will enjoy the video.

I put all of my passion and skills into the video's introduction so it could come across as 'epic' as possible.
I could have added more effects into the fighting scenes of the video but I felt it would have strayed from what I was aiming for overall.
I felt it was better to use less effects throughout the video but have them jump out at you more.


-Other Information-

Programs used:

Cinema 4D, Maya 3D, After Effects, Premiere Pro Encoder, Voice Changer, Soundbooth, Magic Video Deluxe

Music used:

Spoiler

Star Wars - Main Theme
Star Wars Music - The Imperial March
Gladiator - Main Theme
Gladiator - Dave Pearce- Now we are free (Remix)
Gladiator Battle - Hans Zimmer
Transformers - Steve Jablonsky - The Score - Arrival To Earth
Transformers Soundtrack - Scorponok
LMFAO - Party rock anthem
Dj Merlin & Dj C Bass - The Human Spirit
Pulsedriver - The Whistle Song (Solar Patrol Remix)
Jorge Quintero - Throw it up 300 Violin Orchestra remix
Ivan Ether - Final Destination [Hafdwn Remix]
Queen - Dont Stop Me Now
Team America - America **** yeah
Trailer Intro
The Mango Song
Dragon Rider
Zack Hemsey - Mind Heist
Two Steps From Hell - Protectors of the Earth Choir
Metal Gear Solid 2 - Main Theme

The 1080p quality was downgraded a little bit by YouTube, so I am going to give an alternative download link in a couple days.

Download Links

Part 1 : http://www.megaupload.com/?d=LFE6JWOQ
Part 2 : http://www.megaupload.com/?d=TBNK14QJ
Part 3 : http://www.megaupload.com/?d=86YW3ET3
Part 4 : http://www.megaupload.com/?d=JLDQU1S3
Part 5 : http://www.megaupload.com/?d=QXK8DL7I
Part 6 : http://www.megaupload.com/?d=FCNLCCUS
Part 7 : http://www.megaupload.com/?d=G8HN1KZ0
Part 8 : http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WAO3AL23
Part 9 : http://www.megaupload.com/?d=73H67JK8
Part10 : http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YBG1M0VQ
Part11 : http://www.megaupload.com/?d=MN4QA1XO

Special Thanks
to videohive & copilot for the tutorials/ideas/templates ~

Requests because making CV's :

After this video I will take a long break with making a video, which has the quality like this, because when you do such an big project alone, it takes so much time to edit this all! And Im focusing now on my dance project, and for me its more important at the moment.

Maybe im gonna make 1 Trailer for this big tournament (Smashers' Reunion) in Norway ~
And in the future an really big melee video about .. let me say "Melee - Between past and future" ( Ken, Isai, PC, M2K, Mango, DR.PP, Hbox, Armada, etc) but this project will be so big,bigger then this.
And I will not doing it before 2013, but its not even sure, that I will make that.
But I think it will be very cool =)

When I have the time, I can sure edit some clips from you guys, but the next months Im too busy, with different projects, and my own job

 

[Jeapie]

`Clicks the videolink`

Im going to sit back and enjoy this one!

 

[Wake]

Good god the quality.

 

[Tekk]

Good ****ing **** reflex, that video rocks, I love it.

 

[Baxon]

Hell Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

Best montage ever

ARmada <3

Reflex <3

Europe <3

 

[Zoler]

Best smash highlight video EVER.

Wow dude 2 good!

Armada <3

 

[Devil Ray]

jeez, this vid was amazing. we've come a long way since DBR combo vids

 

[Dogysamich]

I never been able to really sit and watch melee vids, but I sat through this one no problems.

Easily the best melee vid I've ever seen.

 

[Veetaak]

Loved it. The flashy editing parts between the clips of armada were too long at times. Overall I think you made something amazing. I never thought I'd see anything like this in smash. :D

 

[metroid1117]

Awesome, this was an immense pleasure to sit down and watch! The editing was flat-out amazing, thank you for devoting your time to making this!

 

[t3h Icy]

Awesome stuff dude!

 

[Sizzle]

Great work, I think the sections in 3D were a cool concept, but ultimately kind of detracted from the video if you don't have 3D glasses.

 

[himynameisruss]

wow it's finally out!

 

[Wake]

Wow, just finished the entire thing... this is so amazing. You are talented! (and Armada of course <3 !)

 

[leffen]

too long+ copy paste effects made it worse for me.


still hella **** tho

 

[Luma]

too long? really? like, really? o.O

 

[Sinji]

great movie.

 

[leffen]

too long? really? like, really? o.O

I was talking about the effects silly.

 

[kalamazhu]

wow you know what you are doing

 

[mesa23]

not gonna lie. i was expecting something good after seeing the trailer. didn't expect it to be this good though

<3

 

[Sinji]

I'm speechless. After 5 attempts in winning the gold he got it.

<3 Armada

 

[Archangel]

This is the greatest smash video of a single player in history of Smash or any competitive gaming community that I've seen. This video has reset the bar for Combo Videos.

 

[angel_without_heart]

mad respect dude
I watched the whole thing when I was back to home after a crazy disco club at 6am. I didn't expect watch it but it was so amazing

 

[Pi]

man, color me inspired

 

[Mr.Jackpot]

I always wanted to see a movie like combo video. I'm not getting any sleep tonight.

 

[kevo]

This needs to be released on Blu-ray and DVD home theater. I would invite party guests to sit down and watch this on my widescreen TV.

I also liked the fact that you used music from The Axe Effect during the Axe part, lol

 

[ReFLeX_RFX]

Thank you all

This needs to be released on Blu-ray and DVD home theater. I would invite party guests to sit down and watch this on my widescreen TV.

I also liked the fact that you used music from The Axe Effect during the Axe part, lol

To be honest, the menu scenes between the tournaments are in fact real DVD-Menus.
I did them with the encore programm.. so there is no obstacle to bring it out, when does the party starts? :D

Yea, the Axe thing.. I thought it will be cool to use the same music ~

Music choice is always hard.
So I decided to make an mix with famous melee combo video songs and some epic songs of history, so I hope everyone will like it

 

[Wake]

The very last song was from Metal Gear Solid 2?

 

[ReFLeX_RFX]

No, you can't find the song in the www.
The metal gear solid one is @26:39.

Have to leave now, when Im back @home, I will put the timelines after each music.

 

[Wake]

Ah I see, thanks.

 

[Jim Morrison]

Amazing video, ReFLeX! Got goosebumps at Mango vs Armada GF so achieved what you tried to.

Please make sure none of these songs get copyright ***** and your audio is deleted, make sure to let them know it's free use and no money is being made of it etc.

 

[Cherished Doll]

It was simply amazing!

 

[Ministry]

good video, nice editing. Not to take anything away from you but the intro of the video is awfully similar to the intro of Spawn- Still Mighty.
don't know if you took any inspiration from that video considering Adam Lindgren and Abdisamad Mohamed are both from sweden or its just coincidence. Maybe im the only one who noticed or am reading into this too much.

http://www.themovievault.net/video/spawn-still-mighty

Great video none the less. Its great to see armada ****.

 

[Papero]

This should make a great video to draw in others into Melee or just competitive gaming and its appeal.

Amazing quality.

 

[Luma]

haha funny that you metion spawn, actually the whole idea about making this a story was because of SK - Believe =D

 

[Oskar]

Didn't really like it.

You went way overboard with the editing imo. Like, I appreciate that you were trying to make something out of the ordinary with this, but there's definitely such a thing as 'too much' when it comes to these kind of videos. The constant screen effects and stuff made it pretty hard to get into what was going on and just detracted from the overall experience.

That and 28 minutes is just way too long for this type of video, especially when the vast majority of clips are ones everyone has watched numerous times before. I actually really liked the overlying theme of the video (Armada's progress and eventual triumph at a major US tourney), but I feel like it could've been accomplished just as well without all the redundant editing, 'humorous' extra clips and whatnot

I hope this doesn't come off as too harsh. You obviously put a ton of effort and hard work into this project. It just didn't really do it for me. Sorry!

 

[Mota]

Crazy video. Just epic in every aspect.

Now I gotta go find some of those matches now and watch them in full

 

[King Funk]

Didn't really like it.

You went way overboard with the editing imo. Like, I appreciate that you were trying to make something out of the ordinary with this, but there's definitely such a thing as 'too much' when it comes to these kind of videos. The constant screen effects and stuff made it pretty hard to get into what was going on and just detracted from the overall experience.

That and 28 minutes is just way too long for this type of video, especially when the vast majority of clips are ones everyone has watched numerous times before. I actually really liked the overlying theme of the video (Armada's progress and eventual triumph at a major US tourney), but I feel like it could've been accomplished just as well without all the redundant editing, 'humorous' extra clips and whatnot

I hope this comes off as too harsh. You obviously put a ton of effort and hard work into this project. It just didn't really do it for me. Sorry!

Agreed.

Let me be honest here. I really REALLY appreciate the huge effort you've put into making this video. So far all the people in this thread have been extra nice and it's easy to understand why: when you look at all the INSANE video and sound effects and try to imagine how much time and work you spent, it just goes off the charts. Nothing has EVER even come close to this kind of production quality. When I saw the trailer a while ago and saw that it was made by some german player I had never heard anything from before I was immediately impressed by his crazy dedication. The "good" things about the video eclipse the "bad" ones in a way that anyone who attempts to mention the latter would sound very rude. But of course, you shouldn't take this way because constructive criticism is the best advice you'd ever want to improve in whatever you do.

In all this amazingness, there are just too many things that annoy me as a viewer and I'll point them all out for you.

• DRAMA & COMEDY.
  
  You stated multiple times that you want to make this epic (top quality special effects, dramatic music, the "path" of the player in each tournament). Yet you also seem to want to make it humoristic in many parts ("more dsmash", parodies of various movies and games like the Star Wars intro, etc.). I can definitely see why. A video that takes itself too seriously can be boring to watch. A bit of comedy into it can help wear the overall seriousness off it for a comfortable viewing.
  
  Here is the problem though! The drama is overboard and cliché at points, while the comedy... is rather bad. There I said, it.
  
  Don't take it too hard but the way I see it as a viewer, it's all insanely cheesy. Maybe that was your intention, for comic relief. Maybe I'm just an idiot and this video is a hilarious reminder of how we, as the smash community, just LOVE drama in whatever trivial subject we discuss or even we take part in. I'm just not really getting that vibe. I've always been rather cynical and picky when it comes to movies, and I just feel that the kind of references you make in the area of drama/comedy are too mainstream/childish/cliché and it simply doesn't go along well when paired with the non-mainstream/underground Melee community, at least in my opinion.
  
  
• LENGTH/STRUCTURE.
  
  Useless, uselessly long or misplaced sections. A lot of them.
  
  I remember when you had that trailer of yours. I was very hyped by what was about to come, but somehow it gave me the biggest fear about your project. The trailer was 1:03 long, and it only showed ONE combo. The rest of it was that intricate 3D animation of a sort of machine displaying a screen showing the actual combo and then closing. I know your project is more of a movie than a combo video but you have to give the viewers what they really want.
  
  And this trailer pretty much reflected what the video would be like. Too much talk and not enough walk.
  
  The overall idea of the video is great. Showing Armada's progress in each American international, his trials and failures until the ultimate victory at the end. There's just too much that distracts from it.
  
  Example: Star Wars intro credits parody was pretty long, but then you make the whole Star Wars parody draw out even longer with the laser sword fight. Why was that even necessary? Your intro credits mention how Genesis 1 went. The viewer surely must be thinking "I want to see Armada's performance in Genesis 1!". But nope you distract them with this comical intermede which didn't really serve any purpose except making people gaze in awe (or laugh) at the video and sound effects you added to the clip. Is this really what you wanted? No disrespect to you or your editing skills, but remember you're making a video about and for Armada.
  
  And it's all really inconsistent and annoyingly unpredictable. Sometimes you make that combo/comical intermede before or after your "scene selections" and they're either long or short. You actually even copy-pasted your trailer into the video in a completely random part. Let me repeat this: one minute, one combo, tons of fancy effects. You're outdoing 2008 Izaw and that's insane.
  
  Oh yes, let's talk about the scene selections. The scene selections parts are not interesting at all. I hate to say that, but as beautiful as they are, they are an utter waste of time. You're trying to make it look like a movie you'll put on a DVD but remember this is a YouTube video. Unless you put annotations that allows the viewer to skip to a specific match or part of the tournament (which is actually not worth it because they last around 10-30 seconds only), there's just no point in making a scene selection display.
  
  Some of them even contain slight errors. The Apex one shows a list with "Losers Semis", "Losers Finals" and "Grand Finals", and then the DVD-style scene select shows "Losers Quarters" instead of "Losers Semis" (which is nowhere to be found). Same thing happens in the Pound V one. Weird stuff for a video that strives for technical perfection.
  
  Not to be rude, but why skip the matches Armada lost in winners bracket in each tournament? Why skip Armada vs PP winners finals at Pound V? Would it take too much time or don't you think they might be more interesting than that laser sword fight at the beginning of your video?
  
  
• LAYOUT/ART.
  
  This is where I have the least criticism to give. The layout/art is after all, mindblowingly well made.
  
  But is it well chosen?
  
  There are a few slight things I don't understand. Your combo/comedy intermedes have sub-headers that are extremely different each time. They also seem to try and relate to unrelated things (basketball, The Daily Show, etc.) while at other parts they're quite on point (I enjoyed the Mango "America" part for instance). It's all rather weird.
  
  The only other thing I could say is that sometimes, in the "tournament" sections, the display is sometimes too small. I don't really like the fact they're windowed, you should make them take the full screen because they are, after all, the focus of your video.
  
  Aside from that it's all good.
  
  
• SOUNDTRACK.
  
  Soundtrack is decent but inconsistent.
  
  We all love variety. But too much variety and difference between each song makes the video a bit hard to follow.
  
  I can understand that many of us have become addicts to internet memes, clichés and comedy. We're big fans of the randomness they provide and the fun they give. Youtube poop, memes and even our very own smash videos are filled with this type of fast-paced assortment of various songs and sounds. And that's something you are clearly trying to give to your viewers. However, combining this with an overall dramatic feeling is like mixing up milk and orange juice. At least for me it is.
  
  Dramatic orchestral music followed by hip hop, video game remixes followed by techno is common in videos of that kind, but when that kind of randomness goes on for 28 minutes, it wears me out.
  
  Song choice is slightly too cliché at times but I have no real problem with that.
  

_______________________________________


I'm done. I might have sounded like a total ******* to many people out there reading this post, but let me say that I had absolutely no bad intentions and didn't want to troll at all the magnificient effort you, ReFLeX, have put into this video. I am thrilled, really THRILLED that there is actually someone like you out there who is able to put out something of such a sky high production value. This whole post is not intended to discourage, but in fact encourage you into keeping on with what you do. You have amazing editing skills, and I'd really like to see more of your stuff in the near future. Take my criticism however you want, but let me say this again. No bad intentions. I just see so much more potential for greatness in your videos than other people do. I might be one of the rare people who didn't 100% enjoy "The Beast is Unleashed", but if your next few works can cater even to those "cynical godless atheist type'o smashers", then you will have truly achieved perfection.

Peace.

 

[EPsilon933]

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[Tekk]