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Armada - The Beast Is Unleashed

M

MasterTK

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Aug 15, 2005
Messages
172
Location
Tampere, Finland
Armada is an amazing player but this video is too long and ruined by using those stupid ready made after effect templates from videohive, which you can see everywhere.

Maybe someone can love them, but after seeing theme thousand of times in other videos, it's getting boring.
 
R

ReFLeX_RFX

Smash Cadet
Joined
Jan 6, 2010
Messages
33
@King Funk, I have really no time at all to answer you longer then this! and sorry for this english which is not perfect at all, but i even have no time to correct it :)

@Drama & Comedy: It was my aim to show the lightsaber thing.
why?
I thought doing an Star Wars intro fits soooo good in Armadas story, because he was/is the hope from Europe, and it is nice to read it in the star wars scene.
After I made this I thought, what will be more epic then just showing "Episode I - A New Hope"? So I thought how can I even do it better, and the fightscene topped the text =)
Of course a lightsabers fight, shows something different, then just combo combo, but Im not a Melee player at all, and I thought to bring some hollywood/comedy is always working fine, better then doing all the way serious stuff..
Like the hype thing with mango and the funny mango song.
This video is like 30minutes, so I was like, why not adding a 20secs saber fight?
The saber fight IS! one of the highlights from this video, and everyone I talked loved the idea, so I got my confirmation.

@LENGTH/STRUCTURE.

Firstful my Trailer.
I knew I just showed one combo in a 1minute clip.
But my aim was not to show some great combos from Armada.
It was to show what people can expect from the editing skills, this and just this!
No one can say, how a trailer has to be, and this was my way to do it :)

And I just edited this one combo 3D because, Armada told me its his favourite Combo, so I did an editing, no one will forget =)
That the movie is like 29minutes, doesn't matter, because I think i produced a movie, which can everbody see, and its feel not like a long 30 minutes movie~
Its just how about you're fill this 30(29 at all) minutes.
I mean everyone is going to watch cinema movies 90 minutes, and who is not ready to spend just 29 minutes for the game, they play so much and love? so i was like yeah go for it, armadas story is long, and there is a lot of to tell.

I know i skipped the winnerfinals with pp/armada and also winnerfinals hbox/armada.
Simple reason :
Time! it was already 29 minutes, and this would be 2 more, and when im including this 2.. there are coming always more so the reason why i skipt this both was :

1. time issues
2. I showed the grand finals from both of this, so people can still see the matches between the 2 players.


@LAYOUT/ART.

The scene selections ~

I didnt think its even insignificant, because when you watch it again, you should see the links/annotates.
So when you are clicking (for example) to the outro in genesis 1, the scene with mango starts.
So yea I see no reason, why it is not an good idea at all =)

The reason for using many dvd menus and lower thirds are simple!
Its Variety!.
My aim was to give the people who are watching this every time another feeling.
And not like : "yea now the same dvd menu for all the tournaments, now the same lower thirds everytime"
So I put every scene another one to make it unique.
And like you said more lower thirds were on point like the Mango "tryhard" hype scene.
And the others were more like entertaining & creating, for example the Team UGS combo, with the breaking news, where in the end it was a combo full of blood ~


@SOUNDTRACK

same thing here, variaty is the word.
to be honest, everyone! who talked with me about the video loved the song choice!
(epic in the beginning, epic in the end, team america song @mango hype, transformers - arrival of earth while showing his way/robot, etc)
epic/hiphop/funny/sad everything, and I think the songs are fitting nice to the videos, so I would never change that at all.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I didn't see your post negativ at all! and thank you for the appreciating.
I really got your points, and thank you that you wrote all this stuff down, its really good to hear "other" oppinions, and 1-2 points I think I can implement to my videos in the future.

There is no way to make it perfect for ALL people outthere.
I have the experience, it doesnt matter how good is it, some people will never agree with it, but I learned to make videos, which are good for the big part of the viewers.

Everyone has an different oppinion and when almost the hole community like the editing/story/music, then I think I did it right :)


But 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 =)


-------------------------------------------------------

Thank you @ all ! I really like your comments !!
Made me really happy to see such an big enthusiastic from you all, this made me really proud!


and haters gonna hate for ever ! :)
 
R

ReFLeX_RFX

Smash Cadet
Joined
Jan 6, 2010
Messages
33
MasterTK said:
Armada is an amazing player but this video is too long and ruined by using those stupid ready made after effect templates from videohive, which you can see everywhere.

Maybe someone can love them, but after seeing theme thousand of times in other videos, it's getting boring.
Click to expand...
yeah, I want to see how you can make (for example)a light saber fight with an ready template?

1. watch
2. read
3. think
4. read again
5. wait.. think again
6. post!

this is my first & last answer to you

dude, you strucked me very hard, I have tears on my eyes, but don't think its because Im sad ;)

haters gonna hate ~
 
Stratford

Stratford

Smash Champion
Joined
Oct 22, 2008
Messages
2,470
Location
Malden, MA
So much awesome.

Loved the light saber part, loved the transformers music, and LOVED Mango's segment with the team America theme.

And of course, Armada is amazing.

I don't think it was too long, just viewed it as a movie instead of a traditional combo video.

Great job Reflex!
 
R

ReFLeX_RFX

Smash Cadet
Joined
Jan 6, 2010
Messages
33
@Stratford , great to hear you liked the songs :)

yea I thought long about making a "Mango's Segment" and I decided to make one, because he is such a great player, and the rival from Armada for such a long time, so he deserved his own part in the video, with a music which fitted.. haha :)
 
ph00tbag

ph00tbag

C(ϾᶘϿ)Ͻ
Joined
Mar 16, 2007
Messages
7,244
Location
NC
I can really only parrot what King Funk said.

This video could probably have been a solid 15 minute combo video and achieved the same goals, without being overedited and overindulgent in the use of titles. Personally, I would have also removed the raw audio from the matches, because 1. I can't stand the dissonance of match music with bg music, and 2. HMW's commentary has really been pissing me off lately.

I dunno, I really like Armada's combos, but I feel like they took second fiddle to a lot of elements in the video that were totally unnecessary.
 
Baxon

Baxon

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Aug 13, 2009
Messages
278
Location
In Your Mom's Bed
YOU DID A PRETTY GOOD JOB MAN :awesome:

Fvck the haters man
They're mad because they can't handle the epicness of your skills ;)
 
R

ReFLeX_RFX

Smash Cadet
Joined
Jan 6, 2010
Messages
33
<3 baxon :)

I edited the first post, because of many requests about if I can edited some vids for them etc ~
 
Papero

Papero

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Feb 10, 2009
Messages
117
Location
Savannah, Georgia
NNID
Paperio
ReFLeX_RFX said:
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
Click to expand...
I couldn't resist making a crappy poster mock-up.



Alt picture
 
R

ReFLeX_RFX

Smash Cadet
Joined
Jan 6, 2010
Messages
33
Papero said:
I couldn't resist making a crappy poster mock-up.



Alt picture
Click to expand...
Well, made my day! jesus :D amazing idea papero! :)

Thats excatly what I was thinking about, yeah Melee - Between past and future 2013!! Hype !
but where is my name ReFLeX Spielberg? :p haha

I should make an trailer in 2012 for it just for fun :)

and in 2 years, my editing skills will be improved 3x! so a scene will be like :

ken shoots an bullet, which is seen in bullet time mode , and mango dodges, like in the matrix :D

@Ministry : your text *laugh* after I was on the link..+ seeing the ending name .avi ... i couldn't stop :D
 
King Funk

King Funk

Int. Croc. Alligator
Joined
Nov 1, 2008
Messages
2,972
Location
Copenhagen, Denmark
I hope nobody in this thread perceives my post as a hate post or anything.

It was all just constructive criticism in order to help ReFLex to make better future productions. =)
 
GhllieShdeKnife

GhllieShdeKnife

Smash Ace
Joined
Jan 21, 2010
Messages
687
I didnt like all the scene selection screens, but other than that I think this is the best video about smash in general
I love the variation and as for length, i wanted more. Armada should be honored by this
 
A

Armada

Smash Lord
Joined
Mar 28, 2010
Messages
1,366
I love this one Reflex!

Haters gonna hate but the person you made it for love it more than everyone else for sure =)
 
kalamazhu

kalamazhu

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Mar 26, 2008
Messages
450
Location
DCDS room 104
King Funk said:
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.
Click to expand...
yeah i agree he shoulda added this one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IE7iADKJ9iI
 
Mew2King

Mew2King

King of the Mews
Joined
Jul 18, 2002
Messages
11,261
Location
Cinnaminson (southwest NJ 5 min drive from Philly)
Tekk it was the same for me. I was watching armada's videos before Genesis1 happened and I thought he was extremely skilled. Looked just like Vidjo in his prime (best peach prior to him imo at least at his prime). I said he would get top 5 at genesis but nobody would believe me then he got 2nd.
 
Teczer0

Teczer0

Research Assistant
Premium
BRoomer
Joined
Mar 25, 2007
Messages
16,861
Location
Convex Cone, Positive Orthant
Saw the video. It was overall very well done, but kinda lengthy. I felt like you were trying to make an epic or something lol xD.

Otherwise, very nice editting. The effects were extremely impressive and looks like you were going for that professional look. I really do hope to see things in the future from you.

A combo video nowadays the shorter the better, ideally 4-5 mins. I do understand that you were trying to show Armada's road though but yea.

Great stuff.
 
Battlecow

Battlecow

Play to Win
Joined
May 19, 2009
Messages
8,740
Location
Chicago
Basically what King Funk said.

I feel rotten for saying this, because Reflex obviously worked so hard, but...

28 minutes? With maybe 10 minutes of combos, all of which I'd seen before? The entire thing was just an excuse to show off your editing skills, and while they're internet-good, if I wanted to watch pretty effects I'd go see a Michael Bay movie.

There were flashes of cool- the America thing for Mango- but it was just... it didn't have a clear purpose, and if it did, it didn't fulfill it.
 
ShroudedOne

ShroudedOne

Smash Hero
Premium
Joined
Mar 14, 2011
Messages
5,493
I thoroughly enjoyed it, I think. I continue to find myself perplexed and amazed at Armada's intricate combos, and this video reminds me of why he's my favorite smasher. Granted, there were parts that seemed a bit much, but overall, it was very good. =)

Also, props to M2K for predicting the future...
 
R

ReFLeX_RFX

Smash Cadet
Joined
Jan 6, 2010
Messages
33
Armada said:
I love this one Reflex!

Haters gonna hate but the person you made it for love it more than everyone else for sure =)
Click to expand...
Yeah, this was the comment I waited the most for =)
So that was the most important thing, when you loved it, I was successful :D

And as you know, I don't care at all about haters / negative criticism and whatever.
I get used to it, because I did so many projects like this ~

As I told before, you can't make a movie, which is perfect for everyone, but the major of the community likes this, and this was my aim, to create something different then just a combo video.
But the fact that only americans have negative criticism makes me confused.
(is it really because of the video, or something else? :p ) just joking =)


There will be no future project by the way, this was enough time of my life to put in this stuff =) (just one maybe 2013 , but who knows this :), when I have time again and get bored, to test my new editing skills :p )
 
Mew2King

Mew2King

King of the Mews
Joined
Jul 18, 2002
Messages
11,261
Location
Cinnaminson (southwest NJ 5 min drive from Philly)
To be quite honest I respect Europe and Japan a lot more than America as a whole. Australia too. The people are way nicer in my experience. I have not yet met a rude smasher from any of those places (have not been to europe but I met european people). And I don't want to play for america either, since last time I did that and put on a USA tag they rooted against me the rest of the set, then they ban me from mlg, ban me in Unity, ban tactics I use and/or invent (planking and then scrooging), ban my character, and always root against me at tournaments. Screw them. The vid was pretty good I watched it twice and enjoyed it a lot. I'm glad he won genesis2
 
Mew2King

Mew2King

King of the Mews
Joined
Jul 18, 2002
Messages
11,261
Location
Cinnaminson (southwest NJ 5 min drive from Philly)
haven't been to europe, but ive met european people. Was pretty cool overall

honestly ill prolly never go though but who knows for sure. I plan on getting part time job soon and idk what i wanna do in life so im not really gonna travel much anymore either. I mostly wanna quit after apex now. I'll still go to things after it but I will have no drive anymore i just need the money (even though honestly, I don't use the money , I just save it every time and spend it on necessities like food, travel, college, etc).
 
R

ReFLeX_RFX

Smash Cadet
Joined
Jan 6, 2010
Messages
33
Mew2King said:
To be quite honest I respect Europe and Japan a lot more than America as a whole. Australia too. The people are way nicer in my experience. I have not yet met a rude smasher from any of those places (have not been to europe but I met european people). And I don't want to play for america either, since last time I did that and put on a USA tag they rooted against me the rest of the set, then they ban me from mlg, ban me in Unity, ban tactics I use and/or invent (planking and then scrooging), ban my character, and always root against me at tournaments. Screw them. The vid was pretty good I watched it twice and enjoyed it a lot. I'm glad he won genesis2
Click to expand...
nice to hear man =)

you should come once to europe, maybe this big tournament in Norway?! :)
 
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