Stop Action Test: Black Pearl vs. Royal Fortune (Pirates, Y'aaar)

[Nightmoss]

Today in another thread Gina mentioned doing a stop action film using some Sails of Glory ships. So, I just did a test movie this evening (instead of writing up my AAR). Filming took about an hour. Editing and getting it up on YouTube took substantially longer. Now that I know it can be done I'll do a much better job next time. Enjoy, or not (it's pretty crude).

P.S. In case anyone notices that's my 1/150 Titanic lurking beyond the fog.

[Ozariig]

Wow, I really like what you did with the fog and with the cannon fire effects. Well done!

Was this an actual game in addition to being a video technique proof of concept? It looked to me like the frames were advancing a bit more frequently than once per turn.

[7eat51]

Absolutely excellent, Jim.

May I suggest posting a link on BGG? I believe there will be a higher probability of Ares and other players seeing it.

[Nightmoss]

Wow, I really like what you did with the fog and with the cannon fire effects. Well done!

Was this an actual game in addition to being a video technique proof of concept? It looked to me like the frames were advancing a bit more frequently than once per turn.

Thanks! It wasn't an actual game. Just a test of stop-action filming. I may try something similar using this technique for an actual solo scenario. It would be similar to what Eric posted from the Aerodrome; a stop action engagement between two planes.

Absolutely excellent, Jim.

May I suggest posting a link on BGG? I believe there will be a higher probability of Ares and other players seeing it.

Thanks Eric, and thank you for the rep. I'll consider your BGG suggestion. . .for the pirates if nothing else.

[Broadsword56]

A wonderful proof of concept, Nightmoss!
This is so much easier to follow, and more entertaining, than to read through a written AAR. The tactics of the ships and their relative positions make so much more sense when I can see them moving. You must have gone through a bale of cotton for this scenario...
Helpful suggestions, for what they're worth -- not criticisms but just thinking out loud:
1. If there could be a way to better show when a ship is firing (intensify the flash or something?) Maybe it was harder to see because gunsmoke looked the same as the cotton "fog."
2. This might be hard to control, but if the ships could be animated to move a bit more slowly and shiplike, that would add to the feeling that it's an age of sail battle and not an aerial dogfight. But I can see that would mean shooting more intermediate frames of animation, which would increase the workload by a large factor too. If this one took an hour, then it might be the slowest feasible movement rate -- or wait...is there a way to shoot the video the existing way, but then artificially slow-mo the final edit so that in playback it looks more realistic?

[Nightmoss]

A wonderful proof of concept, Nightmoss!
This is so much easier to follow, and more entertaining, than to read through a written AAR. The tactics of the ships and their relative positions make so much more sense when I can see them moving. You must have gone through a bale of cotton for this scenario...
Helpful suggestions, for what they're worth -- not criticisms but just thinking out loud:
1. If there could be a way to better show when a ship is firing (intensify the flash or something?) Maybe it was harder to see because gunsmoke looked the same as the cotton "fog."
2. This might be hard to control, but if the ships could be animated to move a bit more slowly and shiplike, that would add to the feeling that it's an age of sail battle and not an aerial dogfight. But I can see that would mean shooting more intermediate frames of animation, which would increase the workload by a large factor too. If this one took an hour, then it might be the slowest feasible movement rate -- or wait...is there a way to shoot the video the existing way, but then artificially slow-mo the final edit so that in playback it looks more realistic?

Glad you enjoyed it, Gina. I think I will have to try to 'animate' one of the scenarios to see how it comes across visually.

Your suggestions are good ones, which in future attempts I will spend more time on. As it turns out the still shots when copied into Moviemaker are default 7 second exposures, which is way too slow between movement and adds to the jerkiness of the action. I adjusted that down to 2 seconds on the 250 individual shots taken. Still too slow I thought so then tried 1 second and then 1/2 second. At 1/2 second it looked better but not really the slow shiplike movement you'd expect from real ships. There are effects in Moviemaker that I will investigate and see about adjusting the frame rate further. Frame rates we see in movies I believe is 12 frames per second. If I'd set it that fast the film would have been done in 20 seconds give or take.

As to the cannon fire I'm going to work on that too. I was using battery powered tealights to provide the flash, which should come early in the cannon fire and then the billowing smoke. But I needed to cover the light with 'smoke' right off the bat or it would have looked goofy.

Thanks for watching and the comments.

[Devsdoc]

I loved it. It was fun to see. As you where not making a film just showing movement of a game/battle, I think it works just dandy as it stands. I think Gina is right about a different colour smoke for the gun-fire, or no fog. I love it
Be safe
Rory

[wan314]

That looks great.
Be need to add something for the stats as they happen.
Extra picture of the boards or a graphic. Would add to the work though.

[Nightmoss]

That looks great.
Be need to add something for the stats as they happen.
Extra picture of the boards or a graphic. Would add to the work though.

It could be done, much like the damage cards popping into view on the Wings stop-action film. I'm thinking about it, and while it may take longer in filming and editing, it could also mean much less time in having to write up an AAR?

[Bligh]

Bravo! First rate.
Even the music was very tasteful Jim.
It has given me an idea for gunfire. a small LED flashing in the smoke of battle similar to the fire and flame markers made for us on the Drome.
You could get a rolling broadside going.
Rob.

[Nightmoss]

Bravo! First rate.
Even the music was very tasteful Jim.
It has given me an idea for gunfire. a small LED flashing in the smoke of battle similar to the fire and flame markers made for us on the Drome.
You could get a rolling broadside going.
Rob.

Thanks! I just remembered that Gunner has linked a place that sells the blinking LED's. Here is it. http://www.windycitynovelties.com/re...ed-blinky.html

These would work much better than the large tealights I was using and you could actually fit a couple in between the ships to get that rolling broadside.

[Bligh]

Superb.
Now if only we could get one small enough to fit inside the hull and pierce the gun ports!
Rob.

[Nightmoss]

Superb.
Now if only we could get one small enough to fit inside the hull and pierce the gun ports!
Rob.

Hmm. . . I purchased a bunch of damaged Orients off of Keith. Sections of the ships are hollow and we know what happened to the Orient? Or one could rig up a ship firing a broadside. We'll see.

[Bligh]

Sounds like a Goer to me Jim.
Rob.