[P4nda]

Hey guy's. So I'm currently working on a Planetside 2 lore machinima/cinematic that is heavily influenced by the Freespace storytelling and the cutscenes/mood/theme etc. I'm a huge fan of Freespace and being 21 today, I still remember the day my brother and I found it inside of a Chapters book store (yea, Chapters used to sell PC games - who knew) over a decade ago and bought it. Ever since then I've beaten the series over and over and over as I was growing up, never truly done with the 2 games. Then I found this community and along with it the Blue Planet series.

Because of this (as well as Diaspora), I'm aware of the graphical fidelity one can actually achieve in-engine for cutscenes/cinematics. Now my question is pretty much how would I go about filming/executing this? I need multiple shots of fleets in neutral and enemy space idling and fighting. I understand I need to use FRED to set this all up, but that's about it. I have found tutorials on FRED and I have read them, though I have not found a single article written on filming cinematics inside of FRED or anything like that.

Here's the storyboard.

Thanks for any reply. I am most definitely willing to learn and soak up as much info as possible, I'd just like a little help to be directed in the correct direction. Any tips/pointers would be hugely appreciated.

Thanks guys.

Edit:
VA

[mjn.mixael]

Hmm.. well FREDing a cutscene is not the easiest thing to start with if you don't know your way around FRED. You essentially need to create an entire FSO mod with all the assets you want in the cutscene, then you have to create a mission file. In FRED you'll basically automate all of the mission events and then automate a camera to watch the mission. Then you start up your favorite game recorder and "play" your mission in FSO. You really need to just start with the FRED Tutorial and learn how to make missions first. You'll also need to learn modpack basics and potentially, how to convert your assets into the right formats to work in FSO. (This is assuming you aren't just filming Freespace ships.)

Honestly, I think you'd be better off learning Blender and doing what you want there.

I will also say that while FSO looks good, it still looks like a game. You can tell FSO Engine rendered scenes from Blender rendered scenes very easily.

Finally, I can't resist giving some feedback on your storyboard. It's long... very long.. and slow. Slow music, slow text fades, slow camera movement. That makes a 7 minute video feel like 15 minutes and it makes the viewer feel like they've been waiting for a long time to get to each next shot. One key aspect to good filmmaking is to make sure that every single frame is essential. No waste, and then.. cut some more out. Concise videos have to find creative ways to make their point in smaller chunks of time and it almost always makes for a better viewer experience... not to mention increased art value because you were forced to be creative with what you included and how you included it. As Peter Jackson is learning with The Hobbit.. more is not always better.

[P4nda]

I really, really appreciate the response and the criticism. The storyboard has been revised and over the next couple of days I'll be doing exactly what you mentioned, just cutting it down and looking at it from a realistic point of view.

Now, when I decided I wanted to do this project I thought of what I wanted to shoot, how I would need to do it and with what programs. I used to model in 3DS MAX and Silo (which is a pretty lite organic modeler) though I no longer have the licenses for those or the CD's. I contemplated picking up and learning Blender (which would have taken months) but then I realized something - the game I'm making this for (an MMOFPS) takes place in-atmosphere, on a planet between infantry (vehicles etc). There is zero mention of space, zero mention of starships and therefore there aren't even any concepts made by the companies artists that I could use and build off of to model in a program. There's absolutely nothing.

So literally the only way I could do this in a feasible manner of time (without learning how to concept properly, the programs, importing to blender, learning blender, modeling/texturing in blender, exporting to AE (which I'm now just getting comfortable in, compositing in AE then exporting to Vegas to edit and render), I figured I'd need something that's already in-place with decent models that the PS2 community would have a very vague idea about (so the ship models don't ruin the immersion due to the fact most of those players have never seen FS ship models before).

I think this is the only option. I'm already doing digital matte paintings and animating them in AE for the shots without spaceships (like in-atmosphere with .obj files from the game, and some galaxy/star renders) but since I'm no modeler I need pre-made models for me.

Not sure if there's anything more to be said but again, appreciate the help.

Edit: I've actually spent a full day in FRED and I'm picking it up quick, haven't made a mission yet though. To be fair I don't need complex dogfighting scenes at all, I just need wide shots of fleets, docked to a station orbiting a planet, and finally "jumping".

[mjn.mixael]

You can green screen in FSO for your atmospheric stuff. Create a skybox that's a perfect green and then key it out in After Effects.