Bing Soy's Blog: directors-notes

Friday, October 28, 2022

TF second channel: bhopmktgarden+koolragdoll

Video link

Some stuck glitch thing where shift key is "stuck" (still considered "pressed" when alt-tabbing) and you have to press it to release it then your function keys that may or may not be bound to your demo recording command ~~demo record bind~~ works again.
Fortunately, OBS was running so was able to get a screen recording.
Probably more a Bing Soy problem - rShift is rebound to winKey. Right shift gets used a lot, along with alt-tabbing to sort demos on folders.

It's not preferrable for Bing Soy to use screen recordings (there may be special exceptions) for the main channel so here it is on second, and a ragdoll clip to boot, since they are unique and demo files don't perfectly replicate a ragdoll.

Credit to KnowZero (healer/moral support in the video).

Video was supposed to be just simple upload of these clips, but led to some edits and those edits led to more.

~~[add additional commentary here once video out for a few hours/days]~~

Nov 3 BS, sunglasses meets grasses:

What was supposed to be a simple second channel upload turned into something more. The ragdoll had a funny cool pose, so that "thug life" meme would probably compliment it and be a funny addition.

But those glasses reminded of something. Grasses. Something you put on so nothing will be wrong. Maybe the thug life meme was too obvious, so let's subvert both the viewer and own expectations into a little berserk OP thing/tribute/parody (is this a one?)/concept.
Berserk is nice (only watched first season of the anime), nice enough to to this thing. Something to do with the characters feeling more "real", confronting and persevering through complex issues, actual stakes. People probably resonate with Guts (reject, finding meaning/purpose, becoming better/good at something, proving self, mistakes/flawed character, great battle, empower others, sheer will, fighting, not give up (a literally me moment or understanding/identifying with aspects of character, further understanding self), is any of this resonation apparent from this simple "meme" choice? Perhaps more major projects will serve as a better conduit for deep emotions, those things (or lack thereof) that humans seem to have which affect everything they do.
Also opportunity to work on SFM skill/workflow, even if it's small project (small projects faster/more likely done than big projects).

Game audio sucked, turns out Equalizer APO
affects OBS recording, had to counter-compensate the EQ curve
(faulty headphones at the time)

Referencing original media, learning from it

Referencing

Japanese speakers will be able to read the basic/broken Japanese text, especially the part that says:

おらはにほんごわるい
すみません

おら (ora) is a misspelling of おれ (ore, meaning). Ora is probably more of a sound/exclamation, probably more suited to be in katakana (オラ), which seems to be used for foreign/onomatopoeic phrases.
This was a mistake just now seen (always proof-read), still have long way to go for learning Japanese (especially if really want to learn). Am familiar with JJBA (anime) and the "オラオラオラ", but this time sure was just coincidence, though things can passively influence you (see below). On the topic of オラ and JJBA, here is a nice song.

What was initially supposed to be written was this:

おれはにほんごわるい
すみません

which means:

I Japanese Bad Sorry
OR
My Japanese is bad. Sorry.
OR
My apologies, my Japanese is bad.
OR
Excuse me, my Japanese is bad.

More breakdown from noob JP learner:

    おれ (ore: me/I, less formal, more masculine)
    は (ha->wa: joining particle?)
    にほんご (nihonji: Japanese language)
    わるい (warui: bad)
    すみません (sumimasen: soft apology/excuse me)

Even with a misspelling, the meaning can probably go through/approximated like how a fluent English speaker can sometimes see what a writer meant, even through a typographical error.

Not completely sure, but making a TF2 anime opening may have been inspired in part by KnowZero's TF2 bebop intro interpretation.

[On the topic of the thug life meme, specifically the cannabis/marijuana blunt]
Maybe being against smoking, (even if making a meme) pushed the video a little closer to this thing of changing the "meme".
Is smoking really as cool as we think? Whatever your vice/medication/option of administration, try to be informed and educated on what you put inside your body. Prolong your life (without necessarily making it lesser). Quit (slowly) or find a safer method/alternative. With that said, humans have been using various substances throughout history, there might be more to this than just having a straight-edge perspective on substances. Also life throws you all sorts of curveballs, and sometimes people look to substances to help deal with situations, temporary or not.
Examples of alternatives: cannabis smoke vs cannabis vapor (actual vapor - dry herb, not oil cartridge) or oil tinctures (avoid lung administration altogether), nicotine tobacco smoke vs nicotine tobacco snusing, high caffiene content of coffee vs lower caffiene content tea, coffee everyday vs regulated sleep schedule, high sugar soda vs sugar-free soda or the time-tested plain water.

Don't forget you are your own figurative "drug" - your behavior affects your body's chemical regulation to a degree too, for better or worse. Something about instant gratification, addiction, routine, etc. Remember to always consult your doctor if possible about medication if you have any doubts or need help.
Can't tell you do this, do that, but you may have options you don't know about. Consider and empower yourself.

Didn't want to initially spoil the Berserk intro thing, as it may have taken away from the initial surprise also self-experienced.

Where's Guts?

Not sure if this is an achievement but become first post on the r/unexpectedberserk subreddit.
Was curious if that even existed when checking after most of the video was made, so might as well make post there.

Not sure if anyone noticed, but did a omission of mapname in timestamps, probably berserk watchers/readers will get it. Do remember a comment saying that they like easter egg stuff, maybe a balance and some hinting instead of not mentioning the less obvious stuff/secrets? Does it take away from the "thrill" of finding a "funny" secret?

Even though only experienced but a fraction of your work, thanks Miura.

Berserk 1997: https://youtu.be/fLax0VRsM8M

Read Berserk: https://readberserk.com/

Thumbnail

No spoilers, as if it was the video originally intended, simple clip dump.

Additional video info

Project editing range: 2022/10/28

Video publish date: 2022/10/28
Software used: Davinci Resolve, HitFilm, SFM

Server: Uncletopia (UT)

Timestamp info

0:00: 2022-09-24 | koth_cascade | bhopmktgarden

0:19: 2022-09-24 | koth_cascade | ragdoll

Music used

Dr. Dre - The Next Episode ft. Snoop Dogg, Korupt, Nate Dogg

https://youtu.be/l52Hcfnhzgo

Tell Me Why - Penpals

https://youtu.be/1zSZ3ov_wvU

ベルザルク S1 OP/Berserk Season 1 Opening

https://youtu.be/9TRemrRaPj

Saturday, April 23, 2022

UT - Caber Bomber

Video link

Caber kills with demoman. In caber's post nerf state, it lacks the firepower it once had. To use it is to accept difficulty and hardship. Part of what keeps me playing TF2 is there is much to do with the way you play the game, even when one may think that everything to do with TF2 has been exhausted. Granted, it may not be the most fun thing to die over and over with these antics, but it helps to know you are trying — trying to do something more – something stupid – something that may be a complete waste of time – something that can blow someone's mind. Besides, it would be less fun for me play "normal" all the time.

Music choice

The initial music choice was "Daddy Cool " by Boney M, inspired by the folder's name I put my caber demos in – "caber cool". To add a more unique touch, I wanted to make a cover of it in a style of a videogame that I have played, like a did with in "thrust α" (Cat Thruster by deadmau5 in Mother 3 style) and "cliff eastwood" (Clint Eastwood by Gorillaz in Kirby Superstar style). The video game I chose for the cover was Crash Bandicoot 2. About midway of the music making process, it didn't fit. I pushed on further to brush off that thought but it was true. To work on it further would prove fruitless, so I brainstormed and had another idea – that bomber enemy from Kirby. There was a specific part of the game which I remembered: an array of bombers exploding from above. Level 7: Rainbow Resort, stage 5, at the start of the level. Naturally, I went with the music that plays there. Now, there – it suits the clips. Now feel the music and edit accordingly.

Daddy Cool x Snow Go Fusion scrapped

Clip order + more

Clips are in a mostly chronological order, some key clips displaced to even out pacing and intensity of clips.

I decided on motion tracking the 2 chat scenes to the gibbed heads as they weren't vital to the scene but not too insignificant to be left out and more as a little extra flourish, like something that would make you go "heh".

Time slow scene - the first-person view of the demo sucked. I had to do some investigating to know the exact nature of the frag. It turns out I made a quick decision to hit the stationary pyro with his back turned in order to splash that cabered soldier. The first-person perspective sucked since you couldn't even see the frag due to the massive ammobox in front of my POV. With the power of Lawena and HLAE, I make a cool sequence showing the viewer what was too hard to see in a blink of an eye. The experience I had when making that JoJo animation (featuring Dio's The World Time stop) helped. Warning: HLAE is a technically a hack/cheat, so remember to set your steam to offline and don't touch online servers when making your cool frag movies.

At one point I considered screen recording with OBS because of the jank and filesizes and time spent rendering the demos but the quality loss was too much to bear.

Outro caber crash scene - The scene with the guy saying "Caber" was already going to be the outro but for some reason I felt compelled to do a little more with the scene. Naturally, I thought of what else I could do to make the video more thematic. Of course – the crash ability gained from absorbing a bomber in Kirby:NiDL. I used that video as reference to replicate the ability in HitFilm (editing software). A bit of masking, fades and brightness/contrast effects with SFX from Kirby:NiDL and there you go. But I wanted a little more impact from this scene. Crash in Kirby essentially kills all lesser enemies on screen and they all go into their dying sprites/animation while Kirby is doing the crash, so I went to SFM and made a dying pose for the soldier to really sell the scene. The pose I made kind of reminded me of the intro of Ringside from Rhythm Heaven Fever so I made it the pose more like that. Everything is a remix. I'm not so sure I should explain/spoil every easter egg or little detail I put into these videos. Maybe knowing that I do this, you can explore for yourself and share your findings with others.

LLAP