A Cantr Video..

[N-Aldwitch]

Look. It is more than hard explaining why Cantr is different to other games, and why it is so extremely unique. It's impossible, almost, to fully describe how excellent it really is without boring the person.

I read http://www.cantr.net/e107/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.107 and am now motivated enough to make a short, professional advertisement/film that outlines exactly what Cantr is about, giving direct examples of it by filming the screen itself using certain software.

Cantr, as Jon quoted someone saying, needs funding to promote itself even further. I personally think this isn't entirely true unless the funding is going to explain why Cantr is such a good game- people need to open their eyes up to the POTENTIAL in where you can go in Cantr, it's a slow game and new players don't realise that eventually they could lead an almighty fleet of ships, dominate town after town in a savage tribe, lead a peaceful nation to prosperity, and so on.

A short film/video could potentially explain this and I'd make it as professional as possible (with the assistance of others). There'd also be interviews within the film of staff and others.

Initially most of my friends thought Cantr sucked, to put it simply. Once I showed them around a bit and left them to their own devices, they quickly became addicted to the game and enjoyed it thouroughly.

One of the few ways to demonstrate how and why Cantr is such a good game, is to make a video, which is next to real.

Opinions/critisicm/problems with this idea are more than welcome. Also, potential contributions as well.

[tiddy ogg]

I'm surely not the one to comment on this, but...
I applaud your enthusiasm, but can't see how a video will show anything. Cantr is like a drug. You probably don't like your first experience, but after persevering for a while, and getting involved with your chars, you're hooked.
How you can achieve this in a video is a mystery to me, but I wish you the best of luck.

[SekoETC]

Yeah, I once kept a presentation about Cantr in school and I showed them all the stuff and the still weren't interested.

[Jos Elkink]

A presentation in school about Cantr? I never heard about that - pretty cool!

And I really do think a video would help, but I might be wrong of course. But someone enthousiastically telling about the game and showing the screens of a game later than the first days might make it more appealing than just a text explaining the possibilities ...

[Elros]

I agree with Jos and you. They say a picture is better than a thousand words, so how much more a video. If you made it interesting, and showing what you could amount to like leading an army or governing a town then it would definetly attract people I think. Just make it interesting though, don't just showing a bunch of naked people running around hitting toucans with bone knives if you know what I mean.

[rklenseth]

May I ask what you know about professional video-making? Are you in the industry?

[Doug R.]

If the video just has screen shots, I don't see the point, since all the screen is are words anyway.

[Dreamhand]

Oh I could see a video playing very nicely. Consider...

Fade up on someone speaking to his/her friends about this amazing on-line game. As they describe the events...

Crossfade to a reinactment of them... harvesting stone, forging a blade, building a cottage.

Cut to the friends as someone else chimes in with great enthusiasm, speaking about an attack on their community, and...

Cut to another reinactment of the battle.

Back to the friends. One friend doesn't get it. "This is a game? It sounds like a historical novel". One of the friends grins... "That's exactly what it feels like... only YOU'RE the main character." Another friend chimes in "AND you're the writer! It's amazing"

The friends begin to speak excitedly as they walk off, an overlay of their Cantr equivalents walking behind them.

Fade to black... then title: "Cantr... BE the adventure"

Fade to black aaaaaand... out.

Thunderous Applause.

[Jos Elkink]

Exactly

Doug, you forget the voice over ...

[Sunni Daez]

Oh I could see a video playing very nicely. Consider...

Fade up on someone speaking to his/her friends about this amazing on-line game. As they describe the events...

Crossfade to a reinactment of them... harvesting stone, forging a blade, building a cottage.

Cut to the friends as someone else chimes in with great enthusiasm, speaking about an attack on their community, and...

Cut to another reinactment of the battle.

Back to the friends. One friend doesn't get it. "This is a game? It sounds like a historical novel". One of the friends grins... "That's exactly what it feels like... only YOU'RE the main character." Another friend chimes in "AND you're the writer! It's amazing"

The friends begin to speak excitedly as they walk off, an overlay of their Cantr equivalents walking behind them.

Fade to black... then title: "Cantr... BE the adventure"

Fade to black aaaaaand... out.

Thunderous Applause.

I like that!

[Elros]

Me too!!!!! Yay!!!!!

[tiddy ogg]

I don't get it at all. Are you suggesting that a graphic representation of the game is shown? Any players recruited thinking it's a graphical game aren't going to stay.
If you're going to show actual screen events pages, OK, and maybe, that'll work, but I' not convinced.
But voice-over? Well the whole game is voice-over to me, so maybe.

[Jos Elkink]

If you show the real screens, but you present it enthousiastically, perhaps with some group instead of one presented like the suggestion above, you can present something really convincing.

It's not about presenting a graphical game which it isn't ... but there are so many players genuinely enthousiast about the game. Putting that enthousiasm in a video should work, no?

[N-Aldwitch]

I'm guessing it really depends on it's professional touch- if it looks corny, and made by a bunch of kids running around, yes it will go bad, but if it is done right then it will work out.

Perhaps a few acted scenes, then it cuts to the actual game itself in progress- the game's visual representation.

On a slightly-related note, but nothing to do with advertisement, I was thinking of acting out with some friends, some important times in Cantr's history..


Back on topic, I'm sure there are enough people here to even throw together a simple 3D piece. I have some skill in 3D animation and modeling so with a team of 10 or so we could get something nice, like a re-inactment of the Barons battle.. (or my character trying to stop some guy taking advantage of the army's storage who were now out-of-town ) or even a Blackrock's raid.

However, the 3D clip is probably a bad idea anyway as people will get the wrong impression even if we do cut to the 2D webpage clips.

So now the real question before we proceed is:
Would it be an advertisement clip, or a little film that just shows what Cantr is about, etc? The first would just show the high-lights and why people should join, the second would do the same but extend on this with interviews and the like.

[rklenseth]

Well if it helps I have a Canon GL2, that is 3CCC (that means three lines of color; meaning broadcast quality; typically most consumer cameras are only 1CCC; huge difference!), 30fps (or 27.7fps if I want though there will be slippage in the audio and video sync; most film is done in either 27 or 23fps; 30fps is broadcast quality), and digital quality (all miniDV is). It's not film but Robert Rodriquez did Sin City on similiar equipment and tell me can you really tell the difference from movies actually on film? The only way I can get to 'film quality' is upgrade to HD or use a filter to mimic 27 or 23fps which is all very expensive but in the end would be less expensive than using film all the time. I also have access to editing equipment (I'm an video editor ). Oh and the other plus is that I do this stuff for a living. Mainly editing but if you know what you can and cannot do for editing then you know what you can and cannot do for shooting wise. Plus working in the industry I know people as well. Plus I'm looking for stuff to do.

What I would suggest is to do something funny. And keep it to either 30 or 45 seconds if you're going the advertisement route. If you want to do something along the lines of short film or bigger then you are only really benefiting those that already play Cantr. That also leads to inside humor where only people who play Cantr will get it. The best bet, after the product is done, is upload to sites like Youtube or Myspace and just pimp the hell out of it on forums and such. Most of the stuff on Youtube or Myspace is crap done by people who don't have a clue as to what they are doing. They think if they've seen a movie they can do it as well. I'm sorry but that isn't the case. There are many rules (especially in editing and shooting) that must be followed. Not that rules can't be broken as long as it is done smoothly like . But if we do this right then it won't be hard to shine on sites like those or anywhere else and who knows maybe we'll raise the interests of people who have clout in the industry. So the first thing you should do before hand is pick up a book on how to do these things from the rules of shooting, to editing, to proper lighting, etc... This is the book that my school uses and it has everything you'll need to know.... http://www.amazon.com/Television-Produc ... F8&s=books

So if you're interested just let me know. Either way I can help whether through my knowledge or even actually doing the production work.