This fan trailer I made took off on Reddit took off unexpectedly--Build Fly Dream

[TehGimp666]

Hi all,

I'm new to the forums but am a long-time member over in /r/KerbalSpaceProgram. Today I posted up a trailer I've been working on for a few weeks and before I knew it I was on the front-page and it had spread to Facebook and who knows where else. One of my fellow redditors suggested it ought to be posted in the forums too (thanks IamFinis)--I hope you like it!

Here's a copy of my comment on the Reddit thread(s) with a few extra details:

Some quick extra info since there might be someone out there who finds it mildly interesting:

• As mentioned in the video description, the music is based on M83's Outro from their "Hurry Up, We're Dreaming" album. The awesome font used is American Captain by Michael Adkins.
  
• It took me about 3 weeks all-told to put this together--I'm a proper amateur when it comes to video editing and this is my first attempt at making anything that's timed to music.
  
• Raw captures totalled 61.8GB in 125 "takes", most of which did make at least a fleeting appearance in the final cut, ranging from 5 seconds long to nearly 29 minutes for part of the "Laythe entry" sequence.
  
• The video was created entirely with F/OSS (aside from KSP itself of course): I run Ubuntu as my main OS, captures were made with ffmpeg, audio editing with Audacity, and video editing was done with OpenShot.
  
• There are two spoilers included in the faster sequences--see if you can spot them both!
  
• The "fast" shots are purposely timed to be displayed just long enough that 'normal' humans shouldn't be able to actually perceive every one of them in a single viewing (most last about 6 frames). You'll probably have to boost my view count by watching multiple times or keep things paused to catch them all *nod
  
• This is entirely vanilla KSP, save for two mods to help with filming: KerbCam (for all those fancy swooping camera motions) and HyperEdit (for placing craft quickly and fiddling with time when I missed a key celestial alignment--all craft can accomplish everything depicted, but positioning things perfectly would've otherwise taken far too long). My vaunted UHRF-1 (in its latest 'b' variant) makes a few cameo appearances.
  

--TehGimp666

EDIT: Wow, nailed the title, didn't I? Evidently all this attention has slayed my ability to render a cogent sentence.

Edited April 28, 2013 by TehGimp666

[Jouzu]

Hey man! I wondered when you would post this here. Almost 50000 views in one day and Chad Jenkins commenting on it, damn!

Having played since the first alpha, I have not seen anything that captures my experience playing this game as well as this piece of art. I will be spreading this around to my sceptic friends who since 2011 have been questioning my sudden increase in fascination with (and knowledge of) spaceflight.

Thank you again for this!

-- Jouzu "Dirty Alpaca Cheater"

[brusura]

Absolutely love it!

[Finis]

Had to recreate my forum account. Guess the recent wipe got me :/

Anyway, love the vid, still, glad you posted it here. (I am Finis, actually )

[Jouzu]

How come the video has gotten 137000 views in one day and there are exactly 3 replies on the KSP forums, do you all live under a rock or something?

[Capt'n Skunky]

I really dig this video. A personal suggestion... You have the scenes changing with the drum beat and the words flash by too quickly. Have you considered fading/flying them in time with the sweeping strings in the musical piece to give them a few more seconds on screen? I think you'd get an even better dramatic effect with bigger impact.

Cheers!

Capt'n Skunky

KSP Community Manager

[Streetlamp]

That trailer of yours is excellently put together. I applaud your expert use of Kerbcam and a few other editing tricks I saw you use

Are you planning on making any more KSP related content? I ask because you have a really good angle/view on KSP and I would love to see more of it. (It goes without saying that I subbed, liked, favorited, and even shared your video)

It was quite inspirational to watch experience your work. You belong right up there with Nassault630.

[Chozo Nomad]

This vid kicks the crap out of the one I just uploaded.

Edited April 28, 2013 by Chozo Nomad

[AustralianFries]

Awesome video. Thanks for sharing, and congrats on the success it's gotten.

[kerbo]

This is by far the best Fanmade Trailer I have ever seen!

I would be interested if the KSP sales got up the last days. The Video is at 200.000 views....fantastic!

[White Owl]

I had to log in to YouTube from somebody else's computer, so went to the front page for the first time in forever... and was startled to see this video there! Nice job.

You have a real eye for this kind of work. I would never have guessed this vid was the work of a "proper amateur", let alone your first attempt at a new technique.

[Harpoon]

Excellent shots. And music choice. The only thing which I don't like is, just like Capt'n Skunky said, quick transitions at the end. IMHO if you could change the scenes every 2 or 3 beats you would improve the feel without feeling out of sync.

Great video nevertheless.

[Wait- Was That Important?]

Amazing video- I had goosebumps by the end of it!

I noticed, however, that despite the presence of escape towers none of them were used, a fact which I laughed pretty hard at considering the pitiful amount of times escape towers have worked for me.

[nats]

I love this video, congratulations on making Kerbal Space Program look the flaming brilliance that we all know it is - it's a wonderful promotion for the game. And I love the music as well, never heard of M83 will have to go and dig some of their stuff out now.

I just had to post a link onto the KSP Steam forum as well to help along your view numbers even more!

Edited April 29, 2013 by nats

[LILGIT90]

Well done, love how you captured the moments and used a song that did fit and not a random one that I see a lot, well done on taking your time and putting alot of effort in. Little in the video with effects which is great so it captures the game and gives people a good feel and excitement.

You made me want to travel to Mars for the sunrise now

[tiger336]

You set the bar very high for trailers good job

[Specialist290]

Makes me wish I actually had decent video editing skills myself.

Nicely done!

[ahd1601]

can i get a save file with the duna space station?

[bIOHAzARD]

Brilliant video. There's not a whole lot more to say. Deserves all the praises it has received and more.

[ShachonianX]

I can't see the thread anymore now. This has already happened to one of my other threads. Is it just something weird on my side or can other people not see the thread?

EDIT: I can see it now.

Edited May 2, 2013 by ShachonianX

[TehGimp666]

can i get a save file with the duna space station?

Ask and ye shall receive--here are all the station parts grouped into a single craft in the same approximate configuration as used in the "over Kerbin" shots. I'll leave the joys of getting each part into orbit up to you (I don't recommend trying to send it up in one chunk like this, so make copies of the .craft so you can build launchers for each piece).

[TehGimp666]

I really dig this video. A personal suggestion... You have the scenes changing with the drum beat and the words flash by too quickly. Have you considered fading/flying them in time with the sweeping strings in the musical piece to give them a few more seconds on screen? I think you'd get an even better dramatic effect with bigger impact.

Cheers!

Capt'n Skunky

KSP Community Manager

This particular suggestion is probably the most common and it's well-taken--lots of people don't like the super-fast cuts or even find them off-putting. Alas, I'm going to go ahead and claim that I did have a few Important Artistic Reasons^tm for the pacing of these sequences beyond that I think it goes well with the music well and that I am an Evangelion fan. =) Doing it this way gave me really fine-grained control over what the audience sees--for example, unless you go frame-by-frame it's very difficult to actually "see" (perceive) either of the included spoilers unless you already know what kind of thing you ought to be looking for (so it's unlikely to actually "spoil" anything).

[Capt'n Skunky]

This particular suggestion is probably the most common and it's well-taken--lots of people don't like the super-fast cuts or even find them off-putting. Alas, I'm going to go ahead and claim that I did have a few Important Artistic Reasons^tm for the pacing of these sequences beyond that I think it goes well with the music well and that I am an Evangelion fan. =) Doing it this way gave me really fine-grained control over what the audience sees--for example, unless you go frame-by-frame it's very difficult to actually "see" (perceive) either of the included spoilers unless you already know what kind of thing you ought to be looking for (so it's unlikely to actually "spoil" anything).

It's nto so much the cuts that are fast, it's the words. They just don't hang long enough to sink in for some. They only need a few more seconds which is why I suggested fading them to the sweep of the strings.

Cheers!

Capt'n Skunky

KSP Community Manager

[Starlight]

Really great movie, encompasses what spaceflight is about, and playing this game. To realize in a way our own dreams of a future where we live amongst planets, where we reach out together, and have fun and adventure while doing so.

[nyrath]

I agree with everybody else, the video is utterly stunning. I'd suggest that the powers that be in Squad consider using it in an ad campaign. Something about it draws the viewer in, and gets their blood pounding.

I had seen this video some time ago, and had placed it on my website in the KSP section. I just assumed it had been posted here on the forum a long time ago. Silly me.