Basic Combo Video Etiquette

[jchensor]

I hope you only mean in the final video release. 'Cause in the source clips to be used as source for the video, 3 to 5 seconds before and after are, in my book, 100% essential.

- James

[Magnetro]

Final video. I was watching ode to the 2 hit combo and you have like 5 seconds, but I thought 3 would be better.

[Magnetro]

Regarding SF4/Anygame with 20 minute supers/ultras

Please do not show the whole ultra more than once per video. It adds around 5 minutes to most videos.

[Doopliss]

Regarding SF4/Anygame with 20 minute supers/ultras

Please do not show the whole ultra more than once per video. It adds around 5 minutes to most videos.

Unless you are making a BnB video, where you want to be able to see the stun and damage of the combo.

[Maj]

I disagree. First of all, SF4 supers aren't a problem. Second, you'd need an hour-long video for ultras to add up to five minutes. Third, ultras look good.

I think the real SF4 ultra guideline should be: If you're showing multiple slight variations of the same general combo, only show the full ultra once. (You should be fine if your combos are diverse enough, but it's still worth it to consider cutting/fastforwarding ultras.)

The more generalized guideline is: If your video is boring, make it faster.

[Xenozip.]

@Doopliss I think the opposite is true in this case. Even if you're showcasing the damage/stun for a BnB video, you don't need to see the whole ultra, you can fade or just skip to the last hit. Show the flash, show the last hit, don't show the whole thing.

For a BnB video the players know what the damn ultra looks like and don't need to see the whole thing repeatedly, they just want the bnbs. If I was doing a Rose BnB video there'd be zero reason to show that long ass ultra over 15 times in a row. I can show the flash and maybe a few frames of the catch animation, then skip the animation sequence and show the damage/stun at the end.

So I agree with clipping ultras for tutorial/bnb videos. I disagree that they look good. IMO, they do not.

But for the sake of exhibition/stylish esoterica videos I guess you could get away with some full ultra animations.

[Maj]

Yeah i'd skip to the end for a BnB video too, since you're not showing anything visually impressive anyway. I mean anytime you're showing variations of the same thing to communicate a point, you're better off doing it quickly so you can maintain focus. (Alternatively, you can use ultra animations to write tips on the screen since it's safe to ignore what they're doing.)

But i think it would look ugly if i cut the ultras out of my videos. I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that they're only like 90 seconds long, but it's also because i avoid repeating the same combo. But then calling them ugly is a subjective thing because a lot of people like SF4 ultras. That's part of the reason it's popular, isn't it? I mean, at least they're animated and stuff is happening. Not like Iron Man pointing a giant gun at somebody and vibrating slightly while the ray changes colors.

I mean i admit i usually skip ultras whenever i'm watching SF4 videos on u2b, but when i finally find a combo i actually like, i want to see the whole thing.

[Xenozip.]

Who knows. The majority of the "entire" player base picks Ken, and most are flowchart scrubs (even the ones that don't pick Ken). And most of the Ken players that I've bumped into say they like Ken because of his uppercut. So I guess if you're targeting flowchart Ken scrubs then the aesthetics of ultras might mean something.

I agree there is a tasteful/elegant/entertaining way to show off a full ultra animation that we've all seen a million times (even players like me who don't play the game and yet have still seen them a million times). And a wrong way to do it.

[Magnetro]

Well it boils down to whether or not you care about what people want. If i were to make a video, I'd skip the 90 second super unless I had a good reason not to. But ultimately, what maj said 3 posts up is universally true: Unless you are a sado masochist, skip ultras once youve used them before etc. God this is only going to get worse.

[onReload]

Yeah it is, 'cause with SSFIV, that means "new" ultras, so people are going to want them in the videos, instead of getting tired of seeing full Shinryuken or Tiger Destruction a million times. Some of the new ones are fast, some of them...not so much.

I think a reason a lot of people leave the full ultra in for combo videos is to shut down morons who might say "oh he edited the video," so they leave it all in to show it's possible, kind of like when people show that auto block is on in the pause menu. It IS annoying, though, definitely. I think if it's an ultra setup video, then yeah, show it once, then just show me that the first hit or two connects.

[Xenozip.]

Incoming rant:

The cookie-cutter ultras bugged me. Like Chun/Bison/Cammy/Fei/Sakura/etc sharing the same formula of rushing forward, launching, zoom in to air dramatic whatever, then knockup/knockdown->pose. And I get fucking sick of seeing Ryu's, that chargeup is not dramatic or hype imo, it's long and ugly and annoying. Rose's shamwow was pretty silly considering how long that fucking animation is and the retarded facial expressions that didn't amuse me for more than a day.

But now I think the Looney Tunes ultras are going to bug me even more. Here comes Tasmanian devils Rufus and Akuma. They were aiming for Hajime no Ippo with Dudley but they only succeeded to do the Ippo thing with ultra1, his ultra2 is some fucking silly ass Naruto shit, making people spin forever. Cody's are fine up until his second one involves batter-up and bashing you into a wall like some Daffy Duck shit. And people think Viper's new one is cool? She is sledding on a human being -- or skiing or skating or whatever the fuck -- and then floating in the air backwards for zero reason. Sorry but that doesn't look cool to me, it looks goddamn stupid. Why does Guy have *OMG ASIA* theme music during his second one, is that really necessary? I guess muting the normal bgm during Ryu's was a little cute, but really wtf theme music for Guy's. Oh and Juri has to sit there and taunt for a few seconds while hitting you, because you know she badass, so she can't just like fucking hit you of course. Yoga shangrila, really? The only ultra I think I wouldn't get sick of is Honda's new one.

So yeah, I'm going to get real sick of these real fast just from live streams alone, where you don't have the convenience of skipping them yourself. I really don't want to see them anywhere else. Especially if I end up playing the game which means having to sit through them there too.

[onReload]

A big chunk of the SF4 ultras involved bringing the opponent up (where the camera switched to a super high angle), then slamming them down. Now, everything has to do with spinning

[Magnetro]

Some 3S video (I think), showed EX/Supers connecting for one hit, then faded out the rest of the super and showed the follow up.

THIS VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tVNjNzpVXo

RX's awesome PowerStrike, it avoided all the setups that everyone is used to seeing and showed the creative stuff right after.

Ah, I forgot someone else edited the video. I think the content was provided by RX, the editing was someone else.

[Maj]

Yeah, see, you guys just hate the SF4 ultras. Perfectly understandable, but it's not a universal opinion. Not giving viewers a rest between combos is a style of editing, not a rule. Like i said, if you're unhappy with the pace of your video, speed it up with quicker cuts. But i notice joo didn't cut any supers in his DVD and we're not criticizing him for that.

[error1]

personally I don't have a problem with the way any of the ultras look. Akuma's and Ken's ultra2 where the only ones I thought looked bad the first time I saw them but I've warmed a little to them. I feel like fancy editing is like a crutch. If the combo is actually interesting I think it looks better with the full setup and everything. I did make one of my gouken combos in new blood end with ex hk rather then ultra just because all Gouken combos end in ultra, I really like his ultra but I thought the combo looked better without it

[Xenozip.]

Nah, to be fair I just dislike anything that isn't part of the actual action. And I would criticize joo if he showed me the same super multiple times without variable scenarios or situations. Ultras just happen to be more problematic because they are like cinematic cut scenes, if you get the "cut scene" version it's not like the rest could even whiff, you know precisely what's going to happen and you've seen it precisely as it's being displayed many times before, there's zero variation. Ultras are the absolutely most unnecessary part of a combo. Supers in MvC2 are a different ballpark because they can hit backwards, be canceled at any time, react completely differently to certain situations, juggle differently depending on character weight and size, etc etc etc. Ultras are just like summoning in final fantasy; I really don't need to see that shit -- if Rose grabs you with shamwow I reeeaaaaaallllllyyyyy do not need to see anything after the first couple frames of the catch frame, and then the last part that shows the damage, I've seen that stupid thing enough, there's NEVER a difference after it hits successfully because it's just a really long ass grab.

Really, I don't even like between rounds. Vampire Savior is awesome because round two starts when the dude that got KO'd gets up off the ground. No win poses, no fade to black, just get downed get up and go. IaMP is cool like that too, after a knockdown the lifebars correct and the KO'd person gets up, and you fight, no between round bull shit that eats up time for no reason.

But like I said, there's a right way and a wrong way. You COULD show Rose's full ultra in a video, if you do it right.

[Xenozip.]

I think this is a good example of it being done wrong : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-j7FlQj7R_c#t=8m42s

[Snoooootch]

So when going from one clip to another, what do you guys recommend? I usually use a cross-fade where one clip fades into the other one. But I just discovered a whole new page of animations on my editing software. lol. It's kinda corny, but idk. Oh, and I finally recorded a silent track for ZERO BGM! And I just realized that, Maj, you linked a silence track on that one link you posted a while back, but I JUST REALIZED AS I'M TYPING that the link was probably the way Rufus's Super Freeze Videos were, in which I had to right click and save the links. I'm so dumb... lol

[AquaTeamV3]

Quick question, is there a general etiquette rule for speed settings in combo videos? Are you better off sticking with the tournament default (generally Turbo2 or otherwise) or is using a lower speed setting okay? It's always seemed a little tacky to me to use Normal speed, but I think some combos are possible only on a lower speed setting.

[Keiko]

Quick question, is there a general etiquette rule for speed settings in combo videos? Are you better off sticking with the tournament default (generally Turbo2 or otherwise) or is using a lower speed setting okay? It's always seemed a little tacky to me to use Normal speed, but I think some combos are possible only on a lower speed setting.

Theres a topic about it here in the forum: http://combovid.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=120