My name is Mikhail. I am 29 years old and live in Russia. My work for now is not even a centimeter close to moviemaking but previously I worked on a television show. My first big projects I made entirely at my work :). For now all of my time I spend on work trying to make a good future for myself and my girlfriend. I love computer games. Fate introduced me to Quake III in 2000-2001, I think. I remember seeing Cetus the movie (I believe one of the first big DeFRaG movies). The exact timeline is fuzzy.

I'm totally self-taught. My knowledge of moviemaking software made me work on a television. My interest in moviemaking has grown since when I was studying in college. My teacher have seen that I'm working in Adobe Premiere with no Russification and he was shocked, I believe! He drive me on some kind of exhibition of talents and that thrilled me even more.

Adobe Package (Premiere, Photoshop, After Effects), Cinema 4D, Quake3mme.

When you start a new movie you should have some kind of plan in your head, it won't work otherwise. My approach is:

1) Make a good music mix
2) Every video should take his place, according to music mix (in Quake,this approach is the key to put it in a right place, I believe)
3) Figure out if there are some kind of black screens after video\audio sync and fill it with some kind of "cool stuff" (this is where the imagination kicks in!)
4) Put some color correction, make all of videos looks like the one piece.
5) Add titles.

I believe these are the basics. You may make it more complicated thinking about the stucture of the movie, select a better music solution for every part, make a crazy music sync or whatever you think. The goal is to show the viewers your vision of all of this.

I get my inspire in a Quake III movie, called Unity by Crystal & Fei and for me it is still a very best thing I have ever seen. That movie features near 30 players around the world united and inspired by the man I believe with a nickname Rate from Europe. Music mix was a brave one, unusual in those days, performed with Psytrance music, mixed by mrks (who made an entire Cetus the movie). Dynamic is crucial so as it should be in Quake III. All of the content was new and fresh. No one had ever done those tricks before and alot of them were recorded with a over 300ms ping!!!

After seeing Unity the first time, I had to pull my jaw up from the floor. It was with that movie that I found my approach. Also I think I know the best moviemaker in Quake III: KOS from Germany. He is totally the best one. :) Also r3nk! (Make sure you interview rEnk, too! :) )

I'm very proud of Overshine cause there are no timescales. It's dynamic enough, with good 3rd person cameras in a right places, not much effects, but they are in the right place, and a content is very very good. My first project, that I posted on YouTube was Zapadlo the movie and I think it is most important work I made, because I didn't have something specific in mind. The idea with Zapadlo was to test myself and this project was showing me the things I could do. And i was satisfied seeing it :).

The balance between editing and content is what every moviemaker is looking for when they make a movie. Sometimes content is so great that you don't want to put some kind of timescale like I said before. But editing and content aren't mutually exclusive things. Every crazy idea, picture, and sound could live in movie!!! If it looks organic, if it is natural, the movie should look like a complete, self-contained, self-consistent thing...

I believe that movies should inspire other moviemakers, so I think as long as Quake III lives on new movies shall be relesed aswell. And for good moviemakers its good to have some kind of chalange in mind: "I must do something new! That thing that i'm doing shall not been seen before!" I think the moviemaker's thoughts, if they are achieved, will create something special!

Do not fear being experimental! Try this and try that, see how it looks. Take your time! Have your own opinion according to movies and find the look for your work. Experience is priceless! Go now and make some Quake III movies! :)

Good luck and have fun!