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Name: fei
Notable Work(s): Get Quaked 3 (Part 1, Part 2), Unity (Part 1, Part 2)
Tell us a little bit about yourself, your background, interests, etc.?
Are you self-taught or have you taken formal classes on editing?
What software do you use?
When starting a project, what is your approach like? Do you have a specific workflow?
What has inspired you in your work? Are there specific movies or moviemakers that changed the way you approach your own work?
Which of your own projects are you most proud of? Which do you think were most instrumental in your development as a moviemaker?
There is a range of game movies in terms of editing styles and structure. Some you could call some "old school" (minimal editing) and then there are very elaborate projects with significant amounts of editing. Where do you think your movies fall? In your opinion, is there an ideal balance between editing and content?
Do you end up hating the music in your movies cause you've listened to them too much during editing? This seems to be my reaction after listening to a song on repeat during the editing process...
What do you think the future holds for game movies? Are there new styles/techniques possible?
What advice do you have for new moviemakers?
Any last comments/shoutouts?
Here are some additional links and info provided by fei! Enjoy!
Notable Work(s): Get Quaked 3 (Part 1, Part 2), Unity (Part 1, Part 2)
Tell us a little bit about yourself, your background, interests, etc.?
My active editing years were 2002-2007. I’m now 32, from Pennsylvania, USA, married with a kid and work in Computer Security. At one point I was looking into doing editing or 3D work as a job but that was a bit more risky career path so went into IT. I have forgotten most about how to actually edit. Tried to pick it back up a couple times (GQ4!) but just don’t have the time or motivation to relearn.
For Q3 I played mostly Promode, and some Vanilla/OSP in the begining. I only played a little Quake Live/Champions. Grew up on Doom, Quake 1+2 single player. Made a Doom 3 vid, played around with Q4 and Halo3 editing a little.
I edited on a CRT, no SSDs, no simple uploading to YouTube. Painfully slow captures of demos that would run all day. I can't image how fast it is to edit, compress, upload nowadays...
Are you self-taught or have you taken formal classes on editing?
Nothing formal. Online tutorials, some pirated editing training videos, IRC conversations, screwing around learning over the course of about 10 movies. A lot of trial and error, but there weren't YouTube explanations for literally everything like there is now a days. Everything is easier and faster now.
What software do you use?
Primarily Vegas and After Effects, various mods and cam, encoding, compression tools. A little Combustion, 3D Studio Max, Adobe Premier.
When starting a project, what is your approach like? Do you have a specific workflow?
Find some good music, find some good content, go from there. I’d always have ideas of cam work, scenes, special effects or styles of vids I want to make. Write 'em down, incorporate some of them. Depends on the content. I’d watch the demos then get ideas on angles and synch points, and effects. Editing and Q3 were a huge part of my life, thinking about making vids and everything related to that was what I spent most of my free time doing.
What has inspired you in your work? Are there specific movies or moviemakers that changed the way you approach your own work?
JRB, mrks, own-age were huge early influences. Everyone in the community around 2002-2006 with Badge 1-3, through Annihilation, and Tricking iT lighting the fire. Half-Life Death Match vid: Impulse 101. Some of the top Counter-Strike vids/editors of early 2000s. Ashr, wussie, cristal, robo, termi, reflex, tchouky. Huge thanks to all in Shaolin Productions/Twilight Pictures, and couldn’t have done what I did without all the support and help from everyone on IRC and own-age.com.
Which of your own projects are you most proud of? Which do you think were most instrumental in your development as a moviemaker?
I was always hypercritical of myself. They all suck. Strive for greatness and you will create better things. Now a days I look back and I am proud of them, though. My pinnacle achievement was in 2005 with Get Quaked 3, but Unity was pretty good, too (because of robo and cristal’s parts!). Liked what I did with Lepus and Legendary, also. Some of the older ones are just hard to watch, but important for those that were in them. Hopefully people still look back and find some joy in them (Oblivion (<3), clan MAR, others in my early vids).
I believe and hope that the following 5 years or so were significantly improved from the work we did with GQ3 and the release of the configs, compression settings, etc. Quality was figured out, leaves people time to get creative and edit. Standing on the shoulders of giants and all that.
There is a range of game movies in terms of editing styles and structure. Some you could call some "old school" (minimal editing) and then there are very elaborate projects with significant amounts of editing. Where do you think your movies fall? In your opinion, is there an ideal balance between editing and content?
I have made all types as I moved through learning how to make better and better vids. Unity was more edited, GQ3 was more showing the frag in the best way (IMO). Everyone has their own opinion, and often if a person loves the movie or not it is dependent on if they like the songs. The audio is so important in a vid. I think you should be able to appreciate both sides. I’m more of a fan of the more highly “edited” vids, then straight content, if I wanted that I’d just watch demos.
Do you end up hating the music in your movies cause you've listened to them too much during editing? This seems to be my reaction after listening to a song on repeat during the editing process...
I still love the music.
What do you think the future holds for game movies? Are there new styles/techniques possible?
No idea, people still make game movies? I need to watch the best stuff from the past 8 years or so to catch up. Always room for innovation and remixing. Nothing is really ‘new’ though. Whenever you have an idea, change it twice, remix the remix, and maybe it will be original, but original doesn’t mean good. If you only watch a few vids over the years vs. hundreds like I did, you may be impressed but I will only see mistakes. Sometimes knowing how the sausage is made ruins your enjoyment of the vid. Every once and while greatness is made and when you finish watching the vid you are left inspired or wondering what to do with your life!
What advice do you have for new moviemakers?
Quality over quantity. There is endless content out there (even back 15 years ago) post something worth watching, don’t be afraid to scrap your vid and start over. Never publish your first work, all the best members from shaolin prod had a crappy first vid or 2 that should never be watched! You have to love this because it takes TONS of time, labor of love. Get opinions from people, learn and grow.
Any last comments/shoutouts?
Nice trip down memory lane! Thanks for putting this series together and finding me! Thanks everyone who was in the community back then and who still keep it going. I have a huge collection of vids saved up and everything from Shaolin Productions. I've uploaded some of them HERE. Enjoy!
Here are some additional links and info provided by fei! Enjoy!
Complete files for the Get Quaked 3 movie project
Complete files for the Unity movie project
Some random Shaolin Productions movie files
And some 1080p movie files recently uploaded to YouTube: