Making a Documentary of the Sport

Hey all, just throwing this out there. If I can get enough suggestions and throw together a proposal, the AV guys that do short films at one of the Universities here will produce a video of our beloved sport/hobby/game/recreational activity as it were.

Please keep in mind that it will be a project that they will be evaluated on, and so, except for the slightly humourous (which is us to begin with) I hope the ideas will stay objective and encompass the realm of RC Naval Combat!!!

Let the discussion begin!

 

What sort of suggestions are you looking for? Ideas for a "movie" style video, with characters, storyline, and sinking ships, or ideas for a "documentary" style video, with summary, history, and sinking ships? Also, would these university students be doing their own filming, or would we provide the footage? (be sure to warn them about the risks of bringing an expensive camera to a battle. I know and accept the risks when I film, but a $600 camera is different from a $2000 camera)

Since I'm not sure what ideas you want, I'll try both. Here we go, starting with the "documentary" style video.

One thing I've always wanted to do was document the birth of a battleship, from its conception and initial planning through construction and finally its first complete combat season. It would include scenes such as the captain discussing possibilities for which ship to build, deciding which major components go where, the actual construction of a high-quality wooden hull (its more interesting to see a ship grow up from a single plate of wood than from a premade fiberglass hull), assembling, installing and testing the various components, and showing the completed model. And of course, it would definitely have a good summary of the first season, which must include at least one each of the following: sailing from port, attacking an enemy, taking return fire, pumping, sinking, getting recovered, getting fixed up for battle again, attacking the offending ship, and returning the favor to the ship who sank her first. If the filmmakers want to go hog-wild, they can stage some fighting to get footage not normally possible during combat.

And now for the "movie" style video:

Wouldn't it be great to do a Big Gun version of Operation Rheinübung? Translate the events and actions of Operation Rheinübung into their Big Gun model warship combat equivalents, and re-enact the Sinking of the Bismark. For example, the explosion aboard the Hood would be represented by an accumulator explosion, Prince of Wales's rotation issues could be a rotation drive belt that came loose, and the Bismark's rudder problems would be the steering servo's gears stripping when the rudder gets bumped against a workbench between sorties. You can have bickering between the captains on both sides, cell phone calls to Headquarters to report on the situation, staged action shots nearly impossible to shoot during regular battles, and dramatic music. Here's my basic outline:

The skipper of the Hood gets a call, early in the morning, reporting that the Bismark is on the move. He is to rendezvous with the skipper of POW, and intercept the Bismark at(pond location) by 0900 hours. (show a few scenes of prepping and packing) Hood's skipper mentions that if the Bismark is not intercepted, it will hunt down convoys without mercy in the Atlantic. (show a few scenes of shooting/sinking cargo boats) He drives to the pond (scene or two of driving) and arrives just before POW's skipper, and notices two benches with boats already set up at the pond. POW greets Hood, then calls Headquarters and announces that they have rendezvoused, have spotted the Bismark, and are moving to engage. They then set up their benches, greet the opposing skippers, and prep for battle. The battle begins. What follows is a nice big action sequence, showing Model Warship Combat at its best. Forget detailed historical accuracy, what's important is the oohs and aahs of the audience. After a sufficiently long action sequence, Hood's aft accumulator is hit and violently detonates, peeling open a 2-inch square section of hull. POW breaks off the engagement and returns to the shore. Hood's captain calls up Headquarters and reports the loss of the Hood. Headquarters informs them that a few more ships are expected to arrive, and to prepare for their arrival. Hood is recovered and POW repaired, but Hood is not fixed by the time Rodney and a few smaller ships arrive.

 

I have to dissagree with you Carl. I think the first option would bore the audience & they would realize how difficult it actually is to make one of these & just go buy a PS3 instead.
I think the second option is a great concept, but in practice (at least how you have it set up) would come out corny.

I think the best chance you have at making a good movie (clip-vie) is to follow the pattern laid out by Drumline, stomp the yard, save the last dance... Follow the path of one fast & powerful, but small cruiser & its captain; make them the "underdog". Change your rules slightly so there they film a combat "playoffs" & finals. Compete ship to ship in a multiple day event, last man standing style. Save the "monster" Yamatos for last, make one of them "the undefeated". Don't actually fight the ships, create a "dance" the ships go through for maximum camera effect. The cruiser has to take massive damage at the end & only barely make it. You have to come up with a way of quanitating the amount of damage, so the audience understands how close the ship "is coming" (note, not "was") to sinking. The pump stream is a good metric.

Also, the closer the camera can get to being on the ship; the better. Most of the weapons fire will probably be filmed with the ship near shore so the audience can "see" whats going on.

Carl's right about one thing. People love carnage. That's why we are here. So the more damage each ship takes the better.



OF course, I am known for going all out when whats needed is a $.02 part from radio shack. You could just film NATS & put cool music in the background.

 

I don't think showing the construction of a ship would bore the audience, if it's presented correctly. Sure, if you wax on about the finer points of hand-carving hardwood ram bow then folks'll be snoring by the end, but the idea behind showing the construction is to give a basic tour of the insides of the ship, so the audience knows what goes into a ship, and what other ships will have onboard. You could probably cover the entire construction of a wooden-hulled Big Gun battleship, including custom-machining the guns, into 5 minutes or less of final film, or a fiberglass Fast Gun ship in that time or less, and get the point across. Otherwise, you show these boats shooting and people's imaginations go wild thinking they're five-thousand-dollar beasts firing AP bullets through steel armor that take several years to build. I've got plenty enough comments and messages about my videos on YouTube to know that the generic audience member thinks it takes more to build a ship than it really does, and are discouraged more by their own imaginations than anything else.

Where you go from there depends on what you're doing. If you're making a true documentary, then there's no room for a staged storyline. You film a few battles and show the results. Very simple concept, but it would take several cameras attending each battle to do a decent job. In that setting, it would be pretty easy to have a narrator describing the action and explaining what is damage, what isn't, and who is sinking. It is also possible to use the sounds of spectators to communicate what is happening. A comment by one of the skippers during battle, or the collective "Ooh!" of the spectators during or after a devastating exchange of fire communicate quite nicely when a pump outlet isn't visible. I made especially good use of this in the LMS video, which I will post soon.

One other thing we seem to have forgotten is that if you ask a film school student to do a project about our hobby, he/she will make a film-school-project-length video, not a feature film. Expect something around 10-15 minutes max like that. All of what's been suggested so far would be half hour plus. I've been editing and arranging model warship combat videos, and each individual action that you want to show can take up to 30 seconds to complete, including major events such as sinking.

Craig, I think you'd get better results if you were a bit more specific in what you're looking for. How long of a video do you want? How accurate of a portrayal of model warship combat do you want? Is the end product intended for other skippers to watch, potential new recruits, or a film festival/hollywood? Tell us, tell us!

 

Interesting comments guys, unfortunate that I cannot continue due to my career move. This will be put on hold for now. I encourage you guys to keep talking about it. I'll be checking the posts from time to time. I will still be doing this. It will have to wait until next year.

 

When will you be leaving & will you still come back here from time to time to chat with us?

 

Within the next month or so. Yes, I will try to get on when I can. I plan on getting a laptop in British Columbia when I am stationed for training after basic. I'll get a wireless adapter for it and post as often as I can. I would like to explore the "other" coast as I've never been there.

 

i think actual battles would bore them. I'd go with what Justin Scott said and do more of a mock battle, get good angles and whatnot. Sure, have them get blasted to hell but have it staged... like the camera right there when the wood flys, then cut back to a dance, then CRACK! more carnage. no just looking at a real battle....

 

I like it.... the remote cameras that are out there now make for some real good close up shots... I think this will be a reality when I return....

 

Klibben I agree that would be a better way to film to grab people's attention. For Can-nats my Yamato is being equipped with a mini SPY camera.

 

Cool Curt!

On youtube you can find a video where someone did it with a Bismark.... its really cool, i believe the turret rotates as well....and they added the imperial deathmarch which makes it even cooler.

However its not much of a battle, i suppose they were afraid the camera would get hit... only a few shots fired... but still cool.

 

I believe that youtube video you're referring to is mine. I can't think of many other warship videos that use the Imperial March. It was filmed from my Scharnhorst (not bismark! Bismark had twin turrets, Scharnhorst had triples. Come on, work on your ship ID) and the reason there wasn't more firing was because I ran out of gas after the first shot. The person in charge of CO3 that day brought a nearly-empty bottle Even worse, I ran out of film, less than five minutes before the Scharnhorst got sunk! Make sure you've got enough CO2 and enough film to last the battle before it starts.

The biggest single problem I had with the setup I used was that it required someone monitoring the input at all times and adjusting a little dial to keep the signal clear. There was a lot of background noise already at the pond, so much of the footage was unrecognizable static. There is another camera installed on someone's HMS Hood (B turret), and if I get the opportunity I will give that a spin this season.

 

cool! Even without firing it was still sweet.... and i suppose i just saw the swastika and thought Bismark!