I do a lot of filming of events at the WWCC. I know I'm not the only person who films battle days. I think it would be neat to put together a DVD at the end of 2007, with videos from every major warship-battling club in the world. The basic idea is this: An average DVD can hold 2 hours worth of high-quality video. Suppose there are six major clubs that film their battles. Each club would, at the end of 2007, provide 120/6=20 minutes worth of edited and arranged video for inclusion in the DVD to demonstrate and promote their club's activities. Then, since the DVD is successful and inspires several other people to film their battles, there are 9 clubs filming battles in 2008. Then, we would make two DVDs (or a blu-ray disc) with 20 minutes of video from each club, plus a few collaborative projects, such as a collection of every single sink that gets videotaped in 2007 or a highlight reel from MWC or AusBG Nats. It would be an international, inter-club newsletter of sorts, to keep people informed about what other clubs are doing, help recruit new members, and something to watch in the winter when it's too cold to work on boats out in the garage. Well, what do you guys think? Would those of you with videocameras be willing to help film? Would those of you without videocameras be willing to buy a DVD?
You know me, I would be willing to buy such a thing... I have a camera & the ability to import it to a computer. Not sure I would acutally do the filming part though. Maybe.
Filming is the hard part. Fortunately, I found a decent solution. Give the camera to a spectator or friend without a working ship, and tell them how to use it. Probably 75% of my videos are filmed this way. It's always neat to get a "rookie's eye view" of a battle when reviewing the tapes from a recent battle.
I've always thought this would be a great idea and i've always had trouble getting good footage to edit. The most important aspect is good footage, too many times i've handed the camera to a relative or friend and found the footage relatively boring. Try suggesting they go on the other side of the pond so they can also get shots fo the combatants on shore, suggest occasionally zooming in, especially for good duels and sinks. Don't just stay zoomed out the whole battle, it makes it difficult to see whats going on and boring to watch. micro-cams ON the ships also makes for GREAT footage for a project like this. I'm hoping to tape some Buckeye battles this year, but i wont be able to make it to many. However i am willing to help out in any way, such as editing the films and making the DVD or whatnot....i do it all the time for work. Most of the year (not summer, but thats when the battles happen so its not that important) i also have access to equipment to import footage for editing, such as VHS and DVD....even digital 8mm. So if i'm needed feel free to email or PM me.
You can import VHS to digital format for editing? That would be awesome! My club has (reportedly, I've never seen the collection) hundreds of hours of VHS battle tapes. The person who has the tapes has offered them to me several times, but since I don't have a way to import them to my computer I have always declined. If I got the tapes, and sent them to you, could you send me several DVDs with the video in a PC data format (ie no need for DVD-ripping software)? I would love to see the infamous "sinking the Iowa with an axis Submarine Sandwich" incident, as well as adding the rest of the footage to my library.
Sure! It may take me a few weeks, as it sounds like quite a bit of footage... you have to import in real time... meaning the length it takes to watch it takes to import. But i import all the time! If you wouldn't mind also sending me DVD's to burn it on...or we can probably find a way to upload it online for you to download...either way doesn't matter to me, i have plenty of webspace just need to find the best way to upload and let you download. but if you'd rather just get DVD thats fine. Let me know if you can get the tapes, i lose the equipment after about the 1st week in May, so i might not be able to get it all done, but i will be able to do it again starting in August. let me know.
I will try to get the VHS tapes and send them to you, I'll let you know once I have them. Anyway, you mentioned you have a lot of webspace. Do you know much about FTP? I'd really like to share my video footage with other filmmakers/editors (and get some of their footage) without mailing DVDs around. I'd especially love to do an inter-club sinks compilation
I know some FTP, i wouldn't say MUCH tho. I can upload tho. I have WS_FTP Pro at home, however at school i use a Mac and just upload with a diff app, forget what it is. I can try to figure out a way to let you upload to my webspace if you want?
Hey Klibben, I just picked up a whole bunch of VHS tapes. There are 20 tapes in all, labeled with date and location. How should I get them to you, and how much time do you have to transfer them to DVD?
lets see... less than 24 hours of scheduled time in the lab, however i can always stay over to finish them up.... i have 6 more weeks at school so depending how rough final projects get i should be able to do them all for you. Can you send blank DVDs with them? I'm fresh out! I'll message you my address.
Go to: mwci.org On the bottom right of the page is a link to order a DVD with battle video and an explanation of the hobby.
