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Video: The Escapist Goes to Epic

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1)   13 May 2008 23:35
Team Humidor
Paperboy
Posts: 14
Joined: 14 Dec 2006

Video: The Escapist Goes to Epic

A few weeks ago, The Escapist's Team Humidor visited Epic for an exclusive, unprecedented, uncensored look at how the award-winning studio operates. We sat in on a meeting with Gears of War 2 department heads, ate in their kitchen, played on their lawn, spoke with Cliff Bleszinski and saw never-before-seen footage of Gears 2. And we brought a camera.

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2)   13 May 2008 23:48
sammyfreak
Gone Gonzo
Posts: 1252
Joined: 5 Dec 2007

I dont want to rain on your parade, but whoever did the voiceover for that video sort of had a rather dull voice.

3)   14 May 2008 00:41
DreamerM
Copy Clerk
Posts: 84
Joined: 28 Feb 2008

That person with the glasses and the maroon jacket can't be Russ himself, can it?

4)   14 May 2008 07:44
Sibren
Paperboy
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Joined: 13 May 2008

sammyfreak:
I dont want to rain on your parade, but whoever did the voiceover for that video sort of had a rather dull voice.

I came to the comments to post exactly the same :-). It sounded like some robot: bleep, bleep, awesome, bleep, sportsroom, bleep, bloop, joke, interview.........

5)   14 May 2008 09:49
wongu
Anonymous Source
Posts: 2
Joined: 28 Nov 2007

Sibren:

sammyfreak:
I dont want to rain on your parade, but whoever did the voiceover for that video sort of had a rather dull voice.

I came to the comments to post exactly the same :-). It sounded like some robot: bleep, bleep, awesome, bleep, sportsroom, bleep, bloop, joke, interview.........

Wonder what will it be like if Yahtzhee is doing the commentary and the music he will be using for the video.....

6)   14 May 2008 12:09
Dectilon
Press Junketeer
Posts: 394
Joined: 20 Sep 2007

That sound at the start of your movies is much louder than the actual sound in the video. Please, tune it down ~~

The narrator sounds like he just woke up and isn't really interested in what he's recording ~~

7)   14 May 2008 13:54
moromete
Paperboy
Posts: 33
Joined: 16 Aug 2007

Bah, it's all good, not like they aimed to produce a full lenght documentary on Epic. For the 6 minutes it runs for everything works...

8)   14 May 2008 16:42
Ian Dorsch
Beat Writer
Posts: 193
Joined: 11 Jul 2006

sammyfreak:
I dont want to rain on your parade, but whoever did the voiceover for that video sort of had a rather dull voice.

Meh, it was perfectly fine for what it was: a dude from The Escapist talking about their trip to Epic. I don't need every video to have a narrator that sounds like Yahtzee.

9)   14 May 2008 19:47
Anarchemitis
Gone Gonzo
Posts: 2000
Joined: 23 Dec 2007

Sibren:

sammyfreak:
I dont want to rain on your parade, but whoever did the voiceover for that video sort of had a rather dull voice.

I came to the comments to post exactly the same :-). It sounded like some robot: bleep, bleep, awesome, bleep, sportsroom, bleep, bloop, joke, interview.........

Me too, unfortunately. But Gears of War looks like my ideal shooter, was it not so violent.

10)   15 May 2008 10:47
Arbre
Gone Gonzo
Posts: 1008
Joined: 13 Jan 2007

Ok, nice video, but I had the hardest time hearing Cliff.

Oh yes, the voice over was more like "*yawn* mkay... well... this is Epic, blah blah... you know the story so we're going to get this short" more than "woah! men, we're actually standing in front of awesome Epic Studios and we're about to take you into the most a-may-zeen..." :)

11)   16 May 2008 14:55
oldmanscene24
Anonymous Source
Posts: 8
Joined: 11 Jul 2006

While I'll agree with the comments about the blandness of the narrator, I thought the rest of the piece was solid. It was well put together with good music. For a first effort, it was a good job. Keep 'em coming.

12)   21 May 2008 19:30
conqueror Kenny
Gone Gonzo
Posts: 2150
Joined: 14 Jan 2008

Gears 2 is looking very very sexy i just want it more and more as time goes on its starting to hurt

13)   21 May 2008 22:04
Crap_haT
Pulitzer Laureate
Posts: 723
Joined: 9 Jan 2008

Russ was that you? Because if it was you look awesome.

14)   21 May 2008 22:40
Russ Pitts
Head Video Dude
Posts: 1827
Joined: 1 May 2006

oldmanscene24:
It was well put together with good music. For a first effort, it was a good job. Keep 'em coming.

"first effort" ... lolz

Good to see you here. Thanks for the kind words.

Crap_haT:
Russ was that you? Because if it was you look awesome.

That's me at the end, with the microphone, yes. I hope by "awesome" you mean "dashing." Otherwise, that's kind of creepy.

15)   21 May 2008 22:50
Crap_haT
Pulitzer Laureate
Posts: 723
Joined: 9 Jan 2008

Russ Pitts:

oldmanscene24:
It was well put together with good music. For a first effort, it was a good job. Keep 'em coming.

"first effort" ... lolz

Good to see you here. Thanks for the kind words.

Crap_haT:
Russ was that you? Because if it was you look awesome.

That's me at the end, with the microphone, yes. I hope by "awesome" you mean "dashing." Otherwise, that's kind of creepy.

I'm not sure what it is. Maby it's that fact that I never tried to imagine you, therefore would have no awe struck look when I see you. Either way, dashing fits perfectly.

16)   21 May 2008 23:00
sammyfreak
Gone Gonzo
Posts: 1252
Joined: 5 Dec 2007

I always imagined Russ looking like his forum avatar...

17)   21 May 2008 23:02
Russ Pitts
Head Video Dude
Posts: 1827
Joined: 1 May 2006

sammyfreak:
I always imagined Russ looking like his forum avatar...

Give it ten or twenty more years ...

18)   22 May 2008 16:00
Andraste
Editor-in-Chief
Posts: 612
Joined: 21 Nov 2004

Russ Pitts:

sammyfreak:
I always imagined Russ looking like his forum avatar...

Give it ten or twenty more years ...

If there's any of you left then. This Nike ipod thing is dangerous, people.

19)   22 May 2008 16:04
sammyfreak
Gone Gonzo
Posts: 1252
Joined: 5 Dec 2007

Andraste:

Russ Pitts:

sammyfreak:
I always imagined Russ looking like his forum avatar...

Give it ten or twenty more years ...

If there's any of you left then. This Nike ipod thing is dangerous, people.

He might get lost one day and fall of a cliff in Pakistan.

20)   22 May 2008 16:11
thebobmaster
Gone Gonzo
Posts: 3651
Joined: 28 Nov 2007

I want that pantry.

21)   22 May 2008 16:16
Andraste
Editor-in-Chief
Posts: 612
Joined: 21 Nov 2004

thebobmaster:
I want that pantry.

The PopTart collection is impressive. And they have the makings for peanut butter sandwiches. Mmm. Peanut butter sandwiches.

22)   22 May 2008 16:59
Russ Pitts
Head Video Dude
Posts: 1827
Joined: 1 May 2006

Maybe I should have spent more time in the pantry. I'm buying new pants again this weekend. It's stopped being funny at this point. Clothes I wore in high school no longer fit. I need more toaster strudel in my diet, I think.

23)   28 May 2008 18:23
oldmanscene24
Anonymous Source
Posts: 8
Joined: 11 Jul 2006

Russ Pitts:

oldmanscene24:
It was well put together with good music. For a first effort, it was a good job. Keep 'em coming.

"first effort" ... lolz

Good to see you here. Thanks for the kind words.

You know what I meant. Mmm... toaster strudel ...

24)   9 Jul 2008 20:19
SoulBot
Anonymous Source
Posts: 1
Joined: 9 Jul 2008

As someone who has also taken a long time off from video production (and made my first short documentary recently), I'll offer a few more unsolicited observations.

The opening music (while used in the Gear of War commercials as I recall) set a slow/somber mood to what I thought would have been a pretty exciting opportunity.

You re-used a couple of the early shots (how many stairs and Mountain Dew close-ups do we really need?)

I couldn't see what the framed artwork was on the wall. (Awards, I'm guessing.) When shooting things with text, it's easier to read if the camera moves left-to-right, so we can read along.

The narrator is on Xanex.

I also discovered the limits of on-camera microphones the hard way. You can get an affordable clip-on at Radio Shack or Fry's. Nothing loses an audience quicker than having to strain to hear the interviews. (Especially after we turned down the sound on Escapist's logo intro!)

See this link to learn how to make a $14 steadycam. I made one. It's awesome and it really costs only about $14! (It's more of a weighted pipe than a "Steadicam," but it does the job.)
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/steadycam/

I'd lose the jokey "interview" at the end. I dunno, it just seems less professional than the rest of the show.

I don't mean the critique to be harsh. I would really like to see more of your video work here. It's great to see this business covered by someone who really knows and cares about it. Best of luck!

 
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