It's kinda hard to get this across without sounding like I'm flaming you, or most airsoft video... people, for that matter. But bear with me, I'm cool with what everyone else does, I just want to try and outline what I think about filming airsoft. This is just my added disclaimer that I've come back to write after writing everything that's going to come afterwards lol.
I don't hate the video!
If I'm totally honest I never really watch airsoft videos, I don't think they ever properly convey what's happening, they're always an assortment of highlights and they often have music playing over the sound.
I'm not knocking you by pointing out you've done what I'm saying I dislike, I know other people like that, but if we make the comparison with gaming, for example. Everyone who watches gaming videos knows that it's a game they're watching, so there are certain connotations attached, only gamers are going to watch it anyway, so they're going to know what's going on either because they've played the game, or because the game shares a lot of similar conventions with other games.
The rules and game areas of BF3 for instance, people get to know them, the rules are clear, it's easy to see what's happening because everything the players sees, the viewer sees as well, because the screen view is the only view there is.
Now back to airsoft videos, it's nothing but a string of confusion in comparison, the viewers and person recording both see and hear different things because of the limitations of the camera, the rules of the game aren't clear cut they change depending on the site, it's not just capture the flag or attack and defend, or conquest/rush/TDM etc etc.
I try to leave my videos as uncut as possible and try and make sure the viewer is 100% informed, because I just think airsoft videos are lame. I watch Scoutthedoggie and I just sit there thinking that's it's all just for the guns... and it doesn't even show them off well, you learn nothing about them apart from what they look like, then there's the general feeling that I don't know what's happening, I can see the people pulling the trigger and the shots coming in at them, but I have no idea what's going on, I can't see what they're pointing at or being shot at from, it's just boring to watch once you get over the 'shiny shiny guns' aspect of it.
I don't even know if my videos pull off what I intend, because obviously I was there when they were filmed so I fully know what's going on, I still think there's probably things I overlooked, that I think are just obvious but to other people might not be, so I don't mention, so people still end up a little dazed and confused etc etc.
In short I think that filming airsoft for what it is simply isn't something many people are going to watch, it either needs spicing up, dramatising, or to come across as educational and explain every single little intricate thing there is to tell.
I go for the latter because I've never known anyone else do it and I prefer to watch people play games and film the entire process, that why I love watching 1.5 hour long Project Reality matches from beginning to end, I doubt other people do, but it's what I try to recreate with my videos.
You've gone for, at least this time around, the spice it up option, with music and a mashup of highlights, then there's the dramatising, which I guess is basically just movie making with airsoft guns as props lol.
I guess the challenge is finding an audience, then you can either please them to grow the audience, or just keep plodding on, doing what you do until the audience stumbles across you.
Yeah... Don't really know where I was going with any of that, but hopefully everyone that reads it can sort of see where I'm coming from and take something from it? Lol.
Anyways thanks for watching. Next airsoft game for me is next year I think.
