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Flight Sim Movies -

Hearts and Minds by JaggyRoad films

Hearts and Minds by JaggyRoad films

Action - 6 mins
Made with: Rise of Flight - September 2010


This is the very first "Rise of Flight"-based WWI era movie created by a very experienced producer of FSX-based flight sim movies, using very artistic effects including color filtering and warm tones, as well as the application of outstanding cinematography.  It presents an emotionally unique and moving story about the experience of a young fighter pilot of the American Expeditionary Forces in WWI.


Awarded the Golden OLEG  for originality and impact of its story, professional cinematography and artistic visuals.

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Cody Bergland
Posts: 6
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Response
Reply #5 on : Sat October 30, 2010, 09:22:04
In response to Russell, we always have ideas brewing between the team for such occasions. I can't say for certain, but we have some nifty surprises in store for our viewers in the near future.... -Cody
Russell
Posts: 6
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Re: Hearts and Minds by JaggyRoad films
Reply #4 on : Thu October 28, 2010, 14:55:01
This was a great film, and well deserving of the Golden Oleg. To have made this in just 3 or 4 days is even more impressive. So when will you have another 3 or 4 days free? :)
Cody Bergland
Posts: 6
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Response
Reply #3 on : Thu October 28, 2010, 02:55:33
Thank you kindly for this, as I was unaware of it's impact. The award is very kind and I am very appreciative of it. In response to the content, this video was a three of four day project, with the initial concept of creating something in my off time between projects. I did all the voice acting and you can blame me directly for it. I was trying to set the tone as nothing more than "another pilot," and the intent was for an audience in the Rise of Flight community, not a general and higher appeal or audience. For simulator enthusiasts, who understand the background, I think it fits the bill and the intended goal. For those outside this genre, as you said, it is something they may not be able to get involved in. I find this acceptable considering my time constraints. As mentioned, I work commercially in the Flight Simulator X community, offering my voice and film talents to commercial addon projects. While it may be construed as an excuse, I did not have the time to create a more in depth project. Much like the rest of you, I work a full time job. It just happens that my second job is the creation of media content, and I dabble in non-commercial work when and where I can. As such, we do what we can often in the constraints we can. Eventually I would like to invest more time into creating content that is much further in depth and work with some of my voice actors to create a more involving storyline. I can cross my fingers and hope for this, and try to spend time in this in such a way as to make the time needed commercially viable. At the time of creation, I had a vision and enthusiasm, but not the time necessary to see the creation taken further. The focus was more aimed at the emotion of the music in combination with the visuals to create emotion in a limited time frame set well before I started the project. Much as when you listen to music and the hair on your head stands on end, sometimes visuals can be created with music to create a perfect mesh to stimulate one's senses. Not everyone is stimulated by this approach however. Regardless of all of this, this was a thoroughly enjoyable experience to create a storyline and take a break to get myself back to why I do this work in the first place. It's always nice to ground yourself and remember what got you into doing this type of work. Working with Rise of Flight was an enjoyable experience not only because the simulator is well adapted to such work, but also because the visuals of the simulator lend itself to visual formats so easily. Of course, flying the simulator itself is a treat to the senses and I believe RoF is a wonderful simulation that was desperately needed in a world that has started to snuff the hobby. Thank you all for taking the time to watch the video. I hope that my future content, both story based or commercially envisioned continues to entertain. Kind regards, -Cody Bergland Jaggyroad Films
Fliegerman
Posts: 6
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Re: Hearts and Minds by JaggyRoad films
Reply #2 on : Tue October 05, 2010, 20:35:53
What a wonderful short movie. It has action, drama, and emotion in just a very short six minute movie, and a surprise twist. It is an excellent story with an engaging script. One of the best Rise of Flight movies made since ROF was released more than a year ago. The Oleg award is well deserved. Nice touch with the Grim Reaper. I rate this one 4 stars out of 5.
Boosh
Posts: 6
Comment
Your story needs work
Reply #1 on : Tue October 05, 2010, 03:29:21
Great cinematography, but I agree with JtD. The entire story is bland, undetailed, and inaccurate. Voice acting was completely uninspired, lacked confidence in the role, and the script was poor. It sounded way too much like it was written today instead of 90 years ago. I'd give it a 2.5 out of 5 because the editing and cinematography was very well done but you didn't go far enough to create a basic, believable main character for the audience to identify with. The lack of detail ensured that an audience had no involvement with the story, and it ended, contented with itself, as if it didn't even need an audience. That said, I'm not going to leave you hanging with just that, because I'm not about to tear you down without helping you build a better story. You do have great skill and an artistic eye for the cinematography. Don't lose that. But do lots more research for your roles. Create better characters. If I asked you what high-school he went to, where he enlisted, how many hours he trained with an instructor before he flew solo, these are all things you should know, even if they never make it to the screen. You have to know them, everything about them, and that goes for every character that makes an appearance in the movie. Even if only for a second, we need to see it. An actor playing these roles needs to understand his character. Think about it: The coolest kid in high-school has that swagger about him. Maybe it's the way he parts his hair, his raised right eyebrow and half-cocked smile... these are the details we need to see in the character before we can ever even begin to believe what's happening on screen. Even if we don't see the cool kid in high school, his character's going to talk a certain way, walk a certain way, hell - it would even show in the way he flies. Create better environments. You set the stage rather well with your cinematography, but I see no detail there. All I know is that it had something to do with WW1, and that's because I know what things looked like back then, the types of planes that flew in the war, etc... You have to remember that people are going to watch this and have absolutely no idea what they're seeing. Do the necessary research. Why are they flying SPADs? Why are they in France? Where are they in France? Is this a real or imagined unit in the Armee de L'Air? Who's the commanding officer? What month is it? What's the weather like? Let's be even more precise here: What do the records for rainfall show in that area of France on those dates? What squadrons, friendly and enemy, were operating in that area of the front line? You know the equipment, you know the planes and the era. Fill in the rest of the holes! Use this document: [url=http://www.footnote.com/documents/14539621/gorrells_history_aef_air_service/]Gorrell's History of the AEF Air Services 1917-1918[/url] It contains pretty much all of the data for the AEF Air Services during the Great War. The National Archives and Records Administration compiled all of these 76,126 pages for YOU to look at online. Don't let their man-hours go to waste. Use the resources they put up there for you. Do the research. Make that story better. I hope my advice was constructive for you. If you want any help feel free to contact me. I'd be happy to answer any questions about taking the research further.