Theme Park Review's 4th Annual Coaster Video Contest!

[Tömmioh]

All of the videos were really good, better than I could do and I liked the music of all of them.

 

Barry's is my favourite, it just had a nice blend of rides and people and some nice editing bits to music and it flowed through well. et.c.

 

Darren's is also great, it was very very close to being my favourite, I like this so much because of the same reasons as for Barrys video, but then there were also more fun-spots.

 

Dave's video is really funny and had some nice coaster shots, however what kept it from ranking higher, is that it was a bit too 'structured', cut to sections, with the headlines, which a bit stopped the otherwise good pacing.

 

Kevin's video's beginning was cool, had some nice atmosphere, but it was too long, I'm sorry, but at one point I started to get a bit bored. Later, I liked that the video 'speeded up' and a new song started and there was many nice coaster shots, this video was a good coaster video no doubt about that, but this being TPR, I missed to see some fun, random things et.c.

 

Pam and Brian's video was nice and showed people having fun together, it had a nice feeling to it, there could've been some more footage of rides and the editing could've been a bit better (compared to the other entries). Still it was pleasant.

Thanks for the entries! I really look forward to more quality videos, good job everyone !

[Mozart67]

I think they're all great! Overall, though, Darren's was the one I watched over and over. Really great selection of rides, good times, etc. The ass-clutching was a little disturbing, though...

 

Barry's was fun but I was ready to get Elissa into a Witness Protection Program if the stalkings had gone on much longer.

 

Dave's was hysterical. I will not be able to shake "Sad. Pathetic. Barry Cologne" for a while. Thanks, Dave.

 

Kevin's was good as well. I realized watching it that I have never sat in either the back or front of a coaster train, and after watching his video, I'm pretty sure I know which coasters I will not break that precedent with at Cedar Point.

 

The Knoebel video looked like a really good time with friends (forgive me for forgetting the name..the fact I remembered four besides my own..).

 

All fun to watch! Congrats to all!

 

Scott "I would have to be on Valium to ride Top Thrill in the front" Mayfield

[24]

I liked Darren's the best. Good footage, good song choice, and awsomeness.

 

Pam's was cool because it was great to show people having fun, and actually made it fit with a beatles song.

[BarryH]

So I assume we will be expecting a new batch of videos tomorrow?

[downunder]

Barry - excellent, photogenic subject matter in AT, captured Nemesis nicely. Very convincing stalker footage. 7/10

 

Darren - great use of POV footage, alittle too much focus on attention seeking behaviour in the second half, could have been broken up a bit more. Every time I see a midwest video, I go, wow, was I on that trip? 7.3/10

 

Kevin - a bit slow in the first half, and the B & W section was nice but went a bit too long. The second half was excellent, the off ride footage captured the speed of TTD really well, and the steepness of MF drop. 7.4/10

 

David - nice intermission, captures the coasters nicely 7.2/10

 

Pam & Brian - great job capturing Knoebels, good fun 7.3/10

 

They were all really good and I hope I wasn't too critical - if I did a video it would be 0/10. Thanks for the entertainment.

[jedimaster1227]

I want to congradulate the five who's entries made it in so far! Here are my thoughts for each video:

 

Barry: I found the song a little strange, but the video was well edited and the stalking Elissa part added some extra humor to it as well.

 

Darren: I can say that this video only made me more excited about taking part in the East Coast Trip for this Summer. It captures a good deal of the fun which you all seem to have had. It was well edited and Crazy Train did work for the video overall.

 

Kevin: I do love the intro song you chose, partially because I recognize it from House, but also because it worked for your opening. I did think the opening was a little bit longer than it may have needed to be, but the second half balanced out with a faster paced song, so I think the video was well rounded in the end. It was a unique video for your style of editing, and that really sets it apart from the others of this week.

 

Dave: Your video is probably one of my favorites (not because of the Barry commercial), but because of the humor and fun that came off from your collection of footage from the UK trip. The song really did go well with your clips and Derek seems to add some more laughable moments to make the video quite enjoyable.

 

Pam and Brian: I liked your video because it showed Knoebels in a different light. There were a couple of moments where I felt the video was not holding my attention enough, but there were others where I did really like seeing the park. To me, it was much more of a family/friend video than a park video--regardless, I still enjoyed watching it!

 

Well, after this week's great set of videos, I'm really looking forward to the other 25!

[robbalvey]

2nd Round of videos....here we go!

justin_saxe_dollysfog.wmv

Justin Saxe's Dollywood/Six Flags Over Georgia Video

jimmybo_portaventura.wmv

JimmyBo's PortAventura Video

ryan_vesely_disneyland2.wmv

Ryan Vesely's Disneyland2 Video

matthew_Tentnowski_SFGADV.wmv

Matthew Tentnowski's Six Flags Great Adventure Video

cody_kempema_tatsu.wmv

Cody Kempema's Tatsu Video

justin_saxe_dollysfog.zip

Justin Saxe's Dollywood/Six Flags Over Georgia Video - ZIP file

jimmybo_portaventura.zip

JimmyBo's PortAventura Video - ZIP file

ryan_vesely_disneyland2.zip

Ryan Vesely's Disneyland2 Video - ZIP file

matthew_Tentnowski_SFGADV.zip

Matthew Tentnowski's Six Flags Great Adventure Video - ZIP File

cody_kempema_tatsu.zip

Cody Kempema's Tatsu Video - ZIP File

[DenDen]

Round 2 for me:

 

Cody: For a video of just one ride, this was GREAT! Awesome pacing and editing.

 

Matthew: Pacing was off, but showed a great variety of the park, which I liked.

 

Ryan: Just didn't feel this one, but it's better than me, I didn't do a video.

 

Jimbo: Great pacing and TPR antics! Fun!

 

Justin: Besh shooting of this bunch!

[Leekak]

Anybody else having problems streaming the latest Video's?

 

The first 5 from last week loaded up very quickly but the new batch so slow, buffering for ages still no Video.

 

Help I need my Fix

[Skramp]

Ok, so onto the second round:

 

Cody Kempema

-Nice opening, like the staggering with the music. Video seems like a promo for Tatsu. It's much to long and just all coaster footage, no people or storyline. Not really sure about this one, just doesn't seem like it fits the contest this year, I mean it's just music and repetitive coaster shots. Kinds boring if you ask me.

 

Justin

-Good Dollywood video, nice to see Timber Tower running. Not a bad video, but again just seems like random footage thrown together. I liked that you involved your group in it.

 

Jimmy Bo

-Some good moments, loved the yellow hat brigade. Looked like a fun trip and nice how you involved everyone. Video showed how much fun you could have during a park visit.

 

 

Matt T

-Opening credits 15 secs? Nice all around shots of coasters and rides. Would make a nice promo video. Did the video keep breaking up for anyone else? The Kingda Ka fog shot was pretty cool, but nothing really of note here.

 

Ryan V

-Did you get permission to steal the opening sequence? Nice transition between Big Thunder and Space Mountain, that was cool. Nice over view of a couple parks. But again, falls into the promo category.

 

Is it just me with these videos so far? Not trying to be harsh, but it seems that everything is just random footage thrown together to make a short video. Most of the videos so far seem just like what Robb posts as a TPR trip review or something. There doesn't seem to be a lot of thought put into the flow of the videos. I'll link to a video from 2005 that shows more of what I'd expect in the contest, Kevin Gillan's Floruba Video. Now a video like that has a theme, plot and some direction put into it. Most of the videos from years ago were the same. Now it seems the theme of most videos is "We went to a park, here's a 4 minute video of it." I'd personally like to see some more thought and creativity put into them. But that's just my two cents.

[mcjaco]

^ Then perhaps you should try to put one together. It's not easy cramming hours of footage into a four minute segment, while trying to create a "theme."

 

As I entered a video, and am not sure if it made the finals, I'm not making any judgements, until I've seen all of them.

[Tanks4me05]

Cody - Tatsu

 

I can say that this video was really good! With focusing on just one ride, you are able to get a lot of good vantage points on that one ride. The music fit very well and the synchronization of the video with the music was really good as well. The way you presented your "filmed by..." scene was cool with placing it on a moving shot instead of a black background.

 

Matt's SFGADV

 

Just out of curiosity, which "version" of We Like to Party! did you use for the video?

 

Anyway, the footage was okay. Not as good as I had first thought. Some of them would have been better if you spruced it up with a few close ups on the rides here and there, (like the B:TR shot at 0:42) and it could have been synchronized up with the music better. (For example, the first B:TR shot and the S:UF shot at 1:01.) Also, I think that the "real park noise" level was too high, making it hard to hear the music. And what's with the "Play" icon popping up at the beginning? If that was intended, it's an interesting little touch. If that was unintended, points off. At 2:48, there are a couple of frames of the Intamin Space Shuttle and Great American Scream Machine, as a result of poor video editing. About half way through the video, the music/video synchronization got better, but at around 3 minutes, I don't know why you used two KK launches in a row. I'm not trying to be mean, it's just that I see what I feel is wrong.

 

Ryan's Disneyland

 

I really liked the intro, it was really cool and unique. I liked the initial "bang" that the video had with the upbeat song and the onride of California Screamin's launch. The synchronization was cool, and even matching the lyrics at the beginning "It's a rocket ride, no matter who you are." And you showed that really old Circle swing thing. (I think they were first made in 1904.) And then, "full circle on the move." You used California Screamin' loop. I liked that final shot with the Walt Disney/Mickey Mouse statue. But the only gripe I have with this video is that you should have used some more off ride footage. Although the onride footage you did have was good. Overall, this one is one of my favorites.

 

JimmyBo's Port Aventura

 

This video was really good as well. It really captured a TPR trip and now I really want to go in a time machine and go to August 4, 2008 and just go to the CW event now. The song was really weird, in a good way. Overall, this video was great.

 

Justin's Dollywood/SFOG

 

This video, once again, was pretty good, too. There was a nice mix of footage. Not much to say, other than it's good.

[24]

I would say that there is more creativity in these videos than people think. When I make a video I focus all my attention on the angles of the coasters. I try to get those types of angles that it would take a lot of visits to a park in order to find it. I've seen some good ones in these videos so far.

[65skylark]

Stupid Jimmy and his yellow hat for having a better video than me. I will say that I think my video that just featured random coaster shots with no theme was easily in the top five of that last group, though.

[Wes]

Is it just me with these videos so far? Not trying to be harsh, but it seems that everything is just random footage thrown together to make a short video. Most of the videos so far seem just like what Robb posts as a TPR trip review or something. There doesn't seem to be a lot of thought put into the flow of the videos. I'll link to a video from 2005 that shows more of what I'd expect in the contest, Kevin Gillan's Floruba Video. Now a video like that has a theme, plot and some direction put into it. Most of the videos from years ago were the same. Now it seems the theme of most videos is "We went to a park, here's a 4 minute video of it." I'd personally like to see some more thought and creativity put into them. But that's just my two cents.

 

I agree with this sentiment. Robb and Elissa do a great job of filming and editing in the music video style, and even though this site is known for that type of video, I'd love to see people break the mold and try some different stuff. None of these entries are bad, in fact some are quite good, but they are all VERY standard. Originality and creativity WILL get you noticed when Robb , Elissa and whoever else is reviewing submissions.

[ParkTrips]

^ Then perhaps you should try to put one together. It's not easy cramming hours of footage into a four minute segment, while trying to create a "theme."

4 hours? Stop taking so much crappy, useless footage

 

Seriously, I think the difference between a video with a theme and the standard music video that we seem to get is that the ones with a theme are probably highly thought out and planned even before shooting, more like a movie. I think most people are generally content with a regular video to music.

 

But as far as music videos vs. videos with a storyline.. I think that has sort of just trended away. Back in 05 there were several videos with a story, and then the next year there were hardly any, with a music video that had some cool effects being the winner. So I wouldn't go expecting a whole lot of themed videos, nor do I think a video needs to be themed to be the winner.

 

Anyways, personal opinion, the videos I watched were mostly good. However, I haven't watched all of them, so I won't comment since that isn't very fair.

 

Originality and creativity WILL get you noticed when Robb , Elissa and whoever else is reviewing submissions.

That is true, and I suspect that may be why the unique videos tend to stick out.

[65skylark]

I totally get the whole wanting to see something unique, but again, everyones different in what they like in a coaster video. I would MUCH rather see a typical "TPR style" video as far as entertainment value is concerned. I tend to enjoy the more "original" videos (like Floruba) less than the videos that are tighly edited to music with no particular theme. I thought Jimmy's video was great and by far the best out of the first ten entries, simply because it was very well edited and it was FUN. For a few minutes I could actually feel myself in Spain with a freakin yellow hat on acting like an idiot and having a blast. For me, this is what a good coaster video is all about.

[mcjaco]

4 hours? Stop taking so much crappy, useless footage

 

And that's probably my problem, I take footage for my own enjoyment, along with shots of stuff that I couldmake a video out of. Probably not the best way of going at things, but it's a freakin' hobby so I try to enjoy myself in both filming and visiting the parks.

 

I guess I'm just getting tired of people that don't make videos making the most "complaints."

[Chadley]

I have to agree with the above people in that these videos are good, but they're also pretty standard fare for coaster videos. Nothing really jumped out on any of them, but a couple were a bit more entertaining than the rest. Anyway, here's my picks:

 

1) Justin Saxe - Dollywood/Six Flags Over Georgia

 

2) Jimmy Bo - Port Aventura

 

Honorable Mention - Ryan Vesely - Disneyland

[DegoRed]

Is it just me with these videos so far? Not trying to be harsh, but it seems that everything is just random footage thrown together to make a short video. Most of the videos so far seem just like what Robb posts as a TPR trip review or something. There doesn't seem to be a lot of thought put into the flow of the videos. I'll link to a video from 2005 that shows more of what I'd expect in the contest, Kevin Gillan's Floruba Video. Now a video like that has a theme, plot and some direction put into it. Most of the videos from years ago were the same. Now it seems the theme of most videos is "We went to a park, here's a 4 minute video of it." I'd personally like to see some more thought and creativity put into them. But that's just my two cents.

 

 

Just because this is a video contest doesn't mean every video has to be experimental or have a storyline or theme. To add to what Robb said, certain people have their own styles of videos that they are good at, and if that's not good enough for some people, well then you spend hours planning and shooting a video and editing it together then. Me personally, I don't do antics. I'm all coaster footage, but ask anyone that has seen my videos, and I doubt you would hear anyone say that my videos are boring. I had 2 submitted for this contest, but I failed to remember that there was a 5 min time limit so I missed this years, but if you want to see what I'm talking about you can find my Disneyland and Universal video in the video forum.

 

Now on to my take on the second round videos...in order of preference

 

Jimmy - best video of this group, though Justin's was very close, one thing I will say that gets me about your videos is the dynamic volume changes one second you hear only music the next you're blasted with raw audio, just makes it hard to listen to at times. Good overall choice in song, and ride and people footage

 

Justin - really good ride footage, and good song choice as well, a bit repetitive at the end but still a really good video

 

Ryan - awesome opening, love the special effects you threw in there, video was way too short to showcase all of the DLR though, would have liked to see more rides in there

 

Cody - great video for only showcasing one ride, great pacing and syncing with the music, would love to see what you can do with a whole park video

 

Matthew - sigh when will we let that damn song die...sorry man, but i made it through about 20 seconds before i just couldn't watch anymore. Your shots were not really flowing with the music, but I just couldn't stand hearing that song in yet another video

[Legendary]

Is it just me with these videos so far? Not trying to be harsh, but it seems that everything is just random footage thrown together to make a short video. Most of the videos so far seem just like what Robb posts as a TPR trip review or something. There doesn't seem to be a lot of thought put into the flow of the videos. I'll link to a video from 2005 that shows more of what I'd expect in the contest, Kevin Gillan's Floruba Video. Now a video like that has a theme, plot and some direction put into it. Most of the videos from years ago were the same. Now it seems the theme of most videos is "We went to a park, here's a 4 minute video of it." I'd personally like to see some more thought and creativity put into them. But that's just my two cents.

 

I agree with this sentiment. Robb and Elissa do a great job of filming and editing in the music video style, and even though this site is known for that type of video, I'd love to see people break the mold and try some different stuff. None of these entries are bad, in fact some are quite good, but they are all VERY standard. Originality and creativity WILL get you noticed when Robb , Elissa and whoever else is reviewing submissions.

 

I have to piggyback on these statements and agree. Dave's was a nice start.. with the "commercial breaks" and the PPP and Dollywood / Six Flags over Georgia videos had great park footage / and coaster shots. Not to mention songs that really matched up with the parks / footage / atmosphere.

 

I'd have to say Dave's was the best of the humorous style video - along with footage of a park I haven't been to in 3 years, and the PPP footage REALLY made me miss Knoebels!

 

Good luck to all

 

Rob "I stopped shooting to just be able to enjoy the parks four years ago.. so thanks for all the videos" Vaccaro

[Cmmndr312]

Ryan V

-Did you get permission to steal the opening sequence? Nice transition between Big Thunder and Space Mountain, that was cool. Nice over view of a couple parks. But again, falls into the promo category.

 

First off, I didn't steal, I made it in Apple Motion. It took about three minutes with key-framing. So yes, I did get permission...

 

I like Disney, so promo video is fine with me.

 

Is it just me with these videos so far? Not trying to be harsh, but it seems that everything is just random footage thrown together to make a short video. Most of the videos so far seem just like what Robb posts as a TPR trip review or something. There doesn't seem to be a lot of thought put into the flow of the videos.

 

Secondly, my main point of the trip was not to film a blockbuster theme park video. It was to have fun and I submitted it for the same reason, just for fun. I imagine a lot of the entries are the same way. It's just highlights of a fun trip, that's all.

 

I guess what I'm looking for in the contest entries is either something new that stands out or something *GREAT* that stands out. Either one will get my attention when watching videos

 

 

Wow, I didn't know this was so intense. I'll have to put more thought into my video next year...

Oh well, It was still fun.

[saxman47]

Secondly, my main point of the trip was not to film a blockbuster theme park video. it was to have fun and I submitted it for the same reason, just for fun. I imagine a lot of the entries are the same way. It's just highlights of a fun trip that's all.

 

My thoughts exactly! I'm sure the majority of people who shoot footage at a park don't put toooo much thought into it since the main purpose of their visit is to enjoy the park! I know for me I try and get a few minutes here and a few minutes there, but I try not to spend my day getting the perfect shots only to leave the park and realize I didn't have any time to enjoy myself.

 

I would rather get a limited amount of footage and try and edit it as best I can, just as a way to document a fun trip. Also, I'm sure many people didn't make their video "to win the contest". Personally, I made a video which I enjoy and I entered it in this contest as a bonus.

 

I'm not saying that someone who plans out their video ahead of time, includes a plot, etc. shouldn't win, but you can't expect that from the average amateur videographer.

[65skylark]

^^^ John, thanks and I agree with you about the ending being a little too repetitive. I was having too much stinking fun on that trip and ended up with just a little less footage than what would have been ideal. Originally, I wanted to make two separate park videos, but I found out real quick that wasn't going to happen. I barely had enough to put the two parks together into one decent video.

 

^^ Ryan, first off, your intro was great! Secondly, I'm just like you, I submitted my video for fun. I actually had this video finished over a year ago and sent it in with another video that had been done for a year. I didn't do a video specifically for this contest, but I think it is fun to enter something to share with people and get their input, positive and negative.

[Cmmndr312]

I think it is fun to enter something to share with people and get their input, positive and negative.

 

Exactly. I love showing off stuff like this to other people. Giving it exposure is half the fun!