First time WOFF-videomaking for me, so obviously room for improvement. Also there might be here and there some mistakes because English is not my native language.

Daniel Brasco, a young American from New York who joined the great war by becoming a pilot. Currently he is flying for Escadrille 69.
Back in NY, when he learned about the war in Europe, he boasted to his friends that no German shall throw bombs onto the graves of his ancestors. Stupidly enough his ancestors are from Corsica and he can hardly speak any French, but here he is now, after months of flighttraining.



Part 2



more to follow...

Superb Dan looking forward to more from this story!

Thanks Mark.

Fantastic video Creaghorn. Great story line and well put together! Thanks for sharing and looking forward to Brasco's adventures.

Great videos, I really like that you created an introduction. I noticed in the last few frames of the third video that there weren't any HAs in the 69 Esc., are you using the no HA mod?

Thank you all.
The intro in the first vid is a bit longer because it's supposed to be a sort of introduction of the whole squadron.

I'm using a 50 aces mod.

I watched all three videos on youtube and overall I like them, so I'd like to make a few comments/suggestions on some things....

I didn't notice you have them in HD. Was that intentional?

The way you made the introduction is great. I would have also added a title page - even a transparent one.

I'd suggest putting the combat report in the youtube description rather then the video and just refer to it.

Maybe use more outside views. Also, if you use the J key and jump to the outside view of the aircraft that is damaged/on fire/etc... and record that scene for a few seconds, maybe a nice effect.

Try different fade effects like cross, evaporate, blinding, etc...

Otherwise, I'm also experimenting with different ways to capture the scene and I like your production.

Thanks for the suggestions Oldhat.
Lot of the stuff you mentioned I also was thinking about. The difference is that I'm not trying to tell a story, and then staging footage to make it fit , which is fine, but simply flying my campaign, and the story builds by itself. All you see is original footage from my campaign I'm flying (even the intro actually). I'm not staging any scenes or something but I make my sorties as they come. If I shoot one down, I'm shooting one down, If Brasco dies, he will die. If mates die, they die. No script. So actually I'm doing what I'm always doing. Flying a campaign as realistically as possible, trying to survive, building a story around it. Only difference is that I'm recording it and sharing this experience with you now, not just for myself in my head. If there is an occasion for outsideviews, then I will use them, cause I love playing with them, but only if it does not put my campaign into jeopardy.

Personally I think the combatreport and the way it is presented, fits rather to the mood and era, maybe it adds also a bit of Amiga Wings feeling than simply a text in the youtube description, but of course each to his own. Thank you again for your suggestions. I think it will improve here and there for sure.

So in other words, it's more of a reality show, than a scripted storytelling or something.

Got it... Then carry on and I'll watch your story as it develops.

Creaghorn;

It's a very appealing set of video's and well done sir! I do to some degree have a problem with the imbedded report in that the text is quite small unless I go to full screen, which I finally did. I have made a few vids myself and I fine that it takes considerable time to edit, produce and add effects, let alone wait for the upload time to YouTube. That is time taken away from my flying and that is why I have reveted to the KISS principle.

I hope to see more of your work but I understand it won't be coming fast and furious.

Best Regards;

Yes. That's why I would suggest for everybody watching it to watch it in HD. Why are you asking?

My mistake. I didn't notice that Youtube defaulted to non-HD, so I changed the selection back to HD.

Brasco is still like a puppie. Discovering new and deadly things every day.

I hope you are enjoying it a little bit, while leaning back and drinking tea or coffee.

Keep up the good work, your videos are really good and I'm really enjoying them.

Yes, please do.........

Very well done Dan, no4 is excellent, gives you a taste of how it would have felt day to day especially on seeing new types appear in your path and you have to make up new tactics there (or die trying). I actually have some popcorn too so worked out well

like the 'Wings' theme song - more please

Thank you all.

As you said, Mark, I think with him it's like it was for most real pilots in ww1, adapting to a world much bigger than themselves. And either one survives a while with luck and with gaining experience, like newborn animals in the wild do, or one fails doing so. It's about the comradry and duty and controling the own fears as good as possible and a good balance of self preservation and risk (the most important factor IMO)

Glad you like it.

Cheers

Indeed, that is a brilliant little film, Creaghorn, with a wonderful intro and outro (images and music).
You show the young man as a beginner, a greenhorn who is probably deeply impressed by the
dashing enemy plane and the German's flying style; and possibly a bit intimidated.
He can barely save his own live, and his morale was struck so much, that the landing goes
anything but smooth. How many WW1 aviators may have made a similar experience early on,
before they became veterans, sortie by sortie - and later maybe even aces?

I only realised now, what this thread is about, and I'll have to catch up with all the reading,
and I'll watch the other videos this evening.

Yes, please do. I hope you like it olham

Good parallel there with newborn animals Dan

All I can say is that he has more luck than brains, but watch yourself. Nothing of the events are staged.

btw. sorry for the rather fast pace of new vids, but in the last couple days I had some time.

These videos keep getting better and better. Well done Creaghorn!

Very nice Creaghorn! You're doing a great job of these.

Watching Brasco trying to change his drum with an Eindecker chasing him up and down the front was worth the price of admission

You have made a great little series there, Creaghorn; like a sequel to "Wings".
I like it how you build up Brasco's story slowly; how he sees action without having early victories.
The introduction of the other pilots at the beginning, and the ground scenes at your own airfield
gave me a "home feeling" and show how you identify with the unit, as well as the area of France,
for which the Bernards may stand.
Great also, that you showed how these chaps were handicapped by the round ammo cartridges and the
changing proceedure - hair-raising job in the middle of a fight, to unstrapp the belts...!

Thank you very much for your comments, Olham. Glad you like it.

That is what I'm trying to do, as long as he is alive. To create a "Wings" feeling. Choose yourself if Amiga Wings or BBC series Wings.
Being part of history and going through it with their own smaller and bigger problems, without the retrospective historical knowledge we have today. Actually with only the little knowledge one ordinary person would know about the events on that day in their small microcosm of their unit. Learning from experiences they make themselves first hand. E.G the british twoseaters are recently having a tough time doing their job in their sector (where we, with our knowledge of today, know that the germans have reorganisized the luftstreitkräfte and albatros DII's are appearing more and more). But such news spread only slowly. Maybe even too slow considering that the british and french are also rivals in a way.

Hope you are enjoying it,also the upcoming vids.

No need for apologies. We'll take all you can ginn up. Really liked the murky light and ground color in the last one. Must have been a heartbreaker to run out of ammo when you had the E.III dead-to-rights. (Hauksbee)

You can see from the videos also that luck plays a big part in WW1. Most of the Aces had 1 or more big chunks of luck along the way that saved them whatever (even MvR when he was hit in the head and passed out yet still managed to be aware enough to crash land somewhat). Cecil Lewis when a bullet went through the floor and hit his control stick rather than his head, and hit the dash instead. Sir Gordon Taylor when shot up by several Albatros and he landed with trailing wires from his tail - luckily and unbeknown to him beforehand, his mechanic had fitted extra tail wire controls to make sure he had a backup if tail shot up.

What's up, I can't watch your latest video. It says that the video contains content from UMG and they've blocked it in my country for copyright reasons. Am I the only one seeing this?

Same here.

And here......

And here..



I was snooping around a bit. It could be because of the 'Wings' song.

Who they are and their relationship with YouTube: [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Music_Group#YouTube][/url]

They claim an agreement with YouTube in excess of the Digitial Millenium Copyright Act: [url=http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2011/12/umg-we-have-the-right-to-block-or-remove-youtube-videos/]

And a possible workaround if you want ot use that song. [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQ0iDuGcO7A]

Probably cheaper just to not use the song though, or (similar to #3) alter it to make it unrecognizable to YouTube's monitoring software.

Sorry, fixed now.

The war in the air is becoming more intense of late. Casualties are increasing...

Very nice! I liked the coded letter to Dan's brothers.

In game terms, how are the other people like Girard dying? (I have zero problem with how you're explaining it, just curious what's happening in WOFF) Missions you're not reporting? 'A' flight?

That was one stubborn balloon.

Thank you CatKnight :-)
Yeah, since letters are ceonsored there must be a way to tell the truth. Especially if there are two brothers who are openly talking of joining the war too.
Girard was with A-Flight and he simply never returned. I don't know what happened to him. Maybe engine failure. Nobody knows for sure.
Pertussier was on a balloonbusting mission with Brasco and some others. He was fighting an Eindecker and he had everything under control. Brasco lost touch with him and he went home together with the others. I was sure Pertussier was also among them or alone on the way back home since the last time Brasco has seen him he was him chasing the Eindecker quite good.
The (fictional) report that a German biplane shot him down came from other flights who must have witnessed it.

Glad you liked it

Excellent Dan nice ideas in there.

Great story line and video! Keep them coming.

I see you didn't have copyright issues this time. :X

It's too bad you couldn't quite finish that Hun off. I probably would have stayed on him and ended up wounded or a crater. Nicely done!

That's why I really enjoy flying with a small number of HAs, because you really get the emotional impact of watching all of your squad mates die, but that's just me.

Kudos again Creaghorn. Really enjoying the story. Some damned good flying I might add.

@CatKnight

Thanks CatKnight. Yeah, reason was a certain track I had in the previous vid in the coded letter sequence. I replaced the track so all was fine. The Wings Theme is no problem.

@Banjoman

So do I. You really know them, follow their careers etc. They earn medals etc. as you do. And it sort of really hurts when they are gone.

@MFair

Thank you for the compliment, MFair. I wouldn't call it good flying, though. I managed to save my skin so far, sometimes with pure luck. Otherwise no victories besides one confirmed balloon. So it depends what one understands under good flying

my bad wrong thread.

Shame :-)

That was great, we are going to have to start calling you Creaghorn Speilberg.

Thank you Banjo, glad you like it

.

You've created a great series of videos here Creaghorn, very entertaining to watch. Well done. That was a close call though for Danny in the last one, let's hope his luck holds and he can survive the madness.

.

Part 11 is fantastic Creaghorn, keep on the good Work

@ Thank you andy, glad you like it.

@Lou
thank you, coming from you, as the master of many great vids, it is like an accolade.

Cheers

Great stuff!

Fantastic indeed!

A very enjoyable series Dan - well done.

Leave in Paris and finally a new aircraft.

Creaghorn;

I have been lurking and watching the vids for awhile now and feel I should have commented long ago. A very enjoyable series of vids that are excellently composed. Thanks for all the entertainment.

I love how you added scenery from Paris, as well as shots of your aerodrome in your other videos. Well done. I'm hooked to your series!

Another nice video Creaghorn, I thought the French were only using the Vickers armed N17, I guess I was wrong.

Thank you all

btw., I'm wondering if anyone has noticed during the conversation between Brasco and Brossard about heros that William H. Bonney with 21 kills is none other than Billy the Kid. Since there is no american ace, yet, or at least no one well known, he had to counter with something.

In the last vid the two year old Boy he met was none other than the famous french comedian Louis de Funes as a child.

I did recognise Billy the Kid. And I looked up Louis de Fines yesterday, as I guessed he would be someone.

Very nice work. It's things like that that really turn an AAR into a great story.

Good grief! I'm amazed you survived at 9:12!

Daniel is one lucky fellow, flying under that D.II as it bounced off the ground.

Yeah, I was surprised too and my heart missed a beat when he suddenly made that awkward jump. I actually wanted to strafe him afterwards but obviously he got caught with his wheels in some hole or something, hidden in the snow. More luck than brains. He seems to take more unnecessary risks due to nerves and all those losses after now almost six months of combat. Maybe Paillard is going to have a serious conversation with him soon.

Most amazing! He hits, bounces and tumbles...and you fly under. Even the lads at the BOC (where a well-stretched tale is an art form) would believe that. And you got it on film. Well done.

Pierrefonds, what a lovely place. My DID pilot is stationed there with the Escadrille Lafayette. Try landing there in a SPAD VII, I've found that I can only approach from the east.

Creaghorn, loved the shots around the aerodrome at sunset!

I come in at quarter to midnight and that is how you start a video?!

Nicely done!

At first I thought it was the bitter end but it was only a bad dream, after all...

Fantastic series, Creaghorn!

Yeah, just a bad dream. The score was possibly a bit too spooky though :-)

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That dream scene in the latest Brasco video is downright unnerving. Well down, Creaghorn.

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Another classic! The creeped out "Uncle Sam" image got my attention.

Creaghorn

Nice vid composition and great lighting in the still shots of the aerodrome.

I noticed at one pont, I think 4:15 into the video when you looked over your tail and saw the smoke trail from your kill flickere€ off and on. I have this happen to somethimes. I have always wondered what causes that. It often happens with the clouds as well when switching from cockpit to external view it is quite evident.

Leave in London

Bravo! I'm loving this series. I love the extras you add outside of combat missions. Great job, really!

No point in me stating the obvious! I agree!

Super vids Dan nice 'TV' series - who knows maybe someone will commission another TV series based on your stories

They are a nice set of vids, indeed. I am almost finished viewing the "Wings" episodes and plan to pick up where I left off in the adventures of Danny Brasco as soon as I finish "Wings".

Well done, Creaghorn!

Thank you guys

Creaghorn, when you make this into a life action tv series, I fully offer my acting abilities to play Daniel!

Another good video, but I noticed that sometimes the screen would bend and distort. Was that my PC or did that happen when you made the video?

Should be fixed now. Youtube obviously had a sort of camerashake effect, which should be deactivated now.

@CaNy

it will depend on the budget, but I'll contact you for Audition as soon as I know more.

Are the mines at Messines Ridge modelled in the game??

Wow!

Wonderful video! I expected the ground to start shaking any second. Keep them coming.

Excellent vid compositions mate! Very enjoyable!

Flying a completely different aircraft now, Brasco has to adapt to the new flying style...

Sorry, Creaghorn. When you zeroed in to shoot at the downed aircraft and they shot you instead, all I could think was "Ha ha."

Yeah, probably what the gunner thought, too :-).

Actually I was out of ammo and only wanted to "scare them away", not actually shooting at them. Even though their engine was dead, they fought back all the way gliding down as soon as I was near. Because of that I tried to down them properly, not letting them glide, but they fought me off and survived. They obviously did a great job. Would have been a stupid way do lose a pilot like that.

Very lucky in that last battle!

Nice piece of flying in that last mission Creaghorn! You mastered the evasive boom and zoom against so many after your tail!! very good situational awareness Sir!

Wow, Creaghorn! First of all, I am so impressed by the way you edit film. Second, by the way you're able to preserve energy and get the best from your SPAD. And third, by the way you kept your head in that last battle.

Very nicely done.

Thank you all

Amen! That was a tight corner with four Albatri.

ps: What model SPAD are you flying with only one machinegun?

SPAD S.VII? BTW, claustrophobic aircraft - no view outside .

Very poignant, great job. You really should be making videos professionally.

Nice skin! Also, nice to have some 'outside-the-cockpit' shots.

I agree 100 percent!

Thank you guys!

Operation Michael...

All I want to know is where did you get video of my flying? I could have sworn that was me flying that BE.2c.

I finally managed to watch a couple of these. Very enjoyable! Good work.

Absolutely fantastic Series
...and besides... a great Way to show Non-Woffers, what Woff is :-)

Very nicely flown and edited Creaghorn

A small easteregg included for those who can see it

a hint is from 0:48 on and the easteregg is from 1:52 - 2:20

I think I know, it looks like you are flying with American Roundels but you are in a French squadron.

Not exactly, you have to look closely and best in HD to get a glimpse of it. It's a certain event right in that area I was just flying during this sequence.

the flak?

No, unfortunately youtube distorts a bit the original resolution. That's why it is harder to spot than when looking at the original footage.

It's Richthofen chasing May, which just happened on this day while we were flying over the area...

Impressive, but you need microscope to spot!

This means that you must have been over Vaux-sur-Somme (just east of Corbie) on the Somme River. But I don't see a river. At least the day is right.

Yes, it was east of Corbie, though a bit further east than it should have been, that's why you do not see the Somme river. It is tricky to have a QC flight directly over the correct spot so I had to take the nearest possible airfield east of Corbie and the brick factory for them to begin (for all who don't know, the brick factory is implemented in WOFF) and let their fight happen there, hoping that they will get as close to the right spot as possible. All that while the AI topcover twoseater is within visual range, who is flying into another direction. It is now a sort of behind the scenes explanation.

These video's are really engaging, many thanks for taking the time to upload them.

Makes me wish I'd have recorded one of my OFF RE8 squad pilots, he had a really charmed career, once while taking off for a patrol while having his own airfield get attacked and strafed by a Hannoveresche and high ranked Albatros DV squad within minutes of each other. He got two confirmed kills that day, and I still don't know how he managed to escape the fate of some of his already airborne squad mates.

Well done,then. But how did you arrange this in QC? I have been, from the very first, a QC flyer. When WOFF.1 burst on the scene, I had dreams of setting the clock to April 15, 1918, then signing on with a squadron out of Bertangle or Poulanville and haunting the skies over Corbie/Vaux-sur-Somme. If Jasta 11 fails to show, then continue on to Cappy and see if I can intercept and tangle with the RB as they return to base. I mentioned this in a few threads, until Pol dashed my hopes, saying that WOFF can not account for the whereabouts of every plane on each day of 1918. While Jasta 11 would certainly be aloft on April 15, it's by no means certain that they'd be over Corbie/Vaux-sur-Somme. (I never thought WOFF might account for every plane on every day, 'tho I had hoped that Historical Aces who cannot die until their appointed day would meet their fate in the actual area of the Front.)

But here you are, in QC, with Jasta 11 below you in (approximately) the right place. Does the historical activity along the Front still go on in QC? I had always considered QC as a 'dead zone' populated only by yourself and whomever you spec. as an enemy.

ps: Which "nearest airfield east of Corbie" did you fly out from?

Precisely my conceptions Hauksbee. Glad to hear you raise this!

Usually I just record campaign flights, but for some inbetween scenes, like flying to London, or like here flying back to ESC 69 etc. there are some QC flights necessary.

For this scene I had to create a german pilot at 21.04.18. I used the fokker dr1 in QC and of course gave my pilot MvR's skin. As opponent I chose a sopwith camel with may's skin set to novice, and as topcover a single sopwith strutter. Both scouts to meet rather low. As a starting point I searched for the nearest airfield to Corbie. When entering QC I gave my red Fokker autopilot and jumped via J to the AI sopwith strutter (which is brasco for this scene) and then with some luck I was able to record some glimpses of the red Fokker chasing the sopwith camel.

I could have had chosen the strutter as my QC aircraft, but as a british pilot in QC you are only able to choose british airfields as starting point, so I had to be the german on autopilot.

Pretty slick move with the 'J' key. I'll have to put that in long-term memory.

And the "nearest airfield to Corbie"? The nearest I could find is Poulanville (a mile or so immediately north of Amiens) and Bertangle (a few more miles straight north).

The closest airfield is the German airfield at Harbonnieres, east of Corbie