On the 16th of July 2020, GamersRdy announced a montage editing contest made exclusively with clips and replays submitted by coaches.
With so many editors in the scene, we wanted to present the competition to feature the very best.
The Rules and Prize
Rules for the competition were fairly straightforward as we wanted to keep things are open and creative as possible:
1) Use the GamersRdy logo (icon or full logo) must be used in the video
2) At least 1 of each .replay file must be used (there are 19 in total, some have multiple submissions)
3) Include the name of each coach for each clip
4) Video length must last between 3 to 5 minutes
5) All music allowed
The prize pool of $250.00 was distributed between the 3 winners as follows: 1st place: $150.00, 2nd place: $70.00, 3rd place: $30.00
The Judges
We also wanted to ensure that the judging side of the competition was un-bias as much as possible and done in a professional way.
The selection for the judges was made via recommendation of GamersRdy coaches and exiting community members. Shout out to coach OSM for suggesting this idea in the first place.
A big thank you to the judges for managing this competition: Aimpunch, Buck, Relim, Zeke and Kanoi
With that out of the way let’s get straight into the results:
3rd Place: Moha
Scores breakdown:
| Aimpunch | Buck | Relim | Zeke | Kanoi | |
| Flow | 6.5 | 6.5 | 7 | 7 | 6.5 |
| Creativity | 5 | 4.5 | 5 | 5 | 4 |
| Impact | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3.5 | 3 |
| FX | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 3.5 |
| Average | 4.38 | 4.75 | 5.25 | 5.38 | 4.25 |
| Total Score | 17.5 | 19 | 21 | 21.5 | 17 |
Grand Total Score: 96
Comments and feedback from the judges:
There was nothing that made this montage stand out from the vast majority of montages already out there. Overall enjoyable, Moha’s got the basics down for sure but it gets repetitive quite fast. It’s hard to come up with original effects or storylines nowadays, thats why the editors that successfully do so stand out so much more! Excited to see what you can come up with in the future!
Aimpunch
Clean and enjoyable montage but gets repetitive too fast. Lacks of creatitivy & effects, execution of some of the visuals could’ve been better.
Buck
Very nice CC and decent flow, also the execution was alright which is a big + from me. On the other hand the edit wasn’t very creative, lacked impact and felt slow because of the song, that could’ve been avoided with better camera angles or more creative effects.
Relim
Looks really high quality, CC / everything visually looks solid! The flow could use some work and overall the montage just felt quite average. It wasn’t bad per-se, it just lacked tons of originality so it lost interest pretty quickly. Set up real well for the future, just push your brain to squeeze out some interesting stuff. Keep challenging yourself and you’ll do real well!
Zeke
Clean montage but not very original. Would really like to see the editor pushing themselves more rather than just relying on what they know. I found myself wanting to skip through the bulk of the video as there was nothing new introduced at any point and the FX that were used could’ve been executed much better.
Kanoi
2nd Place: Gupi
| Aimpunch | Buck | Relim | Zeke | Kanoi | |
| Flow | 4.5 | 5 | 4 | 3.5 | 5.5 |
| Creativity | 6 | 7.5 | 6 | 8.5 | 8.5 |
| Impact | 4 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 7 |
| FX | 5 | 6.5 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 6 |
| Average | 4.88 | 6.25 | 5.13 | 5.63 | 6.75 |
| Total Score | 19.5 | 25 | 20.5 | 22.5 | 27 |
Grand Total Score: 114.5
Comments and feedback from the judges:
Gupi’s entry is quite different from the others. That’s a good thing, you want to stand out! Totally different camera work and cinematic player introductions. Sadly the execution of some effects, impact and the flow could have been done better and a few render bugs found their way into the final video. Nevertheless, that’s a solid start to work with and you know what they say, practice makes perfect!
Aimpunch
Something different and refreshing for sure. While I think Gupi could’ve done a better job on some effects, the video overall still turned out pretty good. I really enjoyed the way he introduced every coach with a special and unique cinematic. Well done.
Buck
A few nice ideas in here and some unique camera movement was a really nice change. There was a lot of laggy cinematics because of too strong time remapping though, also flow and execution wasn’t that great. Unlike other entries this one had some nice player introduction which was a good thing to see.
Relim
There are some really awesome ideas throughout this and brief moments that really shine! Unfortunately, the rest of the montage is held back by the flow/editing. Argobel did a great job overall, just needs more practice with the basics. Keep it up! (btw song was a great choice, matched the edits real well)
Zeke
Gupi clearly has experience editing however I don’t think they have very much when it comes to rocket league specifically, nonetheless a very original and refreshing montage. Never felt the need to skip through the video. Some of the FX could’ve been executed better and the video being rendered at 60fps was a little saddening. The depth of field was a little overpowering at times. Also of the cinematics also lagged every now and then but I really enjoyed the change from typical montages!
Kanoi
1st Place and Winner: FFragie
| Aimpunch | Buck | Relim | Zeke | Kanoi | |
| Flow | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 |
| Creativity | 8 | 8.5 | 8 | 8 | 8.5 |
| Impact | 6 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 7.5 |
| FX | 7 | 8.5 | 7 | 8 | 8 |
| Average | 6.75 | 7.50 | 6.75 | 7.00 | 7.75 |
| Total Score | 27 | 30 | 27 | 28 | 31 |
Grand Total Score: 143
Comments and feedback from the judges:
FFragie’s montage was very enjoyable to watch! It shows that he tries to come up with his own unique twists to the video. He is a very capable editor and with more experience, the execution will be even better!
Aimpunch
If you want a montage to look good, it has to stand out, and with creating the 3D intro for his submission, FFragie definitely broke the boundaries. Very unique, good creativity with some nice details.
Buck
Great ideas and decent 3D work. Overall the execution was a bit poor though especially the FX and transitions, but nevertheless it was something new and quite enjoyable to watch.
Relim
Great potential! Super fresh, clearly trying more than most people, just lacked the polish that comes with experience. Keep it up!
Zeke
Very high-quality CGI intro. Overall very refreshing compared to the majority of montages in the community. The editor is clearly experienced and kept introducing new things to make the montage not feel repetitive. While not perfect, definitely a nice change!
Kanoi
Interview questions with the winner:
We managed to catch up with FFragie to ask a few questions:
1. Why did you decide to enter the competition?
I have finished and already uploaded my recent montage called Revive and I was ready to make another one. One night I was just browsing Twitter and I have seen GamersRdy was doing a montage competition. This time I had no idea for my next Rocket League edit and I also haven’t got any good replays I could use too. And since this competition has offered clips with potential prize pool, I thought why not try it? And that’s basically why I have decided to work on it.
2. Why did you start editing/what has kept you editing nowadays?
When I was younger, I used to watch cinematic videos and montages on YouTube. It always left me speechless and I wanted to try it myself. I started by doing GTA V cinematic videos, because that’s what I used to play back then. But then my very close friend MKO introduced me to Rocket League and we were pretty much hooked. In 2018 I created my first RL montage and since then I keep making them.
I love the feeling when I finish a project and can share it with the world. The thing that keeps me editing today is that I cannot imagine doing something else I suppose. I like creating in general and making montages is one of my best things to do since you can also combine your love for music and games in one video.
3. What advice do you have to offer to new people getting into editing?
I would say if you are really interested in doing edits for any game simply go for it. Don’t expect a great result on your first try and don’t be disappointed if that’s not what you had in mind. It’s always better to do something with mistakes and learn than to do nothing. I would also like to mention that before you get into editing you should watch some videos on topic you are interested in and learn what works for that type of videos and what doesn’t. For an example FPS edits won’t be the same as RL edits. Synchronizing audio beats with video is also a big plus pretty much in any area. And last thing I would say don’t be afraid to use your creativity and try something new or unique.
4. What were your favourite parts within your edit and how did you make them?
My favourite parts are definitely intro and outro which were done in Blender. I basically got some free models from Blender website and models I could not get were modelled by me. Dominus and Octane are simply exported from the game (I haven’t exported them myself, but editors share some files among other editors which is nice). Eggs or egg people are only models which are animated in my scene so it was pretty simple to make them follow a path and I basically was done with animation. I also like the transition where the clock turns into a speedometer. It was also one of my ideas I had longer in mind. These speedometers were made in Blender too with a texture I made in Adobe Photoshop.
5. What would you have changed if you had had more time?
Overall, I’m kind of happy with my work. But there is always something to improve. I’m quite not happy with some transitions (but blur covers most of the mistakes, we editors know) and sound effects. I’m not really expert in sound design but that’s definitely something I would have improved if I had more time. And like I said there are still some little things I would improve like flow or colours but in the end, I’m satisfied with how it turned out.
6. What are you going to work on next?
I have found another competition for Rocket League montage and I have already started working on it. I don’t want to giveaway too much though. I would say I’m going to keep improving on what I do and definitely create more montages in the future.
7. Where can people follow your work?
I post my montages / edits on my YouTube channel. I also have a Twitter where I sometimes share something I’m working on.
Until next time…
Thanks again for everyone who submitted their entry and, once again, massive congratulations to FFragie for winning the competition. It was a fun process to see the edits come through.
Don’t forget to keep an eye out for future events and tournaments coming to GamersRdy.
Finally, as always, if you’re interested in booking a caoching session with any of the coaches seen in these montages, then head over to the Rocket League coaches section of our website.
