The Making of KingatRock1′s Wanderlei Silva Highlight

The Making of KingatRock1′s Wanderlei Silva Highlight
BY KINGATROCK1

The funny thing is, I didn’t even like Wanderlei Silva for the majority of his career. Never did I think I’d be making a highlight video, investing 15+ hours of work; just to honor him! Once I finally realized his heart and fighting spirit was genuine I became a fan overnight. The Fight Nerd suggested I write a commentary or short insight piece on the Wanderlei Silva highlight video I created; I thought it was a cool idea so I said yes. I would consider this supplementary and just an excuse to go into details of the how and why of what I created.

The video starts with my own logo, not as a way to gain fame but hopefully prevent others from taking my video and slapping different music on it (ironic huh). Also, I decided to make a set of videos titled, “Legendary Series”. I had just come to realize some new fans had no idea who Wanderlei was in MMA. This video was not just going to be quick knockouts but an education on the man and all his work.

I decided to start the video right away with his latest victory (I actually waited to create the introduction until after Wanderlei’s fight with Rich Franklin, sadly no highlight footage was to come from that). Throwing the audience into a fight with no knowledge of what was going on (no slow motion or text) was something I wanted to try. After the knockout I slowed the video and showed some old footage of Wandy in his PRIDE days with a lowered opacity. I wanted the audience to feel like there was history there that people weren’t just cheering for what he had just done, but for who he was and what he represented.

After the title shot the music kicks in and the highlights begin. Looking back I probably should have cut more footage to keep the time down but I just couldn’t do it. Selfish I know but again, I wanted to give a history lesson not just a quick “bang”, “pow” type of highlight.

The music I used took a long time to find, as it always does. The music is always the driving force for all my videos. The songs I chose were:

Lloyd Banks – Hands Up
Immediate Music – Avenger
Two Steps From Hell – 1000 Ships Underworld

I always look for simple yet deep beats (mostly hip hop) and of course I fell in love with immediate music. Music can never be too epic. The video follows your standard highlight reel of knockouts or memorable moments. One thing I wanted to highlight was Wandy’s stare down. I decided to change the music and slow the video so the audience could focus on the facial expressions even more, rather than just the event. One stare down I was going to cut was against Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic, I feel like Cro Cop actually won that stare down but left it in. It was important to show the same fierce stare from Wandy’s opponents, give the audience an idea of the real danger he put himself in.

Lastly, I love a great ending, a finale. I had a few ideas but didn’t want to get to complicated or confusing. I decided to do an old school method (rather than try some new After Effects technique) and show previous clips with black and white photos of Wandy in his prime set to new music and commentators. Commentators (I’ve found) tell a story wonderfully and better than text ever could in such a small amount of time. I always try to add the most memorable or poignant commentator comments. The video ends with a picture of Wandy in black and white staring at the audience. I was thinking of putting a Brazilian flag in the background or on his face but I thought that would polarize the audience too much. I thought Wandy standing there staring back at the audience was a way to make them see the man, his facial features up close and hopefully take away from it; with all his achievements and failures; he’s a person, like us. If it gives you chills at the end (hopefully) then I’ve done my job.

I’d like to thank everyone who bothers to comment on my videos and my YouTube page, without those positive comments I probably wouldn’t have created any more videos past the Fedor Emelianenko highlight. I would also like to thank “Look Out A Whale!” for all his advice and general help, Boondock for the original inspiration and of course The Fight Nerd for giving me the opportunity to give some insight into one of my videos.