Express entries – what are they?? Where did they originate, and what are they?? How express recordings developed and how their authors developed? These are the questions I asked myself when I decided to look through most of the express trains (and at the same time I wanted to get acquainted with the early SG). I tried to notice the development of express workers’ work, as well as contact them in order to clarify some points. The blog is divided into sections by authors whose works were published at least once on the live or KEK channel, and the arrangement in this order is associated with their debut in the field of express recordings. Also, the “quotes” sections have been subject to minor edits for your convenience. I hope you find this blog helpful. Happy reading!
Most oldfags will most likely remember this screensaver. Back on May 11, 2012, the “Vice City” stream, typical for that time, was held. Oppressors of Malibu" from Maxim Kulakov and Konstantin Trostenyuk. By May 18 of the same year, the first express train was released from the author of Nano Enot, also known as Amir Munipov.
A year later, on one of the broadcasts, Amir admitted how and under what circumstances it occurred to him to create the first express train:
I sat at night and rewatched the Vice City stream. I wanted to watch it with my friends, but since the recording lasted for 5 hours, I couldn’t get them to watch it. I thought it would be cool to write down the time codes of the stream on a piece of paper and switch the recording along with them. At the same time, I just started trying to work with the Sony Vegas program. Well, in the end we got the first express recording. And then off we go.
From the stream recording
In particular, on the same broadcast, he explained what concept the word “express recording” contained at the very beginning:
The initial task of express recordings is to reflect the atmosphere and level of mood in the stream. Just be able to convey it in 15 minutes especially for those who cannot view the entire recording.
From the stream recording
It is impossible to downplay the roles of Konstantin Trostenyuk and Maxim Kulakov in the development of express posts, since express posts became known among a wide range of SG bloggers thanks to their PR. For example, on a subsequent GTA stream, Konstantin noticed the appearance of Amir’s work. Well, an equally important role was played by the viewers who saved the recordings, because at that time Friday streams were not posted.
I’ll write out my notes about the features of express recordings: initially, Amir’s works included inserts of “subtitles” expressing the opinion of both the express player and the words of the streamers. A kind of subtitle man. The color schemes of the subtitles are also notable – often orange and blue, but they were not limited to these colors. There were rare music inserts and even rarer video inserts. Nano Enot began to experiment – so in one express train he put constant background music, but quickly abandoned it. Later (already on the live channel) he decided to repeat his experiment, but again this was an isolated case. Whether this was an experiment or a creative approach specifically for these streams is unknown, but I am more inclined to the first option. With the transition to a live channel, which took place in August 2013, the insertion of photos, which were often memes, seriously developed, and the number of video insertions increased slightly.
There was also a “black sheep” among them – an express train on the WarZ stream. It was, rather, of a narrative nature: without unnecessary video inserts and “subtitles”. Voiced important transitions by Fen. This work quite accurately reflects the original intent of the express recordings: given that the stream was attracted due to its narrative about the survival of Konstantin Trostenyuk along with his team, the express recording came out of this kind.
By March 2014, the number of express trains from Amir decreased and at the same time his last express train was released on the live channel. At the end of June 2015, his latest E3 restream express train was released on the main StopGame channel.
At the end of November 2012, Artem, also known as RUShunter, posted his first work, called “the best moments”. But the idea to release a video in this format appeared a long time ago:
From the beginning of March 2012, I began to follow the SG streams, then the last entry was a horror stream of Nightmare House 2, hosted by Andrey Artamokhin and Ivan Loev. After some time, the idea came up to make a compilation of Andrey’s horror streams. I had experience in video editing back in school, so there shouldn’t have been any particular difficulties. The problem is that the program I was working in no longer existed. I needed to learn something new. Of the editors, I only knew Adobe Premiere and Sony Vegas, but for some reason it seemed to me then that Sony Vegas was too sophisticated, so I didn’t even try to study it. I couldn’t master Adobe Premiere on a whim, so I gave up on it.
A month or two later, Nano Enot released the first express recording. On the one hand, it was a shame that I didn’t bring my idea to completion then, on the other hand, if I didn’t, it means there wasn’t much need for it. In November 2012, video tutorials on Sony Vegas from Maxim Kulakov appeared on blogs. I looked – oops, but it’s not that complicated, it turns out! After quickly mastering the program, I wanted to edit something full-fledged, and then there was a sudden stream on GRID. Watching it again, I thought: “Why not??»
RUShunter himself called all his works “best moments” due to the fact that he considered it not entirely fair to use the word “express recording”, coined by Nano Enot. However, he will soon create a new subtype of express trains – “the best moments of the year”. The author recalls the reasons for creating such material as follows:
This was a natural development of the idea. At the end of the year it is customary to sum up the results, and by that time the broadcasts were already a significant part of the StopGame content and clearly deserved their own rating. That’s essentially what I did. In addition, most people obviously weren’t as into streaming as I was, and such a cut would introduce them to broadcasts that they might have missed for some reason.
2012 – RUShunter
2013 – Amir Munipov, Ivan Fallev, Valeria Zimnitskaya (most likely forced to work with kicks)
2014 – RUShunter
2015 – Wilder of Space
2016 – Wilder of Space
2017 – Wilder of Space, Maestr0, Alexey Maleev, Heksat
2018 – Wilder of Space, Maestr0
2019 – It was decided to abandon this format, since videos take up a huge amount of time and effort, and are also unprofitable.
I’ll write down my notes about the features of express recordings (or “best moments”, if you like): initially the format contained only funny moments with the very rare addition of “subtitles” reflecting the opinion of the express participant. Over time, very rare inserts of film and music segments began to appear. Some works begin with comments like “Rushunter come, breed an express train,” and in the best moments of the year, comments were indicated where users suggested taking a certain moment for the video.
In July 2013, RUShunter joined the army and returned by August 2014. With the release of his first work after such a long absence, Igor Surov offered to upload some recordings to the live channel, but Artem did not release anything exclusively for the live channel. In 2015, his activity decreased. The streams seemed less and less perky, and the “density” of funny moments subsided. Therefore, in April of the same year, RUShunter released the pilot episode “StopGame Random”. The format gained some popularity, but soon disappeared into summer. In 2016, express trains began to appear even less frequently, and the last one dates back to August of the same year. Artem decided to develop his own channel, so in April 2017 a blog was released with an archive of all his expresses.
— During all this time, was there any desire to go back and make “the best moments”?
— From time to time I came across streams, and I thought: “If I were still making cuts, I would definitely do it based on this stream,” but I don’t plan to return to this activity
While Nano Enot was not making express recordings, and RUShunter was going to the army, Ivan Faleev decided to continue the tradition, and in July 2013 he released his first express recording. Immediately after it, he was accepted as the first permanent express speaker on the live channel. Ivan recalled this event as follows:
The only express recording released for my channel was on the Age of Empires 2 stream, which no one seems to know about. Not many people watched it. This express train took me 3 days: I spent 3 evenings stuck in Sony Vegas. I understood that if I got 1000 views it would be very cool. After 2 days, Igor Surov wrote to me and suggested doing express trains for the live channel. I was like, “Yeah, no problem.”
From the stream recording
I’ll write out my notes about the features of express recordings: in Ivan’s works there was a clear inspiration from Amir’s work: musical inserts, “subtitles” reflecting both the opinion of the express participant and the words of the streamers, but he independently added photo inserts, which were often memes. For some of Faley’s works, Amir himself performed the “subtitles”.
Throughout 2013, although rarely, Ivan released his works. The latest video can be considered “Best of 2013”, co-authored with Amir and released by March 2014. At the moment he is also engaged in express recordings, only on his content and on his channel.
While express trains were empty on the live channel, another editor began his activity on blogs. In mid-August 2014, until RUShunter returned to its former greatness, Vlad Dvade began his activity on blogs. He had enough initiative until the end of August of the same year, but during this time he managed to release 5 express trains. Several of his works even appeared on the live channel thanks to Igor Surov.
I’ll write down my notes about the features of express recordings: the works most often represented the best moments of streams with rare photo inserts and even rarer video and music inserts. “Subtitles” appearing a little more often, displaying the words of streamers.
If you are confused by this picture, then you probably missed some of the highest quality and most interesting express trains. Professor’s debut in the field of express recordings occurred in December 2014, but his works were often published with long interruptions. Greater activity began to appear from May to July 2015, it was then that the first express Akums began to appear.
I’ll write out my notes about the features of express recordings: Timur’s express recordings contain a huge number of video inserts, inserts from films and a more moderate number of photo and music inserts. There were “subtitles” reflecting both the opinion of the express player and the words of the streamers. The color scheme of the subtitles was inspired by the works of Amir Munipov. Context was provided for most jokes. Due to criticism of the excessive number of video inserts, their number was soon reduced slightly, but the quality of all inserts remained at the same high level. Over time, the "subtitles" displaying the streamers’ words disappeared. In comments to one express train, he was critical of the constant background music in his works.
The last express train dates back to January 2017. It is difficult to overestimate the contribution that Timur made to the field of express recordings. Most of today’s express writers emphasize that he reformed the very concept of express recording and its concepts.
Although Elisey Kuznetsov, also https://nokyccasinos.org.uk/review/seven-casino/ known as Dipsel, made his debut only recently on the KEK channel, his work began back in May 2015 – a month before Wilder of Space and a year before Maestr0. He could not boast of the frequency of express trains – Dipsel was distracted either by study, then by work, or by life circumstances. And the longest break was from January 2016 to January 2018.
In the comments under Dipsel’s first works there were indications of mistakes in express trains and criticism of his works. However, this did not stop Elisha. He recalls these comments as follows:
I always tried to treat criticism calmly and take it into account. Correct criticism gives the right direction in work. The fact that my express shows are now airing on the KEK channel is all thanks to the “correct criticism”. I hope I started doing more, better, better. Maesrt0 played a very big role in this already on the KEK channel. He criticized properly and gave good advice.
I’ll write down my notes about the features of express recordings: the first five express recordings were only funny moments from streams, then musical inserts appeared and, in some express recordings, constant background music. There were introductions to the jokes, and the context was also explained. Towards the end of the work, photo and video inserts appeared on blogs. With the transition to the KEK channel, the quality of the inserts increased, and “subtitles” were added that display the words of the streamers. Dipsel himself notes that when creating the first express trains, his sources of inspiration were the works of Professor and Amir Munipov.
At the end of April 2019, a competitive selection took place, where everyone could provide their express entry. The winners of the competition received a place on the express team. Commentators supported Dipsel’s work well, but he was invited to work much later. He speaks about his entry into the KEK channel as follows:
Maestr0 wrote in January of this year and asked if I was ready to issue express cards for the channel on a regular basis. I was ready. Later Dmitry Kungurov got in touch. Well, here we go. I was glad to be in a team of guys I had been watching for a very long time.
Dipsel is still engaged in express recordings on the KEK channel.
In June 2015, there was a restream of the E3 broadcast from StopGame. Considering that for several days no one has made an express response to such a wonderful stream, Wilder of Space decided to take matters into its own hands and thereby make a minor contribution to the SG fan community. For fun, I’ll note that as a result, there are a huge number of variations of this express train, both from Amir Munipov and Professor, and from lesser-known SG bloggers. Wilder of Space returned to express trains in November 2015:
Somewhere towards the end of autumn there was a cry, if I’m not mistaken, from Maxim Kulakov, in the spirit: why don’t you (express workers) show with cuts what cool old issues of Igrozor we had?. I feel very warmly about the conditional first season of Igrozor, which served as a great motivation for me to create the video. In addition, this is an opportunity to show new users how creatively the guys made news releases already in the tenth century, and besides this, it is also an opportunity to respond to the request of the author of this wonderful first wave of Igrozor.
If after the first express tour of E3 I received moderate feedback, then the authors themselves came running to the blog. All this inspired me, and I decided to continue making cuts on Igrozor, and after one I actively began making express streams.
After Igrozor, at the beginning of December 2015, Wilder of Space decided to release a pilot video on highlights from reviews, debriefings, facts and other videos from the main StopGame channel. The author wanted to go beyond express trains only through streams, but this work was greeted coolly on blogs, and as a result he abandoned “Stand By Stopgame”.
And then, right on December 31st, Wilder of Space released “the best moments of 2015”, taking over the baton from RUShunter. He recalls why he took up this format:
I won’t hide it, but then one of my motivations was to appear on some SG channel (a more suitable prospect was a live channel). Here it wasn’t even some potential money that was attracted and not conventional “fame” – a bunch of views on YouTube instead of thousands provided by blogs, but rather a certain logical conclusion of their fan contribution, i.e.e. a kind of summit conquest.
And then someone told me that I could send cuttings to Igor Surov on VK. I didn’t dare send express trains, but the “best moments” are a different matter, I thought then. But before that I asked RUShunter if he would make a video. The answer was negative, after which I asked the express workers for permission to use material from their cuttings. Except for Munipov (who was simply offline all the time), everyone gave the go-ahead. As a result, I used the stream that Munipov processed, but honestly I personally watched and cut it, because it was the legendary Shovel Knight broadcast, where, if I’m not mistaken, the meme about the niece came from.
To my shame, I still disturbed Surov on VK. I didn’t receive an answer. I think SG already understood then that stupid cuts were not interesting, or I got a dubious result. As a result, I’m glad that SG didn’t pay attention to me at that time. The ironic thing is that when I gave up on the idea of appearing on SG, then an opportunity arose to work on the site.
I note that Wilder of Space has been releasing “the best moments of the year” for 4 years, both alone (2015, 2016) and in the company of other express artists (2017, 2018). And if in 2015 he used express materials and simply pasted together moments, then in 2017-2018 each author took on a certain number of streams and made short cuts from them, and then someone collected it into a single video. Previously, someone also took on design tasks: intros, information plaques, etc.d. And, of course, the express riders looked for each other’s mistakes and expressed their suggestions for improving their comrades’ cuts.
As a result, Wilder’s wish came true and he ended up on the live channel. His debut took place at the end of July 2017, but could have been earlier:
I was accepted to live twice: the first when Maxim Kulakov noticed me after the express broadcast of GTA Online and the non-(pre)stream of Grid, released in November 2016. Then I got involved in the production of “the best moments of 2016”, and in the process Maxim decided to try his hand at another team and left SG, but no one wanted to supervise the express train and everything collapsed after the end of the “best moments”. Soon Kulakov returned and called me again, and also, who then showed himself in the blogs of Alexey (Alex LeShere).
I’ll write down my notes about the features of express recordings: initially the format contained only funny moments from streams, but after Professor with his express recording on FlatOut 2 showed the enormous possibilities of editing, Wilder of Space began adding inserts of photos, music and, occasionally, videos. There were also “subtitles” reflecting both the opinion of the express player and the words of the streamers. Most of the jokes had captions and their context was explained. For the express GTA “Sons of the Diocese”, the number and quality of inserts increased noticeably, and soon Wilder appeared on the live channel, where all these skills grew to a high level. Constant background music has been added to the KEK channel.
And at the end of July 2019, he switched to the KEK channel. The reasons for the transition to the KEK channel and criticism of the first works are expressed as follows:
The transition to the KEK channel was due to the fact that Kungurov wanted to introduce clear organization and consistency in the production of express trains, and he began to more actively keep his finger on the pulse of what was happening. No restrictions were introduced, at least in the context of creative freedom.
I am neutral about the moderate wave of hate that formed after the publication of the first works on KEK. On the one hand, there was a clear demand for longer videos, plus there were other sensible desires in this wave, but on the other hand, users, in my opinion, attacked the then newcomer oTTo too much.
Wilder of Space pays Kulakov for the opportunity to make an express recording. Photo in color. Explanation on the link.
— What you need to be able to do to produce high-quality express trains?
— A good express trainee should probably feel the rhythm so that the express train draws the viewer in and doesn’t let go with its dynamics. It is also important to have the ability to generate ideas for the design of material and to have experience working with editing programs, graphic editors, audio editors, etc.n., to make high-quality installation. In fact, I’m saying obvious things now.
Although Wilder of Space last released an express train in November 2019, he is still on the express team and hopes to soon return to the usual schedule.
Maestr0 came to express recordings in the same way as Wilder of Space: there was a cool stream to which no one made an express recording, so he decided to try himself in this direction. And after the first job, off we go. The first express entry from Maestr0 dates back to April 2016. But in those days he signed his works under the nickname Duhab. Considering that Andrey did not plan to continue after the first express, and with each subsequent work he became recognizable in blogs, he needed a more consonant and easy to remember nickname. This is how Maestr0 appeared.
Until December 2016, Andrey was closely involved in express trains, but then he took a break for a year. Maestr0 returned to blogs with a new format – “Replay Story”. And here is the reason for creating such videos:
The idea for a cool story came spontaneously when I was making cuts. Before this, it seemed to me that some cool stories that people want to listen to again are difficult to find, even if they are in cut-ups. And I decided to try cutting them separately. People appreciated it later, as it turned out.
The format was released twice and in total contains 26 stories. Today, the release of “Replay Story” is unlikely – Andrey devotes most of his time to the KEK channel.
In January 2017, at the invitation of Kulakov, Maestr0 began working as an express driver on the live channel.
I’ll write down my notes about the features of express recordings: Maestr0, inspired by the works of Professor, imitated him in many ways. In particular, insertions of videos, moments from films, photos, music and “subtitles”, reflecting both the opinion of the express writer and the words of the streamers. If necessary, the author explained the context of the joke. Although the inserts were sometimes good, Maestr0’s inexperience was visible to blog commentators. Over time, the number of inserts increased excessively, which is why their quality began to lose. With the transition to a live channel, experiments began: constant background music and off-screen laughter (only in one express train). However, the quality of Maestr0’s work has improved significantly for the Hand Simulator express test. The number of inserts began to decrease, and “subtitles” were reduced to a minimum. The main elements were inserts of music and video, which, at times, were created specifically for the work of the express train. In the latest express train on the live channel, constant background music has reappeared. With the transition to the KEK channel, background music became commonplace, and video inserts became more restrained. Although at a certain point the “subtitles” of streamers began to appear too often per express, their number soon decreased again. In some express recordings, elements of inserts from Denis Karamyshev’s cuts are visible. As a result, we can say that Maestr0 express trains often changed over time.
One of the largest works of Maestr0 (besides the “best moments of the year”) can be considered express recordings of the Call of Duty marathon from Daur. And personally, I consider these express trains to be a kind of analogue of “Express Akuma” from Professor. Andrey treats them more reservedly:
Sometimes the thought arose that the COD marathon express trains could be compared to Akuma, but there was no such task as doing something very similar in spirit. More about the quality of workmanship. But Akuma was like an unattainable example that one must strive for and take as an example. But first of all, I wanted to make something of my own that everyone would like. Perhaps the Halo Marathon Express could become the “second Akuma”. There I gained experience and began to switch to a new format. But Call of Duty is more often remembered.
And at the end of July 2019, Maestr0 switched to the KEK channel. He expresses himself about the change in the structure of the work and criticism of the first works as follows:
For me personally there were no problems. It was a natural and consistent transition for me, changing only the dynamics of the narrative. I myself, if KEK had not happened, would have come to the same conclusion: quick, spot-on cuts, where there is not a drop of excess, short timing without mediocre moments, only the juice. The organization of work has changed: now we have not one cut per stream, but a cut per week. Otherwise we were free creatively. That is, no one imposed restrictions, except for deadlines, which subsequently had a positive effect on the dynamics of the channel’s development.
Initially, I agreed with the criticism, since the very first video was really bad in terms of finishing and context. And then, when we fixed the problem, there was less criticism. Therefore, I was already neutral towards it if it arose.
Although Andrey led the search for new express trainees through competitive selection, he rather serves as the main mentor for the newcomers. The editor-in-chief, Dmitry Kungurov, is responsible for the development and direction of the KEK channel. The selection results were unknown at the time of writing this blog.
Some users note the “difference” between the cuts on the KEK channel and express recordings on the live channel. But Andrey has a different opinion about this:
Cutting and express recording are the same thing. This is a simple confusion that arose when "express recordings" moved to a separately created channel and were renamed into cuts to more clearly identify the content on it and collect more views. You can claim that the format is different, but it is not. The format is the same in a global sense, it’s just that the “express” ones have more editing and dynamics. The format of express recordings has always changed, they just don’t remember anymore.
Unfortunately, Maestr0 stopped viewing express cuts on blogs with the transition to the KEK channel, due to lack of time and, practically, the absence of the cuts themselves on blogs.
Now the KEK channel team wants to reach the 100 mark.000 subscribers and hopes that with the recruitment of additional express trains through the competition, everything will go more vigorously and better than before.
— What you need to be able to do to produce high-quality express trains?
— You need to be able to make cool editing with dynamics, the right sense of rhythm, be able to “finish off” moments to enhance them. Also be able to trim everything beautifully in terms of pauses, water, excess debris. Well, understand what exactly you are cutting out. Have a sense of humor to understand which moment is weak and which is top. Well, everything like that. Up to the ability to highlight puns, for example.
Despite the fact that Alexey Maleev worked as an express operator for less than a year, he donated his design for modern express recordings on the live channel. That is, the title template, the pop-up “Now Streaming” sign (yes, there was one) and the intro for the LeMans express trains – this is all his doing.
The first express recording from Alexey was published in June 2017. The work was very warmly received by the audience, so his appearance on the live channel in July of the same year does not seem surprising.
I’ll write down my notes about the features of express recordings: Alexey Maleev’s works initially contained inserts of music, moments from films and videos. He was not shy about using “subtitles” to reflect his opinions. All these inserts were of very high quality from the very beginning. It is noteworthy that Alexey censored the swearing. Towards the end of his activity, the number of inserts in his express trains began to decrease.
The last video can be considered “the best of 2017”, released at the end of April 2018.
With the transition to the KEK channel, less well-known express trains appeared for blogs, since most of them were selected for a competition and did not feature much on blogs.
oTTo debuted in July 2019. His work was the first video released on the KEK channel. This express was received with hostility by the SG audience. Nevertheless, already the second work was partially supported by commentators and then the criticism began to wane.
I’ll write down my notes about the features of express recordings: the first works of oTTo were funny moments with a small number of video, photo, music inserts and with a large inclination towards “subtitles” displaying the words of the streamers. There was also constant background music. By the fourth work, the quality of inserts became noticeably better, and inserts of pictures began to prevail compared to videos and music. Likes to leave Easter eggs like this:
oTTo released his last video in December 2019 and is now not part of the express team.
Glare Light
In February 2020, Glare Light released its first express train on the KEK channel.
I’ll write down my notes about the features of express recordings: his works for the most part contain “subtitles” that display the words of the streamers and constant background music. Video, photo and music inserts are used less frequently.
Despite a long break since April 2020, Glare Light is still part of the express team.
@mnogolick
In February 2020, @mnogolick released his first express train on the KEK channel. It is noteworthy that all of his works have been streamed since 2012.
I’ll write down my notes about the features of express recordings: his works contained inserts of video, photos and music, as well as “subtitles” displaying the words of the streamers. There is also constant background music.
@mnogolick released his last (second) work in March 2020. He is not currently on the express team.
Travius
In April 2020, Travius released his first express train on the KEK channel.
I’ll write down my notes about the features of express recordings: his works contained inserts of video, photos and, less often, music, as well as “subtitles” displaying the words of the streamers. There is also constant background music.
Travius released his last (fourth) work in June 2020. He is not currently on the express team.
I would like to say a huge thank you to all those who responded to my questions, namely: RUShunter, Wilder of Space, Dipsel and Maestr0.
Finally, I would like to point out that this blog is not comprehensive. The “Random Games, Random Moments” formats and Rainbow Six Siege cuts were not considered here. The role of Valeria Zimnitskaya in the creation of express recordings is unknown. The authorship of some express recordings on the live and main channels has not been determined.
Thank you for your attention and have a nice time on the blogs of the Stop… Game… Ru.