Review - Face Your Destiny - DarkXPower

[CrackTheSky]

Since the concept of these threads is still new, considering as of this writing there is only one other in existence, I'll link to it here so that those who missed it can read the intro and get a feel for what this is all about.

I'm a big fan of recommending deserving videos, so you'll probably be seeing me post these threads here quite frequently - I have a massive backlog of older videos I feel deserve recognition, and this seems to be a perfect outlet for that, so if you're interested in watching good videos that probably went under the radar, keep an eye out for any other review threads I post. I don't know what kinds of videos godix and FC/Dr.Dinosaur (and anyone else who decides to join in) will choose to focus their attention on, but most of my threads will almost definitely be focused on older (read: pre-2007) videos. Of course, like FC said in his thread, if you feel there's a video that deserves recognition but you don't want to start a thread yourself, you can always shoot it my way as well; I don't have a whole lot else going on.

All that said, on to the rules and the review.

1) The video will not be posted by the creator (we have announcement forums for that).
2) The video will not have a currently active announcement thread.
3) The thread creator should post their thoughts on the video to initiate discussion.
4) The thread will start with a copy and paste of these 4 rules.

Video:



You probably recognize DarkXPower as the editor of one of the most beloved comedy videos of the early AMV years (and the .org's third entry into its database), Pokemon - Bitches. But DarkXPower has another video, and one that I feel is more genre-essential; if anyone ever came up to me and told me they wanted to edit action, I would first point them to this video, tell them to study it very hard, learn it by heart, remake it from scratch, and then go on to try their hand at their own video. This, plain and simple, is how action should be done. The cuts, the scene selection, and the internal sync are all perfectly orchestrated and arranged. There's no story beyond Street Fighter characters beating the hell out of each other, but this is one of those "random action videos" where that's actually acceptable, simply because the rest of the video is executed so well.

Probably my favorite aspect of this video's editing is the internal sync. Anyone who knows me decently knows that I have a personal love for videos that do a lot of internal sync; I feel it makes a video's flow a lot smoother and simply more interesting to watch. As such, those who don't care much for internal sync probably won't be able to appreciate all the times it's used throughout this video, especially because several times it's not entirely obvious. But without the almost constant use of internal sync throughout this video, DarkXPower would not have been able to maintain the butter-smooth pacing that puts this video miles above similar action videos. Usually, especially in action, when the song slows down, the video loses its momentum and has to start again from the beginning once the music picks up again. But this video utilizes a constant-build philosophy that never fails to keep me hooked until that final scene (and creative transition to the credits).

Action editors take note. This is old-school action editing at the top of its game. Although many older editors here would probably balk at the idea of me calling a 2004 release "old school", you don't see this kind of editing very much anymore. This video's age shows only in its lack of effects; in many ways, this is the kind of editing we don't see nearly enough of in modern times.

[Knowname]

I love how the meat mixed with the bun. It was like 'I came for an amv and all I got was a seriously long intro!'

[ExSphere]

YES! This video is fantastic and still stands on todays standards.

[godix]

It's a good video for showing sync without annoying effects. You are right, someone who thinks they need to do a damned white flash to beat sync should study this video.

However, as a video in and of itself, it suffers from the same thing almost every action video does. From watching it, I was given no hint as to why they're fighting. Even professional wrestlers give me a storyline. When some drugged up muscle bound oaf does a better job at telling a story than an editor does, there's a problem there.

[Knowname]

I don't know if it 'stands up even today' and some crap... but it's definitely a little better than mediocre, and probably well worth the score I gave it 5 years ago. There were many opportunitys where even an average amv editor would have put in a camera shift or two (ie skip a frame, it works well on minor/ major beats, the ones you don't know whether they deserve to be used with scene changes or not)

here's a great old video that I think started the overuse of effects and transparencies but I think of it as one of the good ones, just on this side of annoying
[vidid=80037]

[Fall_Child42]

I agree with both godix and CrackTheSky.

I do think that everyone making an action video should watch this one, especiually if they are beginners.
This video really does illustrate that good scene selection and flow can make a simply edited video really enjoyable to watch.
There is no need for extensive effects or flashes all over the screen to synch to every little thing.
The one instance of the flashing was used correctly and in good proportion to all the other ways of synching.

What I did see however was a few scenes that dragged on a little long, and some over use of the crossfade.

As for needing a reason to fight...They are street fighters, that's what they do.
(seriously if you can make any sense of the Street Fighter lore you sir are a better man than I)

[Phantasmagoriat]

I acknowledge what everyone else is saying, but I also have my personal preferences... so I'm probably gonna sound crazy by posting this... but whatever...

I thought it was alright for a 2004 video,

But with the ease of fast, raw editing these days (proxy editing & faster codecs) I do tend to expect more sync. Certainly it does not need to be in-your-face external this-and-that with flashes etc... but IMO the pace of the music is simply faster than what I saw (in some places like starting at 1:33, and 1:46+). The music has more intensity if you look for it. Don't get me wrong, I thought the intervals of sync were appropriate and did not disrupt the flow of the video, but... let me put it in terms of numbers:
-for every 8 cycles of rhythm, every 4th was synced
-IMO, a pace that would feel proportional to the intensity would be every 2nd cycle
-syncing every cycle would be way too much, and too difficult to follow

In all of these hypothetical scenarios, the flow is still respected because a mathematically consistent pace is used. Theoretically you could double the amount of editing, and it would flow just as well (though it would be twice as hard, especially if you are emphasizing internal sync... you may run out of motion-rich footage...). But you couldn't increase the intervals of sync by 50% because then you'd fall out of the rhythmic cycle. Now I am overgeneralizing here when I say things like cycles of rhythmic sync, because it get's much more complicated when you take into account the interplay between drum, base, and guitar riffs... but hopefully I've illustrated what I mean.

So anyways, the video was alright, and I'm responding to this strictly as a synchronization enthusiast. Talking about concept/story would be a completely different matter that I don't feel like addressing.