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Weeeeelll...I guess I could finish this.
2013-03-31 19:22:52
Eugenie's Song
Pre-Edit: 7 hours
Edit: 24 hours
The Good: I rewatched my footage today and was relieved to discover it wasn't as bad as I'd remembered. I've captured the mood I was going for (in some scenes) and it's suitably edited.
The Bad: Notice how I'm a glass-is-half-empty type of person. There is only one "Good" and then there's a "Bad" and an "Ugly." Technically speaking, this also is a reflection of my AMV editing trials and tribulations. Today's "Bad" is that my relief was mixed with distress, because I'd thrown this AMV down onto the pavement like a wet t-shirt - *SLAP* - and walked away trying to dry my hands of any residue. The t-shirt is now dry, and Anime Boston is looming just around the corner. I doubt very much this video will be done by then. I've had a ton of stuff to get done this weekend, this coming week is completely consumed by a video production class after work, and then next weekend's IT.
The Ugly: There is this funny phenomenon with AMVs. Sometimes you are cursing because the song is too long, and other times because it's too short. When you ricochet back and forth between those two sentiments, life gets hard.
So! VCAs are over. Can't say I was on the edge of my seat this year, but I was happy to watch a lot of good videos and enjoyed the warm fuzzies from being nominated in a few different categories for last year's labor of love. Thank you to everyone who cast a vote for L.F.S. and congratulations to all of this year's winners! -
2013-03-23 18:39:15
I didn't actually get any editing done today. Oh sure, I got some tea, sat down at my desk and opened up my Premiere project, ready to settle in for some hardcore efforts. I figured I'd better watch what I had the full way through first, though, so I did, and saw quite plainly that the direction I've been steering this AMV in is completely wrong. There is not enough time to tell the story in the way I want to tell it.
Then my sister called and said "SURPRISE!" she, her husband and my four-month-old niece are going to be making a very unexpected visit tomorrow. My sister hasn't visited me for more than three years and she lives 150 miles away, so this has kind of thrown a wrench into my weekend plans. She's also a neat nick and I haven't really finished moving into my apartment yet, so my quick cleanup this afternoon took four hours. Now it's 6:30 p.m., and I'd rather watch the VCA finalists than edit.
Speaking of which, I have to admit surprised that L.F.S. made the finals in the parody category. What did I say way back about that, though? Something like L.F.S. not being an AMV trailer as much as a parody OF a trailer? Maybe it's in the AMV description...anyways, guess I hit that mark on the multiple levels I was shooting for! :D
To bring this back to my current endeavor, what I also saw today was that it's not coming together as something I'm pleased with or proud of. It's meh, and I'm fundamentally indisposed to doing a "meh" job on this sort of creative endeavor. Back to the drawing board! -
Ugh
2013-03-17 19:47:12
Eugenie's Song
Pre-Edit: 7 hours
Edit: 23 hours
Look at me go! Four-minute song, and I've technically got 3 minutes of it done: the first minute and the last two. The first minute has to stay pretty much as is, but the end is sort of waving in the breeze. It could stay as is, or I could delete all of it and start all over again. Kind of a toss up right now, here's why:
After an unusually minor bit of experimentation (only eight hours or so), I settled on a particular direction for the ending and went at it with gusto. Unfortunately, for all that attention it looks like a hack effort and - worse - dictates what must occur in the middle of the AMV, which isn't really something I've thought much about. For the first time ever in 10+ years of AMVing, I find myself wishing the song was longer because I don't have enough time to do what needs to be done!
One other big concern is that this is turning into a drama video, simply because it's so depressing. How much does a romance AMV have to fail at warm fuzzies to get shoveled into the drama category? We may find out...
Worst part about all this is that I've got some really beautiful scenes crafted look and feel exactly the way I want them to, but I need to move the story along far faster than the languid pace of the song is allowing. *chews leather* I intend to keep at it, though. If I don't make the Anime Boston deadline, I'll shoot for Otakon.
Kitten update: She walked on my keyboard this morning and pressed come kind of combination of keys wherein Premiere stopped responding to my keystrokes in the expected manner. It was truly bizarre. I had to restart the program to get things back to normal. -
Bit of food for thought, dreams and AMVs
2013-03-17 08:04:33
Being a supporter of NPR, the radio's typically on when I'm putting about the house on the weekends or driving somewhere boring in the car. Yesterday I caught the tail end of what I think was either "This American Life" or "Radio Lab," in which the role of sleep and learning was discussed. Essentially, the question posed was: have you ever been struggling to learn something/do something, gone to bed and got up the next morning discovering you apparently "learned" it in your sleep?
I've pondered this question myself, so I was rather pleased to hear it's something that's actually being studied as a true phenomenon. Among other applications, I have noticed this occurs quite often when I'm making an AMV: I'll labor over something for hours, hit the sack, and the next day I sit down in front of it and can not only see exactly what's not working, but can quickly and efficiently pull it together into good form.
Given how difficult a time I have editing, I can only imagine this is what good (and particularly prolific) editors experience most of the time. Me? I have to waste 6 hours wrangling footage and then sleep on it before anything comes together!
*goes back to editing...hoping to prove this theory* -
Anime Boston Extended Deadline: April 12
2013-03-16 21:14:30
Eugenie's Song
Pre-Edit: 7 hours
Edit: 15 hours
The Good: Haven't been roadblocked by de-motivation, AMV God mischief or uncooperative footage, yet, which means this AMV's chances of becoming a reality are looking better and better. It's quite the minor miracle.
The Bad: I didn't get nearly as much editing in today as planned, thanks to a late start and a bunch of errands to run in the middle of the day which sucked about 4 hours of time away. I've really got to pound the pavement tomorrow.
The Ugly: Here's my theory about what's going to happen with this AMV: I'm going to spend about 40-50 hours on it before April 12, and by that date I'm going to have something which I can clearly see needs another 40 hours of work to really shine. Not effects work, mind you, just typical Drift-fussing over every frame of footage until it's exactly the way it seems like it should be. I am trying hard NOT to do this right now, because I just want to get something coherent on the timeline, but it's kind of part and parcel of how I edit and unavoidable in that regard.
This AMV is driving home that when I just throw stuff at the timeline and it sticks, it tends to come out looking a heck of a lot better than the stuff I fuss over. :| It feels like cheating, though, and I can't seem to stop myself from trying to make it better...
In other AMV news, the VCAs are a strange time. Whenever I have had a video in the semifinals/finals, its star score has always plummeted (this year is no exception, a whole tenth of point in just a couple days!). Strangely enough, however, the scores on my other videos have gone UP. Weird. Interesting, but weird. I suspect a lot of people are watching L.F.S. (and other semifinalists) in preview mode, which introduces sync issues, obscures effects and in general does not typically look too nice.
JOURNAL: DriftRoot (Lauren C.)
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