Early Reactions

[Resk]

Alright, so I was just curious as to what the general public would think about this.

I'm getting ready to start my most anticipated project. It's a video with hardly any 'eye candy' much like my Fractured Reality video in my profile. Basically, it's a video which relates heavily on the actual subject matter of the clips, and story of the game.

Now, this video is being done to Gravity of Love by Enigma. I know this song is an extremely popular choice, with over 500 videos previously done to it on this site. Now, I'm being completely serious when I say this is my favourite song of all time. It's helped me out in many ways in the past, but I won't go into that. Of every video I have seen done to this song, I don't think any of them came close to doing the song justice. Now, I admit I haven't seen all 500+ videos done to the song, but of the ones I have looked at (perhaps 30 or so), none of them depicted the song as deep as I believe the song can go.

Now, I include myself in that category. I've atempted this song 3 times in the past, but each time abandoned the project because I didn't feel it was good enough for the song. I decided that perhaps it wasn't my abilities that were making the video bad, but that perhaps it was just the footage. Similarily, the other Gravity of Love videos had the same problem. So, I decided to search for something that would depict the song in a way that I have always imagined it could. And I found it.

On this site, there are very few videos done to this footage. In fact, I would go as far as to say that no one (on this site) has ever done this footage exclusivly. Shadow Hearts has been used 3 times: twice with many other anime. The third, although listed as Shadow Hearts, isn't actually the game. Shadow Hearts: Covenant has been used 5 times: 4 with multiple animes, and once on its own, although never uploaded.

It is with Shadow Hearts and Shadow Hearts: Covenant that I believe I can finally do the song justice. And since they are rarely done, I believe it can and will be an extremely original and very meaningful video to watch. However, this raises some issues.

Is the footage too rare to be enjoyed? The fact that it has been so unused is no surprise. The games themselves are very hard to copy directly, and so capturing is the only course to take to get the clips (as I have done). However, it is the main focus of the video that worries me. The story of Shadow Hearts revolves around the main characters Yuri and Alice, their trials together, and the ultimate sacrifice (given by Alice) to save Yuri's soul. This idea is also continued into the second game. However, since this is the main focus of the video, I would assume it would be easy enough to pick out. The real problem lies with the availability of the first game. Its release date was poorly timed, coming out just before Final Fantasy X, and therefore became overshadowed, and from what I've been able to tell, not many people either know of it or have played it. In a video where there is an emphasis on the story, this could cause a big problem.

The other problem with this video, since it is so story-heavy, is that interest may be lost when viewing it due to a lack of 'eye-candy.' And while I know the way to combat this is to prepare the video so as not to lose interest, there's only so much that can be done without compromising the original focus of the video (as I discovered with my Fractured Reality video). Although, the flip side of this, is that since it is not very popular, perhaps people will gain interest by seeing clips they may never have seen before.

So, my questions are these: Would you download such a video? Would you be interested in watching such a video? Do you think (from my description) that it would keep your attention? Anything you may suggest that I try when the video is finished? etc.

The reason I'm asking, is just so I can get some feedback as to how this video might be recieved with the public. I still intend to make the video no matter what. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

[Resk]

*wishes for edit button* sorry, meant 100+ times, not 500+ times.

[pen-pen2002]

The other problem with this video, since it is so story-heavy, is that interest may be lost when viewing it due to a lack of 'eye-candy.' And while I know the way to combat this is to prepare the video so as not to lose interest, there's only so much that can be done without compromising the original focus of the video (as I discovered with my Fractured Reality video). Although, the flip side of this, is that since it is not very popular, perhaps people will gain interest by seeing clips they may never have seen before.

Two things:

First a lot of people (myself included) enjoy watching videos of series/games we have never seen before. A good storytelling video can hold interest much longer than say, straight action (unless your Tsukin ). Storytelling videos are somewhat rare because they are hard to do, but if you can pull it off it ought to work nicely. Oh, and effects are even less useful in a storytelling video (see my sig or AD's "storytelling") unless you are combining animes.

Second thing:

This is obviously an important project for you... Fuck public oppinion and do what you want. It's not like you have to compromise your vision to make money or anything. A lot of the best videos are made by the creator not listening to anyone. Go for it.

[dokool]

Second thing:

This is obviously an important project for you... Fuck public oppinion and do what you want. It's not like you have to compromise your vision to make money or anything. A lot of the best videos are made by the creator not listening to anyone. Go for it.

x2. I respect ideas less when people feel the need to defend/justify them instead of going ahead and just <i>doing</i> them.

[Resk]

Oh, don't get me wrong. I have no intention of making this video just so the public will like it. I've always ade videos for myself primarily, and for the public as an after thought. This project isn't any different.

The reason why I decided to ask before hand if the public would be interestted in this project, is because after I made my Fractured Reality video (one of my favourites), I often found myself defending the work to people who can't get through a day without seeing something flashy. And as I didn't want a repeat preformace of that (spending hours upon hours defending the project I had worked so hard on), I thought perhaps the public would have some ideas on how to avoid that situation, when I finally release the video.

[Pyle]

Honestly, what's the point of asking?

[Resk]

Honestly, what's the point of asking?

Honestly, what's the point of posting that? If you had bothered to read the thread, you'd see the reason I'm asking. And it's a sad day when a forum can't be used for...I don't know...talking to people and asking something that may have importance to someone other than yourself.

[dokool]

Honestly, what's the point of asking?

Honestly, what's the point of posting that? If you had bothered to read the thread, you'd see the reason I'm asking. And it's a sad day when a forum can't be used for...I don't know...talking to people and asking something that may have importance to someone other than yourself.

I think if you're asking "The Public" what they think about your idea, you might as well give it up now because you've sure as hell given up any pretense of wanting to do it for yourself.

You complain about how you had to defend your last project? Here's an idea - don't. Seriously. Don't bother justifying your work. If you have confidence in what you create it should justify itself. Those who will get it will get it, and those who don't understand/appriciate it... well, it's there loss. I look at your initial post and I see about a page of "please tell me this is a good idea and justify my existence."

This either means that you <i>don't</i> feel strongly about making this video, or that you're willing to compromise your vision in order to have a large public appeal. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and say that neither is true, so instead I'll say this: <b>Cowboy the fuck up and start editing.</b>

[Otohiko]

So this is basically a question of:

"I know this will be valuable to me. Will this be valuable to others?"

This depends on who these 'others' are, and what kind of 'valuable' are you looking for.

Fans of this under-used footage may well be compelled, for one. If it's a well-made video, there will no doubt be some response from others.

But this is where the question comes in: when you say "would it keep your attention?", what kind of attention are you looking for?

Cheap, attracted attention is best measured in quantity and relies on flash factor and mass appeal.

Good, genuine attention is best measured in quality. And if you feel the video you make is something of quality, there will be quality attention for it if you present it properly.

If a video is valuable to you, it will be valuable to someone else. 'How many' should be a secondary concern.

***

So, I say do it. It sounds like you have a good idea and, more importantly, a good reason to make this. Then present it well, and hope people watch it. That's all that really needs to be done.

[Resk]

Thank you very much Oto for actually taking this thread seriously. As others in this thread suggested, I am NOT doing this video for public attention, nor am I POSTING these questions to justify that want.

I posted this topic because I wanted general answers to a question that I don't have enough experience with to answer myself. As I said earlier, I have one other project which is similar to this one. Now, that video used Chrono Cross, which isn't one of the more popular footage types, and indeed when you search for videos done to it, although there are 164 entries, many of them are not exclusive to Chrono Cross. Now, according to SOME judgements in this thread, if a video uses an unpopular source, it raises the interest level of the video to counter the lack of eye candy that most viewers look for. According to this logic, that video should have done fairly well then. However, it was the opposite. The only way that I recieved any feedback about that video was by advertising the hell out of it; something I have never done and will never do again. So, this told me that if you use an unpopular footage, you are less likely to get any attention than if you were to use a more popular footage.

Let me break away here to explain what I mean by attention. I mean feedback (in either opinions, reviews, or general comments) on the editing itself, not praise for making a good video. To me, those are two different things. For me, I go further with my editing by getting good, descriptive comments about what is good and what is bad in my videos. Going back to my Chrono Cross example, that video was a new and different style that I was attempting, and I wanted good intelligent feedback regarding it, so if I were to attempt tht style again, I would know what to work on. That is the purpose of this thread, the reason why I'm asking, and the reason why I bothered to ask at all.

I'm not out to get attention from the general public, I'm out to get feedback on the best way to utilize this style of editing so I can create an even better video than I had originally planned out.

Now, I'd ask that if you want to jump on me about my ethics as a creator, save everyone the time and send a PM. If you can respond to this thread *as I see only two people have done* without "sarcasm and a gun" then please do. This thread was supposed to be a discussion to help me become a better editor.