Timing Projection Technique

[danielwang]

The timing projection is what the pattern of timing that people expect in the AMV. Although repeating sequences is a bad idea, the general concept is to keep the clip and transition (wipe, fade, etc) length continuous relative to whatever reference you're using....

OK, that's what I thought you meant. I call it "choreography", others call it "pacing", but it's the same thing. I'm not sure what turning the speakers off gets me. It won't show me that I'm hitting the wrong half-beat - as appears to be the case on my current project. And since I always try to change the timing projection over the course of the video....

If (!) I have a storyline going, then I agree that watching with no sound could help.

In that case, there's got to be an analysis function in AE somewhere that will allow audio/video sync and measurement. What I used to do is enable film absolute timecodes, then use a calculator to extra the Marker_Out frame equiv code from the Marker_In frame equivalent code. THen I do the same for the video... at approx 24 or 29.97 fps you can translate that to seconds and then drag around the markers.

The problem is, even the music is not that continuous.

[TaranT]

If you mean marking off clip durations, I usually look at the waveform. I don't know about AE, but the NLE I use - Vegas - has large and detailed waveforms (as in SoundForge). I can usually find the beats without too much trouble.

Sometimes I'll use the loop region selection tool to "leapfrog" from point to point. Once I have the duration marked, I'll note the time length on the status bar, then grab the starting cursor and drag it past the ending cursor for that same time length. That will be where the next clip starts. This also helps locate beats that are "buried" in a lot of other sound.

You're right about the variation in beat duration especially with human performances. Loop-driven music (electronica mostly) seems to have consistent durations.

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[koronoru]

In that case, there's got to be an analysis function in AE somewhere that will allow audio/video sync and measurement. What I used to do is enable film absolute timecodes, then use a calculator to extra the Marker_Out frame equiv code from the Marker_In frame equivalent code. THen I do the same for the video... at approx 24 or 29.97 fps you can translate that to seconds and then drag around the markers.

The problem is, even the music is not that continuous.

I'm not sure just how the more popular editing programs work, but Cinelerra uses "labels" attached to the timeline - you press "L" to create or remove a label, and then it's easy to use that as a reference point for selections. I think this may be similar to the "markers" I've seen people mention. Anyway, what I do is listen to the music and press the L button on each downbeat. I've found that with a little practice, I end up with almost all the labels consistently spaced - the gap between each pair of successive labels is +/- 1 or 2 frames of the similar gaps on either side, and (important) I can speed up and slow down to stay in sync with the music, when it changes speed. Then I usually make another pass through it adjusting the labels visually. Most labels will closely match sharp attacks in the sound waveform, and in such cases I adjust the label to make the match as close as possible.

My most recently posted video was tricky for this because it doesn't have a consistent beat. I had to do a lot of tweaking, and even go find a copy of the sheet music for the song and compare against that, to find a consistent timing reference.