Effects Discussion

DrngdKreationz · Post by **DrngdKreationz** » Fri Jan 30, 2004 10:20 pm

Wow, I felt like I read an entire book by the time I got to the point where I could put my opnion.

I personally am an effects person, sure a video doesn't need them, but When I usually put effects (or transparencies, frame by frame edits, and so on) into my work I almost have that feel that a regular transition just wont do.

I used to be a huge fan for the Additive cross dissolve in Premiere, but I always thought it was a little weak. so I would add about 3 frames of pure white with a light yellow circle in the center during the in and out fades to give it a little more umph..

I feel that effects should be used to enhance the video, I feel weird when I watch a vid that had no effects or transitions because It just looks like im watching the anime in a jigsaw puzzle.

Personally I look for Skill, and more technical edits rather than the out of the box drop'em in effects. Im that way with everything wether its making my vids or fixing up a car... bolt ons can only get you so far sooner or later to make a statement or proving it to yourself, you're going to have to get your hands dirty and turn a wrench or two. Anyone can put a Type R sticker on a honda.

On the project I'm working on now I have been doing some major frame work into it. And Since I put that much effort into it I appreciate it when other people do the same.

Although I am talking about how hard the effect is matters to me. If you didn't pull it off clean and it fits well with the song. it was a wasted effort

(oh and if you download my vids you'll see what im talking about the additive fade, but make sure you read the rants on them before)

Castor Troy · Post by **Castor Troy** » Fri Jan 30, 2004 10:20 pm

You'll KNOW when you need to use effects. You'll just know.

bum · Post by **bum** » Fri Jan 30, 2004 10:28 pm

its your amv. so do whatever you think makes it beter and screw anyone who thinks otherwise.

thier we go, whole coversation ended

trythil · Post by **trythil** » Sat Jan 31, 2004 1:58 am

I use whatever I'm going to need to use to do whatever I need to do.

I prefer to not be bound by what footage I have to work with, since there is no reaosn to: there are no legal boundaries dictating what I can and cannot do; there is no time limit; and there is no mission that must be fulfilled by this AMV, except my own agenda.

I do what I see in my mind, not what I see in the monitor. Because of this, my timelines usually end up looking something like:

There's a lot of compositing and other weird stuff going on there.

I know that there are several scenes in this video that no one will ever know were digitally manipulated, unless they (1) had seen the source material immediately prior to viewing the video or (2) had the source material memorized pixel-by-pixel. That's fine with me: I think effects should work on a more subtle level.

Of course, I violate my own rules. My DDR3 track is nothing but me screwing around with Cinelerra's compositing engine and a 3D modeling program. It has no point and no deeper meaning. It's just intended to look pretty. (I don't know if it actually does look pretty, but that's a different subject.)

Kai Stromler · Post by **Kai Stromler** » Sat Jan 31, 2004 1:59 am

I used to be so hardcore anti-effects that I would not even use crossfades. Of course, I've gotten over that now, but I still strongly believe that effects are just another tool in the box. Effects can make a good video great (or horrible if misused), but they'll never make a bad video even decent.

With the kind of work that I normally do, where the videography is heavily dictated by the music, I don't generally have to put too much time into effects design, for the reasons given above and because I believe that the best results can usually be achieved by staying the hell out of the way of the source material. If the idea was good enough, it will carry the video. This obviously doesn't really apply to concepts based solely on effects, but I don't do enough of those for it to matter.

There are some exceptions. I really dig gaussian-blurred threshold stuff, and I can't wait to find another song that needs that kind of visual instantiation and another anime that supports it. I'm a big fan of color theming and have done videos entirely in grayscale, sepiatone, and dark purple. And because I'm a psycho, I think it's neat to apply frames as textures to 3d objects and insert the result into the video. Hooray tunnels and cube-in-cubes.

Basically I see this as a hobby, which by my definition ought to be fun. Effects work (note the 'work') is the only part of the process, apart from post-production rendering to distro formats, that is almost never fun, and consequently I try to avoid it as much as possible. If I see good effects as part of a good video, it's time well spent; if I see heavy effects in a video that is for crap, though, all I can do is shake my head at the time wasted, which could have been spent making the video decent, rather than merely sparkly.

--K

trythil · Post by **trythil** » Sat Jan 31, 2004 2:01 am

Kai Stromler wrote:And because I'm a psycho, I think it's neat to apply frames as textures to 3d objects and insert the result into the video. Hooray tunnels and cube-in-cubes.

Awesome, I'm not the only psycho who thinks it's fun to do that

AbsoluteDestiny · Post by **AbsoluteDestiny** » Sat Jan 31, 2004 4:30 am

There is no such thing as "effects", only "new footage"... or at least that's the way I like to look at the idea.

I actually have 2 different uses for what people would call effects:

The first type is what I call style/design imitation. In the majority of videos where I've applied what people would call "effects" I've mostly been trying to imitate a style of some sort. Hence, the psychadelia "effects" in Shameless Rock Video are no more or less "effectsy" than the opening of Road to Iron Chef. It's just aesthetics. The way a video is designed visually can enhance the video through genre association, so I like to use it whenever appropriate.

The second part of the kind of "effects" I like to do is footage creation - making Asuka's tongue move and drawing drool on miyazawa's mouth in IWIWAL, making an entire environment and game for Asuka to play in Virtua Anime, putting Shinji into the messed up psychological world of Arima and vice versa... etc. etc.

Those are my preferred uses of effects. I don't like to use effects where there is no good justification for them to be there. The diffuse glow in Memories of Love and Conflict may seem extraneous but it is to make the footage dream-like (as the video is supposed to be Shuji's memories - hence the glowing ball composites). I like my videos to have a theme and the effects should add to that theme - if they don't then there is no real reason for them to be there.

Arigatomina · Post by **Arigatomina** » Sat Jan 31, 2004 5:05 am

bum wrote:its your amv. so do whatever you think makes it beter and screw anyone who thinks otherwise.

thier we go, whole coversation ended

But you see, I don't know why people use them, so I don't want the conversation to be over after a single line of general openness (do what you like). I'm honestly curious to learn why people like effects, what they consider to *be* effects, and how that determines the effects they use and prefer to see. I don't plan to model my own vids after these 'preferences,' but it will explain them to me. Just reading through this so far has given me a lot to think about. Because personally? The only effects I see a pupose to are the ones used in crossovers or vids where the footage has to practically be reanimated in order to make it tell the story the creator aimed for.

I'm learning why people like effects - out of curiuosity and to compare them to my own thoughts on the matter. Thought honestly, I don't have enough of my own beliefs to answer the questions I gave in my first post. The effects I like aren't even considered effects to most people, and the ones most people tend to like are busy work to me that makes it hard to see the original footage. One person mentioned how effectless vids reminded him of a jigsaw puzzle - that is a *great* comparison. To me, that's what vids are - they use to footage in a new way to form a new story. And to me, effects only enhance the puzzle. My problem is effects can make it difficult for me to *see* or grasp the puzzle, let alone put it together to form a story. So I don't feel qualified to answer the questions I asked - I don't have a decent opinion on the matter.

Which is why I asked others to share. And so far, it's worked very nicely. ^_^ Informative.

Flint the Dwarf · Post by **Flint the Dwarf** » Sat Jan 31, 2004 5:29 am

Frankly, if I were good at using effects, I'd use them only to do something different. Since, however, I am not good with effects... I do whatever looks good to me. If something doesn't look all that great and and effect enhances it, then I use the effect.

)v(ajin Koji · Post by **)v(ajin Koji** » Sat Jan 31, 2004 7:55 am

I use effects to enhance a scene in a way, usually to catch the beat of the song.

:¬ l