Pre-planning in AMV Creation

BasharOfTheAges · Post by **BasharOfTheAges** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 5:41 pm

It's not a bad idea to have a few spicific ideas for scenes in mind, several general ones, and an eye for scenes that should fit while gathering source footage. The amount you should plan or storyboard all depends on your personality type though. Some people are able to fluidly modify ideas in real time, some have a lot on their mind so the feel they need to write stuff down or they'll forget it -- and some may have OCD, autism, or a related mental condition that has forged their personality to obsessively plan. It's really whatever works for you...

Rev. Takahashi Fan · Post by **Rev. Takahashi Fan** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 5:57 pm

Ever since I have found out you can split the music in WMM as well as the vid eo (earlier today) I have started doing my story that way. Listen to the music with my eyes shut and visualizing the clips I hit the split botton and I have a marker in the audio with no loss in quality I have marked the end of each lyric, riff, solo, lead-in, and intro marked out and know exactly how long eac are and later tonight I am gonna mark all the sress points in the song.

But that is just me It took several vids to figure out what works and what doesn't. Don't worry about effects or filters as WMM is a bare bones editor. you have some basic transitions and that is it.

Most importantly review it and save often. WMM can sometimes mess up the timing or freeze or create some problems with the vid. Be patient and have fun.

If you hate it I will too

Kalium · Post by **Kalium** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 6:03 pm

Tsunami Jones wrote:I've never seen any point in storyboarding/writing stuff down for just a video. I just visulize certain parts of the video in my mind and fly by the seat of my pants the rest of the way.

Ditto. I find editing to be a very unpredictable and highly organic process. I know where I'm starting from, have a vague idea of where I aim to end up, but both path and ultimate destination are a mystery to me.

Really, I start with a general plan, and just let it flow from there.

The Wired Knight · Post by **The Wired Knight** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 6:05 pm

While I don't make actual story boards I plan pretty thouroughly. Often the idea comes from hearing a song first and realizing an anime it synchs up with (or possibly is horribly disonant with to the point of absurdity). My next step is to listen to the song with my eyes closed at least ten to twenty times. Since my memory of shows I've watched is pretty good (almost to the point of photographic) I can imagine and place all the scenes in my head one at a time, writing all my scene ideas and notes onto a printed sheet of lyrics for the song. From this I just rip the DVDs and go at it.

The only exception to this are instrumental bridges in songs. These I typically don't plan as I find it is more efficient for me to put together all the lyrical portions, see how they look and then decide on what would fit best in the bridge and expirament with it.

Melanchthon · Post by **Melanchthon** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 7:54 pm

mikestrife wrote:I think another good thing to mention here is that no matter how much preplanning you do theres always a good chance you'll stray abit when you begin editing, when you're finished you're amv, rewatch it several times looking for an incosistancies with your theme/planning that might have come about.

I rewatch as I'm going along, which makes for slow going but means far less alteration of what's already on the timeline. Instrumental sections and breaks, intros, and outros tend to escape any sort of organised pre-planning, the idea being that the clips already placed will determine the kind of footage I end up using.

Isenfolme · Post by **Isenfolme** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 5:19 am

That's really interesting. So it seems most folk at least have a general idea of the flow of the vid in their head when they begin, with varying levels of exactness. I get the impression that the more experienced you are with editing, the more likely you are to just get into the editing suite and wing it, since you actually <i>can</i>.

For me, I've spent the last few weeks reading and rereading the technical guides, since I'm really not computer savvy, and listening to the song I want to use. I've found myself having to write things down, because I get ideas which I'd otherwise forget while I'm preparing to begin the project proper. I've got one sheet of A4 with the lyrics on, now hugely annotated, and another couple with a more detailed storyboard. I guess it's my way of using the time until my extra RAM (which I get the impression is going to be rather important) arrives through the post. I've also been watching the source footage, and have some very scrappy notes about timings and episodes which have scenes that might be useful.

I know I should be prepared for my first vid not to be the next Waking Hour (huge inspiration), but I can't help hoping that it'll be good quality at the least, learning curves be damned. When I heard this song and watched this anime for the first time I knew I just had to abandon all my worries and go for it, because they just fit too well. I'd hate to make a hash of something that could be so good.

genestarwind21122 · Post by **genestarwind21122** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 8:03 am

Well it looks like your off to a good start. It looks like you'll be one of the few rookies that join this site that actually plan there first amv. We see a lot of people come on and make there first one with little or no planning. Saying hey this looks like a good song and this anime seems like it would go with it lets make a video. And then a day or two later they release it. My advice is not to rush it. Take your time until you are satisfied with what you are working on. If you have any questions don't be afraid to ask. Well good luck with your amv.

Gene Starwind 21122

Infinity Squared · Post by **Infinity Squared** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 8:28 am

Betaing is an often skipped part in the creation of videos particularly by those new to the business

Try and get some of your favourite AMV creators to actually give your work a glancing over first as well, and hopefully try and ask ones which aren't your friends. Complete strangers who agree to help you often are tonnes better at critiquing your work rather than friends whom are biased and often just love to tell the odd white lie... that and they might not necesarily know what's good and bad anyway.

If you don't hear the bad stuff about your video before you release it to the public, you'll hear them after... better that it's from only a few people who know what they're talking about than from an angry mob with pitchforks saying they want more Harima... err... ok, sorry... paranoia creeping in there

genestarwind21122 · Post by **genestarwind21122** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 8:45 am

So if you want to release a beta you can upload it to yousendit.com and give people the temporary link that want to help you out.

Gene Starwind 21122

SSJVegita0609 · Post by **SSJVegita0609** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 12:32 pm

I get a few ideas in my head, but it's mostly go with the flow, trial and error til I find something I like and go with it.