When to decide to give up on an AMV...

Neo_Kuleshov · Post by **Neo_Kuleshov** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 2:04 pm

Hi guys, I was wondering how you would decide to give up on an AMV after spending hours, days, or months working on it. how much would it take for you to just delete it and start a new one?

For me, I recently discovered this place a few months ago and was immediately hooked. I've been editing my own short films for about three years now, and after having some professional editing training in those same three years i couldn't wait to make my own. i had a great, original idea for a video, but now i've almost lost the will to finish it. what should i do?

The videos that i'd like to make on the Org are more socially conscious videos that use anime footage to relate to the real world. Thats why the idea i came up with was to make a video specifically about the indigenous american struggle for self determination in Central America. esoteric, i know. what i did was i took live action footage from three documentaries about central America ("When the Mountains Tremble," "A Place Called Chiapas," and "Zapatistas") and synced them up with the Anime "Now and Then, Here and There." The video is about 90% action sync, and i went through a lot of effort to make every cut on beat, but also relivent to the story and the lyrics.

but now i've run into three problems... for one, believe it or not, i feel like i'm running out of footage. this sounds a little silly, since i have the entire series of NTHT, and three live action movies to use, but i dont know what else to say. i need particular shots, and i'm just not finding them anymore. the song isnt all that long, its just that every shot has to do with the theme of the video, but also has to fit the editing. seems like i've already used up all the good shots.

for another, i captured the DVDs in a way that kind of lowered the video quality. When i started this video i kind of skipped the guides and just used this program called ImTOO DVD ripper 4, which riped and compressed all the files. problem is, looking back, i probably should have read the guides. but now that i'm about 50-60% done with the video, i cant re-capture. this bothers me because i really wanted to start my little AMV career with a bang, and this bad vid quality is ruining my mojo.

lastly, i had a new idea to a different song and using a different theme, but using mostly the same footage. personally, i like the idea for this video better because I'm actually part indigenous Mayan and central american politics really affect me, but if i make both AMVs it might look like the same video- same footage, same music style (kind of pop punk) and similar sensational politics (the new idea is about child soldiers). if i make one, i wont make the other. they're just too similar.

so what should i do? am i just being vain about the video quality? should i finish the video, even if i have to force it out of myself? i've come really far (been working on it for about 2 months), and it seems like such a waste to delete it. on the other hand, i have a new idea that i can start right away once i re-capture the footage. what do you guys think?

JaddziaDax · Post by **JaddziaDax** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 2:08 pm

how much work have you put into it? and is that enough to throw away that ammount of work?

Kristyrat · Post by **Kristyrat** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 2:42 pm

I never fail to get a ton of ideas right when I'm in the middle of a project, at the very point where I can do little to nothing about them. For me, if the video is almost finished, and I had really enjoyed editing earlier portions of it, I'm just feeling like I should quit it because I've gotten tired of it. The videos I've fully enjoyed editing the most were the ones that took a couple days, or even Iron Chefs, granted they might not be nearly as polished as larger projects. I say push through, get it finished, and if the idea still hangs around, then start working on that, if you feel kinda meh about it, then it probably wasn't as solid as you had initially thought.

Also, I never delete videos, I just move them to a Graveyard folder :X

[Kristyrat]

BasharOfTheAges · Post by **BasharOfTheAges** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 4:15 pm

Don't quit because you got another idea - that will happen constantly (and it makes it more difficult to know which idea to start once you're ready to move on to your next one).

As for the lack of footage, the best i can suggest would be to attempt to integrate another series.

The footage quality concerns are well warented if you have any reason to think they are. You either have to re-rip or deal with the results you yourself think are sub-par.

Bauzi · Post by **Bauzi** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 4:38 pm

You know... I make amvs since 2001 and I was stuck for 3 or more years on my stupid 200Mhz machine. However I don´t want to tell you my editor life to sum up:

After 5 years I was realising and really seeing the amount of work in my project. I´m someone that has everytime a new idea, but I stuck on my project because I see now the effort in it. To quite a project would be damn stupid (in my eyes when I work) and I keep on and find passion again for the stuff.
Just this month I released a 13 mintues long amv and be sure: I definatly didn´t thought that I would stuck on something for so long. It just happend.

Of course when I see that something is really not working as I thought or just bullshit, I stop the project. It doesn´t mean that I don´t have stopped some nice projects and well... they´re in a graveyard folder like Kristyrat´s too...

I wouldn´t quite with the project if I were you. You seam to put a lot of effort and thoughts into your video (not like: "Oh yeah! I´ll let fight Gara and Rock Lee to this awesome song!!!").
Mhmm... Try to clean up your clips (or episodes?) you ripped wrong. You can try to clean them like a normal DVD source. MSmooth(), Deen() and vmToon() can do a lot of things!

If it doesn´t work... Just finish it and if you have passion again:
Make a remastered version of it.

CrackTheSky · Post by **CrackTheSky** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 4:43 pm

I say finish the project. You've put a lot of work into it, and it sounds like you really want to get your idea down, so why not? Video quality, while a valid point, should not stop you from finishing a project that you've put so much time into especially because if the editing is good enough, video quality will not be a big deal to most people.

Like Bashar said, you will ALWAYS get ideas in the middle of projects. It happens to me all the time. What I do when this happens is just push it back and let it develop - your video will turn out much better if you let it sit for several months and think about how to edit it.

Of course, you have to ask yourself, "Am I still having fun editing this video?" If the answer is no, then you may want to consider either putting it away altogether or just taking a break from it. That's what I did with a video I'm working on now; I started it back in January and thought I had a good thing going, then I realized that I wasn't really enjoying editing it. So I put it aside and told myself I'd come back to it later. When I did, I realized that I still didn't like what I had and wasn't enjoying myself, so I scrapped the entire thing (I put a good 20-25 hours into it) and started over. I'm much more satisfied with the current version and have had a ton more fun making it - I don't regret throwing away the hours I wasted.

Bauzi · Post by **Bauzi** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 4:58 pm

I think that beta tests are something encouranging too. So if you want to get some feedback, maybe some "ohhh... it´s so awesome..." (please don´t see this sarcastic, because I´m serious) and if you want to get some ideas (I think that other peoples thoughts on the video can give you a lot), grab yourselfe a hand full of victims and let them test. hrhrhrhr ...

I do when this happens is just push it back and let it develop - your video will turn out much better if you let it sit for several months and think about how to edit it.

Reminds me of playing the old adventure RPGs like Monkey Island. Everytime you stuck on a particular thing... You take a break of one or two months and than you´ll get it. Worked every time for me =/

Bauzi · Post by **Bauzi** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 4:59 pm

*Monkey Island is of course not a RPG. It´s an adventure game. My bad sry =/

ZephyrStar · Post by **ZephyrStar** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 7:06 am

I worked on 'daydream' on and off from 2004 to 2007

Just put old ideas on the backburner...NEVER throw them away completely, you might be suprised at what you come up with.

Shazzy · Post by **Shazzy** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 11:24 am

If the "new" idea is to rehaul a section of the video, do it. At least with me, if I don't follow an idea that's been nagging at me, it's still going to nag me at the end of the video. When I have made the change, I'm much happier with the project at the end, and any parts I edited after that positively benefited.