Ok...
class: over
end of semester presentation: over
I'm going to be pretty thorough on this one, so you may want to find a comfy chair and a good snack.
First, I was kinda skeptical when you said you were using a single episode for this. It's possible to make a good amv with very little source, but 1 episode is really pushing it. When watching this, I did notice some footage reuse (which is considered bad style)
:17, 2:14, 2:56
1:13, 2:00
1:17, 1:56
1:20, 1:51
these were the spots that I noticed footage reuse.
having only 23 minutes of footage to work with is tough, so I'd use more than one or two episodes to avoid reusing footage
The transitions seemed kinda random, and just placed in there for the heck of it. Though this kind of tactic can work with really over the top fx videos it's hard to pull off (and make it look good). I'm of the school of thought that says you should use effects and transitions with a purpose, to enhance the video instead of for the sake of having transitions/effects.
Clip selection also seemed random, which is another problem with using so little source. It's hard to make an amv flow using one episode without just putting the episode itself to some music.
the best way I can think of to describe flow is saying it's like a puzzle. When the amv flows, it's like the puzzle pieces (clips) fit together to form the final picture. When an amv doesn't flow, it's like you use force to jam pieces into place where they don't necessarily go.
Sync, there wasn't a whole lot of it. The action happening in your clips didn't really sync up (internal sync), nor did the sync when you changed clips (external sync). Sync is very important for action amvs. The first step to nailing sync (and improving flow at the same time) is to make sure you change clips on the beat. With that said, you don't
have to use
only the drum beats every time...what you should do, however, is be consistent.
It'l take time to learn...but when the music enters a new section, you can change what you sync to.
0:04-:017) This is the first section in your song. It's softer, more airy/ambient. Hard cuts don't really suit slow, ambient sections in music. Try to carry what you start in a section through to the end, this will help with flow
0:06, 0:08, 0:11, 0:14) I felt that the hard cut here should have been a cross fade, the timing was a bit off as well
0:09) dither dissolve didn't really do anything for me. I avoid dither dissolve because I don't like how it looks. There was also a spot in here where the clip jumped to some other clip. I don't think this was intentional
0:16) looks like an orphan frame (one or two frames from a previous clip that you didn't intend to be in another clip) slipped in here, if you used WMM there's only so much you can do about orphan frames...but it's still a problem. Since everything up to this point was in sepia, the change to color seemed out of place.
0:19) the cut to black (which gradually fades in) is out of place. If it absolutely had to go in this part of the amv I would have put it at :17 when the music moves to a new section.
0:17-0:40) This section is where the music picks up a little, so using clips that were slower than the first section felt wrong and disrupted any flow you had to this point.
0:31) more instruments come in at this point, but it's still part of the current section. Doing something to emphasize the guitar's entrance would have been nice
0:40-0:44) a short little transition section, now would be the time to start moving to some really intense action clips. The clip you used at the end of this transition section seemed to sync fairly well...but I would have liked to see something more intense. This also is a point where you start to use an entirely different set of clips (and again, this destroys flow)
0:49) another orphan frame. The slight film aging effect doesn't really do much here.
0:58) music enters a new section again (very similar to the second section near the beginning) but the clips got slower this time and the transition felt much better. I'm not a fan of speeding clips up really fast or slowing them down a lot, especially when it's really obvious that some clip velocity change has been made. Again, there's only so much you can do with one episode, but again, that's why I wouldn't limit myself to a single episode.
1:02) Byakuya? huh? what's he doing here? This is where your set of clips changes again. Kills flow, yadda yadda.
1:09)this looks like a random clip. It doesn't really fit the speed of this section...and is very different from the clips around it.
1:21-1:24) another short transition section, and the clips did get faster to match the music
1:24-1:30) moar action! somewhat synced (though changing clips on the beats would have made it better here)
1:30) and we're back to slow clips, R.I.P. flow
.
1:38-1:51) new section in the music, and setting aside the fact that it looks like one continuous clip from your source I think this worked out nicely. The change to gray synced with the change to the new section. The only thing I would change is to not make it so slow
1:51-2:15) longer transition section, clips are too slow for this section again (imo)
2:15-2:18) same quick transition section, more action needed
2:18) Back to Byakuya...but it doesn't seem as awkward this time around because you tied it in with the transition
2:18-2:40) some more fighting, the speed here is almost fast enough for this section in the music
2:40) back to some slow clips
2:49) lip flap (lips are moving, but you're not trying to lip sync), lots of people hate it...I don't think it really bothers me unless it's the only thing going on in the clip (like it is here)
2:55) change from Byakuya to Ichigo's Hollow is kinda sudden
2:55-end) the ending clips here had too much motion/action. A single, slower paced clip would have worked better here.
and that's all I got, hope you find it useful
