Utena - "Your Lips Are Red" (St. Vincent)

[Kionon]

Still working on my techniques for reducing this. There was quite a bit of frame redistribution in the first version and more masking in the newest one. Can you point me to any resources that help me out with overlays and masking in Vegas Pro 9, especially in scenes with motion?

I can't, personally. I'm a Mac editor, and I use Premiere. I know nothing about Vegas. I suggest you ask JaddziaDax. She is very knowledgeable about Vegas.

I just realized that before I read your post, too, when I decided to caption the beginning for YouTube and saw how distracting the whole thing was. And my rationalization for it - her facial expressions make the language irrelevant - was the same as your explanation as why it's unnecessary.

Because it's sorta an Org meme: I live in Japan, and Japanese is my second language, so I understood. But don't expect your audience in general to understand.

I'm understanding this as a preference against using audio from the show at all in that scene; would using the audio from the dub be an option?

Depends. This is usually frowned on by conventions and is not allowed in many contests.

That is fantastic feedback, and it's stuff that I've thought more and more about each time I've watched it. I'm still trying to feel the balance between presenting too much and not enough, cutting too fast and staying too long. There are things that look and feel right during editing that drag while watching - I'm hoping that's a sense of scale that'll improve with experience.

Yes. As stated, I could tell you have a grasp of what you should have been doing, but you did not have the skill level to accomplish it. You clearly have potential, it's merely a matter of learning. The reason why Code says you should be proud that I wrote you a book, is because I only write feedback that detailed for someone I believe can improve, and will improve if guided. Based on your earlier responses to commentary and the potential demonstrated in the video itself, I felt you would take my feedback seriously. I do not comment much on videos where I don't have a feel for the potential of the new editor.

For scene selection in particular, I really wanted to stress how simple the show starts while just hinting at the complexity that would follow. It's not my intention to flesh out the characters or retell the series in this video - I was really aiming at just retelling this first episode's story, in all its simplicity, to contrast Utena's straightforward initial motivations against the surreal manner in which everything plays out.

Now that I know what you were trying to do, I understand your choices a bit better. It's not how I would have approached the song. I would have focused far less on individual characters, and more focused on the surrealism as it impacts all of the characters. However, I see nothing wrong with your concept, and it makes your focus easier to understand. What we need to work on is your ability to make sure your concept translates easily to your viewers. If as an Utena fan, and an Utena editor, let alone general audience, I am unclear of your focus, then it has not been presented as well as it should be.

I was also afraid that if I got much more ambitious with the storytelling, I'd try to do things that my editing skills couldn't accomplish, and I'd get mired in it, lose confidence and never finish. Just getting this out the door and getting this sort of feedback is enough of a confidence boost to think bigger for the next one.

EDIT: What I'm trying to say is yeah, I could have made a better video to this song from the entire series, but I'm not sure if I would have ever finished it.

Yes. I understand this. A decade later and I still have ideas way beyond my skill level. I try anyway. And I have about five half finished videos on my hard drives because I hit a point where I lack the compositing skills to create what is in my head and I just stop and go on to a different project.

Trust me when I say that while this is my first AMV, you and I might have lots in common in loving this series.

May I suggest you watch my two most recent Utena videos? I have started a Dark Rose series focusing on Dark Rose duelist character profiles from their points of views:

is about Kozue's disturbing obsession with Miki.

is about Shiori's jealousy and hatred of Juri.

Both could be seen as sort of anti-romance videos.

Tsuwabuki on Nanami is my next focus. Probably will be released Fall/Winter.