What to do about a Flaming Opinion?

Wheee_It's_Me! · Post by **Wheee_It's_Me!** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 2:03 pm

BTW, just so you're aware of what playing field I'm on, go to my website: www.backwater-productions.net
and download my latest video "Feeling This". Most of the higher level editors around here would consider that to be AVERAGE editing skill. Now compare it to your own work, that should give you a good basis of comparison as to level of perfection that's expected by top level AMV editors.

Org Profile · Post by **Otohiko** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 2:09 pm

Now, now, come on, let's not go too far here.

Granted, let's admit everyone reserves the right to put anything they want in opinions, and have these opinions considered reasonable so long as the marks are explained in enough detail and argued in a rational manner.

Knowing Hatter, whether you agree with him or not, I don't think many of his posts leave too much detail and argument to be desired. I wouldn't worry.

Myself, I always think I'm too soft on beginners. It's true though; of the carrot and stick, I choose the carrot to guide newbies to improvement. Hatter here just happens to choose the stick - the other, no less viable approach.

Wheee_It's_Me! · Post by **Wheee_It's_Me!** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 2:18 pm

Otohiko wrote: Knowing Hatter, whether you agree with him or not, I don't think many of his posts leave too much detail and argument to be desired. I wouldn't worry.

I'm usually quite detailed on opinions. Just so everyone isn't left in suspense here's the opinion and my reply to the creators comments:

Good
====
*scratches head*

...well, it's the first digimon AMV I've seen...really that's about all it has going for it as far as I'm concerned.

Bad
===
Hrmmm...where to begin, think I'll just cover it in the break down, skip to the next section.

General
=====
Originality - 5
==========
Simply put, it wasn't. Just a poorly put together montage of clips about some Digimon character.

Capture Quality - 3
==============
If you had made this video say even 3 years ago I probably would have given you a 5, but at this point, with all the available sources of footage and the price of capture cards, therer's no reason why the quality should look so horrible. Not only was the overall quality bad but it was just riddled with video distortions and various other fuckups.

Sound Quality - 7
=============
S'okay, can't really say having a better rip of the song would have really improved the experience of watching it though. Most of the song kinda made me feel like taking a nap, however that's more of just my personal opinion.

Action Synch - 3
============
Quite frankly, I don't even think you tried. Nothing in the song, neither lyrics, nor beats, nor melody, nothing at all lines up with whats going on to the video. Your video is constructed on such a generic level that you could easily interchange the song for just about ANY song of equal length and NO ONE would even care nor be able to tell the difference in which was the original.

Lip Synch - 4
==========
You do have a couple bits of "lip synching" and they do match up...however YOU didn't actually synch it, you just found a couple spots of video with talking, popped em in and there ya had it. You obviously didn't do any sort of frame by frame level editing as far the lip synch, which is why I only gave you a 4.

Digital Effects - 5
=============
Aside from ass raping the default transition effects you really didn't do anything in this area. The only part of any significant interest was when the character was sorta losing cohesion, however it only happens with the character and not the background which leads me to believe that it was actually an effect that they did in the series that you just copied and pasted in. Had you done it yourself, I'm betting there would been a very distinct cut outline between the character and background.

Effort -4
======
You are capable of producing AMVs that could fucking DWARF this one, set your sights a bit higher next time and don't sell yourself, and your audience, so short.

Overall - 5
========
I gave you a 5, which is average, which is what your video is, average. Not horrible, but nothing incredible either, just your average AMV.

Re-viewable - 4
===========
I don't bother keeping average videos. *shrugs*

Reply to creator comments -

> Did you even watch the video?

Did you? o_O

> An op is an op, so I won't be too negative. Guess it comes
> with the job.

Really so far my op has been the best one you've gotten. When you graduate from being a newbie you'll understand better.

> Originality - How many Beelsebumon character profiles have
> you ever seen? As far as I know, this is the only one.

...and that means...what? A character profile is a character profile is a character profile, really doesn't matter which character you portray, the concept isn't new. Even further, it's not enough to just do something that no one else has done, the idea is to do it in a way that's fresh and new. Your video, as far as character profiles go, is nothing remarkable or special.

> Capture Quality - If you can find anywhere in the world that
> seels digimon on DVD, I'd sure be happy to oblige. All I've got
> is dubbed VHS taped from FoxKids.

OMG WTF, Google is teh HARD!

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=BCBA-1903

"9-DVD boxed set containing all 54 episodes"

And BTW, capturing off the TV is no excuse for the poor quality, I mean I capture stuff off cable ALL the time and it doesn't look anything even REMOTELY as bad as that. Hell a BRAND NEW ATI Radeon 9600 All-in-Wonder will only set you back by $38.

> Action Sync - I can tell you skipped through the video and
> only watched it once, because the editing was spot-on in most
> parts. All of the clips were about Beelzebumon, and it was
> usually synced to the music rather well (except the mid part,
> showing where he got his gun)

No, it really wasn't synched AT ALL. Your transitions, your scene changes, etc, etc, most all of it didn't line up. Some of it came sorta close here and there, but the overall job was just sloppy.

> Lip Sync - You don't HAVE to do frame-by-frame editing,

You're right, you don't HAVE to do frame-by-frame editing...although in your case I think it's more like "CAN'T" rather than "don't have to".

> if it looks okay, then it looks ok.

Yes and that attitude is apparent through your whole video. The whole thing is just ~okay~, average, mediocre, same old, same old. *shrugs*

> All the other ops commented on how the Lip Sync was
> generally good throughout the video

Here's a lil thought for you, have you actually LOOKED at the video of the people who are giving you opinions? Cause really, you should.

Go here if you want to see mine: www.backwater-productions.net

> *shrugs* Not to mention that you can't do frame-by-frame
> editing in the editor I used.

Because...what, Animation Shop doesn't come with a free trial version in your reality? Honestly, software excuses are pretty damn lame when you consider just how much freeware and trialware stuff is available out there.

> Effort - As far as I know, your the only guy whos really
> displeased with it.

My displeasure has nothing to do with your "effort", or lack there of. Hell you put *SO* little effort into this video you couldn't even be arsed to find better software to make it with?!

*shakes head*

You know at this point you can do one of three things. Give up. Continue to produce mediocre crap that all the spastic, half retarded, fan boi's and girls will like (which is pretty much ANYTHING as long as it's about their particular interest). Or you can STRIVE TO DO BETTER. Pick one.

pinky75910 · Post by **pinky75910** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 2:53 pm

Maybe I'm just sensitive. Maybe I over-react to little things, and things that don't conern me. Maybe I enjoy making vids becuase I enjoy making vids, it's just a hobby of mine that I hope doesn't take up too much of my time or money. I still consider myself a novice and I hope with practice to improve. Maybe I have difficulty taking criticism for myself and possibly others. It's a flaw. I guess my goal is just to enjoy making nice videos that I hope some other people will also like. It's difficult to say whether I will ever reach your level of skill. I know I have a lot to learn about vid-making. I've left less than 100% rating ops for some videos that did not impress me, tactfully hoping to help them improve on their next videos. I'm just doing it for fun, and maybe the "Dude, what an excellent vid" comments.

I did try to view your videos, but I'm having trouble making it work.

Just in case - I started this thread on my own account - not on behalf of anyone else.

Wheee_It's_Me! · Post by **Wheee_It's_Me!** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 3:13 pm

pinky75910 wrote: I did try to view your videos, but I'm having trouble making it work.

They're SVCD compliant, meaning you'll need an MPEG-2 decoder. I'd recommend installing the k-lite codec pack:
http://www.k-litecodecpack.com/

bubblehead · Post by **bubblehead** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 3:14 pm

Hmmm, I've gotten a worse op. A truly bad op is one that:
1. flames you
2. doesn't give a good reason for why the viewer disliked the video, just said it was bad.

Wheee_It's_Me!'s op is not one of those. And the one I got is not the worst possible. Also, I don't think it's about the numbers so much as the thoughts behind them. On one of my videos, I got two ops which, if you read the comments, were very similar. However, if you just looked at the scores, then one was about one point higher in every category than the other.

Although, I'm not sure which video you're talking about, so I'm not sure if I would think it deserved the scores it got. *finds it* I'll see...

hate to say this guys, but I have to say I see Wheee_It's_Me!'s point. Though I might have scored a little higher and not worded it quite as harshly.

If it bothers you so much, (I can see how it might), just take a deep breath and move on. If it was your video, I'd recommend either ignoring it, or taking it seriously and attempting to improve. At a certain point, however, perhaps your own opinion is the one which should matter the most to you. After all, you only have to live with yourself. If you like it, then maybe it shouldn't bother you so much that someone else doesn't.

ZeWrestler · Post by **ZeWrestler** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 3:15 pm

honestly pinky,

first off say hi to the brain for me.

secondly, from what i am reading in this thread, this is not your video. An opinion should be kept between the creator and the person leaving the opinion. you should stay out of it. if the creator has a problem with this, it should be brought up with the admins. not the message board. This this was your video, then i would say look at the opinion guide for suggestions of what to do.

ZeWrestler

ZeWrestler · Post by **ZeWrestler** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 3:17 pm

btw, can someone please lock this thread now.