Better late than never!

dragonsong12 · Post by **dragonsong12** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 9:27 pm

I realised that I'd finished a BUNCH of videos and hadn't uploaded any of 'em, so they all went up at once. *bow* Do forgive me.

And just so's y'all know, I'm not the end-all be-all of AMV editors, so if you're seeking the greatest thing ever, I apologize in advance for disappointing. HOWEVER, I made these videos to have fun (as I say repeatedly in the descriptions) and I hope that will be what you download them for. For fun. 'Cuz that's what we're all here for! ^_^

The newest vid is first (cuz that's the one I want you to download

) the oldest last. Have fun!

"Worn Me Down" by Rachael Yamagata
Anime: Fruits Basket
A tribute to Kagura...and mostly serious - oddly enough. And the first (and so far only) vid where I finally fixed my quality problem! It looks so shiny and clear! XD

"American Idiot" by Green Day
Anime: Gundam Wing
Okay okay. Yes, I know. An overdone song with an overdone anime. Hey, it's one of my better edited vids, and that alone makes it worth the upload. Finally! I have a Gundam Wing vid on the org that uses DVD footage!

"The Background" by Third Eye Blind
Anime: Chobits
Bit of a serious/sad/sentimental vid. Not one of the greatest things I've ever created, but unique enough, I think, to be worth showing. Focuses on Ueda. (WARNING! I screwed up on the export, there's a bunch of black space at the end, I WILL go through and remove that when I get an opportunity, in the meantime, I apologize for the inconvenience!)

"Same Direction" by Hoobastank
Anime: Rahxephon
A little older than the others, but I messed up when I uploaded it so it hasn't had many hits, so I'll plug it now. The verses are fun, but the choruses are boring.

dj_ultima_the_great · Post by **dj_ultima_the_great** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 11:06 pm

Hey... I just saw your videos recently. I probably caught 'em as the 'new vids on the block.' I tend to do that.

Anyway, if memory serves, I probably dropped you some quick comments on the Fruits Basket and Chobits videos. I might have forgotten to sign them, though. In any case, I'll reiterate some of my thoughts here, too.

For the Chobits one... yeah, it's not the first Ueda video I've seen (and there are actually a couple of good ones for him out there), but this was well-edited, so I didn't mind. It seemed to be weaker on the beat sync, although there are plenty of spots where it was obvious you were synching. I think that the lyrical and mood sync was the strongest part of this video, and that made it very heartfelt. Still, considering the limited number of scenes you had to work with, this is still a very worthy tribute to Ueda and his love.

As for the Fruits Basket video... heh. I've been waiting for someone to make a serious Kagura video. I was beginning to think it couldn't be done. ^_^ Again, the lyrical and mood sync was a lot stronger than the beat sync, but you did better with this one, I think. The highlight was definitely the interesting story you told, of Kagura more or less being "the other woman." It's the most intriguing use of Tohru that I've seen in a Furuba video, to be honest. The only thing I found a bit odd was the lipsynching. It was decent, but it seemed out of place.

The only complaint that I have between both of the videos is that you could have gotten that level of video quality or better and had your filesizes much smaller if you had compressed them differently. I'm going to link you here; it's the sites AV Tech guide - a bit of a complicated read, at first, but well worth the effort.

I definitely recommend both of these videos to people, especially if they're interested in the anime or the characters. As for me, I'll be looking forward to your next video. ^_^

- Jen

dragonsong12 · Post by **dragonsong12** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 11:24 am

Aha! That was you? Excellent! The quick comments sad me a bit because I can never reply, I wanted to thank you for you comments, but here you leave better ones! Thanks! (pos and neg = very good thing!)

And thanks for the link, I shall figure this out! I shall! *strikes heroic pose*

You thoughts are most appreciated *bow* you really made my day!

Shazzy · Post by **Shazzy** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 4:06 pm

Comments on the Worn Me Down vid:

Note, I have seen Fruits Basket, so I'm watching this without a knowledge or bias for/against the series. I'm assuming there's a love triangle between Kyo, Tohru, and Kagura.

Suggestions:

- The video image starts a second before the song does. Bugged me.
- "Real torn up about it" synced with him clapping a hand over her mouth is weird.
- Kagura's mouth is drawn too small for lipsyncing IMO; you can barely see it move. It was like "why are we staring at her face...oh she's lipsyncing'". But maybe that's just my pet peeve with the animation style :p
- A lot of these lyrics express a particular emotion that the video seems to ignore. "Worn me down to my knees" does not jive with a teapot on the stove...you're jumping to the "everything to please" line way too early! In other words, you might be telling a story overall, but specific moments are skipped over.
- This song is centered on a girl's feelings about her boyfriend who left her for another girl. Without having seen the series, it's not clear who's singing about whom. Frankly, I wasn't really sure which one was Kagura and which one was Tohru until the end. Needed a solid establishment of characters and their relationships.
- The emotion was stronger in the second half. Kagura's scenes were way too cutesy at first and threw off the song's wistfulness. That wasn't as apparent in the second half.

Shazzy · Post by **Shazzy** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 4:06 pm

Make that, I have not seen Fruits Basket