Resisting The Urge

bluetrain · Post by **bluetrain** » Thu Apr 13, 2006 1:29 am

Does anybody else find it hard to stop using "E"ffects when creating a music video.
it could just be me, but when i'm using After Effects and i start with one simple idea, my mind goes into hyper-mode and i can almost find i can't stop myself. Its because of this a few of my videos have been canned...
And i can see why too.

Its simply just OVERKILL. But, what i was wondering if its just an issue of self control or does anyone have a special system to prevent such an occurance.
Or are there a few out there that cannot hold back...

Maybe AE just makes it too easy to Start... but not easy to stop...

*sigh*

JaddziaDax · Post by **JaddziaDax** » Thu Apr 13, 2006 2:30 am

i have a hard time making myself USE effects O.o and 99% of the time i feel like a "lazy editorer" because of it.

Pwolf · Post by **Pwolf** » Thu Apr 13, 2006 2:40 am

i don't like to use effects... i think the closest i get to using effects would be masking. thats mostly removing lip flap.

Pwolf

bluetrain · Post by **bluetrain** » Thu Apr 13, 2006 2:42 am

Yes, i'm building up the picture that it is just me who seems to not be able to resist effects, afterall the majority of AMVS here are Effectless.

So i may rephrase the topic: Once you start using Visual effects, can you stop?

Yeah that'll do.

JaddziaDax: See i find it the other way round. I find it hard to NOT use effects and i still feel lazy afterwards...Especially after seeing insane Masking AMVS... not mentioning any names...*cough*istiv*cough*... damn.

Me thinks tis me who is just a retard. My only hope is i can learn to harness these effects and make something magical... *yeah...right*

JaddziaDax · Post by **JaddziaDax** » Thu Apr 13, 2006 2:49 am

ive used effects before and i still dont find myself using them very often

but considering how many cookie cutters i have on my lastest two vids i guess i shouldnt really say much on it...

bluetrain · Post by **bluetrain** » Thu Apr 13, 2006 2:52 am

Pwolf: My theory is that there are two different skillfields - Effects & No Effects, there are people that can master 1 but not the other and people who can master both. At the moment i consider myself neither, but i could name some could be.

using effects to enhance a video (like removing lip-flap) - i'll use effects to fix that also and other's. However, i find i won't be able to stop at that. I'll listen to the song and notice something isn't synced. Then i'll add a moving line in sync. Then again, and again. Until it ends up being random blurs of colour with anime in the backrgound (yes i'm referring to the Amvience Mep: "Piyush Juneja") then i feel really bad afterwards as it kinda screws the whole MEP over. but its that rush of striving for 100% syncage... hehe, it is rather sad. But i'm trying to get over my absurd problem.

In saying all of that though, i am still nooby and i am also proud of all my works. But i know i've made mistakes but on the other side those lines are quite an effort. They may not look as good as i'd hoped. or as subtle...But... The effort factor is still there, which cheers me up a little bit.

Still, back on topic. It seems to me that its a natural thing when people make AMVS to find effects hard, or prefer not to use them. While they may seem i dunno "experimentational" and different. So i think that i'm in the right field with the knowledge... But not the skill, which in my opinion is one of the most important factors in AMV-creation.

Well, i like all of the videos i've seen from you anyway. So if you're comfortable using them for specific purposes i say "its not up to me, do what you please" hehe.

*smiles*

that went too long... *damn*[/b]

JaddziaDax · Post by **JaddziaDax** » Thu Apr 13, 2006 3:04 am

effects can go one of two ways:

1. it can dazzle your audience
or
2. overload them till theres a blurr of shapes on the screen O.o

i think for most people finding the balance is the hard part...

Willen · Post by **Willen** » Thu Apr 13, 2006 3:08 am

It's probably a thing you grow out of. Either that, or you have to edit an AMV with a slow, easy-going song. Of course, I don't own and have never used After Effects so I don't know how addicting it could be.

bluetrain · Post by **bluetrain** » Thu Apr 13, 2006 3:19 am

JaddziaDax: Very True.
*names myself: "the unbalanced one"*

Willen:
I hope its thing i grow out of.
But yes i can vouch for AE being very addictive... Especially when you have a LOT of crazy plugins...
With my last video, it was soft, slow and very easy to edit to... And i tried to hold back heaps. I think i did well, even if i did have a little splurge...
But there was a point in time when the video was practically completely effectless... It to me felt very incomplete and i am happy i changed the result.

I believe that maybe with that video i was finding my balance. But still, i could've been wrong. Maybe it was better with No effects... the people will never know...

My next video will have effects... however. My main visual effect will be Quality. I'm loving my source footage and combined with AVS scripts.. i'm pretty sure i've got it pretty darn perfect.

But, i've banned myself from touching the After Effects "Effects" Menu. Unless its for like brightness and contrast. I must only do my Effects in premiere..which should be interesting as i don't really know how to use that well.

*wish me luck*

CHAMELEON_D_H · Post by **CHAMELEON_D_H** » Thu Apr 13, 2006 5:26 am

How about planing the effects before going into after effects, thus giving you what you need, indtead of going to "effects hyper mode".