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Confirmed.
2007-01-11 12:10:01
Finally the anime source got confirmed and I was able to upload "Flash Amamori". Announcementthread is here:
http://www.animemusicvideos.org/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=75841
In one point it was good that the anime source had to be confirmed - a while after creating the database entry I got the idea how to resolve two remaining problems.
I found out something weird about MovieXone 4.0. It allows you to create a generated transition. Doing this lets you treat both tracks of the A/B editing roll like compositing tracks. This is one of the things why I said that, despite the limited number of effects, it is really powerfull. And I wondered a little bit too, because it's said that it is one of it's limitations that it can't do that. So I invested time to create a transition in which 2 titles fly in from the sides, to combine it with a third one in the compositing track. I saved it, restarted MX1 - but it wasn't there. Went to the file menu - it was there and I could open it. But that way it is opened for manipulation, not to apply it. So I tried to drop it in from an external file manager - no success. So AIST has removed the ability to use generated transitions, but forgotten to remove the creation and manipulation either. :/ The fact that it is less powerfull than I thought will not affect my plans to use it for my next project.
The last 2 days I worked a bit on project "Secret". Yes, you read right. First I did remake the clips that got damaged during my HHD problems. I thought that would be easy with using VDM's joblist. But damn, all joblists were damaged. :( Fortunatly only 4 clips were damaged. But I could only remember for one which scene it was. So I had to select 3 scenes that fit the sourrounding ones. For one scene I got an idea how to improve it with some effects and a hughe compositon. Maybe when I'm finished with this I continue working on the project and can finish it before starting a new one.
Some more good news (at least for me) - tomorrow I'll sign a contract for a new job. -
Hooray!
2007-01-09 13:07:52
Now I make it official. I have finished my last project. I called it "Flash Amamori" as it shows Hajime Amamori as Flash Gordon. It's already entered into the database, but I can't upload it because the anime isn't confirmed. I hope this happens soon so that I can make an announcement thread. It got already a couple of hits. I'm thinking about to upload it either to rapidshare or my unused webhosting and to provide an indirect/direct link. That way the announcement wouldn't depend on the confirmation. But if I remember right, only local AMV's can receive stars, QC's and op's. And I like to have feedback.
This time is not much for a "Making of..." The project went really straight of. I can't even exactly remember how I stumbled over the Flash Gordon soundtrack. I believe it was as I searched for the "Highlander" soundtrack to get "Who wants to live forever" for an AMV using the Queen Millenia Movie. The weird thing is - this soundtrack inspired me to make the Freddie Mercury MEP. I remembered it from my teenager times - one of my friends had it on an audio cassette. I did remember that it has dialogues and all the movie noise in it and thought - "Must be fun to match anime to it, but because of the length it must be a MEP". So I ordered it. During listening I realized that some parts aren't suitable for an AMV, and so it would have been unfair to the editors who had to take these tracks (or that noone would choose them at all). But the idea for a Freddy Mercury tribute was born, and it was clear to me that I'd use a part of this soundtrack. The idea to edit the (nearly) full song in addition to the MEP track came before I started to edit the MEP track, while I cut clips and listened to the song to find the right scenes.
The settings for the ending credit animation I have found by random playing around with settings and effects. Because of the crappy source I had this time problems to compress this AMV. Despite it is only 720x400 and not 768x432 I had to use twice the bitrate that I can use for a Noir AMV.
Different from my last journal entry I have decided that I will use MovieXone for my next project. I got an idea how to imitate the effect which seemed to exclude it's use. It's fun what you can achieve with this simple program if you have experience and imagination. Today I played around with it a while, to test some ideas. For some ideas it went really well. For others I had to experience that, while it is possible to make it with MovieXone, the effort is really hughe compared with MoviePack. One effect for example makes it necessary to keyframe every frame of the clip to make it look good. -
Random thoughts.
2007-01-07 13:25:56
Still working on the ending credits. I have only a vague idea how it should look, so it's trial and error, which can last a while. I think I have found a good combination of effects so far, but I have tested it only for one text line and have to see how it looks for multiple lines. Maybe it's too much.
The use of the photoshop plugin in MP 7 worked only one time, I got it never to work again. :?
I wanted to use MovieXone 4.0 for one of my next projects, but in the moment it doesn't look like a good idea. For one of my next two projects I have an effect in mind which I can realize only with MP 7. The other project is supposed to be very simple, and I wanted to show what MovieXone is capable of, so I can't use it either.
Friday I watched Chihiro on TV. The stupid TV-Station called it "Family Cartoon". They don't distinct between cartoon and anime.
Sometimes anime is so predictable. In One Piece happened a crime. They didn't show how it happened, but I knew from the start who was involved, despite the tried to send you on the wrong trail with wrong hints.
Reading the journal of the Biker Union I got bad news. One who I know died in a motorcycle accident. He crashed into a doe which crossed the street. Since I had a car accident with a doe some years ago I'm always alert if I ride my bike through a forrest in autumn (in autumn does are careless because they are in heat). Though it doesn't make much sense, because if it happens like my car accident I had no chance to react, no matter how alert I am. -
Done?
2007-01-05 12:45:26
I think I've settled down my project. Today I fixed some more synching issues, the effects are fine so far. During that editing session I did realize that the AMV could have nearly be done in MovieXone 4.0. Okay, I hadn't nested animations, but it is possible without them. Some things had needed more effort, had been mor complicated, some things had been imitated and were not exactly the same looking but still close enough. Only two effects had been impossible, but since I use both only once it wouldn't have been much of a deal to make the AMV without them. Recognizing this showed me two things - creating a project with MovieXone like I plan isn't a step backward from my actual level, and I have to work more intense with MoviePack to use it's possibilities.
Though I think I'm done with this AMV I will not release it yet. I will make (a) bumper(s), which I will not only use for this project, but like a brand mark for my future projects too. So I will put much effort in it. Currently I'm working on an ending bumper. I'm not decided yet If I make a studio like opening bumper too or if it's too fat, rises expectations which aren't held by the AMV.
Regarding the plugin front: I was able to integrate a photoshop effect. MP is not only supposed to work with AE plugins, but Premiere and Photoshop plugins either. At least the last I could succesfully prove though the use of this plugin made my computer moan. Maybe the AE plugins are from a not supported version. You may think:"Why do you want more effects if you don't use even the majortiy of the effects in MP 7?". Simple answer: "Because there are some effects that I would like to use and that MP 7 doesn't offer, even not as paid plugin." -
2007-01-03 12:54:58
It is weird. Everytime I watch my actual project I find some flaws. If it continues that way it'll become a neverending story. So maybe I must release it even if I'm not completly satisfied or it'll never be released. I think I will continue that way this week.
For the future I have to avoid to create animations with such a deep nesting. It's not only that it slows down everything - editing, previewing, rendering - MoviePack crashes if I try to make changes on scenes that are at a nesting level deeper than 1.
Today I did download some free After Effects plugins. MoviePack is supposed to work with AE-FX. But it fails horribly. Either it doesn't load the effect at all with the erreor message "duplicate channel", or if it loads the effect either it does nothing after the effect is applied to the clip or it crashes. Damn, AIST shouldn't advertise options that don't work.
The season of One Piece didn't end. They air it parallel with the restarted season. For some reason their program preview is wrong. It shows only one episode of One Piece per day, not two.
JOURNAL: Keeper of Hellfire
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