-
spine of the essence
2009-12-29 11:08:44
SH114:
- Source rip: complete
- Music: complete
- Precleaning: none
- Storyboard/planning: rough
- Clipping: 8/13 | complete
- Edit: none
- Postproc: none
- Export: none
Another day, another ep. While I'm not happy about the downward trend in source per minute of surveyed video, I like to hope that this is the result of being more selective and taking only stuff that is at a significant chance to actually go in -- especially if it's stuff that I won't have to fix in post. Clipping looks on track to wrap sometime in the weekend after New Year's, then I reproc the side source and dress it up to the desired resolution (as long as Celtic beat TFOD and I have the will to get off the couch, that is). No video is safe from cancellation until the very moment it's released, but for now this one is 'go' to at least try to get there. When it'll finish, and in what form, and whether I compete with it or not are still undetermined, but such as it is, it's progress.
My donation finally got processed the other day. This gives me a lot of search options that I don't need, a few more statistical tools that might be useful, and foremost, the calming knowledge that I am not ripping off bandwidth any more. It also indicates that just as at work where nobody gets paid their expenses till the end of the quarter, Phade only sorts out the underused mail-in box on a quarterly basis, so when I go in for my 2010 donation (this past was catchup), I need to get it out closer to the start of March than the end.
--Kai out
-
flowering into
2009-12-28 11:12:02
SH114:
- Source rip: complete
- Music: complete
- Precleaning: none
- Storyboard/planning: rough
- Clipping: 7/13 | complete
- Edit: none
- Postproc: none
- Export: none
So the Katsucon deadline got pushed back just in time for me to take a bunch of days off around Christmas, but I got back in the saddle again last night, and while I'm still short of a go/no go decision, it's looking more like "go" than not at this point. Source quality is debatably going to be there, I won't have the impulse to hide behind blastbeats because there aren't any, and there's more than a few cuts coming in that I won't have to fix because the logo's just not going to be visible. This is what the extension really gives me: not only four days of not doing jack, but more significantly the time to make the video, then watch a rough before scanning through the 'final' print and checking exactly how many fix panels I need to build.
Also, I think I have the aspect ratio merging problem licked. I need to get more source to make sure of that, but it'll come.
There was originally some verbiage relating to current travails over a death of civility in the forum here, but this is pretty much of a piece with all the "what the hell is wrong with us" that has gone on at irregular intervals over the last 7 1/2 years that I have been a present observer. Nix neues; the ".org culture considered harmful" screed I let out generally four years ago remains equally as relevant today, so I don't really have anything new to contribute to the proceedings. Any insular community becomes toxic, especially as it comes to treat insularity as a virtue. Rather, "burn your gods and kill the king", as it were; those who can't dare to be hated shouldn't complain when they find themselves stuck in a rut.
--Kai out
-
hold on | a little longer
2009-12-23 11:12:37
SH114:
- Source rip: complete
- Music: complete
- Precleaning: none
- Storyboard/planning: rough
- Clipping: 6/13 | complete
- Edit: none
- Postproc: none
- Export: none
By arcane counting methods, I'm now more than halfway done the cut. Source gain continues to be mediocre, but I'm now actively avoiding cutting stuff that will be too hard to fix. Unfortunately, the aspect-ratio thing is now becoming a horrible soul-devouring monster. I'm going to have to reproc all the dropins, and most likely mutilate them at least a little, which will add workdays on to the end. Fuckit, though; this one is looking like it will end up too weak for competition, but as a noisy and bizarre GIRUY, should it be completed after all, it might still work.
The reason is, unfortunately, project planning. If you really want to enter a contest demanding 720x480, edit from DVD, not a godforsaken mix of HD and early 2000s-vintage-fansubs that don't reach 480px in any dimension. The next two projects are smarter: con targets with DVD aspect ratio requirements, DVD source. Simples.
--Kai out
-
from birth to death we
2009-12-22 11:45:43
SH114:
- Source rip: complete
- Music: complete
- Precleaning: none
- Storyboard/planning: rough
- Clipping: 5/13 | complete
- Edit: none
- Postproc: none
- Export: none
Another hour, another episode dusted, another brick both for and against cancelling this video. I can't escape the idea that this is going to end up unnecessary to both AMV and musical audiences, and that I won't be able to execute it to the standard needed, whether I hit the deadline or not. Reasons are nebulous: not strong enough concept, not enough appropriate drop-ins, difficulties integrating the said drop-ins, not enough good lipsynch cuts, worries about overreliance on lipsynch, technical issues merging 16:9 main source and 4:3 dropins without mutilating either, issues fixing logos, difficulties in getting the time to paint the logos out, etc etc etc. It's never a good time to be ambivalent about continuing with a project or killing it to work on something else, but year-end is especially bad.
Hopefully, things will sort themselves out. By Saturday at the conclusion of the Celtic game I should be at 10/13 cut at least, and with a firm idea of whether I push on and finish the video, or cancel it right then and spend the weekend scouting for the next project. Even if cancelled, this may come back; the idea is decent, but the requirements both in 'natural' visuals and in editing to meet that ideal are pretty steep.
--Kai out
-
you, or your memory
2009-12-19 11:11:03
SH114:
- Source rip: complete
- Music: complete
- Precleaning: none
- Storyboard/planning: rough
- Clipping: 4/14 | complete
- Edit: none
- Postproc: none
- Export: none
Good solid work last night and this morning has me ahead of pace, so that even if I end up getting snowed in in Boston after the Bog of the Infidel show tonight, all is not lost as regards deadlines. There are still issues, and I can't do the video on what I have, but for being less than halfway through the cut, it's no' bad.
I'm losing source-volume-gain-rate at a somewhat worrying pace over the past couple episodes, but I'm still in position to do a shorter video on about the same raw source mass as I had for SH112, so this should still be doable. The same issues with cutting against the general direction of the anime are still present (and more pronounced if anything), but I have several advantages here:
1) The total length of music to be videographed is about 3/5 that of SH112.
2) I can get away with much more lipsynch cruise control here, because the lyrics are intelligible.
3) I have nearly enough drop-ins to do the whole video as a hodgepodge of random weird shit.
Even with this being the case, though, I have the nagging need to push harder and get this cut ASAP; the plan for painting out logos in post is in, but it's going to be time-consuming without, really, filmstrip editing capabilies (still boycotting Adobe, so I can't pick up some trials and cheat by dumping the final video track through lolpremiere to lolphotoshop and cleaning there like everyone else). I get to do this the old-fashioned way, and right now I "welcome the chase", but suspect I'll be feeling differently midway through making the third mask for needs-fixing cut 54 of 96.
--Kai out
JOURNAL: Kai Stromler (Kai Stromler)
Current server time: Dec 24, 2025 07:29:21