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how to do action sync + restless dissatisfaction
2006-02-03 21:36:17
So I'm rereading SQ's action sync guide - in response to a thread that popped up in the forum about the usefulness of that type of guide. I remember now what bothered me so much about it. I like the tips in the 'other type of video' section, but the section for random action was unpleasant. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with editing that way, I know it's just me, but out of all the tips and examples there was only one where I liked the editing wmv more than the "boring simple" one. I don't know what's wrong with me, honestly. I have no idea why I'm like that. But all of that changing scenes and flashing black/white for every single beat was so buisy it made me cringe. I do like some action videos - there's this one Hellsing video, Eternal Damnation, that I downloaded a long time ago by 'NHMK' (still don't know the member name) that I love watching. No matter how many times I watch it, it makes my eyes gleam and makes me want to edit - immediately. It does that "sync to every single beat" thing, but it repeats scenes and pauses and does stuff like ghosting that modifies the original clip instead of changing every time to something new and too short to see. I mean, it's chaotic and busy, but I can follow it. I just can't follow and enjoy hardly any 'correct' action sync in videos that try to do so much so fast it's all a painful blur. Maybe I just haven't seen it done with anime where I recognize every single scene even if it's only flashed for .05 seconds (like YYH - I know every clip in that 112 episode series, wonder why). I've never seen Hellsing, but I had no trouble watching that vid, not when I first got it, or now. If I could make an action video, I'd want it to be like that. I'm like a fangirl, honestly. #^_^#
But anyway, I resolved myself to do an experiment and try following the guide - to see what results come from it and find out if people really like that regardless of who's doing it (aka - like the editing for itself, whether they like or hate the creator's input after that basic editing style). And I do have 20gigs of footage I ripped for two incomplete videos. I *have* to do something with that footage before I delete it and start something else, or I wasted days on another unfinished project. I just don't know. Maybe I don't have the right sort of songs for this type of editing?
I think I'm just wary of 'wasting' a song I really like by using it for some experimental video - the entire purpose of which is to use editing tricks that I don't like to begin with. Is there any chance I'll like the finished project? I mean, even the slightest chance? I guess I can make the vid and consider it 'forever unfinished' and not list it on the org - then it wouldn't matter if I use the song again for a video using my own "boring and simple" editing style. I do have my mom's fancy new site to leech from. ;p
Blegh. In case no one noticed, and I'm sure no one did since I've been lurking for months, I'm having a serious identity crisis when it comes to editing. Or maybe I'm just suddenly conscious of my work as 'work' and not 'fun time-wasting projects' and I'm so unfamiliar with it that I'm feeling threatened, like someone wants to take my toys away. I'm very aware that my editing sucks. Oh, I still like it as much as ever, but it sucks compared to everyone else. It's not that I'm stupid - I know how you're supposed to edit, really I do. I just don't like it so I default every time. That's why I've been trying to experiment - to find something different and 'right' that I like well enough to use. One of those Naruto videos that I stopped working on after 2 minutes is one I really, really, like. The song was perfect, the scenes were perfect, and I know no one will ever make the match besides me. In fact, I love watching it and hate the fact that it's not complete. But when I think about finishing it, I get distracted and find myself doing everything but editing. I can't count how many times I've gotten ready to settle down and edit and then surfed the net with Premiere just sitting there until I remember to close it - no need to save since I never touched the project tracks. It's like writer's block except I can't get around it by just starting new stories and jumping around until I'm in the mood to go back and work on the first one. I just don't have the disc space to have twenty amvs running at the same time.
I don't know, maybe I'm just burned out with making vids and I'm too stubborn to quit. Every time I seriously think about it, I watch one of my favorites and end up wanting to edit. But I know, if I do start a project I'll end up stopping a minute into it. I hate wasting time ripping footage I won't use for a complete video.
Maybe it's just the fact that my birthday's coming up and I'm too damn old to be doing this sort of thing. Or maybe it's because I've never forced myself to do something I normally do for fun - stories, editing, etc. I'm like a spoiled kid with no headmaster to make me sit down and do the work whether I'm 'in the mood' or not.
Yeah, I'm going to start looking for songs in the style of that action sync guide. If nothing else, at least I'll actually be editing. And I am curious to see what sort of video I'd end up with. Whether it helps or not, I do like interesting things. Hell, I'll pick one of my ova dvds for an anime that's never used around here. There are a couple I've been waiting for someone to use so I wouldn't have to do it myself. And if it's random action, I don't have to worry about finding the perfect song. Random action. Heh, it's been a really long time since I even tried doing one of those. ^_^; -
website
2006-02-03 14:28:19
So I've been showing my mom how to make a website for her company this week. Turns out she can't brainstorm during tax season, so she won't be able to actually work on it till summer. I mean, I was doing all the building, anyway, but she was supplying the information and how she wanted things setup. Now she wants to wait a few months before working on it, which would be fine normally since the 'beta' site I was making was just a free geocities site. The problem is, she's worried about her domain name being taken (the one based off the name of her company). So she wants to purchase the domain even though she won't be doing a thing with the site for months. That means she'll have a nice little website she's paying for with 100gbs monthly transfer not being used. Hrm...
Yeah, I'm thinking about leeching her bandwidth until she makes an index page (home page - so the site is officially 'started'). I figure if it's paid for, it should be used by *someone*, right? She really should have waited until she was ready to actually work on the site, but she was afraid the domain name would be taken. I get that. I just think $10 a month is a lot for a website she's not going to use for 4 to 5 months. I'm a cheapskate like that. o.O -
comp problems again
2006-01-29 20:51:47
One month and four days ago I got a new cd-burner/reader installed because my old one was really buggy. Well, it stopped working this afternoon. Burned a cd fine, gave an error on the next one, and then it decided it couldn't read any discs I put into the drive. It's a dvd-reader slash cd-burner/reader and it can't read *anything*. It's not even giving the bugs the old one gave before it died, it just plain stopped working. I'm so frustrated I'd really like to take it outside and bash it around on the cement carport for a few hours. I just don't get it. If they burn out from being used too often, what's the point of getting them? They should be like candles or those stupid ipods - cheap and replacable because they're going to die and it's better to buy a new one than to try 'fixing' them.
I asked the guy at radioshack how long this new drive was supposed to last and he said a year - I told him I'd probably be back in a few months because it would burn out like the last one and he laughed thinking I made a joke. I can't wait to see his face tomorrow when I really do bring it back just like I said. ^_^;;
So...I'm going to see if I can get this thing to read cds again. Maybe if he reinstalls it it'll work again. I don't care if it's buggy, so long as it works half the time. If nothing else, he can reinstall my old cd drive. I just need something on this computer that will read cdrs. If I can get that, I'll buy an external dvd-burner and start saving my files on that instead of cdrs. I wanted to switch last time, but the cd-readers were the same price (or more expensive - don't ask me why) than the dvdrom-slash cd-reader/burner combo was. This time I'll have my refund deposit in by Feb3 so I don't really care. I just want this settled. I'm thinking an external burner won't overheat as much as an internal one does because I can disconnect it and put it in front of a fan or something. Jesus. Every cd the combo made - before it quit and died on me - was hot to the touch like it was a major effort to just burn one. Forget trying to do 40 in one sitting. Dvds cost more, but I wouldn't have to burn nearly as many so the burner shouldn't overheat like the last ones have.
Aside from that recurring problem, I have pet issues to handle tomorrow. We have a new stray living in the basement - our old basement cat is now living across the alley in this old woman's garage. ^.^;; She was declawed before her old owners threw her out, so she can't fight off the new guy. But he's weird and I think he's sickly - I only caught a glimpse of him, but he wheezes and she's been acting strange since he showed up. So...panic about feline distemper and possible rabies and all that fun stuff. It reminded me that I need to get everyone a few booster shots. I didn't do it last time because the vet said he *had* to fix my kitten. I don't want her fixed. And now I have a male cat with her - really unique cat with rabbit soft long fir all silvery brown, maybe a calico but more like tortoise shell. I can't let anyone get him fixed because his kittens would be gorgeous. If I ever let him have any. So, yeah, I need to get the indoor cats shots in case that skittish stray in the basement is diseased. I've been letting Keesha (no idea how to spell her name - my sister named her, not me) inside since she got run out of the basement and she's declawed and defenseless, so I need to get her checked before she gets the other two sick. I think she has something - she acts weird these days and I'm sure she was fixed by the bastards who declawed her and tossed her out to fend for herself, so she's not pregnant. It's just a mess.
Things were so simple before people started giving me sickly cats. First the little kitten with the broken leg and infected tumor on her neck, then the fuzzy little boy with tar melted all over his fur from being on the road in the hot sun for so long, then my sister gives me the basement cat who can't take care of herself because someone wanted an indoor pet and then changed their mind, and now some sickly skittish stray comes and threatens to infect the lot of them. Pets are overrated. I miss Kurama. Sure, he jumped out the second floor window and got lost a few times, but he was never sickly or weird on me. It's all my mom's fault for giving me a frickin easter flower without warning me that they poison cats and kill them painfully. I'm still waiting for my 8+ year-old cockatiels to die off. I don't need a litter full of weird cats on top of it. At this rate I'll never be free of the dependents. I might as well have children. >.< -
experimenting...and aching
2006-01-27 10:18:57
Yeah, so my old boss called me yesterday to see if I could help out for a few hours at his new yard. If not, my sister, who's currently working there, would have been sent home for the day. Well, I couldn't let that happen. ;p So I went over and got a nice double-handful of splinters and some achy shoulder and back muscles. I never really noticed how little exercise I get sitting behind a desk for almost two years. The worst was my hands, though. I never used to use gloves back when I worked on the actual yard - I had callouses and such so a few splinters were nothing major. As many tiny must-be-dug-out-with-a-razor splinters I had just from stacking the sticks, my hands would have been bloody if I were stacking the actual lumber instead. I need my hands to type. If he calls again, I'll probably go, but I won't touch the lumber without gloves - and they have to be gloves that actually fit me. Why is it so hard to find gloves for small-handed women? They're either cloth that tears with the first board, or so baggy I can't grip anything and they get caught and pulled off within the first few minutes. It's like the makers of work gloves don't know women need them as well as the men.
But, anyway, my hands are sore and stinging where I cut the splinters out last night - there were TEN of the buggers in the junction of my right thumb and finger, so small I just cut a straight line with my cloth razor and plucked them all out that way. Luckily my skin is pretty dry, so it didn't bleed. I couldn't find any needles, so the little razor was my best bet. It has a really nice handle and a retractable blade, so it worked really well.
Since I'm so not feeling chipper, I'll probably help in the office today. I don't know if I'll get a call again, but I won't be accepting it if I do. In the meantime, I'm experimenting with Premiere. I gathered the footage a few weeks ago, but I don't think I'll make an actual video with it. I started two vids, and I really like one of them, but the editing is so plain I feel bad about it. I really want to do something different with the editing. So I'm downloading effect vids and trying to duplicate things to see if any catch my interest. So far nothing has, but that's mostly because I'm ant-effect. I *know* it's just me being stubborn about the issue - principle.
I figure if I'm the one doing the effects, I won't automatically dislike them. It's like smoking. No one likes the smell of smoke unless they're the ones smoking. The only difference is effects don't give people cancer...as far as we know. o.O
Yeah, yeah. I just want to make some classic (aka boring) drama vids to watch. But I feel motivated to do something different. The main problem is that I don't want to work on any of my big projects, and I can't settle on a new project. So I'm just playing around.
One thing I noticed, I don't like Premiere's preview setup. I'm going to apply effects in a separate project, export to huffyuv, and then import that to put into the video so I can see it while I'm editing. I just hate editing blind, it's too cut and paste to me - all I see is the audio timeline and the numbers of frames before I move a rubberband. It's not fun. I'm so weird. - monster rancher 3 2006-01-15 10:25:08 So, I went and got this game again. I'd borrowed it once in college and got a whole mess of monsters and made it to the final battle. But it was no contest, he K.O.'d me with one hit. ^_^;; Well, I'm actually fighting on even grounds with him now. My question is, what happens if I actually beat him? I want a Ragnarox to play with! That would be so cool. Much better than a joker. I've always favored the dragons. Sadly, though, a golem is the only thing I've found that fights evenly with Ragnarox. Kinda sucks. I don't wanna beat him with an ugly golem. >.<
JOURNAL: Arigatomina
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