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Bit of food for thought, dreams and AMVs
2013-03-17 08:04:33
Being a supporter of NPR, the radio's typically on when I'm putting about the house on the weekends or driving somewhere boring in the car. Yesterday I caught the tail end of what I think was either "This American Life" or "Radio Lab," in which the role of sleep and learning was discussed. Essentially, the question posed was: have you ever been struggling to learn something/do something, gone to bed and got up the next morning discovering you apparently "learned" it in your sleep?
I've pondered this question myself, so I was rather pleased to hear it's something that's actually being studied as a true phenomenon. Among other applications, I have noticed this occurs quite often when I'm making an AMV: I'll labor over something for hours, hit the sack, and the next day I sit down in front of it and can not only see exactly what's not working, but can quickly and efficiently pull it together into good form.
Given how difficult a time I have editing, I can only imagine this is what good (and particularly prolific) editors experience most of the time. Me? I have to waste 6 hours wrangling footage and then sleep on it before anything comes together!
*goes back to editing...hoping to prove this theory* -
Anime Boston Extended Deadline: April 12
2013-03-16 21:14:30
Eugenie's Song
Pre-Edit: 7 hours
Edit: 15 hours
The Good: Haven't been roadblocked by de-motivation, AMV God mischief or uncooperative footage, yet, which means this AMV's chances of becoming a reality are looking better and better. It's quite the minor miracle.
The Bad: I didn't get nearly as much editing in today as planned, thanks to a late start and a bunch of errands to run in the middle of the day which sucked about 4 hours of time away. I've really got to pound the pavement tomorrow.
The Ugly: Here's my theory about what's going to happen with this AMV: I'm going to spend about 40-50 hours on it before April 12, and by that date I'm going to have something which I can clearly see needs another 40 hours of work to really shine. Not effects work, mind you, just typical Drift-fussing over every frame of footage until it's exactly the way it seems like it should be. I am trying hard NOT to do this right now, because I just want to get something coherent on the timeline, but it's kind of part and parcel of how I edit and unavoidable in that regard.
This AMV is driving home that when I just throw stuff at the timeline and it sticks, it tends to come out looking a heck of a lot better than the stuff I fuss over. :| It feels like cheating, though, and I can't seem to stop myself from trying to make it better...
In other AMV news, the VCAs are a strange time. Whenever I have had a video in the semifinals/finals, its star score has always plummeted (this year is no exception, a whole tenth of point in just a couple days!). Strangely enough, however, the scores on my other videos have gone UP. Weird. Interesting, but weird. I suspect a lot of people are watching L.F.S. (and other semifinalists) in preview mode, which introduces sync issues, obscures effects and in general does not typically look too nice. -
@Emong
2013-03-10 18:17:15
Me too, kind of. I don't vote for popular vids, per se, I just vote for what I liked. Since I'm picky and I don't watch a lot of "popular" vids, that leaves me not voting for a lot of things. This is why I love NG's Livestream of the semifinals, it's a great way to catch up on things I haven't seen (often over and over and over again due to multi-nominations) and it's fun to watch with other people. AMV watching is usually a pretty solitary experience, outside of cons...
Speaking of which, this weekend I have thus far gotten zero done on my new video. I had a seminar to attend Friday and Saturday, and today a new and unexpected kitten to deal with. Long story short, my mother rescued a 3-month old kitten found abandoned in a snowdrift during a recent blizzard, and since my cat is currently 19 and probably running on empty, figured I'd welcome some young blood. She's cute and friendly, definitely not feral (which is sad, b/c that means someone's probably missing her), but definitely NOT the kind of cat I'd pick out for myself. Best thing she's done so far is go at my alpaca throw like it was a mommy cat, kneading the fur, nuzzling around, very cute.
So, back to AMV land.
Eugenie's Song
Pre-Edit: 7 hours
Edit: 9 hours
The Good: Got the interlacing thing figured out. It was a combo of failing to set "Honor Pulldown Flags" and then (worse) my Premiere export preset getting royally messed up so that it exported interlaced footage. Thank you to doki as always for suggestions as to what might have been wrong! To be safe, I've re-done all of my AVI files. Only one more disc to go.
The Bad: As mentioned, no editing got done this weekend. I also just spent an hour rearranging the furniture in my office, b/c lo and behold, Daylight Savings Time means the afternoon sun beaming right onto my desk and monitor (a.k.a. no computer work). So I reversed the room and am now much happier.
The Ugly: Work obligations are going to complicate finishing this video in time for AB. Not only do I have to film and create TWO advertising/instruction videos on my own time, but I also am helping with PR for a regional marketing conference. Why do these things always have to pile on at the same darn time??
Oh yeah, and I'm going to try my darndest to get to Otakon this year! I registered, I've got a hotel room, now I just have to scrape together some money to pay for it all. This new apartment of mine is not cheap...nor are kittens... - Er... 2013-03-04 07:12:52 It's possible I didn't tell DGIndex to Honor Pulldown Flags. I'll know in another 14 hours, after my computer generates a new AVI file.
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*Stretches*
2013-03-03 18:10:37
[Title]
Pre-Edit: 6 hours
Edit: 9 hours
The Good: Nine hours of editing this weekend. Didn't think I had it in me, for this video. Mind you, it wasn't grand slam, "that's definitely done" editing. More like "well, I have three short scenes which kind of synch, now I wonder what it will look like when I export it" kind of editing. Still, something's coming together, even if I'm not sure what it is.
The Bad: A good chunk of time today was spent crafting a rape scene, so that was a jolly good time. *rubs hands together* Reminds me of what I said at the Anime Boston AMV panel at last year, when I had the gall to offer advice on a type of AMV I'd never made and never really had any interest in: romance videos are a lot more powerful if they've got more to them than generic shots of smiles, quivering eyes and flower petals. Just because a scene isn't all hearts and happiness doesn't mean it can't be in a romance video - hence rape. I just hope the adult subject matter doesn't tip me over the edge in the judges' eyes into drama. :| In fact, I hope this is still PG-13...is non-explicit sexual assault worthy of an "R" rating? There is a small bit of nudity involved, but no naughty bits.
The Ugly: When I attempted this video several years ago, I had the very unpleasant experience of working too close to the timeline. This is what happens when I focus too narrowly on precision editing and lose sight of the forest for the trees, the bark and the ants under the bark. After many years I've determined this is one reason I find editing with Advent Children oddly do or die - there is just TOO MUCH forest in AC to get distracted by ants. With regular anime, though, the ants are often more interesting than the forest. In any event, I haven't actually watched what I've spent nine hours fussing with, yet, so there is a 79% chance it's all garbage and I've wasted one whole weekend of the four I have left before AB.
K, I'm going to watch what I made, now.
:( Why is there interlacing everywhere? This footage isn't supposed to be interlaced. IS THIS FOOTAGE INTERLACED???
JOURNAL: DriftRoot (Lauren C.)
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