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I wish my Aaron Copland CD would get here.
2007-08-26 15:24:01
Amazon said it would take three to five days to get here. I ordered it over a week ago and it supposedly shipped in plenty of time to be here yesterday or the day before. I need that CD for my next project...
S.A.
Pre-edit: 14?
Editing: 85
So after ripping S.A. apart - then putting it back together piecemeal - I'm rather annoyed that I can't decide if I like what I have now better than I had then. It's a more exciting AMV - but it's not supposed to be exciting...not until the last part anyways...and I watch it and wince constantly over things that I simply can't MAKE work though the alternative (going back to my beta and just releasing that) is less and less acceptable. I've got to use several of the nifty scenes I was unable to use before but at the sacrifice of other scenes that (IMO) made the AMV kind of different from other A.C. stuff out there. Now it's just...a rehash of Cloud and Sephiroth's fight...something I did not and do not want to create.
I actually put back the last third of the AMV this afternoon because I was so unhappy and then found myself uncontrollably editing it all out again - pretty much going back to the "new" AMV. I think the problem is that there's certain scenes that look great but not necessarily alongside other scenes that also look great and I've tried to make it so I can get away with using both...which only causes both to look not so great. :( -
Bad Premiere, BAD!!
2007-08-24 10:17:05
S.A.
Pre-edit: 14?
Editing: 80
S.E. is going in an entirely new direction, something I’m only somewhat OK with, because I was quite pleased with the old direction. I didn’t want to make a cookie-cutter Advent Children AMV and that’s kind of what this one is turning into. At least the old direction was one that people would have rarely seen with A.C. Unfortunately, the new direction is causing Premiere to resume its “Aggghhh!! I can’t render white video!!!” crashing antics.
I suppose it comes down to the question of: do I want to make a unique AMV that doesn’t necessarily pull off what it’s trying to pull off (put another way, it pulls something off but that something isn’t all that wonderful) or do I want to make a more standard AMV that uses a few tactics that prevent it from being just a mishmash of action scenes, set to a song that people will either love or hate that has not been used in a full-length AMV before?
Maybe I’ll…hrm…if I dragged the credits out a long, long time I could get away with presenting the old version of the AMV in the background. Or at least the most significant part of the old version, I think it’s only about 30 seconds or so. This is like a quarter of my AMV, though. LOL I could post the old version first, then a week later present the *remastered* version – quickest turnaround ever. :D
Completely aside, I learned a really awesome special effect for AE yesterday that I’d love to use for an intro bumper or something. Problem is, I’m not sure if my computer can handle it. It chokes on 3D renderings in Illustrator, so I’m fairly sure it would need the Heimlich maneuver if I tried this. It’s becoming more and more obvious that I need a new computer, but I’ve sunk so much money into upgrading this one that throwing away a few thousand on an entirely new machine offends my Yankee thriftiness (not to mention that I can’t afford to do so right now). I wish I knew how to build PCs…I’ve got a lot of stuff in my machine that doesn’t need replacing. Maybe I’ll stop by the local comp shop to see if they can take what I have and pair it up with a more modern system. I’ve noticed the “high-end” generic, custom-built systems they’re selling exceed mine only in terms of processing speed and fancy optical accessories. I hate optical accessories... -
2007-08-23 10:11:52
S.A.
Pre-edit: 14?
Editing: 78
Last night I went in and ripped apart S.E. (after "Save As" of course), proceeding on the theory that it needs more Cloud vs. Sephiroth action. I also intended to lengthen the song a little, but it turns out I can't find my original rip of the song, so I'm knid of screwed. -_-
Adding in more action is difficult. The Omnislash is getting in my way, however if the whole point of this AMV is to have Cloud bounce back from almost being annihilated by Sephiroth, then I can't really conclude with things up in the air. Or can I? Makes me wish there was another Sephiroth smackdown scene to utilize.
One possibility is to sprinkle the whole stabbing scene throughout the AMV, although this would decimate (wow, I've been editing too much, I typed "decimate"and the image that sprang to mind was not something being destroyed, but an AVS script @_@) what I feel is a really solid part of the AMV. I'll have to ruthlessly experiment some more, I guess.
It occurred to me today that one reason I'm willing to continue working on this AMV is that I decided to reformat my computer after it was finished, and I really am not looking forward to that 8-hour task. -
I give UP
2007-08-21 12:55:46
I've capitulated to one of my beta tester's requests (a request other people find compatible with their opinions, if not directly stated) for more action in S.E. - my non-action AMV. My reasons are as follows:
1. I was never 100% pleased with the last third of the AMV anyways and spent over a week trying to shoehorn more action into a 6-second segment without displacing a another segment I was way too attached to. New plan is to ditch that longer segment and thoroughly enjoy about 30 seconds of fight scene done MY WAY. Wooo!
2. I may plunder Cloud & Kadaj's fight for more footage, since my resources are going to be stretched to the limit if I stick with Sephiroth. Doing so will make me get extra creative, something the AMV needs more of. I'm envisioning double-synched action scenes...something I'm pretty confident already exist. This tactic may require me to fool around massively with the rest of the AMV, but it has a lot of potential.
3. I can't work on "Takeout" very much until I get the rest of my footage and clean up the audio, which will take about a month. Plenty of time to tweak S.E.
4. It's a terrible habit to get into - almost finishing AMVs and then never wrapping them up (or subsequently uploading them) - and I don't want to start now. -
Easy way to earn Apple stuff (and Pantone stuff)
2007-08-21 07:55:23
Pantone - the maker of the pervasive inking color system - is offering an iPhone and Apple TV to the person who most creatively and destructively decimates their old colorbooks. They want people to buy new ones every year and figure this way they're getting at least some into the garbage can. As I understand there's not been tons of entries so far (you post a video on YouTube, I believe) and even if you don't win the big prize, you STILL will get a 35% discount on your purchase of new colorbooks which - at about $99 for one of the basic books - is a really decent discount. So anyone out there with old books (Pantone doesn't specify how old these books need to be, I'd love to find some that are over a decade of date and exploit them) who wants new books should investigate further.
I remarked upon a funny thing - AMV-wise - in the review session last night after godix refused to watch my beta of S.E. because of the content and the song. So far the only people who've disliked/hated my AMV are the people who refuse to watch it. :D
I guess this means it's predisposed to being liked by future downloaders since, if you like AC and like Genesis, well...it's all over.
JOURNAL: DriftRoot (Lauren C.)
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