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Yeesh, I gotta keep track of things
2007-07-23 15:38:27
S.A.
Pre-edit: 14?
Editing: 35
I can't believe I spent 14 hours in pre-editing for this AMV. Thank god I have plans to use all the footage for other projects.
This weekend heralded the (much appreciated) falling into place of my intro. Unfortunately, now I'm obsessing about special effects, which my AMV is pretty much bereft of. After working up some nice things to flesh out the intro, the terrible truth that they don't fit in with the rest of the AMV utterly ruined my plans. I never particularly WANTED lots of effects, they detract from what's going on (IMO) in this particular case. Grrr. But they look so GOOD with the intro... -
A wee list
2007-07-19 14:43:02
I finally got to watch some more AMVs today, which inspired the following list of things that bug me about what are considered "good" AMVs:
1. Effects overload to cover up sloppy editing or otherwise distract the viewer from what's really going on. IMO, if you strip the effects out of an AMV and that AMV completely falls to pieces, then your foundation isn't what it should be for piling on those effects.
2. Random fades. What the hell?? There's lots of ways to get from scene A to scene B other than fading out, sticking a good second or so of black video in between and then fading back in. It's like when your trying to start a car but the engine just keeps turning over and over - it keeps faking you out, but there's really nothing there.
3. Sloppy lip synching. Ok, we all hate it, but if you can't do it right, don't do it at all. Pay someone else to do it? Too bad I'm not great at it - I could start a little business! Lip synchs, get your lip synchs here! :)
4. #3 ties in with #4 - why would you make an AMV with subtitled (aka fansub) footage? If you don't have the video sources to make an AMV, then don't make one! Would you go ahead and bake a chocolate cake if all you had on hand for chocolate was premasticated candy bars?? NO and the results would probably just as sickening to eat as watching fansub-riddled AMVs. I see some AMVs out there that must have taken a long time to make, yet the have horrible fansub footage. I'd personally have a panic attack if I dumped all kinds of time into an AMV and later woke up to the fact that, because I'd used bad fansubs, it's utter crap. -
Progress?
2007-07-19 10:29:19
I think I figured out why footage from Advent Children synchs with eye-popping perfection with my music (this is a “duh” thing…) – the music in the movie and my music have almost the exact same rhythm, and of course the fights were choreographed to the movie soundtrack.
Wrestling with the intro to “S.E.,” I have less than 10 seconds in which to get across the idea that Cloud is (happily) kicking ass, sees Kadaj fall over the ledge and goes after him. A handful of scenes from A.C. itself synch well, but they drag out too long in some instances and, in others, don’t result in Cloud standing where he needs to stand to jump off the ledge. It’s frustrating to see a fantastic sequence emerge (synched pretty nicely without much effort on my part) only to have it crash land on the rest of my AMV. I swear, it’s enough to make me want to create a “making of” AMV for this AMV just to show what *could* have been. Of course lots of people regret what *could* have been with their AMVs…but I suspect a lot of AMV fans who aren’t editors don’t realize what they’re NOT seeing in a finished AMV – all the awesome sequences that almost worked…but not quite and so had to be ditched (in a perfect world, of course; there’s tons of AMVs out there with awesome sequences that almost worked and were left in anyways.) I need to find my Aaron Copland CD with “Rodeo” on it…that’s what my making of thingies were intended to be used with. I would laugh myself silly if A.C. ALSO synched with that music.
I am getting concerned about my computer’s stability, something that previously foreshadowed two hard drive failures which destroyed months of AMV work. Unfortunately, I’m also concerned about what will happen if I attempt to reformat my computer, something it is way overdue for (I usually do this once a year) because after the second of said HD failures, I was unable to get Premiere to work with my old project files and had to start over from scratch. I absolutely cannot risk that happening again. Hrmmm…so in theory I’ll try to finish this A.C. AMV and then reformat so I can dive into my next project. Ha ha ha…
Which brings me to the question of WHAT project that will be. I want to enter the Anime Boston AMV contest in 2008 and this means I need to get moving. My “S.E.” AMV isn’t up to snuff for a contest like that, the song had to be butchered way too much (though the more I work with it, the less I notice how short it is…typical). I’ve got all of my Gankutsuou footage now, but it needs to be sorted out and my “Moonlight Shadow” music is subpar and I haven’t been able to locate a better quality source anywhere. I could jump into “Jenova’s Brat” or “In the Key of V,” but the latter I’m really up in the air about – it’s going to take a lot of experimentation and possible some AE work, which I’m not ready for. “J.B” is a better target, the music and footage is ready to go, but I’m not as enthused about it as I once was and that’s always a bad sign. There’s also “Minimum Wage,” but I’d need to get the footage for that, which would take a long, long time. Then, of course, there’s “Addict,” which I just need to resurrect, figure out what footage went missing (at least one DVD’s worth, ugh) and really, really work on. It’s a long song, there’s a lot going on and I’ve already discovered there are serious problems with continuity. Then there’s my horror flick set to the intro for FFVIII…I KNEW I shouldn’t have thrown out the soundtrack CDs for that game!! It would have to be very well done to come out as more than a knockoff of the original intro, though. I have a few ideas…need to find my flaming skull, though, and see what other people have done with it (I’m SURE other people have done this). Hey…now that my company’s Web policy relaxed I can probably download AMVs again!! WOOO HOOO!!
“S.E: He’s Baaack”? Hrm…that would be one way to get people who watch one AMV to maybe watch the other. ^_^ Hrm, what else: “Demon on Your Back,” “Sephiroth Does Squall” - that would give people the wrong idea…yikes, “The Fithos Lusec Winosec Nightmare” blah, too blah, “Something Wicked This Way Comes” too pretentious.
Now that would be a fun contest…put up an AMV and have other people come up with a title for it.
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A wee update
2007-07-06 22:05:38
I've been quite busy trying to yank my Web site up by its suspenders and haven't had much time to do much with S.E. I have developed a dislike for its opening sequence, however, largely because it's too predictable. However (my comma key is only working sometimes, time to copy and paste the little bugger) the END of my AMV is enormously predictable in that there's nothing new there...which I believe is part of it's charm, you're not EXPECTING it to be what you're expecting and yet it is because it's so perfect. I sort of chuckle evilly every time I think about it.
Mmm, so the general plan is to keep tinkering with S.E. until I'm fairly satisfied then move on to either "Jenova's Brat" or my unnamed Gankutsuou AMV, which I'm nearly finished ripping the footage for. Those DVDs are hell to rip. My Web site is taking priority right now, though, because I can't stand paying for hosting when nothing's there worth looking at. The weather's also been too nice to stay inside working on my computer - it's summer in Vermont, I don't get to enjoy this long so I'm making the most of it. My goal remains to enter an AMV into Anime Boston and it's got to be this year because I'm really running out of excuses.
Hrm, so my foray into pen tool territory seems to be bearing fruit. I've gotten a few queries about mask making and whatnot that makes me think I've actually gotten the message through - USE THE PEN TOOL, DAMNIT. I dread the day someone says to me, "But what about Photoshop's QuickMask mode?" It's not quick, it's not masking like you're thinking and it's only about .127% better than not using it at all if you've got PTP (Pen Tool Paranoia).
I would love to demonstrate mask scripting at a convention and hear the gasps of horrified awe resound around the room. Then I'd get to listen to slowly building wails of despair when people realize it won't work as demonstrated unless they use the pen tool. MWAHAHAHA!! :( It's actually quite sad. -
Problems surprise surprise
2007-06-13 20:03:47
Premiere has suddenly decided that it cannot render a certain extremely brief portion of the timeline containing a a whopping five frames worth of white matte. It never had a problem with this before and it has no problem with any other video or matte color placed in that particular place. I don't get it. Unfortunately I NEED a white matte there! Time to get sneaking with After Effects I guess.
I'm toying with the idea of heading to AX next year instead of Anime Boston. The way I see it I can spend $800 and head to AB for three to four days (a con I know and love) or spend $200 more and hit up the West Coast. I have a sneaky plan to get my sister to accompany me so we can split the hotel cost. Hehe she's always wanted to see an AMV contest and that's a pretty good place to start. Not sure if she'd go for the ticket price but hey (my comma key has stopped working I definately need a new keyboard because my capital H [oh sure now it's working] and capital G [grr] weren't working either up until NOW) she makes two times the amount of money I do...
I wish there was some kind of base guarantee that if you earn a certain kind of degree you must be paid a certain wage minimum. Wait that's socialism-style thinking and I hate socialism!
JOURNAL: DriftRoot (Lauren C.)
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