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Updates
2006-07-06 09:30:55
Pre-editing: 95
Editing: 76
Had a really good bit of editing last night. It's unfortunate that the beginning of "Addict" is actually quite difficult to put together and that, once I get past the first 15 seconds or so, things get much more simple. <----- Incredibly stupid thing to say.
Anyways. My sister, aka Peanut Gallery, insists that she likes the first intro to my AMV the best, to which I reply that I'm not finished with the intro yet. To which she says she likes the first intro best. Oh well, at least it wasn't that difficult to create so, after tossing it a few months ago, I can do it over again fairly quickly and make it flashier with my more advanced, albeit still primitive, video editing skills. *cues the special effects*
Hmm, oh yes, for posterity I need to record the following; someone asked what projects everyone's working on... *rummages around*:
AMV's Title: Portrait of the Addict
Song Title: Addicted to Love
Anime/s: Saiyuki
Tools of the trade: Premiere, After Effects, etc.
Inspiration / Motivation: Roadtrip back from Anime Boston 2005 (yes, a long time ago)
Accumulated hours of work: 169 or so (I have 15 seconds of footage halfway done, btw, and I've been working on this for over a year, with a huge break over the past five months or so because of school-related responsibilities that, yes, take priority.)
AMV's Title: Whiplash
Song Title: Moonlight Shadow (DDR/Eurodance version)
Anime/s: Gankutsuou
Tools of the trade: Premiere, After Effects, etc.
Inspiration / Motivation: It's pretty.
Accumulated hours of work: 0
AMV's Title: In the Key of V
Song Title: Lux Aeterna
Anime/s: Dirge of Cerberus,Advent Children
Tools of the trade: Premiere, After Effects, etc.
Inspiration / Motivation: Vincent's got some major issues.
Accumulated hours of work: 22
AMV's Title: Overworked and Underpaid
Song Title: Not telling!
Anime/s: Excel Saga
Tools of the trade: Premiere, After Effects, etc.
Inspiration / Motivation: Excel needs workman's comp.
Accumulated hours of work: 0
AMV's Title: D Me
Song Title: Deliver Me
Anime/s: VHD: Bloodlust
Tools of the trade: Premiere, After Effects, etc.
Inspiration / Motivation: Unexplored themes in VHD can be challenging.
Accumulated hours of work: 15
AMV's Title: Jenova's Brat
Song Title: Not telling!
Anime/s: VHD: Advent Children
Tools of the trade: Premiere, After Effects, etc.
Inspiration / Motivation: It made me laugh!
Accumulated hours of work: 1 (This is sketchy)
And many more that will never see the light of day, altogether adding up to somewhere around 400 hours of AMVing with zero, zip, nada, NOTHING to show for it! -
610 hits...huh
2006-07-03 10:08:52
Who's reading this stuff? Not me!
Add one hour. Discovered during session that I edit much faster, much more efficiently, backwards. Yes, backwards. It's weird, but it works. That is to say, usually I know how I want something to end (a clip) and so, if I start at the end and work backwards, it's easier to get in place what needs to be in place and work out the "extras" in their proper order. I get too caught up in the extras.
Regarding AB for next year: besides this video, I'm going to try to do my Excel Saga one, too. Ha, that's funny. No, really, it's not!
Haji is still a go for 2007, my uncle the cellist said I could borrow his cello and case for the convention as long as I don't harm them. I'll bet he changes his mind when the time comes. How I'm going to transport the thing is another matter entirely. Still, it doesn't get much cooler than being dressed as Haji and posing with a real cello, now does it? I need to find me some lackeys to help carry my stuff, though. Cellos are HEAVY. I can't damage the case, though, which is a shame (I mean costume-wise). I may pull out all the stitching on my coat and redo it after receiving a complaint that the fabric was a little bunched. Picky picky picky! -
What was I giong to say?
2006-06-28 15:56:50
Oh yes...um...mental incapacities aren't my fault, I think Lyme disease is rotting my brain...grrr...oh yes!
How in the world can I possibly commit as many hours as I have to this AMV(s) and yet still have nothing substantial to show for it? How can I continue to do this kind of thing? Well, gosh, I'm having fun! This realization came to me early this year, after spending several hours on something I ended up scrapping, that even though it's tedious, frustrating, nonproductive and perhaps silly, I do enjoy messing around with AMVs. I think what I like most about it is its potential - theoretically, I can make anything I can imagine. I am not hampered by my ability/inability to draw nice pictures, compose nice music, write nice plots. I have the music, the anime and the subject matter all around me, I just get to put it together in an attractive manner. It's figuring out how to do this that's bogging me down. I've got all sorts of wonderful ideas, but extremely limited knowledge and time to work with.
A particular example of recent note is a flashback/dream segment in which Sha Goyjo fantazises about a busty bar waitress, his glance over his shoulder results in keen attention to the chest area and a wink. I know I want this to happen, but it never really happens in the anime, so I've got to make it work. I've got the shots, I've clipped the footage together, I've added an appropriate range of subtle effects to enhance the mood, but it's still not right. So I threw in a fast curve zoom/out on said chest area, achieving a nice effect, but it's too fast for the surrounding scenes. Next experiment: zoom in/fade in, rather than bounce. But the bounce is so fun! No...I must save that jolt for three seconds later when the song launches into a harder beat...
:(
On the positive side, I got someone to laugh at what I have so far, which is only about 13 seconds. That's pretty good, I'd say. -
Bleh...
2006-06-26 10:05:24
Pre-editing: 95
Editing: 74
Look at that, 74 hours of work and what have I to show for it? Eleven seconds of footage (that's still not done). I'm really bad at this, aren't I? -
Wait, yes it does!
2006-06-22 09:31:41
Picture this: Seven different Premiere Project files for the same AMV. Each containing 18.3 GB of clips, custom mattes, graphics etc. Five of which include previous versions of one another, two of which contain sequences made from those five projects. Each uses a different codec. Several have different music MGHZ levels. I get to figure out which was the "right" one, and going by dates doesn't work because I had massive problems a few months back that necessitated all this mess. Finally I "think" I have the latest and greatest...only to discover some kind of weird problem that doesn't let me render and actually crashes Premiere after exactly 3:23 minutes.
*deep breath* It didn't like my scratch disk setup, so I changed it, and voila everything's good. Bad news: I decided I liked an older version of one sequence better than a newer one I'd spent about 10 hours fiddling with. UGH! Good news: hey, at least I wound up with something I like!
In other areas - my suggestion for the AMV panel at AB next year was met with enthusiasm by the powers-that-be who have good reason to dislike me thanks to my red hair aka quick temper: a "How to make an AMV, start to finish" video/AMV of sorts to show. Hopefully it works out well.
JOURNAL: DriftRoot (Lauren C.)
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