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First Feedback & Call for Beta Testers
2011-10-08 09:28:43
The Kingdom of L.F.S.
Pre-edit: 3 hours
Edit: 75 hours
Post-Production/Special Effects: 12 hours
Showed this AMV to someone for the first time yesterday and the feedback was not overly positive. First I showed them the Knights of Badassdom trailer, which in retrospect was perhaps not the best tactic, and then my video. They found the original trailer very entertaining, my version of it not so much, and commented that "I'm glad I saw the original trailer first so I knew what was going on."
GAH!
Further feedback matched that which I've gotten from a few other people who haven't seen the video, but know what I'm up to: "Why are you using that source footage? Why not something else?"
GAH!! GAAAAHHHH!!
So now I'm getting worried that this thing I've made is just a complete waste of my time, is too disjointed, too much of a stretch, vastly inferior to the original trailer, etc. One thing that really cracked me up, though: The two segments if the video I've been really struggling with and hate the most (one of which I keep considering cutting out completely) got the biggest, most accurate reactions. I just can't win!
Oh yes, and they felt the lip syncing was impressive, which I must take with a hefty grain of salt since I haven't gone in and tried to fix the inaccurate lip flap, yet. :|
Given this feedback, I feel it is wise to offer up a beta much earlier than planned, with the caveat that there are things which are still completely unfinished and/or up in the air. If anyone is interested in helping with some beta testing that focuses on evaluating the big picture and how well the pieces parts fit together, please let me know. A good sense of humor is highly recommended. Thanks! -
Learning more about AE
2011-10-02 13:26:37
The Kingdom of L.F.S.
Pre-edit: 3 hours
Edit: 74 hours
Post-Production/Special Effects: 12 hours
So my back and neck are screaming at me, my dog is depressed because she's being ignored and my apartment isn't getting any cleaner by itself, no matter how long I sit in this chair not making a mess. Ah, the life of an AMV editor.
The Good: I think (THINK being the operative word, here) I've got the text-only special effects done. Being the persnickety type, I changed the original font I'd chosen, which led to all kinds of problems demanding all kinds of work. I've now learned a heck of a lot more about AE compositions, though.
The Bad: Black gaping 3-second hole is gone, but there's a real ugly pile of dirt left and more work, if I leave it there, to fix the lip sync. At some point I'm going to dredge up my old debate about what constitutes lip sync and how much credit one gets for "syncing" something that people don't realize you've manually tinkered around with. If all goes well, no one's going to be able to tell what I've tinkered with, but it'd be nice if a) I didn't get slammed for not tinkering more and b) got a pat on the head for what I DID do. Probably can't have it both ways, though.
The Ugly: Last night I made a list, as I often do, of things still to be done. The minor things, the little (and not-so-little) special effects which will hopefully make things make sense. This list does not include the big things I've been putting off, because I wish they'd go away, or the things on my wish list which I will do only if I have time/energy:
1. Teeth/eye raaawwr
2. Eyes
3. Wall Map 1
4. Wall Map 2
5. World Map/Skype
6. Voiceover/Map
7. "Summoned" lip sync
8. Sword etching
9. Wheelchair lipflap
10. Motorcycle mouth lipflap
11. Kids eyes
12. Confetti
13. Pentagrams
14. Ball color
15. Fix fall monster
16. End sequence/ditch monsters
17. Wink
18. Mushroom window
19. Snake
20. Change eyes to red flare? (I don't remember what this means...)
21. Blood drip
Looks like I'm making a B-grade horror movie, doesn't it? These things, not to mentioned finishing the video overall, will probably take me another two months/ 50-75 hours. UGH!! -
Shifting gears
2011-10-01 09:10:46
The Kingdom of L.F.S.
Pre-edit: 3 hours
Edit: 72 hours
Post-Production/Special Effects: 3 hours
Started a new category up there to acknowledge the very distinct nature of a big job I've got left to do. I tried editing video in Photoshop last night - never done that before - and after a few sessions where I had to scrap all my work, finally got a handle on a nice (if very destructive, which I hate) way to retouch a sequence of frames without actually retouching a huge list of individual image files. Unfortunately the final video quality is not the same as the original, which is aggravating. I may have to go back to still image, frame-by-frame fixes (ugh).
I've still got a big black gaping hole approximately three seconds wide right in the middle of this video that I can't seem to make "work." (I'm trying to ignore it at the moment so I can focus on effects.) It's a section of the trailer that has in-your-face dialogue which really must be lip synced, but I have nothing to sync it to (except for the last six words, which is lame). Argh...I really don't want to cut the segment. I still feel it doesn't perfectly fit the original trailer (thematically-speaking), but it really does serve to as a great place to catch one's breath before things avalanche towards the finale.
And they avalanche. Boy do they avalanche. I'm getting worried that I have to redo the first half of the video to give it some more pep. The original trailer for Knights of Badassdom is so divided between the first and second halves, though, that it may not matter.
Oh yeah, and the trailer is dead to me, now. I've passed that magical point where the audio you're using for an AMV - because you love it soooo much - has been gutted of everything you once enjoyed about it. :( -
Futurecasting
2011-09-26 21:49:46
Browsing through the forum this evening, poking around in some threads and things, I was reminded that I have to make an announcement poster for L.F.S. and a signature banner of some kind. The idea of having to do this is - strangely - rather wearying. Usually it's the part I look forward to the most and have grand plans laid up for well in advance. At the moment, I have no clue what to do for this video.
Some possibilities:
1. Faux IMDB or Rotten Tomatoes interface. Not too much work, but likely would produce a huge file inappropriate for a forum post.
2. Movie poster. Been there, done that...and this time I don't have any iconic imagery to rip off.
3. Optical illusion. Trickier, but doable. Not necessarily representative of my video, though.
4. Parody of "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus." Not sure how many people would actually "get" it, though. Really, it's rather lame. I believe going this route would instigate lots of views, though it probably also would backfire and give rise to all sorts of nasty comments along the lines of, "No, Drift, there is NOT a Santa Claus." People can be so cruel.
That's all I got right now. As mentioned, I find the idea of actually releasing this video quite wearying. It's a lot of work, and then I have to deal with encoding it for cons and I have not once managed to do that correctly, even though no one can figure out what I'm doing wrong. -
I apoogize for all the journal entries this weekend. I'm working really hard. Quite a change from when I'm posting in my journal to AVOID editing, eh?
2011-09-25 20:31:46
The Kingdom of L.F.S.
Pre-edit: 3 hours
Edit: 72 hours
The Good: I think I made a good one. :D
The Bad: From experience, I know that the nagging doubts and dislikes I have about my own videos are generally mirrored by the masses. I am my own worst critic, and while I will stubbornly defend my calculated editing choices, I also will often admit that my choices aren't necessarily the right ones. They just happened to be the ones I felt obliged to make. From this perspective, LF.S. is a mess, and I don't mind too much if other people call me on it. I know enough to know that this is not an AMV par excellance, it is not demonstrative of any skills except a good grasp of comedic timing and ability to ignore all common sense. It is a little disheartening to realize, which I've just realized, that I haven't done anything to demonstrate improvement with this AMV. :|
The Ugly: There's that aggravating "effort" column in the op rating system which, for the first time, I feel is really up in the air. I am not being lazy with this AMV, per se, when all is said and done I will have well over 100 hours invested in this project. Some people might find this a crazy amount of "effort," but I confess that I am not being as obsessive about agonizing over every single frame as I have in the past. On the one hand, it's a relief, on the other, I feel a bit lazy. "Meh, it's good enough" has crossed my mind more than once.
...Right before I go back and spend all day tweaking things. Like today. OK, FINE, I'm still putting in a lot of effort....yeesh. Maybe I'm just good enough now, that I don't HAVE to agonize over every frame, I can just pick the right ones. Hence my speedy workflow with this video!
BWAAHAHAHAHAAA!! Yeah right...
JOURNAL: DriftRoot (Lauren C.)
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