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"and I will sing a lullaby"
2002-09-07 05:46:53
Hsien Lee.... we've missed you.
Lots.
This journal entry is about the first of Hsien's new videos, Self-Titled, which is magic. Really magic. I love it.
I'm very glad to see you get back into amv making, and it's great to see that you haven't lost your touch. It's simple and effective with some really really nice touches here and there. I used to say that good songs don't necessarily make good videos and I still think that's true... but, damn, great songs make great videos when done well.
I'm glad you did The End as well :)
I think this reconfirms my belief that what makes a good video comes from the creator, not from the sum of the video's parts. It's "je ne sais quoi" and a talent that some people have and some people don't. Watching the Pro contest it was so easy to see videos that had this elusive but important element. Unfortunately I also think that it means that some people who try very hard to make good videos will never quite get there unless they understand this kind of essence that exists in good videos.
If there is one thing I can pinpoint about the skill of a good amv creator, it's the ability to understand music. I don't mean understand it in terms of "This is a 3/4 rythmn in D minor". Nor do I mean to just like it, or appreciate the lyrics, but to really be able to feel the song - every beat every melody - and to understand why it's good. When you've captured that then you can make wonderful amvs from any wonderful song, I think, and I've seen some great drama and sentimental videos recently that proove that this is true. I've also seen many that fail for the very same reason.
So, my advice to all would-be anime music video creators is this: Get down to your local music library and rent out some CDs. Anything. Just listen to lots of music, it's much more important than the anime and it *will* make you a better amv creator. If you can understand a song then it makes putting a video to it so much easier.
P.S. Hsien, if you release Self-titled on the Tuesday after AWA (October 1st) it will be exactly 33 years since the album was released :) -
"why I'm here I can't quitea remeeeeember"
2002-09-03 13:41:06
GnR headlined the Leeds festival a week or so ago:
http://www.leedsfestival.com/pages/index.asp
It was a pretty good lineup this year but the organisers had been clever - in previous years they grouped certain genres together but this year they've spread everything out over the 3 days so people are more tempted to get the weekend pass.
Damn, I wish I'd had the money - if only to get the chance to see Jane's Addiction. -
2002-09-03 11:51:37
grayplague:
this is why I've been telling everyone about XviD for months and am currently writing a guide on the best ways to encode with it.
If you want it to be Divx 4 and 5 compatible do this:
FourCC DIVX
Use h.263 quanitser (best for anime as well)
No lumi masking
No MV
then it will work on both the divx 4 and divx 5 playback filters. Also, it will work on Mac OS9 QT6 if the mac user downloads the divx validator from divx.com -
"save me, save me SAAAAAAAAVE ME"
2002-09-02 17:46:55
For those who are interested, v1.1 of the premiere plugin is available which has numerous bugfixes including some Premiere 5 support.
Also, if you got v1 of the pack, get v1.1 because it has an important decomb update as well as teh newer plugin version. -
2002-08-30 03:09:06
Beowulf: Picasso :)
Yeah, the reason SRV is in Expo is because
a) It can't go in masters
b) Pro is blind judging and I thought that entering a well-known video would go against the ethos of the competition, so to speak. Although, that hasn't stopped everyone else. I do have a video in Pro so it's going to be interesting how well it's received with it being a blind entry.
c) I would just like to see SRV on the big screen :) I hope I get the chance.
JOURNAL: AbsoluteDestiny (Ian Roberts)
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