I am pleased to announce...

[hmpf]

... that we have a beta version:

http://www.allabouthmpf.com/ab17.wmv

(Yes, that '17' does indeed mean that this is version no. 17 of my vid.)

Comments, especially from more experienced vidders, are very welcome. Doesn't matter if you know the show or not - what I'm most interested in are comments about technical issues like timing and the many oddities of Windows Movie Maker, anyway. (And yes, I *am* going to use a different program for the next vid. WMM is too much of a pain in the eema to make more than one vid with, unless you have an insanely high tolerance for frustration.)

Notes:

- There's still odd little image hiccups in it which I can't seem to remove in Windows Movie Maker. Will have to try another program for that, just don't know what yet.

- Windows Movie Maker screwed up the timing ever so subtly during rendering, I think. Or maybe I'm just tired. Will have to look at it again tomorrow when I'm not so exhausted.

- A couple of clips still need replacing.

- At least half a dozen clips still need to be re-timed.

- There's silent speaking in a number of clips. In most cases this is due to there simply being *no* footage of the characters in question in a fitting situation that does *not* involve talking. (Considering that we only have something like five minutes of footage of Sam in 2006, and I had to find all my 'A' material in those five minutes, it's a miracle I found as many usable clips as I did.) In the cases where better clips can be found, the clips will be replaced.

- There's silent shouting, too. That is due to my needing shots of angry!Sam, and he does a lot of shouting when he's angry. Personally, I think those shots work pretty well, but if you think otherwise, do tell me. After all, this is still only a beta version.

- I still need to figure out how to save this in a format that will not appear squished. For now, please set your players to widescreen; that should fix the problem on your side, at least until I've found a way to fix it on my side.

- I misspelled my name nickname in the credits. How embarrassing. It's actually Hmpf MacSlow, with an 'a'.

- Yes, I am aware that some of the lyrics don't *really* fit. Still, the concept of the song was so nice for a Life On Mars vid that I couldn't resist.

***

Useless trivia: This vid contains 74 separate clips.

Comments

[aprivatefox.livejournal.com]

I don't know the source or the song - but I liked the vid. Without either piece of context, it's hard to figure out exactly what any of it -means-, but the emotions generally run right throughout, and nothing feels out of place video-wise. I'm impressed. =)

Hey, thanks! :-)

[hmpf.livejournal.com]

The source is a pretty cool, very recent British show called 'Life On Mars' about a police detective who is hit by a car and wakes up in 1973, 33 years in the past. An American remake is already being planned, but I'd recommend the original. ;-)

I used the 'A' lines of the lyrics for the guy's life in the present, and the 'B' lines as well as the chorus for his life in 1973. Oh, and for all the 'time slips away' lines I used scenes in which he is in some way being threatened by death. Hope that helps to clear things up a bit.

Oh, and...

[hmpf.livejournal.com]

he's actually in a coma, probably.

[steelvictory.livejournal.com]

Not knowning anything about the song, or the show, or vidding itself, the only thing I can really say is that I thought it was lovely.

So does he see dead people or what? And he seems to get guns pointed at his head an awful lot.

Nope, he's just a guy who's hit by a car and then...

[hmpf.livejournal.com]

wakes up 33 years in the past, not knowing whether he has travelled in time or is just having a particularly vivid dream while in a coma. I favour the latter explanation, and so does he. I used his present-day persona for the 'A' lines of the song and his 1973 persona for the 'B' lines and the rest of the song.

I think he gets guns pointed at his head such a lot because he's technically very close to death all the time. He also has more surreal near-death experiences, such as the one where he's visiting someone else in hospital in 1973 and suddenly all the lights go out, and then he hears voices and sounds that suggest that in 2006 his life support has accidentally been shut down. I used that scene in the vid, too. Oh, and the phonecall scene I used a lot of footage from is where he gets a 'call' from his mom who tells him that she has agreed to have him 'switched off', so that's a kind of death-threat scene, as well.

The guy who points a gun at him at/near the end of the vid, in the woods, is his dad, btw.

Re: Nope, he's just a guy who's hit by a car and then...

[jazzymegster.livejournal.com]

The guy who points a gun at him at/near the end of the vid, in the woods, is his dad, btw.

Shh! You're not s'posed to tell 'em that! ;)

If they watch the show...

[hmpf.livejournal.com]

and have seen the vid they'll recognise him now, anyway.

Re: If they watch the show...

[jazzymegster.livejournal.com]

Well, yeah, there is that...

[mmapmaker.livejournal.com]

Congratulations!

I've been following your posts on this, and it seems as if you were able to put this vid together fairly quickly -- amazing! Go you!

The total time I've worked on this so far...

[hmpf.livejournal.com]

is around forty hours, I'd say. I have no idea if that is a lot or not. *g*

[ralphwynn.livejournal.com]

cool song, cool vid *claps*

Thanks.

[hmpf.livejournal.com]

Still far from done, but I'm quite happy with the result already, too. But the next version will be better. *g*

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

Yay!

My thoughts on this are pretty much the same as my thoughts on the last one. I like it a lot, there are a bunch of really nicely timed moments, and the clips fit the music thematically very well even when the words aren't quite right (although I can't tell that well since I don't watch the show.)

Yeah, I can see the three moments you mention, but to be fair, you are using WMM. The image hiccups still look like you've accidentally got an extra clip in front which is, like, a frame or two long, and there's one ghost frame (irritating if you don't have enough clip to make do after cropping it and no real solution short of retiming or using another clip.)

All in all, a great video and I can see why it would make Ebru want to watch the show. It does to me, but that's mostly because of stuff I've seen of it *outside* your vid, and the fact that with all the Methos eps still to watch, and a video being made (currently half way through, 88 clips and counting, oy why am I doing lots of fast cuts?!) I'm extremely resistant to new fandoms. I'm already way behind on my writing - I don't need to exacerbate the problem!

Anyway, good luck eventually fixing the issues. In the meantime, rest assured, it's *good*. I enjoyed it.

In other news, Kev has an infected cut on his hand and might have to go to hospital (hopefully not) and can't stand up for too long in case he collapses due to low blood pressure and is on craploads of antibiotics that the doctor says will probably make him throw up. Which sucks, cos it's his birthday tomorrow. Fun!

TBRFKASK.

Technical stuff

[hmpf.livejournal.com]

>Yeah, I can see the three moments you mention, but to be fair, you are using WMM. The image hiccups still look like you've accidentally got an extra clip in front which is, like, a frame or two long,

Nope, that's definitely not the case. As I said, it's an error that is even replicated if I replace the clip - exactly the same error again at exactly the same point. It only happens in those three clips, and only after rendering. My project version in WMM does not have it.

>and there's one ghost frame (irritating if you don't have enough clip to make do after cropping it and no real solution short of retiming or using another clip.)

Where's the ghost frame? That one I'm not aware of. I removed all that I could see, but maybe that one was too fast for my eyes.


>(currently half way through, 88 clips and counting, oy why am I doing lots of fast cuts?!)

Only one answer: you must be a masochist! *g*

>I'm extremely resistant to new fandoms.

Oh, you can still get into it later. Season two only starts in 2007, anyway, so the later you get into it the better: less of a frustrating waiting period! ;-)

>I'm already way behind on my writing - I don't need to exacerbate the problem!

Yes! Write! Write!!

>In other news, Kev has an infected cut on his hand and might have to go to hospital (hopefully not) and can't stand up for too long in case he collapses due to low blood pressure and is on craploads of antibiotics that the doctor says will probably make him throw up. Which sucks, cos it's his birthday tomorrow. Fun!

Eeeek. Didn't he have something with his ear recently already? Or am I having an odd déjà vu here? Anyway, best wishes to him; I hope he gets well soon! Poor guy... and on his birthday, no less. Bad timing indeed.

Re: Technical stuff

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

Wow, sucks about the image stutter issue. I'm out of suggestions - doesn't happen with my version, I don't think... (I hope!)

Actually, on rewatching the vid a couple of times, I can no longer see the ghost frame either so I think it might have been a stutter with my player not the vid.

I don't remember Kev having anything wrong with his ear, maybe you're remembering when his knee got screwed up? Kev doesn't really do being sick by halves, and he has the constitution of a newborn kitten, and has a tendency to be allergic to whatever the doctor prescribes him first time round, (including penicillin and ciprofloxasomething which is another really common antibiotic. Discovering *that* was *really* fun!)

Anyway, we're spending his birthday camped out on the futon watching really bad daytime TV, and having Adrian entertain us by singing the Emmerdale theme song using broccolli as a visual aide. Which...probably makes no sense to anyone not raised in britain, and to a lot of people that were, but trust me, it's funny when you're cooped in the house and stir-crazy...

TBRFKASK

[chasarumba.livejournal.com]

When I saw your post at vidding, I had to come and find out more about your work-in-progress! I'm really impressed with what you've done with this so far...it's shaping up to be a very mature first video. The thing that strikes me most is that you have excellent instincts when it comes to using the motion already inherent in clips -- be it camera pans or action of actors/objects in the shot. This is something that I feel a lot of vidders don't fully exploit...it's already there, so make the most of it (the vid I'm working on now is largely a big motion whoring experiment, so I've been like a kid in a candy store playing with it)! You're doing that with great attention to the music.

I see you've already chosen to upgrade editing software, and I hope that eliminates a lot of the headaches you've had with WMM. Even an older version of Premiere (which I'm guessing is what you're using) will offer you much greater control when it comes to cutting and placing clips.

Re talking/shouting shots -- as far as I'm concerned, you can't avoid them all, and further, there ARE times when you will appropriately, intentionally use them. I agree with how you've used them here...the shouting clips work for me. I dunno...maybe some go the "never ever" route, but not me. The biggest problems with talking clips are when you have the repeated use of dialogue close-ups (tight, close head shots with no action or movement to distract from the very obvious talking head).

And to encourage you further, I had heard about Life On Mars, but sort of forgotten that I wanted to procure it...until I watched your draft, which re-focused my attention ;) Off to give it a whirl now...

OH! Time spent on vids. I am not the right person to be saying what's "normal," but it seems that (looking at your past posts) this has come together pretty darn quickly! This from the slowest of the slow.

This comment made my day...

[hmpf.livejournal.com]

but I'm too tired for a detailed reply now. Tomorrow... ;-)

Belated reply ;-)

[hmpf.livejournal.com]

>I'm really impressed with what you've done with this so far...it's shaping up to be a very mature first video.

Thanks! I'm really impressed that I managed to impress you! ;-) You're one of the vidders at whose altar I worship every night my vidding heroes. ;-) Just had another look at 'Time Ends', and now that I know a little bit more about editing I can really see every hour that went into that. It's amazing. So are your other vids. Which reminds me that I still have the two most recent ones sitting unwatched on my disk, somewhere in the black hole that is my 7.43 GB 'unwatched Farscape fanvids' folder. I think I downloaded them and then got distracted by some shiny new obsession... need to watch them now! (As well as the rest of those 7.43 GB. Eeeeek! How much disk space that could free up! But then, of course, I would have to hunt down the next batch - as my latest ones are from November 2005 or so, there's bound to be hundreds of new ones again... *is an insane Farscape fanvid completist*)

>The thing that strikes me most is that you have excellent instincts when it comes to using the motion already inherent in clips -- be it camera pans or action of actors/objects in the shot. This is something that I feel a lot of vidders don't fully exploit...it's already there, so make the most of it (the vid I'm working on now is largely a big motion whoring experiment, so I've been like a kid in a candy store playing with it)! You're doing that with great attention to the music.

I'm really glad you noticed that, as that is the main thing I tried to do with this vid. It's not so much instinct as conscious deliberation, really - I've been an avid watcher of fanvids for a long time, and after a couple of years (sometime in 2002, I think?) I began to analyse why I liked some vids, and some moments in those vids, better than others. And well-used internal motion was one of the main 'wow' factors I noticed. I agree that it's often underused, and IMO it's one of the most effective 'tricks' you have as a vidder. Rhythm and motion simply *belong* together.

I'm really looking forward to seeing your 'big motion whoring experiment'! *g*

>I see you've already chosen to upgrade editing software, and I hope that eliminates a lot of the headaches you've had with WMM.

So far it mostly looks as if I've replaced one set of headaches with another. ;-) But I won't give up so easily.

>I agree with how you've used them here...the shouting clips work for me.

Thanks. Hmm... I think there are only two clips that bother me: the one I cut to the 'Hotel California' line, and the one where he's talking a bit on the phone. I'll have to rewatch the ep the 'Hotel California' clip is from again, I guess. *Maybe* there's a clip of Sam and his mum that does *not* involve either of them talking.

>And to encourage you further, I had heard about Life On Mars, but sort of forgotten that I wanted to procure it...until I watched your draft, which re-focused my attention ;) Off to give it a whirl now...

You do that! It's a great show, and in some ways very compatible with the interests of Farscape fans, I think. It certainly has the culture shock down!

>OH! Time spent on vids. I am not the right person to be saying what's "normal," but it seems that (looking at your past posts) this has come together pretty darn quickly! This from the slowest of the slow.

Yeah, well, it was only 74 clips and no effects except for a couple of fades. I can see that your vids are vastly more complex than that, so I would expect them to take longer... :-)

Re: Belated reply ;-)

[chasarumba.livejournal.com]

Going to make this a comment thread that never ends...

I'm really glad you noticed that, as that is the main thing I tried to do with this vid. It's not so much instinct as conscious deliberation, really - I've been an avid watcher of fanvids for a long time, and after a couple of years (sometime in 2002, I think?) I began to analyse why I liked some vids, and some moments in those vids, better than others. And well-used internal motion was one of the main 'wow' factors I noticed. I agree that it's often underused, and IMO it's one of the most effective 'tricks' you have as a vidder. Rhythm and motion simply *belong* together.

It's choreography, in a sense. And I think motion can give a vid the kind of impact you feel in your gut...not that it isn't also cool to have moments with layers of meaning that the brain has to decode a bit before discovering how deep or clever the clip selection is, but I like mixing that with stuff where the response is more primal and immediate.

And I remembered one suggestion I had -- between the verses, at around 2:37, there's a bit of driving percussion that bridges the gap and also increases the tension into the next verse. You've got a fade between two clips there, and that seemed incongruous to me with what was going on in the music, like I wanted to see some kind of hard accent/s. Maybe a series of very quick cuts on beat or a white flash (I know, you're just getting started with Premiere, and here I am suggesting something effect-y :)).

Which reminds me that I still have the two most recent ones sitting unwatched on my disk, somewhere in the black hole that is my 7.43 GB 'unwatched Farscape fanvids' folder. I think I downloaded them and then got distracted by some shiny new obsession... need to watch them now!

Bad acolyte! *hee* I'm kidding, of course, but I'd love to hear when you think of them when you do eventually get a chance to watch.

One more ep of LoM to go...

Re: Belated reply ;-)

[hmpf.livejournal.com]

>Going to make this a comment thread that never ends...

Oh, I don't mind! There isn't that much traffic in my LJ, after all! ;-)

>It's choreography, in a sense.

It is, yes, I've often related it to dance when trying to explain to people what appealed to me about it. It speaks to the same part of the mind, I think.

>And I think motion can give a vid the kind of impact you feel in your gut...

Yes, that's it exactly.

>not that it isn't also cool to have moments with layers of meaning that the brain has to decode a bit before discovering how deep or clever the clip selection is, but I like mixing that with stuff where the response is more primal and immediate.

Ideally, sometimes you find clips that do both.

>And I remembered one suggestion I had -- between the verses, at around 2:37, there's a bit of driving percussion that bridges the gap and also increases the tension into the next verse. You've got a fade between two clips there, and that seemed incongruous to me with what was going on in the music, like I wanted to see some kind of hard accent/s. Maybe a series of very quick cuts on beat or a white flash (I know, you're just getting started with Premiere, and here I am suggesting something effect-y :)).

Eeeeeek! *is scared*

;-) Yeah, that bit actually has been bothering me a bit - the fade was just the only thing I could think of doing about it in WMM. I will see what I can do with it in Premiere. Though I'm not sure about quick cuts in that place - if I remember correctly, I was quite happy with the 'narrative' there, and couldn't think of anything to add, really.

>Bad acolyte! *hee*

*is chastised*

>I'm kidding, of course, but I'd love to hear when you think of them when you do eventually get a chance to watch.

I'll be sure to let you know. Couldn't get around to it today as I was busy with boring Real Life stuff, mostly. (Shopping, doing the dishes, and similarly exciting exploits.)

>One more ep of LoM to go...

DL'ing or watching?

[jazzymegster.livejournal.com]

I thought it was still cool, even with the hiccups, and I am AMAZED and impressed muchly by it (also, I really liked the song - could you please send me it? *flutters eyelashes*)

:)

[jazzymegster.livejournal.com]

Scratch that comment about sending me the song. Someone on my flist posted it, so I downloaded it. :)

Wow! Weird coincidence!

[hmpf.livejournal.com]

The whole album's great, btw.

Re: Wow! Weird coincidence!

[jazzymegster.livejournal.com]

I know! That was SO bizarre. What's the name of the album?

It's self-titled.

[hmpf.livejournal.com]

I.e. it's titled 'Tom McRae'. It was his debut, I think. I don't know the other albums yet, but I need to get them, one of these days.

I was introduced to Tom McRae via LithiumDoll's Farscape vid to exactly the same song that I just vidded, btw, several years ago. You can still find it at Dallascaper's. There's a brilliant vid by Fialka to his song 'You Cut Her Hair', as well.

Re: It's self-titled.

[jazzymegster.livejournal.com]

Cool stuff! I shall indeed check all recced things out (oddly enough, I was thinking about nabbing some FS music vids from Dallascaper's site when abusing my dad's broadband. Mwahahaha!)

:)

[fenlings]

I recommend that you Disable the Divx watermark.

I think that when the music changes at 0:25 you need to change something visually. This is a whole different section musically, and staying on the blue sky feels like we're being left behind. Even zooming in or out would work.

I adore the lights/door thing from 0:55.

At 1:21, you need to either take out the first clip of the naked girl or stay on it longer.

At 3:06 I feel that "Let's roll the dice just one more time" stays a little too long on that shot of the guy reaching for the gun.

I don't know the context, but 3:22 doesn't seem like a very "Don't wanna die" shot to me. I've never seen the show though!

Anyway, these are just my impressions. I really really like this vid. I am very impressed. It's got strong narrative coherency and good use of external movement. I hope you fix those stutters, and I can't wait to see the finished product. It's already better than the vast majority of stuff out there.

Thanks!

[hmpf.livejournal.com]

RE: DivX watermark: It's in my source material. Is it possible to remove it anyway? The DVDs aren't out yet, so ripping the material from DVD and encoding it myself isn't an option. Oh, wait...

*goes off to look at re-encoded clips*

Okay, it's not in the re-encoded clips I'm using for the final version, so never mind. :-)

Re: bit of sky (heh... that sounds... almost poetic. *g*) Yeah, I noticed that it's too long, too - the problem is, the instrumental bridge at that point is too long for such a quiet clip, but on the other hand, I really like the narrative aspect of Sam falling down to look up at the sky and then starting to laugh at that point... so I'm not sure there's anything I can do here. I could try to put the titles there, perhaps - overlay them over the sky shot. Will try.

Re: naked girl. Hmm. I don't see anything wrong with that bit at the moment, but then, I'm re-editing the entire vid with re-encoded clips now, anyway, so we'll see if I end up with the same or something slightly different this time.

Re: "let's roll the dice..." - works for me (and, I hope, for people who know the show) because that moment is the emotional climax of the entire show. It seems right to dwell on it just a little longer. Will keep your comments in mind when re-editing, though.

Re: "Don't wanna die" - that's right, you don't know the context. ;-) (Sorry, channeling Methos-meeting-fake!Methos there for a moment. *g*) The context of that bit is that the protagonist has just survived a situation where he could have been shot, and at the same time failed to emerge from another, on-going situation that could kill him, so he's both been spared, for the moment, and still is in continuing danger of losing his life. Hence that is a fitting clip for that line, at least IMO.

Oh, and he's just...

[hmpf.livejournal.com]

expressed his despair and trapped-ness by crouching on the forest ground, angsting. ;-) That's what he's getting up from at that moment.

[fahrbotdrusilla]

heh, I like this, I probably couldn't give you any extra feedback then most that have already posted here. BUT! I just wanted to let you know (which is silly, you don't know me, I don‘t think) Your post on vidding a bit back was one of the reasons I watched Life on Mars in the first place! (The whole “How could this show be vidded with A & B Song,” which I love). I ADORE the show, so thank you. :)

I can't wait to see the final version.

I still have no LoM icons