Entry tags:
I am pleased to announce...
... 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 myname 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.
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
- 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.
no subject
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!
*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...