I am pleased to announce...
Apr. 21st, 2006 12:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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 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.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Belated reply ;-)
Date: 2006-04-24 05:48 pm (UTC)Thanks! I'm really impressed that I managed to impress you! ;-) You're one of
the vidders at whose altar I worship every nightmy 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 ;-)
Date: 2006-04-27 04:46 pm (UTC)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 ;-)
Date: 2006-04-27 11:33 pm (UTC)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?