VAT at AWA inspired me! Feedback welcome on old vids '06-'08

[cyprianrc]

Not sure if this is the right section (delete if needed) but I didn't want to create another account on the main site and make an entry for each video. I started editing about 7-8 yrs ago and haven't done any projects in that haven't been for business or commercial purpose in a few years, but now that I outsource that stuff for my business and have more free time I want to get back to it. I've got a trilogy idea I want to start on before the end of the year. In the meantime here are some of my old vids in order of creation so you can see my progress. Any feedback is welcome. I just might enter one of the contests for next year, seeing AMV's playing on the big screen like that and the quality of the work really makes me want to get back to it. There were so many great pieces just from the few times I was in the VAT room/rooms. Some of the stuff people are doing from a technical standpoint with things like masking these days is crazy.

Also if you would like my feedback on any of your own projects feel free to ask.

These were all waaay back in 2006-2008 when I did my last one. All done with Sony Vegas (except for the "Don't Wake Me Up" concept vid which was done with an old software I used for my first few vids....ironically before I came to this forum in its early days and found Vegas was a better option, i think i started with Vegas 5 from there on)

Tenjo Tenge "Don't Wake Me Up" / AFI (Missing Frame)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNdtSwHhpn8

This was my first amv test, and actually the first thing I ever edited. Just a quick clip and some quick cuts to get the hang of editing in the software. I can't remember the name of it just remember that the scheme was darkish/green and the logo and like a red/yellow/blue icon or something in it. I want to say maybe it was an old version of pinnacle but I can't remember at all. Besides this vid I used that software to edit my first few movie music vids (won't post those since they aren't anime related) I think I just took a single episode, cut a handful of scenes and put them together into something. I don't recall having a real concept I was going with.


Cowboy Bebop "Come With Me" / Cat Power (Sea of Love Cover)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sefCSa1hhhU
http://vimeo.com/9678021 (High Quality)

My first real amv using Sony Vegas. I remember cutting scenes from a few different key episodes. I recall finding that clip of that bullet leaving the chamber from another unrelated episode was an annoying amount of time. Concept was mainly just following the story of Julia and Spike. I hate that wave video effect when I watch it now, but I remember loving it when I made it, being my first time in Vegas and playing with the various effects it had built in. I remember a lot of tweaking playback speed, and of course using the lens flare effect and old film effects. I remember rushing the end of it though (a problem with a lot of my video editing projects, as an artist I tend to key in on the specific ideas/scenes I want, work on those, and then towards the end I get tired of being so precise and relax more and let the endings just flow as long as I am satisfied myself with the finished work) Also first time using transitions from scene to scene (over did it, but until this vid all my videos were pretty much clean cuts for the most part)


Cowboy Bebop "Good Times" / Terry Reid (Fooling You)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wryfqn4Ts3M
http://vimeo.com/7852044 (High Quality)

Still one of my favs to this day, mainly because I love this song. First time I used Sony Vegas's reverse effect for the pan at 2:37 because I didn't want to cut from Jet back to Jet again. I think I made this video just because I wanted to use the saxophone and harmonica shots with this song. Concept was just an exercise in relaxation and peace. Little bit of melancholy and sadness at the end with everyone going their separate ways, after focusing on the good times they shared. Plus Cowboy Bebop and Jazz, perfect mix. I liked cutting back to the club scenes, just wish there had been more footage to use of them actually playing the instruments.


Ergo Proxy "I'll Be Waving" / Deftones (Xerces)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKRjz36jrS8
http://vimeo.com/7810283 (High Quality)

I love this vid because it was my first time really playing with color correction and getting a good representation of what was in my head out on video. Laziness on display at 3:05 with an extra frame. I could have gone back and fixed it, but decided to leave it. At this point I had rendered parts of that final sequence out so many different times in different formats because the timing in the preview was off whenever I rendered it and it came to a point where I was just satisfied enough with the piece as a whole and couldn't be bothered to render it one more time to fix that frame. The whole start of that sequence beginning at 2:58 to just about the end is my favorite part, but it was also the most frustrating do to the constant rendering to get the right timing. I remember needing to get that exploding head just perfect with that last crash as well as the few beats before it. Still not as perfect as I wanted or as perfect as it was in the Vegas preview screen but I settled for close enough. Concept was mainly about the two main characters (forget their names) and their friends being at odds with their relationship. Love, loss, afterlife, tragedy all around. Other technical info....first time I used the panning effect in Vegas to increase length of clip and add some needed movement to the scene at 3:10 and also first use of layering clips together at 0:16 (same clip zoomed in and opacity turned down, think I also tweaked the speed) I believe 2:29 was the original idea/scene in my head that pretty much spawned this whole video. For me this exercise was the perfect marriage of color correction and effects along with concept and song.


Ghost in the Shell "24 Rounds" / Mindless Self Indulgence (On It)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1ACb34x3Y4
http://vimeo.com/6820905 (High Quality)

The last AMV I did, and my fav so far when it comes to being a complete piece of art. Example of a beautiful unintentional editing mistake at 0:36. I was making copies of the one frame of her eyes being shut and placing them together to make the clip longer but accidentally included that one frame of movement. Played it back and it was so much better with the eye twitching before blinking open. There was a lot of use of still frames in this video to extend moments because slowing down the playback speed just wouldn't work to achieve what I was going for. This whole video was pretty much created just for the scene at 2:14 to 2:21. Once I had that in the bag I was pretty much done with the video, but still cared enough to finish it out decently. Out of all of my amv's this is the one I would enter in a contest.

Well thats it, feedback welcome, and when I finish my new one I'll def post it up in the right sections. If anyone wants my feedback on any of their vids just ask. The artist in me wants to revisit all of these vids sometime in the near future and make new versions of them, but then I start thinking of the time it will take and I'm not so sure. I still have all the original project files but I would have to fish out discs with the source files or in some cases download episodes again and I just can't picture myself doing that.