storyboarding and other ways to plan an AMV

DDramone · Post by **DDramone** » Sun Mar 27, 2005 4:27 pm

hey guys, i heard that some folks like to storyboard their AMVs before they make em. how do you structure that kind of thing, espesually with fast songs that ou might plan on doing alot of fast cuts? is there such thing as overplanning? how much of an AMV should you just play by ear?

been saving that question for a while now. no internet at home so i have to make due with using in when i can.

Kalium · Post by **Kalium** » Sun Mar 27, 2005 4:31 pm

I would say there is such a thing as overplanning. You need to allow for the video to change as you edit it. As for the actual planning, I usually figure out the song structure and have a good idea of what I want to see where. From there, I let things fall as they may... although that may not always work well.

FurryCurry · Post by **FurryCurry** » Sun Mar 27, 2005 4:34 pm

I like to type out (usually, just find on the internet) the lyrics to the song I want to use, and make notations about the basic structure of what scenes I want to use, then maybe sit with that sheet and a spiral notebook and make some notes about where the clips I want to use are in my source footage.

How much of this you do is sort of a matter of personal taste, I like to at least get a rough outline of what I want to put where, then manage the details as I edit.

Sometimes just listening to the song over and over while imagining the footage is mostly enough.

silver_moon · Post by **silver_moon** » Sun Mar 27, 2005 4:38 pm

I never do any kind of storyboarding when I plan... I just listen to the song over and over and visualize scenes that I remember from the anime and visualize certain effects or cuts at certain parts as I listen to the music. I build up ideas this way until I have a solid plan in my mind of what I want my video to look like. But people do think differently, and some people might not be able to plan their videos this way as easily if they have a bad memory and have a hard time remembering what scenes existed in the anime. In that case, storyboarding might be a good idea.

Arigatomina · Post by **Arigatomina** » Sun Mar 27, 2005 4:41 pm

If the song has lyrics I plan to use to tell the story, then I take a copy of the lyrics and break them according to pauses (in the singing) and/or stanzas. I match scenes to the lyrics first. I usually have one clip for every word (or every two words), that way when I get to the actual editing I can break the clips with the music and still have the scenes themselves match the lyrics. For chorus/musical sections I go according to the prominent beats - writing down the type of scenes I want, if not the exact scenes (I leave a little freedom for the music sections, so I get more clips than I'll actually use).

For songs where I'm ignoring the lyrics, or where the beat is repetitious and there honestly isn't a point or story, I'll just rip favorite scenes and put in whatever I feel like on the spot. If there's no story or outline, I don't plan it.

For songs with interesting musical patterns, I'll break down the sections according to repeated beats (usually 6 to 8) and highlight special instruments (I really like flutes, violins, high pitches). I'll match themes to the different sections depending on how I want the video laid out. I only name the actual clips if I'm using more than 20 anime - in which case I want to know exactly what will be used before I start ripping (I usually have 10 to 20gigs for footage, so if I use 50some sources, including anime with 20+ episodes, I have to conserve space, it helps that I memorize my favorite anime, so getting choice scenes is pretty easy).

It just depends on what I'm using. If I'm making a vid with a short anime or a movie, I may not plan it at all. Chances are there isn't much to choose from, so I can rip the entire source and make it on the spot. I still plan out lyric-based vids before I start editing, though. That's just a given for me - story = planning.

OmniStrata · Post by **OmniStrata** » Sun Mar 27, 2005 4:45 pm

I just place random scenes in time with the music!

j/k

As far as planning goes, I used to use timeline markers to divide the song up into it's proper sections, very very VERY good for setting up. Why don't I use them anymore? erh... Don't know, I think my vids just make themselves these days, just gotta move mah mouse around.

megaman917 · Post by **megaman917** » Sun Mar 27, 2005 4:58 pm

silver_moon wrote:I never do any kind of storyboarding when I plan... I just listen to the song over and over and visualize scenes that I remember from the anime and visualize certain effects or cuts at certain parts as I listen to the music. I build up ideas this way until I have a solid plan in my mind of what I want my video to look like. But people do think differently, and some people might not be able to plan their videos this way as easily if they have a bad memory and have a hard time remembering what scenes existed in the anime. In that case, storyboarding might be a good idea.

x2
What she said

DDramone · Post by **DDramone** » Sun Mar 27, 2005 5:04 pm

thanks for the quick replys. im getting the sense that sometimes a big factor on planning is how the song is structured, also how people orgonize their own thoughts. i think ill have to try out storyboarding for myself to see if it works for me. think thats about right?

i always thought i'd just listen to the song over and over again, but say i wanna do a vid to a song i really like. i dont wanna kill the song for myself

also, although this might be a different question for a different thread, how do you determine if your going to stick to the lyrics or not? i hear alot of emphasis on lyrics, but only if they have a plot to them or a story. say i choose a song that just spits out anarchist dogma without much plot, then i can keep a loose interpretation on them, right?

Arigatomina · Post by **Arigatomina** » Sun Mar 27, 2005 5:41 pm

/To Lyric-sync or not to lyric-sync

I've seen some good videos that completely ignore the lyrics. As far as meaning and words, the lyrics might as well not be there. They don't even match the singing (a part of the music 'sound' if you pretend it's not words with meaning). They simply match the music itself, interpreting some sort of 'feeling' from the beats and instruments (not including vocal - that's not an instrument for these vids). How they manage this, I'm not sure. But I've seen them. Usually they're dance vids or action vids, where all that matters is the rhythm of the beats and the editing style, maybe the footage if the scenes have some special meaning.

Me, if the lyrics tell a story I feel like I'm ignoring the main point of the song if I ignore the words. I'd sooner get an instrumental song. If the lyrics are repeated, with just a general theme, then they merge into the music so they're just another 'instrument' to me. In which case they're good for mood (the tone of the singer, emphasizing certain parts, belting out other parts). Then I don't worry about the meaning of each word so much as the emotion in the singer's voice.

Either way, if there are lyrics I treat them as words or as another musical instrument. I don't think instruments demand any special meaning for the scenes matched to them. Words have meaning if you speak the language (or can look up the translation). I'd have trouble putting an upbeat romance vid to some angsty rap lyrics. I'm just not good at ignoring the main point of a song with story-style lyrics - the messege.

Tono_Fyr · Post by **Tono_Fyr** » Sun Mar 27, 2005 7:28 pm

Eh, I'm having a similar problem. On my next big video, I have a very clear and concise point I want to make, but I have a tendancy of overdoing my cuts and synchs, and also invisioning scenes that weren't in the anime as I listen to the song. This is giving me some real trouble. Also, with the opening, there's no lyrics, so I'm just trying like hell to mood and beat synch at the same time, and I'm already starting to run out of footage. It's quite a problem.

I can't story board, because I don't really have any way to look at the wave forms of the music while I'm just sitting in class doing nothing. I'm just wondering if anyone has any advice on how to do this exactly. Bum has already advised breaking the song into parts, then editing these parts separately. This works just fine for the lyrical points, but the nonlyrical points require direct editing, so I'm officially screwed over in that section.

I would really appreciate any advice.