(although......it did help revive the thread)Anyway, I feel the same way that I felt about your first video. The scenes are too long and random. I feel like you could have pieced together a story in your Kingdom Hearts AMV, but you kept adding in scenes that had no connection to the scene before or after it. Also, the subttles should have been removed, and the video quality needed to be better.
I think that the main thing that your AMVs lack is sync. It seems like you're just placing scenes on your time line without any regards to the song. I think that you should read at least the sync section from this guide
full guide: http://www.animemusicvideos.org/forum/v ... =2&t=92942
sync section:
Spoiler :
Sync
I've mentioned different syncs a few times above, so let's go over what those types of sync are. One thing to keep in mind is that a good video will frequently use more than one style of sync. Changing the method of sync you're using is a good way to highlight different elements of the audio. For example, you may do lyric sync when there are lyrics and switch to beat sync for the instrumental parts of the song. This can also help prevent the sync from becoming too predictable. If a viewer can correctly predict what sync you'll use long before it happens then you may need to add variety.
Beat/Cut sync
This style of sync is where everything happens either on the beat or with prominent notes in the audio. It's probably the simplest type of sync to do since it requires little more than hearing a note and cutting there. Effects are often used to highlight the beat as well, with white flashes being a very common one. Beat sync is the easiest to overdo so try to use it with some moderation. A flash at the high point of the music can add excitement, but a flash on every single beat of the entire song is an annoyance. This is most suited to action or upbeat videos and if used in slower paced videos will often ruin the overall flow and mood of the video.
Internal sync
As with beat/cut the importance here is to sync to the beat or prominent notes in the audio. Instead of cutting at that point some action in the clip is timed to happen with them. For a simple example, an action video where punches are thrown on drum hits would be internal sync. One thing to note, since you're timing the sync to something happening in the scene, your actual cuts from one scene to another will not be on those highlights. It often helps to time the cuts themselves to the beat and the internal sync to highlight prominent notes. If the cuts are off beat, many people will get the overall feeling there's something wrong; although, few may be able to pinpoint what exactly gave them that feeling. Internal sync works well with all genres, although it's mostly used in slower paced videos. Fast paced videos typically focus more on beat sync although many do use internal sync.
Lyric sync
This one is fairly straightforward; you show a scene of what the lyrics are saying. If the lyrics mention the word rose, show a rose. The timing of the cuts is usually based on lyrics with each line being a single scene. One problem with this sort of sync is that many viewers don't actually listen to the words in a song and with many songs it's very hard to understand the lyrics while casually listening. So if you do lyric sync you may want to pick a song with clearly sung lyrics and stick to only syncing the most obvious lines. If the first time you heard the song you didn't understand the lyrics then chances are your audience won't either the first time they see your video. Another common mistake is to take lyric sync to far. For example, a video that is supposed to be a drama concerned with someone dying may show a party of entirely different characters just because the lyrics mentioned the word party. I would recommend that once you're done editing then mute your audio and watch the video. If a certain scene looks like it doesn't belong without the audio then chances are it really doesn't belong no matter how well it matches the lyrics. Be aware that most people process what they hear slightly slower than what they see. If you time it perfectly so that rose shows up just as the lyrics say rose it will actually appear to most viewers like you showed the rose too soon. I'd suggest either keeping the rose scene up for a few seconds so people can process it as matching the audio or intentionally mis-sync it so the rose appears a few frames after the word is said. This type of sync works for all genres although it's hard to do with action/upbeat since those usually use songs with difficult to hear lyrics. Finally, there is a potential language barrier to be aware of. Not all viewers will understand the language your lyrics are in.
Mood sync
This is where the emotions evoked when listening to the music is matched with an equally emotional choice of visuals. Another description of this would be 'flow'; where the clips used all feel like they belong together, none stand out as different from the others, and they match the overall tone of the audio. An example would be using a Celine Dion song using as many romantic scenes as you can find. Those scenes may not match what the actual lyrics are, but they would certain match the overall romantic quality of the song. Almost every video should have this, but usually it is a secondary type of sync and the viewers don't even notice it. Viewers will certainly notice if it isn't present though. Inserting a kissing scene in middle of an action video tends to draw attention. Some videos make this type of sync the primary focus, usually dramas and almost all sentimental videos.
If you are using multiple anime there are issues with mood sync that are commonly overlooked. In many cases, the art styles of anime are different enough that they can be jarring when used in the same video. Compare Death Note with Sailor Moon to see what I mean. There are several possible ways around this to help keep the flow and mood going. Depending on the series used, the main difference might just be the color palette. For example, one show may have dark and muted colors while the other has bright primary colors (again, compare Death Note to Sailor Moon). In those cases, simply adjusting the saturation, levels, or brightness may help to make the colors clash less and flow together better. An alternate method would to be use effects to hide the differences. If you add static to footage from both series, the eye will tend to view the footage as similar because the static serves to unify them. This isn't always the ideal solution, but it may be the only thing possible in some cases. A third possibility is to use the differences to your advantage. If you use only one series for the lyrics and the other series for the instrumental parts, then the differences actually help highlight the different parts of the music. These are only a few possibilities, but this issue is something to keep in mind when using multiple anime.
Lip Sync
This is where the character's mouth movements match the words being said so that it appears the characters themselves are singing the song. There are several frequent mistakes done with this that I'd like to cover.
There are several ways to do lip sync. The most common way is to find a scene where the character faces the screen, freeze that scene, and use masking to change the mouth position as needed. The problem with this is that there is almost no movement at all in the scene. If it's longer than a couple words it ends up looking entirely too static, and disrupts the flow of the video. Talking scenes are also usually visually boring, and the last thing you want your video to be is visually boring. I'd recommend keeping lip sync scenes short, usually no more than a few words at a time. It may help to add motion to the scene even if it's a simple zoom or pan, although that would still be visually boring it does help keep the flow of movement. Better still is if there is internal motion in the scene, such as the character's hair blowing in the wind or something happening behind the character.
Often editors try to match the lip movements exactly. Some go so far as to look in a mirror while saying the words to get the movements exactly correct. As odd as it may seem, getting this detailed with lipsync actually ends up looking wrong. The problem is that we work with animated footage where the original animation does not get the lip movements correct. If you match lip movements you'll find you're changing the lips on almost every frame, but if you look at the anime you'll notice it only changes mouth movements every two or three frames. By matching lip movements exactly the end result will look too fast. Also, to get lip movements matching correctly you would need four or five different mouth positions. Anime typically only has three; closed, half open, and fully open mouth. Lipsync looks natural if you make sure their mouth opens when the word starts, change between half open and open positions every two or three frames, and close the mouth when the word ends.
It seems that editors often use a lip sync scene because they can't think of anything else to do at that part of the song. This mistake is most commonly seen in comedy videos, so much so there's a running joke of 'lip sync is cruise control for comedy'. It shouldn't be, nor should it be your cruise control. Lip sync is not a way to fill the timeline when you have no better ideas. It requires far more thought to not have it destroy the flow. If you can't explain why a certain part deserves lip syncing, then you're probably best off not doing it.
Lip sync usually works best in comedy, especially if the character does not match the voice well (e.g., a chibi character with a deep man's voice). Trailers almost require extensive lipsyncing. For other genres, lip syncing frequently hurts the flow so much it detracts from the video, and a voice that doesn't fit the characters often adds unintended comedy.
I've mentioned different syncs a few times above, so let's go over what those types of sync are. One thing to keep in mind is that a good video will frequently use more than one style of sync. Changing the method of sync you're using is a good way to highlight different elements of the audio. For example, you may do lyric sync when there are lyrics and switch to beat sync for the instrumental parts of the song. This can also help prevent the sync from becoming too predictable. If a viewer can correctly predict what sync you'll use long before it happens then you may need to add variety.
Beat/Cut sync
This style of sync is where everything happens either on the beat or with prominent notes in the audio. It's probably the simplest type of sync to do since it requires little more than hearing a note and cutting there. Effects are often used to highlight the beat as well, with white flashes being a very common one. Beat sync is the easiest to overdo so try to use it with some moderation. A flash at the high point of the music can add excitement, but a flash on every single beat of the entire song is an annoyance. This is most suited to action or upbeat videos and if used in slower paced videos will often ruin the overall flow and mood of the video.
Internal sync
As with beat/cut the importance here is to sync to the beat or prominent notes in the audio. Instead of cutting at that point some action in the clip is timed to happen with them. For a simple example, an action video where punches are thrown on drum hits would be internal sync. One thing to note, since you're timing the sync to something happening in the scene, your actual cuts from one scene to another will not be on those highlights. It often helps to time the cuts themselves to the beat and the internal sync to highlight prominent notes. If the cuts are off beat, many people will get the overall feeling there's something wrong; although, few may be able to pinpoint what exactly gave them that feeling. Internal sync works well with all genres, although it's mostly used in slower paced videos. Fast paced videos typically focus more on beat sync although many do use internal sync.
Lyric sync
This one is fairly straightforward; you show a scene of what the lyrics are saying. If the lyrics mention the word rose, show a rose. The timing of the cuts is usually based on lyrics with each line being a single scene. One problem with this sort of sync is that many viewers don't actually listen to the words in a song and with many songs it's very hard to understand the lyrics while casually listening. So if you do lyric sync you may want to pick a song with clearly sung lyrics and stick to only syncing the most obvious lines. If the first time you heard the song you didn't understand the lyrics then chances are your audience won't either the first time they see your video. Another common mistake is to take lyric sync to far. For example, a video that is supposed to be a drama concerned with someone dying may show a party of entirely different characters just because the lyrics mentioned the word party. I would recommend that once you're done editing then mute your audio and watch the video. If a certain scene looks like it doesn't belong without the audio then chances are it really doesn't belong no matter how well it matches the lyrics. Be aware that most people process what they hear slightly slower than what they see. If you time it perfectly so that rose shows up just as the lyrics say rose it will actually appear to most viewers like you showed the rose too soon. I'd suggest either keeping the rose scene up for a few seconds so people can process it as matching the audio or intentionally mis-sync it so the rose appears a few frames after the word is said. This type of sync works for all genres although it's hard to do with action/upbeat since those usually use songs with difficult to hear lyrics. Finally, there is a potential language barrier to be aware of. Not all viewers will understand the language your lyrics are in.
Mood sync
This is where the emotions evoked when listening to the music is matched with an equally emotional choice of visuals. Another description of this would be 'flow'; where the clips used all feel like they belong together, none stand out as different from the others, and they match the overall tone of the audio. An example would be using a Celine Dion song using as many romantic scenes as you can find. Those scenes may not match what the actual lyrics are, but they would certain match the overall romantic quality of the song. Almost every video should have this, but usually it is a secondary type of sync and the viewers don't even notice it. Viewers will certainly notice if it isn't present though. Inserting a kissing scene in middle of an action video tends to draw attention. Some videos make this type of sync the primary focus, usually dramas and almost all sentimental videos.
If you are using multiple anime there are issues with mood sync that are commonly overlooked. In many cases, the art styles of anime are different enough that they can be jarring when used in the same video. Compare Death Note with Sailor Moon to see what I mean. There are several possible ways around this to help keep the flow and mood going. Depending on the series used, the main difference might just be the color palette. For example, one show may have dark and muted colors while the other has bright primary colors (again, compare Death Note to Sailor Moon). In those cases, simply adjusting the saturation, levels, or brightness may help to make the colors clash less and flow together better. An alternate method would to be use effects to hide the differences. If you add static to footage from both series, the eye will tend to view the footage as similar because the static serves to unify them. This isn't always the ideal solution, but it may be the only thing possible in some cases. A third possibility is to use the differences to your advantage. If you use only one series for the lyrics and the other series for the instrumental parts, then the differences actually help highlight the different parts of the music. These are only a few possibilities, but this issue is something to keep in mind when using multiple anime.
Lip Sync
This is where the character's mouth movements match the words being said so that it appears the characters themselves are singing the song. There are several frequent mistakes done with this that I'd like to cover.
There are several ways to do lip sync. The most common way is to find a scene where the character faces the screen, freeze that scene, and use masking to change the mouth position as needed. The problem with this is that there is almost no movement at all in the scene. If it's longer than a couple words it ends up looking entirely too static, and disrupts the flow of the video. Talking scenes are also usually visually boring, and the last thing you want your video to be is visually boring. I'd recommend keeping lip sync scenes short, usually no more than a few words at a time. It may help to add motion to the scene even if it's a simple zoom or pan, although that would still be visually boring it does help keep the flow of movement. Better still is if there is internal motion in the scene, such as the character's hair blowing in the wind or something happening behind the character.
Often editors try to match the lip movements exactly. Some go so far as to look in a mirror while saying the words to get the movements exactly correct. As odd as it may seem, getting this detailed with lipsync actually ends up looking wrong. The problem is that we work with animated footage where the original animation does not get the lip movements correct. If you match lip movements you'll find you're changing the lips on almost every frame, but if you look at the anime you'll notice it only changes mouth movements every two or three frames. By matching lip movements exactly the end result will look too fast. Also, to get lip movements matching correctly you would need four or five different mouth positions. Anime typically only has three; closed, half open, and fully open mouth. Lipsync looks natural if you make sure their mouth opens when the word starts, change between half open and open positions every two or three frames, and close the mouth when the word ends.
It seems that editors often use a lip sync scene because they can't think of anything else to do at that part of the song. This mistake is most commonly seen in comedy videos, so much so there's a running joke of 'lip sync is cruise control for comedy'. It shouldn't be, nor should it be your cruise control. Lip sync is not a way to fill the timeline when you have no better ideas. It requires far more thought to not have it destroy the flow. If you can't explain why a certain part deserves lip syncing, then you're probably best off not doing it.
Lip sync usually works best in comedy, especially if the character does not match the voice well (e.g., a chibi character with a deep man's voice). Trailers almost require extensive lipsyncing. For other genres, lip syncing frequently hurts the flow so much it detracts from the video, and a voice that doesn't fit the characters often adds unintended comedy.
