Hey everyone, I have just finished my newest video titled Trust In Me. It is X AMV set to the song Take My Hand by Dido. The URL for it is http://www.animemusicvideos.org/members ... hp?v=82692.
So if you have a chance go and check it out. Also comments good or bad would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
X - Take My Hand AMV
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dj_ultima_the_great
- Joined: Mon Dec 22, 2003 7:52 pm
- Status: Resident Videogame Editor
- Location: Wisconsin
Be patient, love. I was planning on posting; I just hadn't gotten around to watching your video yet.
Anyway, X is my second favorite anime, so you can bet that I was going to download this. I had some mixed thoughts, which I'll detail below. So...
Stuff I Liked
- song selection. The lyrics, in addition the overall "violin and techno" mood of the song, worked very well for the video. There were a few specific lyrics that just didn't match, but those were few and far between, so no real complaints from me there.
- the concept. It's nice to see an X video that isn't just random action for once. Also, though I despise Kakyou, it's cool to see someone actually incorporate his (and Hokuto's) story into a video. As for Subaru and Seishirou...I have to admit, they are my favorite anime characters ever, but I'm just getting sick of seeing videos for them. It's the same scenes over and over, and most of the videos suck anyway. Still, you did pretty well with them.
- DVD source footage. Thank Cod for no fansubs. ^_^
Stuff I Was Iffy About
- lyric sync. Sometimes, I felt as if the lyric sync was just too literal, especially at the beginning of the video. I could practically predict which scenes you would use, once I knew the pattern you adopted. However, there were some points that surprised me. You would sometimes match a vague lyric line in the song with a scene that I wouldn't have thought of. Specifically, I was thinking of the "catching the snow on your tongue" thing with Kotori. (Don't quote me to the line, by the way...)
- beat sync. I felt like you went more with the lyrical "beat" of the song, rather than the percussive beat of the music. As a result, this led to a choppy pattern in your video. Sometimes, the scenes switched relatively quickly, and sometimes I would sit through an extremely long one. I can definitely appreciate lyrical beat sync, but it should always be offset by the percussive beat in the music. I especially thought that you could have done more once the music broke into the "techno-esque" section after the intro.
- the song length. There are some people who are going to get on your case about this one. Personally, I don't mind long videos, so long as they are edited well. However, this video was iffy on it's editing, so I found myself getting bored as the timer ticked on.
Stuff I Didn't Like
- technical issues. Your video had a problem with the interlacing, and it distracted me from the work itself. This is something that you'll want to consult the guides on this site to figure out.
- lack of a coherent order. Your clip choice matched the lyrics fairly well, but they came from all over the series. Spoiler-ish:It is particularly important to pay attention to chronological order with a character like Kotori or Seishirou. You know what happens with both of them...so, you should make sure to stray away from "the scenes" until you plan to end that character's part in the video. I mean, when I see Kotori die, I don't expect to see her alive again with Kamui a minute later. It's the same idea with Seishirou. Or even Hokuto. /Spoiler So, long story short, if you're trying to tell a story about a particular character - or a group of them - try to keep it in chronological order as best as you can. It makes your video flow better and is less distracting to the viewer.
All in all, I hope some of this helps. I did enjoy your video, but it isn't one of my favorites. I think it's cool that you went for a different approach to the concept, and that will surely make your videos interesting in the future. Keep it up and great job!
As always, Farewell, Good Luck, and Happy AMV-ing!
- dj_ultima_the_great
PS: I don't usually complain about this, because there is generally little that the creator can do about it, but...a .wmv format makes things choppy. I'm not saying to scrap WMM as your editor. I just want to make you aware of that. Maybe the guides could help somehow? I don't know much about that myself, but it is worth looking into.
Anyway, X is my second favorite anime, so you can bet that I was going to download this. I had some mixed thoughts, which I'll detail below. So...
Stuff I Liked
- song selection. The lyrics, in addition the overall "violin and techno" mood of the song, worked very well for the video. There were a few specific lyrics that just didn't match, but those were few and far between, so no real complaints from me there.
- the concept. It's nice to see an X video that isn't just random action for once. Also, though I despise Kakyou, it's cool to see someone actually incorporate his (and Hokuto's) story into a video. As for Subaru and Seishirou...I have to admit, they are my favorite anime characters ever, but I'm just getting sick of seeing videos for them. It's the same scenes over and over, and most of the videos suck anyway. Still, you did pretty well with them.
- DVD source footage. Thank Cod for no fansubs. ^_^
Stuff I Was Iffy About
- lyric sync. Sometimes, I felt as if the lyric sync was just too literal, especially at the beginning of the video. I could practically predict which scenes you would use, once I knew the pattern you adopted. However, there were some points that surprised me. You would sometimes match a vague lyric line in the song with a scene that I wouldn't have thought of. Specifically, I was thinking of the "catching the snow on your tongue" thing with Kotori. (Don't quote me to the line, by the way...)
- beat sync. I felt like you went more with the lyrical "beat" of the song, rather than the percussive beat of the music. As a result, this led to a choppy pattern in your video. Sometimes, the scenes switched relatively quickly, and sometimes I would sit through an extremely long one. I can definitely appreciate lyrical beat sync, but it should always be offset by the percussive beat in the music. I especially thought that you could have done more once the music broke into the "techno-esque" section after the intro.
- the song length. There are some people who are going to get on your case about this one. Personally, I don't mind long videos, so long as they are edited well. However, this video was iffy on it's editing, so I found myself getting bored as the timer ticked on.
Stuff I Didn't Like
- technical issues. Your video had a problem with the interlacing, and it distracted me from the work itself. This is something that you'll want to consult the guides on this site to figure out.
- lack of a coherent order. Your clip choice matched the lyrics fairly well, but they came from all over the series. Spoiler-ish:It is particularly important to pay attention to chronological order with a character like Kotori or Seishirou. You know what happens with both of them...so, you should make sure to stray away from "the scenes" until you plan to end that character's part in the video. I mean, when I see Kotori die, I don't expect to see her alive again with Kamui a minute later. It's the same idea with Seishirou. Or even Hokuto. /Spoiler So, long story short, if you're trying to tell a story about a particular character - or a group of them - try to keep it in chronological order as best as you can. It makes your video flow better and is less distracting to the viewer.
All in all, I hope some of this helps. I did enjoy your video, but it isn't one of my favorites. I think it's cool that you went for a different approach to the concept, and that will surely make your videos interesting in the future. Keep it up and great job!
As always, Farewell, Good Luck, and Happy AMV-ing!
- dj_ultima_the_great
PS: I don't usually complain about this, because there is generally little that the creator can do about it, but...a .wmv format makes things choppy. I'm not saying to scrap WMM as your editor. I just want to make you aware of that. Maybe the guides could help somehow? I don't know much about that myself, but it is worth looking into.
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senshi_lainwen
- Joined: Fri Jan 02, 2004 11:06 am
- Location: Maryland
Thank you for taking the time to write some feedback, I really appreciate it. I'm happy to know that you did enjoy the video and it’s nice to know that you liked my concept, I really wanted to make an AMV using this song for a long time. 
Anyway, I thought your comments were really insightful. About the lyric sync being to literal sometimes, I agree, next time I’ll try to tone it down a bit, but I'm happy that you liked some of the vague lyric lines. ^_^ I also agree about the lack of coherent order in the video. Next time I make a video I'll try to put more thought into my choice of clips besides matching the lyrics. Also about the technical issues, I'm still learning (this was my first project I did by myself), but for my next video I will take your advice on consulting the guides before making a video.
Once again thank you for your comments, they were really helpful! ^_^
Anyway, I thought your comments were really insightful. About the lyric sync being to literal sometimes, I agree, next time I’ll try to tone it down a bit, but I'm happy that you liked some of the vague lyric lines. ^_^ I also agree about the lack of coherent order in the video. Next time I make a video I'll try to put more thought into my choice of clips besides matching the lyrics. Also about the technical issues, I'm still learning (this was my first project I did by myself), but for my next video I will take your advice on consulting the guides before making a video.
Once again thank you for your comments, they were really helpful! ^_^