AMV Salad 5: Happy Meal (Nekocon 14, here we come!)

[SammySamaProductions]

Mitsudomoe Hampster: Hmm... like it, but no sure if the mellow character works as well in that scenario. Still good though. Haven't seen the show, so it could be a good thing that it's that character?

I can look around and see if there is a "not so mellow" facial expression for her but that's pretty much what she looks like all the time...

*Slappy Squirrel Who: God damn, well done... okay, clip's phenominal up until around 18:12 then it becomes a victim of its footage limitations. I would recommend cutting it off somewhere around there at the height of one of the back and forths before she starts again, because everything fits Holo's movement's PERFECTLY until the point where Lawrence doesn't match Skippy getting annoyed at her not getting it. From that point on the clip is too long I think. Before that, epic.[/spoiler]

I can cut this one off early or check and see if there are other sections I can use. I was running out of solid lip syncing material to use for that scene. If I can't I'll send in a shorter version of the clip. I just didn't want to cut it too short because the longer it is the funnier IMO.
I will also search for subtle, epic explosion footage...and maybe I can get a obvious one done...I can do the sword in the stone idea if Deuce runs out of time, I've got a good clip of Arwen from Tears to Tiara plunging in his sword. But I will continue on my hunt for the subtle.

EDIT: Gael, is this any better or do you still recommend the previous clip cut idea?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTdEipnfP6M

[Gaelstrom]

I will also search for subtle, epic explosion footage...and maybe I can get a obvious one done...I can do the sword in the stone idea if Deuce runs out of time, I've got a good clip of Arwen from Tears to Tiara plunging in his sword. But I will continue on my hunt for the subtle.

Remember, it's not subtle explosion footage in and of itself... hehe, actually if you can manage a complete oxymoron like a 'subtle explosion,' I will bow to you ^^ But I keep trying to think of a good example. I know what I'm thinking of, but not a good example to describe it. And for some reason I am having trouble coming up with ideas myself. Basically keeping it subtle is just making sure nobody can see it coming. Using lines from another source than the anime works, which is why your "Ooooh, what does this button do" worked so wonderfully.

Considering how hated Excalibur was, today a friend was talking about Animaniacs. For some reason I could see Black Star as Yakko going "Good night everybodyyy!" *Sheath* *BOOOOOM!!*

I'm going to do a last ditch effort to find a really good scenario for an explosion so I can contribute as well, but I'm doing what I can to make a couple smaller clips work too. Sadly I think I'm burnt out this year, because ideas I think will work just aren't working right now for me. Probably a side effect of being out of work -_-

EDIT:

That Slappy Squirrel version is much better, but I think this makes the issue more clear. It's that the ending is kinda weak in the audio source. The joke built up and then just kind of fizzles, which is why it felt too long. You also end up using the same face for her a bit too much which lessens the momentum (It's so crazy how much energy comes from a clip when you change up the movements up isn't it?) so it's not really anything with your editing, it's that the source dragged it on a lot. If you had a sort of reaction shot of Holo looking at him like he's a friggan moron perhaps that could work, but I don't know. Is there another slappy line you can insert to finish it? Something sarcastic like "This kid is killin' me" or something?

[SammySamaProductions]

Is there another slappy line you can insert to finish it? Something sarcastic like "This kid is killin' me" or something?

hmmmm now there's a thought. Lemme go look.

Edit: Okay there maybe something here..but the music before the line may kill the effect...lemme play with it a minute and then I'll see what you think.

[SammySamaProductions]

it feels a bit too cut off/sudden to me, but there's really too much cheering before it...perhaps i can play around and get some of it to quiet down but I have no earthly idea how I'd go about doing it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1xB9GpatMM

[Gaelstrom]

it feels a bit too cut off/sudden to me, but there's really too much cheering before it...perhaps i can play around and get some of it to quiet down but I have no earthly idea how I'd go about doing it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1xB9GpatMM

Hmm... not a deal-breaker... you could make it a second longer and ramp up the cheer from the clip into her saying oh brother so it's not so abrupt after his final line so it sounds like she has a moment to take in the stupidity of it all. As it is now it's passable. If you can blend in the cheer, you could pull it off. See if you can find a shot of Holo in that episode with a face of complete "-_-" or something though. That'd be my only other suggestion, other than that, still great ^^ I'd recommend checking your sync again a bit though, Lawrence has a few extra flaps here and there. Holo has a few but not too bad. Oh, and I liked the other shot you chose of Lawrence in the previous version when he got more exasperated, try to work that one in here and there for a couple of his lines to mix it up a bit. It works for normal lines too.

[krvabo]

*Panther Chase: Perfect job matching the beats, but then you physically hurt me by cutting off the music ^^ It's hitting the beats so well now that I'm 100% into the clip, where did the ending go? You can't cut off such good music right during its rise ^^ Did you have trouble finding ending images? At this point, even if you did, stick with what you had, it was less jarring to at least let it finish that section of the music. Just toss in a third image if it exists between the crossing the river and the ferry image and do it along with the beat, that should work.

I found some other footage and I guess this works a bit better now. See below for the links.

My thoughts:


good morning usa: very nice
Dr Who: why wasnt this used as the first video as it's obviously the intro?
The sound on the squid girl clip is pretty bad, almost unhearable
Rickroll: lol
After the Jigglypuff one (04:30 - the violent girl, the guy that always dies) the video is really really bad (encode error?)
The punchline on the mcDonalds one (I see no hope) is pretty soft and might need a boost
All out of bubblegum might need a bit more lip sync
The slots clip with explosion: really unexpected, works well
Death note trollface: thanks for cutting the last music of (the excess )
The pokemon electric: works much better like this, great
lol @ the explosion 'do you know who you're dealing with', ren and stimpy?
I didn't really get the joke on the library one.. it's way way way too long imho and I really don't get the joke
Bonanza / Panther: I've made a new version, but did you take my LQ version or something? It looks very bad like this
Song on the radio looks pretty choppy, I dont remember it being this choppy?
lol @ unicorn explosion, good timing.
lol @ pinky and the brain in the bath
Dee Dee explosion was pretty nicely done



I agree that there are a lot of longer clips at the end, it might be better to put a few shorter between them. You might want to move the Sucky Sucky Five dollah to do so, because the one before that (the biting cat - azumanga) is pretty solid. So move the sucky sucky a bit forward. Other than that I'm pretty happy with the overall feel of this version, it feels pretty solid now.


Here is my updated Panther / Bonanza clip, it's roughly 3 - 3.5 seconds longer.

Low Quality: http://sketsi.com/amvs5/krvabo%20-%20Bo ... 2%20LQ.avi [9 MB]
Medium Quality: http://sketsi.com/amvs5/krvabo%20-%20Bo ... 2%20MQ.avi [38 MB]

I do have a High Quality one, but it's almost 90 MB and really doesnt add much
Please use the medium quality to add it to the salad. Do I need to send it via mail or will this suffice?

[Gaelstrom]

Here is my updated Panther / Bonanza clip, it's roughly 3 - 3.5 seconds longer.

Low Quality: http://sketsi.com/amvs5/krvabo%20-%20Bo ... 2%20LQ.avi [9 MB]
Medium Quality: http://sketsi.com/amvs5/krvabo%20-%20Bo ... 2%20MQ.avi [38 MB]

I do have a High Quality one, but it's almost 90 MB and really doesnt add much
Please use the medium quality to add it to the salad. Do I need to send it via mail or will this suffice?

Hmm, you're still using fades, Krvabo, I personally think it hurts the comedic nature of the ending. If I had to choose my favorites of ending cuts you could make from the ones you've shown in all versions, I would say start with her chasing them on the boat from this version, then cut to him wading the river with the panther, followed by them on the ferry looking into the distance. You could even get a fourth in there potentially, but that might be pushing it. And make sure you cut along with the trumpet stops, it'll keep up the strength. During the final trumpet calls starting at the 20 second mark, you would have five notes, cut, then the five really fast notes, cut, then finish off with the final image during the trumpet rise. If you feel you really have to use fades if you really want to insinuate time going by, make them very fast fades, but I honestly think you should stick with cuts. It's still a clip that warms my heart with a smile for reasons I don't even understand ^^

Also, do send Deuce your best quality version, always. Doesn't matter if it's big, because the quality will degenerate as it goes to DVD and as it's compressed for internet, always remember that.

[Kireblue]

Hey Deuce. You didn't throw in my "I am Greymon, hear me roar" video. Did you forget?

[Squancho]

Hey Deuce. You didn't throw in my "I am Greymon, hear me roar" video. Did you forget?

I've been trying to get it to work in Vegas but either the audio / video streams (or both) were absent.
I must either put the clip together myself with the file missing audio and other missing video or ask for an mpeg2 of the clip.

[Kireblue]

I can't believe that the avi that I sent you isn't working. Sorry about that.

Every time I render straight to mpeg2, the video quality gets ruined. In Vegas, am I supposed to render as "MainConcept MPEG-2", and then select "Default template"? Am I doing something wrong?

And in terms of my "Anime in the library" video, I agree that it needs to be before and after really short chips that have fast punch lines. And the way its placed now, its right before another Haruhi clip that also uses a concert scene (although, not the one that I used).