I may be putting this in the wrong fourm topic area but...

[AlexanderVonCross]

Ok, please do forgive me if this has been covered in a seperate section. I am a very first time maker, so far I have gotten as far as putting my footage into virtualdubmod, now, I am very confussed on how to make the clips, and the right way to save and import them into windows movie maker 2(thats all i got for now), then after that i have no idea how to edit in the music. I am pretty much in the dark as to what to do next. I can kind of figure out some of the buttons on the dubmod, but after that, yeah lost. If anyone can help me without making it too hard to understand I would appreciate it greatly, oh and I have tried the help guides, but thoes too kind of have me at a loss. Please help me... thank you

[Kariudo]

This should help you make clips

open the video file in virtualdub mod go to video->compression->Huffyuv
then go to file->save

Ways of saving file space

use those buttons to mark the beginning and the end of the "clips" you want to use so you can save file space.

also go to streams->streams list->disable stream to disable the audio and save even more file space.

use the left and right arrow keys to move forward/backward respectively
alt+arrow keys jumps by 50 frames
ctrl+g lets you specify a specific frame/timestamp that you want to go to

You'll want to use Huffyuv to compress your clips (WMM and Lagarith aren't exactly the best of friends) because Huffyuv is a lossless codec (no quality loss when you encode).
Huffyuv will make big files, but it's all in the name of quality...you'll work on bringing the size of your amv down after you're done editing.

The clips you make should import just fine into WMM, no special method required

There is no "correct" way to edit, and part of the fun is in defining your own style...but there are a few common practices.

-Sync to the beats of the music (cuts, actions like someone swinging a sword, etc...).
Doesn't have to always be the beat, but syncing to the beats is a good place to start
-Characters' mouths shouldn't move unless you want to have them lip sync
-Try to tell a story

Watching other amvs may also help you. Find one you like, watch it a few times and write down specifics about what made you like the video (stuff like the clips were dark, and then when the song picked up at x minutes, y seconds it turned bright)
If you lurk around AMV Anouncements you'll probably run into some good vids

[AlexanderVonCross]

thank you so very much. one other question, if the footage has opening credits, is there a way to edit them out?

[Kariudo]

You can just avoid making clips using the OP sequence in vdub/mod.
If you're talking about editing the credits out (just leaving the video) there's usually a clean OP as one of the DVD extras

[AlexanderVonCross]

ive got all of my clips, now i have no idea how to add in the audio to WMM2 and i have a feeling this amv is not going to be good. also im not sure id the song is going to work with the clips. at best this is going to be random until i can really figure this out, you know? and again, ty for the help.

[Kariudo]

Import your audio into your collection just like it was a clip, then drag the audio onto the timeline (press ctrl+t if you are in storyboard mode)

If you'd like help in terms of how your video is going, feel free to contact me on AIM (Kariudo Sanjuro). You can upload your betas to someplace like sendspace so you can easily give your betas to others

[AlexanderVonCross]

ok, i will do that. im crimsonsknights on aim.