AMV Salad 3: next stop - NekoCon 12...

[Squancho]

I'm still working out issues with these clips so fear not.

The "match.com" and "Now 63" were made with WMM2, meaning WMV files.

Given the inconsistency of the visual quality, I'm going to tighten the tech standards to include uniform file formats and possibly the same for codec set. In other words, I'll accept nothing but AVI encoded through Lagarith or HuffYUV or mpeg2; NO INTERLACING!

Seriously, it's inconsistency that weighs down a project like this. It's no one's fault that we all can't work with the same editing programs but there are other things that can be done to make sure higher quality standards are met and consistency among the clips is maintained...

[krvabo]

I personally wouldnt use something like HuffYUV.
Granted, it's a terrific format for editing, but the file size is ridiculous considering we have to upload it too.
Even with uncompressed video you can get sucky artifacts.. or bad source.. or w/e

The standards are a very good idea however

[Gaelstrom]

The "match.com" and "Now 63" were made with WMM2, meaning WMV files.

Does WMM ONLY allow WMV? It would make sense in a corporate monopoly kinda way, but not in a 'this program doesn't suck' kinda way.

BTW, I understand the DV files I sent got pretty big, but from what I see in the final render they seem to have maintained the quality I'd hoped they did even on megavideo. Would those still be allowed? They rar up very nicely so they shouldn't be horrible, and for whatever reason I still can't figure out why the other renders crashed my program. As it is, I'd seriously consider removing the Now 63 one if you can't get ahold of Dezbo21 and get it fixed up. If it can be rendered uncompressed or something, maybe one of us can have it sent to us via a chat program overnight if it's hueg like XBOX (prolly 4 gigs -_-) and see if we can't give it a once-over with Premiere or After Effects or something to see if it renders better. You mentioned the creator was hard to get ahold of, but we should definitely try.

The Match.com one we can fix pretty easily I think if Dezbo21 can't be reached. If you want, you can send me the file and I'll frame-by-frame the dance to make it loop correctly if Vegas has trouble doing that. It won't take more than a few minutes hopefully. ...I could lip-sync quickly too if you'd like ^^ ...Friggan Editor's High... *inhales the smell of the Premiere box* Oooooh yeaaaaahhhh, that's the stuff....

[InspZenigata]

Seriously, it's inconsistency that weighs down a project like this. It's no one's fault that we all can't work with the same editing programs but there are other things that can be done to make sure higher quality standards are met and consistency among the clips is maintained...

I feel part of that was also due to my clips. I was planning for at least my Big O clips to use straight from DVD (good quality) footage. Unfortunately my editor (which I'll admit, "Video Edit Magic 4.3" isn't nearly professional grade) wouldn't have it. It was definately a fault with the clips tho... so... I had to use an old (see: 2003) TV card connected to a VCR to do those clips. With that my video edit (Video Edit Magic) doesn't save in 4:3 format, 640x480 is what I sent in and with the Gurren Lagann clip it's painfully cropped.


I'll be sorting out that DVD ripping problem once school starts up again. I want to submit some decent quality stuff here, but hopefully the comedic value and/or well-timed value of the clips will make up for it. I just don't have the money to spend on this as it's just a hobby.

[Squancho]

I'll be sorting out that DVD ripping problem once school starts up again. I want to submit some decent quality stuff here, but hopefully the comedic value and/or well-timed value of the clips will make up for it. I just don't have the money to spend on this as it's just a hobby.

Meh...you have alost another full year until we go post-prod with AMVS4 (which starts in about 33 days... Plenty of time to find a better editing program. Codecs are free on teh interwebz and so are a lot of the other tools you may need. You shall prevail!

And editing old-school? That's dedication...

[Gaelstrom]

Anyway, here's the info on the beta test.

Anime Mid Atlantic
Saturday, June 20
10pm
Panel 3 (Ballroom C)

Let us know how it goes Saturday night! See if you can monitor the reactions on the Match.com, Now63 and Gunther clips to see if they're as uncertain as I think they are in this case. Match.com can be salvaged easily by fixing the dance, but the Now63 one and more than likely the Gunther one (nothing personal krvabo) I think should be removed at least for this year. Now63 needs some critique and a second pass that it just won't get this year as long as Dezbo21 can't be reached. Have you tried yet, by the way? As for the Gunther clip, I think there are at least half a dozen better footage sources that are equally popular that would make it far far stronger, like School Rumble for example.

[krvabo]

It's not the anime that screws up the clip, it's the encoding.

I can't say it's an überfunny clip, but when encoded correctly it looks just fine.
I don't mind saying you dislike the clip, as do I, but saying another anime would solve the 'problem', no it won't.
If you don't know the clip, it cannot be funny. Thát's the real problem.

[Gaelstrom]

Please let me explain what I mean and please feel free to disagree, I just want to clarify what I meant so there's no misunderstanding, and I'm not attacking you ^^ I sincerely believe the current footage is not the best choice. I DO think that the sound clip itself can be made funny regardless of having seen the source or not, including using Azumanga footage for it (like I said, I think there are better choices, but we'll stick with this), but your current choices don't seem to make sense even in collusion with each other right now. First off, you show a screen of something 90% of the audience will not know, maybe more, with the 'I want to be German' sound clip over it, then jump into Azumanga. I'm pretty sure you understand from an audience perspective how that jump doesn't make sense even having seen the source. Now a clip of HER saying she wants to be German would work if you could find some connective tissue that would make that fit her, but then she hits OTHER people (if we are taking into account the original source, it would be her who is hit), and that is too large a jump to make any sense connecting to why she wants to be German, especially if the commercial hasn't been seen. It's too disconnected even from itself to be amusing for me, because the German clip and pic jumping into Azumanga has me going 'what? why?' during the hitting scene, making me as an audience member not even care to try to follow along anymore because it left me behind at the beginning. Then the end frame doesn't even involve Tomo, so it's next to pointless when you think about where the clip began.

Here's a hypothetical solution. Understand that this is NOT me telling you how you should be doing it, this is just to clarify how you COULD connect it in a way the audience can follow along and unify the joke. Tomo would have a slightly scheming face when she would say 'I want to be German'. Now if you wanted to use the harisen slaps, then the 'Sheizer' would have to be said by another character (like Yomi) unless there were footage of Tomo being smacked by someone which would solve most of the disconnect problems. If you wanted to get really edgy about it, you could finish by going on 4chan and ask for one of the pictures of the Azumanga girls dressed as Nazis or something. I know they are considered communists there, but I think there's at least one of Osaka as a nazi ^^ I may choose to find a different slap sound as well to splice in for experimentation, because the source's slap has some very weird echoing and stark cut-off that made me go 'wtf was that!?' when i heard it in your clip, but it could be because of the Gunther/Tomo disconnect. Then at the end, I may spend some time masking in a photoshopped frame of Tomo in an outfit like Gunther or something if the Nazi Azumanga girls isn't fitting. That's not a great or efficient idea, but it would connect the initial statement with the ending, as well as connect the source for those who knew. One way or the other, I've no illusions that you chose a very difficult clip to pull off well. I'd go into deeper detail with potentials, but hopefully you get the idea.

My clips may not be great, but I made certain for each one that no matter what, at SOME level, the audience can get it without any idea what either of my chosen sources are, because leaving the audience behind will almost inevitably kill a joke. I do this stuff for work, so please don't think I'm picking on you, I'm just interested in critiquing like with my colleagues in order to help everyone truly enjoy your clip, since that is the point above all else, right?

[krvabo]

The first screen was just a filler to get people to know what clip they are listening too. I could not use the entire audio segment because I thought that would become boring. Also I wouldn't be able to find that many footage clips to fill that.

I know there is a bit of inconsistency, but it's tomo all the way. The 'sheiße' or 'sheisse' is German for 'shit'. It's meant to imply that she can't hit the bug that she is chasing. Yes, this deviates from the original clip and audio, but it's actually lip synced and a bit funny. Again, no ROFLMAOPIMP, but I thought it could be funny.
Of course, that's only when you know a bit of German. My country neighbors on Germany, so I might be biased in a way.

The last part is tomo being tossed into the air, but again, you might need to know German for this.
'Ja ja, die shönste auf der Welt, ist meine Barbara',
'Yes yes, the prettiest (girl) in the world is my Barbara'
That's why she is being tossed in the air..

But anyway, I'm a bit tired of defending a clip that in my opinion sucked just as hard as you think it did. It was the first dedicated clip I made for the salad and I thought I would get some feedback on the clip so I could edit it more. I never received so much as an e-mail from Deuce so that didn't happen. I see a post (in this topic) that we're not supposed to edit the commercial, but that's it. So I figured the clip was tossed away and I removed my source files.

Deuce, You might want to change the way you receive clips for the next salad. If you watch the clip the moment you read the e-mail, you can give a little bit of feedback on them. It makes the editors feel all that bit more appreciated ánd you might get better clips.

[Gaelstrom]

The first screen was just a filler to get people to know what clip they are listening too. I could not use the entire audio segment because I thought that would become boring. Also I wouldn't be able to find that many footage clips to fill that.

I dunno, Tomo goes hot and cold a lot from what I remember, I think you could have made something work pretty easily, plus what you had there audio-wise was fine, you didn't need the whole clip, the screencap was just a disconnect I think because you were trying to hard to identify the clip with its source.

I knew what 'sheisse' meant, but I didn't know the spelling, sorry ^^ I didn't quite get that she was frustrated about the bug, because in the clip order you chose, she was apparently grinning pretty wide and cheering, that and she'd just hit the bug already (I think), so to me as the audience she basically said it out of nowhere at that point contradictory to her looking happy. Hehe, although finding a scene where Tomo ISN'T happy is a chore, I know.

Okay knowing the lyrics helps a bit ^^ I think this is what I meant by my trying to make sure the audience gets it regardless of source or not. That does make it a bit more amusing, but the problem is (besides this being shown in America, and let's face it, we as a country have so much diversity to deal with that we've almost given up on language) that for the audience, visually it's NOT Tomo. Visually, to people who've forgotten that the outline is Tomo or never knew it was her, it's a still shot of two guys with stuff in the background and we're left with a bit of a 'huh..?" feeling. That's what I was trying to convey.

Unfortunately, Deuce seemed quite distracted all around. I never got feedback or responses to my multiple e-mails beyond my first couple clips, and that was after weeks of several e-mails and it made me quite nervous. I recognize it's hard to hear critique sometimes, but I'm sorry I made you feel like you had to defend it. Like I said, I believe the clip could be made to be funny without having to rely on people knowing the source, but for now I guess it's just too late to pull that off this year. Hopefully next year Deuce will be able to communicate more and these problems can be nipped in the bud early on so it's not a last minute scramble.

AMVS2 was excellent, and I assume that's because of the communication, as well as two or three of the editors who did some of the best clips didn't contribute much/at all to this one. AMVS3, while containing some amusement, doesn't contain the epic credits, consistently good clips, and the potentially unifying elements don't unify as much as they could. The Law and Order knocks and the Adult Swim bumps in the same piece is kinda odd since they've nothing to do with one another. I think it'll be hard to match the 'song that gets on everybody's nerves' credits, but I have an idea for next year that may rival it a bit that I'll run by Deuce later.

How did AMVS3 perform last night, Deuce?