AMV Salad 4: TV Dinner (next stop - Nekocon)

[Honou_Miko]

My biggest issue with doing music-based ones is that since I'm a 3D animator, I have such grandiose ideas that I know I could pull off in conjunction with the animes, but it would require a lot more work. But settling for any less strikes me as giving up, so I give up before I start ^^

Some of what I consider my best work came from ideas that I originally was like "oh, wouldn't that be cool? Too bad it's probably too long and there's probably not enough footage." Go for it; if it ends up sucking then try something else (because that sure as hell has happened to me as well. O_o)

[Squancho]

I usually never put something together unless the entire song / concept comes to me the same day. If I have to put the editing down and come back to it another time because I have to wait for the next phase to develop in my mind, it never happens and I have yet another incomplete project. The ideas for "Go Ask Haruhi" and "Me Wuvs You" wee pretty instantaneous. So was my Elfen Lied / Muse "Assassin" video before the HD melted down (still bitter about having to start that one over).

Wanna see what I had so far?

You-to-the-Tube: /watch?v=-SOp0jvany8

[Kireblue]

I usually never put something together unless the entire song / concept comes to me the same day. If I have to put the editing down and come back to it another time because I have to wait for the next phase to develop in my mind, it never happens and I have yet another incomplete project. The ideas for "Go Ask Haruhi" and "Me Wuvs You" wee pretty instantaneous. So was my Elfen Lied / Muse "Assassin" video before the HD melted down (still bitter about having to start that one over).

Wanna see what I had so far?

You-to-the-Tube: /watch?v=-SOp0jvany8

Did you know that youtube links are allowed on the site now?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SOp0jvany8

[Gaelstrom]

It's not really the footage problem, after two years I've come to terms with the fact that the footage search is a certain amount of time. What's odd and a bit ironic is the footage search for these parody vids is pretty much identical to the footage search I'd be doing for a real AMV. But like I said, my ideas involve literally modeling, texturing, rigging and animating the characters of an anime to do something unique in the midst of it, otherwise I just feel like I'm not doing my best to make something unique and interesting ^^ Gotta use my training somehow Comedy in and of itself has its own magic to it. A good joke doesn't need too much work, just enough respect for the joke to get it to come alive I guess. AMVs have a different energy to me. For years I've watched all the best ones and they all have this element of the images being 'music' themselves, and what was sad is what I realized most of all after seeing them is I didn't yet know how to achieve that ^^ All I knew was that all the ideas I'd had up until that point weren't going to achieve it. Oddly enough, that classic AMV from Big Big Truck, the "Experiments in Video Editing" taught me quite a bit about recognizing when my idea wouldn't work ^^

[moonbunnychan]

My all time favorite video about making videos is still this one: http://www.animemusicvideos.org/members ... hp?v=26175. I've seen it probably a hundred times and the line about adding lens flare with her mind NEVER fails to crack me up.

And for me, I don't really even start on something until I have it more or less storyboarded in my head. Usually this comes from listening to the song endlessly looping for days. And I feel ya Deuce, I hate stopping for even things like...you know...sleep....and work...

[Gaelstrom]

Hehehe, thanks for showing me that one, very nice ^^ The text went by a bit fast, but oh well, the narrative of it was excellent I wonder if I should be worried about guys with lasers coming to my condo if I ever use lens flares...

Edit: So just out of curiosity, did that dinner thread just die? Should we organize our own at a specific time or something? I'm the last one to have posted, but I figured things would clear up the closer we got to the con.

[moonbunnychan]

Turns out being bumped to Saturday may turn out to be a blessing in disguise...this is from Vicbond over on the Otakon contest thread:

Just got back from the panic meeting. Schedule is assed up. We're bouncing the server between Main events, video 1, and panel 3. AMV Contest in Main Events will be played out of sync unless some major technical concessions are made. AMV Contest winners may or may not be announced at the con given the potential schedule. As it stands, AMV overflow does not exist. Your hard work has been bumped in favor of "big" DVD screenings. Also the first fan parodies block is being shown at noon on Friday, while everyone is still getting their badge.

This is subject to change, but when the con-chair tells you to "go home", I wouldn't hold my breath. Will keep ya'll updated. You guys are all wonderful and don't deserve any of this, but I am both defeated and tired. Baltimore is mad far yo :/

So the Friday fan parodies are gonna be watched by....well probably nobody.
On that same note though I wouldn't print up any fliers or anything until it's for absolute sure what time the Salad is happening, seeing as how they seem to be having some pretty big issues.

[Squancho]

Unless they decide to move the Saturday night block for whatever reason, we should still be good. Thanks for the heads up, though. And no flyers have been printed yet so we're good.

BTW...did anyone have any opinions about my video progress so far?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SOp0jvany8

[Gaelstrom]

Jeeessus, noon on Friday? Seriously? Well... all I can say is at least it's not 10 AM Friday. I hope that changes, that isn't a time when anyone is in the mood for fanparodies I don't think... I mean, comedy is good anytime, but that is quite strange. I'm extremely sad that AMV Overflow is non-existent, I loved sitting and watching the various ones and jotting them down to download later in memory of the year. *sigh* Oh well, I can only hope that their cutting of the classic layout leads to better stuff. Otakon being in constant evolution may or may not be a bad thing.

As for your video Deuce, I'm not sure what level of complete it was, but I'll give some impressions ^^ The song is definitely of a rather interesting combination, fits nicely to the feel of Elfin Lied. I like the... discordance (?) of the singer and guitar with the anime imagery. I'm not particularly fond of serious ones of this style myself, but this song does fit into the realm of those that I have liked. Your use of the music was decent, I liked the gunfire in general to the upbeat section. I must say though that I'm not a fan of the fast-flickers. I liked the sniper one, but it got overdone quite quick for me. Rather than drawing me along with the music, it reminded me I was watching a video. Something about the sniper one fit a bit better to me. Perhaps you could attempt some quick cuts simulating zooms perhaps?

The cuts and the visuals worked in several areas, but other areas I kept feeling like there wasn't enough movement for the song. The song may give the impression of slowness, but it really is pretty fast. In that regard you seem to have chosen a rather complex one. While I don't think the shot you did of her crying with the circle of different cuts worked as well as it could have, that one kind of represent the way the song works. Slow melody with rapid instruments.

I felt you got more into it in the second half after the strangulation on the beach part. The cuts fit the music better and moved fast enough to maintain interest and I sank into the video more. If nothing else, I'd recommend revisiting the beginning and see if you can't strengthen it a bit, sort of like an introduction to an essay. Define what you want to cover throughout the video and sort of highlight it in the beginning. It may or may not work, but it's what comes to mind for now.

It definitely has potential.

[Squancho]

It actually started out as an action video which would have documented all the battles between the Diclonius but I had to set up each meeting somehow and sufficiently introduce each character. I realized I didn't have time to do all that so, about one minute into the video, it became more high drama. By the time I introduced Lucy / Nyu, I needed to quickly set up the meeting with Nana which meant another introduction. Making the lyrics correspond with the scenery was tough to do in the narrow time frame given by the song, hence the progressively quick takes. By the end of the first chorus ("...assassin is born") I had to make sure Nana was fully introduced. Before the second chorus begins, I have to bring Muriko into it for the final fight sequence (which I was in the process of doing before the HD melted down). I won't discuss how I'm gonna wrap this thing up since I'm determined to finish but I do have a story to tell. I did feel the part between the sniper shot and Bando's dismantling by Lucy kind of bogged down some. I also hadn't refined Nana's introduction yet. At the very least I have half of this video storyboarded and the rest in development. Now I just need to borrow the Elfen Lied DVDs from my friend / Nyu cosplayer again...