Toradora AMV - Lost!

[wertwow]

My fist proper go at making an amv (before I had just messed around if windows movie maker). I think this turned out pretty well considering my computer crashed after every 10 seconds of footage I edited. Please tell me how I could improve (apart from getting a proper video editor without a watermark)

http://www.animemusicvideos.org/members ... p?v=182182

Okay I know that was just copied and pasted from the description, but I would really like some feedback on it. A couple of things that bugged me with it but I just couldn't get quite right were, the timing of the overlays and the pacing in the middle and towards the end (Started to run out of footage towards the end and thats the only way I could think of stretching it). If anyone sees anything else wrong with it please tell.

[Rapture**]

Hello there!

I haven't done a review in a couple of years already So,let's get to this...

First : That watermark is really awful,already makes me want to turn off the video. Then,the video quality is really horrible! Making a 4:3(normal) aspect video with a 16:9(widescreen) footage is a VERY BAD CHOICE! I just had to INTERLACED Toradora with a border from each side.. Thank You! And why the heck is the file named "Untitled.avi"? Am I supposed to rename every amv I'm downloading? For some reason,I think that you didn't even bother to pick a codec and used a default template to save your amv... That is not good. You need to know the properties of your file and settings of the project you're editing. Well,I guess that's all for the file and the footage.

Second : I liked your idea of syncing the video with the audio,but.. Your timing was horrible. Every flash was later than clap,and later on it started to annoy me,thank the gods you stopped doing it at 0:55. 0:56-0:57 - good job,those 2 screens appear right on time with the sound of keys. 1:27 - wtf? Flash again? At least try to sync it a little better,with either lyrics or the beats of the song... 2:00,2:15 - good sync. 2:48 - not so good. 2:55 - even worse. 3:10 - Ryuuji enters the classroom... 3:12 - you re-used the same scene only after 2 seconds.

Now let's get to my favorite part

Third : The video started out with lots of depressed faces,so I'm guessing that this is a sad video? You see,I'm guessing,because I don't sense any storyline here. Just a bunch of random scenes synced to a sad sounding song. You've picked the wrong scenes. Well,maybe you've just used the wrong order to place them,or maybe it's just that you didn't think of a plot from the beginning? And what's with that ending? What do those birds mean? I'm getting confused here Anyway,the overall video turned out pretty pointless. I know it,because I've made a video like that too. Having an actual plot or an interesting story is what makes an AMV really stunning and captivating! Effects,sync and etc. are only accessories,but they can't replace the viewers desire to see a new story,or a story he knows presented in a little bit different way! Think of an anime that you used as your video footage - what part of it's story made you wish to create an amv? Or is it just animation that you liked? Because from your vid,that's the feeling I get.


That's my opinion on your video. I see,that you can become a great editor,but you'll need to work much harder that you do now to become one. Be sure to read some guides :by Kionon and by godix,they'll be very helpful on your way of becoming a good editor.

Oh,and BTW.. Learn to use vidID tag. See those 6 numbers at the end of the url you posted here? That's your video code,and it's used for the vidID tag. use it like this [vidid]code of your video[/vidid]

For your video it would look like this :

Code: Select all

[vidid]182182[/vidid]

the result will look like this :



Well then,looks like I'm done here. Good luck and have fun creating!

[Kireblue]

While I don't really disagree with anything that Rapture said, I do believe that his critique is a bit harsh when considering that this was your first AMV. So I just wanna tell you not to be discouraged. Nobody makes a masterpiece on their first attempt, and becoming a good AMV editor is a learning process that takes time.

For a first video, this AMV wasn't bad though. Many "fist time" editors simply place their clips on their timeline and don't actually pay a lot of attention to the music. You showed that you at least understand syncing your video to to your song, so you're actually off to a better start than most. So just keep practicing, and welcome to the org.

Spoiler :

[wertwow]

Thanks for the replies. To be honest I just sort of went blindly into trying to make an amv, without putting much thought into what I was actually going to do, probably why it ended up having no clear story. Most of the problems I had with timing also came about with me having only the rough estimate of 1.4 seconds between each clap, which didn't really help matters. So for most of the video I was guessing timings. It would be helpful If someone could recommend a good video editor, for this since, I was only starting out I used a trail version AVS, which I wasn't particularly happy with, although I am not sure how other editors compare.
Thanks again for the replies.

[Kireblue]

Thanks for the replies. To be honest I just sort of went blindly into trying to make an amv, without putting much thought into what I was actually going to do, probably why it ended up having no clear story. Most of the problems I had with timing also came about with me having only the rough estimate of 1.4 seconds between each clap, which didn't really help matters. So for most of the video I was guessing timings. It would be helpful If someone could recommend a good video editor, for this since, I was only starting out I used a trail version AVS, which I wasn't particularly happy with, although I am not sure how other editors compare.
Thanks again for the replies.

I always recommend Sony Vegas whenever a new editor asks about a good editing program. Its a lot more user friendly than its competition (Adobe Premiere/ After Effects), and it has a line of products called "Sony Vegas Movie Studio", that you can purchase for a tenth of the price. Its also the editing program that I use. http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/vegassoftware . Sony also has free trials of their products.

And in order to do better timings, simply look at the wavelength of your audio. When you import a song into your editing program, the audio track will show you the song's wavelengths. And by looking at the sudden changes in the wavelengths, you will be able to better time you video. (for example: the drum beats in a song might look like a sudden spike in the wavelength.)

[CodeZTM]

I'll agree with what kireblue said. There were mistakes, sure, but you also show a lot of promise as well.

Here are some things to work on:

1) The watermark in the center and the watermark in the top left. Never a good idea. Crop out for the watermark in the top left, and use a different converter and that will resolve your problem with the center watermark.
2) When you did the "four tiles" effect, they weren't straight and had gaps in them. I suggest making them uniform in the future.
3) At the very end, try and don't use footage that has credits in them.
4) The beat syncs were off by just a tiny bit. I think a better editor software will help alleviate this problem.
5) Visual quality wasn't really that pretty to look at. I reccomend you purchasing the DVDs to get the best quality footage possible. When not possible to do so, try and find legal channels to download your footage.
6) Lip flap is when the characters are talking without a purpose in your AMV, which was pretty often throughout the video.

Overall, there was a lot of innocent beginner mistakes, but I'm sure with time that you'll get to learn more about them. I've been here for about 5 years now, and there is still PLENTY to learn about the hobby.

For now, here are my primary suggestions for you to do in order to improve:

1) Invest in a better editing software. I personally think the Adobe Premier software is best, but a lot of people think that Vegas is better. Honestly, it's just up to you. But vegas is a whole lot cheaper.
2) Watch A LOT of AMVs. This list is our top AMVs as voted by the community through star ratings. While not all of them are works of art, a lot of them are very well put together. You can also adjust it to find older videos as well. By watching others, you can see how they put their videos together. From there, you can see how the basic elements of sync come together. After that, you can create your own signature style.
3) Invest in DVDs. This isn't a cheap hobby if you can tell! Lol.
4) Learn about how to make your video into a submittable format. There is a lot of great AMV software that can keep your video looking nicely done. AMVapp is the obvious choice.

Well, that's about all I have to say. I certainly hope you stick around. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask me or anyone in the other "help" forums. We have a lot of helpful people around here that are more than willing to put you on the right track. Welcome to the org!

[wertwow]

Okay thanks.
Another question what program can I use to rip DVDs (I presume it the region coding doesn't matter but just in case all my DVDs are region 2). Also if the DVDs are unavailable then what is the best file type to use, in terms of picture quality? (as you can tell I am new to video formats etc). So for example for this I used mkv files does that degrade the quality, or what ever way you want to put it.

[Rapture**]

Here are the guides on how to use programs like AVISynth and DVDDecrypter :
http://www.animemusicvideos.org/guides/

Be sure to read them all.

And don't forget those guides that I linked to - they'll be very useful for a beginner like you.

[CodeZTM]

Okay thanks.
Another question what program can I use to rip DVDs (I presume it the region coding doesn't matter but just in case all my DVDs are region 2). Also if the DVDs are unavailable then what is the best file type to use, in terms of picture quality? (as you can tell I am new to video formats etc). So for example for this I used mkv files does that degrade the quality, or what ever way you want to put it.

Generally, I use DVD Fab 8, but DVD Decryper is usually ok for all the jobs. Most of these programs will ask you for region info before you begin decrypting. Both are free downloads. Those files rip .VOB files, which you can use DGIndex to make a .d2v file, which can be put into AVSp and edited to help clean up the footage and make them look good [the guides that Rapture posted are VERY helpful in this department].

From there, you can either open it up in VirtualDub and save it in a video file format to import into your editor or if you use certain editors, can import those AVS files directly into your video editing software and start right away.

As for best file type, that's hard to say. Anything AVI/MP4/MKV are usually high quality (although I've never heard of MKV being used to edit with before), but I personally use AVI lossless files for editing. Then again, that takes up a HEAP of hard drive space. But by contrast, they're the easiest to set up.

[wertwow]

Thanks again for the help.
dvd fab is incredibly useful and easy to use, so much so within 10 mins of downloading it Ive already been able to rip the 1st two episodes of Gurren Laggann. My plan is to mess around if the trails of some of the video editors everyone has recommended and then see which one is best, then start on a AMV once Ive bought an editor.