Knights of Sidonia AMV - Critique please

[Syntacks]

Hey all,

I'm a film student based out of Orlando, Fl with aspirations to become an editor, specifically in movie trailers. One of my teachers challenged me to make an AMV with the limitations that I had 2 hours to make a 2 minute product in the form of a trailer that would make him WANT to watch a show he hadn't seen.

I showed it off to my friends, but I get the typical "It was awesome". I ask what was awesome about it and they're like "Y'know.... the whole thing." So, I'm asking for real critique. If you like it.. tell me why. The same goes if you don't. Anything constructive will do nothing more than to help me improve.

Thanks in advance,

Wes (Syntacks)

https://vimeo.com/150963836

[davenfonet]

First things first, I've seen the show, and felt like this could have been really great, but I also understand the two hours limit so.... Might be worth doing a directors cut with a bit more time invested

If I was using the same source and footage, I would have approached this from a stronger action perspective, Like starting with them in space fighting, cutting back to them at the academy, and then when you get to the real climax of the song (1 min mark) you could have all the very strong emotional moment, grave, the cockpit breaking, etc.

Also remember that most trailers lie about what the movie is about, 'funny' movies aren't always funny, action movies often aren't all explosions etc.


In your video...

In the beginning I would have synced the 'ding's with the logical light action, like the looking up, the door opening, or have used a dip to white (rather then black) between simple action frames,

I also felt like the jump in the beginning after about 20 seconds was really jarring it was following a good flow until then, it gets bettern around the 1 min mark but I was having trouble following it between 20-60

the sceen at 1:04 with the talking goes on way to long,

Text would also have helped tie the whole thing together, like

a boy lost to time,
fights to save his home
other generic trailer text here
From the creator of blame
from the studio that make tron
from the team that made ....


Also you built everything up and then don't have a name, show release date, how is someone who is excited going to watch this?

[Senthysis]

Gotcha. I failed to mention that part of my limitations included no fancy SFX, and NO TITLES. My professor's philosophy is "If you have to spell it all out in text to generate hype, then you might not have a good film to begin with. Also it's done F'n everywhere."

It IS my first time doing an AMV-Teaser which is why he told me to do so. Again the idea was for him to look at the footage and make him ask, "What's the name of this anime?" Which actually happened today when I showed him the footage. He didn't just ask, he demanded. More like... "WTF is THIS?! What's the name? I need to see this.. OMG that f'n cliffhanger." (He's 65, 30+ years as an editor in the film industry, and loves anime.)

I HAVE received a lot of feedback and they've been consistent, along with my teacher, about the talking scene at 1:04. That is getting changed out. Despite the 2 hour limit, I found myself really engaged in the AMV-Teaser making process. It's more difficult than film with the faster motions, much more animated (no pun intended) characters, so I am working on a 2nd, more refined, edit. I should have it up in a couple days for review.

Thanks for the critique,

Wes