"Lipsyncing is cruise control for comedy."

badmartialarts · Post by **badmartialarts** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 9:05 pm

I made this comment to RollTheStampede at UshiCon this past weekend, modifying the Internet saying CAPSLOCK IS CRUISE CONTROL FOR COOL, but then I started seriously thinking about it. There are a lot of very bad comedy videos out there that just (barely) become funny due to some well-placed lipsync. (Conversely, there are a lot of good comedy videos brought low by bad lipsync...although that tends to be funny as well). Furthermore, and this is where the comment comes from, there are lots of drama videos that just make me laugh because of the lipsync. Why, all of a sudden, does the character suddenly blurt out part of the sappy song you are syncing footage to? It makes me giggle almsot every time (yes, giggle) and I'm pretty sure it's not intentional. (There were two videos that did this. I was certain it was not intended for me to laugh at the first one, but the other one, a actiony FF:AC video to Depeche Mode-"John the Revelator" may have intended the lipsync as comedic relief. Nice vid BTW if the creator is reading this. The "John the Revelator" one, not the other one that was very forgettable, since all I remember is the bad lipsync.)

So, what is the people's take on this? Lipsync good for comedy or bad? Good in drama, or bad?

Zarxrax · Post by **Zarxrax** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 9:10 pm

I get so many amv hell entries that have nothing but bad lip sync. Apparently the creator thought "hell, i don't have an actual funny idea, so I'll just do some lip sync, everyone loves that!"
Then they do it so painstakingly horribly... multiple characters trading off on the same line... stuff like that... it just makes me shudder

badmartialarts · Post by **badmartialarts** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 9:16 pm

I apologize to the creator, it was Gankutsuou, not FF:AC. It must have been one of the FF:AC videos with the bad lipsyncing. :/

http://www.animemusicvideos.org/members ... p?v=103701 is the video I meant.

Castor Troy · Post by **Castor Troy** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 9:16 pm

Zarxrax wrote:I get so many amv hell entries that have nothing but bad lip sync. Apparently the creator thought "hell, i don't have an actual funny idea, so I'll just do some lip sync, everyone loves that!"
Then they do it so painstakingly horribly... multiple characters trading off on the same line... stuff like that... it just makes me shudder

I'm guilty of that..

jonmartensen · Post by **jonmartensen** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 9:28 pm

I don't think lip sync has to be comedic, or rather, it's not inherently comedic. The problem is that much of the serious lip sync is bad, and much of the good lip sync is comedic. It would be quite an undertaking to not only develop a story from a song around two characters from an anime, but to then also try to gather the shots such that they will be singing in duet (or one character singing to others, even). Perhaps it's that comedic lip syncing lends itself to two main themes
a) sloppy lip sync as part of the joke
b) short spurts that don't have to run the whole length of the song
Both of these being easier than the task of collecting scenes to match both subject/lyrics, but then also lip syncing for long, serious stretches.

So I guess what I'm saying, is that non-comedic lip sync seems like it requires running for the majority of the song, and as such is much more difficult and requires more effort than most people are willing to put in. This is probably why there are few examples of very good uses of non-comedic lip sync.

As an aside for lip sync, are this teh lipsink comadies?

JaddziaDax · Post by **JaddziaDax** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 10:06 pm

my personal take on lipsync:
I love it when people tell me that I need to fix the lipsync in White Snake to be better...

1. I never tried or even thought of lipsync when I made it...
2. I didnt think of mouth movements at all (ovbiously)
3. I didnt care if his mouth matched SOME of the lyrics, but not all.. I wasnt even trying...

or they tell me that they loved the lipsync, that cracks me up too...

overall, its not a lipsync video, and thats why I didnt allow it in rating for opinions...

My lipsync sucks that very rarely do I actually try to do it, and I can only think of two of my videos where I actually TRIED to do it, and that was Ichigo Stinks and Pocket Change.. my lipsync skills suck big time and yea its the lowest of my avarage scores...

General thoughts on lipsync:
I think it works better for comedy only because most of the comedic people work real hard on it to look good, and I've known a few dramas where it worked well too... VERY FEW dramas though... it depends on the mood they are trying to set, and the look on the character's face while hes "singing"

Metro · Post by **Metro** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 10:09 pm

I included dramatic lipsync in my latest video just because I feel its hard to pull off.

And I don't think I did that well.

Flint the Dwarf · Post by **Flint the Dwarf** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 11:16 pm

jonmartensen wrote:It would be quite an undertaking to not only develop a story from a song around two characters from an anime, but to then also try to gather the shots such that they will be singing in duet (or one character singing to others, even).

Like this. But lots of people laughed at the lip sync in that video at Otakon, and I guess I can understand why. But I still consider it to be a good drama video, and I like the lip sync.

lilgumba · Post by **lilgumba** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 11:35 pm

I'm guilty of putting lip sync in both a comedy and a drama. Actually, I'm guily in drama I think in 3 of my videos here. (oops) It can be good or bad depending on the situation in a drama. If it's used for emphasis of a scene and lyric I think it can help. Then again people can find it highly inappropriate and tell you it sucks.

As far as comedy, I think you can get away with it more cause people aren't really taking the video too seriously in the first place (unless it's a dramedy which in this case lip sync could really kill it.)

Scintilla · Post by **Scintilla** » Tue Jan 31, 2006 3:52 am

The exception to the drama bit, of course, being serious trailers.

Flint the Dwarf wrote:
jonmartensen wrote:It would be quite an undertaking to not only develop a story from a song around two characters from an anime, but to then also try to gather the shots such that they will be singing in duet (or one character singing to others, even).
Like this. But lots of people laughed at the lip sync in that video at Otakon, and I guess I can understand why.

Well, that wasn't so much because there was lip synch as because of just <i>what</i> the characters (read: Gendo) were being made to say.