General Working on an AMV

[JaddziaDax]

i just constantly play the clip over and over till its synced :/
but then again lagarith codec files play back with almost no lag (in real time) on my machine :/

i have found that using this codec (uncompressed or huffy) has deffinately sped up my editing, because instead of having to save a clip wait and watch it, and they try to fix the problem (what i used to do before i started using lagarith) i can just play it in my video editing program...

though even though i should warn you... :/ people still tell me that "my syncing should be tighter" :/

[BasharOfTheAges]

For synching I've started just looking at the wave form in Premiere, zoomed in quite a bit, and marked off the beats I want to hit with unnumbered markers. Once i'm sure I'm done with a section i'll tend to delete them (because having a thousand and one different markers on your video can be confusing). On that note, I have a question of my own. Is there any way to change the color of certain markers in Premiere (I have Pro 1.5) so if I want to mark diferent types of instruments with diferent colors I could do that?

As for clip placement, I tend to make an assload of clips and import them into the program. I'll usually make seperate folders for certain things so I don't constantly have to scroll through 1000 clips, and i'll add what I need to the timeline when I need it. For longer clips i'll often razor what I need and throw the rest up to a track that's turned off. Clip selection is rather interesting. Personally, I know some of the clips I want (they prompted me to do the video in the first place while listening to the music) but the others either come to me by searching what I chose to clip (read: a whole lot), or randomly trying a few clips that seem to fit the mood. That's where the artistry comes in.

For effects/transitions, many are on the fly, but as you get into it many come into your mind along with the clips when you listen to the music - for me at least. Some are preplaned monstrosities though

[Mr Pilkington]

Who needs method?
.... __________
.. /
\/Booze + AfterEffects (Random MSI song)^5

[Jayn_Newell]

i just constantly play the clip over and over till its synced :/

I'm the same way. I work on one clip until it's how I want it, then move on to the next. Granted, with WMM it pretty much had to be like that, but I've never been one to take much of a second look to my work.

So far I've generally just imported the whole episodes I want and picked clips from there. That's not always practical, even a large harddrive fills up after a while (Especially at 5 gigs an ep), but when I can do it that way it's how I like to work.

Anyways, just fool around with the programs and test what the different features do. I've always learned best by seeing things done. When you see what the different knobs and sliders and stuff do, then you can think about how to apply them to your videos.

[JaddziaDax]

Sony Vegas has a feature called "loop region" so it will play the loop over and over for whatever i set the region for

[Lyrs]

Who needs method?
.... __________
.. /
\/Booze + AfterEffects (Random MSI song)^5

or for the <21,

wmm clips + music = amv. pick and choose and export. ez

[Melanchthon]

Let me ask you--how did you start making AMVs, and how do you find is the easiest way for you to make AMVs?

Part 1: Got inspired (like, 'staring wide-eyed at the CD player' inspired), had a couple of definite clips and a vague idea of what I was going to do with each part of the song and what the vid would be about, and went from there.

Part 2: I like getting all the footage preparation out of the way before starting editing. There's a vid idea I've had since 2003 that I haven't done any tangible work on, so it's not too hard for me to spend time ripping and prepping massive amounts of source before even opening the NLE. Editing-wise, I work outwards from the few key scenes that I started with, chipping away at the empty space and bridging the gaps between the video sections.

What is it that you do--when you make AMVs? Do you just shove in 1,500 clips onto the timeline, and systematically delete them? ....

I try and find the footage that's right for the job (sometimes a five-minute scene, sometimes a few seconds or even a few frames), and then I find the best way of fitting it into the time I've allowed. Sometimes it takes a while, but once the footage is placed it's very unlikely to be removed. If that fails I chuck semi-random stuff onto the timeline and discover the right clip through process of elimination, because sometimes knowing what you don't want is enough.

Give me an example of 2 ways to achieve the same thing. Let's just suppose that 'I think that there's only 1 way to do everything.' Expand my horizons. For example, how could you go about having 3 or 4 non-overlaying clips on the same screen at once? I just throw on moving paths and shrink the videos into place and have 3 or 4 tracks going at once.

You could also have a static image and three or four animated masks that never touch each other.

Suppose I know the basics. What is your style? What are you good at doing? What can I learn from you? No matter how insignificant you might think that what you do might be, I might find it revolutionary.

1. What do you consider 'the basics'?
2. I don't know. I do like having synch that straddles different clips, but I don't know if I have enough of that for it to be considered a style.
3. If I had to pick one thing, I'd say following (or reflecting) the song. At least, I hope I am. I'm working from a sample size of one here.
4. How to do things the hard way.

I feel that what I know is not enough. I may never feel that I know enough, but I'll work with what I know. I can't work with any more than that.

I think you're worrying about this too much. If you're here and you're posting a topic like this, then you're heading in the right direction.

From earlier on:

I'm also wondering how people have learned to do what they do. You people hae to have learned how to do this somewhere.

I started reading the guides about April 2005 with zero experience in editing, encoding, filtering, and ripping, and finished my first vid about a year later. I remember wondering how the hell I could ever possibly make an AMV.

You learn from experience, is all.

I plan to take several months editing each video that I make.

Then you're more organised than I am.

[Willen]

Willen, let me start by saying that I've seen your icon on the threads, and it's extremely aesthetic. And distracting. I like it. I just stare at it for seconds at a time, spacing out. I don't want to know what that character is from. I'm afraid I might watch it.

I'll just give you her name: Haruhi.

Let me ask you--how did you start making AMVs, and how do you find is the easiest way for you to make AMVs?

Unfortunately, I kinda spelled it out in my AMVs description (long-ass description). But for the most part, I get ideas from the songs themselves. If there is a song that I really like and I think I can fit it to an anime, I'll attempt it. The easier ones have been the songs that have the most story-like lyrics (if I can find an anime that fits), or ones that have great meaning or feeling. Unless I really think that the combo is good and I can get about 70+% of it to fit my vision, I'll put it on hold for another day and/or another anime.

Now are you asking about the technical or the artistic aspects of making AMVs?

To be quite honest, I'm not really sure if it's either artistic or technical. Maybe it's both. I've got ideas in my head, and I need to get them out into an AMV before I change my mind. I've already put 5 projects on hold because I don't feel like working on those ones anymore.

For the more technical aspects, I usually defer to EADFAG and other guides for stuff like how to compress video and audio, pre- and post-processing footage, etc. As for artistic...

What is it that you do--when you make AMVs? Do you just shove in 1,500 clips onto the timeline, and systematically delete them? Do you play 5 seconds of the song over, hunt down clips and throw in just the ones you want? Do you document every second of the footage and then pull clips in from a timestamp? Or do you just throw in a 20 second clip, shave it down to 15 frames of what you want, tack on a special effect here and there, move on to the next 60 second clip, chop it into bits...

The first thing I do is listen to the song over and over and over again. Once I have decided the anime(s) to use for the project (which means watching sometimes lots of anime), I'll start making clips. I've done the whole episodes bit (with fake AVIs) and used clips exclusively in projects. Since I like to preview the AMV in my editing program without rendering a sample, I've decided to go exclusively with clipping for efficiency. I essentially have the song in my head or on paper and while I watch the anime, I'll make note of scenes I want to use. I don't write anything down, but keep it in my head, so sometimes I have to rewatch parts to find the exact scene I wanted.

I'll usually over-clip with an extra scene change after the segment I actually want, because I've sometimes needed the extra footage. Occasionally, the original scene doesn't work out but the extra bit fits better. I also clip a whole bunch of little scenes like reaction shots and head shots because they make good filler. And if you are looking for a specific character reaction shot, you may have to go through a bunch before the one that fits best is dropped on the timeline.

Speaking the timeline, I edit almost exclusively in the timeline mode. I use Magix, which offers 16 tracks to lay down material. I never use all 16, probably only 6 at most so far. I do use the extra tracks for "alternate takes" where I will lay out a different set of clips for the segment and "mute" the ones I am thinking of changing. I also use the extra tracks as clip storage if I'm moving stuff about, or chopping up a larger clip into smaller ones (remember, I over-clip).

Give me an example of 2 ways to achieve the same thing. Let's just suppose that 'I think that there's only 1 way to do everything.' Expand my horizons. For example, how could you go about having 3 or 4 non-overlaying clips on the same screen at once? I just throw on moving paths and shrink the videos into place and have 3 or 4 tracks going at once.

Since I use Magix, the methodology is going to be different because of the differences in the programs. But a good example is how to do a simple fade-to-black. Assuming your project background color is black, changing the opacity of the tail end of your clip is sufficient to achive this effect. Another way to do this is to put a black clip (still image) under (or over, depending on your program's layout) the clip you want to fade. You could also cross-fade into the black clip (still image) to get the same effect. If you were feeling adventurous, you could make the fade-to-black effect while making the clip with AviSynth and VirtualDub/Mod. If you were psycho, you could output the clip as an image sequence and hand adjust levels in Photoshop for every frame and re-import them.

Suppose I know the basics. What is your style? What are you good at doing? What can I learn from you? No matter how insignificant you might think that what you do might be, I might find it revolutionary.

I feel that what I know is not enough. I may never feel that I know enough, but I'll work with what I know. I can't work with any more than that.

The projects that I've completed or are very near completion are ones that the songs have "spoken" to me with the anime(s) that they want to be paired with. I does help that certain anime I know by heart, so finding the right clips is easy. For others, like my Freddy Mercury MEP piece, I had just recently watched Golden Boy. I wanted to use something different than the usual Queen songs like Bohemian Rhapsody and We Are the Champions. While listening to my Queen Greatest Hits CDs, Body Language eventually started to play. Golden Boy scenes immediately popped into my head as I listened to the lyrics. I thought to myself, "this is it, the song I want to use!" Then it was just a matter of editing the song for the MEP, and getting the clips for the scenes.

I did have to rewatch a bunch of the anime, which led me to a nice discovery. I am still not 100% sure if this clip will stay in, but I clipped it just for fun. It is a segment from the episode where Kintaro goes to work in the anime studio. His co-worker is bringing tea and coffee to their boss and the lady that is supervising the project (she is the agent of the guy who's original creation they are animating, I think). Unfortunately, the drinks get spilled onto the agent's shirt front. Quick thinking (and moving) Kintaro pulls out a hand towel and starts rubbing the agent's er, front side. She then returns the favor by giving him a nice right hook. I dropped the entire segment from where he pulls out the towel (a timer starts in the lower right corner) to where she decks him. I darn near fit perfectly. I had to trim a bit from her pulling back her fist, but the timing was uncanny. Plus, it made me laugh.

Of course, I'm not one to do multiple layers upon layers and to use a lot of effects. I may yet do that if the song that warrants it comes along (actually, I have one in mind, but I need to level up a bit first).

[OmniStrata]

I edit slowly cause I've got a busy life building up my business to retire before 30 and gaming, and wife, and more gaming and well...

I dislike editing really. Very tedious but I just look to myself and remember that final product always rocks and will always be the result of tedious editing...

If good amvs were easy to make, then everyone would be an amv master right?

There is no INSTANT QUICK way to edit. I think the only way to speed up editing really is based on one thing: effects...

I can guaruntee you that anyone who edits using no fx [aka not even fades or rubberband transparency] will get their vids done much much faster than one who edits vids like Euphoria, Odorikuruu, Doujin Addiction, or Together...

Best way to edit 'faster' is to just edit using cuts and scene changes to the beat of the music or lyric... That's the only way I can think of if sheer speed is what you're looking for...

Good luck!

[ReligionX]

I'm not making light of anyone here, though that's what it might look like. I'm just simplifying everything. Thank you everyone, for getting back to me.

Some of my guys hate the single track system and only use A/B, some drop the whole episode onto the timeline, scroll through the whole thing and move the cut portions up to a higher track, deleting the episode when they're done. A couple, weirdly won't edit using a show they've seen. They say that when they've seen a show they can't picture the characters any other way and always wind up creating a video that echos the show.

For a cutout character, or graphic replacing a billboard in a video you could: create a garbage matte, create a matte in photoshop or paint, use the motion controls, use the transparency controls, use the blue screen function, use aftereffects, or use a rotoscoping technique on individual frames. That's just with one program. If you want to learn other people's style, you have to work with them, otherwise it makes no sense.

does that make sense?

What? Some of your guys? You mean, you've actually got more than you working on AMVs? Are you hiring? I have little to no idea what you are talking about mattes, but I'll look that up.

i just constantly play the clip over and over till its synced :/
but then again lagarith codec files play back with almost no lag (in real time) on my machine :/

I'll have to find out what Lagarith is.

Who needs method?

Who says that I'm actually going to use anything that anyone posts here? I might. Who knows.

Anyways, just fool around with the programs and test what the different features do. I've always learned best by seeing things done. When you see what the different knobs and sliders and stuff do, then you can think about how to apply them to your videos.

Where, pray-tell, does one find these “knobs” and “sliders?”

You could also have a static image and three or four animated masks that never touch each other.

Of course! I don't know why I didn't try taking a picture of me rubbing a balloon on my head and trying to suspend face masks with my statically charged hair! Sorry! I'll have to look this up too, it seems.

1. What do you consider 'the basics'?

It's just a way of saying to not tell me to, "find (certain) hardware and find (certain) software." I know enough to actually make a video. Place clip, cut clip, move cilp, render clips, and so on.

I think you're worrying about this too much. If you're here and you're posting a topic like this, then you're heading in the right direction.

Absolutely. I'm finding all of this information far more useful than I may make it sound.

Assuming your project background color is black, changing the opacity of the tail end of your clip is sufficient to achive this effect. Another way to do this is to put a black clip (still image) under (or over, depending on your program's layout) the clip you want to fade. You could also cross-fade into the black clip (still image) to get the same effect. If you were feeling adventurous, you could make the fade-to-black effect while making the clip with AviSynth and VirtualDub/Mod.

I hear a lot about this AviSynth and VirtualDub/Mod stuff. In the future, I might check it out.

I did have to rewatch a bunch of the anime, which led me to a nice discovery.

There's an interesting idea.

Best way to edit 'faster' is to just edit using cuts and scene changes to the beat of the music or lyric... That's the only way I can think of if sheer speed is what you're looking for...

I tried this actually. It made me very excited. I actually synced up a lot of my clips. I showed the rendering to my friend and he says, “Are you sure that this is your synced video?” And I said, “Yes! It’s my synced video! It’s not done but it’s synced!” And he says, “What?” and I say, “Well, maybe only the first 10 seconds are synced.” But let me tell you. It was AWESOME!

Thanks everyone. I've got some research to do to understand what half of your video editing jargon means. I really am reading all of this and plan to try most of it out.