JOURNAL: Torchlight (Brad Wilson)

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  • Underway... finally! 2003-01-08 10:40:35 Last night I finally started laying clips. I think I've said it earlier - a blank timeline is a daunting thing. Getting clips in place is comforting, to say the least. I didn't get the amount of work done yesterday that I had planned to, however. Its funny - I take a day off of work with hopes to get massive amounts of work done on the vid, and in the end get little accomplished. Most of the day was spent running errands and doing housework that I normally do not get the opportunity to do on a work day.

    I am, however, planning on getting quite a bit accomplished tonight. I'm caught up on housework, the girlfriend is out of town - for the most part, I can just head home after work and get down to business. I'd really like to make the most out of the next few days. I desire to have a solid start on this project before class starts up again on Monday.

    So, I plan on laying down a good framework of clips. Also, I have begun watching each episode again with a notebook and pen - keeping a watchful eye out for specific clips I'd like to use. This may sound a bit tedious, but I'm a firm believer that footage selection is the most important ingredient to a good AMV. Moreso because I'm trying to communicate a very specific idea - not an action vid. Action vids are great - I plan on doing one in the future, but I think footage selection is easier. Maybe I'm mistaken...

    I'm creating this video in the same manner as I write papers for school - in drafts. My first draft will be very basic - the clips will be set, but I won't focus too intently on timing, cuts, effects... That will come later - with each draft, I will tighten up the presentation until it reaches what I initially envisioned. That will be a fun day. So wish me luck tonight, for I hope to accomplish much!

    Be back soon... 
  • The boredom! 2003-01-06 10:26:22 Arrrrghhh....

    I had forgot just how tedious the process of gathering source footage really is. I suppose if I really wanted I could cut some corners and get done faster, but I really want to do this the best way possible - that way, when I finally get done with the prep work, my editing experience will be quite nice.

    I'll be using the method outlined in AD and Ermac's AMV guide - ie, using low quality, AVIs to edit with, and then replacing with DVD quality footage for the final export. It really is going to be a clean and fast way of doing things. However, the guide wasn't kidding when it pointed out that this method will take some extra prep time. In the end, though, I think it will be worth it.

    Just a simple outline of the process so far:

    -Use DVD Decrypter to rip VOB vid stream files for each of the 26 Trigun episodes.
    -Use DVD2AVI to create d2v files for each episode.
    -Create AVSynth scripts for each of the 26 episodes - these include MPEG2DEC of course, as well as Decomb, smoothing, and forced 24 fps (for Premiere - why cant Adobe just allow us to edit in 23.976 fps?)
    -Use VirtualDub to process AVS files into low quality AVIs using the PICVideo MJPEG codec. This codec, by the way, IS blisteringly fast for editing. Awesome!

    Making the AVIs, of course, is what is taking the longest. Roughly 35 minutes for each episode. 26 episodes, plus the intro... you do the math. My editing machine? An AMD Athlon XP 1800+, 512 MB DDR RAM, 16x DVD-ROM, 40GB & 80GB Hard Drive... (*dreams of 3.06 GHz Pentium 4*) However, the nice thing about this part of the process is that once I start an episode compressing, I can just let it do its thing, come back in 35 minutes, wash, rinse, and repeat.

    I was able to complete prepping the first 3 discs last night, which left me with 16 episodes to go... in the neighborhood of 9 hours left. Hmmmm... funny - 9 hours is the amount of time I will spend at work today... which is why editing box is sitting right next to me at work, currently crunching away on Episode 12. Might as well use my time at work constructively - nothing else to do. (I'm a cell phone dealer, and business is dead dead dead!) With any luck, I'll be all set to start the actual EDITING tonight.

    I need to stop by the record store and pick up a new copy of Jars of Clay's self-titled album. My copy is all scratched to hell - and I want to do a perfect encode off the CD - I thought about using MP3, but decided against it - I want quality and I want to do it up right. Plus, the last 3 tracks on the CD dont work due to scratches, so I need a new copy anyway.

    Be back soon... 
  • Down to business 2003-01-05 13:52:24 I went to a wedding yesterday, so obviously, I did not get much accomplished. However - Friday night I was able to completely finish ripping the VOB files from the DVDs of the entire series. Today I finally get a nice, whole afternoon with nothing to do but work on the project.

    The next step is going to be to prepare those VOBs for editing. Absolute Destiny and Ermac's AMV guide is an invaluable resource - I will be using a couple of techniques that they have outlined there.

    Not much to say today - I just wanted to provide a quick update. Truth be told, I'm in a hurry to get to work today!

    Be back soon... 
  • Tsk... tsk... tsk... 2003-01-03 10:12:36 Ok, so I indulged myself a little bit. Last night, I accomplished absolutely NO work on the actual vid. Well, sorta - I didn't rip any footage, anyway. I did a couple of other things, however.

    I'll admit it - most of the night was spent in an egotistical exercise. A couple of hours tinkering with Streamline, Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere, After Effects, and Soundforge - and I have a new intro clip for Torchlight Videosmithing. I know, I know - fancy studio intros do not a good AMV make. And I probably wont even end up using it as it would probably just make my final online distro even bigger. I'll want to save space where I can.

    Still, it was very satisfying to do. I had forgotten that feeling that one gets after spending a couple hours in front of the computer, editing away. The clock reads 2 in the morning, but on the screen is this thing you've made - and it is good. Yup.

    Apart from the vid, I plan on piecing together a website for myself. An online acquaintaince of mine runs ipaska.net - an awesome hosting service. $25/month gets me 30GB/month of extremely fast and reliable bandwidth, which I think is a pretty good deal. Nice thing about this project is that I can tinker with it while I'm at work - it won't cut into my editing time at home.

    I also spent a considerable amount of time downloading and viewing AMV's from my fellow creators. A couple were actually worth the time spent downloading them. ;) Seriously though, there are some amazing vids out there that inspire my own creativity - our community is capable of great things. I used to be a jazzman - saxaphone, to be exact. Every now and then, I still fool around with it. From that I learned that the best way to improve is to examine what others have done. And that's what I plan to do!

    Be back later... 
  • Start your engines 2003-01-02 12:12:51 The fun begins... now. I finished "Under the Sky so Blue" at approximately 9:13 pm last night. It was well after 10:00 pm before I got up from the couch and shut off the television. It took me that long to just sit there and reflect upon the whole ordeal. Say what you will, but Trigun is absolutely amazing. I'm not merely entertained - it makes me think. I often wonder if I would have the strength to defend my own ideals in the face of such adversity...

    So, the real process will most likely begin tonight. Since the Blue Sub incident, I have since reformatted my hard drive, and I did not bother to reinstall my editing software. Oddly enough, I'm using (mostly) legal software. Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere, After Effects, Flash, Soundforge - and of course, Virtualdub, Nandub, TMPGenc, Smartripper, AVIsynth... Its nice having friends in high places when the university's video lab buys all new software.

    It reminded me of that scene near the end of the series where Vash is shaving in front of a mirror, preparing for the showdown with Knives. I felt just like that, installing software after software, creating folders, cleaning up my desktop - making final preparations before the dance begins.

    And really, all I have to do tonight is... begin. If there's one thing I hate, it is a blank timeline. Like a mountain waiting to be climbed... Ah well, tonight all I will worry about is starting the ripping of the DVD's and my audio track. I also might indulge myself and begin work on my "studio clip" for the beginning of the AMV. I've got this vision of my logo for Torchlight Videosmithing being backlit while the words are etched out by blue light. I think I can accomplish this by using Trapcode's Shine plug-in for After Effects.

    So tonight I will begin the gruntwork. Most likely, the DVD rips will take me a considerable amount of time, and actual video work will have to wait for a few days. Ah well, its a process.

    Be back soon... 
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