Vid Recs - Wading through the Crap so You Don't have to.

[sisabet]

I've been on a rant on the boards about the lack of basic editing and crap that is generally passing as vids of late and I have finally figured out why: There are so many good vids that have come out, just in the last 2 weeks that it has just made the unholy awfulness of the other vids that much more apparent. Also - if you weren't actively involved and didn't know the vidders, then you wouldn't which vids are worth at least 3 minutes of your life and which ones will make you claw your eyes out. I would hate to think that someone's first experience in watching a fanvid would squick them on the medium forever - A life without fanvids just really wouldn't be living -y'know?

Luminosity has a new Angel vid out "Nightmares." If you haven't seen it, go now and download. It is set season 4 and it is amazing. It requires multiple viewings and deep thoughts. Pay attention to the characters, lyrics and motivations. This vid tells a story and it will really get you pumped in the "What's gonna happen next?" way. So when is the next new Angel episode supposed to air?
Get it here: http://www.kamil.slashcity.com/eyecandy/

Valerie has posted her Dawn vid. Set to Garbage, "When I Grow up" is not only a perfect ode to Dawn, it is Valerie's first vid made with Premiere. Go Valerie!! She captures Dawn's youthfulness and stubbornness and will make you pro-Dawn if you aren't already. Plus - some really cool moments (look for the door sequence and the tower "moment" - very nice editing there). This is a character study that loves its character - we see Dawn mature and take charge, and she is growing into an exceptional young lady, *sniff* and I would say more but i might get choked up.
Get it here: http://www.bandofbuggered.com

Miz Jain's "Her Platinum Baby" has been recced to death of late and if you haven't seen it already, where have you been? Under a rock? It is my new favorite shipper vid and is in many ways perfect. Go watch it. Then notice that she has a brand new Spike vid - "Of Eternity and Ghosts" which is quite moving as well. I just saw it this morning with my coffee and it definitely deserves several repeats and serious thoughts. Maybe I don't hate Spike - I just hate shit vids about him. Dawn wanted season 7 footage in this vid - I'm pretty sure Miz Jain made the correct call in keeping the soul out this vid (and the season 6 skankfest - although personally I love a good skank). God - it is quite beautiful - I'm watching it again as I type this. Spike's victories and failures -he is haunted by it all - but not in a cheezy way at all. The more I watch the more I get. This is why I like vidding/vidders/vids - stuff like this. Stuff you can sink your teeth into and then wish that you did. Also - Poe. I now have a Poe-vid playlist. That is so cool.
Get them both here: http://astonishing.mizjain.org/

Other Recent Vid Recs:

Linzee vids Buffy/Angel in "Downfall." Dawn wanted to give serious feedback onlist to this vid but was too jealous. I really like it as well and not just because I not-so-secretly long for a B/A ending - I like it because it is good. While you are at Linzee's site, get "Disease" as well.
Go here: http://linzeestyle.com/videos/btvs/one.html

Speaking of B/A...

Vyra's "Sleep Alone" is one of the most original fanvids I have ever seen. Seriously, she has created something very unique and I am very interested in discussing it. The vid has the look and feel of a pro vid (maybe Wicked Game?) and truly warrants viewing -even if you are not appreciative of the B/A pairing. Dawn is forever and ever Vyra's bitch because of her Wes/Lilah vid "Detour" - damn that vid is hot. Devil Piglet - go watch it! Everyone else as well.
Get them both here: http://www.vrya.net/ts/index.php

Everyone has already seen Morgaine's Faith vid set to "Ganster's Paradise" right? Cause I would feel really sorry for you otherwise.
Get it here: http://www.chezmorgaine.com/

Also - since it is my LJ - I want to rec the re-do of here's luck's "Writing Notes" again. Why? Because it is damn good and people need to see it, that's why.
Get it here: http://webpages.charter.net/heresluck/

Good vids...ahhhh...that's more like it!

Vid Rec Fever - Catch it!

Comments

[kitkatbyte.livejournal.com]

Wow.. Thanks for the recs. I don't know how I let some of those slip part my radar.

I really liked the firelfy vids. Do you know where I can find some more of those?

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[sisabet.livejournal.com]

I bet you downloaded Debchan's and Laura Shapiro's new vid that Bonibaru rec'ed today. Debchan has an awesome FF vid called "Touring" and Bonibaru did, IMO, one of the best episodic vids ever to "Hallejuah" - She will know much more about where to find the good stuff, she always knows where to find the good stuff.... I think it is a gift.

[kitkatbyte.livejournal.com]

I bet you downloaded Debchan's and Laura Shapiro's new vid that Bonibaru rec'ed today.

Oh, oops.. yeah, I read her rec right before yours. I've seen "Touring" and "Hallejuah" already... they're very good. :) I'll go ask Bonibaru for some links.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_flaming_june_/]

Thanks so much for the recs, I downloaded a bunch of them. I haven't seen very many BtVS vids so it's great not to have to jump in without any guidance. There is indeed alot of crap out there.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

If you want an extensive guide to some of the best vids on the net, try Jen's rec page : http://www.bonibaru.com/vidrecs.htm - I remember when it was my goal in life to get a vid on that page, and how excited I was when she rec'ed "Twilight Zone"...ah memories...

[vrya.livejournal.com]

Vyra's "Sleep Alone" is one of the most original fanvids I have ever seen

aw, you're too sweet, thanks for the rec! this was just me having too much fun with special effects... though if you can't find anyone else to discuss with, I'm more than happy to blab on about it, while the creative process is still fresh in my mind... and now I'm getting the itch to go work on another one, but am fearing the time commitment, esp. since all my current ideas are rather nebulous and would require largish amounts of capping, not to mention pondering.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

I think your background shows in this vid - you approached the footage quite differently from any other vid I have ever seen. The quality of the source is also quite nice - especially considering what you put it through - how were you able to move into the shot without losing resolution? You capture your own source, right? The repetition of the images worked for me in both vids - and I do have both vids on my shortlist for feedback (unfortunately my short list is growing and growing).

[vrya.livejournal.com]

>I think your background shows in this vid

yeah, I was kinda going for a "collage in motion" sorta thing, right down to adding the stars like I would have if I was in photoshop. I even remember wishing there was a way to set the blend to "overlay" or "screen" during fades like you can do with different layers in an image...

>how were you able to move into the shot without losing resolution?
>You capture your own source, right?

yeah, I was quite happy with how that turned out, I thought I'd get all sorts of artifacting... I captured the source off some VHS of FX re-broadcasts and the season 2 commercial VHS set and then rendered to compressed avi 740X480 and used those for my source when assembling the vid. I hoped that if I started out way bigger than my target res (VCD), I'd be able to zoom in quite a bit before things would get wonky, and it seems to have worked...

>The repetition of the images

oh good, 'cause I love repetition...

>unfortunately my short list is growing and growing

yeah, tell me about it... when did recreation get to be so much work? ;-)

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

yeah, I was quite happy with how that turned out, I thought I'd get all sorts of artifacting... I captured the source off some VHS of FX re-broadcasts and the season 2 commercial VHS set and then rendered to compressed avi 740X480 and used those for my source when assembling the vid. I hoped that if I started out way bigger than my target res (VCD), I'd be able to zoom in quite a bit before things would get wonky, and it seems to have worked...

I will try not to bug you to death with technical questions - but what avi codec are you using when you capture? I'm always curious about codecs:)

Also - I know you are totally Adobe-based -right? How much of Sleep Alone was created using After-Effects? Eunice has finally gotten me to open the program and peek inside and when I wasn't totally afraid, I was actually kind of excited by the possibilities - Look I made a "y" move and all that - so I'm interested on your thoughts on editing and special effect programs.

[vrya.livejournal.com]

I will try not to bug you to death with technical questions - but what avi codec are you using when you capture? I'm always curious about codecs:)

no problem! I'm still stumbling around a bit in the dark when it comes to codecs, so the more discussion the better! I actually don't have a choice what to capture at, because Dell's Dazzle/VideoWave deal is evil... the Dazzle breakoutbox that mediates between my vcr and computer will only work with VideoWave, and VideoWave is the wonkiest program I've ever been stuck using. In theory, I should be able to cap at different sizes and with different codecs, but in practice, I'm stuck with DVSoft uncompressed AVI at 720x480 (3522 kbps). Fortunately that happens to work pretty well, but I'd like the option to change it, or to use the preset templates the manual swears are in the program, but which aren't. [insert generic rant here]. From there, I process to something more reasonable for storage and viewing, usually vcd-compliant mpegs, but in the case of Sleep Alone, I wanted that bigger pixel count, and I found that my editing software refused to work with larger mpegs without the purchase of an additional codec (though it'll work with vcd-sized ones just fine. don't ask, I have no clue.) so I tried an avi codec instead. Ran a few different test versions, and ended up deciding that indeo video 5.06 at 720x480 and 762 kbs were the specs for me. I'm not sure how scientific those tests were, or if it was more of a matter of giving up as soon as I found something that worked...

Also - I know you are totally Adobe-based -right? How much of Sleep Alone was created using After-Effects? Eunice has finally gotten me to open the program and peek inside and when I wasn't totally afraid, I was actually kind of excited by the possibilities - Look I made a "y" move and all that - so I'm interested on your thoughts on editing and special effect programs.

Actually, other than Photoshop used to create the star image that I panned over to create the night-sky effect, Adobe wasn't involved in Sleep Alone at all... Premiere's too rich for my blood and I haven't quite convinced myself to pirate a copy. And I'm not even really sure what AfterEffects *is*.

Instead I bought this pretty nice (except for the whole mpeg codec issue mentioned above!) editing package called VideoFactory (sonicfoundry.com) for like $60. I haven't used premiere other than a little capping back in college, so I can't really say how it compares, but it certainly seems to do just about everything I could ask for *and* unlike VideoWave, it doesn't freeze up every few minutes. There's an unlockable demo version with save disabled you can download from the site if you want to take a look. I found it very intuitive, and it actually has some very decent in-program tutorial stuff.

The main feature I took advantage of in Sleep Alone was the pan & crop... for each clip, you set a bounding box for where you want the "start" to be, and where you want the "end" to be, and then it fills in the movement/resizing/rotation to get you between those two boxes. Not sure if I'm explaining that right, lemme know if you need a more coherent explanation.... It's pretty neat, and I found it was a nice way to put a new twist on the same old footage you've seen a thousand times before in a thousand different vids. I found it particularily useful for continuing the motion from one scene into another completely unrelated scene. Not as good as filming it yourself, of course, but a good start! Also, for cropping out all those damn corner logos in Detour, near the end... my Habeas Corpses footage had the time and temperature and 2 station logos down there, it was a mess. but I digress...

I haven't done playing with all the special effects available, but it seems like a full arsenal. Transition, glow, etc. Oh, and old film. (Sigh, I love old film, even used a very slight version of it in SA, but managed to resist the depths of scratchy noir.) More then enough to get you into trouble -- ie amateurish overdone mess... which is how I was afraid Sleep Alone was going to come off! -- if you're so so inclined ;-)

Okay, how's that for rambling... hope I haven't gone over the LJ limit!

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[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Not at all and now I am all kinds of impressed.

I have been using DivX Mpeg 4 Fastmotion, but I'm wanting to make the switch to DivX Pro.5 - I just have to finish up the current crop of vids in progress. I haven't tried indeo at all - I did like the quality of Sleep Alone, it was so beautifully shot - even though I know you did not actually shoot the footage - the vid feels like you did. I have only started playing with the image pan on Premiere - it is kind of fun - but what you did was inspiring. Go you with the original look. Plus Moby - very haunting song choice. If I could get my sister to stop hogging the computer watcing "Detour" I would watch it even more.

After-Effects is an Adobe Program -- I don't really know what it can and can't do - apparently it is like photoshop for vids - therefore I would think, right up your alley :) - I do know it can animate text and morph things and add masks or something (I don't really know what that means) -Oh and I used it to add an old time film effect to part of my new Angel vid. I feel very brave just for opening the program, if you want to know the truth.

[vrya.livejournal.com]

I have been using DivX Mpeg 4 Fastmotion, but I'm wanting to make the switch to DivX Pro.5

Alas, I've had zero luck trying to produce my own DivX (4 or 5) files. I'm lucky that I can *play* them, and even then, my computer is sometimes cranky. Ah codecs, who knew they would be so finicky? John and I struggled for days before finally giving up trying to get some older avi's (like a couple of years old) to play on his new laptop. Installed every codec known to earth and no joy, though they play fine on my windowsME. Worse than cross-browser compatability!

I have only started playing with the image pan on Premiere - it is kind of fun

It is *all* kinds of fun. If I was really creative and possessed of even more free time than I'm currently enjoying, I think it would be cool to use the image-pan feature to do a "documentary" in the style of one of those civil war documentaries with the faded still photos and voice-overs, only telling the story of how Buffy saves the world. But I think that's too much of an undertaking even for me...

apparently it is like photoshop for vids

Oh, sounds nifty... I actually discovered that VideoFactory has a limited version of masking itself, which hopefully I will one day figure out a non-cheesy way... oh wait, I just had an idea... wow... that would be... hmm, have to think about that some more! what was I saying? oh yeah, masks... if aftereffects masks are anything like ps masks, you would be able to hide parts of a vid layer so that other parts of an underlying vid layer showed through. So you could do a "video in a window" type effect. Or a 2-way split screen. stuff like that...

[myriad69.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm having a lovely day, downloading and watching vids... but for some reason, I can't get Vyra's "Sleep Alone" or "Detour" to work... they are .rm files, and I have no idea what an .rm file is.... and they won't open in my media player or quicktime. I know I'm a video loser and I don't know much about much, so could you please please please help?

I did download all of her mp3 files, and they are BRILLIANT. I want to learn to do that.

.rm is realmedia

[(Anonymous)]

You need Realplayer to play them.

-Xia

Re: .rm is realmedia

[myriad69.livejournal.com]

Oh bless your Video Knowledgable heart!!

I HAD realplayer on my computer, it now seems to be, well, not there. I shall procede to download.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Like Aexia said - a realmedia player should fix that problem. You can download it here: http://www.realone.com/realoneplayer.html?pp=home&src=022003nba_r1&pcode=nba

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[myriad69.livejournal.com]

Thank you!! That helped a lot! And now I can watch these lovely videos to my heart's content!

Coming to you LIVE from Escapade

[luminosity]

There will be much more in the mail to you when I get home, but... BUT

YOU ROCKED THE HOUSE. I'm serious, and I know you'll hear about it later; but I wanted to be first, and I hope I am. :) Closer blew them away--the entire viewing con, in a group.

Sigh. I'm so glad I know you. Look for an email.

Re: Coming to you LIVE from Escapade

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

*Much Screaming Ensues* Seriously?

[heresluck]

I've dl-ed all these already but haven't had a chance to watch them all yet. You've inspired me -- I'll be doing some catching up tomorrow, I can tell.

I'd LOVE to see a serious vid discussion on Nummy Treat -- of "Sleep Alone," "Downfall," or whatever -- so if you'll start, I'll chime in. Or, hell, I can start it... although it sounds like I'd have to say good things, and I have to uphold my reputation for being Mean And Evil.

CONGRATULATIONS, by the way, on gettin' the love at Escapade; you deserve it. I know you've said that "Closer" isn't a perfect vid, and maybe you're right, but from where I'm sitting it's damn good, so I'm glad a bunch of heretofore unsuspecting people got to find that out.

And, as long as I'm blathering on, thanks again for your rec of "Writing Notes." Your good opinion means a lot to me; I appreciate it, and you.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

I'm holding off on the serious discussion thing at Nummy Treat and instead attempting a Video Bootcamp thread at www.bandofbuggered.com - I know the vidders there and I prefer to start small - basically if a vidder wants in depth constructive feedback for the purposes of improving - they can request it and their vid will be discussed - critically and indepth, along with recommendations on what to focus on for the next vid, or if interested, revisions of the current vid. So far it is working out quite well. Stop by if you get a chance - I think I mentioned you at least once in a feedback (Something along the lines of : If you notice a cool angle in your vid, exploit the hell out of it. For more on that see here's luck's "Atropine"). I know for a fact that your feedback is highly coveted, so anything you have to say will certainly be appreciated.

I'm quite excited about the Escapade thing - just the fact that the vid was shown = me beaming.

And as always, "Writing Notes" is wonderful and a great example of what can be done in a well-thought out, carefully plotted and planned vid. Maybe the Boot Camp thread should dissect some really good vids as well as examples of what can be achieved. Also - since it is a revision, it would be a great example of vidder growth. If we did this, would it be okay to use "Writing Notes"? I'd use "Laid" but since I did one and Dawn did another it seems a little skewed.

[heresluck]

I just checked out your Video Bootcamp threat at BoB and I LOVE IT. Maybe you'll be able to train an entire cadre of feedbackers, and then they can take over Nummy Treat all at once. That could be fun, in a death-and-bloodshed kind of way.

I thought about joining in, but had some qualms. There seems to be a community already very much in place at BoB, and despite your kind invitation I'm a little worried that, as a relative stranger tromping in solely for purposes of critique, I might upset the we're-all-friends-here vibe. If you don't think that's the case, I'd be delighted to come on over, but I wanted to double-check with you before I did anything potentially disruptive.

Either way, you're more than welcome to add "Writing Notes" to the list of things to discuss; my only request would be that you put it up for full discussion (critique as well as praise). You'd also be welcome to compare the original with the revision; I don't have the original (I revised it so I wouldn't have to look at the original EVER AGAIN), but I know that renenet does, and I could re-post it if you wanted to do before/after. If nothing else, it's certainly a shining example of all the ways that eliminating Talky Heads improves a vid. That's the thing in all my early vids that most makes me want to crawl under my desk and hide. So go you for calling all those vids on it in the boot camp thread; now those vidders will be able to watch their work in nine months without cringing.

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[sisabet.livejournal.com]

I would love your participation - hee - we have feedbackers-In-Training -FiTs! It would not be you tromping at all - you have great thoughts, and experience and I can't imagine anyone not salivating at the mouth for your feedback.

I still have the original "Writing Notes" and I could probably put it up somewhere - I think it could be a useful exercise, but only if you are comfortable with it. I will continue to rail against the talking heads - well except for David Byrne - I like him.

I'm hoping the thread works - I have high, high hopes.

[heresluck]

All right then -- I've GOT to catch up a little on my pre-existing backlog of Feedback To Send, but then I'll come join you over at BoB.

In the meantime, please feel free to put "Writing Notes" up for discussion -- or would you rather I came over and suggested it myself? Let me know how you want to handle this. I'm perfectly comfortable either way; I wouldn't post stuff on the internet if I didn't want it watched or didn't feel okay about the notion of people discussing it.

From what I saw, the thread is ALREADY working; I'm looking forward to seeing it develop!

Also? FiTs! Hee!

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[sisabet.livejournal.com]

I'm gonna get thru this first round of suggestions - at least try to get to Eden's vid. Then we will see how it goes. I think this will really be good - and fun. Now Dawn is sitting behind me singing "I miss the time when life was so brand new to me..." Now she is crying. I may have to do this when she is on call at the hospital.

Hee - vid Boot Camp is fun.

[heresluck]

Crap! That reminds me -- there's one teeny little re-revision I have to make to WN before you put it up for discussion -- it's something Dawn suggested and I think she was completely right-on. Possibly she and I are the only two people in the world who will notice it, but it was a really smart suggestion.

I'll get right on that and have the new version up in the next day or so...

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[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Hee - let me know when you are ready.

[linzeestyle.livejournal.com]

Linzee vids Buffy/Angel in "Downfall." Dawn wanted to give serious feedback onlist to this vid but was too jealous. I really like it as well and not just because I not-so-secretly long for a B/A ending - I like it because it is good. While you are at Linzee's site, get "Disease" as well.

I wandered over after finding this link through my webstats and just wanted to thank you for the rec - it made me all but squeal in delight (yes I'm easily pleased*g*).

And now I'm going to go back to downloading the rest of these recs - yay! for further clogging my hard drive with music videos!

Linzee

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Thank you - Downfall was gorgeous and made my sister seethe with jealousy. We have both owed you feedback since "Disease" but I get behind on things easily ;)

[ozonebaby.livejournal.com]

Of course I'm gonna love Nightmares (duh, it's kind of a requirement to live here), but I checked out When I Grow Up, and you were right; superb Dawn vid. Great rec! :)

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[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Hee - you cracked me up.