Heather's W/T Videos new vid 5/15

[Tarafied4Life]

Hi, All!

I've been playing around with Windows Movie Maker for about three months now, and I've finally finished a W/T vid I think is good enough to share with other people (I hope). It's sort of a retrospective of their season 4 relationship, set to Michelle Branch's "I'd Rather Be In Love."

It can be found here: http://rapidshare.de/files/14967588/RatherBeInLove_0001.zip.html

Sorry it's on one of those hosting services, but I don't have any webspace of my own. Hope it's watchable, and any feedback would be greatly appreciated (be gentle!)

[Foomatic]

Hi there! Just watched your vid, and I have to say that was pretty good! I liked the song you used, and you did a good job of picking out the right clips to go with the music. Kudos for not being hindered by the chronological order of the scenes. When I vid I have a hard time arranging clips out of sequence, it feels like I'm messing with the natural order of things or something. It's kinda limiting, cause it makes my vids all kinda look the same. Anyways, I wasn't bothered by it at all while watching your vid, you made it work really well. Great job!

On the constructive criticism side . . .

You can tell how new a person is to vidding by all the flashy transitions they use (I was guilty of this too when I first started editing video, so no worries!). Though it looks cool, it kinda detracts from the vid and from the story you're telling. People will like your vid for the way you put it together, not for all the cool effects you can do. Use them sparingly and when it calls for it, like during a particular beat of the music that you want to highlight, or to draw attention to a certain scene, or for emotional impact. You used a lot of them in your vid (some of them looked really neat!), and I felt that it made the vid a bit disjointed and jumpy. Cross dissolves and fade-in/fade-out transitions work wonders in their simplicity; they can create really nice fluid movement between scenes and will smooth out your vids, making them flow from beginning to end.

Also, there was a lot of 'talky face' in your vid, you know, mouth moves but no dialogue. Some instances, you absolutely cannot avoid it (I've been there, I've felt its pain ). One of the easiest way to avoid it is by slowing down the clip and just using the facial expressions at the beginning or the end of what they're saying. It's a hard thing to get around, but try and be creative. Your vids will be more enjoyable to watch if you can find ways around 'talky face'. I think vids are a lot like trailers . . . a well put together trailer has no 'talky face' and effectively mixes the music and the visuals for the most emotional impact. But of course, you'll always be at the mercy of the clips you have, and you can't really help that.

So yeah, you can tell how big of a vid nerd I am by the length of this post, but I liked your vid and hope that I didn't step out of my boundaries with my constructive criticism. I've watched a lot of Willow and Tara vids, and it's been a while since one has caught my eye. It's a great first effort, and hopefully you'll continue to make more. I hope this was useful to you. Thanks for sharing!

[Tarafied4Life]

Foo - Overstepped your bounds? Not at all! I appreciate the advice, especially from someone who's done as many great videos as you have!

Definitely guilty as charged on the transitions - can you tell I'm still getting into this? "Ooh, I can do transitions," says I, and then I do a billion of them. I did like the one when Tara's dorm room door's closing though - for some reason that worked out way too well.

Guilty also on the 'talky face' phenomenon. I never thought of slowing down the clips to help with that - thanks for the tip!

I'm glad you liked the vid, though, and I definitely have plans in the works for more - still have to capture my other DVD's (so far I've only captured S.4) so I have more clips to work with.

Thanks very much for watching, and the advice. Always happy to learn from someone who's done this more than me. Ciao!

[k-prime]

I really enjoyed it, especially for a first vid! I'm agreeing with Foo, I really liked how you played with the timeline, it gave you a lot more options on where to take the idea.
I hope you post some more when you're done!

[Tarafied4Life]

She's baaaaack...

New vid - the song is Lonestar's "Amazed." Just a fun vid, 100% angst-free with plenty o' ! Feedback is as always appreciated!

http://rapidshare.de/files/18200013/amazed_0001.zip.html

Thanks for watching!

Heather

[petal of roses]

Hiya Heather

How ya doin’?? Good I hope. Sorry for the lack of words lately, so many things going on at the moment but talk to you soon.

But hey that’s a really sweet W/T vid with indeed plenty o’ and the song is very fitting too.

Very well done

Take care,
~Rosella~

[Tarafied4Life]

Hi, Rosella!

Good to hear from you - I was starting to wonder if everything was okay, but I feel a little better now. Thanks so much for the comments on the vid! Glad you liked it - I was really happy with the way that one turned out.

Talk to you soon!

Heather

[Foomatic]

Hey Heather!

Just watched your new vid, and wow, leaps and bounds better than the first! I'm glad you stuck with the simple dissolves, it made your vid flow nicely! I liked your clip selections, it fit well with the song. I love the clip you used at 2:12, I thought it matched the lyrics and the swell in the song. Great job!

Just a technical question: I noticed that when you slo-mo'd some of the clips, the transition would lag a bit, leaving a still frame shot until it completely dissolved into the next clip. Is that because of the program you used, or did you do it intentionally? It was a bit distracting.

All in all, a great second effort. Keep it up!

[Tarafied4Life]

Hey, Foo!

Thanks so much for the kind words! I'm glad to hear I'm improving at this, as it's quite fun and I'm certainly looking forward to doing more.

As for the slo-mo'd clips, that problem seems to lie with Windows Movie Maker. I tried every workaround I could to get it to stop doing that, but to no avail, so finally I just said the heck with it and left it as is. I definitely didn't do it on purpose - I find it distracting too - I just couldn't fix it.

Heather

[Tarafied4Life]

Back again, with the product of a new video editor and some angsty moments. There's a lot of talking head in this vid, but I left in intentionally 'cause it sort of suited the mood of the song, which is largely about a lack of communication.

Set during the season 6 breakup, the song is Great Big Sea's "How did we get from saying I Love You..."

http://rapidshare.de/files/20551857/How.zip.html

Enjoy!

Heather

[Devi Crystalseeker]

Just watched the "Amazed" vid, and I really gotta thank you for making it. It's such "heartcandy" (you know, like eyecandy, except it doesn't stop at the eyes). *happy sigh*

I'd like to watch the "How did we..." one too, but the link expired, so if and only if it's not too much of a hassle for you, could you please re-upload it? Thank you.

[Tarafied4Life]

Devi:

Sorry about the expired link - I wish I had enough webspace to host these myself. Here's the new link:

http://rapidshare.de/files/24672550/How.zip.html

I'm glad you liked the heartcandy that was the "Amazed" vid - it made me smile to make it, and if it makes one other person smile I'm happy. The "How..." one is quite a bit more angsty, but good to watch nonetheless, I hope.

Heather

[Devi Crystalseeker]

Yes, it was good to watch. Sad, but good. Thank you!

[Thorn]

YAY!