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Gah.
Bah humbug, enough with my constant need to explain myself-
I'm enjoying editing- I'm *almost* done with my current AMV. I'm just a little frustrated because I need to fill in this little gap in the middle, and fill in the end.
Spoiler-
It's the Downeaster Alexa one, for Zuko. I get things to a point where I've got an image of Zuko laying down his letter to Mai and then heading off after the Gaang in the mini war-balloon, right after "Tell my wife I am trawling Atlantis- and I still have my hands on the wheel...". There's an instrumental section, then I have the image of Zuko waking up from his fever dream and touching his scar, before "Now I drive my Downeaster Alexa more and more miles from shore every year..." where it's back to Siege-of-the-North Zuko hunting the Avatar- back to his driving, despairing quest because that's all he can ever do (at least that's the impression I've gotten that he felt sometimes during the show, leading to some of his more boneheaded decisions).
Now- what do I do to fill in that little dream of his? It's not *very* long, just about 30 seconds, and it can't really be cut out (I considered ending it right after the balloon, but I like doing the full thing)- but I can't just toss in random clips for the interlude. Briefly, I'd had some clips of him at the Western Air Temple climbing down the rope, offering himself as prisoner to the Gaang, then getting struck with water- but that didn't really look right or tell enough story (or have enough built up to it within the video to make sense), so away it went.
God, I wish I had someone to *talk* to about this stuff... you can find beta-readers or professional editors, you can consult artist friends or anatomy books, but for AMV editing it seems like one has to be encased in this tiny little bubble and work utterly in a vaccuum, barring having knowledgeable editing friends on-hand to be dragged to the screen. I know part of this is the logistics of showing it- either you have to save a file of the unfinished version and find someone willing to download it, or put it up somewhere where it will be judged on its incomplete merits. And it's sort of a hard thing to give advice on- it's not precisely ruled the way paragraphs or grammar are, nor does it have rules of literary criticism for the meaning behind the images combined with the lyrics. Or if it does, I don't know them.
I'll figure it out on my own eventually, but I admit, I've got a silly need to bounce things off someone knowledgeable, just to see if I'm on the right track.
Anyway, the middle gap is kind of the biggie, but I'm also working on the ending, where basically it's Siege-of-the-North Zuko running over the glacier with Aang- it's after "I was a bayman like my father was before- can't make a living as a bayman anymore- there ain't much future for a man who works the sea, but there ain't no island left for islanders like me-" and the very final bit at the end is Zuko laying down to rest on the raft with Iroh. He's done his best, it hasn't worked out, he's going to take a nap. I'm trying to figure if I should just run the bit where he's running across the cracking ice and blend it into that, possibly with a little bit of having the Gaang rescue him from the ice, or should I intersperse the beats in the action with images from the rest of his life- Azula laughing, Ozai being all Ozai-ish, him redirecting lighting, showing some of the struggle he's been through and the ungrateful people he's worked his life away for?
That's the big thing of this video, isn't it. He's still hunting away at a fruitless quest that by rights he shouldn't be on at all- he's serving faithless masters, and eventually realizes just how torn he is even as he badgers away at his stubbornly-held idea of destiny. That's kind of what I want to show in that middle-gap, how things could be better/the goodness of the Gaang he's been chasing/the alternate destiny of teaching the Avatar firebending. I'm just not sure how to do it yet.
I'll figure something out.
Also- AC/DC's coming back to my area! I don't have the money to see them, and I need to concentrate on getting a job and/or getting back to school (my six-month grace period is up in September and I don't get another one, even when/if I eventually graduate), but still!
I'm enjoying editing- I'm *almost* done with my current AMV. I'm just a little frustrated because I need to fill in this little gap in the middle, and fill in the end.
Spoiler-
It's the Downeaster Alexa one, for Zuko. I get things to a point where I've got an image of Zuko laying down his letter to Mai and then heading off after the Gaang in the mini war-balloon, right after "Tell my wife I am trawling Atlantis- and I still have my hands on the wheel...". There's an instrumental section, then I have the image of Zuko waking up from his fever dream and touching his scar, before "Now I drive my Downeaster Alexa more and more miles from shore every year..." where it's back to Siege-of-the-North Zuko hunting the Avatar- back to his driving, despairing quest because that's all he can ever do (at least that's the impression I've gotten that he felt sometimes during the show, leading to some of his more boneheaded decisions).
Now- what do I do to fill in that little dream of his? It's not *very* long, just about 30 seconds, and it can't really be cut out (I considered ending it right after the balloon, but I like doing the full thing)- but I can't just toss in random clips for the interlude. Briefly, I'd had some clips of him at the Western Air Temple climbing down the rope, offering himself as prisoner to the Gaang, then getting struck with water- but that didn't really look right or tell enough story (or have enough built up to it within the video to make sense), so away it went.
God, I wish I had someone to *talk* to about this stuff... you can find beta-readers or professional editors, you can consult artist friends or anatomy books, but for AMV editing it seems like one has to be encased in this tiny little bubble and work utterly in a vaccuum, barring having knowledgeable editing friends on-hand to be dragged to the screen. I know part of this is the logistics of showing it- either you have to save a file of the unfinished version and find someone willing to download it, or put it up somewhere where it will be judged on its incomplete merits. And it's sort of a hard thing to give advice on- it's not precisely ruled the way paragraphs or grammar are, nor does it have rules of literary criticism for the meaning behind the images combined with the lyrics. Or if it does, I don't know them.
I'll figure it out on my own eventually, but I admit, I've got a silly need to bounce things off someone knowledgeable, just to see if I'm on the right track.
Anyway, the middle gap is kind of the biggie, but I'm also working on the ending, where basically it's Siege-of-the-North Zuko running over the glacier with Aang- it's after "I was a bayman like my father was before- can't make a living as a bayman anymore- there ain't much future for a man who works the sea, but there ain't no island left for islanders like me-" and the very final bit at the end is Zuko laying down to rest on the raft with Iroh. He's done his best, it hasn't worked out, he's going to take a nap. I'm trying to figure if I should just run the bit where he's running across the cracking ice and blend it into that, possibly with a little bit of having the Gaang rescue him from the ice, or should I intersperse the beats in the action with images from the rest of his life- Azula laughing, Ozai being all Ozai-ish, him redirecting lighting, showing some of the struggle he's been through and the ungrateful people he's worked his life away for?
That's the big thing of this video, isn't it. He's still hunting away at a fruitless quest that by rights he shouldn't be on at all- he's serving faithless masters, and eventually realizes just how torn he is even as he badgers away at his stubbornly-held idea of destiny. That's kind of what I want to show in that middle-gap, how things could be better/the goodness of the Gaang he's been chasing/the alternate destiny of teaching the Avatar firebending. I'm just not sure how to do it yet.
I'll figure something out.
Also- AC/DC's coming back to my area! I don't have the money to see them, and I need to concentrate on getting a job and/or getting back to school (my six-month grace period is up in September and I don't get another one, even when/if I eventually graduate), but still!