I wanted to get this out before the start of June and nearly did. I finished editing over a week ago, rendered it, and it was a glitched out mess. I rendered it an additional four times with no luck, and then what do you know, the world fell apart (as if it wasn't fallen apart already) and my mind had been too preoccupied elsewhere.
I rendered this a grand total of eight times to get the final product - piecing together what went right in each individual rendering.
What must have made it so difficult to render was the blending mode. This is the second time I have EVER used blending mode on PowerDirector15 (first time was when I first got the product), as it is most fitting for these slow, emotional videos, artistic. It's a nifty tool to play with, and I'm glad I found a way to utilize it. Makes rendering a pain though, so I'll have to keep that in mind. The whole purpose of choosing to make this video was to get something done fast!!
The year long hiatus from my YouTube channel is not entirely accurate. I just made a long private post about another video I had made that, unfortunately, was blocked. But it is true, it had been a while, and I miss it. Combination of life things like a new job, grad school applications and then interviews, and travel, pushed this very important hobby into the backburner along with many other fun things in life. AND THEN THE PANDEMIC HIT AND OH MY GOD. Working from home is so strange, as it should theoretically save so much time (from the commute alone!) but it still feels like I never have enough time. The time is there, as I've come to see, and I just need to use it. So I've been making videos again! - still slowly as I do still work full-time and have a life of other things going on - but to make at least the smallest of dent in my ideas list that is hundreds of videos long is something!
This is a very positive, uplifting video, that I've been itching to make for some time and felt all the more appropriate in the current circumstances. I think it's so pure of heart. The real reason I made it, however, was to edit together those two dance sequences and draw a side-by-side comparison of the choreography, which is something I've wanted to do long before I had picked a song.
It also just reaffirmed my love for Disney live-action films, though controversial, as they bring such a three-dimensionality to these characters (and particularly female characters!), when we actually get to see them in full human form. There are many parallels to draw between these two characters, as they both leave their life of normality behind into one of extravagance. I considered including Aladdin, but ultimately dropped it because the gender roles are reversed in that the Princess starts as a princess, and Aladdin is the one who is seeking better days. I really wanted to focus on the journey of these two women from ordinary to extraordinary.
Anyways, I'm quite proud, especially never having vidded Cinderella before, and I know this is one that my family and friends enjoyed as well! As I am now finishing up my next video (which should hopefully be up before June, but that might be a tall order), it's given me the confidence to look back at some of my older videos that I had painfully avoided due to cringing at all the mistakes. Videos I haven't touched in forever, I recently looked back on and realized they were better than I remembered, and to always stay proud of the process rather than fixating on an end product! I don't want to lose sight of how fun it is to make these.
I'm very proud of this video! I have the most Chuck video ideas by far, and it can be overwhelming to think of all the ones I haven't made yet. But rewatching the series with a family member of mine has made it really fun to bring this to life.
I think generally speaking I'm the happiest with what I've been able to do with Chuck videos. I know people watch them on my youtube channel reliably, so I know I'll always get some feedback. But most of all, it's the fandom that I probably have the most expertise on. I love Harry Potter of course, but Harry Potter videos are still a dime a dozen. Providing good quality Chuck videos is something that I think I satisfy a unique demand for.
My one and only Fred and George vid!! There's very limited Fred/George content, so even this short little video used quite a high percentage of their on-screen time. Therefore, I can't imagine myself making a video featuring these two ever again, but I had this particular song in my head for years as their song. I liked the irony that it's a song about being alive.
I usually don't choose which vids I'm going to make directly... I have a long list of ideas and then just pick one at random. But this one I made impulsively because I was very intent on making a short video with a small amount of footage. I think my vidding mind was exhausted, and having a small pool to work with felt much more manageable. Better yet, I know Harry Potter films inside and out so it takes no effort to find scenes. With all that said, it is still always a fun challenge to vid a fandom/character/couple that I haven't vidded yet. This particular challenge was just more bite-sized.
Chuck videos are a classic for me. They are what gets me the most views/likes, and thankfully, it is what I have the most ideas for. I think people can see that I have a uniquely thorough memorization of all of the shots in this show... so whenever I make new Chuck videos, they differ from the last. I don't have to use the same shots over and over again, because I can listen to a specific lyric and immediately go, "Oh, that reminds me of that one moment, in that one episode..." and pull up a new shot in an instant knowing exactly where it is. It's a freaky talent.
That said, this is a relatively generic Chuck/Sarah video. There's nothing particular about this song that is unique to this TV couple - you could vid any couple to this song. But it's a song that I have so much love for, in a way that can only be paralleled with my love for Chuck/Sarah. It is one of my favorite songs of all time, and they are obviously my favorite couple.
I vidded this with no particular plan, just making it up as I went along based on all the feels I was feeling. And I thoroughly enjoyed making it.
WOWW it's been a long time since I've updated this blog, and I've actually posted a couple videos since then! I wanted to take the time to write about the videos I've made in these last few months to help inspire me to finish an upcoming one hopefully by May.
This video is an oddball because it's a very, very specific fandom... I wouldn't even call it a fandom, I'm just a fan all here by myself. Vidding reality TV is probably not even a thing. But I was SOO obsessed with Evanna Lynch on Dancing with the Stars that when I closed my eyes and listened to music, of any kind, I would see these dance moves in my head. The movements would play beneath my eyes constantly, and that really is what inspires a video. If you can listen to something and "feel" how it moves visually... I can't describe it, but that's vidding in a nutshell. It really is about movement more than anything. So vidding dance moves is sooooooooooo much fun and this was a unique opportunity to do so.
I think I started it in April, so it took a good 6+ months for me to actually get this out there. Is that the longest I've ever taken?? It would be such a beautiful story if I said that the catalyst for finishing the video was Stan Lee's death, but in truth, I got back into vidding it about a week ago. I was just wrapping up the vid when I got the news! It just made me sure to publish it as soon as I could. Nevertheless, the timing of his death was incredibly meaningful to me because this video was a long journey. To finally, FINALLY finish it, and find out that Spiderman's creator was dead was a punch in the gut.
Since deciding to make this video, I rewatched the entirety of the trilogy (back in April). But then after starting, I ended up editing two other vids between then and now. I kept putting this off because it was such an ambitious project, and I really wanted to do the series justice, but it was not easy. Vids for this fandom don't really exist, so there was no precedent for me, really, at least of which I was aware.
Another roadblock was my computer. I edited about half of this video on my old computer, and half of it on my new one. Same program, but lightyears different in speed! My old computer was a nightmare to edit with recently, as the program kept crashing every minute or so, and not playing back what I had edited. Then the hinge literally broke so I had no excuse but to replace it. This new computer is a gaming laptop, and has a much stronger graphics card.
Despite the change in computer, I still kept my old editing program, PowerDirector 15. I dabbled with the free trial of Vegas Pro 16, and honestly, I didn't find it that user friendly?! It was a powerful program, for sure, but just the simple mechanics of it would take a lot of adjustment for me. Perhaps I'm just too accustomed to using PowerDirector for almost 5 years now and my muscle memory with it is just so strong. It would be too painful of an adjustment to switch, and I'm very satisfied with what I can do with PowerDirector now that I have a better computer. Nevertheless, I still want to push my vidding capabilities. This video is very simplistic. No effects, minimal coloring, etc. etc. But I put a lot a lot a LOT of effort into the content. I thought about adding more effects to it but... honestly I like it the way it is.
Second video that I made in recent history on pure impulse! This might be a bad strategy because it means I'll probably vid the same fandoms over and over again, making nice simple easy videos, and leave behind anything that might be a bit of a challenge. But who really knows.
I had a ridiculous amount of fun making this vid, and it makes me want to make more Emma Watson vids. I can think of so many relevant songs. The thing is, I broke just about every single one of my vidding rules for this.
One, which I've talked about before, is to not vid a fandom unless it's completed. Emma Watson could always come out with more films, and then this vid will become outdated. However, she has been on an acting break for years and I can't wait that long. Consider this a completed set of one phase of her career. Two, only work on one vid at a time. Don't start one unless you've completed your last, otherwise you'll end up with a bunch of half-finished videos. I was working on my Spider-man video when I started making this (hopefully I'll have the Spider-man video out next?)
And lastly three, vids are chosen at random. I have a playlist of hundreds of songs to vid to, I press shuffle, pull one up, and I'm like "yup, that's my next vid!" I've been doing this for yeeeears, since I tried it experimentally for my Freddie/Effy "The Only Exception" video, and that one did very well. I wrote it about it there, but my logic is that I have a head bursting with so many ideas that it's not fair that some vids get made and some never will. Some have been in my head since I was 14, others I just came up with. Keeping it random keeps it fair not only in picking which vids get made, but knowing what level of skill gets applied. I get better every time I vid. Vids that came up on shuffle years ago turn out worse than vids I make now. If I make them in the order I came up with them, that mostly means all the Chuck vids come first, and that means all of the Chuck vids get made with a lesser skillset? Nah, I keep it random. It also helps me keep ideas fresh, because if I get a song/fandom I haven't thought about in a while, I have to revisit it with fresh eyes! However, there have been a few times where I vidded something based on impulse (How to Get Away with Murder, and my Skins "You Found Me" vid) because I couldn't stop myself. I wanted to vid it so bad. This was one of those times. I just had mouth surgery and so I've been sitting at home with nothing better to do, and I spent all day vidding without stopping.
It was such a joyous experience that I kind of want to throw all of my rules out the window. Vid what I want to vid when I want to vid it. Vid something and don't finish it? Whatever, maybe I'll come back to it later. I want to get that natural, creatively impulsive flow back - the one I've kept myself out of for years. I think this will make me a lot faster at coming out with new vids because it'll be less of a chore.
The problem is, it'll probably make me more of a hermit than I already am. When I was passionately vidding, I barely got up to eat. And I've recently become unemployed which allows for unrelentless freedom. This could be very dangerous for me, but I'm having fun.
So I have this rule: Never vid a fandom unless it's completed. All of the most popular vids come up when something is being hyped, but I tend to vid it months or years later lol. That way, it can never become outdated because there's no more new footage to be released. I've broken this rule once for How To Get Away with Murder, resulting in a very popular video (one of my most viewed), but now I can't go back to it because it only features season one. Will that happen for this video? Most likely. But my argument was that I was vidding Fantastic Beasts as a film, and not a series. Nevertheless, I made sure to have this finished well before The Crimes of Grindelwald comes out in November. Let's see if I regret breaking my rule again.
