Vidder's Diary - Part 2
Oct. 16th, 2007 05:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
switch842Sorry, it's been so long since Part 1. :-) But here's the next/final chapter in my Vidder's Diary thing. If you need a refresher here's Part 1.
So, now we all have our clips figured out, time to break out the DVDs. This is the part of the process that takes the longest and is the most tedious. I think for All American Girl, it took me about 2 days to get all the clips ripped. Because, basically, you have to watch each episode, find the particular clips you are looking for, write down the start and end times and then rip the actual clip. If you can get through this, you’ll be fine.
I always rip my own clips. You get a much better quality that way. One exception – SOS Siege. I had to use episodes I found online cos I just needed to get it done and I did not have my season 2 discs. Luckily, they were the same quality as if I’d ripped them myself. :-)
For ripping, I use a program called AOA DVD Ripper. The reason I like this program is that it lets you rip just part of a DVD instead of needing to rip the whole disc or episode. That way, there’s less stuff taking up room on my hard drive and it’s easier to assemble. They do have a free trial version. With only one limit – you can only rop 10 minutes max. Which should be fine, unless you need an entire episode for something. But, if you do, it’s only $30-some to buy. So, it’s really not bad. One thing I always do when ripping is to add a few seconds on either side to make sure I have everything of the clip that I need. Nothing sucks more than going to put a clip in and finding the end is cut off!
One thing I didn’t talk about in my previous post is the parts of the song that are just music. We had gone through and matched up all the lyrics with clips, but what about the instrumental parts? You need to make sure you have clips for those parts, as well. To do that, I’ll listen to the song and count how many different “sets” there may be within any given instrumental section. You don’t want to just have one long clip as that can mess up the pacing of any otherwise great video. Like in Ever the Same. There’s a long section of just instrumental at the end of the song. Luckily, it is broken up into fairly easily recognizable sections. I just counted out how many there were and made notes of different J/D scenes I could use for that. I usually rip some extra clips, too, just in case. There have been times where clips I thought might work didn’t and then I’m left scrambling to find something. Having an extra clip or two around can be very useful.
All righty. We have our narration set, we have our clips, now it’s time to begin assembling. I use a program called InterVideo WinDVD Creator. I first started using it because my husband had gotten a free copy at one point and I’d just heard crappy things about Windows Movie Maker. So, I decided to give it a shot. I found it very easy to use from the beginning and was able to make my way through the program with little help from the guides in the program.
I import all the clips and the music I’m going to need and get everything set to go. If there’s opening instrumental, I set up my opening titles. I do also make sure that the title also fit in the rhythm of the song. If not, well, then we’ll just get straight to the video.
So, when I’m actually setting the clip into the song, it’s not really a simple drag and drop. First, I have to break down the main clip to find the two or three seconds I actually need. Then I go back and play the video as it is so far to make sure all the clips are lining up right. Then, if need be, I go back and edit the clip frame by frame from the beginning or end until it fits as I need it. This is also the time to think about the internal timing of certain lines/scenes. For example, in Ever the Same, there is a clip from Absolute Power where Jack goes to visit Daniel. Jack happens to pop up right as the word “you” is sung. I will admit, this was 100% completely accidental. But, after seeing it and how well it worked, it got me thinking about other things along those line I could do. Were there any other little points of emphasis I could make? This is one of those small things that make a good video great. Also, don’t be afraid to rearrange the order of the clip. Would it work better if that bit of Jack at the end came first? Then edit the clip so it does. You can do pretty much whatever you want to make the clip fit and work the best. So, I do that for each and every clip that goes into the video – place it, play and edit it down. This takes quite awhile and it can take me 2 or 3 days to get it all sorted and working properly.
Once you have all your clips in place, this would be the time I would go back and add any transition effects I want. I don’t really use too many of those since I still consider myself a newbie and just want to concentrate on making the best video I can. Plus, I’m still trying to figure out how much can be too much or not enough. There are a few effects in All American Girl, but they are really minor and I think help enhance what is going on with the music and video. The one effect I do use more often than not is a fade to black at the end. Especially if the song fades out. It just kind of helps tie the audio and video together a little more.
We now have all the clips in place and essentially our video is done. I’ll first do a low quality export so I can check how it plays outside the video making software. It can be a little jerky within the program itself, so sometimes small things can be missed. Like one frame after a camera change sneaking through that’s really jarring on the eye. Doing that first export and watching it in Windows Media Player, or whatever you have, can let you find those small things you may not be able to see otherwise.
Once I’ve confirmed that everything looks good, I go back, do the high quality export and I’m done.
And that is Video Making, the Switch way. :-)
So, now we all have our clips figured out, time to break out the DVDs. This is the part of the process that takes the longest and is the most tedious. I think for All American Girl, it took me about 2 days to get all the clips ripped. Because, basically, you have to watch each episode, find the particular clips you are looking for, write down the start and end times and then rip the actual clip. If you can get through this, you’ll be fine.
I always rip my own clips. You get a much better quality that way. One exception – SOS Siege. I had to use episodes I found online cos I just needed to get it done and I did not have my season 2 discs. Luckily, they were the same quality as if I’d ripped them myself. :-)
For ripping, I use a program called AOA DVD Ripper. The reason I like this program is that it lets you rip just part of a DVD instead of needing to rip the whole disc or episode. That way, there’s less stuff taking up room on my hard drive and it’s easier to assemble. They do have a free trial version. With only one limit – you can only rop 10 minutes max. Which should be fine, unless you need an entire episode for something. But, if you do, it’s only $30-some to buy. So, it’s really not bad. One thing I always do when ripping is to add a few seconds on either side to make sure I have everything of the clip that I need. Nothing sucks more than going to put a clip in and finding the end is cut off!
One thing I didn’t talk about in my previous post is the parts of the song that are just music. We had gone through and matched up all the lyrics with clips, but what about the instrumental parts? You need to make sure you have clips for those parts, as well. To do that, I’ll listen to the song and count how many different “sets” there may be within any given instrumental section. You don’t want to just have one long clip as that can mess up the pacing of any otherwise great video. Like in Ever the Same. There’s a long section of just instrumental at the end of the song. Luckily, it is broken up into fairly easily recognizable sections. I just counted out how many there were and made notes of different J/D scenes I could use for that. I usually rip some extra clips, too, just in case. There have been times where clips I thought might work didn’t and then I’m left scrambling to find something. Having an extra clip or two around can be very useful.
All righty. We have our narration set, we have our clips, now it’s time to begin assembling. I use a program called InterVideo WinDVD Creator. I first started using it because my husband had gotten a free copy at one point and I’d just heard crappy things about Windows Movie Maker. So, I decided to give it a shot. I found it very easy to use from the beginning and was able to make my way through the program with little help from the guides in the program.
I import all the clips and the music I’m going to need and get everything set to go. If there’s opening instrumental, I set up my opening titles. I do also make sure that the title also fit in the rhythm of the song. If not, well, then we’ll just get straight to the video.
So, when I’m actually setting the clip into the song, it’s not really a simple drag and drop. First, I have to break down the main clip to find the two or three seconds I actually need. Then I go back and play the video as it is so far to make sure all the clips are lining up right. Then, if need be, I go back and edit the clip frame by frame from the beginning or end until it fits as I need it. This is also the time to think about the internal timing of certain lines/scenes. For example, in Ever the Same, there is a clip from Absolute Power where Jack goes to visit Daniel. Jack happens to pop up right as the word “you” is sung. I will admit, this was 100% completely accidental. But, after seeing it and how well it worked, it got me thinking about other things along those line I could do. Were there any other little points of emphasis I could make? This is one of those small things that make a good video great. Also, don’t be afraid to rearrange the order of the clip. Would it work better if that bit of Jack at the end came first? Then edit the clip so it does. You can do pretty much whatever you want to make the clip fit and work the best. So, I do that for each and every clip that goes into the video – place it, play and edit it down. This takes quite awhile and it can take me 2 or 3 days to get it all sorted and working properly.
Once you have all your clips in place, this would be the time I would go back and add any transition effects I want. I don’t really use too many of those since I still consider myself a newbie and just want to concentrate on making the best video I can. Plus, I’m still trying to figure out how much can be too much or not enough. There are a few effects in All American Girl, but they are really minor and I think help enhance what is going on with the music and video. The one effect I do use more often than not is a fade to black at the end. Especially if the song fades out. It just kind of helps tie the audio and video together a little more.
We now have all the clips in place and essentially our video is done. I’ll first do a low quality export so I can check how it plays outside the video making software. It can be a little jerky within the program itself, so sometimes small things can be missed. Like one frame after a camera change sneaking through that’s really jarring on the eye. Doing that first export and watching it in Windows Media Player, or whatever you have, can let you find those small things you may not be able to see otherwise.
Once I’ve confirmed that everything looks good, I go back, do the high quality export and I’m done.
And that is Video Making, the Switch way. :-)
