The vid is done! It's done! Woohoo!

[marycrawford]

Ahem. Yes. Here's my first vid. Many many thanks to elynross, falzalot, flummery and halimede for beta'ing and egging me on. *g*

Title: Live Till I Die
Performed by: Frank Sinatra
Fandom: Hercules: the Legendary Journeys
Description: The many lives of Iolaus.

Size: 11.9 Mb
Type: .avi with the Divx codec.

You can download it (right-click and save, please!) here.

There's just the one .avi version for now, but I have been told both PC and Mac users should be able to play it - if not, please let me know and I will do my best to fix it.
ETA: if you're having trouble playing the vid, you may want to try downloading and installing the DivX codec.

(A good free movie player for Windows, Mac OS, Linux or just about anything is VLC media player; another free player for Windows is Zoom Player. Neither comes with ads or 'channels' or spyware or any of that crap.)

I would love to know what you think, and that includes critical feedback.



- I would never have figured out how to do any of this if not for the tutorials and vid reviews and helpful posts from other vidders, many of which can be found through permetaform immensely helpful overview page. Thank you all. It's a steep learning curve, at least for me - learning to deal with SmartRipper and VirtualDub and Premiere and codecs and compression issues and on and on, and that's just the technical stuff - but even so, compared to the analog method, it has to be infinitely easier. I doff my hat to anyone who can make a vid using nothing but two VCRs; that's just awe-inspiring.

- I still don't know half of what Premiere can do. I discovered yesterday that there was a special superimpose track. Who knew? And I don't think I figured out what the 'Enable Clip' option was until halfway through. Or how to unlock clips all at once instead of one at a time. Yes, I am a doof. *g*

- Sometimes not knowing how something works can really help. In the Iolaus-at-the-campfire shots, I wanted two dissolves, but what I ended up with was two dissolve-to-black effects as a result of
a) not understanding how the dissolve tool worked
b) not knowing what a true dissolve looked like despite having seen them everywhere.
I figured out eventually that I'd done something wrong, but I kept the effects because I liked the look of them, and eventually Seah asked me how I'd done it, hee. (If anyone else wants to know, I have an Adobe Premiere screenshot I can send you. *g*)

- De-interlacing all your source clips? Bad idea. I thought I needed to do that, but what I needed to do was keep the interlacing and just de-interlace the vid for Web output, so that I could still make a good-looking TV version. (TV needs interlacing, Web doesn't.) Again, Seah came to the rescue and showed me that the vid still looked decent on TV with re-added interlacing.

- When you don't have a strong visual memory, making screencaps for an episode is a godsend. But just rewatching the ep with the sound off works too; that way there is no plot to distract you from the pretty.

Comments

[ltlj.livejournal.com]

That was an excellent vid! Hurray, our fandom has a vid! Woohoo!

I really enjoyed it. The song works perfectly with the clips. And it really looked gorgeous, even on our crappy old desktop.

[marycrawford.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm so glad you enjoyed it, and that it looked good on your PC.

Hurray, our fandom has a vid!

LOL! Well, there are a few more, but not online - I'm trying to track them down.

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

Well done indeed! This was a joy to watch. Your sense of timing and rhythm is spot on, and I love how you marry the images and the lyrics (I laughed out loud several times!). It's very effective when it changes tempo ("those blues I lay low...") and the mood becomes more serious for a few lines. The scenes you chose really captured that shift. Favorite moment: the "gotta dance" shimmy. Too perfect! :) Thanks SO much for sharing this!

[marycrawford.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the feedback! Much appreciated.

And yes, the Iolausian shimmy is rapidly becoming as well-known as the Twanky twirl. *eg*

[falzalot.livejournal.com]

Wow. That just keeps getting better every time I see it. :->

[marycrawford.livejournal.com]

Thanks - and thank you for the kibitzing and encouragement. :-)

[killabeez.livejournal.com]

WOW! Darlin, that is a fantastic vid. Ten times more so for it being your first. And I am utterly charmed! I can honestly say that the little I've watched of HtLJ left me with virtually no desire to watch any more -- and now I can plainly see that I have been (as usual) blind, blind, blind. What a song to tackle for your first vid, and you wrestled it right to the ground with flair. Just beautiful timing and flourishes, and I adore the ending!

[marycrawford.livejournal.com]

Killa, thank you so much! Bwee! I am fizzing with joy just at having finished it, but getting such lovely comments makes life even better.

and now I can plainly see that I have been (as usual) blind, blind, blind

*g* Well, I was lucky in that the first Hercules episode I saw was Maze of the Minotaur, with the scene where Iolaus flirts outrageously with Hercules (the first 'I'll be a devil' in the vid, with Iolaus tapping the cup against his lips? That's Hercules he's looking at) followed by the incredibly slashy Herc & Iolaus wrestling in the hay scene. After that, I was sold.

Mary "We're a small fandom, but we recruit" Crawford

[barbaraa.livejournal.com]

Mutters to self. Darn RealPlayer keeps crashing on the update for the codex files. Sigh...patience...I'll get it fixed and see your vid soon.

[barbaraa.livejournal.com]

Finally!

Wow, what clear quality on it! Unusual song to choose as far as style of music, but it has all the energy that we associate with Iolaus and the words work great. Excellent job, Mary!

Barbara (who is convincing herself that she cannot do vids. Too many upgrades to the computer and no time to do them...really!)

[marycrawford.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the feedback - I'm glad you got it to play. And yes, vids take up computer resources (just ask my harddisk) as well as time, so be warned...

[barbaraa.livejournal.com]

I'll take heed. I know from my art programs how much jpg files take up space, I can't even imagine it with the vid files. Well, other than the few avi files I have. :)

I also loved the ending where the splash as he hits the water wipes out the screen. Good effect.

BTW, my daughter loved it too. She made me 'rewind' it so she would watch from the beginning.

I hope you can find those other rare vids out there. I'm pretty sure I saw one once, but I don't know where!

Barbara (nursing a headache. I blame the 1/2 can of beer from the auction last night. Teach me to drink!)

[ahary.livejournal.com]

What a great, enjoyable vid! The timing between video and audio tracks is perfect, and final mud-diving cheers me up immensely every time. Very, very Iolaus-true. *g*

[marycrawford.livejournal.com]

Hey Ahary, I'm glad you enjoyed it!

I was happy to have found that jump - I knew I wanted something where he was in mid-air, just not what. And I love that Hercules is literally holding his life-line there. *g*

[voleuse.livejournal.com]

Awesome. Thanks so much for doing this!

[marycrawford.livejournal.com]

Hey, you're most welcome! :-)

How did I miss this?

[dbw.livejournal.com]

I can't for the life of me figure out how I missed this post. I knew you were working on a vid. I thought I'd downloaded it, but I couldn't find it until I looked at you Vid memories category.

I really, really liked this! So much fun -- and such an affectionate look at Iolaus. :-)

[thirdblindmouse]

Wow, I love this vid! I haven't seen too much of HtLJ, but Iolaus was always my favourite part of the show.

I am ridiculously jealous that this is your first vid. It really holds up to the test of time!

[marycrawford]

Awww, hey thanks, that made me smile! How nice to get feedback on my oldest vid; I'm so glad it holds up for you. And Iolaus was my favorite part of the show, too, obviously. :-)