Answers to vid questions, part two

[marycrawford]

More answers to questions from the vid commentary meme. More questions or requests for commentary welcome!

Questions from elke_tanzer:

What tools/software/codec/capture setup are you using to allow such gorgeous colors and clear images from the DVDs to shine through?

I am still working out which combination of codecs and prep work is the best for me. For all my vids, I ripped the DVDs to .VOB files (with Smartripper or DVDDecrypter), renamed the .VOB files to .mpeg and then pulled them into VirtualDubMod. There's a couple of things I tried in the Twanky vid:

- cutting clips from the .mpg files in VirtualDubMod and converting them to .avi with the HuffyUV codec. This is very nice, because the codec is lossless, so no data is lost by converting it to .avi. On the other hand, the codec looks stuttery on playback, and I find that a disadvantage. (It doesn't look stuttery once you convert it for DVD or the web, though.) Then I just imported those clips into Premiere and edited with them.

- making Avisynth files of the .mpg files (which I can't possibly explain better than the guys at AMV.org) and then importing the whole .avs file into Premiere, to pull clips from and then drop them straight onto the timeline. This was interesting, because I hadn't tried it before. This method is also lossless, and the .avs files are all 1Kb in size, so they don't take up any room. On the other hand, I found that the .avs files slowed down Premiere to the point where it was hard to work with, so I only used it for a couple of episodes where I knew I needed a lot of clips and didn't want to cut them all in advance.

So, some of it is the use of lossless files and codecs. I can't take credit for the coloring of the vid itself, though; I rarely tweak color, because I don't know yet how to do that and make it look good. *g* They used a lot of color filters in HtLJ, I think, and the rich greens and blues of the NZ landscape and the bright costumes certainly help.


Did you tweak any of the slow motion pans over Hercules' skin in the newest vid, or are those shots all that speed in the source?

I definitely tweaked the slow motion bits - particularly the pan down Hercules' face in closeup at 1:02, the pan down his body to the grapes right after, and the pan up his body later on where he's in his dance outfit. In all three cases, the existing shot was far too slow to be usable, so I had to tweak the speed. The grapes shot was tricky because the camera actually moves up, not down, and after I reversed it and speeded it up it started to look odd. I'm still not entirely happy with it; I wanted to match the speed from the face shot to the grapes shot, but I didn't quite get there. (Of course the grapes also had to heave into view on the right note in 'life', so I couldn't do anything that would upset that.) I tend to play around with clip speed a lot, to get a movement to hit on the right note, for example. Sometimes it starts to look odd, and I take it out again, but I don't know any rules for it other than experimenting.

Do you worry about finding an audience for your HtLJ vids? How do you choose where to announce your vids when you post them?

That's a toughie. There aren't any Hercules vid directories, as far as I know. Xena fans have latched on to vidding in a big way; I don't think Hercules fans have, and there just aren't as many of us to begin with. I've announced my vid in the usual places - vidding, the Vidder group on Yahoo, and a couple of fandom-specific places like hxyh_announce. There's one Iolaus mailing list I'm on that's still active, but I don't think vids are particularly welcome or understood there, and I don't know if there are other active Hercules: the Legendary Journeys lists that would be interested, except for the Russian-language Iolausian Corner. I did post an announcement there, because the Russian fans have been very welcoming and interested in vids, even making their own subtitles to go with them so they could follow the lyrics better.

I tend to worry most about whether a vid is accessible to non-fans or not. With the Twanky vid, I set out to make it as accessible as I could, because it was intended as broad comedy. With the Dahak vid, I wanted to be more fandom-specific, and wound up with something that pretty much made sense only to myself, so. It's all swings and roundabouts. *g*

Comments

[logovo.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the link here, I so much enjoyed the vid that it was fun to read some info on how it came to be. I'm not into H:TLJ fandom, but I saw a fair number of episodes when the show was airing, enough so that I recognized some of the shots outside of the "Hercules learns to dance" episode :)

[marycrawford.livejournal.com]

Hee. Yeah, there was a lot of crack outside the Twanky eps, too, and I used as much as I could find. *G*

[castalianspring.livejournal.com]

Just wanted to drop in and say I've been blown away by all your Hercules vids so far. It's so very cool to find a vidder in the fandom - I've been in the Herc fandom since '95 and in all that time I saw maybe three vids, none of which I have copies of or know how to track down the vidders involved.

With "Do You Dream of Me?", I love the creepy vibe to it all, and trust me, it makes sense to someone familiar with the series. The Dahak arc was so spread out yet the back-and-forth timeline in the vid really works. And the timing = guh.

"I Need a Hero" cracked my shit up completely. It is so, so fitting that the Widow Twanky gets a vid like that all to herself. It just goes to show how much the show was on crack, but the good crack.

I'll be pimping this out to some of the old Herc fandom stomping grounds. I'm not too active on the old Iolausian Mailing List (is that the one you're on? I doubt I'd recognize half the people on it anymore), but there are a few forums with lingering ties.

[marycrawford.livejournal.com]

Yay, thank you for those very kind comments!

I haven't been able to find any Hercules vids either, and that was one reason I started making them. (OK, there is one rather primitive-looking but fun Iolaus vid by Holly Lynne online, and later on a kind vidder sent me a tape of some of her Hercules vids. But that's it.)

I'm really glad to hear that the Dahak vid works for you. I think I overreached myself there a bit by trying to throw in a 'Morrigan-is-evil-and-another-incarnation-of-Dahak' spin. On the other hand, doing so was very satisfying. *G*

You're right, there's the Iolausian Mailing List, which I lurk on and which mostly discusses Michael Hurst's doings in the theatre and such, these days. I was thinking of GoldApple, which is the one active Iolaus list I'm on, but it's strongly geared toward fiction and I didn't get much of a response when I posted my Iolaus vid there.

Any pimping will be much appreciated! :-)

[castalianspring.livejournal.com]

I think I've seen that Holly Lynne vid, but not for ages. I remember a few shown at fannish gatherings way back when, but I have no idea who made them.

I'm on GoldApple, but I'm such a lurker over there it's sad. One of these days I should do a "hey, remember me?" post or something.

Pimping has been done at a few forums, and I'm putting together another big rec post for my LJ. So many great new vids lately!

[marycrawford.livejournal.com]

I remember a few shown at fannish gatherings way back when, but I have no idea who made them.

The vids that I got on tape were by Jennifer Shipp; those were the only other HtLJ vids I've ever seen. And I think there was one by another vidder that won a prize at MediaWest, but I never saw it.

Pimping has been done at a few forums

That's wonderful, thank you! And I'm looking forward to the rec post. :-)

[elke-tanzer.livejournal.com]

*devours technical information, squirrels it all away for later*

Thanks very muchly! The additional insight into this is fascinating.

[marycrawford.livejournal.com]

Hey, you're welcome. And if you need more info, just ask. I don't think I'm an expert or anything (ha), but I can at least tell you how I muddle my way through. *g*

Also, does this mean you're thinking of making a vid? Because that would be cool. :-)

[nova-mist.livejournal.com]

I absolutley love all your vids, Mary!

Please, keep up the amazing work! The world of fandom is boring wityhout vidders of your talent and creativity! :)