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gwynNot in any way related to sdwolfpup, either! I started working on the Brotherhood of the Wolf vid, which made a surprisingly strong showing in the "what vid should I do next" poll a few months ago. This is going to be the oddest thing I've ever done. I've managed to lay in nearly two full minutes in just two nights, which is pretty good considering that I started with no idea of what to do, but it's a challenge, and one I'm not sure I'm going to meet, just because it's so... odd. The music is odd, which is why I chose it. The movie is odd, which is why I love it (in the EW review when it came out, they called it "the best Hong Kong action French period romantic monster movie of the year"). The timing is odd -- I've cut down a six minute song to a little over 3 and a half minutes, and it starts out very slow, then it gets way fast, and then superwayfast. It doesn't keep a consistent beat, like a lot of southeast Asian music.
I think the vocal part will put a lot of people off -- that kind of minor and flat key wailing tends to either drive westerners up a wall, or they like it, no in between. And I'm trying to kind of take my cue from the music and not keep a consistent cutting rhythm, either. I've done that before, consciously, in Gimme Shelter, where I wanted to mix it up to create some kind of tension. A long time ago, a friend who was teaching me how to do art -- in my brief foray into trying to do collage and found object art, before I gave it up because I suck and am no artist -- managed to pound into my head the rule of threes, about how odd numbers create "tension" on a page. It took me a really long time to grasp that concept, but whenever I was having trouble making something look visually interesting, I would make odd numbers of objects or pieces, and sure enough, it helped. It didn't make them good, but it made them at least slightly better than they would have been. I found that it was a pretty applicable concept in vidding as well -- that I tend to avoid doing things that have a consistency about them unless I can make them consistently inconsistent. Only occasionally do I use an effect or an editing technique only once, or twice -- I try to at least mirror them a couple times after the initial try. Or I try to cut off-beat, or in the downbeats, once in a while to throw off that built in rhythm that most pop music has.
What I like about this song is that it is all over the place rhythmically, stylistically, so that it gives me some depth to play with, lets me build on that tension. But I am wondering as I watch my progress if I'm going to be the only one who appreciates it -- I'm afraid it's going to just end up being irritating for the audience. I like the idea of tension, where things aren't exactly where you expect them to be visually, but I'm not sure that translates to an audience-happy vid. Not that I should care about that much, I guess, judging from the general lack of reaction I get for most of my vids, but I still want to connect to people if I'm going to show it to them -- nothing like watching a vid where you know the vidder didn't care enough about the vid to worry over it a little in terms of quality and presentation. Not that it's a bad thing if you're the only one who's happy with your vid, but when you're putting it out for public consumption, it always helps to try to connect in some way.
It's also odd in that I don't know what to call it. The song title is Blue Lily, Red Lotus, but I don't think that says much for a vid, and I can't for the life of me think of a better title. It was hard for me to jump into that titling a vid differently from the song thing that is so common now, because we never used to do that before, but when I finally did it for the Angel/Lindsey vid last month, I enjoyed coming up with something. This one baffles me. I guess it's good to have the challenges -- the music, the tone, the cutting, the visuals, instead of just the same old same old, but I always feel at my shakiest when I have challenges like this. I'm still so bad with the tech, still so lame, that it was a lot easier in the VCR days. You didn't have the choices, so you just made do, and didn't have to regret things or fiddle until you go insane trying to achieve something you may not be capable of.
I just keep trying to hold that rule of threes in my head, find a way to keep it slightly off for a while and then bring it back to a traditional edit spot, traditional length, but I'm not certain I'm skilled enough to really pull it off. Since so much of the whole thing has its own dynamic qualities and tensions already I'm hoping they mix well. At least I've slowed down, though, and am not feeling the frenzied need to vid like I was before. Otherwise I think this one really would make me nuts, trying to balance the tensions and the oddness and the driving need to finish the vid even if I'm not sure it's right.
I have also been busy painting. After 12 years of living with this awful shiny paint in my bedroom and office, I finally couldn't take it anymore and this weekend roped![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
feochadn into helping me paint my bedroom. Blue. Very, very blue. Bright, deep, intense Brazilian Blue with Jet Stream trim and ceiling, and Twilight Blue accents. Oh my god is it blue. I never paint because I always end up disliking whatever I choose, and sure enough, I totally regret it now, but it was such hard work and I was still painting tonight, that there's no freaking way I'm changing it. I took some pictures with my new digital camera but since I don't know what I'm doing, I can't put them up here. Maybe when someone can show me what the hell to do. It's not that I hate it, and Tom Filicia is sure right, darker colors really do make a room look bigger, it's just... not what I expected. It never is. Which is why I don't paint. Vids are the same way. They rarely turn out the way I want them to or the dream I envision but am too lame to make. It will be better when I can get some new furniture, nice furniture that really looks good and adult and all. But that's a long way off, what with the full copper repipe looming and the radioactive iodine treatment for kitty. Hopefully the curtains going back up for trim and the new shelves will help, too.
I am a busy bee, I just never seem to accomplish the results I want.
I think the vocal part will put a lot of people off -- that kind of minor and flat key wailing tends to either drive westerners up a wall, or they like it, no in between. And I'm trying to kind of take my cue from the music and not keep a consistent cutting rhythm, either. I've done that before, consciously, in Gimme Shelter, where I wanted to mix it up to create some kind of tension. A long time ago, a friend who was teaching me how to do art -- in my brief foray into trying to do collage and found object art, before I gave it up because I suck and am no artist -- managed to pound into my head the rule of threes, about how odd numbers create "tension" on a page. It took me a really long time to grasp that concept, but whenever I was having trouble making something look visually interesting, I would make odd numbers of objects or pieces, and sure enough, it helped. It didn't make them good, but it made them at least slightly better than they would have been. I found that it was a pretty applicable concept in vidding as well -- that I tend to avoid doing things that have a consistency about them unless I can make them consistently inconsistent. Only occasionally do I use an effect or an editing technique only once, or twice -- I try to at least mirror them a couple times after the initial try. Or I try to cut off-beat, or in the downbeats, once in a while to throw off that built in rhythm that most pop music has.
What I like about this song is that it is all over the place rhythmically, stylistically, so that it gives me some depth to play with, lets me build on that tension. But I am wondering as I watch my progress if I'm going to be the only one who appreciates it -- I'm afraid it's going to just end up being irritating for the audience. I like the idea of tension, where things aren't exactly where you expect them to be visually, but I'm not sure that translates to an audience-happy vid. Not that I should care about that much, I guess, judging from the general lack of reaction I get for most of my vids, but I still want to connect to people if I'm going to show it to them -- nothing like watching a vid where you know the vidder didn't care enough about the vid to worry over it a little in terms of quality and presentation. Not that it's a bad thing if you're the only one who's happy with your vid, but when you're putting it out for public consumption, it always helps to try to connect in some way.
It's also odd in that I don't know what to call it. The song title is Blue Lily, Red Lotus, but I don't think that says much for a vid, and I can't for the life of me think of a better title. It was hard for me to jump into that titling a vid differently from the song thing that is so common now, because we never used to do that before, but when I finally did it for the Angel/Lindsey vid last month, I enjoyed coming up with something. This one baffles me. I guess it's good to have the challenges -- the music, the tone, the cutting, the visuals, instead of just the same old same old, but I always feel at my shakiest when I have challenges like this. I'm still so bad with the tech, still so lame, that it was a lot easier in the VCR days. You didn't have the choices, so you just made do, and didn't have to regret things or fiddle until you go insane trying to achieve something you may not be capable of.
I just keep trying to hold that rule of threes in my head, find a way to keep it slightly off for a while and then bring it back to a traditional edit spot, traditional length, but I'm not certain I'm skilled enough to really pull it off. Since so much of the whole thing has its own dynamic qualities and tensions already I'm hoping they mix well. At least I've slowed down, though, and am not feeling the frenzied need to vid like I was before. Otherwise I think this one really would make me nuts, trying to balance the tensions and the oddness and the driving need to finish the vid even if I'm not sure it's right.
I have also been busy painting. After 12 years of living with this awful shiny paint in my bedroom and office, I finally couldn't take it anymore and this weekend roped
feochadn into helping me paint my bedroom. Blue. Very, very blue. Bright, deep, intense Brazilian Blue with Jet Stream trim and ceiling, and Twilight Blue accents. Oh my god is it blue. I never paint because I always end up disliking whatever I choose, and sure enough, I totally regret it now, but it was such hard work and I was still painting tonight, that there's no freaking way I'm changing it. I took some pictures with my new digital camera but since I don't know what I'm doing, I can't put them up here. Maybe when someone can show me what the hell to do. It's not that I hate it, and Tom Filicia is sure right, darker colors really do make a room look bigger, it's just... not what I expected. It never is. Which is why I don't paint. Vids are the same way. They rarely turn out the way I want them to or the dream I envision but am too lame to make. It will be better when I can get some new furniture, nice furniture that really looks good and adult and all. But that's a long way off, what with the full copper repipe looming and the radioactive iodine treatment for kitty. Hopefully the curtains going back up for trim and the new shelves will help, too.I am a busy bee, I just never seem to accomplish the results I want.
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no subject
Date: 2006-01-20 06:37 am (UTC)Did you ever post "After Rain"? I don't see it on your vid site.
Mani Vid???
Date: 2006-01-20 06:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-20 10:40 am (UTC)This may not be relevant, me being an artist not a vidder, but that sounds so totally normal to me I think all I can say is that the only way to keep moving forward is to keep putting yourself into a space that isn't entirely comfortable. So if what you're doing is testing yourself, and trying new things then all hail you. Discomfort, in the creative sense, is often times a Good Thing.
Really like the sound of the new vid and music track -- fingers crossed you love it by the end.
no subject
Date: 2006-01-20 04:11 pm (UTC)Re: Mani Vid???
Date: 2006-01-20 04:13 pm (UTC)