Millennium fan video (RodimusBen)
Well worth watching. I must confess to being quite a fan of, erm, fan montages. Few get it right - the above is a rare exception.
Yes, what a backseat critic I am of this fan genre and I'm about to eulogise. I've made this point before on the net, but hell, I'm going to do so again. I'm not going to attempt to justify my 'right' to offer opinion in an area I don't really pratically venture personally - especially given everyone in this country, nay - world, enjoys the same right of stepping onto a soapbox and explaining how a film/government/society/local park should be run - with no practical experience to back it up.
Either way, I'll leave it to you good people to judge whether I'm being informative or an Arse. Or both, if you prefer. I'll happily accept "neither" as a conclusion to your findings.
Anyhow, injected with syringe full of opinion opiate, here's what I feel hinders many music montages.
1. Many fan montage makers lazily sit their masterpiece in linear edits with clips simply pulled out of the episode in order. Sometimes it would almost be worth just putting the chosen song onto an Ipod and watching the show ourselves. Jazz it up.
2. Don't let clips over-run. Another classic mistake. Clips that run on too long lose their punch.
3. Another grievous error is to spend more effort in matching lyrics to visuals than ensuring the video's edit is tight. It's nice to see some lines synchronize with the visuals, but it's more important the video is interesting, vibrant and well put together.
4. Using cuts with characters involved in dialogue tends to damage the flow of your visuals. The audience should skim like a skipping stone from clip to clip with the music as their wave. As soon as chosen clip has a character - or worse - two characters chatting, you lose the pace. Again, this relates to point 2 - if you've got time to see two people chatting, chances are the clip is too long.
5. Please, please, please, don't let your work be weakened by a predictable choice of music unless your clip has something new to prove with that piece. Avoid Linkin Park, Green Day, Avril Lavine and the wonderful Requiem For A Dream unless you have something new to 'say'! Be inventive.
Certainly this will create more hard work. I hope its as much feedback as it is snippy criticism. Anyone who willingly puts days into a piece of work I respect regardless of the result. This is a generic attack on generic mistakes, nothing personal whatsoever.
I think RodimusBen's raw 5 minute wonder is a fine example of finding a balance between diversity and relevance of clips place superbly to a well chosen piece of music. I hope you enjoy it more than you have this Blog opinion - or "Blop" as it were hereafter be known (and why I did not christen it until the very last sentence.
Yes, what a backseat critic I am of this fan genre and I'm about to eulogise. I've made this point before on the net, but hell, I'm going to do so again. I'm not going to attempt to justify my 'right' to offer opinion in an area I don't really pratically venture personally - especially given everyone in this country, nay - world, enjoys the same right of stepping onto a soapbox and explaining how a film/government/society/local park should be run - with no practical experience to back it up.
Either way, I'll leave it to you good people to judge whether I'm being informative or an Arse. Or both, if you prefer. I'll happily accept "neither" as a conclusion to your findings.
Anyhow, injected with syringe full of opinion opiate, here's what I feel hinders many music montages.
1. Many fan montage makers lazily sit their masterpiece in linear edits with clips simply pulled out of the episode in order. Sometimes it would almost be worth just putting the chosen song onto an Ipod and watching the show ourselves. Jazz it up.
2. Don't let clips over-run. Another classic mistake. Clips that run on too long lose their punch.
3. Another grievous error is to spend more effort in matching lyrics to visuals than ensuring the video's edit is tight. It's nice to see some lines synchronize with the visuals, but it's more important the video is interesting, vibrant and well put together.
4. Using cuts with characters involved in dialogue tends to damage the flow of your visuals. The audience should skim like a skipping stone from clip to clip with the music as their wave. As soon as chosen clip has a character - or worse - two characters chatting, you lose the pace. Again, this relates to point 2 - if you've got time to see two people chatting, chances are the clip is too long.
5. Please, please, please, don't let your work be weakened by a predictable choice of music unless your clip has something new to prove with that piece. Avoid Linkin Park, Green Day, Avril Lavine and the wonderful Requiem For A Dream unless you have something new to 'say'! Be inventive.
Certainly this will create more hard work. I hope its as much feedback as it is snippy criticism. Anyone who willingly puts days into a piece of work I respect regardless of the result. This is a generic attack on generic mistakes, nothing personal whatsoever.
I think RodimusBen's raw 5 minute wonder is a fine example of finding a balance between diversity and relevance of clips place superbly to a well chosen piece of music. I hope you enjoy it more than you have this Blog opinion - or "Blop" as it were hereafter be known (and why I did not christen it until the very last sentence.
