Strategies / Theories / Workflow on how to approach a video project — HELP!!

[Jhbrewer]

I find myself wondering how anyone could like my product, too. I recently put together a montage-ish highlights video (about 4 minutes) of my friend’s football game in his front yard. I sat down one day, told myself I wasn’t going to turn it into a week or month long deal, and finished it in a day. I gave up some of the cool synching stuff I could have done, but I honestly don’t think my audience would notice the difference.

When I begin to get obsessive, I ask myself…. “Will the average, non-technical consumer really notice if [insert time-consuming effect] isn’t in the final product. Will it negatively affect their view of my product and reputation?”

The answer is usually no.

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You think your computer sucks?

1.1 GHz Intel Celeron
512 MB PC-133 SDRAM (upgraded from 128)
17″ Gateway CRT + secondary 15″ ZDS (slow as christmas when I use it, though)
2 x 20 GB, 1 x 160 GB HDDs (upgraded from 1 x 20 GB)

[Laszlo Kovacs]

To jgordon:

“I have a problem of taking FOREVER to complete…”

A well done job takes the time it needs!

“1. In my mind I’m always thinking that each picture needs to match the lyrics”
I never use music that contains lyrics.
There are lot’s of instrumental musics, for e.g.

Fourplay,
Shakatak (a few of their songs)
Mezzoforte (almost every of their songs)
Yanni,
Michael Allen,
Jeremy Cohen,
Jacques Loussier,
maybe Mancini (Henry Mancini do you know him? :)))

and so on, this could be an endless list.

Consider sometimes using classical music
as the best bet.

“2. Each opening & closing effect of each video has to be completely original from anything else I’ve created because I’m uptight about ever using the same effects that I’ve used in previous videos.”

This is why every of your work is uniqe, this is not an assembly line, editing video (including home video) is close to be an “art” (if it is not.)

“I always feel like I need to do something new.”
You’re doing it right!

“3. I struggle with a good approach on how to decide which media/pictures/video stays in”

I don’t know… As I first look at a footage, I know at that moment, which music will fit for it well…

Listen to your music collection often, you have to know it well.
Another point is that, -to be honest- I reuse my musics.
To make this clear: not on one DVD, but let’s say a DVD made for someone contains a music (Let’s say a Wedding march by Mendelssohn (you can find this in “Midsommer Nights Dream”), another DVD for
someone else can contain it too.

“I probably made about .006 cents and hour for the videos I finally completed.”

This is only a problem if your main job is video editing.

“As a result of the above items, this fun hobby is …”

If you do it as a hobby, be happy that you can do it. Not all people can do it, even if they get some videostudio software bundled to their camera 🙂 So, if it is a hobby, don’t make it for money, but make it for YOUR joy, and…

“Don’t bother telling me to give up video editing entirely. I love the outcome of delivering a good video too much (at least when I actually finish one).”

…don’t give up!
But don’t force it if you temporarily lost your inspiration.
Just start other projects that you take fancy to. And always work on that project for which you have the most inspiration.

(Unless you work for a 3rd party and you have a time-limit to get it ready – but this is not the “hobby” situation)

Take a lok at this:
https://www.vegasusers.com/vidshare/textdisp?kovacslt-intro

Recently I did this only for having fun. It was funny for me to make it, and then it was funny to see how my friends liked it.
And it took just couple of hours to make it!

And who wanted me just to make his main video to DVD, loved it too.
So this piece turned to be a “movie trailer” :)))

“I think to myself “they are going to think this SUCKS when I deliver this DVD to them”….”

If you make it with joy, your heart and soul is in it, they’ll like it. But consider to show them a DVD-RW, wether they like it. If not, you can modify it.
If do something I give a kind of “satisfaction guarantee”, that means I won’t take any money for a DVD if they don’t like it.
But this never happened so far…

BTW: remember the magic triangle:
Cheap – Good – Quick

Only 2 of these can be chosen at once.
(You and me are on the first 2 points :))

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To jhbrewer:

“The answer is usually no.”
I completely disagree.
This is not my point of view.

So, what if the answer is yes? What will you do then?
Recapture and start all over again?
You should always do your best.

If I don’t like something, until I dont
find it perfect, I don’t let anyone to
look at it.
If I got it perfect (and only then!), I usually show it
to my wife, and maybe some third parties.
And when they like it too, I can say it’s ready.

To be honest, there was only one video which I finished
in a day, it was only about 3 minutes long…

My parents had a trip in the Czeh Republic (Praha, Kutnahora and other small towns) in september.
I finished editing it’s video not long before christmas…

OK, I didn’t do it all the day, and meanwhile there were
lots of other things to do, but if I had do it (and nothing else)
all the day, it had took at least a week, or even more…

The most important is that I like the result, and they like it too.

By(t)e
Laca

[Jgordon]

Good tips everyone! Thank you.

One more question. I struggle quite a bit on how to find a method of organizing my media. I’m sure I’m probably not using the tools within Vegas correctly. But in my mind I think if I had an actual printed picture of each piece of media lying down on the floor in front of me, then I could easily spot which pictures to group with other pictures, etc.

Obviously this is an electronic medium so what I’m asking is how to organize the media and WHEN? Do you somehow look at all of your media somewhere similar to what I described in the previous paragraph and then name the pictures sequentially, AND THEN place them on the time-line so they are in the order you want? or do you do arrange them after it’s on the time-line? This has always been an overwhelming part of this and I just don’t think I’m doing it right. Must be a better way than just placing everything on the time-line, then using the arrow keys to scrub across the time-line over each picture (which takes forever in and of itself, I wish there was a hot key to skip to the next event, then it would be easier), all the while trying to remember the photos that I’ve scrubbed over and if the current photo would fit with them or not, etc.

Am I making sense?

Thanks for all of your help.

[Donatello]

RELAX ..
have FUN putting them together
you can use/copy openings etc from other projects ..
infact you can use old projects outline for current- same songs and make the images different !!

remember the final viewing is for THEM ..
they will be HAPPY with pretty much anything you give them – it’s their memories and they want to see them –

take your everything got to be perfect and make some personal type projects ( for YOU) …

[Mdg_nl]

Maybe you can try this one for the Music-matches-video problem.

I frequently use music with lyrics to support my video productions. I always keep 2 things in mind:

– Select the music prior to the shooting. You need to know what you can expect to shoot of course. Select the music at home. Listen to the song and try to make a shooting list of the tings that match the lyrics. Make the scenes long enough so you can adjust start and ending points.

– Never try to use the complete song. As you said also, you don’t want to use the same scenes over and over again. In general some parts of a song come back in the same song for a number of times. The scenes that matchs the same lyrics are…..usually the ones you already used. I normally use only 1 section of a song, containing 1 x ….. and 1 x ……. (I don’t have any clue how this is called in Englisch, but I mean that I use once the part of the song that changes for every part and once the part that is repeated more than once during the same song). Vegas is realy good in cutting out the middle part of the song, so it is no problem to use only 1/4 of the song. Extra benefit: a scene connected to a 4 minutes ong lasts way too long anyway.

This works fine for me, so it might work fine for you too.

Additionally to this, I can suggest to set a certain time limit on your projects. I do some work as volunteer for the local TV broadcast station. We broadcast on sunday afternoon a 1 to 2 hour programm, containing 2, 3 or 4 programms. They need to be delivered in time, to broadcast them on time. And, to be honest, if I take a project that I worked 2 weeks on, I still see room for improvement. If I work an additional week…..I still see room for improvement.

Regards,

Marcel de Groot
The Netherlands.

[Laszlo Kovacs]

” 1 x ….. and 1 x ……. (I don’t have any clue how this is called …”

Refrain?
🙂

By(t)e
Laca

[Mdg_nl]

Laszlo,

You are right….. Some things are that easy. In dutch it is called “refrein” (almost the same).

I’m left with only one unknown translation. What is the name of the part of a song in between two refrains? I hope you are not going to tell me you call it “couplet”, because that is exactly how it is called in Dutch 😉

[Edward Troxel]

How about “Bridge”?

Edward Troxel

[Jgordon]

I really identify on the problem of how a project never REALLY reaches “absolute perfection” In other words, I can ALWAYS find stuff that I want to change everytime I review the video I’m working on. Thusly, I end up making the project again last forever because I don’t just say to myself “ok, that’s it, it’s finished, I can live with results and move on to the next project”.

Good points.

[Laszlo Kovacs]

[MdG_NL] “In dutch it is called “refrein” (almost the same).”

Because it comes from latin, I think, In hungarian it’s called also almost the same 🙂

But whjat you’re asking
[MdG_NL] “What is the name of the part of a song in between two refrains?”

I would call it “stave” or “strophe” or “verse” based on my dictionary I’m using.
Whoose native is english, chose the best one, I can’t 🙂

By(t)e
Laca