Vexercise 1 Check In (2021 edition!)

[lola]

Hi all! Here we are, it's been one week in--how are your pechakuchas going?

So many have been posted already, I'm kind of amazed!! For those of you that have already dived (dove?) in, what was the experience like? How did you go through the process of narrowing down your visual source, choosing your clips, choosing your music? Any tech issues or other challenges you ran into?

For those of you who haven't yet started (um, this includes me) where are you at with it? Do you have some things you're still trying to decide on--like focus, etc? I'm working with a new source and haven't yet decided on which eps I'm going to use, I might just mess around and see what feels interesting!

Comments

[alexseanchai]

I have a clear notion of what the visuals should be and I'm pretty sure I know my musics, but I have to sort out if those actually line up like I want

[lola]

I think that's the fun part!! I love just messing around, seeing what works, experimenting with what doesn't :) I love seeing how some things I envisions totally click, and other things somehow don't, but something better comes along. Hope it's going well!

[naye]

It was super fun to dive back into the Vexercises! I did two different vids in a day and posted my favorite. I had just watched Qing Ya Ji (The Yin-Yang Master), and thought it would be fun to use it as my source as it's visually stunning, and I enjoyed the emotions in it a lot. Thank you for organizing this again! ♥

[lola]

It *is* visually stunning! I'm kind of excited (and slightly frightened) by all of the things I have on a growing list of stuff to watch and we're only one week in lol!
Glad you're giving this another go!!

[naye]

The nice thing with using a movie as a source is that it'll only ("only") eat up two hours of your time if you check it out. :D

[amedia]

I've picked a fandom (Rat Patrol) and got instructions on how to download from YouTube, where there are beautiful crisp copies. That's all so far! RL is kicking my butt, but I'm determined to give the vexercises a shot.

[bonibaru]

YAY

[lola]

yay for crisp and easily downloadable copies!! excited to see what you make! :D

[amedia]

Okay, I'm honestly very excited about participating here but ... my pikachu really sucks. I could spend hours and hours trying to make it better, but I'm thinking ... I'm going to get better as I go along, right? And maybe I shouldn't try to force it? Maybe I could put a "dead dove--do not eat" tag on it.

Aargh, you know what, I'm gonna OWN it. I'm new at this, I'm having a great time, and if I wound up putting Troy and Dietrich into the same convoy ... well, now the slashers have a new euphemism. :-D

[amedia]

To talk a little more about the process, most of what I did was figure out how Filmora worked, partly by watching about half of an instructional video, and partly by trial-and-error. It was interesting how much I had to forget from using RipEditBurn and VideoReDo (what human factors people call "negative transference"), but once I got the hang of it, I found Filmora's interface easier to use and more precise. Mostly. Clipping music is definitely easier than with REB, but VRD does it by frame rather than second, so I found that odd. But I got used to it. (REB is audio-only, and VRD doesn't allow you to add a soundtrack, which is why I needed a different program for vidding.)

I initially thought I could cut out the clips I wanted using the window above and drag them down onto the timeline, but I couldn't do it, and that's when I watched the instructional video to find out how the software actually works. The one thing I still don't have the hang of is what to do with the leftover bits of episode after clipping out a piece - sometimes I just deleted them and reloaded the episode from the media box into the timeline to get the next clip (I can tell when I did that, because I kept forgetting to detach the audio; I finally gave up and did that at the end); other times I pushed them a few seconds away from the video draft so I could poke through them for more scenes, and when I made the next cut, I would yeet the intervening material up onto another line. Navigating back to the draft once I made the cut was tricky, and I still think this is not the easiest way to do it. I was SOOOO tempted to open VideoReDo, make the cuts in that, save the files and re-import them, but that would have felt like cheating. Plus VRD would have remuxed the files and they would have lost some quality.

I only downloaded four episodes, and one of them didn't have what I was looking for, but I managed to find the kind of thing I was looking for and string some clips together. The hardest part, creatively, was figuring out what I wanted and how to find something close to it in a limited source. I had downloaded episodes more or less at random and by great good fortune one of them began with a guy speaking over a radio, which I wanted, and this show pretty much *always* features trucks and jeeps careening over the landscape. Having a limited source also meant that I didn't spend hours scrubbing through footage for *just the right moment*, which I could totally have seen myself doing otherwise, and I just don't have the time. So that was good!

The six-second limit was very interesting to work with. I found myself trying to cut very carefully to make the scenes fit logically, and there were several scenes I decided against because they cut away to something irrelevant after 4 or 5 seconds. There was still a stray cut near the end of one of the clips where Dietrich picks up his binoculars again, but I was too tired to go back and see if I could start cutting the scene a second earlier.

Finally, I picked the second song mostly because it references the Sahara, and partly because I wanted a sharp contract to the first song, but there were some surprising congruences between the lyrics and the images that made me really happy. It looks like a Troy/Dietrich vid, at least for about the first half. I initially planned to use the refrain, but the second half of the first verse seemed to work a lot better.

[extrapenguin]

Some stuff that might be useful as someone who has Been There (last year):

- Pechakuchas sort of limit out a lot of the "easy" ways to make a vid snazzier, so don't be too hard on yourself on this!
- As someone who also clips from the episode in the video editor, I generally go through the whole episode at once and clip all the bits I might potentially need, then stuff those at a few minutes further down the timeline to pull in as needed before deleting the rest.
- Video editors generally have a way to make the clips longer/shorter. Try right-clicking and seeing if there's an option akin to "edit duration", or simply dragging the edge one way or another (in a direction in which there's room).

I hope that helps!

[amedia]

Oh, this is super helpful! Thank you so much for sharing your experience—this is one of the things I absolutely love about fandom is how supportive people are.

Clipping the bits in advance sounds like it be a lot easier—I’m definitely going to try that on the next one. 💖

[lola]

Yes, I absolutely want to echo--in some ways the pechakucha is designed to make the actual act of editing easy--as in, you only need to worry about getting ten clips on the timeline. But a lot of what makes a vid look like a vid involves much smaller clips than six seconds, cutting out all the extraneous stuff, playing with speed of clip/shot duration. But none of that is part of the pechakucha, since it's basically taking one step at a time.

The six second restriction is gone after the pechakuchas, so I think you'll find that a bit more satisfying. That said, the limits in pechakuchas can be freeing (only so much you can worry about), and then when people come back to do them after having made other videos, there can be a sort of new challenge of how can it look more like a vid despite the restrictions. But for your first pechakucha, it's really just about filling that timeline, setting it to music, so you've made a thing!!

I often make pechakuchas that I'm just *dying* to go back in and edit more, breaking the six second limit... and sometimes after the fact I do, and turn it into something more truly vid like :D

[amedia]

I liked the simplicity of the ten clips of six seconds each--it definitely cut down on the decision-making, to say nothing of the work! In that sense, I think the word "freeing" is absolutely right.

so you've made a thing!!

Once I got past the brief freakout, I found myself actually quite pleased and happy with the final result. :-) I made a thing!!! Wheee! And now I want to make more things!

[thatyourefuse]

I didn't really have a direction in mind before diving into mine, and I ended up being surprised by where it went!

"Better Things" was kind of the first song I could pull from my music library that gave me a nice 60-second chunk of lyrics to work with; obviously starting on "here's wishing you the bluest skies" meant I HAD to open with the colorization, and staying in color until the very last clip meant that dropping into the b/w rewind effect was like extra jarring. Then I made a decision about the POV on that song, and... I just stopped dead in this laundromat and realized I think I accidentally picked up and used something REALLY CLEVER from the opening credits of ep 6, which I absolutely cannot go into without megaspoilers.

I wasn't expecting it to be so much about the twins, but once I'd decided to use mostly the color eps + Agnes onscreen for every "I" in the lyrics + how could I not have the shot I did for "hoping all the verses rhyme," the pechakucha format put some REALLY interesting constraints on the clips I could use.

"People Are Strange" was the second version I did, but I decided to put it first because I really liked seeing the clip sequence that looked disjointed and eerie with that music turn into something fast and upbeat and artificial with the song it was vidded to. I don't know if that came across as much as I wanted, but I like it.

[lola]

I love haring about your process! I'm gonna have to talk to you about this more after I've watched wandavision :D

[thatyourefuse]

I can't wait! This show really did come out at the perfect time -- there's SO MUCH without being an unwieldy amount of source.

[nu_breed]

So I made 2 sets and the reason for that is a) they're addictive and b) I've chosen 4 episodes of The Untamed to work with so I did one pechakucha with clips from 25 and 26 and another with 42 and 43.

I had this idea to use Alone by Heart, because I wanted to use some elemental clips (snow, rain) and the LWJ seclusion flashback sequence from 43 and that just makes me think of epic emotions! And then I was like - hey, why not do an 80s theme! I had immense fun choosing my power ballads (and couldn't choose so I did 3 instead of 2).

The other one I was working with was a selection of more dynamic clips - I wanted to use the archery sequence (because I am shameless) and the slow pan on the Jinlintai steps and WWX's energy is much snappier and darker and rhythmic to me as opposed to LWJ's much more grounded, slow burn energy. I had the song Rattlesnake Smile by Kane in my head immediately because that dangerous smile and the tension of knowing he is going to snap any second now is what I always think of when I think of both these episodes (25 and 26) and lyrically it works. And then I wanted to play around a bit so I chucked in Go by The Chemical Brothers to try something more dancey with a good build. I also chose a third one again - Fire Woman by The Cult, which is just super sexy to me and also thematically appropriate.

And gee, I wonder which new source, Lola?:D

[lola]

ahaha which new source I will use? yes such an unfathomable mystery (eyes new default usericon)

your dynamic clip choices worked *So Well* it totally didn't feel the limits of the pechakucha clips at all! a++ use of the archery scene <3

[shopfront]

I downloaded Resolve last night and blew through two sets of pechakuchas this morning. It's been a literal decade since I dabbled with vidding if my Vimeo account informs me correctly, so I was pretty rusty but it was a lot of fun to get back to it again. This was a great exercise for me to start off with actually, both to learn new software and without getting too fiddly and exact about juggling loads of clips. I picked a single favourite episode from an old fandom that I could quickly rip from a video site to also keep it casual, and I think narrowing my focus made the relearning curve more enjoyable (way less clip searching!) for sure.

[bonibaru]

I am late getting started but hope to work on mine this week :)

[lola]

ah as you know me too me too we organizers are slackers lol

[allheadybooks]

Messing around, having fun! I’m vidding a new source, Atomic Blonde, for the first time, so mostly clipping systematically right now while also looking out for good six-second sequences. Last year I misunderstood the prompt and ended up doing two separate pechakuchas with contrasting vibes (instead of one vid with two different soundtracks), and that was very inspiring so I think I’ll do the same this year!

[seasaltmemories_14]

I really love either rhythmic editing that hits what feels like every beat or lyrical editing that captures the source material really well, so for this exercise I just kinda had to let go of those perceptions, I actually ended up specifically picking music sources I wasn't too attached to so I wouldn't feel like I was "missing" out on making this perfect vid I could fantasize about in my head

With that in mind I also looked for songs with a more or less consistent tempo so that I could somewhat follow the changes in the music, for "The Pain of Coming Home," there were still a lot of very prominent music cues I wanted to catch, so I kinda focused on those and then built around it

Ironically I ended up really preferring "Generational Mistakes" usually I struggle with editing repetitive songs, but "Anthems For a Seventeen Year-Old Girl," has this six second refrain that is actually perfect for pechakuchas, almost feels like cheating to use it, still I found some really amazing examples of sync purely on accident

Overall I think this exercise helped me loosen up some, I can get caught up in trying to find the perfect clip, from hours of footage, have restrictions really can encourage creativity in ways too many choices sometimes hinder

[hardboiledbaby]

for this exercise I just kinda had to let go of those perceptions, I actually ended up specifically picking music sources I wasn't too attached to so I wouldn't feel like I was "missing" out on making this perfect vid I could fantasize about in my head... Overall I think this exercise helped me loosen up some, I can get caught up in trying to find the perfect clip, from hours of footage, have restrictions really can encourage creativity in ways too many choices sometimes hinder

Oh, this sums up my feelings exactly! *high fives*

[scytale]

Making my set ended up easier this year than when I tried this set of exercises last year; last year, I tried vidding with an anime source, and that was really hard to find clips for. In anime, or at least the one I tried last year, thare a lot of pauses and repeated animations (poeple talking, for instance) or still frames -- not great when you need six second clips. Real people, on the other hand, move and there are more fun camera things to play with. :)

My original song was The Crane Wife's "Curses", which was what I actually matched a lot of clips for. "The Fog" was my second choice...except halfway through I got stuck on "Curses", because the song went in a different direction than "The Fog". ("Curses" felt like a shipping song, essentially, whereas "The Fog" never got there).

So I ended up making "The Fog" the primary song and adding "When The Truth Hunts You Down". And then deciding I didn't like "When The Truth Hunts You Down", going through something like five different songs...and then finally giving up and going back to "When The Truth Hunts You Down".

I dragged "Banana Phone" onto the timeline as a joke, but I think it ended up being my favorite. It was the one I took least seriously and had the most fun making.

I started making a second set -- mainly with the goal of comparing two versions of a single melody, to see how changes in instrument and dynamics affect things -- but I think I've stalled on it. I may do more work on it before the due date, but I think I've learned that I need lyrics to guide me.

In general, I feel like I learned a lot from this!

The constraints make it so much easier to finish something (and experimenting with different songs is both educational and fun), and I feel like the constraints are helpful as a learning tool. Using internal cuts means that I'm paying a lot of attention to how the show is doing its own cuts, and sometimes when things just don't work, I find myself thinking, "oh, it would be nice if I could find [this thing that would work better]".

And I think the constraints forced me to compromise in places, so it's good practice at thinking about which things are okay to cut corners at -- and also, which places are important to get right. I still feel far from the point where I can understand how to get those things right, but thinking about them (and getting them wrong in interesting ways) still feels like a good start.

[hardboiledbaby]

When it came down to brass tacks, it took some effort to convince my brain that by its very nature this pechakucha is not supposed to be 'perfect' and so it not being 'perfect' isn't failing. Ugh, my brain is evil. But letting go of that perfectionism mindset might be the single most effective skill the Vexercises will teach me, so I'm glad I joined the comm and I look forward to doing more :)

As for the vidding process itself: Starsky and Hutch; I used one episode only (The Fix, because I lurves teh waaaangst). I chose "Blinding Lights" because I thought the energy and pace of the song fit Hutch's desperate need to get back to Starsky, without feeling like I had to be matchy-matchy to the lyrics. For the second song, I looked for one that more explicitly honed in on the drug addiction aspect. Voila, "Cold Turkey."

Overall, I enjoyed the exercise! Using two different songs was a very illuminating twist. Now, to start thinking about #2...

[amedia]

it took some effort to convince my brain that by its very nature this pechakucha is not supposed to be 'perfect' and so it not being 'perfect' isn't failing. l

I think our brains came from the same factory!!!

But letting go of that perfectionism mindset might be the single most effective skill the Vexercises will teach me,

I love this insight!!! ♥

[gwenfrankenstien]

I have ideas but I haven't had time to sit down and really dive into my source footage!

I've decided that for this round my sources are all going to be terrible B movies that I've been watching with some friends in a private discord server, so this is going to be. An interesting adventure.

[actiaslunaris]

I'm a methodical vidder, who gets inspired by music, which I then pair with visuals. Of course, the visuals come first, so what I tend to do, when I have time, is listen through a long list of possible music and then whittle down based on what sparks any type of connection with the visuals. Mood of music and lyrics are very important to me.

I tend to then scrub through my source, marking times for possible clips in a text file. I'll open my editor and have the list to refer back to and then trim. Unless I'm very familiar with my source, this is my go-to process, but familiarity will have me making drafts and then pulling in different clips that I think will work better.

For the first exercise, I already knew what my theme was, and the best episode of Gravity Falls to work with. I ended up ditching one of my possible songs and going with an alternate, but I didn't do a lot of clipping. I like the tight focus of pechakuchas, and using longer clips lends itself to less choice, and more testing of what works. I always start with a bigger pool of clips than I end up using.

For the second set of pechakuchas, I spent less time choosing music, and went for the first viable options that said what I wanted them to say in mood and lyrics. The film has a certain mood and themes, so I kept those in mind.

Last time I participated, I didn't have a lot of time to make the first exercise, so I was happy to spend more time and thought on it. Otherwise, I don't think I would have made two sets.

[scytale]

Oh, this is really interesting to read through! I appreciate the notes on your process.

I tend to then scrub through my source, marking times for possible clips in a text file. I'll open my editor and have the list to refer back to and then trim.

I like this idea, and I may have to try this next time.

[actiaslunaris]

I hope it works for you! It's nice to have all the timings together because it works well with a non-linear editor, which I got used to because I started out vidding with Windows Movie Maker and then moved on to an editor that was bundled with a cd burner I bought (an early version of Corel Video Studio, though I keep trying to learn Vegas Pro). Shuffling around clips I can trim in or out at will is very freeing.

[scytale]

Thank you! I've been clipping and saving as separate files, which works to a point, except that I'm terrible at naming and organizing things and I can never put enough context in the filename. Especially since the most important thing to remember about the clip may not actually be what the clip is about.

Writing things down seems like a good way around that, since there's no limit to the amount of information I can put down, and I'm excited to try it. :)