1st exercises drops! vidding pechakuchas

[lola]

Hello all! Today's the day we kick off our first exercise. This exercise is designed to be reasonably accessible to all... if you're new to editing, then it's a doable way in, and if you already know your way around editing software, then it's addictively fun to make these pechakuchas and surprising how well they turn out! 

Here's the description: 

1) Pechakucha 2 ways

Create a video edit of exactly 60 seconds consisting of precisely 10 video clips from your chosen source text, each lasting precisely 6 seconds, assembled with straight cuts. Make two versions of your pechakucha, with 1 minute excerpts from two different songs as audio. Fade in and out on your audio at the beginning and end of the audio clip.

[Word to the wise: Most six second clips that you use are bound to have in-clip cuts--you don't have to go looking only for clips that have no internal cuts. But you can make those internal cuts work for you rhythmically or thematically etc!]

Then, when you're done, come back here to this post, and post a link in the comments to your completed exercise(s) when they're finished! 

[This exercise is inspired directly by the first of the videographic criticism exercises, but modified here to be vid/fanedit focused with the inclusion of music from an outside source. You can see some examples of the videographic pechakucha’s here: http://videographicessay.org/works/videographic-essay/videographic-pechakuchas?path=videographic-exercises and a more vidlike one Lola made here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ls9x7shBjDY.]

For all of these exercises, the rules are hard and fast, unless you don't want them to be :D Some people work best with really specific restrictions, others work best as rule breakers <3

So edit, share, question, mess around, and experiment! Have fun!

Stay tuned for posts & discussions on various video-editing softwares & on choosing your source.

Comments

[lola]

Yay!! Come join the fun!!

[gwenfrankenstien]

The strict rules helped me break through a monster of a vidding block, so thank you!

Here are my two pikachus https://archiveofourown.org/works/23216593

[lola]

Oh, I love these!! They're so evocative!! And they really have such different feels... it's crazy it doesn't even feel like the same footage!

I really need to watch that movie :)

and yay for breaking through vidding block!!!

[lola]

I kept imagining the POV as Zhu Jiu lurking in the bushes, ranting about Shen Wei betraying Dixing. *g*)
Oh yes! I didn't think of Zhu Jiu specifically, but I definitely thought of how this was a narrative told about Shen Wei, maybe even guilt he feels himself. It's such an interesting angle!

[bonibaru]

I ... did some more.

[Fanvid] Dirty and Clean / Bad Intentions (8 words) by bonibaru
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: HIStory3 - 圈套 | HIStory3: Trapped
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Tang Yi, Chen Wen Hao, Tang Guo Dong
Additional Tags: Fanvids, Vexercises, Pechakucha, Daddy Issues

[naye]

Oh wow! It makes such a huge difference what music you use - I have a strong preference for the Armor version for some reason?

But also: awwww, this gave me so many warm and fuzzy feelings. ♥

[lola]

Okay, wow, these are both amazing. And like, I totally forgot as I was watching about the restrictions entirely. And both versions worked so well. Your pikachus are making me realize there's much more to this show than I thought and I should really watch it!!

[lola]

I think you would like this secondary pairing. Jack is a former military assassin turned hired gang mercenary with many secrets who falls for the wide open golden-hearted ingenue young cop who hasn't got a disingenuous bone in his entire body.
Ohhh yes, you know me and this is very much my number.

[brokenmnemonic]

Well, I have made two... somethings. Now I just need to go back and work out where and what to do with them. I tried two very different songs just to see what would happen, and I'm finding the results kind of oddly interesting ;)

[brokenmnemonic]

I'm a bit late, but I've completed the exercise. I wasn't sure about how to fade the audio in and out (I've been using Premiere Pro 1.5 since about 2005/6, so naturally I decided to start learning Vegas Pro 14 a couple of months ago, and it's proving a rocky experience). To make up for the lack of fading, I decided to make it more difficult by only using the first 60 seconds of each song, rather than any sixty-second segment.

The video source is a DVD rip of the movie "Ever After", which is one of my favourite movies; to go for a big contrast between audio tracks, I chose two tracks more or less randomly, and ended up with two rather different audio sources.

Vid 1: https://youtu.be/DP9B-NoFeuo (Disturbed - The Sound of Silence)

Vid 2: https://youtu.be/LC1SXuUOLDE (The House of Pain - Jump around)

[bonibaru]

It's only 10 episodes. You can technically watch it in a DAY (and many people have lol). It's fully subbed on Viki!

[bonibaru]

*making grabby hands* I want to seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[bonibaru]

Oh my GOD I love them both.

The first one is so dark fairy tale dreamy and then in a complete flip of tone the second one is so young and rebellious and fun. And they both WORK.

I wish you'd make the second song a whole Sparkle Motion dance party vid, if we ever get to have vid cons again, lol.

I haven't watched this movie in an age but now I really want to go back and watch it.

[jinkyo]

Ok. I'd done a writeup about how hard this project was and how I was unhappy with my first results. I scrapped those and started fresh.
Then promptly ran into the same roadblock.
That's when the lightbulb went off that the 6 second clip would never yield the results I was aiming for. So, I reset my target and went back to the originals, swapped out one of the songs, tweaked the 6 sec. clips and came out with two pechakuchas that fulfilled my original goal - which was to play with this new source on a timeline.

tw: blood, guns

The Professionals | Gunpowder - Wyclef Jean and the Refugee Allstars https://youtu.be/Odd0QA9yOCE
The Professionals | Gouge Away - The Pixies https://youtu.be/yPcSEOnl1ow

[lola]

So first of all I love that your new source is The Professionals! I've been thinking about trying the Professionals too and your vexercises are inspiring me further :)
I love the music that you chose for both of these, and I find them really compelling actually! Because I only know the source through vids, and mostly older vids, I don't really know that much about it... and these gave me a sense of the themes in a way that I'm not used to seeing.
Did you write up more about your process somewhere? If so I'd love to see it!

[naye]

I made an attempt! - both vids in one AO3 post.

[jinkyo]

I'm not familiar with Gaurdians, but I loved the different feels of these two videos. The second one had a very "spy" movie feel to it, reinforced for me by the (looked like a P2 video card/flash memory card) shots and the briefcase at the end.

I really enjoyed what was happening at around :28 seconds. In both, the music picks up intensity and the clip (adjust tie, sweat drip) really held the tension.

[jinkyo]

Oh! Two very different feels in these videos and I dig them both! I don't know HIStory3: Trapped. The first video read like the swooniest of love stories, like an established couple. The second song gave it a new read to me, as if the redhead was actively courting the dark-haired character. Like he had to break through the dark-haired one's resistance until at the end, they were together. This one felt like there was a lot of story between the lines for me, the viewer, to fill in.

[bonibaru]

Oh thank you for that feedback! I read it with a big grin on my face. There is a lot of story between this pairing, to be sure. Aspects of both of your interpretations are true and I'm making notes about the song choices here in particular because especially when thinking about making recruiter vids to lure other people into your fandoms (by the way Trapped is on Viki w/subtitles and is only 10 episodes long, heheh) then it can be tricky to try to capture the real feel of a relationship without all the background and context from the dialogue and so on. What you said is SUPER helpful. Thank you!

[bonibaru]

These are FANTASTIC!

[bonibaru]

What I really love about both of these is 1) how badass the song choices make the source feel, with more modern sound against an older show, but they WORK and 2) the sense of timing & movement is aligned really well with my own intrinsic kinesthetics and so I was totally on board with how you arranged the clips & moved the characters through the piece (great job with picking two songs that match so well, too! I'm in awe)

[jinkyo]

I don't know this source, which is fun for me because I'm literally making up a story (imparting meaning) to the images and sound as I watch.

So, in the first video, I got the sense that the main character should NOT have helped that child. That he carries some great responsibilities on his shoulders and maybe has to bear that alone. I don't know if it's the same child the shows up again in the video, but for me, that read as him forcing himself to ignore the childlike joy the kid was trying to share in order to keep up his responsibility. Watching the fireworks, and later, in the field of rabbits, these are rare times when he can drop the weight he carries and just *be*.

The second vid surprised me, in that, it seemed to tell the same story, but in a different way. It's like the first video was a poem, with sound and image that I had to unravel for myself. The second video was more a short story, with the lyrics adding a foundation for me to interpret the images.

Both were gorgeous!

[jinkyo]

These two vids are getting into more familiar territory for me. I haven't seen the Velvet Goldmine, but I recognize the lives in the footage and I do know the songs. On this watch, each of the songs guided my understanding and literally shifted my imaged time by a decade.

Teenage Dream "felt" like the mid 70s, with glam rock giving way to disco and punk. Like, the last dying gasp of a way of life. And a grimy way of life at that. The older men seemed of ill repute, the young flesh seemed like an exchange for money, and everyone looked like they were on drugs. This felt like an amazingly detailed character study of a particular time and place.

Half a Person - believe it or not, for a Smiths song, read much more hopeful. I think I honed in more on the Christian Bale character like this was a 1st person story of exploration, a young man trying to find his place.

"I booked myself into the YWCA, I like it here can I stay" From his covert jacket buttoning, the disapproving looks from the elders, then that glorious, face-made up grin - that was a beautiful sequence.

[jinkyo]

I loved both of these and these two are, for viewer me, the most extreme change of interpretation with different audio.

The Sound of Silence is a sombre song. I've not seen Ever After, but I'm guessing there's some Cinderella-ish themes, with the Angelica Houston character as the evil godmother. A sad song about waiting for your prince to come.

Jump Around - Holy heck! Drew Barrymore's character is transformed into a super badass. I absolutely loved all the swashbuckling, her defiant tromping out of the castle, her wink as she shoulder carries the "prince". This was all so good!

The shot at :39 sums up what I'm hoping I've said. In "The Sound of Silence" The Drew Barrymore character seems frightened at being apprehended by the henchmen.
In "Jump Around", that same expression reads to me like an affront, like "Oh no she didn't call the Sherrif on me!"

[gwenfrankenstien]

Wow, so happy that I was able to get all that across in a minute of visuals! The movie actually uses adult Christian Bale in the 80s as a framing narrative, I'd like to do a full-length vid to Half A Person eventually so I can explore that character more.