Makoto Shinkai English Fan Forum and Site

gleowine · Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2009 7:21 pm Post subject:

"Strong Heart" is one of my favorite songs by Patty Loveless. It seemed to fit the themes in Shinkai's anime, so I started by looking at the lyrics line by line. Then I searched for scenes and shots from each of the 4 anime that fit the lyrics (I wanted to showcase scenes from all 4). Sometimes I found a perfect match, sometimes not. So I had to keep improvising and adapting where I could. I have a background in music, so rhythm is an important part of it.

As far as how much time it took, I'd say about two to three weeks, mostly working on it in the evenings for a few hours. The slow part was collecting the clips from the DVDs, then inserting and editing them to fit the song. It required a good deal of patience and care.

I used iSkysoft's DVD Ripper to extract the clips. It's Trim feature is not very user-friendly, because the window is so small and the slider so sensitive to movement that it's hard to be precise. Like I said, slow and tedious.

I imported the clips into Apple's iMovie (I already had the song imported). Editing the clips was trial-and-error, so I had to use the Undo command a lot. I found that it's best to insert all the clips and trim them to fit, before adding any transitions or effects. I still had to go back several times and fine tune some things. (Also, as avid gamer Konata-chan says, be sure to "save often.")

I was pleased with the outcome in iMovie. But when I converted it to a Quicktime movie, I didn't really like the look. I have to do more research on things like frames per second, bit rate, resolution, etc. to find the best settings for the best quality.

IsUa · Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2009 8:38 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the explanation, Gleowine Wink

There's a part that I don't quite understand, you weren't happy with the result in youtube? or when you convert to show in youtube?

The problem with AMV, is the resolution in the end...from movie maker is no more than (768 x 576)

And when you upload...the sites that hostage the videos (youtube, motionbox, vimeo, blip.tv, etc...), they suffer a great loss in quality video and sound (especially youtube)...

A find a recent site...very good (blip.tv)...I upload my latest AMV there, and will upload in the future.

See this test in Pc world

Top 10 Video Sharing Sites

I'm not sure that this will help you, but for me solved a problem that I had with the final result (when we see the videos). The difference between youtube and blip.tv...is much (youtube is better for sharing with worlwide because is more know)
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gleowine · Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2009 10:06 pm Post subject:

Thanks again, Isua. Actually, it was when I played the converted file with Quicktime that I noticed the change in quality. It didn't look as good as it did in iMovie. Then, on youtube, it appeared darker than on my computer. I decided to leave it that way. I'll check out the other sites you mentioned.

Honestly, making AMVs is OK, but I'd really like to create something original, not just use someone else's stuff. I have a story in mind, but my artistic skills are a bit lacking.

IsUa · Posted: Sat Mar 28, 2009 12:36 pm Post subject:

So...new song... for my next AMV...hehehe...great song Wink

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