Me, myself & I

Just want to give a heads up about a possibly infected Imeem... Via Norton Safe Web. This really doesn't look good.

Wow that was quick! They look to have sorted the problem now.

Video Title: Still Breathing
Song Title/Artist: Still Breathing - Duran Duran
Character/Fandom: Spike, BtVs, AtS
Summary:Spike's redemption song
Length/Format: 4.06 (Xvid)
Notes: What it says on the tin image, commissioned as part of the Sweet Charity Auction, RAINN 2.0.

This is very much a character study of remorse and redemption. The parallels are to show where he's been, how far he's come and how far he still has to go in a geographical sense but more in a personal journey towards becoming a hero. It's also about how he can't escape his past because the same situations keep arising but this time he reacts differently. It's about never going back to his old self or repeating the same mistakes.

My buyer is happy so that makes me happy. :)

Thank you so much xandra_ptv, messyjessie58 & giandujakiss for your helpful beta comments. Sorry if it was you that missed out on the beta process, in total I had 6 opinions on this (which is way more than I usually have) and I had to draw the line somewhere.

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stream @ imeem
( [Embedded YouTube] )

Feedback is extremely welcome.

Video Title: Birth Of A Geisha
Song Title/Artist: Song Of Birth - Eri Sugai
Movie: Memoirs Of a Geisha
Summary: This is a journey from girl to Geisha. Character study/film overview
Length/Format: 3.38 (Xvid)
Notes:
This was my entry in the Reverie style contest. Vidders were asked to submit anonymously and then members were invited to guess who made what and provide feedback before the vidders were announced. It was great fun and I learned a lot. Half the people who voted guessed me right. I suppose that means I must have quite a distinctive style.

About the vid itself, I don't know what the actual English translation is and all my research pointed to the artist using her voice as an instrument rather than specific lyrics. If it is hideously inappropriate at any point I'm sorry for that but I chose to edit it as if it was an instrumental piece. Memoirs of a Geisha is a beautifully shot film and I did my best to utilise that. I roughly followed the narrative of the film but I did take some liberties, perhaps the biggest of which was the decision to remove the fourth Geisha (Piglet) from the vid altogether.

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Med stream @ imeem
( [Embedded Imeem] )

Feedback is extremely welcome.

Video Title: The Wreckoning
Song Title/Artist: The Wreckoning - BoomKat
Fandom/Character: Heroes, Niki-Jessica
Summary: Jessica pov. It's all about the jekyll & Hyde, the love/hate, the sub/dom, the protector/protected relationship of Niki and Jessica.**swear words and possible spoilers**
Length/Format: 2.12 (Xvid)
Notes:
This is part 2 of the ongoing vid/let challenge with astartexx (part 1 was "Protege Moi".) Astarte gave me the song but didn't specify any show or character, Niki/Jessica just spoke to me. The major problem was how to get across the concept of Crazy Brain Twin. The video feels disjointed very much like the two characters. As the video was set as a challenge it gave me the opportunity to experiment a lot more with effects and come out of my comfort zone a bit. Some of these are more subtle and some are in your face. For those who haven't seen the show Jessica's the psycho with the tattoo but honestly that won't help much because even when she's not on screen she's still sort of there. It's probably the one time where pov confusion is actually intentional. lol

Feedback is loved.

Download Xvid (720x400 - 40MB)
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Med stream at imeem
( [Embedded YouTube] )

Have a fantastic Christmas astartexx!! Thank you so much again for my gifts. *mwah*
I hope you like the vid. ;)


Video Title: Destiny Calling
Song Title/Artist: Destiny Calling - James
Movie: Multi (X-Men, Spiderman, Superman, Daredevil, The Incredibles, Fantastic 4, Batman)
Summary: A pick 'n' mix of superheroes. A smorgasbord of leather and lycra. For Astarte!! Merry Christmas!!
Length/Format: 3.45 (Xvid)

Download the very big and pretty (960x400 - 70MB)
Download Xvid (736x304 - 45MB)
Med stream at imeem (very tiny picture)
( [Embedded YouTube] )

Video Title: Beautiful Obscene
Song Title/Artist: Beautiful Obscene - Diana Anaid
Show: Hex
Summary: This pretty much covers Thelma's arc throughout both seasons of Hex. Despite multiple deaths and assorted mayhem it is on balance quite a upbeat empowering vid. I hope you enjoy it messyjessie58 !
Length/Format: 2.22, (Xvid)
Please do not upload to youtube or myspace etc. Thanks!

Download Xvid (720x400 - 34.78MB)
stream at imeem

Feedback is always fantabulous.

Video Title: Candleburn
Song Title/Artist: Candleburn - Dishwalla
Show: Firefly
Summary: Mal always feels the presence of Inara.
Length/Format: 4.07, (WMV, Xvid)
Notes: The original vid was made October 04. This was part of my remastering project because I still loved the song and concept of the vid but found the transitions I used in the original video were a bit distracting. So the main changes here are softening those transitions to make them less jarring with the tone of the song. As usual with these remasters the picture quality is much improved and the aspect ratio corrected. There are a few minor clip changes which I feel add to the video.

ETA:
Lim asked me to write a breakdown of the transitions I applied in my video “Candleburn” so here we are with some brief explanatory notes.

Firstly there are 3 types of transitions used, one is a soft gradient wipe then there are cross fades and fade to black. I used the gradient wipe to show Inara whispering in and out of Mal’s view. Specific time stamps for those are: 0.49, 0.51, 0.57, 1.33, 2.47-2.50, 2.55, 3.00, 3.07, 3.13 and 3.15. The default gradient mask in Premiere is hard and blocky. I used the gradient wipe in after-effects which allows you to get a much softer effect by using one clip as the mask for the other. On other occasions I have made a soft gradient mask within Photoshop and then applied it within Premiere as a gradient transition to get a similar effect. The key to making Inara appear to be ghostly was in me finding *exactly* the same shot without her in it, even if it was only for a couple of frames. Sometimes I had to slow the scene down by 10%. On one occasion 3.05 where Inara is pointing the gun, the background in the original scene was very plain and blue and so I was able to key it out and fade her in without the background.

The dips to black are fairly self explanatory and were very handy for setting the tone of the introduction. The cross fades were done by manually overlaying one clip and fading it into the next rather than using Premiere Pro’s cross fade transition. By doing this I was able to key frame the cross fade to look as soft and smooth as possible. I often find that the default cross fade transition in Premiere Pro can make the image drop out making the transition look a bit ragged.

The clip of Inara coming through the static 3.19 was done on a separate sequence then applied to the cut-out screen which I made using an alpha mask in Photoshop.

I think that pretty much covers the effects and transitions. There was some colouring done to the dancing clips to make them fit with the inter-cut scenes better but that’s pretty much it.

The idea was to create an ethereal version of Inara that Mal glimpses but cannot quite reach. Although she is a tougher character than this in the show I really wanted the vid to be filled with longing and regret at missed opportunities. Inara’s space is always red and gold and Mal is lost in a world of grey and blue without her.

I think that pretty much sums it up... I hope it's been helpful.

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stream at imeem
( [Embedded YouTube] )

Feedback is always fantastic.

Video Title: Suicide Note
Song Title/Artist: Suicide Note - Johnette Napolitano
Show: Angel
Summary: A reflective look at Illyria and Wesley's growing relationship and how it has come to mean more than expected.
Length/Format: 5.19, (WMV, Xvid)
Notes: When I originally made this the show had not long finished airing and so the only footage I had to work with had a huge WB logo and was not great quality. I always promised myself that I would remake it when I bought the DVDs and now eventually I have. Aside from the obvious improvement in picture quality I have made some clip changes to hopefully make things flow a bit better. I have also changed the transitions to get rid of the rather unsatisfactory white-outs and replaced them with something not as heavy handed. I have played with the colours this time too. I went for a muted blue/grey tone that hopefully reflects the mood of the video (and I was maybe just a smidge influenced by Supernatural).

Download Xvid (720x416 - 40MB)
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stream at imeem
( [Embedded YouTube] )

Feedback is great.

Video Title: Mambo Italiano
Song Title/Artist: Mambo Italiano - Groove Armada
Show: Alias
Summary: Sydney Bristow and her many aliases.
Length/Format: 3.01, (Xvid)
Notes: There are some minor clip changes from the original vid and some of the effects are toned down. All for the better I think. The main difference is quality and screen size.

Download Xvid (720x416 - 37.6MB)
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( [Embedded Imeem] )

Video Title: Boom Boom Ba (REMASTERED)
Song Title/Artist: Boom Boom Ba - Metisse
Show: Xena
Summary: This video focuses on the sensual aspects of the show Xena and the relationship between Xena and Gabrielle. This was made originally in Oct 04 for a theme challenge and the theme was “lust”. This vid plays heavily on the lust, the swaying bodies and the subtext text.
Length/Format: 4.49, (RM, Xvid)



Notes: So, I decided to remaster this video because a few folk requested a DVD version. That wasn’t my only reason but it was the final push I needed. Of late I’ve been thinking about remastering a few of my older vids and this came first because I thought this would be the least difficult. That was what I thought anyway...but truthfully it was a bitch. Most of my problems related to timing and colouring. I know what I did before but the same thing didn't work second time around. Of course I have fixed the timing but the colours are not the same as the original. In fact I think the colours are even better and that is one of the things that I wanted to fix with the new version. The other main difference is visual quality! Back in 04 I was still making vids at relatively small file sizes. This version is bigger and much less muddy . Let’s just say I have learnt a lot in the past 18 months. I did make a few changes in clip choices, not many, and only chosen to make it flow better. This new video, though slightly altered from the old, still remains true to my original idea. It was made as a "mood piece" and that is what it is.

About the DVD version - I have never encoded to NTSC DVD before (PAL for me) so I hope that is all okay. I followed vividcon's guide which was pretty straightforward on the matter. If any problems do arise please tell me and I'll fix it!

Anyway, I've very glad I finally got around to doing this; I think it was worth it. I hope you guys approve. :)

Feedback always welcome and never turned away.

Download Xvid (640x480 - 50MB. It's huge, sorry!)
Download RM (400x304 - 26.9MB)
stream at imeem

Xena_Boom Boom Ba [vidding] - charmax