Perri's Comments Kiki's CommentsAbby's Comments

    Perri's Comments

    Analog vidding is both simpler and more complex than computer editing. Usually more complex and the levels of complexity change depending on what kind of equipment you're using. But you do *not* have to have a fancy set-up involving a G4 computer and a PCI slot to create vids, honest!

    Chris and Abby both operate with the venerable "two VCRs and a stopwatch" method of vidding. Basically, they play on one VCR, record the clips in order onto the second VCR, then dub the vid to a second tape, using the video leads to dub the video, and the audio leads to overlay the sound track from a stereo. Result: vid. This method is tricky, since you have to keep replaying the song and starting the tape at the same place every time to make sure the cuts come at the proper moment, but it can be done. CaliCrew did it for years, with some very tricky timing (look at their Quantum Leap vid "Oh Boy", then fall down in worship).

    Personally, I use the editing VCR route -- at one point, I actually laid out the money for a VCR with the lovely features of audio dub (allowing me to lay down sound without affecting the video portion of the tape) and video insert (allowing me to insert clips with a fair amount of precision, without affecting the audio track). Video insert also has the lovely advantage, on most editing VCRs, or allowing you to "zero-out" -- set a precise place on the tape where the clip will *stop* recording, allowing you to go back and clean up clips or insert new clips later without screwing up your entire vid when you forget to hit 'stop'.

    I also use a vid clarifier, available at your local electronics store, to keep the clip quality higher, since any vid will be at least second generation, usualy third or fourth.

    My method of vidding runs something like this:

  • 1. Ten minutes to lay down black space. This is from a 'black tape', made by stealing the black space before a pro tape and looping it endlessly, to keep from having ugly, noisy static on the portions of your tape before and between the vids' beginning and end.

    You can also pause on black space and record ten seconds of paused black space, if your second VCR will let you do that.

  • 2. Ten minutes to arrange all video, audio, etc. cables. Begin swearing when I can't find the one I need.

    Or you can just always leave your set-up in place so that it's ready to vid. This doesn't make you obsessive. Really.

  • 3. Ten minutes to lay down the audio track. I do use a computer for this, mostly because my little stereo doesn't have very good export capability, and I can play some audio games (like smoothly cutting songs if they're too long). But any stereo with an output port will do the job, as far as I can tell; I just go to the beginning of the black space, hit audio dub, then hit play on the computer/stereo. Then swear some more when I realize I forgot to unpause the tape so it would record, and do the whole thing again.

    Even the smallest boombox with an out-port for the headphones will work. You just need the right kind of cable to feed into the VCR, usually with an adaptor at one end. If you play this *while* you're recording, too, it'll often help you figure out what you're doing, if you're using the stopwatch method. A tapedeck with a timer/counter is an enormous help.

    The biggest advantage of audio dub, by the way, is that immediately after you put in a clip, you can playback and see if it worked, without having to synch it to an external stereo. Very nice.

  • 4. 8-12 hours sitting on my little kitchen chair in front of the VCRs with all three remotes and all necessary tapes within reach. Swear when I have to go across the room seven times to get tapes I forgot I'd need. Use video insert to replace black space with clips, check them on playback to make sure they synch with the music. Swear again as technical difficulties are encountered. Continue swearing as clips don't work like they were supposed to. Call someone to get ideas for a new clip. Swear some more when I realize the tape quality on a clip I desperately need sucks. Call someone to swear at a human for a while. Return to chair and continue swearing until the vid is done or I pass out from lack of sleep/food.

    (I'm not kidding about the swearing. The running monologue during my AW 2000 vids, for example, went something like: "When the hell was Talyn born?" "Damn it, Cordy, do you *ever* get to fight?" "Buffy, cry for three more seconds, okay? Okay? Damn it!" "No, insert *now*!" "2 a.m.? It can't be 2 a. m." "Brood, brood, brood. Angel, they're right, you gotta get a life, man." "Oh, Prime Cable sucks!" "No, no, don't fade out yet!" "Gng, three frames off! Frell it, here goes try number 8!" "What the bloody hell is 'The Prom' doing in 'Grad 2's box? And what do you mean I don't have 'Go Fish'?!?" "Kiki? When the hell else does Cordy get to look smug without being bitchy?" "Damn it, Aeryn, hit John *on* the beat, not after it!" "Credits?!? You ran *credits* over that shot? I *needed* that shot!" "Oh, whose stupid idea was this whole vidding thing any way?" "F*** me!" This ain't easy, people).

  • 5. Finish vid. Call someone to tell them how brilliant I am. Collapse.

  • 6. After I recover, 3 hours editing clips and inserting new ones to clean it up, improve the flow, and fix the technical glitches I was too bleary-eyed to see at 4 A.M.

    The one good thing about the stopwatch is you *have* to edit as you go. So when you're done, you're done. There's very little editing you can do that won't result in another generation of tape; so it's better to get each clip right after twenty seconds of song, rather than waiting until the end.

    Running monologue this time is more like: "How the hell did that extra frame sneak in there?" "Ooo, that's gonna look like crap on third-gen." "Hey! When did the tracking go off?" "Well, that's a boring section. Redo!" "Damn it, Cordelia, you couldn't have fallen again *before* I finished the vid? Insert, insert, insert..." "F*** me!")

  • 7. Finish, squeal, run around room, rewatch endlessly. Send tape to Apocalypse West to put on the master (and to get endless praise). Collapse again.

    Did I forget to mention the happy supportive part of having your friends tell you you're brilliant? Well, that's one of the cool parts.

    Total elapsed time for me to finish a vid is something like 11-15 hours per vid. I generally do it over the course of one marathoning weekend, with the profanity increasing in direct proportion to what hour I'm on. [BTW, Spanish TV is really weird from 7 pm to 4 am (that's what I habitually have on the TV (muted) when I'm working), but endlessly entertaining, even with the sound off.]



    Kiki's 12 Steps to Vidding:

    1 (a). Fall in love with a song and a vid idea. Have a vision. Immediately see all the clips laid out in my brain, and know how long they'll be and how I want them laid out. Tape the vid.

    1 (b). [Much more common] Fall in love with a song and a vid idea. Realize it will never go away until someone does it. Try to pester Apocalypse West into doing it for me. Give up when they claim to be too busy. Pout. Then sit down and try to work out the next bit.

    2. Get a copy of the lyrics from either Lyric Server or the album, if I have it, or one of several other lyric sites on the Web.

    3. Pop CD into the CD player, with the timer running, and note down the time in seconds and minutes at the beginning of each verse, chorus, and occasionally line. Basically, figure out where the five-second breaks are in the vid. Make instrumental notes ("guitar riffy bit", "synthesizer weirdness", "wailing in the background") to help map out the arc of the song. Cut out the bits I'm not going to use because it makes the song too long (supposedly).

    4. Print this lyric breakdown off, then spend eons messing with the lyrics/timing and trying to come up with ideas for at least each 10 seconds. Five seconds if it's a faster song. Write out list of all the eps and tapes I'll need to make this work.

    5. Get tapes together. Sit down with two VCRs hooked up so they're tape-to-tape. Also an audio tape deck, with a good copy of the song cut as I want to use it in the vid. Also a lot of caffiene.

    6. Search for an opening shot that works with the song. Search some more. Search some more.

    7. Find shot, begin vidding. Check vid sheet for approximate shot lengths, lyric changes, as I go.

    8. Tape about 3-4 shots, then run it through the 'beta' record stage: adding on the soundtrack, seeing where the cuts occur, seeing if something needs to be shorter or longer. Edit. Fix. Try not to leave in extra frames. Hope this won't come out completely different if the final recording is off by one second. Do this every 4-5 or 3-4 shots or so.

    9. Continue vidding. Try to keep the remotes straight.

    9(a). Screech and scream a lot if this isn't possible and 45 seconds of work gets recorded over while looking for something farther back. Record back from 'beta' tape if this happens. Curse. Sulk. Call other Horsechicks and whine about it.

    10. Take a lot of breaks. Five hours of vidding is about the limit the brain can handle in one shot.

    11. Finish vid. Record final 'beta' soundtrack version; check for any slack or bits where an easy cut can be made to excise extra stuff.

    12. Send un-soundtracked and 'beta' copy to Apocalypse West, where they add the soundtrack without devolving the tape quality by doing it on the computer, using the 'beta' copy for reference on how the soundtrack gets laid in. Worry that it won't work. Wish for computer equipment. Or an "insert" button on the VCR.

    13. Dance around because the vid is done!


    Abby's Comments

    1) Listen to the radio and laugh maniacally when you realize pop divas fit in the Nikita-verse.

    2) Find MP3 of said song (err, actually kiddies, buy the CD from your local independant record store... stealing is wrong. Plus, the sound quality is usually bad.) Listen through it a few times and cut the parts you don't want to use. Like the umpteeth time the singer repeats the same refrain.

    3) Find the lyrics... Usually off of a fan site.

    4) Grab the tapes you want to use, a print out of the lyrics, and a pencil. Sit down and match scenes to lyrics. Make fun of Michael as he is fun to MST3K. Realize your friend's daughter probably shouldn't be watching what Michael and Nikita are doing in the tube.

    5) Pop a blank tape into the second vcr and proceed to fiddle with the frelling record button.

    6) Go to the first scene you chose and see if its timing works with the song's timing. Realize it doesn't, and find a better one. Record scene. Play it back, while playing the song. See if it works.

    7) Repeat, remembering the vcr rewinds 2 seconds each time you hit record.

    8) Laugh at inappropriate closed captions.

    9) Dance for joy when you realize your singer always uses an 8 second timing device.

    10) Pop tape out of second vcr, put in blank tape, and put master in first vcr. And run wires everywhere. I realized it didn't matter what you had plugged in, as long as you had lots of wires. Or just ignore me and read your vcr manual... You kept that, right?

    11) Hit play on first vcr and computer sound player at the same time that you hit record on second vcr. (Hint: Having help is good.)

    12) Worry that your final product sucks. Angst until your friends say its ok.


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