So hey people of the interwebs, I've uploaded a new "That moment when" video.
TAKE A LOOK!
"That moment when" video is something I would like to make a regular thing. These videos are simple to create and are relatable to audiences.
This video was created merely because of the insanely weird weather that has been happening where I live.
Its not the best I'll admit. I essentially put it down as a filler as I work out some bumps with other videos, for example: A Man of Steel Parody! which a part of can be seen in this video.
I try to keep busy. This is something a lot of my family and friends know about me.
I might be editing, working at my actual job or trying to connect with other people in the business. Its the rare occasion when I try to sit down and actually relax without thinking about anything film related.
So I was kinda glad when I got to go away for the week in the country with no work involved. It was so far out, I couldn't get any phone reception. Let alone get on the internet....
The perfect setting for a horror movie :-D. Reference: Cabin in the Woods
(Awesome movie by the way)
It is incredible when you just have nothing you need to do and can just relax.
Just sit on the porch of a little house in the countryside with some family, miles away from any bustling city.
I love the city, but sometimes it can just be too much.
I do try to relax normally in my home, as its not everyday you get to rent a house for a week in the countryside.
For those who perhaps are having a stressful day, or perhaps just even need a time out, try this website called RainyMoods. It is how I relax when I can anyway. I hope it helps out :-).
Constructive Criticism is one of the greatest things a filmmaker could ask for, as it would for any type of artist.
At times, when you are working on something for so long and hard, you don't know how to see its from an objective view point. Trying to make none biased judgements on it so you can improve it can become difficult. Or even some people can spot things you would have never been able to spot. Thats where the constructive criticism comes in.
Constructive criticism is essentially the objective judgement of both its merits and faults with no biased opinions thrown into the mix of the final verdict. An example of this would be a film review.
Film reviews themselves have to be completely objective and judge a productions merits and faults so they can decide for people whether a film is worth seeing or not. They can't be saying "This film is amazing because Arnold Schwarzenegger is in it." They can say he perhaps performed quite well in a certain film, but they cannot use their own personal preference or opinion unless it adds to the review.
Every time I am going to upload a video, I always show to a friend or a relative to help get a preliminary opinion on the video before it goes up. Quite usually this helps me smooth out some of the more visible flaws and really helps with the quality of the video.
The whole point of criticism is to point out the pros and cons of a work and doing this can help you really improve a piece. This kind of review can take out the flaws within a piece and also give you a look at how people could react to production. This goes for loads of areas of work too!
Not reviewing your work
"Can you mark my english paper?"
"Sure!"
*couple minutes later*
"How did I-"
"FAAAAIILLL!"
Reviewing your work
"Can you mark my english paper please?"
"Sure!"
*couple minutes later*
"How did I do?"
"PASS!"
SUCCESS!!!!!!
With constructive criticism, there will always be comments on its faults. This can be irritating for some people for different reasons. It could be that they have worked so hard on this project that the mention of any faults simply angers them of their own fault or that someone spotted it. It could also be that perhaps the viewer himself thinks its perfect and is arrogant, or it could be perhaps for another reason. But the big part to this type of criticism is that people explain why they feel this way. That is the difference between criticism and just plain negativity.
What I mean by just plain negativity is someone just plainly giving an opinion without a supporting argument to why they feel this way. There can be cases where someone perhaps doesn't like something and don't know why, however I am a believe that in order to do something, we humans have to have a reason behind it.
I eat because I'm hungry, I play games because I'm bored, I breathe because I WANT TO LIIIVVVE!
But there are comments (especially in the youtube comment sections) where someone says something is bad and just leave it there. I'll give you an example.
A long while back I made a video called "Final Fantasy Battle Real Life" (it is kinda bad, so beware)
Here is a link if you are interested: http://youtu.be/mH7ZRYiKWJY
On that video there were quite a few flaws, but despite that I got a few positive comments, which I was thankful for. After all I had worked hard on that video to try and recreate this well known Final Fantasy battle structure.
However there were also comments that were rather blatant.
Now I will be honest here, this comment did hurt a little.
I mean, just out of no where, this guys comes along watches my video and decides to type in such a negative comment.
But what bugged me more is that he didn't explain why he didn't like it.
I'll admit, the video was lacking in quality in quite a few areas, but leaving at least a reason why he didn't like it, or an example of what he didn't like would have helped out a lot more and allowed me to improve.
But this is a very common thing to happen on people on the internet, so much so if people don't like what they see, it can open people up to personal attacks about their appearance, financial status, sexuality, etc... Thankfully, personal attacks on the comments have never happened to me, but they have to people I know. Even if you try to ignore them, it still hurts.
I don't think people should sugarcoat anything they didn't like about the videos they watch. I mean, the internet is one of the most honest places in the world. Because of the fact people are anonymous, people can be as truthful as they want because they don't have to save face.
However I do believe that there is a certain level of curtsy when writing these opinions could help people improve rather than put them down.
Sorry, I'm kinda going into a rant now.
But in any case, I would say one thing to anyone who is trying to make their own content, give your work to someone you know when you are finished and get them to review it. The feedback that they give you can really improve your work.
And try to ignore the blatant negative comments. If you enjoy it and it isn't harming anyone, then go ahead and make it. Now, I think you know what time it is.....
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RANDOM VIDEO TIME!!!
P.S. Filming at a small short today. If you are good, I may share some behind the scene with you :-)
So for those who don't know the story, I had originally made this AMV (Anime Music Video) for Q-Con in Belfast. I unfortunately didn't win during the contest, but after asking around (anonymously) I found out that some people quite enjoyed my Pieces - AMV.
Just the fact that people enjoyed it made me quite happy, but then one of the other attendants TheRedCloudAMV linked me to another competition in Arcade-con in Dublin.
I sent it in and;
IT WON!!!
(Jim Carrey for the win!)
I thought I would let you know, but I've got to admit there was some very tough competition. I'll give a shout out to 2 other videos I thought were particularly good :-)
Anyway, thanks for reading at these posts. I'll tell you, I have a project up my sleeve that I'm working on at the minute that I may tease about on here soon.
There is also an AMV competition at this con called eirtakon in November, so I'll be entering Pieces and a completely new AMV.
As you may remember, I made an anime music video a while back to enter into this competition at the Q-con convention in Belfast after hearing about it through a friend.
Here is the video in case you didn't remember:
Q-AMV CONTEST! DID I WIN OR LOSE?
The bad news is that my AMV didn't win or even come as a runner up. The AMVs weren't shown due to a scheduling error so I wasn't able to see any more of the competition, which I was sad about because the quality I had seen so far was really good.
However, according to sources at the convention, this has happened for quite a few years now.
Same thing goes for not getting a confirmation email (which really worried me as I didn't even know if they had got my video even after I asked staff).
Now the results haven't been released on the website yet so I can't confirm this, but I remember the name of the winner. After some research, I think this is the video that won:
The guy who created this video seemed to have always entered rather light and comedic AMVs and truth be told, I did enjoy this video.
Now you may think I would be upset about not winning. It is true I'm a bit sad that I didn't get it, but there was one thing that made the convention for me and that was someone praising my video :-).
While I was waiting for the closing ceromony to begin, I began to talking to these two girls outside the hall. During the conversation, I began talking about the competitions and how I entered the AMV one. One of the girls replied by saying that they had entered that as well.
We talked away about what AMVs we had seen before the contest and she brought up which AMVs she thought should win.
She said that "Taiga Problems" (the one above) should win, and if not the Pieces AMV she saw with the anime "the Dissapearence of Haruhi Suzumiya."
Now be aware that she didn't know what AMV was mine at that point and the fact she said she really liked and thought it should win if Taiga Problems made me jump for joy! (not literally, but still!).
That made the convention and the whole process of spending late nights making the video all worth it.
And its actually because of her I'm entering the videos into Arcadecon which is another convention happening in Dublin. Because of this that video will become unlisted for a while.
By the way, she herself has a Youtube channel where she posts AMVs like the one she entered for the contest. I suggest you check her out, the videos are absolutely brill!
So yeah, I won't drone on about what happened at Q-CON, but I will briefly tell you what I did and enjoyed.
There were cosplayers.... So many cosplayers..... And they were all awesome! I got some pictures of them and they were all just a lot of fun. Just pointing out the different characters people were dressed up as.
There were plenty of competitions varying from gaming, card games to board and war games. It actually re-kindled an old Yugioh interest and got to relive my childhood after duelling a couple people!
An incredible amount artwork, manga and all sorts of other merchandise and collectables littered hundreds of tables. I have to admit I bought a couple of artwork
This was also a brilliant place for a couple indie game developers to showcase their work and for a few premiers of new anime releases!
And all of these were just a few things I did. In all honestly, it was an incredible experience and if you ever get the chance, try going to it or at least a convention that is like it near you :-).
And if you are interested in the projects I'm doing, I'm working with some friends to try and get something out as soon as we can.
