Answering a question...

[ash48]

A vidding one for the lovely cassiopeia7



How long does it take you to create a three-to-four minute vid? From Muse inspiration to gathering clips and choosing music, to assembly (and the most amazing part to me, cutting on-the-beat), to the editing process, to knocking us all dead with another killer fanvid? How labor-intensive is the average SPN vid? (I know we all appreciate the work you do, but I have a feeling that many of us have no IDEA how hard you work on these masterpieces.)


A tricky question because it's really hard to gauge exactly how long a vid takes to make. Mostly because I grab time when I can - sometimes a good solid 4 hour block, or maybe just half an hour.

I seem to be making fewer and fewer 3-4 minute vids these days (more like 1 - 2min vids). They really do take a long time and these days I just don't seem to be able to find it OR I just don't have the patience to be working on something for so long.

But I can give some ball park figures. If I had a three minute vid to make I would want to have a least 4 weeks up my sleeve to work on it (possibly longer). Assuming I can spend a few nights a week working on it (about 3 hours each night) and maybe a Saturday or Sunday (another 3-4 hours). That would equate to about 48 hours. Then time would have to be added for tweaking it after a beta had seen it. Sometimes that can take a heap more time (depending how well the vid is working after the initial draft).

I find it hard to work on a vid for over 3-4 hours in one hit because my brain goes a bit numb. It's also hard to keep a good perspective when working that closely on it. I like to do a chunk (maybe 20secs) and leave it for a day or two and then go back to it. I find that gives me a sense of whether it's working or not.

The longest part of the process is gathering the clips. It takes ages and it's pretty boring. The best (and most fun!) part is working with the clips and nutting out how they best work to the beat - and manage to tell some sort of story. It can also be very frustrating when it refuses to work.

I used to gather the majority of my clips before I started editing but these days I like to mix the two. Gather some clips (which requires remembering where the footage is - and after 9 seasons that's getting increasingly difficult - dropping the ep into a clipping program (I use MPEG Streamclip), finding the clip, marking the section you want and then converting/saving it) and then edit a section. Of course it depends on the type of vid. When I made the recent J2 vid I clipped ALL the footage before I even began. It took friggin' ages. The No Surrender vid was a mix - the first half didn't take as long as the second half because I mostly had all the clips AND I know the footage pretty well. The second half was a lot of the newer seasons so I had to clip all those. That vid took about 5 weeks to make.

Oops. Long answer. Get me talking about vidding and that's what happens. ;)

Thanks for your question. And for the opportunity to chat about my passion.
xx

Comments

[ash48.livejournal.com]

It's certainly much harder to do something if you don't have a passion for it (especially when there's no money involved…;D)

I have a Media degree for teaching in high school, but I never felt I was in touch with the technology to be able to teach it. But now I feel I have a much better grasp.

I can't say I ever thought about teaching online. It might be something for the future if I ever wanted to take a break from the classroom.

xx