Star Wars Vid: Heroes of the Empire

[beccatoria]

Who releases a vid in an obscure fandom at nearly midnight on Christmas Eve? ME, THAT'S WHO. Because it's burning a hole in my HD.

So, MERRY CHRISTMAS! Have a vid!

Title: Heroes of the Empire
Video: Star Wars: the Clone Wars (animated series)
Audio: Joey Starr Wars // DJ Zebra
Summary: Explosions, lightsabers, the Imperial March and French rap. It's fun being a hero of the Empire.
Editor's Notes: No knowledge of the show is really necessary for this; I cannot claim it has a plot. What it has is lightsabers, explosions, lightsabers and more explosions. ;) Many thanks to kiki_miserychic and chaila43 for the beta!

Direct download available here. RightClickSaveAs. 34 megs approx.

Password: vidses

Watch on Vimeo

Cross-posted to vidding.

Other vids available here.

Comments

[heyiya.livejournal.com]

metatxt and I just watched this at cyborganize's apartment! We enjoyed it lots. M says the rhythm of your cuts has a great counterpoint to the song and I say that lightsabers are pretty.

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

Aww, thanks guys! Threeferone replies ftw!

I hope you have AWESOME CYLONMAS!

If you'll be around at any point on Boxing Day, in the evening - or like, around lunchtime for you west coasters - I may be able to work out how to video skype you guys? Email me, and if you have plans, etc., no worries. Especially since my mic is a bit dodgy and I've never tried to video skype before (but my tried and tested PSP skype headphones broke. Boo...)

<#

[asta77.livejournal.com]

Skype! Wasn't I going to give that a try? Remind me in the new year. I'll make it one of my goals. :)

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

I would like that! :D

Though as noted above, I'll have to see how it actually works with my webcam which is dodgy in windows and skype which might be dodgy in linux... o_O But I'm sure we'll work it out!

[sabaceanbabe.livejournal.com]

Hee! That was fun! I love the laughing/dancing head overlays and the horizontal and vertical stripey screens. And lightsabers are indeed pretty.

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it. Pretty and fun to watch was exactly what I was going for and glad to hear you think my first foray into the world of ~*~effects~*~ was successful!

[asta77.livejournal.com]

Who releases a vid in an obscure fandom at nearly midnight on Christmas Eve?

The same kind of person who posts their holiday 'cards' at nearly midnight because they can't stand staring at them anymore and if they don't post NOW they won't get posted until 2010? Yeah, I can see why we're friends. ;)

That was different! :) Was the floating head supposed to be creepy because it was! I was extremely impressed with your use of effects. I know you were excited to discover them/get to use them. And I must say you make that series look much better than the prequels. I know, the bar is pretty low there. :p

MERRY CHRISTMAS! ::hugs::

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

Hee! Well, inappropriately-timed creative endeavour solidarity! :D

Thanks for the feedback, and yes the floating head was supposed to be kind of creepy. I mean mostly this was just an excuse for trying to do something different - trying out wild action!vidding since I haven't done that before and try out some effects since I figure if pointless effects belong anywhere it's in a crazed action!vid!

But if there is any kind of point beyond that, it's in the title, which is that despite being the good guys, they're actually fighting for what will become the Empire and is already behaving like one. So yeah, there is supposed to be a kind of creepy under/overtone to it, even though I'm not sure how likely people are to pick up on that.

As to the series, first off, thanks! I'm glad I made it look fun. It's weird because I actually didn't vid this because I loved the source material, I vidded it because I thought the animation would be fun to work with and would allow me to do more in terms of manipulating the speed without it being really obvious (due to stylised animation) for making things happen on the beat. I did it because I thought it would look pretty, not really because I thought it was a show that rocked.

As to the show it's...well your assessment is pretty accurate. It's a lot better than the prequels, but it's also important to remember how low the bar was set. It's mostly better because it's not trying to force a story it can't tell. It's just a series of action war adventures and no one's constantly trying to force Anakin into The Guy Who'll Be Darth Vader so he's actually like...heroic and stuff. I mean, sometimes he's rash and thoughtless, but he's the kind of guy you understand why he wasn't LOCKED UP FOR PSYCHIATRIC HELP at least, which is more than can be said for the movies. Plus they give a lot of space to secondary characters so a fair number of episodes don't even feature Anakin or Obi-Wan that much.

So...it's not good exactly but it's a version of the Clone Wars I don't hate as long as I pretend that the films on either side of it occured entirely differently?

[nightxade.livejournal.com]

Ha! Thank you! Merry Christmas to you too :D

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! :D And thanks. :)

[emmiere.livejournal.com]

Fun. :D

I'm kind of alternating between gleeful bouncing and creeped out by the bouncy head. ;) Great looking effect and I'm guessing this is the kind of snazzy looking vid you can get out of Cinelerra? Nice! I also love the split screens and it makes the whole source look very fun and action-y, even though I'm terribly unfamiliar with it.

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'm so glad you enjoyed it! My goal was to make it fun (and okay, a little creepy!) to watch even though nearly no one would have seen the source so thanks for taking the time to watch it.

Thanks also for the comments on the effects and split screens. Yes, this is Cinelerra in action. I may make a post about the program soon, actually. I have decided that while I wish it did a few things differently, overall I like it. But it is ugly as sin and did take a while to get used to and to start thinking the way I needed to to use it.

[frolicndetour.livejournal.com]

Ooh, this is so much fun! And so pretty. I love the effects, especially the little dancing head.

[girlshy.livejournal.com]

Awesomely done! You have my approval with this! (^_^)

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

Yay! :D

So glad you liked it.

[chaila.livejournal.com]

Finally watching the final version! Funnily enough, this looks even prettier streaming. Is that weird? Anyway, I still love the matching of the lightsabers with the music and the creepy overlordy-ness of the laughing head. I still admire the way you match certain clips with certain sounds, and not just music. I think I notice a new musical match every time I watch (this time, it the the guy getting electrocuted to that completely crazed laughing sort of sound--CREEPY). Also, I should learn masking.

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

Yay! Thanks and yes, it's weird it looks prettier streaming but maybe because it's a smaller screen?

I'm really glad that you like it and that you managed to get some fun out of the associations I made and the timing even though you're not familiar with the source.

You SHOULD learn masking. I don't think I'll use it often to be honest, but it's nice to know about it for if/when I ever do. \o/

[daybreak777.livejournal.com]

I found this comment from Christmas day. Sorry it's late!

Wow! That was like a trailer for the Clone Wars! Very, very exciting especially since I don't know the fandom. I especially like the split screen wipe thing. One day I'll have to ask you more about that!

And what a riff on the Emperial March! Really cool twist on a fandom we know well but in a whole different genre.

Very exciting!

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

Late comments are the best kind! :D

I'm so glad you enjoyed it! I did want to use it to showcase how pretty the show is, though I'm not sure I could, in good conscience, tell people it was a work of genius and quality in telvision programming. ;)

The split screen wipe thing was actually reasonably easy, actually, once I learned how to do masks in Cinelerra. A mask like...a shape you cut out of a video clip, so, you know, I cut around the laughing head, or I cut a horizontal slice. Then you can also get them to change shape and move. So the screen wipes are just four different tracks playing at once, but each one is "masked" so that only that slice shows? Um...that may not be too useful though since I don't know how to do it in Vegas. Discussions with chaila43 suggest that it might be called "cookie cutter"?

Also yeah, the song is really awesome - I can't claim credit for it though - kiki_miserychic pointed me towards it!

Thanks for letting me know you enjoyed it!

[daybreak777.livejournal.com]

Ooh, advice on effects!!!! *bookmarks* After festivid, I'll get back to my other vid. And I'll keep 'cookie cutter' in mind. :-)

Thanks!

[cyborganize.livejournal.com]

I know we've talked about this vid before, but I wanted to say officially that I think you did a fantastic job with it! the unusual source and music mesh with your amazing effects in a very coherent style. it has a really engaging rhythm punctuated by some striking juxtapositions with musical moments. I love watching you become a Real Vidder, HA.

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

Ha! I'll never be a Real Vidder! :p But htanks, I really appreciate that you like it and like the effects. I'm still a fan of the moving split screens (a definite precursor to my recent River vid!) though also somewhat uncertain about the laughing head and whether it works - I think on balance I like it - I'm certainly glad I tried it. Like you say, it was a fun vid to try and play with the unusual source and audio.

Hooray for officially saying things! :p