Lost Video Island

[soapbubbles511]

IA with Kat... story story story... I've seen too many AUs that had 5 paragraph descriptions detailing the story they had in mind, but then you can't follow any of that in the vid... keep in mind that the audience does not know the story so you need to very clearly show them

reaction shots can make an AU vid... this is what makes some of the best AU vidders... that the way the characters react to each other looks genuine... even if the scenes come from 3 seasons apart (or 2 completely unrelated fandoms)... its not enough to put two scenes together because the characters are in the same place, but they need to look like they're having the same conversation, feeling the same things...

and me personally... totally OCD about manips... I need it to look like they're in the same place... if there is a picture sitting on the mantle in the background, I have manipped a picture to cookie cutter into the frame... I have rejected clips because both characters are sitting on the same side of the table and when you mirror one so it looks like they're facing each other you can see the door in the background of both... I spend hours masking 2 seconds of scenes together... and I do notice these kinds of things in other people's vids but I'll let it slide if it's not too glaring or the AU is completely off the wall and it was the only way to get the point across

2 of my biggest AU pet peeves... the extra super close up... when the vidder zooms in really really close in order to crop out whoever was really in the scene... say we're vidding Kuliet... using a Kate/Claire scene for half, so that works fine with bits of blonde hair... but then a Suliet scene for the other half and so you zoom in so Jules face is taking up the entire screen to eliminate Sawyer... bugs me..... and the other one is the floating head cookie cutter... you want your two characters hugging/in bed together/whatever... and you just try to cookie cutter your character's face onto the real character's body... except the head is kinda too big or doesn't quite move with the body.... this can be done well, and it looks amazing, but much patience is required (and several hours of OCDing )
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[Aislynn]

[Aislynn]

[soapbubbles511]

lols... face smoosher

I think we've all been guilty of it at least a couple times... but the trick is to figure out how to hide things, without looking like you're hiding things

and I think I'm going to continue to ramble on... with examples... there are two basic ways to go about creating AU scenes... masking and creative splicing

masking is definitely trickier... trying to actually insert a character into another character's scene... it needs to look really clean in order to look like you didn't just plop something on top... but doing it well can lead to a moment

but an effective AU can be made completely without masking... many a AU scene has been created by finding two *perfect* scenes to put together.. these are generally the ones that leave people going, wait did I miss a canon scene somewhere?!

examples from the gallery of Sarah anyone?
my Kuliet vid has some of my favorite masking manips that I've done (particularly the scene starting at 0:50)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHBzLOifqyg

non-Lost... lots of both kinds of AU scenes... but I'm particularly proud because it's a RiSky vid, with exactly 1 actual RiSky scene used
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dEX9Oj2Wxg

and if anyone is interested in sitting through a 15 minute, non-Lost 3 part AU... this is my favorite thing I've ever vidded... it was before I figured out a lot of the fancy effects... but the story is complex and completely AU, not even close to any canon story.. especially since the main couple never was actually a couple
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPXXbd7RWM8

/end shameless self promotion

but seriously go study any of Kat's crazy AUs... she is the master at piecing together all sorts of unrelated scenes to form a seamless plot
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[Jemmz]

I pretty much agree with what's been said already xD LOTS of info here already! I've used audio from another fandom before to make it sound like a character from Lost. For example, in my "All I Want" video I used some audio of Kirsten from The OC crying "I thought I was losing you" because I thought it would pass for Kate's voice really well, and luckily it worked!

I've done face-smooshing before. It is annoying but there aren't many other options. I've had the issue in an AU I'm working on at the moment. I was trying to make it look like Elle from Heroes was on a plane with another character but Claire was in the way so I had to zoom in and "face-smoosh" But I decided it didn't look right, so I just zoomed out and then used cookie cutter to sort of blur Claire out if you get what I mean.

Anyway those are a couple things I just wanted to mention. The advice already mentioned in the thread are pretty much the key things. You can't always make your manips perfect. For example, I have a huge issue with colouring and it can take me forever to get two different scenes look the same in brightness/colouring etc. Sometimes it might even be better to leave it, otherwise the clip might end up not looking right at all :S:S

[nikkimonique]

I don't really have a problem with the face smooshing b/c it looks better then having parts of someone else in the scene. Just as long as you match up the other person so they are smooshed too. Its better not to use it but I think sometimes there is no other choice and I'm guilty of using it a lot
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[eloramoon]

I am so glad I posted this thread! There is just tons of great information here, and I'm sure Kate and I aren't the only ones who are feeling better after reading it. Many of us haven't attempted AUs before so it's exciting and daunting all at the same time.

Ais... gosh, girl! Don't ever fret about giving vidder life lessons where I'm concerned, cuz you know I love 'em and NEED 'em! After a nice long gold/cp streak, and thinking my Feb. contest vide turned out great, it was definitely a huge shocker to see a silver there. I think what made it really sting was that the comments were filled with praise and everything I did right, but only one person really pointed out something they didn't like about it. I have deconstructed it over and over again today and the only thing I can figure out that people didn't like was that some of the clips were kind of long. But, I guess I thought that was acceptable in the spirit of the contest. I thought I was taking a good risk by having a few scenes with dialog in there, but for whatever reason I guess people didn't like it. It makes me feel like there's no point in attempting anything that isn't chopped to bits and flashing on every beat. I know that's not true, though, so I'm just going to do the best I can with the contest. I've come a long way since the early days, no longer stressing about getting comments or votes. So, now I guess I just need to learn not to stress when one of my vids bombs. Thanks again for the advice and for all of your guidance over the years, Ais! (((HUGS)))

Sarah--I've only made one AU before for another fandom, and I had to rely on cropping a lot. Mostly in kissing scenes, which I think is sometimes a necessary evil. But I'll try to remember not to needlessly face smoosh.
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[thefilmchick]

[nikkimonique]

You know I'm in the "doesn't have to have tons of beat use to be good" camp too. But I guess it all comes down to personal opinion. I think you are too hard on yourself Julia. Which I have told you before. You're vids are all beautiful and I love them! And as long as you had fun making them then you should be happy about that not dwell so much on what other people think of them.
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[soapbubbles511]

I use a lot of slower songs and am definitely in the "lots of beat use isn't necessary for a good vid" camp... personally I find finding the perfect clip for a manip or lyric much more satisfying...

but I have much respect for people who can do a lot of beats/effects and do it effectively, without overwhelming the vid or losing the point of the vid
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[Charlies_Innocence]

I like beat use... And I feel beats don't have to mean that the lyric interp suffers. I've seen some great vids that do both. But I also think if you're doing a more serious vid, then don't use too much beat use. And in AUs if you try to hit every beat in the song then you'll lose the story.
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icon by becca

[Jen]

Hmmmmmm.

I haven't done many AU's when it comes to Lost, but I've done a few in other fandoms. I'm just going to echo what other people have said, that being an AU vid is more about the story than anything else.

I feel like dialogue can really, really help with an AU vid. When it comes to manipping dialogue, and the lip sync just isn't exactly right? I cheat. I have a shot of the other character in that scene and their supposed "reaction" to the dialogue, or, if I can, find a clip where the lip movement is close enough to look like they're saying what it is I'm pretending they're saying... if ANY of that makes sense... (I'm sorry, I had a very long day at uni and it's almost midnight so my brain isn't working at it's peak, right now!)

Manipping scenes are of course a little bit more tricky. I generally play with colouring for the whole vid anyway, but if the colour of the scenes don't quite match, I always play around with the colouring of either clip to match the other. I try to avoid the "face smooshing" thing as much as possible, but sometimes cropping and zooming is the only way to go! And hopefully, you don't have to zoom *too* much

Anyway, that whole thing with beat use... I also agree that great beat use =/= great vid. And any vid that seems to hit ~every single beat~... no. There are obvious beats, there are subtle beats, there are beats that keep everything in time, etc! So which ones do you choose? This is where you have to make the choice and be selective, and figure out what works and what doesn't. Find the balance. Figure out what would be appropriate for the given song. It's how you combine alllllllll these elements together to make an effective AU video, and, quite frankly, any vid in general.

I don't know if this was reaaaaally pointless or if it actually helped but I just thought I'd throw my two cents in...
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