The subject line of this post refers not only to progress on a specific vid but also to another small step forward in my vidding process more generally
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...finding the problems is much easier if I have a full timeline.
Me too! And one of the things I've struggled with in the past is getting to that point of *having* a full timeline. I tend to vid in sections, because I have trouble seeing the big picture until I have a full draft, but the problem is that I get really hung up on the individual sections and start nitpicking before I've even exported the draft, and then my ideas about the vid kind of calcify and make it harder to let go of what's wrong or even to figure out what's wrong in the first place.
I think part of the difficulty is that in my heart of hearts I have still secretly been thinking that one day I will produce a draft that is ready to be the final version with just minimal tweaking. Which is dumb, because this has never been the case for me, and will never be the case, because that is just not how my brain works; my drafts are just not that coherent. So I need to quit tinkering around trying to get the draft perfect, accept that it is going to have massive problems, and just get it out there so I can start figuring out what the problems are.
This is already looking to be one of those vids where the vid itself isn't a breakthrough of any kind, but the process of making it forces me to revise my process in significant ways. Sometimes I get both at once, but usually it's one or the other. Heh.
So I need to quit tinkering around trying to get the draft perfect, accept that it is going to have massive problems, and just get it out there so I can start figuring out what the problems are.
I'm in the middle of this very issue with my CV vid. I figured out what I wanted to do with it, and it's tech-tech-tech stuff--not hard, just tedious. So, I did a piece of it, right? Now, instead of just filling the timeline, I've been fooling around and fooling around with seven seconds of video at a time. Earlier today, I opened Premiere and started doing the same damned thing and just had to step back. This nickel-and-diming is a clunky, slow method, and it's not complementary to my style at all.
This vid won't be any sort of real breakthrough to me, either, other than to prove to myself that I can do seamless work with track mattes (at least that's the hope). Maybe when it's all said and done, I'll look back at mine and you'll look back at yours and say "I really made a breakthrough there!"
This nickel-and-diming is a clunky, slow method, and it's not complementary to my style at all.
I hear you on that. These are the moments when being a perfectionist slacker becomes difficult -- I give myself whiplash going back and forth between worrying about the details and saying "Fuck the details! Gimme the VID!"
the problem is that I get really hung up on the individual sections and start nitpicking before I've even exported the draft, and then my ideas about the vid kind of calcify and make it harder to let go of what's wrong or even to figure out what's wrong in the first place.
God, do I hear you on that one. I work in a very nitpicky style which suits both my creative process and personality (heh), but it can really bite me in the ass when I need to change things. I just redid two entire sections of my CV first draft on Friday that I knew were problematic (I think this line's mostly filler), but even after fixing them with clips I knew worked better in more ways than one, I still found myself surprisingly resistant to accepting them because I'd watched my first draft so many times that it'd solidified in my mind as The Vid. Gahh.
Yeah. Exactly. The whole process of revising Superstar was just like that. I've gotten somewhat better since then, but this vid has been showing me just how far I still have to go in terms of embracing the fact that multiple drafts are always going to be a way of life for me. I mean, I know it intellectually, and I practice accordingly, but I haven't emotionally accepted it to the degree that I ought.
Totally. For me, I think part of it is that since vidding is so damn time-consuming, the thought of spending hours/days/weeks on a draft that's just going to get scrapped...well, that's not dancing schnauzers to me. I go into that first draft with the mentality that a majority of it will stick, otherwise it's hard not to feel like I'm wasting time. The reality obviously is that multiple drafts make a vid better and we often learn the most important lessons by making mistakes, but I'm too much of an over-achiever to walk into something expecting and accepting that I'll fall on my face ;-) It's something I'm working on.
...the thought of spending hours/days/weeks on a draft that's just going to get scrapped...well, that's not dancing schnauzers to me. I go into that first draft with the mentality that a majority of it will stick, otherwise it's hard not to feel like I'm wasting time.
Yeah, I get that. I'm slowly getting better about this, largely because of what I know about the writing process: every crappy draft I write is an important part of my writing process, even if I end up scrapping 7/8 of it, because whatever the mistakes are, they are mistakes that show me something important about what I do or don't want to do; they are mistakes I have to make in order to get where I need to go.
Of course, I've been working on this writing thing for 13 years; maybe by the time I've been vidding for 13 years I'll be getting the hang of it too.
Me too! And one of the things I've struggled with in the past is getting to that point of *having* a full timeline. I tend to vid in sections, because I have trouble seeing the big picture until I have a full draft, but the problem is that I get really hung up on the individual sections and start nitpicking before I've even exported the draft, and then my ideas about the vid kind of calcify and make it harder to let go of what's wrong or even to figure out what's wrong in the first place.
I think part of the difficulty is that in my heart of hearts I have still secretly been thinking that one day I will produce a draft that is ready to be the final version with just minimal tweaking. Which is dumb, because this has never been the case for me, and will never be the case, because that is just not how my brain works; my drafts are just not that coherent. So I need to quit tinkering around trying to get the draft perfect, accept that it is going to have massive problems, and just get it out there so I can start figuring out what the problems are.
This is already looking to be one of those vids where the vid itself isn't a breakthrough of any kind, but the process of making it forces me to revise my process in significant ways. Sometimes I get both at once, but usually it's one or the other. Heh.
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I'm in the middle of this very issue with my CV vid. I figured out what I wanted to do with it, and it's tech-tech-tech stuff--not hard, just tedious. So, I did a piece of it, right? Now, instead of just filling the timeline, I've been fooling around and fooling around with seven seconds of video at a time. Earlier today, I opened Premiere and started doing the same damned thing and just had to step back. This nickel-and-diming is a clunky, slow method, and it's not complementary to my style at all.
This vid won't be any sort of real breakthrough to me, either, other than to prove to myself that I can do seamless work with track mattes (at least that's the hope). Maybe when it's all said and done, I'll look back at mine and you'll look back at yours and say "I really made a breakthrough there!"
[eggs you on]
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I hear you on that. These are the moments when being a perfectionist slacker becomes difficult -- I give myself whiplash going back and forth between worrying about the details and saying "Fuck the details! Gimme the VID!"
[eggs you back]
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God, do I hear you on that one. I work in a very nitpicky style which suits both my creative process and personality (heh), but it can really bite me in the ass when I need to change things. I just redid two entire sections of my CV first draft on Friday that I knew were problematic (I think this line's mostly filler), but even after fixing them with clips I knew worked better in more ways than one, I still found myself surprisingly resistant to accepting them because I'd watched my first draft so many times that it'd solidified in my mind as The Vid. Gahh.
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Yeah, I get that. I'm slowly getting better about this, largely because of what I know about the writing process: every crappy draft I write is an important part of my writing process, even if I end up scrapping 7/8 of it, because whatever the mistakes are, they are mistakes that show me something important about what I do or don't want to do; they are mistakes I have to make in order to get where I need to go.
Of course, I've been working on this writing thing for 13 years; maybe by the time I've been vidding for 13 years I'll be getting the hang of it too.
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