I know that some people make some really cool combo videos. I want to make one as one but i don't know where to start for a topic like this. I know vegas is used but do some people just slap music onto clips for a simple video or is there a much better quality way to go about making one? (I'm not trolling i really want to know)
This post is an expansion of an
earlier post of mine discussing this same topic.
Montage making can be separated into three parts, all of which can happen in any order and can occur at any point in the process, but can be segmented into the these steps (or how I do it). The first is obtaining footage, unifying the way you'll process those videos (if collecting from varying sources), and sorting your clips, which takes the most amount of your time, about half, especially since nearly 80% of the stuff you sift through won't be anything entertaining, and then you have to cut those out and control quality, etc. so it takes a long time.
The next part happens simultaneously and involves a bit of luck, or at least an 'artist's eye'. You both envision what you want to happen and then make it happen in the editor, which sounds obvious but is easily the most important part. If you want to make a "cool" combo video then you have to create something that stands out from combo videos that are just music+clips=video.
ItsBME made 'music videos', and they stood out because of their more flow-y feel.
AriqueNuubs had flashy clips, fx, and fast pacing, which generally made for a viewable video that was just a bit catchier than the rest.
Happy Feet 3 is great not because of anything extraordinary but because it just follows the basic formula without flaw: unifying theme, solid pacing, solid song, concise and informative title and/or ending, and clever/interesting clips to boot. A recent video I saw that was great was
Hax|Reflection. Check out that tasteful
blur at 1:48, juxtaposed with the commentator's hype. Just brilliant.
Two of the most important (and time-consuming) things you can do at the editing stage are 1. Finding a good song (or two) (or whichever conceivable medium you will use) to accompany and/or support the motif, and 2. Finding an organizing process for how your clips will
effect the motif. And although this latter is not necessary for a good video, finding a way to have this work will show. (Example: In my Varia-ous Aggression video, I put my catchiest clips at the beginning, most of my short filler clips near the end, and my best clips at the 3/4 mark, in time with when the music peaked at its emotional climax.) There is more of a discussion
here regarding macro and micro syncing which covers some of these ideas, but I specifically mean how a video reflexively pertains to the theme which it intends to portray. (Example: BME's flow-y music videos lack any musical syncing, nor do the clips have fast cuts, supporting the more trance-like theme his videos portray.) I wrote a critique of a video which I thought failed to adequately support its theme
here.
Of course, much of this assumes that you're familiar with your video editor, but you can produce interesting results on even Windows Movie Maker if you give it enough time. I've solely used Vegas, not for any particular reason, but the prevailing convenience does seem to be that it edits fast, it edits intuitively, and it understands certain filetypes that other editors won't, which is helpful when pulling from different sources (e.g. youtube vs. my capture card). I'd say learning an editor is one of the easier steps in this whole process, easier than anything else you might have to do (say if you do your own recording/capturing, or if you want to control your own rendering settings). To learn one, just follow a tutorial on youtube and get an idea of the basics, and then make a prototype montage as a test - this is the fastest way (this will also give you a working visual of your ideas, which can serve to refine your techniques for the actual video if you find that an effect or technique is inappropriate or more sensitive than you realized, and can be revised or omitted). If you want a free editor, I suggest looking into Lightworks.
What about time involved? I put together a rough formula for estimating how long a video will take me, depending on how much effort I put into it.
Code:
[Footage hours] + 5 + ( 1.5 * [Effort] * [Length] = Total estimate
Where,
Footage hours is roughly the total hours of footage you will be sifting through
Effort is a number between 1 and 10, 1 being "minimal effort" and 10 being "the BEST video (you can make)" (I put between 6 and 9 for my videos)
and Length is the number of minutes your final video will be. The estimate is given in hours.
For example, Violence was a 2-minute vid that I put about a 9 into. I only grabbed a couple matches so I'll just put a 1 for the first variable, giving me 1+5+(1.5*9*2)=33 hours, which slightly less than what it actually took me. Einhander was an 8-minute vid I put a little above a 6 into with 7 hours of footage, so 7+5+(1.5*6*8)=84 hours, probably about right. Varia-ous Aggression took me well, well over 100 hours; it was also my first vid.
Watch videos and decide for yourself what can be done (so copy it) and what has been overdone (so stay away from it). Any vid I've mentioned here is an example of good editing (well, I think a bit less of AriqueNuubs' editing). I've put more
here.
These two threads are solid overall notes. Lastly, my favorite combo videos in general don't have amazing editing, but they have great clips.
got a ton recorded atm