Artieful - Final Fantasy VIII - 7 to 8

[Auron]

Ever wonder if Epical Studios was or has been accepting new editors?? Well the guessing is now over!!

Today, we here at Epical would like to welcome The Artieful as our newest editor and with his debut, he brings us a kick@$$ video featuring the footage from Final Fantasy 8 and the song 7 Years by Saosin. It's an awesome vid to watch over and over again, so download it and check it out. You did an awesome job man and I can't wait to see what you have in store for us with your future releases.


[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMzpE9ClQWo[/ame]

[Madman]

Welcome Artie, hope you enjoy the crazy that Epical Studios is. You'd better, or you'll be on your ass quicker than Raist after drinking too much.

*cough* I mean, glad to see you here man, hope your crappy Premiere problems are relieved... by Vegas!

[Raistlin]

Well well.....tis been awhile since Epical Got a New Editor. Last n00b was Lizzie almost a year ago. We've been kinda surprised at a very small amount of people wanting to join our editing team. But that brings us to The Artieful who adds some great timing skill to our international team. Congratulations to you for making the cut. We're very happy to have you and look forward to your future projects. But enough looking ahead. Right now I shall give you my review of Artieful's 7 Years.


Epical Editor - The Artieful
Music Choice - 7 Years - Saosin
Video Category - Game - Final Fantasy VIII

Video Quality

For the most part it looked great. A lot of the time there was so much going on that it was hard to see if a clip was clear or not. But, like I said for the most part it looked good. However I found that sometimes the quality seemed slightly grainy or slightly blurry. Now I'm no sure if that was because of some overlays at the time, but at times the clips seemed like they could have been a bit clearer. No pixellation or anything of that sort to mention, so all was well on that front. Not too shabby at all.

Video Quality Score - 4.5/5


Music Choice - 7 Years - Saosin

For an action video the music choice was a pretty good one. Strong accentuated beat track with an upbeat tempo. But despite the fact that the editor was able to time a majority of the video doesn't mean it wasn't too fast. I had no problem with the tempo when the song got fast(as it did have its slow spots) and I was blown away by the timings that Artie was able to pull off. However the fact that he had to make those timings are kind of what threw me off. A few times the amount of stuff that had to go on on the screen in order to make the song work just seemed a bit overboard. That also brings me to the lyrics. When there's no screaming, it works well. A few times I can't make out anything thats being sung/screamed. Now, I could easily go to lyrics.com or something of that sort, but generally people are way too lazy to do that to actually see if there are lyric syncs being made. Not that I'm being lazy, but if a person HAS to look up lyrics to find lyric syncs, then there's an issue with the song choice. All is not bad, however. The night and day between fast pace and slow pace added a great element that Artie was able to use and use well with his fast - slo mo clips. So, some good and bad, but still a fairly decent song choice.

Music Choice Score - 3.5/5

Transtions and Effects

Well....lots and lots going on here. Took me a bit to get my notes done and I'm sure I missed out on a couple bits here and there as well.
Not many Crossfades were used but Overlays were the order de jour.
On the effect side, we had a good amount of white strobes which were getting close to the "My eyes are bleeding level" but didnt quite reach it. So the strobes worked well and Artie avoided a bit too much strobing which could have easily happened. The Effects that really caught my eye and wowed me were his plays with the clip speed settings. It just wowed me because I have yet to have seen this amount of use of the speed controls in a video. Usually you'll see a slo mo here and there. But this amount, for me was quite new. But then he also sped things up as well. You dont usually see the fast motion and when you do, rarely does it work well. This comes down to the fast and slow tempo play that just really really looks good. To add to the time effects the editor throws in some freezed clips at 1.15, 1.17, 2.19, 2.21, and 3.15-3.17. To 2 of those he added in a lil Black and White action like a cherry on top. I wont list the time effects since they're pretty obvious. But, like I mentioned crossfades were pretty rare. But there was also a nice set of fades with a red color overlay from 2.34 - 2.40. For good measure Artie added a quick shadow at 1.09 and some ghosting at 2.23. There are too many Overlays to list but I'll point out 2 that I really liked. the first at .44 - .49. And the second at 3.01. This one looked really nice with the OL of squall looking back at an overlayed Rinoa.
Now with that said, I didn't really find anything that was out of place. But I do have to question the choice of effect right at the end from 3.22 - 3.29. I understand that the editor was going for something that matched the sound of the guitar. But It just seemed exactly like a glob of slightly pixellated grey. Now, it was good that he recognized the need to use an effect there, but I think a different effect would have worked better. All in all, not bad for the first T&E review.

Transitions and Effects Score - 4.5/5

Timing and Lyric Sync

Well the timing in this video is off the hook. No other way about it. But at times I felt that the editor tried too much and the clip didn'twork as well as some other segments that involved clip placement.
In all honesty, while going through the video I felt flustered. Flustered by the amount of timings. What to pick, what to point out....having to pause almost every second to record a note. Oy.....slow down there big fella heheh. But for the most part this wasn't a bad thing. Artie had some jaw dropping segments. Check 1.13 - 1.17, 1.26 - 1.30, 2.00 - 2.02, 2.17 - 2.22, 2.29 - 2.34 and 3.09. 3.09 is nuts on its own simply because within a 1 second timeframe he fit in at least 5-10 clip placements if not more. 1.42 - 1.52 was nicely done as well. My questions arise with points such as .26 as well as .52 - .53, 1.05 - 1.09, 1.12 - 1.14. And there are others but the main issue I have is that while Artie had some insane timings and action syncs, points like these arose where the song called for something fast but the clips either didn't time on anything or there was just one clip or so that was fast and they kind of went fast but just didnt match as well.
As for lyric sync....these were few and far in between. Or maybe they werent, but the song choice made it hard for me to find much. However, I wont dock point on this as I already hit the song hard in another section. We all know that this video was all about the timings anyway.

Timing and Lyric Sync Score - 4.0

Overall Impression

If this is the type of timings and creativity we can expect from Artieful, then we, as viewers are definately in for a treat with each future release. The timings that hit were mind blowing, the work with clip speed was refreshing and looked awesome. The overlay work, not to be outdone really added a deep feeling to the video. Hopefully the next song choice will be slightly slower or won't be so helter skelter(I CANNOT believe I actually used that as a descriptive adjective). Once again, congrats on joining our Editing Staff. We're happy to have you with us!

Overall Impressions Score - 4/5

Final Grade - 20.5/25 - 82% - B



~ Hopes it won't take 7 years for our next Video submission from someone who wants to join us.

[Elisabeth]

Welcome to the team artie!! (who I will from this post on be calling shar ^^)
You already know that I think this vid is awesome ^^ Good job and get ready to accept extra amounts of crazy ^^

[Lulu]

Great video Artie, glad to welcome you to the editing staff

and matty.....ewwwwwww

[Maggie]

Awesome work! And congrats on becoming staff!

I'm almost envious of you *cires*

[Lockstock]

you say almost but i know you are

welcome to the group arty

[Weapon]

Congratulation! I'm downloading it right now.

[Adelaidedk]

Welcome to the team Artie.

[Artieful]

wow i'm glad to be here everyone
this place is awesome and all u guys friggin' rock. (i just had to say it )
and to comment on what some of u said...

mad:


and liz: bring on all the crazy u have to offer!

and as for the rest of you guys: ty for the very warm welcome!