[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TaR32nj1jk[/ame]
Enter Late Review #2. But never mind my lateness. As we speak this video is entered into a contest over at koeiwarriors for some serious recognition and prizes. Lulu started the craze over there with her amazing videos and there are a few others who have some strong entries. Lu will share with you the outcome when everything is said and done. But while I have no prizes, all I can offer is my thoughts. My very....very....late thoughts on Lulu's Latest Dynasty Warriors Video: The Lesser of Two Evils.
Epical Editor - Lulu
Song Choice - Inside The Cynic by Stone Sour
Video Catgeory - Video Game - Dynasty Warriors 2, 3, 4, 5, | Xtreme Legends 3, 4, | Dynasty Tactics 2
Presentation
The opening credits continued with the overal DW theme that Lulu has used in each video. She also altered the ES intro to suit her footage which was a nice touch. It also added a nice theme for those who don't know whats going on. The music and footage was very suitable and set the stage nicely.
Like her opening, the epilogue fit the overal DW video theme that Lu had started with. The track matte of footage in the top left with credit playing looks good and ends the video on a nice note.
Presentation Score - 2/2
Quality
Easily the best quality DW footage online today, Lu always brings to the table the best cuts of footage. That being said, in this serving I found that while the majority was crisp and clear there were a few scenes that didn' look as good as others. More particularly, scenes with a lot of white or with snow. This is generally getting nitpicky, but it just catches me ever so slightly when I watch. Even so, I have yet to see clearer DW footage on the www.
Quality Score - 4.5/5
Music Choice/Atmosphere
"Inside The Cynic" by Stone Sour
Lulu had told me that she was going for a chaotic feel. And chaotic it felt. Hard riffs that carried a regular tune but with insane bridges, this song took you all over the place. It fit the stage well for the footage that the editor chose. I felt like I was all over the place watching it. Being that this was the mood the editor was going for, she did a good job with her clip choices as well. I did find that the actual music overtook the lyrics. Only usually during the chorus did I notice what was being sung. In this case, it was more of the atmosphere that Lulu set up with her description for those of us who have no idea of the backstory/stories. While I didn't really care for the song choice, the atmosphere made up for what the song lacked.
Music Choice/Atmosphere Score - 4/5
Difficulty/Effort
A year in the making, this video didn't come easy. With a song choice like that, I can imagine it would have been tough. Working with a song like ths and going for a chaotic feel probably isnt fun. But the degree of editing is what made this video come through. Lulu herself has admited that she had to learn new techniques in order to complete this video or else this would not have worked. That being said there was some certainly new techniques we saw from Lu that we hadn't seen previously.
~ Freeze frames on the beats.
~ Circular track mattes for at least 36 frames.
~ Multiple overlayed track mattes.
These were just new for the editor. On top were generous amounts blurs, fades, overlays, zooms and track mattes.
Lyric syncs weren't as audible as timings were visible. But there were many things going on that added to the chaotic feel. Nearer to the end lyric syncs were a bit better as the lyrics were more understandable. However I already docked the editor a point in that section for the music choice issue. All in all, its visible that this video wasn't just thrown together and while some aspects of it might not fit well for some viewers, its certainly is a great fit in Lulu's Dynasty Warriors Library.
Difficulty/Effort Score - 5/5
Plus/Minus
MINUS 1.10 - 1.13 - Timing was on but the quality of the character was blurred and didn't look clear.
PLUS 1.20 - 1.23 - Matte Overlay with the fire on the left looked sweet.
PLUS 2.05 - Slo mo lip sync with the yell. Worked really well.
MINUS 1.56 - 1.58 The Arrow overlay didnt have the intended effect with me. Just came across weak when the rest of the video was rock solid.
PLUS 2.05 - 2.11 - The Matte Overlay with Lu Bu in the middle frame while chaos was happening on either sides fit really damn well. Ending off with the explosion of the middle was a nice touch.
PLUS 2.15 - 2.18 - The ghosting used matched the riffs nicely.
MINUS 2.29 - 2.30 Third time the same clip was used and edited in a similar fashion. I understand that footage is limited but number 3 caught me.
PLUS 2.46 - 3.01 - Great use of the footage to link with your description about the relationship between the 3 characters.
PLUS 3.27 - 36 frames in a circle leading to a zoom in. Was a nice peak of the video.
MONEY SHOT - 3.57 - All of the chaos etc climaxes with an actual kill. Just straight out murder. Its almost like a release at this point.
Plus/Minus Score - 8/10
Overall Impression
The song choice wasn't my most favourite. Yes it did fit well with the chaotic theme and did help tell a bit of the conflict between the main characters that were shown. And on that principal it did do its job in making me feel what the editor wanted me to feel. She got a point across about that part of the story. The editing was solid and was interesting to watch. It kept my attention with no problem even though I was barely aware of the back story.
The effort that was put into the video is what did impress me. Visually it was clear that a lot was put into the making of the video which I, as a viewer appreciate. The video was certainly well done, but on some levels I came away feeling like there wasn't much closure and that something just wasn't right, unlike Lulu's previous Broken Oath video. Maybe this was how I'm supposed to feel considering the chaos of the video. If that was the case, Lu gets another point. While this isn't my most favourite of Lulu's videos, it definately ranks up there as one of the most deserved releases at this studio to date.
Overall Impression Score - 4/5
FINAL SCORE - 27.5/32 - 86% - A
~ Honestly....how long must it take Lu Bu to get his hair done every morning? Rediculous.....
Last edited by Raistlin; 02-06-2009 at 07:10 PM.
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. I don't care if you make 100 videos to DW I will still enjoy them all.
) as does the story. The editong itself is always getting more complex. The track mattes in this vid were astounding, whether it was a fairly simple gradience, or the one towards the middle of the quick squares appearing in a spiral. That got a very audible 'WOW' out of me. Great work.
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