New vid: NA NA NA (The Scoobies Make Some Noise)

[double_dutchess]

For those of you who hadn't seen it posted on thenewbuzwuzz's LJ or tumblr yet, I proudly present the result of our collaboration during the past 8+ months:

"NA NA NA - The Scoobies Make Some Noise (BtVS)" (Watch on YouTube)

This was all thenewbuzwuzz's idea, and it was so much fun to make together. Probably my best vid so far, and certainly the most explosive :-)  I'm too exhausted to express the appropriate level of squee right now, but just look here for that (and for the lyrics).

Comments

[teragramm.livejournal.com]

I did see this on thenewbuzwuzz's lj and I thought it was just fabulous! I think the two of you did an excellent job. You both should be super proud!

[rebcake.livejournal.com]

This is SO GOOD! ALL THE ACTION! I am very impressed.

I'm starting to see what my niece sees in the Gerard Way person...

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

I have seen this before but it's definitely worth watching again!

[thenewbuzwuzz.livejournal.com]

Have a restful weekend!
Review mode. You know I have so many favorite parts of this vid. Most of the vid is a favorite part, and then there's the ones outside the vid, like the way this project has increased my enjoyment of the song (to the point where I can just play it on repeat and grin at the mind pictures). And all the memories (our conversation about the Kennedy pun is pretty up there, for instance). So thank you again for offering to help actually make this happen (that part: 100% your idea) and, yeah, everything else.
Also, I hope you saw all the comment squee in the squee post, because it's prime and you deserve at least half.

[jerusha]

As I told her, I loved this vid! It was so great.

[chasingdemons.livejournal.com]

Wow!!!!! This is truly amazing! It looks so professionally done. I'm curious about the process… Maybe someday you will discuss that? Anyway, well done! Congratulations.

[sparrow2000.livejournal.com]

That was completely wonderful. Brilliant editing and great choice of scenes that complement the song beautifully.

Really great job.

[thenewbuzwuzz.livejournal.com]

For the record, I'd gladly talk all day about the less technical parts of the process (there's only so much I could tell you about how Double Dutchess did the actual editing, and I don't really know how vidding usually happens, so I'm not sure what was different, but, obviously, I know how we organized work and what came first and so on). For all I know, double_dutchess might like to answer herself, so I'll get out of the way for now. :) Mostly, I love that someone asked this question! :D

[chasingdemons.livejournal.com]

So tell me about the less technical parts. How did you two collaborate? What was your part in it? And if I am asking too many questions, certainly say so. It's just that it looks so hard to organize something like this.

[snogged.livejournal.com]

I love this so much!

[rbfvid.livejournal.com]

This vid could be prescribed as an antidepressant =) *rewatches for the 5th time*

[double_dutchess]

Thank you!! In fact I *am* pretty proud of it, to be honest!

[double_dutchess]

Whee, thanks for your squee! We did try to put in All The Action. Too bad the song was too short to include every BtVS explosion ever :-)

[double_dutchess]

Thank you! I still enjoy re-watching it myself :-)

[double_dutchess]

Yes, I saw it, but thanks for coming over to share the squee! I'm really glad I took you up on the idea of making this vid, it was good times. Ha ha, Kennedy, yes. And what about poor Angel and Riley... (He did come off pretty lightly in the end!)

[double_dutchess]

Thank you! So pleased to hear you think it looks professional. I did try a lot of new things while making this vid and I'm really pleased with how it came out, if I may say so myself.

About the process: thanks for asking, I'd be happy to talk about it in extensive detail. But since I have no time for that, I'll happily leave the 'making of' account to thenewbuzwuzz. The very, very short summary is that it involved a Google doc, lots of sharing of new and improved versions, and lots and lots of messaging back and forth about them!

[double_dutchess]

Thank you, I'm very glad it gave you joy!

[double_dutchess]

Thank you very much. We did put a lot of thought into choosing the right scenes to go with the song (not always very easy with some of the lyrics) and I'm glad to hear it has worked!

[double_dutchess]

Thank you, that's nice to hear!

[double_dutchess]

We did try to make it joyful and uplifting (for the most part, anyway) so I'm happy to hear it was successful! Thank you!

[thenewbuzwuzz.livejournal.com]

They both did. Garbage comes to mind... :D

[thenewbuzwuzz.livejournal.com]

Is there such a thing as too many questions about something you enjoyed making? I haven't experienced it.
Here we go. :) Another short summary: I had the starting germ of an idea, and I was more in charge of overall concept stuff, we both talked out clip choice while I tried to keep track of the big picture, she edited a few lines at a time, I beta-watched. More specific description coming soon!

[thenewbuzwuzz.livejournal.com]

So. :) I had a vid idea, DD has editing skills, so the basic plan was I'd tell her my idea and she'd execute. It didn't work exactly like that, because my idea was undeveloped and DD got brilliant ideas, too. But she did let me have the final say in clip choices whenever I confidently broke out the "but this clashes with text/messes with mood/characterization" argument.
Firtst, she coached me into picking an aspect ratio, general cast of characters, and overall mood (I decided I'd stick to the song and that the mood in the song was pretty complex and changing, so balancing the mood was a pain until the last). I read the lyrics and made notes, and told her my basic "vision" based on that. She approved.
I had clip ideas for a couple of lines, so I told her those (all in LJ messages). She made a vid version with those clips and filled in some missing parts so we had most of one verse. (It was the Giles/"sad man" verse, btw - it must be half a year older than the newest parts.) She shared the version with me on YouTube and asked me about tempo. I asked her whether, if you throw Spike through a window at a party, it really qualifies as hitting the party. She made some changes and shared again. (I have no idea how many versions DD shared in total. A few dozen easily?)
We'd been throwing around other clip ideas, and it was becoming hard to keep track on LJ, so we made the google doc. It's a table with my annotated copy of the lyrics plus columns for final clip choices and clip ideas, and also comments. Below the table, there are general notes (I think at this point, those were just the overall idea description and a list of episodes that I thought were promising clip sources).
We rewatched some. DD clip hunted. We brainstormed in the doc and discussed there and on LJ. When we had most of the necessary ideas for another verse, DD made another version. I gave any feedback I could think of, she made changes, rinse, repeat. :)
Sometimes I'd talk about characters or the lyrics until we knew what I meant. Or we paused for work or Spuffy emergencies, naturally.
When almost all the text parts were filled in, I made notes on recurring characters: how much they appear and how we're depicting them. I made some suggestions for the guitar solo and the opening "na na na"s based on that (who could be kicking ass more, who we looked like we were bashing, character arcs I wanted to finish sketching in...). I also remembered I'd had something like a uniting theme before I lost track of it. There were still great opportunities to draw that out more. And I google-searched the transcripts to see if we were missing any good explosions or fire. :D The rest of it was business as usual, except I kept telling Double Dutchess the guitar solo needed to be more awesome. :D
When everything was filled in, we took another look. DD gave me offline versions from that point. So I could watch in extra slow-mo and upside down... (Helpful for defamiliarizing.) Then she made a reel of cool unused clips. We swapped some things out.
We agreed to desaturate the spoken interlude, and I thought of making most of the rest orange-tinted ...so it would be more fiery and excited... (the orange had to be adjusted then so it would look more or less smooth). We made the "drugs" verse less beige. Since DD had repeatedly said she was interested in playing with color, I also suggested making the neon flicker for fun.
We discussed the credits, title, and summary. I thought of a place for the title in the vid, she found a font, I suggested a different color and animation, she made title animation, I critiqued it...
When we got the orange levels under control and ran out of ideas for improvements, she uploaded the vid to YouTube in HD and we decided to redo some clips with less color editing, so they'd be less blurry (if I understood correctly). After that, I asked for one more clip change, and that was it. Well, the vid title changed slightly after I posted it on LJ.
I hope I didn't make you fall asleep with the heap of detail. :D Was I vague on anything that you were interested in?
double_dutchess, feel free to add or correct if you'd like. This is just from memory w/o too much thinking or consulting written sources...

[double_dutchess]

Wow, that's a much more extensive reply than I could ever have managed! I dont think I need to add or correct anything (except if chasingdemons wants to hear more about the technical side of things).

(I have no idea how many versions DD shared in total. A few dozen easily?)

Easily, yes! I just checked: I actually made 76 different versions :-)

ETA: Just to be clear, I mean 76(+) in total, not just for the sad man verse! (I just realised you were probably talking only about that one.)

Well, the vid title changed slightly after I posted it on LJ.

Umm, oops? I changed it to reflect the title of your LJ entry. I hope you're OK with that unilateral decision; if not, I can easily change it back!

[double_dutchess]

Oh and the 'sad man' verse is still one of my (many) favourite parts of the vid. Very pleased with how Giles hitting the party came out! I'm glad you vetoed the Spike version.

The guitar solo makes me very happy, esp. the final bit. Thanks for being so relentless!

[thenewbuzwuzz.livejournal.com]

Nah, I'm absolutely fine with the title!
And the total versions are what I meant. Man. The time you put into this, even purely the logistics.

[thenewbuzwuzz.livejournal.com]

Same and same! ^^ Well, you were the one who did the work. I was just sitting there going "overwhelm me". :D

[double_dutchess]

Oh and the 'sad man' verse is still one of my (many) favourite parts of the vid. Very pleased with how Giles hitting the party came out! I'm glad you vetoed the Spike version.

The guitar solo makes me very happy, esp. the final bit. Thanks for being so relentless!

[freecat15.livejournal.com]

WOW! I finally found a few minutes time to watch this, and I'm blown away! Na na na is the perfect song for all the explosions, kicks, ax swingings and bad-assery all around! So much fun to watch! You two make a fantastic team!
Had I known this would be so utterly fun to watch, right uplifting really , I probably would've squeezed in the time to watch earlier!

( Ahem...Look at all these exclamation points I used! Not that I'm usually shy with them, but this has to be a new record even for me :) So telling - it's that good!)

I love how the chosen scenes fit the lyrics so brilliantly. Also, the mood changes are terrific! Captured brilliantly with the changing pace and the excellent clip choices!
I think my favorite part is the whole Ripper sequence that starts with the sad man. Or not, because there are so many others, like the absolute awesome guitar solo...

I'll never be able to hear that song without these images in my mind :)
Amazing work!!!



(ps: I'm lame. I have the same comment for both of you. It's either that, or none at all. And that's not an option. (Off to go on working...))

[chasingdemons.livejournal.com]

Wow, I loved hearing about this. I've always thought it must be so difficult to make a vid because there are so many different aspects to think about. The music, the clips, the overall vision. I am impressed. I will read this again this weekend and then re-watch. Thanks for the great explanation!

[chasingdemons.livejournal.com]

Well, I would like knowing more about the technical side of things, but I probably wouldn't understand much of it. Perhaps I could come over to your house some day and you can show me? (lol) It just seems like such a big project. The mind boggles. It was a great collaboration!

[thenewbuzwuzz.livejournal.com]

My pleasure. To be fair, I'm pretty sure some of the steps aren't necessary, they're more like me making up stuff I could do and falling back on existing skills/habits. But there *are* several aspects to keep track of, and DD confirmed that sharing some of the workload helped.

[double_dutchess]

Thank you very much! We tried to make it uplifting, so it's good to hear we succeeded. Fitting lyrics and mood changes was almost all thenewbuzwuzz' doing; she really is brilliant at that. And yeah, Sad Man is the best!

Good luck surviving work until the Christmas holidays. (I know how you feel.)

[double_dutchess]

You're very welcome to drop by if you're ever in the vicinity! But I guess that's unlikely given that we're on different continents :-)

Making a vid is a pretty big project (at least how I do it, which is probably not the most efficient). But in a way, it's not that different from using Photoshop, except with a time dimension added -- combining moving images instead of static ones.

[double_dutchess]

Glad to hear that! Logistics was no problem. And sharing the load on clip choice saved a LOT of time.

[shapinglight]

Oh my goodness! This is terrific. How did I miss it?

Kudos to both of you for creating something so fun and upbeat and so perfectly edited. It's wonderful.

[double_dutchess]

I suppose you must have been away when it was first posted! But I'm glad you've found it now and enjoyed it. I'm pretty happy with it myself, to be honest.

[shapinglight]

You should be. It's wonderful. Hard to pick a favourite bit when everything works so perfectly, but I love the Xander's cheesy guitar solo moment and all the stuff from Band Candy.

[double_dutchess]

Oh yes, those are some of my favourite bits too! (Though I must admit I have a lot of them.) The Band Candy parts were the first we made, they absolutely had to be in there.