jetpack_monkey | Things I've Found Useful in Vidding Doctor Who (Reply)

I'm working on my third vid ever (and my second in the Doctor Who fandom), so clearly I'm not an expert or anything, but I've picked up a few tips and tricks here and there. I'm not listing things like how to get episodes (my method is insanely complicated and probably very wrong), what video editing software to use (I like Final Cut Express even though it's probably way overpowered for what I need it to do) or anything like that.

No, these are just things that I've run into which weren't immediately obvious to me, but which made me go "Hm. Neat." Some of these (especially at the beginning) are specific to Doctor Who. Others (especially at the end) are more general.

Fear Forecasts. These are minute-by-minute recaps that the BBC posts with each new episode (starting with World War Three back in Series 1), following four children as they watch (and are terrified by) Who. They can give you a good idea of when a certain event occurs in an episode, time-wise and they're really quick reads.

Series 4 recaps aren't collected in any one place as far as I can tell, but they're easy to find. http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/s4/episodes/?episode=s4_01&action=fearfactor is the Fear Forecast for Partners in Crime. Just replace the s4_01 with s4_episodenumber for other eps, so http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/s4/episodes/?episode=s4_02&action=fearfactor is Fires of Pompeii and so on.

Picspams - People are squeeful about great moments. What catches other people's eyes will probably catch yours as well. These can be great inspiration. Just be sure to leave a comment (where possible) thanking the poster for their help.
Screencaps - Like watching the episode at quadruple speed. Takes longer than picspams, especially if you don't know what you're looking for. However, they're great for helping you separate a moment from context, especially if you have a bit you couldn't fill normally (I have many many moments like this in my current vid).

Watching the episodes (preferably with midnightfae) - This is listed last because it's the most obvious and also the most time-consuming. However, sometimes great moments must be experienced in motion and the perfect clip for a particular verse may not become obvious until it's properly viewed.

Also, my preferred way of doing it is impossible for most people most of the time. My roommate, midnightfae, is my current vidding idea pimp, having infected my brain for the match-up for my current Doctor Who project as well as my squeefully exciting How I Met Your Mother vid. As such, she's an important resource while watching an episode, as she'll swoop up the remote, pause a scene and say, "Look at that. Look at how he's looking at her. That would be PERFECT for ____." I would miss these things, usually. If you don't have your own midnightfae, she will be moving to the Davis, CA area in September. Take good care of her.

A lyrics website - I'm not linking one because I have yet to find one that isn't inundated with five bazillion ads and pop-ups. All I can say here is to check a couple of them (and perhaps find one that actually puts the chorus in properly instead of saying "-chorus repeats-").

A good pair of headphones - I'm talking about the kind that cover your ears and block noise. These are good for two things -- they help you get into your vidding without outside distractions and they prevent your roommate from Pavloving into a destructive rage every time they hear Oingo Boingo's Just Another Day.

A really good book on your vidding software -- Seriously. Spend the money, take the time. Manuals for these programs are usually way too dry, massively underwritten, or both. A good book on the subject has two advantages: first, it's being written for a consumer market, so usually the author's voice will be personable, and second, it will be extremely detailed (if it's not, then it's not exactly a good book). I buy a lot from the Visual Quickstart series, especially in subjects where I have just enough knowledge to be functional, but not enough to be awesome.