katieclooney

Hello everybody!

I am new to the board so please be gentle

I am interested in making some fan videos for Pirates of the Caribbean but I am having a lot of trouble getting started. So those that do this sort of thing can you help get me started by answering some of my questions? Any answers or info would be sooooo grateful.

1. What is a good, FREE, dvd ripper? I cant seem to find any good ones that are easy to use.

2. Can you edit on windows movie maker? I obviously dont want to use the entire movie but just cips.

3. What other kind of software, besides the ripper and WMM, do I need?

4. Is there anything else I should know?

Thanks so much!

WarriorAngelGabriel

Since I use a mac the only tip I can really give you is really listen to your song, make sure that the clips you are using really match, because this is the new script that you are following.

*Learn the beats, which will come from listening to the song several times. I'll usually listen to a song for three days constantly before I even start to import video. Learning the beats will help you time the footage right.

*Second, and this is personal pet peeve but it makes the videos so tacky I think. Don't have people talking while the music is playing. It just seems like a bad job of audio dubbing. Unless you can sync up exactly what they're saying or you're matching a scream then just don't do it. Trust me the video will look so much better because of it.

*And Last just keep practicing, the first ones wont be the best, but just like any art form it takes practice, even if no one will ever see it just complete it. Oh and read books and watch other fan music videos.

That's about all the advice I can give you. PM me if you need anything else, I'll be happy to help.

hoLiday

1. I use a program called Pocket-DVD Studio. It's just a trial version and so it only rips 5 minutes at time. I'm fine with that because I just rip the clips I need instead of having a whole episode or a whole film to thread through when trimming it down to the right spot. A downside of the ripper I'm using is that the output quality isn't as fantastic as I want it to be, but eh, c'est la vie.

2. You can use Windows Movie Maker. A lot of people around here use it. It's a good program to learn from. I started off with it and gradually moved up to more elaborate editting programs.

3. A ripper and a movie editor is all you really need.

4. WarriorAngelGabriel gave a lot of good pointers. The music should definitely fit with the clips you plan on using and the story you want to tell. I believe it'll impact a viewer more when it's more than just visually entertaining. Again, I agree with WarriorAngel in that having audio from the film/tv clips is a bad idea. Only do it if you can do it well. Otherwise, in my opinion, the film/tv dialogue really jumps out, disturbing the flow of the your video because the sound quality of the dialogue bit versus the music won't match up at all unless you have a really good ripping program. I've seen a few videos that have managed to successfully incorporate dialogue, but very few. And checking out other videos is also a good idea. Just don't steal anything from their videos. That's just not cool.

Good luck and have fun.

katieclooney

Thank you so much for answering my questions.

Holiday--when you download the 5 min at a time do you just do chapters or can you actually go into the frames you want to add? Also do you know of any good WMM tutorials? I'm having a hard time figuring it out.

hoLiday

I've PMed you.