YouTube

I've just been sorting out my favourites in my 'YouTube' folder. I have deleted quite a few things but I just thought I'd put a quick blog on here about some stuff I like :).
Most of the stuff in that folder is links to people who's fanvideos I like very much (generally Harry Potter fanvids, though there are quite a few other things I have watched - some of the Narnia ones I've seen are quite good, I particularly liked this one - though it is a little depressing).
Yes, anyway, my two favourite Harry Potter fanvid is this one (Hermione/Ron) though this one (Hermione/Harry/'the other woman', lol) comes in close second (despite the daft logic behind the song 'You should have lied'). These were made by the two 'people' whose videos I like the most - Sjjtnj (who are apparently twins - Tabitha and Samantha) and Sirrah78 (Laila). Of all the videos I have watched (or wasted my time watching as the case may be) their videos were some of the most well made ones.

I don't really count the slideshow type fanvideos as they aren't half as effective, though I'm sure they're much easier and faster to make.

I think that there are rules that should be adhered to when creating fanvideos as some videos have good ideas but are screwed up by the choice of scenes. Firstly, make sure you use scenes in a roughly chronological order (not quite as important with single film fanvids as the actors often don't change appearance dramatically over the course of the film but very important with tv or film series), or if you are going to use a 'flashback' then make sure you put the scene in sepia or black and white so as to make it clear that it is a flashback. This is particularly important when trying to make it look like two people (from two different scenes) are looking at/talking to each other (it's just weird to have an 11 year old Hermione looking up at a 16 year old Ron). Also, speaking of using two people from two different scenes - make sure the colours roughly match, e.g. don't use a scene with one person in a cold lighted place against the other in a warm lighting, it just doesn't work. If all else fail then just put them both in sepia (or greyscale) and adjust what you can to make it marginally matching. Also, cutting two people into the same scene is fantastic (I have no idea how it's done) but it looks really weird when one of the people has a much larger head than the other. Try to avoid that.
Those would probably be my main rules, though I do understand how frustrating it must be to have that many limitations (it's hard enough trying to find a scene where someone looks in the right direction without having to try and find one that has the character at the right age and in the right lighting!). This is why I don't make these fanvids, lol.

Anyway, I just have to say that I greatly admire all the people who make these videos as they're amazing and they must take rather a lot of skill! And time. Perhaps when I am rich I will find the time and software to create my own. But for now (and the foreseeable future) I will not be able to do that... Oh well, I've got plenty of other things to do. Such as homework. I've got lots of homework. I'll have to be doing all of that this week before I go back to college.
Hmm, I'd better go...