Compilation

I used to have this hobby where I would take video clips from all sorts of things and make compilation videos out of them. I'd pick a song, and then organize and cut the clips to that length. It all started April of 2006, when I got really bored one day. I followed this series of video games called Kingdom Hearts (which is my all-time favorite video game), and had a lot of videos and cinematics from the games on my computer. So when I was bored, I opened up Windows Movie Maker and got to work. It was a big hit amongst all my friends who know/like the video games, and a good hit amongst people who kinda knew me but knew the game really well. So it went up on Youtube and MySpace. I made a second Kingdom Hearts compilation which went on youtube, and a third one that went onto MySpace. (So far, the third one of those three has over fourteen thousand views and 96% good rating.)

Approximately eight months after I made my first video game compilation, I tried something that never entered my mind before; using video clips I had taken with my digital camera. I had clips from everything; school, play rehearsals, even Improv Camp 2006. So I had at least a year's worth of clips to put to use. So I did, using a song called Don't Ask Me by OK Go. The compilation was a huge hit with my friends, considering more than half a dozen of the people I showed it to started to make their own video compilations.

After the success of Don't Ask Me, a big question I got was "will you make another?" I thought about it, and I did. I came up with a set of self-guidelines, which included "don't use a song that pushes three and a half minutes unless there's enough variety in the clips" and "pick a song that everyone will find catchy, even if they don't outright enjoy it." Those guidelines helped, for I had made eleven compilations over the following year. Twelve if you count this thing from an improv-team tryout, but it was only thirty seconds long and didn't feature music.

As I got closer to the end, I started to push on the boundries I had set for myself. My tenth compilation was nearly four minutes long, and used a type of music I had never really done before. But it worked. My Improv Camp 2007 friends seemed to really enjoy it. My last compilation, using the song Flagpole Sitta by Harvey Danger, was more than three and a half minutes, and really let me get back into the grove of things, especially since I lost a majority of my reservoire of clips when I lost my computer's harddrive.

That was nine months ago. I haven't made a new compilation since Flagpole Sitta.

Until now. My friend Cathy just got back from this trip to Germany/France. She was sent for work, but used some vacation time to extend her stay in Europe. She's back now, and she had known that I used to make video compilations. So she asked me if I could make one (or two) for her using clips she had taken during her trip. I said yes, even though I knew I was going to be rusty at the very least.

Get this; Windows Movie Maker didn't support the .mov file type that all her clips were in. I had hit a snag before I could even get settled and properly started.

But I was smart, and already had a back-up plan in mind. Adobe has this thing where they have awesome programs such as PhotoShop and AfterEffects and whatnot, but for several hundred US dollars. BUT if you had signed-up for an account on the Adobe website, you could download the software and have a 30 Day "trial period" for free. So I quickly hopped onto the website and downloaded the software for Adobe Premiere Pro CS3. I had never used it before, and feared that it would take me days to get the hang of it.

It took me about six minutes.

I don't know how to accomplish crazy fancy things with this seemingly amazing program, but I know the basics and then some. It's a lot smoother than what I traditionally use (Windows Movie Maker), and it's made organizing clips and audio a helluva lot easier.

Anyway, I've put in three hours of work so far on the first compilation. I'm using a Weezer song. It's been nine months since I last made a compilation, and now that I'm doing one again, I realize how much I enjoyed doing it. But not just that; I realized that it wasn't just a skill or a hobby I had, but a talent. When I had a song picked for a compilation, everytime I listened to it, be it while working on the compilation itself or listening to my iPod on the bus, my mind would be listening as well, figuring out what type of clips could go where, when to cut clips, and everything. I seriously need to dig out the old digital camera and start to take video clips again. I want to make a comeback to the video compilation scene, and I want it to be big.

You know why I do it? Why I make compilations, why I write, why I'm building a puppet? Because being creative feels good to me. I feel good knowing that I'm putting my talents to use. I like making things that people will enjoy. I like making things and doing things that will create an emotional response in whomever my audience is.