http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=8EEBA46A28DC9750

The mixing of these scenes should only take me another day or three, and then all I got to do is work on the brightness issue and assemble the deleted scenes. My current thinking is that Song will be released on YouTube first while I investigate the feasibility of reformatting the video for 16:9 display for DVD/DivX release. I had experimented with making ReDeath 16:9 on its DVD, but cropping ReDeath for 16:9 resulted in a softer image compared to having my HDTV zoom in on the 4:3 letterbox image, so I left it non-anamorphic. But since Song requires subtitles (for most), it seems worthwhile to give it the 16:9 treatment so people with widescreen TVs don’t have to choose between a big picture and being able to read the dialogue. We’ll see.

Also not cool is that my old external firewire drive (a 120GB I’ve had since late 2001, on which Nescaflowné and ReDeath ReDux were edited) is flaking on me. Some footage and music cues were damaged and needed to be replaced. Thankfully, the damage to the whole is minimal, but I’ll definitely be retiring this drive from editing work once this project is complete.

I’ve crossed the halfway point and am currently considering shortening one, maybe two of the action scenes. If I can do it without butchering the music behind them, I most likely will. That’s about it for the edits I think the video needs, everything else is just tweaking a subtitle here and there or adding some sound effects where needed. I also think it’d be cool if I could find someone to translate the end credit theme for me (it’s in Italian), but that’s just extra credit. And then, it’s the deleted scenes and the DVD authoring, but I think I could get this online before then.

I finally got back around to editing! Judy’s been bugging me for forever to make a dub so I figure if I start editing stuff, maybe I’ll get back in the mood to actually crank something out. Anyhow, this is actually an old trailer reborn. I made a similar version of this way back in 2002 on my old editing system. Recently I jumped at the opportunity to get Final Cut Studio for a good price, so I’ve got quite a respectable editing setup now with my MBP and my new monitor. Anyhow, if I’ve learned anything from cutting this KoF trailer it’s that 1) new NLE software and hardware are a joy to use and 2) I’m way rusty at this editing bit. I think I spent about 3 hours total ripping, editing, and cutting this trailer from DVD to Youtube.

Because we’re Studio Sokodei, this thing ain’t done-done yet. The number one flaw was that the thing was too damn dark (most notably damaged is one of my favorite gags in the video which got zilch response from the audience). I should’ve gotten the hint from how murky the trailer turned out on YouTube. But yeah, that’s at the top of the list. There are a handful of subtitle rewordings I’m considering (Though thankfully, I noticed no embarassing typos during either screening). I compiled the screener DVD three times in the 24 hours before premiere due to volume problems I kept discovering, and there were still some in what got shown, but limited to less than 30 seconds of the whole. I may also trim a few more lines. And last but not least, I’d like to edit and sub the around-6.5 minutes of deleted material.

Kelvin suggested that some of the earlier action scenes are too long and that I need to make the volume range more dynamic. I knew I definitely had to minimize the footage of actual gameplay as much as possible, but it’s a fine line between making something too long and making something so short as to be insignificant. There’re a couple of action beats I think I can reasonably shorten, one where Spike and Bianca are chased by aircraft and a point when Faye gets into two “fight against multiple goons” sequences in less than 4 minutes, and I’ll definitely seee what I can do with them. Volume range is something I’ve never really thought about on any of the videos I’ve edited. As long as nothing overpowered the dialogue, I figured that was all that was needed. But then, Song is far more action driven than the parody dubs and I guess the rule is that action scenes should not be pitched at the same volume level as coversations and vice versa. Another thing I’ll look into.

I’m gonna take a least a week off to decompress from Fanime before jumping back in to fix stuff, but I promise it’s not going to be a 5-year-process to completion this time. Unlike the dubs, I have no reservations about making this available to the public as soon as I’m satisfied with the final cut, and I’ll post that news here when that happens.

Now that I pretty much know everything that’s going to be in the video (a second look at one scene saved it from deletion), I can get started on the sound mix and subbing. Having learned how to adjust volume levels for an entire track cutting the trailer (so much more convenient than the old method of adjusting each clip individually), the mixing should be simple. I’m also looking to replace some of the sound effects to give them more punch. And to save me time and frustration, I’ll be doing all the subbing in Premiere where I can time all the subs visually. I figure at Fanime and even for whatever form Song’s web release will take, hard matted subs won’t be an issue. Song will be mastered to DVD eventually with removable subs the old-fashioned way (BTW, if there’s some program for making a DVD subtitle track that has the same WYSIWYG simplicity of an NLE program, I’d love to hear about it).

The last technical question is what to do about the game’s own subtitles. You might’ve noticed some Japanese writing appearing in the lower-left corner of the frame in the trailer. That’s a remnant of the game’s subs which displays the dialogue and the name of the character who is speaking. The dialogue appears over the lower “black bar” and thus is easily cropped out with a letterbox matte but unfortunately, the character name appears in the frame itself and there is no option in the game to turn the subtitles off. This leaves me with three options:
1. Leave the name alone (a la the trailer)
2. Blur the name out
3. Extend the letterbox matte to crop out the name

Obviously, there are downsides to all three options. Would a constant blurry section be even more distracting than the name already is? Is it worth losing a good chunk of visual information to eliminate the annoyance completely? I’ll experiment with the three prospects but if anyone has thoughts on the matter, don’t be shy.

Good golly, nearly went insane from the monotony of cutting the last few fight sequences (Continuity!), but I’m satisfied I did the best I could with footage that really wasn’t meant to be chopped up like this. The final runtime will probably be a tad shorter as there’s one scene and some scattered lines I’m still thinking of cutting, but no more than a minute or so.

Next step is the sound mix which should be less stressful, but I’ll probably take a day or two to decompress before jumping back in. The score still isn’t final as there are a couple selections I’m not entirely happy with. But the good news is that I’m on a comfortable track towards the Fanime premiere.

I suppose you could view the soundtrack page as an indicator of my progress based on how many question marks remain.