Video Making Quest

I've been plotting to have what I've been referring to as an "elaborate slide show video" for sharing my thoughts both before and after seeing Princess Bride. My scheme was to put it all together in Flash and convert it to an appropriate format for Blip.

I'm used to Flash and don't have much else in the way of editing software, so this seemed like a good idea, but I've made a dramatic discovery: Flash + sound + movie export apparently = disaster.* It's not like I was working with terribly good sound quality to begin with, so it's a pretty significant issue.

As such, I'm downloading a 30-day trial of Adobe Premiere Elements. I figure, you know, April is long enough to figure out whether I'll be making more videos and if the program is worth my while to own.

I'm not jumping right into the Princess Bride video, however. I've made some art for it already, but I'm starting off with a cheesy 45 second "How To Draw A Dragon" video. Yes, I know Strong Bad's done it, but the point isn't to make an awesome video, but rather to work out a process and get technical feedback.

I'm not sure when that'll be done, but I'm hoping soon. I had actually predicted today prior to discovering the Flash sound issue, so it's pretty much going to boil down to how quickly I adapt to the new program and get sound results that don't burn my ears. Considering the conditions I recorded under (screw you, ice cream truck!) and the equipment used, the sound quality is actually pretty decent and lacking in background noise. Pretty much any loss of quality. however, tips the scale towards horrible. I'm hoping Elements can preserve it better, or even improve it.

In conclusion, I officially declare the last week of March to be "Dragon Week" for this blog, as this is the fourth post in a row having something to do with dragons and it's getting somewhat ridiculous.

* EDIT: Yeah, I should've tried .avi instead of .mov. The .avi files are huge, but I can reduce them down and change the format easily. So the real conclusion is that I was being stupid and I should definitely have the dragon test video done this week ^^;

In Defense Of Astrid

Yes, this is another How To Train Your Dragon post, but there's actually more to it than that. One of the comments to my previous post expressed disappointment in Dreamworks over having Astrid, a strong female love interest, in the movie. The reasons given were that she wasn't in the book and the "strong female love interest" angle has been done many times before.

(Although, to be fair, 99% of the film wasn't in the book)

I feel this is something I need to counter. Not only do I believe that Astrid is a good character, I believe she's an example on how to present a character like this without being tired and cliché.

I'm avoiding major spoilers here, but I am discussing a character and how they fit in the plot, so yeah. MINOR SPOILERS be ahead.

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 1 - She is not out to prove what girls are capable of. With the exception of the main character, the village is full of badasses. Male, female, adult, child, they all either kick ass or aspire to, and the only one who is told they're a fool for doing so is the male lead, Hiccup. Nobody questions whether girls can kick ass. They know they can and respect them for it.

 2 - She is not a jerk. Movies and TV shows often seem to think that the only way to portray a strong female character is to make them an uncaring, self-centered jackass. We as an audience are supposed to view them as strong and possibly even as role models, but if you took those same characters and made them men, they'd simply be jerks. There are, however, plenty of shows and movies that understand that being strong doesn't mean you have to be a jerk, and this movie is one of them.

 3 - She is not tacked on. Astrid is a key character in the movie and is not an afterthought. She contributes to the story and isn't just there for Hiccup to fawn over.

 4 - Relative to the rest of the vikings, she is fully clothed. While her outfit is unique, so is Hiccup's. It helps them stand out as main characters. I question the lack of a fur vest or cape, but at least she's not showing off her midriff. A lot of strong, action-oriented women wind up in skimpy outfits, but Astrid is not one of them. This is an especially good thing considering she looks like she's at most fourteen years old.

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I would not mind seeing more characters portrayed as Astrid was with the rest of the characters treating them as Astrid was. I can understand the "she wasn't in the book" complaint, particularly if one was fond of the supporting male character whose role she effectively fills. Independent of that, however, I think she was a good character and a good example of a strong female character.

A Different Way To Train Your Dragon

Note: Blogger's images seem to be having trouble showing up. If you can't see the image for this post, click here to see it on DA.

As I've stated, I loved the How To Train Your Dragon (HTTYD) movie. While watching the end credits, I noticed that it claimed to be based on a book. Given that I had become an instant HTTYD-fanboy, I decided to look into it.

It turns out there's a series of children's novels, and they've gotten good reviews on Amazon. What they are not, however, is the same as the movie. After a bit of research, it's very clear to me that the movie was more "inspired by" than "based on" the books.

There is common ground between them, but if you changed the names of the movie and its characters, I suspect the only significant things they'd have left in common is the presence of vikings and dragons. I have not read the books, so there may be subtle similarities that I am not aware of, but it really does sound like they're the apples and oranges of family friendly viking-themed dragon fiction (a genre I am certain is massive in stature).

I find this interesting, as book fans have historically been strongly opposed to movies that deviate heavily from the source material. There are Harry Potter fans who foam at the mouth with rage over the general lack of house elves in the movies and Lord Of The Ring fans who want the head of Peter Jackson, but those movies are guilty of very minor divergences relative to the HTTYD movie. Given the overwhelmingly positive reviews of the HTTYD movie, I wonder what fans of the books think. It also makes me wonder what the author of the books, Cressida Cowel, thinks.

Of course, these might not be like the Harry Potter books with readers of all ages. If it's mostly just kids reading them, I doubt there'd be as much fanboy rage in the face of unfaithful adaptations. I've also never seen a bookstore overflowing with people as a result of a HTTYD book release or people getting lynched for revealing HTTYD spoilers. Nonetheless, there's probably someone, somewhere out there who is gritting their teeth with rage over this movie.

Personally, I liked the movie as it was, and I'm glad they deviated from the source material as much as they did. It's a little weird to be saying that. I'm generally okay with movies deviating from their source material in order to make movies that, frankly, don't suck. What I usually do want to stay faithful, however, are the themes and the characters, and it doesn't sound like HTTYD did that.

That said, the movie is still awesome, and I still plot to see it in 3d.

How To Train Your Dragon

It's late and I need to get some sleep, so this is going to be a very quick review. Fortunately, my review ultimately boils down to five words:

It's awesome. Go see it.

How To Train Your Dragon is the definition of a good family movie. It has something for everyone. I honestly can't think of a single person I know who I wouldn't recommend this movie to. Granted, it's 1:30 in the morning and there are likely some curmudgeons I could think of if I were more awake, but it's rare I can say that of any movie while in any state of mind.

I don't want to give the impression that it's the greatest movie of all time or anything. I'm sure there are plenty of nits one could pick. Thing is, I don't care about those nits or the picking thereof. This movie was fun, cute, relatable, action-packed... it was simply good.

I saw it in 2d, and plan to go back and see it in 3d. I will be acquiring it on DVD when it comes out, and, merchandising willing, I will have a figurine of the main dragon sitting on my desk sometime in the near future. In case it's not obvious, I liked this movie.