Ninja Videography

[filkertom]

drzarron linked to a Sky News story about alleged plagiarism of "Ninja" by the British band 7 Seconds of Love. Besides being a fascinating case, it's also a pretty cool song and video.

And it's got me thinking.

I'm not an animator -- I tried it several times in high school and college, and just never had the knack -- but I've got some decent graphics and video tools these days, and a few friends who might be able to help. I've had ideas for videos before, but haven't acted on them yet.

Maybe it's time. ;)

Comments

[janetmiles.livejournal.com]

Um. Er. You know, my husband has been getting way into computer animation, and has been muttering about how it would be really cool to animate one of your songs, but there's the whole copyright infringement thing, you know. So, um, er, what would you think about him animating something and sending it to you, or putting it somewhere you could look at it?

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

I think you should have him e-mail me about it. :) I'm certainly not averse to it. And the iTom stuff is specifically released with a Creative Commons license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/) letting you goof with it for noncommercial purposes.

TomTube!

[mistletoe.livejournal.com]

Oh hell yeah! You are overdue for having a music video. We are in the age YouTube, afterall.

[palenoue.livejournal.com]

I've been "exploring" computer animation since the days of the Apple II+, but life (and a particularly unimaginative college computer dept) kept interferring. So if you have any questions about the pros & cons of different forms/styles/techniques, feel free to ask me.

But if you want to get into animation as a hobby (as in, something fun to tinker around with yet not so time consuming that it interfers with your music) then I would recommend Flash. Easy to get into, easy to use, easy to go back and alter or change, and quick to make. A good book to start with is "Flash Cartoon Animation: Learn From The Pros" by Kevin Peaty and Glenn Kirkpatrick. It goes step by step on how to make an animated short, but more importantly, it's one of the very few Flash animation books that gets into how to do _animation_ properly, rather than just learning Flash. It will mean the differences between "Great animation" and "Good idea, lame execution."

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

I've got some excellent Flash tools, including especially SwishMax. What I haven't had is time or ideas. I'm hoping to shake loose some of both.

Welp..

[lordavon.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure if you wanted to make videos, the "Return of the King" group from arisia would be happy to allow our production to be used.

Granted, I'd have to ASK the others, but I can't imagine a no.

Re: Welp..

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

YOU GUYS!!! sdavido and vettecat finally caught me up with the video of that awhile back, and I laughed my butt off, you were all GREAT, and they gave me a DVD which promptly got lost in some shuffled stuff. Can you get me a copy of it, PLEASE???

Re: Welp..

[lordavon.livejournal.com]

I'll see who amongst us has access to burn a copy of the DVD and we'll get it to you. :)

[kosaginolegion.livejournal.com]

I've been contemplating a Return of the King vid myself, but first I have to get the funds together to purchase all the requisite parts. Won't do it if you're going to take up that other offer, and obviously you'd get to see it first.

I do 3D graphic stuff, too. Let me know if you need any objects modeled or Daz stuff in Poser. I could use the practice.

[wildcard9.livejournal.com]

I remember seeing that Ninja video about a year ago. I agree, good song and and a cute video. I am sorry the group is having their work used without permission like this, but I hope some good will come out of it (like a recording contract or royalties from Coke for use of their song).