Undoubtedly, you’ve read enough “technology is wonderful until it stops working” articles and blogs to keep you reading from now until we land on Mars. Well, I’ve decided to throw one of my own out there. I promise it’ll be honest and entertaining.
I assume many of you True Believers have watched the latest episode of my vlog, “But I Digress….” While it’s normally instructional with some entertainment elements for seasoning, this episode was pure entertainment. I did a “sequel” to a series of Batman videos I made with a college buddy. This one was a spoof of the newest Batman film, the Dark Knight Rises. I’m very proud of it. I worked long and hard making it. It turned out great, in my opinion–except for one little thing.
The credits.
And it bugged me.
A lot.
Yes, my perfectionistic side reared its ugly head over the part of a movie that people ignore, skip, or wait through for a stinger (watch any Marvel Comic movie). While putting out the best product I can for everyone to see is important to me, what bugs me most about this is there were important people who helped make this video possible, most of whom served in multiple roles, and I wanted to make sure they were acknowledged for it. That’s the point of credits, isn’t it? Mentioning the unsung heroes of a film production.
But Windows Movie Maker keeps giving me problems. Whether I make the credits in the video or by themselves, at least the last third of them won’t be displayed. The music still plays and the background is still there, but the text is gone. Or it has this ugly line smeared down the screen where text should be. My only guess is the program keeps corrupting the files for whatever reason. It didn’t do this before. Maybe it was because I was using a different computer.
Some have told me I should use something better than Windows Movie Maker. I have tried. I first used Adobe Final Cut Pro (I think), but it was so extensive and complicated, I couldn’t figure out how to use it quickly. I’m not a viral filmmaker like James Rolfe (aka The Angry Video Game Nerd) or Doug Walker (aka The Nostalgia Critic). These videos are intended to be supplements to my writing; another means of building an audience. I will admit that sometimes I do get more ambitious and want to do more with my videos, but I then realize I have to real myself in and keep my priorities straight. Perhaps in the future, I’ll upgrade–or at least find a computer that won’t screw it up.
Anyway, I posted new credits. You can watch them here.
