Monday, March 26, 2012

Inside the Coon: The Video Editor

I started editing in 2005. I had nothing but Windows Movie Maker, some pictures and an old low end computer. My first video ever was a slideshow of ShadAmy [Shadow the Hedgehog coupled with Amy Rose] to I'm in Heaven by ATC. I don't have it, nor a bunch of my earliest videos up on RaidenVideo due to the use of fanart. I did not have permission from the artists for half the works. So they sit abandoned on one of my external hard drives.

Slowly I began downloading video clips around the time Shadow the Hedgehog was first announced. WMM frustrated me to no end. Constant crashes and incompatibility with any video file other than WMV. It was rough back in 2005-2007

Back then I was widely known as ShadowthaHedgehog, mostly due to my old piczo website, Shadow Eternity, a Shadow the Hedgehog fansite I made. My most viewed video was Fire to the Eurobeat, which accumulated 50,000 views before my youtube account was closed in late 2008 and was one of my last videos with WMM before I found Nero Vision Express 3...

Funny thing is, I had Nero Vision all along. It was part of Nero 6 Ultra Edition- a program I had been using to burn audio discs since early 2005. It had more effects than the Windows XP version of WMM ever did- it could even use .AVI. In fact it would ONLY use AVI files. It crashed with WMV & MPGs. I started using it in mid 2007.

Somewhere around 2008 I decided to change my identity from ShadowthaHedgehog to Raiden B. Raccoon, my fursona. By fursona, I mean me as a raccoon literally. Raiden is just a raccoon version of myself.

Anyway, sometime around mid to late 2009 I found Sony Vegas 7. THIS is the first video I ever produced with it. I never uploaded it to youtube because I was ashamed of it. Slowly I began exploring with Vegas and researching it's capabilities. I was watching a lot of videos that amazed me and I wanted to learn to do those things. Several tutorials later, in November 2010, I busted out of my safe zone and let loose with THIS video.

If I could travel back in time and tell my 15-16 year old self about the videos I make today, he would sh*t bricks. I never thought I would reach a point of making videos like THIS or THIS. I also never thought my idols, like MainlySkull, CrocStar764 or PurpleRatchet to name a few, would comment on them and be amazed by my videos. That today makes my present self sh*t bricks!

It's been a heck of a ride these past 6 or 7 years. I've progressed a lot. But I've also had the privilege of watching fellow video editors blossom. My good friends, Ineedahero & Valkeyreion are 2 I can name that have made a huge leap along side me.

It's an amazing feeling going from follower to role model. Though I still look up to my editing idols [including the 3 mentioned earlier], as they inspire my editing A LOT! But I've also found myself in the idol-chair - a spot I never dreamed of being in. There's a few of my subscribers who are just beginning their journey as a video editor. Some I've had a privilege of seeing their first video ever and watching them progress.

I try to comment on their videos when I've got the time- because I know it's what keeps them going...it was what kept me going all these years. In a way, these beginner editors remind me a lot of myself when I started. I have a strong feeling that they'll become amazing editors one day soon. So a comment from me is a "Good job, don't give up! You're gonna get better one day if you keep at it!". I know that if I can please 1 person with my videos, then I feel that I've done a great job and want to do it again. Hopefully other's feel this way too.

Anyway, I think I should wrap this up; Video editing is a huge part of my life. Even if the internet ceases to exist, I'm going to still be making videos until the day I die. I hope this post has inspired some beginners to keep editing no matter what. If someone like me can go from making a sh*tty video like THIS to making one like THIS, then anybody can...one day. It just takes effort & research. Learn about video editing programs, find tutorials, experiment with trial & error. Just never, ever give up!

Thank you for taking the time to read this! :)

I want to hear questions from you guys. You can ask me anything really. Or, if you want to tell your story about video editing, feel free to send it in as well. I may just publish it here on my blog ;D

Send an email to: askraiden@yahoo.com
Subject: Question
if you want to know something from me. Ask me anything! What got me into gaming, why I became a PC technician, what's my favorite color and why...throw what ever you want at me!
or
Subject: My Story
 to send in your story about video editing. With either your Youtube name or your name. Tell me about when you started, how long you've been at it, what your inspirations were/are, everything that has brought you to edit videos and to continue editing videos.
or
Subject: Comment
If you want to say something to me. I'll reply to all these in blog posts titled "Raiden reads Viewer Mail"

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