The friggin' wmv artifacts actually weren't part of the plan.
But the original video compression took like an hour to render,... and it came out 75 Mb too big!
Didn't feel like waiting another hour, so I dumped it in Windows Movie Maker and got it compressing.
But I guess it works pretty fine anyhow.

Good to hear you enjoyed it, I love your videos too!

What do you use to edit regular vids with all sorts of effects? I just want to apply effects ala Photoshop.
Also, somehow no players but VLC plays my avi's I get from my optio A30, not even semi-pro editing programs.
Maybe I should install the software that came with it.

Friggin' artifacts are sometimes the most unexpected of pleasures video processing can create. Windows Movie Maker I feel is the Lada automobile of video editing programs (at least the Windows XP version I try to use). It would be decent if you can effortlessly place one sequence of images to another but it would be easier to stuff a camel through a needle's eye. But that's not to say it doesn't mean I have had glorious things come out of it. The clips Stark Arc vimeo.com/344320 , PSA vimeo.com/115248 , and Gaucho vimeo.com/109903 were made on the program. In fact Digital Montag vimeo.com/109862 I guess is very similar to this piece with the compression artifacts caused by the pixillation.

The point is the program cannot really do much in crafting or whittling of the image. Since the actual process of editing is removed from your hands, I thought the best thing to do is to leave the source image (random public domain clips) unchanged and unedited. I try to use the limited inherent filters (contrast, speed up, faux film grain, etc.) found in the program and try to experiment them in ways not as intended. I realized that the image when left with no sound and with its visual properties distorted and warped, its context is lost. So I would try to find a suitable piece of music vague enough but with a certain association to anchor a feeling or atmosphere. A wonderful example of this is blacklightwaltz vimeo.com/131610 , a complete unplanned project which works well somehow. I say this because the image and sound are not really synched up, the synchronizations are really created in the mind of the audience. This is what you may call a lucky accident but this is really the point of these abstract pieces. You give enough material for the viewer to work with but really they are the ones assembling the final product. The words heard in the song, the turn of a head, all of their meanings are universal and true.

Now, this means I don't try to post everything I do. You fail more than you succeed. When you take a clip and do your dressings, you instinctually use your own criteria and fashionable standards. Let's say you create a randomized color scheme for a little stream of water. You find the extremes of red and yellow, though cool looking, do not create what you begin to see as a calm, reflective mood. Now the water may already be a blend of blues and green naturally but you use the technique you found or created and exaggerate the existing colors. This is one step where the product has the processed, surreal, and possibly detached feeling most would feel warrants being a stand-alone art piece.

Now, professional secret time, I don't use any programs beyond Apple's Final Cut program nowadays. Final Cut is not a graphic program by any means and they suggest using after effects, Photoshop, and whatever else. I have a set method I use which I can sum up by using the tools the wrong way. I find when you get too much into the post production world, you begin loosing the tactile handcrafted qualities you wish for in art. An open sand box world does stifle your creativity and makes you, I find, lazy. Limitations really do open your possibilities and trying to embrace those challenges creates unexpected results. I search for and find happy accidents in what I do and those often wind being the best pieces.

Wow, that was like an essay.

Ah, thank you for enjoying my pieces.