I gave honest reviews for everyone who requested them, so I really hope I didn't hurt anyone's feelings! Let me know if I did so that I can be more tactful next time!
Previous Round Reviews can be found here.
I write these reviews as I watch each video for the first time, it’s basically my form of initial judging and is just me writing down my main thoughts about the videos as I watch them for the first time . I watch each video for the first time in the order that they were submitted. So if your review is the first one in the list (*cough*Kelly*cough*) then I watched yours before comparing it to any other entries in the round and also wrote the review then too. Of course I go back and rewatch when I’m narrowing down winners… but just so you know… That's when the review was written. ;) Also I’m quite brutally honest with my opinions in these reviews, so please don’t hate me. If you have any questions about what I wrote (or didn’t write) feel free to ask. Lastly, I know all of you made these videos about a year ago and have improved greatly, so realize that your videos have improved, as I know they all have, and you can prove it to me with your submissions into round 8! This round only had 10 submissions in the end because of link issues and lost videos and people not replying to my messages/emails, which made it a LOT easier for me to judge, LOL. Next round, I’m guessing with the rule change of 2 entries per person and my additional site advertising, will have closer to 30 or maybe even 40.
After watching all your videos, I tallied up which categories were entered in most often for this round. Only the 10-most entered into categories will be judged. I decided to disqualify "Most Entertaining" for this round since no one seemed to understand my intention for this category - yes, everyone hopes people enjoy their videos, of course, so I can see how everyone would think "Most Entertaining" applies to them, but it doesn't, I made the category for videos that specifically fit this category description (copied and pasted directly from my "Categories" page, which was there for a reason): "Make me smile! Entertain me! Usually for more upbeat songs or unique ideas that are very well executed! Basically it should be very fun or very fast-paced - not necessarily both, but both is good. All of your videos are enjoyable, even the sad ones, but this category isn't for sad and slow videos. I should either be giggling or mesmerized by your video! Otherwise this category doesn't apply to you." I think maybe EllesSacrifice and hollywoodgirl2005's Superman Begins videos were the only 2 that really should have been entered in this category, but in actuality 6 of you entered into it! 6 out of the 10 videos total. I just don't get it. Anyway, I'm disqualifying it as a possible category for this round. So, that being said, for round 7, the 10 most entered into categories, starting with the category with the most videos entered into it, were:
1 & 2 Best Editing and Best Song Use - 9 videos out of 10 entered in these categories
3
Kelly’s Pam and Hiro crossover -The Office/Heroes
The idea of pairing these two is cute because of the whole fact that Hiro sort of started out as an office worker. It’s a very unique and creative idea to do a crossover of them so kudos for that. That kind of uniqueness and creativity does boost your chances of winning a little. ;) but that first manip – using the clock from The Office instead of the one Hiro is actually looking at – just seemed like a poor choice. That clock you used is near the ceiling and Hiro doesn’t appear to be looking toward the ceiling, plus you don’t get to actually see the time manipulation this way! Throughout the video you seem to match at least some of the lyrics, definitely an attempt there for at least a few lyrics, but some of your manips show both of them looking toward the same side of the screen – so obviously not at each other – even though I think they are supposed to be manips where you are trying to imply they are looking at each other. I mean you can choose better scenes where the character’s are facing corresponding ways or you can flip scenes horizontally, even WMM has that feature… so that sloppiness with the manipulations hurt you a bit. I really like the car part and in the restaurant at 0:51 is a great manip… as is 1:26 and other places… ;) Matching up the casino scenes is a cute idea… ;) Your story is quite simple but pretty well done! So that’s a good thing… Who’s supposed to be in the car at 2:00? I get slightly confused at that point in the video… And the ending is cute, I guess with only your limited video editing technology Michael was the best person to be seen from behind and kinda look like Hiro… not the best manip ever but an okay one. So my overall opinion of this is that it’s not GREAT but also not bad. ;)
divine_chick’s Anything but ordinary
So I’m biased because before watching I already think I’ve seen a few Claire videos set to this song and I know how well it fits her. Plus I know Claire’s character quite well since I recently made my own Claire video. I’ll try to put all that aside now and watch your video objectively. ;) Also, next time can you please provide your YouTube link for me instead of your myvideos page on your site? You’re making my life unnecessarily difficult. Don’t worry, I’m watching it in high quality on YouTube and it looks fine.
So – the intro doesn’t seem to match the beats. I mean it wouldn’t have to match EVERY beat but you’d think maybe you’d change scenes each measure or every 2 measures of the song or something but instead it sort of seems like a scene linger than at a random time starts a long transition process to the next scene… idk… I’m not a big fan of your timing. The rewinding and going back through all the scenes in your into at the end of the intro was a neat idea though. ;) And when the lyrics start you at least try to match all the lyrics so the awkward timing is less noticeable but it’s still not the greatest timing. So you only used the first 7 episodes in this video, is that all you saw or something? Because lyrics about her sleeping would be better matched with a scene of her sleeping and stuff. The lyric, “sometimes I drive so fast” probably would have been better matched with the scene from 1x04 with her actually driving 80 miles per hour but at least you had a car in that clip… She does scream in that clip of her falling from the pilot so I guess that matches the lyric “I want to scream” pretty well. But overall, even with only 7 episodes worth of Claire footage, you could have done more. You had a LOT of scene lingering. You should have switched up the scenes more often or at least edited them a bit. And for lyrics like “Is it enough to love” you could have at least shown her hugging her dad or smiling at him or her mom or even just shown her with Zach in some random scene like you did the second time the lyric came up (but you didn’t do the first time), but instead you ignored the lyrics completely. The video comes off as a video about Claire regenerating in episodes 1-7 loosely based on the song, with no other clips of Claire since she didn’t regenerate in those… Plus for lyrics like “is it enough to breathe” you could have shown her coughing when waking up on the autopsy table at the end of 1x03 or beginning of 1x04 or when she’s trying to breathe in the fire in the pilot or for “is it enough to die” show I time when it actually looks like she’s dead, not just a random scene of her pushing her ribs back into her body from the pilot, LOL. The end of the video seems to match the song a little more and the whole time it doesn’t seem like you completely ignored the song… but I just wished you’d tried to show a few more of Claire’s scenes and matched the lyrics a bit more and maybe more of the rhythm of the song too. Also the effects were sort of non-noteworthy, I guess the rewinding thing was a little cool and the coloring didn’t hurt your video, so maybe you get an extra point for effects. Sorry if that was harsh. I’m sure your newer videos are WAY better. ;)
EllesSacrifice’s Heroes - Blow Me Away
So this is a good action video, it’s fairly varied for the cast but not quite as varied as I might hope a Heroes cast video could be. The glow effect is a tiny bit too much, it makes it unnecessarily too bright and hard to see, but overall your effects are kickass per usual. ;) You used most of the main characters and didn’t linger too long on any one character so that’s a plus. The lyrics overall seem to be matched well. The audio inclusions of some gun shots and Elle screaming seem unnecessary and detract from the video a little. Overall you used the song well though, the mood was very good for an action Heroes video and lyrics really were matched. So you did a pretty good job overall with this!! :D Oh – and I love how in the beginning when the song got intense suddenly so did your video, but throughout the video not all the beats were matched or anything and timing didn’t seem particularly impressive but not particularly bas either.
hollywoodgirl2005’s [Future] Peter Petrelli: Nobody Said It Was Easy
So the blue effects are great and well used, the concept of this video is extremely creative and unique and you get extra points and kudos for that. And the voiceovers were all very well used – you didn’t start to cut them off mid-sentence, they made sense in the context of the video, they didn’t ruin the song, and they weren’t too loud or too quiet except maybe the one around 4:00 right after he says “We saved each other,” that was a little quiet). So great job there. I also like how you matched what was being said in the voiceovers with clips, like Angela’s “something different happens now” and you showing Sylar taking Claire’s ability and stuff like that a lot later on, like “I can only do things when I’m around other people who can do things”, etc. ;) You used a ton of great Peter Petrelli defining character moments in season 1 with clips and appropriate voiceovers that made this a really great [Future] Peter character study. ;) And you did match all the lyrics I’m pretty sure. I mean “tell you I need you” in the beginning might not have matched lol but most of them really worked well. You did repeat a few of those Future Peter scenes a lot but you never repeated the same exact part of the scene, so it’s quite impressive in that respect too. Especially considering the length of the song you used. Overall your timing was good – nothing spectacularly noteworthy but nothing that would detract from your video. So overall I really loved this video. Really well done.
hollywoodgirl2005’s Superman Begins
VERY well done and pretty unique. I mean there are a few videos here and there about the Superman side of Clark instead of romances or whatnot but this video here is still pretty much the only video I’ve ever seen all about Clark’s journey to becoming Superman. It’s well done, 90% of the voiceovers are perfectly audible and none are impossible to hear, you don’t have “lyrics” to match in this instrumental piece but you do match the flow of the music well in addition to matching the words the voiceovers are saying really well. My favorite part is probably the end with the way you matched “peace” and “justice” – SO perfect. Overall this is really simple but also really perfect. :D I thought I might say something bad about your videos but I can’t, they’re too good lol.
Rach’s Daddy's Little Girl
Really well done. By the way next time if you’re using any Private Practice clips, mention it as a fandom used, as well as be sure to mention Enchanted if it’s a video like this. I mean the “Fandom(s)” spot is there for a reason, this was not a simple AU Grey’s Anatomy video, this was basically a crossover that just maintained only the Grey’s universe… but I digress… your timing was great, your lyrical matching was great, your story was creative, great, well done, and all your manipulations were believable and well done. I really liked this video a lot even though I hated the song – I’m just not a Frankie J fan I guess. ;) You did brilliantly per usual, I’m sure your newer videos are even more amazing lol but this one was pretty darn perfect. However it was a bit boring, the storyline could have been a bit more interesting to make the repetitive song less annoying or something… also the voiceover at 2:26 I couldn’t understand so that is a slight drawback to your video… but overall it was quite amazing. Even your coloring was great. ;)
Mariana’s Stolen
I don’t like how the song starts – like the very beginning got cut off – because it’s either lazy on your part because you didn’t feel like viding the whole intro OR you somehow got a bad copy of the song, both things you could have fixed. I mean seriously, not a good start to the video – yeah your effects are cool but I think less of a video if when just starting out it’s already got part of it cut and sloppily at that. Some of your timing seems a little off, like you don’t match a beat and then the next time the same beat happens you match it twice? Idk, overall the beats and timing seem pretty good but something just seemed a little weird from time to time with me. And during the verse transitions or whatever you call them, like at 0:30 and 0:51, etc., you seem to be matching more beats than there are and idk, the editing/zooming effects just seem slightly too much for the simplicity and slowness of the song. But still, overall your timing and effects are great! You matched lyrics well although for “another sun-soaked season” I would have liked for them to be outside in the sunlight, lol. And for “clear liquor and…” you could have shown them with alcohol, etc. So not perfect with the lyrics either. But some of the lines were matched amazingly well – “Too early to say goodnight”, etc. So overall it’s a really well done video. You used quite a few scenes that are rare to see in videos and that itself is impressive and gives you extra points. You really are an amazing vidder and the only good vidder I know who is a true Rory/Logan fan and vids multiple videos of them. I forgot to mention – it is noticeable that you cut the song in the middle and that too is a drawback, and the super-widescreen is a little annoying but you did it fairly well… Seriously I’m complaining a lot but you’ll see when you place for awards that I really did like the video, lol, it had lots of little tiny problems but also lots of great things about it! The lyrics and mood of the song were overall matched, the effects were great, the timing for the most part was great. ;)
Angela’s Rory and Jess "Jimmy Rae McGee"
Your scenes lingered a bit, the scene change at 0:53 seemed a little sloppy or whatever, some of the timing was good but most of the time your timing was non-spectacular, you weren’t matching beats, just lyrics. You did match the song and lyrics well though. The song describes Jess really well, it was a great idea and well executed! The only real problem with this video is that compared to your competition, this video was a bit simple. ;)
iNewbie’s Scrubs Friendship - I'll Be There For You
Your first entry in my regular round! You should have entered more categories, lol, I would tell you to try to enter more next time (such as for this video “best concept” or “most sweet” would have applied, but all you entered it in was Best Timing, Best Relationship (Not Romantic), and Best Cast, this time I’ll add you to Best Concept and Most Sweet to be fair and give you a better chance of winning a few more categories) - next time I’ll be choosing the categories for everyone so… don’t worry about it for now. Anyway this video is so simple and sweet and I love it. I don’t think it really applied to the “Best Relationship (Not Romantic)” category – because that’s supposed to be about how well your video captures ONE relationship, like if it was about just Turk and JD it’d be fine, but as your video is a cast friendship video, I don’t think it applies. Your timing is slow but actually amazingly good, especially with the way them jumping around and the watermelons hit the ground and everything was so perfectly synced up with the song. So actually your timing was amazingly good even though it wasn’t impressively fast paced and matching every beat or anything. You could have entered Best Song Use too but since that is such a highly competitive category for now I won’t count you in that, but next time you’ll have a chance at that. You chose a really fitting song and matched the mood and lyrics pretty well though, so you might have placed in that category too. Congrats! I love your video. Just know that there were a few REALLY impressive videos entered in this round that made for some tough competition and made it hard for you to win anything.
Crosby Waller’s Gilmore Girls "All in All"
Definitely a really sweet Gilmore Girls cast video that I really enjoyed! You matched the lyrics well and varied the cast fairly well, although it was a bit too Lorelai/Rory centric for a proper cast video! The timing at the beginning (“standing on top of the edge…”) seemed pretty good, and during the musical interlude from 0:55 to 1:05 was really great, but the rest of the video didn’t really compare and wasn’t poorly timed or anything but simply seemed to ignore all those beats and only match lyrics. Lyrics were matched really well though. A few parts were kind of sloppily edited, though, especially the glimpse of Amy Sherman-Pallidino’s name at the end and at 2:26 a glimpse of Dean that I don’t think was intentional and stuff like that… and at 1:42 you had Lorelai and Luke sitting on the ground talking on the phone for the lyrics “stand tall” which seemed like a really poor choice of scene, any scene where people stood up would be better, I mean you obviously know what the lyric is, you didn’t hear it wrong/misinterpret it because at 0:45 you matched it well! So the blatant not matching of it later is sloppy and a bit lazy or something. Overall the lyrics are well matched and the beats pretty well matched and the mood and everything of the song well used, so you did, overall, use the song well! And overall I think it’s one of your best videos and pretty enjoyable and well done overall. FYI you didn’t try to enter this in “best angst” and I think you should have. ;)
Sarah’s Take Me Away
More AU Grey’s Anatomy videos… why doesn’t anyone ever enter cannon GA vids in my site? LOL. Anyway. Okay, so your effects at the beginning with the coloring and dark border and overlaying clips is all a bit much, the video probably would have been a little better with a few less effects throughout. I like the colors you chose but they’re just a bit too intense and bright and sort of make it hard to concentrate on your video’s story and your manips and stuff like that. Your title pops in late and at a random time, which sort of seems like randomness or poor planning so I don’t really like that. Lyrics didn’t seem matched, not really, the song choice seems sort of good for your story but not amazingly perfect or anything. There was some scene lingering, like the Bailey/Addison conversation at 0:29 is kind of lasting too long… but scenes were changed on the beats pretty well so you have good timing. Your manips are pretty great, including your audio inclusion choices – it really helped to tell the story well and made it more believable. I really loved them. But at 0:49 “Meredith” is making noises in pain – she’s awake – and moments before I thought she still had the possibility of dying and never waking up after the drowning thing. But suddenly she’s fine and it’s just her baby that is at risk? That seems weird to me. So it’s either a poor choice of audio inclusions to have the woman’s painful cries or just a whole in your story that you didn’t explain. I think the “memories” of Derek and Meredith should have been in a different color or had some different glow or something added to them OR at least had a different transition coming to and from them. You know? The audio of Addison helping Derek through it at 2:03 is inaudible and also hurts your video a bit – it’s another example of slightly sloppy editing, I’m sorry. You should have made the voiceover loud enough to hear. Then Meredith is back to being unconscious – so was she conscious temporarily and some complication with the pregnancy caused her to become unconscious again? Or was the woman screaming in the scene where Izzie tells Addison the baby is in distress not supposed to be Meredith? LOL. Sorry. ;) But you seemed to specifically avoid showing that woman’s face, which was a good manipulation and good editing to me which made me think it was supposed to be Meredith. Overall your manips are good and your story is told pretty well. The idea is good and I’m sorry for all the criticism. I honestly did like the video, but it didn’t really show any attempt to match the song, the effects were a bit much, and a few of the editing things here and there were sloppy, so it just wasn’t one of the BEST entries in the contest. It does have a nice happy ending too, though. ;)So had more people tried to enter that category, you stood a chance of winning that. Also, you didn’t enter this into Best AU/Crossover?! You should have!! It would have probably placed had more people entered the category. Next time I’ll be picking what categories videos go in but just keep it in mind in case I eventually make you all pick your won categories again.