Give me tips for making a wrestling music video

[LucharesuFan619 0]

I'm going to make my first wrestling music video in the coming weeks, since I finally got my hands on a music video maker (Windows Movie Player). If it helps in terms of specific advice you can give, it's going to be a tribute video for XPW, as a part of a retrospective I'm doing about the company's history. I'm trying to find a good song that will last as long as possible...just a really dramatic, emotional song (not overly, though; it MUST have a part where it starts going berserk...anotherwards, gets faster and louder) the likes of Creed's "My Sacrafice," Kid Rock's "Lonely Road of Faith," AFI's "God Called in Sick" today...my knowledge of music and songs is really limited because I don't really watch much up-to-date MTV, and the only mainstream songs I really know about - save for *some* exceptions - are what I've heard in wrestling music videos. I need the song to run as long as possible because I really want to go ALL OUT, in terms of just showing all I can of XPW with a lot of emotion. I have tons of clips I need. That won't be a problem. It'll be pacing and figuring out a song to use that'll be the problem. I also really need tips on pacing, and stuff like that. I don't know how to make clips fade into the next one, so the fideo will be pretty basic, but what I can do is cut frames off and - for instance - if I wanted to, I could make a clip go down to probably half a second, although I probably woldn't want to because it wouldn't be clear what the hell it was of. My questions about pacing cover the idea of where in the song would I put all the high-flying and death match - the high impact, so to say - clips, where would I put the calmer ones (like just of guys walking to the ring, posing on the top turnbuckle, etc.), etc. I guess for the high impact stuff, I would put most of that towards the "height" of the song, so to say...where it really gets fast and loud, right? I plan on only doing one video and not a bunch of tribute videos, so if possible I'd like to fit as many clips as possible, but not just fit a lot of clips...I want to really go "all out" with the drama of it all. I don't know...is that possible with just one song? I mean, probably anything's possible with computers these days, but do you think it's like...logical, rational to try to do, or is it not even worth it? Which brings me to this - is there a way with Windows Media Player that isn't too hard to figure out for a newbie, where you could segue into another song, midway through? If so, how? Also, is there a limit on the number of times you could segue from one song to another? Not that I'm planning to...trust me...but would it be possible to change the song like 10 times throughout a video and make like a 20 minute video? Again, I'm not planning to, I'm just trying to understand the capabilities and limits of this program. I've read through the entire "Help" menu and have done a few VERY quick practice stuff with non-XPW clips, so at this point I'm looking to get pretty down and dirty with it all. Also, is there a way to slow down a clip and make it go in slow motion using Windows Movie Maker? Also, can you change the color scheme of a clip using WMM...i.e. make the tint of the clip a certain color, and then go back to normal on the next clip? Better yet, is this a rational undertaking for a newbie? As far as getting a song to use, I'll probably just download one off of Kazaa and get as long a version as I can of it. Of course, as I said, I would - if possible - like to segue from one song into another, if possible? Can I using WMM? And better yet, is it really difficult to do for a newbie? As I said, I read through the entire "Help" menu and the topics I'm asking about, it doesn't cover. Back to the clips I wanna use - I want to cover all the different aspects of XPW: the insane death match bumps of Supreme, Homeless Jimmy, Angel, and Messiah; the less-bump-oriented, but still hardcore style of Webb, Nosawa, etc.; the high-flying expertise of Kaos, M-Dogg 20, Jonny Storm, Altar Boy Luke, even guys like Kronus; the scientific/mat wrestling awesomeness of Jerry Lynn, Dynamite D, Chris Hamrick, etc.; New Jack's balcony dives; the lucha styles of MMW, Psychosis, Super Crazy, and Juventud Guerrera; the generally innovative wrestling maneuvers (in terms of making up and using stuff you haven't really seen before) of Kaos, The Dead Prez, Vic Grimes, the Rev. Pro luchadores, MMW, and Chris Hamrick; the nostalgia of seeig Abby, Sabu, Funk, Douglas, Candido, etc.; the comedic talents of Tracy Smothers, Webb, Steve Rizzono, Julio Dinero, the Enterprise, and Kraq & Angel; a few quick clips showing the creepyness of the Pogo the Clown gimmick; maybe some quick clips of the women (J-Love, Lizzy Borden, Kristi Myst, whoever); etc. Obviously, I want the in-ring stuff to be the focal point of the video, but if possible, some of the side stuff - the comedy, the women, etc. - would be cool to feature. But again, do you think, rationally, that that's possible to try to do with just one video? Or do I need to start thinking more seriously about being more conservative in what clips and the number of clips I wanna use? Again, I haven't made a video yet. If I don't get any replies, I'm gonna go ahead and probably start slow...clips of guys posing in the ring or on their way to it...and gradually segue into more high impact stuff, and use the music to judge how fast-paced the clips will be. I don't really know how else to say it - I know the technical aspect of it very well...the pacing and ordering of clips...the idea of playing to song I pick (which again, I kinda need help picking)... is what's gonna fuckin kill me, probably.

[cue_meanie 0]

Okay, Obviously I cant answer every question in that tangent, but In terms of pacing and what have you, the most important thing would be to really familiarize youself with the song as much as possible, read the lyrics and know them well. It has to be a pretty good song, not always but it helps enormously. Then as you said, during down time in the song, and the intro is when the walking around the ring occurs. As long as you can succesfully sync whats happening in the video to whats happening in the song, you'll make a good video. However this takes a long time to perfect and going at it with a once off approach may not give you the desired affects of what you can see elsewhere (i.e Maynard).

[Nevermortal 0]

Capture your own footage.

[LucharesuFan619 0]

I don't have the capabilities to capture my own footage, unfortunately. I don't even know how I'd go about doing that. Thanks for the tips, cue meanie. I have some more questions, which are much more specific.

 

I started the MV a few days ago and so far have about 1:40 of video picked out that I'm definitely going to use in the video. That's not the problem. The problem is getting the song to work...not fit with the clips...but just plain play. I'm using the most recent version of Windows Media Maker. Right now, i'm trying to use Creed's "My Sacrifice" as the song. I went to Creed's site and DLed the WMA version of the song, and then went to File>Import, but the file didn't show up until I pressed All Files, and when I double clicked on it then, it said that it can't read the file. The only audio file that it can read, it seems, is WAV's, and I can't find any WAV versions of the song anywhere, whether it be on Kazaa or the Internet. So, what I did is this - I clicked the "Record" icon on the upper toolbar, right under the File, Edit, View, etc. menus. When the option box for the Record function came up, I pressed Record. It started beeping Record at that point, so I minimized the program and opened up the WMV Music video of My Sacrifice that I also downloaded, and started playing that. So, what I did was record the audio of that into the Record function of Windows Media Maker, if that makes sense. When I pressed stop recording, a Save dialog box came up, asking me to save the audio I had just made, which I did (the default format that it wanted me to save it in was WMA, so I did that). After pressing Save, this new audio that I had just finished making a few seconds ago automatically got added to My Collections area of my project. So, when I clicked on the icon for this particular audio clip and pressed Play, it worked fine - the entire My Sacrifice song that I had just recorded from the MV video version played (although not with a picture, obviously, since I was just recording the sound). I then right clicked on the icon for this audio clip and added it to the "Timeline" of my project, which is where you alter the order of the clips, where you can trip clips, and where you alter the speed of clips. So, at this point, my screen looks like this:

 

http://www.geocities.com/xpw5yearslater/comp_image.doc

 

I tried to make that into an image so that you wouldn't have to DL it, but I'm really bad at computers, as you can probably tell, so that's the best I could figure out how to do.

 

So, that's what it looks like. When I click on the "my_sacrifice_creed" bar that you see at the bottom of the image, the song plays fine. However, when I click on one of the clips in the row right above and press play, it plays the clips, but each one with the sound that the original source material had as background music. So, one clip will have a rock song as background, and then it'll change into the next clip, which will have rap music, and then it'll change to the next clip, which hsa punk rock music, etc. etc. etc. How do I get all of the clips to play with "my sacrifice" as the background music? I can't figure it out. I've read through the help topics tons of times, but the only section that even covers background music is called "Working with audio," and all it says is that audio works the same as clips, and you have to add it to the Storyboard in order to make it work. But I did that, and it still won't work.

[LucharesuFan619 0]

Come on...anyone have any idea what the problem is? I've got all the clips selected, but I can't do anything more unless I have the music set up, because otherwise I'm just randomly guessing how the music will go. I can't just count on it playing in the background because for some reason that won't work. I know I probably shouldn't be bumping this, but come on...anyone know what the deal is with this program and why what's happening is happening? Thanks very much in advance.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

Have you clicked on "Set Audio Levels" on the far left bottom side of your screen?

 

I dunno if we have the same version, but that's how I did it.

[LucharesuFan619 0]

I'm pretty sure there's no button in the bottom left for Set Audio Levels, but I am able to get into that dialog box by going to Edit>Audio Levels. At that point, a box comes up that says Audio Levels, and then has one of those things where you drag an icon to one side of a straight line of the other. On the left side of the straight line it says Video Track and on the right it says Audio Track. When I first opened it, the icon was in the very middle between the two. I dragged it all the way in both directions and tried playing the entire video (anotherwards, clicking on Play Entire Storyboard/Timeline and the same thing happens - each clip plays in order that I have set up, just as they should, but each one has completely different music in the background. Does anyone have any idea if it has anything to do with this Set Audio Levels thing, or if something else is the problem. Should I make a few more screenshots so as to show what it looks like - would that help?Thanks for the suggestion, though, RavishingRickRudo.

[Guest Markingout]

Well it should be the set audio thingy, or it's just the song. Or maybe, its WMM. WMM is such a buggy program. I have had many issues with it, so now I use Video Vegas.

 

As for pacing, you usually want to get the enterances done in the beginning, but the beginning is most fun part of making of MV because that is when you can put alot of innovative stuff, rather than just enterances like everyone else does. Sean Widup of IndyInsider.com has really innovative beginning of MVs, you should check out his work. When the song actually starts you want to start off with basic moves, then when the song its the first chorus you might want to use the head-drops, and high flying, then on the regular verses use more regular moves, but have them getting more advanced. Then you will reach a second chorus start putting dives to the outside, and putting headspikes. If I were you, I would put the deathmatch stuff either, close to the end or during a guitar solo.

 

Also, you can fade a clip into another, by grabing the bottom of the clip, and then putting it into the clip behind it.

 

Hope this helps.

[LucharesuFan619 0]

Markingout - The suggestions on the pacing is very helpful.I have a bunch of Seans videos saved and plan on taking more looks at them, as they are indeed really good. Thanks also for the info about how to fade clips into the next one. I'll definitely use that once I stragihten this out.

 

So, as far as the set audio levels dialog box - where exactly do I move the dial if I want to completely delete the sounds that are in the background of each individual clip and make the collective bunch in the storyboard/timeline. Since it's in the sotryboard/timeline, I can't figure out why it's not working, since the storyboard/timeline is where you actually edit the logistics of the video, where you determine the order of the clips, where you trim or expand clips, etc. So, is there a specific place I should move the dial to on the Set audio levels box? What I'm also thinking is this, and someone will proobably be able to answer this for me. Am I doing this all right, and just for some reason the song won't play in the background of the music video because I haven't uploaded it onto the net or something? Do I have to upload it or something before it will work? Maybe I'm wrong and the different songs in the background of each individual clip aren't supposed to change until you somehow somehow enable or - this is the word I want - activate, so to say, the song (which is in the row directly above the clips in the timeline/storyboard area)? That's the only thing I can think of if the set audio levels thing still doesn't work after I get another response (if). Is that a possibliity? Do I somehow have to right click in a certan spot or go into a certain part of the Edit, PLay, Clip, etc. menu to activate the song, so to say? Thanks in advance and also to all who've helped so far.

[Guest Markingout]

So, as far as the set audio levels dialog box - where exactly do I move the dial if I want to completely delete the sounds that are in the background of each individual clip and make the collective bunch in the storyboard/timeline. Since it's in the sotryboard/timeline, I can't figure out why it's not working, since the storyboard/timeline is where you actually edit the logistics of the video, where you determine the order of the clips, where you trim or expand clips, etc. So, is there a specific place I should move the dial to on the Set audio levels box?

 

Move it all the way to the audio side, so all you hear is audio.

 

What I'm also thinking is this, and someone will proobably be able to answer this for me. Am I doing this all right, and just for some reason the song won't play in the background of the music video because I haven't uploaded it onto the net or something? Do I have to upload it or something before it will work? Maybe I'm wrong and the different songs in the background of each individual clip aren't supposed to change until you somehow somehow enable or - this is the word I want - activate, so to say, the song (which is in the row directly above the clips in the timeline/storyboard area)? That's the only thing I can think of if the set audio levels thing still doesn't work after I get another response (if). Is that a possibliity? Do I somehow have to right click in a certan spot or go into a certain part of the Edit, PLay, Clip, etc. menu to activate the song, so to say? Thanks in advance and also to all who've helped so far.

 

You activate your song in the Set Audio Levels, just move it all the audio, make sure you have dragged the song, underneath the timeline.

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

If you haven't found a song yet, I'd suggest Tool's "Lateralus." I've always wanted to see a wrestling video use it, because I think it could work perfectly. Up to when the first "chorus riff" plays, you could use some slow-motion clips of some of XPW's finer moments, and then...BAM! Kickass riff comes in, and you show some deathmatch footage, or something.

[LucharesuFan619 0]

Hey, everyone - thanks for all the tips. Unfortunately, the sound aspect of my verson of the program is fucked up, I guess, so I don't think I'll be able to make the video. Unless, I mean, is there another program you can download that uses WMV clips, or is Windows Movie Maker the only program that is compatible with that format of clips?

 

EDIT: Oh my fucking lord...I did it. I fucking did it. It fucking works. In Kris Kloss's words, HOLY FUCKING SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I did it by upgrading to the newest version of WMM and working on it in that program. I'll explain how I did it prolly tomorrow...right now I'm just too psyched to explain and I wanna start working on it.

 

But, what I will say is...FUCK YES! ::marks out::

[Guest Markingout]

If you haven't found a song yet, I'd suggest Tool's "Lateralus." I've always wanted to see a wrestling video use it, because I think it could work perfectly. Up to when the first "chorus riff" plays, you could use some slow-motion clips of some of XPW's finer moments, and then...BAM! Kickass riff comes in, and you show some deathmatch footage, or something.

 

Funny you say that, I was working on a MV for Lateralus a while back. I haven't updated it in a while, but it does have alot of great synch points.

[LucharesuFan619 0]

OK, sorry to bump. I'm gonna do three videos with the following songs: "My Sacrifice," by Creed, "Numb," by Linkin Park, and "When I'm Gone," by 3 Doors Down. I have LP and Creed, but I need to find a copy of a long verson of When I'm Gone. Kazaa doesn't work for me. It just completely screws up my computer. I've done searches on yahoo for various combinations of "3 doors down when im gone audio download mp3 wav" and the only thing I can find is a midi copy of the song, but it's weird. It's like...not the song. It's at http://www.findmidis.com/download.go/1649 , and it plays fine for me, only it doesn't have the words, and its a weird version of the song...its as if it was played with only selected instruments. It's clearly not the professional version (if that's what you'd call it). Where can I find the real version of the song for download? You'd be helping a lot, because I can't start on that MV before I have the song.