[RELEASE] Ascension

[gynephilos]

This is great first CH video! Thanks for making it. Source material, editing and beatmeter all very nice.

My only idea for refinement is that there could have been more progression in terms of content. Some could even call that ascension .

[technodrifter]

This is great first CH video! Thanks for making it. Source material, editing and beatmeter all very nice.

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it!

My only idea for refinement is that there could have been more progression in terms of content. Some could even call that ascension .

Uh-huh, I see what you did there!

In the traditional sense, yes, the progression is a sequence of small ramps connected along a flat baseline - certainly, a bit anti-climatic or unsatisfying as you mention. Which begs the question: why would you ever do that, especially on purpose?

One, given that pacing is both an art and a science, I wanted to avoid these considerations until I improved my basic video editing skills. Get the fundamentals down first.

And second, in this case, I decided the (fixed) theme was incompatible with and yet more important than a traditional progression (i.e. that being some sort of linear or wavy movement up the figurative y-axis of intensity). However, the theme allows for and encourages a different progression.

And to level set, the theme is...

Spoiler: show

...a ranked top 10 list of my favorite Playboy models / videos. In which case, the main progression is the same as any ranked list - who/what is next? And a traditional progression, in my assessment, would sacrifice this all important question.

This can be somewhat flawed (or disappointing) progression, given there is a high likelihood that my list will not match yours exactly. But it's still fun uncovering the list, even it's ultimately different than yours.

That said, I think it's a perfect list. Matches my taste exactly!

Which is a long winded way of saying, thank you for the constructive feedback, and I agree!

[technodrifter]

Welcome to Milovana! (.. maybe? )
And congratulations on your first project.

Thank you! Semi-long term lurker; first time poster and creator!

I skimmed through it, out of curiosity, and I must say that I enjoyed your sense of detail and aesthetic.
The Playboy aesthetic, a little vintage but classy, ​​goes pretty well with the design choices you made I think, your fonts, colors choices, etc... it's appreciable.
Your editing seems controlled, it's clean, you graphic/motion design is neat.
It makes your production pleasant to watch.

If, as you say, it's a way for you to learn to edit, you seem to be doing pretty well. Well done!

Yes, thank you! I'm glad folks are enjoying the classic or vintage elements. I figured it would be way too much to try and push the envelope in any direction. Better to just emulate the classics!

I would be curious to know how you're doing your editing, if you're using DaVinci Resolve or something else.
Your beatmeter was also customed (right?).
Did you use beatmeter generator and changed the .svg or used something else?

Yes, DaVinci Resolve with a custom beatmeter, created in fusion using particles. I've not used beatmeter generator, but it produces some great results from what I've seen. I also used Logic Pro (probably overkill) for the beat tracks and for the underlying bpm-click track for visually aligning the video cuts and beatmeter hits.

I heard some Drum and Bass tracks, I can enjoy some DnB too
although I admit I don't know if I would have tried to put a beatmeter on some 174bpm (87),
I thought it would be way too fast to be playable but it seems like you managed to do it.(?)
I may have missed some instructions at some point, like I said, I skimmed through it for now, so I haven't watched everything yet, maybe it's supposed to be played at half speed or something, I don't know.
I'm mainly thinking about beats like at 18:21 for example, that seems really fast, (I haven't checked in detail yet, nor I tried to play, so it's just an observation and not a criticism ).

Admittedly, I'm a bit new to the dance music scene. As in, I'd never heard of "drum and bass" until recently. But yeah, it can always be used in half-time...right?? Regardless, it's a fun sub-genre to listen to!

I also see an interesting use of AI to bring your creativity to life and try to tell your story and immerse viewers in your world.
Did you do the sound design yourself in these sequences or was it done by the AI too?
You obviously don't have to reveal all your secrets, no worry.

Thanks, I was curious about AI video / image generation, and this project gave me a fun reason to start playing around with it. These are all from Nano Banana 2 (images) and Veo 3 (video) and ElevenLabs (spoken dialogue). I tried a few others as well, but the results weren't as good imho. Veo creates sounds with the video either automatically or based on your prompt. There are a few sound effects in various spots that I just added manually.

Overall, your video seems to be well produced/edited, with particular attention to details, a care for the design,
a theme that seems to remain coherent, it’s appreciable.

Congrats for this video and thanks for your work and your efforts.

Thanks! Full disclosure, I used your videos as a reference (and only as a reference! ) throughout the process, so thank you for your work and your efforts as well!

[todiefor]

Really enjoyed this. I created a funscript for it; please let me know what you think! https://gofile.io/d/dwaxqy

[thatsprettyhot]

Greatness

[NeverSay]

Really enjoyed this. I created a funscript for it; please let me know what you think! https://gofile.io/d/dwaxqy

Where did it go?

[MatzeM]

Hello,

I do NOT own this file, if the creator wants me to delete inform me via DM.

Funscript attached.

BR
M

[markus]

I do NOT own this file, if the creator wants me to delete inform me via DM.

I don't know the source or the author, this is meant 100% generally and just a hint/comment.
But I really think it would be a matter of fair use/respect to the author to not grab a funscript/any content and re-host it somewhere (at least without asking the author), instead just post the link to the place/forum/page where the author published it, ... you cannot expect the author reading here or all the places his/her work could be taken to.

Greetz,
Markus

[Tia Blaze]

I wanted to wait until I’d played Ascension before posting again, and I finally got the chance to try it out
(thanks to round 3 of faboosh's H2H league).

Once again—just as with my first post—I have to congratulate you on your clean editing, your attention to detail, and the care put into the overall editing and design choices, all this extra work doesn't go unnoticed, it makes your entire edit more pleasant to watch and gives it some personality.
Just this intro screen with a rating system is kinda cool in it's own way.
Your use of AI to support your concept without overshadowing it or using it too much, it's not too bad.

I see some interesting effects, transitions and cuts, you also played with the colors sometimes, it's pretty well done overall. You don't use effects too much and just for the sake of it—they serve a purpose and enhance your edit, matching the music energy and flow. (I found some blur effects a bit odd sometimes but it's just a tiny detail.)

I also find the motion desgin you did or used interesting from 19:43 to 22:10, did you do it yourself or you found some presets? You don't have to reveal all your tricks of course
Too bad there were no instructions during that part, or maybe I missed something(?)
The break is rather long, but that's just my opinion, not a criticism.

DaVinci Resolve with a custom beatmeter, created in fusion using particles.

I would be curious to know how you did this beatmeter in fusion with particles but my pc is already giving me side-eyes just talking about fusion. I made Resolve crash so many times when using fusion.
Besides, nobody here cares to read about this, so we would talk about this in private message or in another topic.
Anyway, well done with this beatmeter.

I also used Logic Pro (probably overkill) for the beat tracks and for the underlying bpm-click track for visually aligning the video cuts and beatmeter hits.

It might be "overkill" but I won't blame you, I used Ableton Live for the beats in my previous projects.

I'd never heard of "drum and bass" until recently. But yeah, it can always be used in half-time...right??

Drum and bass is mostly at 174bpm, which I thought would be too fast for playable (enjoyable) beats, setting them half time would be 87bpm which I thought would be quite slow...
Your beats can sometimes be a bit fast but yeah you did really well, no worry.

Veo creates sounds with the video either automatically or based on your prompt. There are a few sound effects in various spots that I just added manually.

A good sound design can bring so much value to a production.
Sound quality is most of the time even more important than the video quality.
Good to know you did some sound design by yourself too.

And nice touch with the credits at the end.


Overall I enjoyed it and had a good time, so thank you for this production, congrats for your great work.

Full disclosure, I used your videos as a reference (and only as a reference! ) throughout the process, so thank you for your work and your efforts as well!

Good to know we can inspire and support each other, thank you for this very nice compliment.

I used your videos as a reference (and only as a reference! )

Mhm, sure..

[technodrifter]

I wanted to wait until I’d played Ascension before posting again, and I finally got the chance to try it out
(thanks to round 3 of faboosh's H2H league).

Oh wow, super cool that Ascension is a round in the H2H league!

Once again—just as with my first post—I have to congratulate you on your clean editing, your attention to detail, and the care put into the overall editing and design choices, all this extra work doesn't go unnoticed, it makes your entire edit more pleasant to watch and gives it some personality.

Thanks! As you well know, you end up making soooo many tiny decisions that build upon themselves...and you just hope the end result is coherent! Makes me appreciate creators / film editors, etc. that much more...

I also find the motion design you did or used interesting from 19:43 to 22:10, did you do it yourself or you found some presets? You don't have to reveal all your tricks of course
Too bad there were no instructions during that part, or maybe I missed something(?)
The break is rather long, but that's just my opinion, not a criticism.

Sure, I'm glad you found that part interesting!

I used the Video Collage effect with the Create Tile workflow, along with a ton of animation key frames on the Layout / Tile values. (For example, animating the number of columns from 15 to 1 then back to 15.) So, lots of clicking...

...and it is quite long! I probably should have cut the list down to ten, but it was too hard!

I would be curious to know how you did this beatmeter in fusion with particles but my pc is already giving me side-eyes just talking about fusion. I made Resolve crash so many times when using fusion.
Besides, nobody here cares to read about this, so we would talk about this in private message or in another topic.
Anyway, well done with this beatmeter.

Thanks, this was the "proof of concept / is this possible" iteration. As such, its quite manual and difficult to even share across projects or with other people. I might attempt to make a custom control if / when I start another project.

Drum and bass is mostly at 174bpm, which I thought would be too fast for playable (enjoyable) beats, setting them half time would be 87bpm which I thought would be quite slow...
Your beats can sometimes be a bit fast but yeah you did really well, no worry.

Ah, I see what you are saying. That makes sense!

Overall I enjoyed it and had a good time, so thank you for this production, congrats for your great work.

Thank you for the kind words and support! Not required but always nice to have one's efforts recognized and appreciated!