All of the above are real comments I have gotten about my PMVs. First of all; PEOPLE STOP DEVALUING YOURSELVES. Second of all, it's made me think about this particular niche in the brony community. While there is PMV Today, on the whole it is sorely lacking in any resources or guides. So I decided to make my own, and will be using one of my more intricate videos in order to demonstrate how I personally do things.

The Tools Of The Trade

This is bar none the most irritating part to get through for a beginner. I don't like to elaborate much here, but basically; I find that paid software is really worth it for video editing. I have Sony Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 12, a stripped-down version of Sony Vegas Pro for about $50 (it was my Christmas present for myself). It has some limitations in terms of effects, but is very intuitive to use. There's free trials for it, too.

Ponyship has color corrected 1080p episodes, which gives things a consistent and sharp look to them. I'd recommend finding the highest quality source possible for your audio. Don't you want the best?

Gotta Keep In Mind My Pacing: Planning And Ideas

Phew, got all the annoying software stuff out of the way. Every PMV I make starts with an idea. If I turn down requests, it's not usually because I think it's a bad song or anything. It's because it doesn't quite click with me. I was inspired to make "Applejack's Lights" while watching Todd In The Shadow's top best hit songs list for 2012, hearing the song on there, and going "OMG there's family and the lights are like totally AJ's parents and also the Sonic Rainboom this is like a driving theme through her life man holy cow my headcanon and my favorite pony and my love of star symbolism can all unite".

After the initial idea, I load the song in my video editing program, give it a few good listens, examine the lyrics, and space out the time into sections. I'm always constructing some sort of story in any video I make, and I am UTTERLY RELIANT on planning to do so. Organization is like breathing to me or something. Here's how I mentally sketched out "Applejack's Lights":

Hello I am invisible

Lyrics 1: Parallels between adult and filly AJ; showing her sense of being lost and alone continuing throughout her life. Dark and dreamlike.

 

Chorus 1: Setting up the star symbolism and how much she is gratified by the family she still has. This part shows Applejack's inner child. Very glowy and dreamy again, but lighter. The shooting stars make their first appearance.

 

Lyrics 2: More about being lost and alone. Also shows AJ as sort of dependent, leading up to the next part. Dark and dreamlike.

 

Chorus 2: Moving forward to grown-up Applejack and what she's done to make her parents proud. Focuses on Applejack's independence, drive, and physical prowess; everything that she takes pride in. Nearer to the end, it starts to show some of the flaws in Applejack's way of thinking... Different style from the rest; black and white gives it a cinematic sort of air. Unlike the other choruses, no stars.

 

Lights 1: Showcases the dark side of Applejack. It repeats the refrain of "Lights" while showing moments where Applejack has lost sight of what's important. Halfway through, it returns to filly Applejack, which was something the previous two sections had a conspicuous lack of. Dark and dreamlike.

 

Chorus 3: Resolves both filly and adult Applejack's storylines. Filly Applejack is shown back home by the Sonic Rainboom, and adult Applejack remembers what she truly values and who she wants to be. The shooting stars return. Vivid and colorful, as is the following section.

 

Lights 2: Basically functions as the opposite of the first "Lights" section, featuring moments where Applejack has gotten back on track.

Something Perfect To Inspire: Scene Selection

Apparently this is something I'm good at. Part of it might just be how my memory works, but there's a method to it! It is true that the more PMVs one makes, the easier it is to figure out what scenes there are to use and the better one's memory of the episodes becomes. Still, I have some tricks and tips:

• Use scenes OTHER than the famous ones from episodes about the character you are making a video of. Party Of One is a goldmine for this.
  
• Similarly, look for scenes with that character in it that are NOT from an episode about them. Suited For Success works very nicely.
  
• What emotion are you trying to convey? Remember scenes where the character expressed that one.
  
• I like to create mini sub-sections of clips in order to get my point across. Try to tell a story of sorts with your scene selection! This was basically the only possible way to not endlessly repeat scenes when I made a PMV of Bohemian Rhapsody.
  
• In a more artistic sense, try to create a feeling of momentum. The best way to learn this one is to either do an instrumental song or a montage-like section. Without fancy lipsyncing, you'll need to make the scene selection itself move the video forward. "Lights 1" of "Applejack's Lights" is an example of a section powered almost entirely by camera and character motion.
  
• When using a clip, go frame by frame to determine the exact start and end times of a movement. You might cut it short later, but it's best to have all the footage possible at the start.
  

A Stitch In Time Saves Nine: Lip Syncing

The tips about scene selection should help in getting a broader range of clips to lip sync, but the single most useful advice for lip syncing that I have found comes from a video about animation:

Obviously, we aren't working in Flash here, but the information about mouth shapes is just as useful for us as it is for animating. Knowing what each sound looks like is immeasurably useful for determining whether something will sync or not at a glance. It's not exact, but it makes things much faster.

Guess how many times a clip has just lip synced the first time I put it in? NEAR ZERO. A lot of people use speeding up and slowing down in order to make clips fit the time, but I rarely try that first, and I rarely do so to a noticeable degree. Unless you are deliberately attempting to do something, the viewer should have no idea that you tampered with the video. Which is good, because otherwise all my PMVs would appear to be horribly spliced monstrosities. A normal bit of lip syncing from 1:32 to 1:35 in this PMV:

If you think this is bad, you should see the work file for "What Is This Feeling"

Learn to utilize the art of cutting. If a character's mouth is moving when you don't want it to, use duct tape cut out the frames where their mouth is open. If a character's mouth is shut when you don't want it to be, use WD-40 cut out the frames where their mouth is closed. If there's no major body or background movements in between, it'll look seamless. You can see that near the end of the picture above.

If there are, I have a few tricks up my sleeve. One is to separate out the movement section and speed it up so that doesn't mess up the lip sync and take up space. Another is to cut even further ahead for a part that lip syncs while doing a similar motion. If a character turns their head, you could cut to a place where they are ending a head turning motion. I used this twice, I believe, in the above image in order to cover all the movements that I wanted.

Blend Color And Form: Transitions and Effects

First, transitions. I love the things; they are perfect for softening scene changes or adding some interest to an otherwise boring part. Even simple dissolves can work wonders. When they show up, try to take advantage of transitions already in the show (like the one at 2:39 in the video), but don't be afraid to mix things up too! Some of the "transitions" in this video are actually timed effects in disguise (like the one between 0:53 and 0:55).

And some effects are just bloopers

Which is an excellent way to move into effects. Even if this wasn't the best video to demonstrate lip sync, it is a great one to demonstrate effects, since I used them so extensively. I don't have a program with particularly powerful effects tools, so I improvise. Lots of times effects happen by accident.

The whole look of the shooting stars thing? That was because I couldn't mask the characters in color with my program.

The middle section? I realized that you could use glows to trick the luminance based masking system to not display stuff like clouds and other fainter details.

The running on a blank background? Well, actually... greenscreens that I found on Youtube. Yay?

Dear Princess Celestia: The Most Important Thing

...Is to have fun. Well, after that, the second most important thing is to make sure that everything is serviced to make the video as enjoyable to watch as possible.

Oh, and a third thing. Wow, I'm bad at brevity. The third thing is to make sure to get your name out there. Submit to EQD, PMV Today, and post it here while you're at it. And if at first you don't succeed keep making videos and keep on trucking. You'll make it eventually.

So, any questions? Post them in the comments!