vikkyvix 2.0: the lore video

i've edited a couple shorts for vikky before pgdn prod. became a real thing. seeing as she was my first client, i couldn't resist accepting her offer of editing her vtuber's 2.0 lore video; a project her other editor (bashartv) couldn't finish in time due to time constraints.

but i also saw this project as a challenge, probably my only "ulterior motive" when i accepted her request; i wanted to learn more about davinci resolve since up until that point, i had never done a major production with the software; i'd done a few shorts for my youtube channel (@gabnonymous), but nothing too serious compared to the videos i made with premiere pro; a software i consider to have a toxic no-contact relationship with... don't ask why i view using editing softwares as me having relationships, you wouldn't get it.

yes, i still edit on an asus tuf gaming a15 laptop. at least, as of writing this.

it's served me well these past 5 years and i still consider it an extention of myself... like j dilla and his mpc3000. but even then, editing this video was, oddly enough, a challenge for good ol' joshua.

vikky wanted to give me near complete creative control over the video, since she trusted my intuition. but also because she didn't want the lore video to be anything "too fancy". we were going for a "picture-book" styled video, animated with tweens, plus the additional sfx, bgm, etc.

and so, she would send me each scene separately, in different folders, exporting each body part, layer, and effect in order for me to control, edit and animate each part to how i see fit.

not a big deal on paper, but the sight of having 11+ layers on a single davinci resolve project was quite the experience.

editing the project itself wasn't too hard. most of the effort went into trying to optimize the entire project file itself as much as possible.

not really the best idea to run 11+ different 1920x1080 images at once, at 60fps. joshua's performance tanked so much, playing a single minute of the video would've taken ... 2 minutes. it was pretty bad.

separating each scene into their own compound clips and enabling smart render cache helped a ton. i'm grateful to have figured that out when things got really choppy.

fun fact: "scene 6 (the scene with the slug exploring the seafloor)" contained the most compound clips and by extension, is the most complex scene in the entire video.

probably wasn't a good idea to start a multimedia production house while studying animation in college.

i knew going into this project that things would get rocky around mid to late august. since my finals week landed around that time. but i didn't expect things to be... really bad.

i won't get into specifics, but let's just say i had to cram for a whole week straight with no breaks, whilst battling wrist pains and a mild case of "stress-induced coughs", all the while the country faced two whole weeks of constant rain.

i was put to the test, creatively, physically, mentally and emotionally, and by god, i survived.

not only did i pass all my subjects and finished all my overdues in time, but i managed to finish the lore video on the deadline.

i don't usually pride myself too much, but... come on, give me just this one time.

though, with how difficult things were like for me for a good two/three weeks, i had to sacrifice a few things. quality wasn't one of them.

i wanted to add animated subtitles for the video, a sort of "trademark" to my editing style when it came to the clips i would edit for vikky. however, it wasn't feasbily possible since it would take a lot more time to do, taking into account the still prominent hardware issues i was already facing, and "more time" wasn't an option for me by any metric. so, no subtitles... sad face.

another thing i wasn't able to do was add more sfx.

i'm a very sound-oriented editor, i prioritize the video's sound before anything else since it's easier for me to "time" things audibly than visually. a byproduct of my anime skit days. i got to do some light sfx for the video, but i had bigger plans.

it's not all bad though, if anything, i think the video suceeds in not having too many sound effects. it adds to the "picture-book" style we were going for. so, i'm not too dissapointed in that regard.

fun fact: a portion of "slight distress" (a song from the Genshin Impact ost) was extended in fl studio to fit the "timing" i was looking for. i tried extending it directly in davinci resolve, but it ended up sounding terrible.

to end this off on a positive note, i do wanna talk about... well, the person responsible for this whole operation. and by technicality, the first patron of pgdn prod.

i often consider vikky my first, and probably oldest online friend... not by age by the way- god no

beyond the lore video, and beyond how we present ourselves to the public, vikky has been a good friend to me through and through.

i'm ashamed to admit that there were times where i acted out of line throughout the production of the lore video. vikky had every right to give me the boot and settle for another editor.

and yet, she didn't. to that i'm forever grateful.

i'm grateful to have had vikky as my first client under pgdn prod.

i'm grateful i was able to contribute to a project vikky had been working on for a year

i'm grateful i was able to help out a friend.

thanks vik.

-gabnonymous 8/24/2026