Love, Death & Filters

[ProstrateConstantly]

Finally got to revive the old channel after finally feeling inspired again after leaving the house for the first time in 2 years on a very invigorating Europe trip (seeing some great art in person, notably Van Gogh's Marguerite Gachet in the Garden and Francesco Hayez' Susanna at her Bath, was definitely the biggest boost in this area).

恋しい came about after I thought about how much Mary Margaret O'Hara deserves some sort of AMV, which funnily enough came to my mind after seeing an excellent Weird Al concert. This vid served as a convenient culmination of the convolution kernel filters (DESERTSHORE remaster, The Self-Immolation of a Beavis and Butthead Motherfucker), I-frame deletion datamoshing (BIRDS), and more direct narrative structuring (Easy, Spirit of Eden) Id been developing thru AbrogateNeed. I was very excited when I realized this video could use The Wind Rises, which has been a huge fav of mine for years (and breakin it down for this video made me secure in the opinion that its at least tied with Eva 3.0+1.0 and Midori as my top anime film). This was spurred on by Tigrin's masterful In Another Life AMV which I grew a strong emotional attachment to while helping with this year's Animethon AMV contest (which is a kinda funny anecdote considering that the hundreds of feature films Ive seen in the past few years havent really driven me to sobbing, but summin like that happened to me when seeing that vid for the fifth time when the Animethon contest winners were presented). I had always been wary of using Ghibli and especially Miyazaki films in a vid since I saw their overwhelmingly specific and expressive aesthetics as difficult to abstract and recontextualize, but Tigrin's work in that video (particularly the filter work early on) gave me faith that such a thing was possible. I found that through applying the convolution kernel filter & datamoshing effects it served as sufficient diversion from the original work to hopefully communicate some new piece of language that allows a suggestion of symbiosis between O'Hara and Miyazaki's sensitive and brilliant sensibilities. I view the resulting video as exploring death, with love as a subsequent function. [Also interesting coincidence that the day I finished this video by pure chance happened to be Mary Margaret O'Hara's birthday, which was totally unbeknownst to me, which similarly happened with the day I completed Pirouette being Neil Young's birthday]




Encoder was a video I started a couple years ago after being floored by Video Girl Ai (unquestionably one of the great anime series imo) and Heaven Knows What (which brilliantly uses Tomita's music) in a short period of time. I got the first 30 seconds done and felt overwhelmed by the different possibilities I saw for the vid so I shelved it for the time being. After feeling reenergized recently with the completion of 恋しい I saw this project file again and felt compelled to return to it. I did the ending sequence next which cemented that this video was worth pursuing, and then worked my way thru bridging the space between the opening and closing sequences. I think, especially in contrast to 恋しい, this video acts as a return to the less tangible "emotional logic" that my older AMVs tended to operate on (most strongly exemplified in vids like Sad Song and Tears of Rage), which is combined with my current fixation on filter effects (particularly bringing back the light rays I really enjoyed using in LIGHTWORKS) and more specific sense for sync & flow to unique effect. I view the resultant video as exploring love, with death as a subsequent function. [Working Title: I W0ULD LIVE 4 U]




Inspirational verse:
"Five-O caught me now I'm going to the mountains
Said good-bye to my girl, my lawyers and accountants
My mind is kinda rhymin' and I think I oughta think
So I'm rockin' all the rhymes and I'll have another drink
So the lights are flashing, my mind is spinning
I feel like it is always the beginning
Of another rhyme I'm rapping, MC-ing I rock
You ain't nothing but a car thief who must be stopped" ~ Beastie Boys, "Car Thief"

[SynaesthesiaVideos]

I found that through applying the convolution kernel filter & datamoshing effects it served as sufficient diversion from the original work to hopefully communicate some new piece of language that allows a suggestion of symbiosis between O'Hara and Miyazaki's sensitive and brilliant sensibilities

I felt you were successful in that intention. Watching it really felt like traveling through the dying memories of someone who misses their loved one.

I think, especially in contrast to 恋しい, this video acts as a return to the less tangible "emotional logic" that my older AMVs tended to operate on (most strongly exemplified in vids like Sad Song and Tears of Rage), which is combined with my current fixation on filter effects (particularly bringing back the light rays I really enjoyed using in LIGHTWORKS) and more specific sense for sync & flow to unique effect

Your use of effects were very effective enhancing the "emotional logic".. very dreamlike, and combined with the electronic reimagining of a classic song like Claire de lune really makes me feel like I've fallen into a deep sleep where I dreamt of a future that never was.

I'm a big fan of your work, and I'm glad to see you posting videos again!

[ProstrateConstantly]

I felt you were successful in that intention. Watching it really felt like traveling through the dying memories of someone who misses their loved one.

Your use of effects were very effective enhancing the "emotional logic".. very dreamlike, and combined with the electronic reimagining of a classic song like Claire de lune really makes me feel like I've fallen into a deep sleep where I dreamt of a future that never was.

I'm a big fan of your work, and I'm glad to see you posting videos again!

Thank you so much for checking out the vids and for the very kind feedback Synaesthesia! I greatly appreciate you describing the feelings the videos each brought to you, that whole notion of like transient, deteriorating memories I feel is really core to how 恋しい operates, and that notion of a dreamlike fantastical yearning describes Encoder to a T. So glad to be receiving such astute observations from such a talented and sensitive editor as yourself!