JOURNAL: rose4emily

  • The Project Continues 2004-04-06 06:55:22 The "Animasia" project is now well under way, with an FTP server, web page, forum thread, and about a half dozen active participants. Yeah! (Insert image of Kermit the Frog waving arms here).

    On a sadder note, my Anime Club president thought it'd be a great idea to, on the April 1st showing, play about nine different Linkin Park "In the End" videos. Three to DBZ, one that was so badly encoded that you couldn't tell what anime it was, a couple to Final Fantasy game footage, and the last three to video captures of geometric screensavers. Then the other members of the board beat him with those cardboard rolls you find posters wrapped around.

    We were all waiting for the super-awesome video that we thout they'd throw in to make it up to us. It never came. 
  • "Anime Fantasia" Project: 2004-03-29 09:28:29 Somehow I decided to volunteer as the director of a massive AMV project dedicated to creating an AMV parallel to Disney's Fantasia (parallel in structure, not necessarily in musical selections, seems to be the consensus in the forum at this point). As such I am busy trying to clear out enough hard drive space and work out the infrastructure for handling this project and all of the files that will go with it. So far I have a partially-tested FTP server and the beginnings of a webpage that I plan to finish this week and post to my website. I also have a few inspiration pieces on how to make a good instrumental video, and am considering the possibility of contacting the makers of some of these pieces to ask about their inclusion in the project. Haven't decided yet. I might be able to gather enough quality new material to do without pre-existing videos - but, then again, some of them are damn good and a probably get less recognition than they deserve.

    I also just saw "Haibane Renmei", and have to say that it was awesome. Really, really awesome in the sense that the word was originally meant to convey. I was in awe. Seriously, though, the artwork was beautiful (and I checked out some of the doushinju - I think that's the word - scans of Yoshitoshi ABe's original concept artwork, which was even more beautiful), the story was deep and very moving, and somehow the series pulled of a contrast of emotion akin to comparing a Norman Rockwell painting to a story by Steinbeck or Orwell. If you can take the intensity of emotion involved in and degree of thought and patience required by such a story, by all means go watch it.

    And all apologies for the multi-clausal, parenthetically laden sentences with atypical puctuation and overextended uses of parallel structure. Thanks to honors high school engligh I now write in such linguistic oddities as to make my actual thoughts at times almost indecipherable. Oh well. 
  • Taking a Break 2004-03-22 16:17:46 I just finished up a few of amv projects, one involving Princess Tutu and a pair of Queen songs, another (a side-product of the first, really) using the Aztec Two-Step song "The Ballad of Humpty Dumpty and Cinderella" and footage from Tutu, FLCL, and Chobits, and a third consisting of a Cowboy Bebop dramatization of the Dr. Dre and Eminem tune "Guilty Conscience". I think I've made some real progress in learning how to edit, if not in making more impressive videos, so the next batch should be something nice.

    Unfortunately, that next batch might take a while. I have to buckle down on my coursework and a few other matters out here in the real world, and am working on developing my drawing skills and knowledge of animation processes in hopes of generating some decent original artwork sometime soon, so it looks like the AMVs are getting put on hold until I have another big chunk of free time to spend or an idea that's really burning my head in its efforts to get out.

    Anyhow, I will still be checking the site from time to time (that doesn't take long), so feel free to leave me reviews, complements, complaints, advice, requests, questions, or any other variety of messages with the assurance that I'll get back to you within a reasonable span of time. 
  • Learning Curve 2004-03-15 00:52:08 I've just started getting some real feedback on my videos, and am learning quite a few things about how my AMVs have been recieved and AMVs in general. For starters, my scenes are too long, and I sometimes need to do a better job of providing a concrete focus throughout the video, but at least I seem to come off as original. Hopefully time and experience will improve the execution of my ideas and give way to a better second crop of AMVs. 
  • Wow. 2004-03-09 21:16:55 I just went through some of the contest-winning videos on my site, and the only thing I could think to say after a few of them is "wow". Especially the AbsoluteDestiny stuff - I remember seeing "I Wish I Was A Lesbian" a while back, and finding it hilarious, but I had no idea how good this guy really is at this until I saw the "Shameless Rock Video" and its Jefferson-Airplanesque effects battery. Not that I think fx make for a good video, but skillful use of fx within an already good video can produce something that is absolutely awesome. I'm not sure if AbsoluteDestiny is a professional, or just someone with a good eye for art, better equipment, and a lot more free time than I have to work with. Either way, his work is incredible. I did several videos over my spring break, and was all proud of how they came out and stuff - as compared to most of what I had seen prior to this week they were very good, as compared to the "Shameless Rock Video", or the FLCL Wonderboy video by SailorDeath, mine fall more toward "not mediocre, but hardly spectacular". Of course, it probably doesn't help that my first AMV was a 23-minute epic using Pink Floyd's song "Echoes" and footage from Princess Tutu and Cowboy Bebop (there were some parallels that I noticed between some of the scenes in the two, and 23 minutes of straight ballet dance and ballet-style swordfighting would probably wear thin on even those that can sit through a 23 minute long song in the first place. At least all I had to match was the mood and a half dozen lines of lyrics. I could have chosen Arlo Guthrie's "Alices Restauraunt". There's a challenge I'm saving for later. For now I'll stick to mood music and short novelty pieces that are easier to work with. Unless, of course, I change my mind - in which case I reserve the right to contradict myself. Anyhow, so long, farewell, and goodnight.  
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