Eidolon

[JudgeHolden]

Bukakke!

[Sayco]

Gets my attention! Piece of rly good AMV.
for concept! for edition and technical aspects

[Niwa]

Neat stuff Mitch It was short indeed, but I was pleased of the final results.

[Reigna]

I sign onto the .org for the first time in ages, and you've finally released Eidolon. Man it's like I never left. Anyways, super impressed with the amount of work you put into this thing, and the fact that you actually finished it, even what like, 4 years later? I'm sure it feels good to have this under your belt now. This is an awesome piece, and I hope your proud with the end result. The composition of the entire video is just exceptional. The credits are super cool too, I remember when you showed me how you made them in Chicago. XD All in all, awesome work, pal.

[Mamo!]

Thought I already posted in this thread, mb
Excellent, excellent work

[Chained(E)Studio]

I watched this lat week, and now I have come back to watch again!

I really enjoyed this, I felt as though I was watching a really weird/creepy trailor for a horror anime of some sorts. I am left with many questions, like did she die? And what is this guy with the cloak?

I think you edited this beautifully, and I really felt washed away into this I actually was so lost with paying attention to understand I didn't notice that they were 2 different animes.

Really looking forward to what else you might cook up! And if by chance you'll try remaking an anime movie =P

[Niotex]

I generally don't reply more then once per page. So my apologies to the people waiting for a reply all this time.

Intense
Awesome credits

Stylish Making-of

Those are things I like to hear.

Great

Thanks =]

I have not read through this thread, so forgive me if I repeat what has already been said, Mitch.

This is an amazing video. I've become jaded with all the effects-y videos that, while they obviously take a lot of effort, kind of fade into the background of, well, effects-y videos. So many of those videos go out of their way to make the effects and effort obvious. It's kinda like the editor is screaming, "Hey, I spent hours in After Effects to do all this! Check this out!" Which is fine, and many of those videos are truly awesome. But this is something completely different.

It's getting harder and harder to do conceptually new things with AMVs. This video - the idea that you should spend hours and hours in AE to HIDE the effects - is something relatively novel. While compositing and mixing animes is hardly new, this level of effort is nearly unheard-of. I love it - this is one step short of doing your own, original animation. And what's truly impressive is that a viewer who doesn't know the history of this video, and who doesn't watch the making-of video, may not see the big deal.

In many ways that's probably the biggest compliment you as the editor will receive. I personally hope this is the general direction AMV editors will start moving. I know it's not to your complete satisfaction, but what I love about this more than anything is how you as the editor tried to make something almost completely from scratch. You used characters and settings from existing scenes, but you twisted and warped them into something utterly your own - that is awesome. In many ways this DOES feel like original animation - Lord knows you spent enough time on it for it to be.

You went above and beyond in every imaginable way, and I can barely tell. In my book that deserves a huge

That is an immense compliment to hear. I completely agree with your statement that most are people screaming they know how to do stuff in their videos. It's one of the things I've always tried to stay clear from. And I'm glad I've at least been able to do so.

I personally wouldn't regard it as anywhere near original animation. I'm merely remixing existing content into a new context after all. But a lot of the compositing techniques are similar to what one would use if they were in fact doing a OA piece. So maybe that'll be the next step going forward.

Glad you enjoyed it.

i love this video, it gives shivers to the viewer **

The fact that it gave someone shivers makes me somewhat proud.
I'm glad you enjoyed it.

I know nuts about the history behind this video. I've just been out of the usual circles in the past couple of years to have known about it.

Anyway, I can't say I got anything out of it. Maybe I'm just your typical engineer that takes in what he sees in front of him and can't interpret anymore than what's on screen; just cold, hard bits and pieces that as they came together, felt like using a super computer to play solitaire. But when it comes to AMVs, I'm always looking for pure visceral enjoyment and if doesn't have that, it's not something I'll ever consider great.

Yes, I hear plenty of praise for the effort involved and I can understand that from your explanations and flowcharts but hey, as much as you made this for yourself and for your own expectations, I'm also entitled to say that this video didn't reach me where all the hype was leading to.

I'm aware that the video will likely not resonate with people. And I believe that it's been vastly over hyped at this point. If you didn't enjoy it then it can't be helped, you are entitled to take is as you wish after all. The solitaire on a super computer reference amused me though

I came.

This must of been a bitch to make.

You might want to clean that up.
And yes it was a little bitchy at times.

Well, buddy. Here it is.

Before I get into anything, I do want to say congrats on finally finishing* this. It is something to be proud of, that's for sure. Ultimately, you've taken your medium and used it to craft something above that. I wouldn't feel like this falls under the traditional definition of an AMV. There's Anime, and there's Music, but it stands out on its own from the crowd. It's not anything lesser, not by any means. It's just very different.

I think, for me, this project succumbs to what plagues many projects with such a long development time. Take Duke Nukem Forever, for example. Perhaps an overused example when referring to Eidolon in the past, but I think it's apt. DNF is finally coming out, and it's everything people wanted. But on the same token, people have been waiting so long for it, there's just no way it can be as huge as people expect it to be. Again, it's not at all like it's bad, but there's a certain level of anticipation that just can't be matched. On top of that, you're left with elements that you might have been really satisfied with when the project began (what, 3 years ago?) but are you happy with them now? Is there anything that, given the motivation and time, you would have gone back and tried to tweak even more?

But regardless, this is a beast of a project. You've delivered an astounding compositional piece, not only technically, but in a narrative form as well. You know the little gripes I have with some of your effects, but that hasn't changed over the years

I know you're against using this video as a reel piece, but I think taking the breakdown, tweaking it a little to show a more fluid reveal of the backstage process would give you a really solid item for a reel. Particularly if you're looking for compositing/effects work, seeing into the process is a HUGE appeal to employers. Just a thought.

Anyway, congrats again on getting this thing done. Relieved to finally have people off your back about it?

*Creative black spaces, man. I know you could have tightened those up.

DNF and Eidolon being released in the same year is merely coincidental I was aware that it wouldn't be able to match the anticipation. Truth be told it was one of the reasons why I held off from releasing it in 2010. At some point I even considered just shoving it under the rug and let it fade away.

If I had the motivation I would definitely go back and revamp almost the entire video. A lot of the compositions and parts of the final pipeline are vastly outdated at this point. So redoing those from scratch with the knowledge I have now was extremely tempting. Just like 3D Realms with DNF I'd just be stuck trying to add and rework things until I bust. But there just is a point where you have to push it out of the door. As silly as it might sound, despite the video just sitting there it was a weight around my neck. Now I can look forward to starting another hopefully less stupid project.

I know exactly what gripes you're talking about. I'll go out on a limb here and say that those were in the planning at the time when I did a version for AX last year. But I ran out of time and forgot afterward.

I might use the breakdown in a portfolio for schools. But I refuse to even mention it to a possible employer. Maybe in a few years I'll be like "This is what I did as a kid". But nothing more ;]

Glad you enjoyed it though.

Bukakke!

Gets my attention! Piece of rly good AMV.
for concept! for edition and technical aspects

Always great to hear that

Neat stuff Mitch It was short indeed, but I was pleased of the final results.

Glad you enjoyed it.

I sign onto the .org for the first time in ages, and you've finally released Eidolon. Man it's like I never left. Anyways, super impressed with the amount of work you put into this thing, and the fact that you actually finished it, even what like, 4 years later? I'm sure it feels good to have this under your belt now. This is an awesome piece, and I hope your proud with the end result. The composition of the entire video is just exceptional. The credits are super cool too, I remember when you showed me how you made them in Chicago. XD All in all, awesome work, pal.

What are you talking about, you never left to begin with. It's been about 4 years indeed at this point. The early draft of the credits indeed dates back to the that Acen. I think everyone in the apartment was subjected to my ramblings and concepts at the time Glad you enjoyed it, ntsc

Thought I already posted in this thread, mb
Excellent, excellent work

Glad you enjoyed it x]

I watched this lat week, and now I have come back to watch again!

I really enjoyed this, I felt as though I was watching a really weird/creepy trailor for a horror anime of some sorts. I am left with many questions, like did she die? And what is this guy with the cloak?

I think you edited this beautifully, and I really felt washed away into this I actually was so lost with paying attention to understand I didn't notice that they were 2 different animes.

Really looking forward to what else you might cook up! And if by chance you'll try remaking an anime movie =P

Those questions mean I succeeded with the open ended formula. I'm glad you enjoyed it and happy to see people being interested in potential future works. As for a movie.. A long time ago there was an idea of doing at least an episode. But that got discarded pretty quickly so please don't expect anything like that.

[big boss93]

Well done! I like it, and moreover, i like the compositing

[SeNniN]

This had a really nice atmosphere to it, and the whole concept was executed flawlessly.
I really like this, awesome stuff.

[Shui]

Very nice, the fx really are transparent. You've mashed something together that's an original piece of artwork rather than some anime+fx.
Liked the whole you-gonna-get-raped theme too. I didn't notice all the things you've changed until I watched the breakdown.