Love is Colder Than Death (Wicked City)

[The Chojin II]

Video: Love is Colder than Death
Category: Horror, Romance, Sentimental, Serious,
Anime: Wicked City
Song: Love is Colder than Death
Artist: Poesie Noire
Creator: The Chojin (II)
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ls-G1LrLbx0

Description: Story Video with a gothic romantic twist on the 80s classic "Wicked City." A little violence and sex, hopefully in good taste and a bit different from the usual AMVs I've seen done for this movie. Enjoy.

[pan_dbgt01]

It's cool that you edit with older anime. I like to as well.

I left you a YT comment.

[The Chojin II]

I'll have to check your videos out. And thanks, I apperciate the YT comment.

[CodeZTM]

My post today for the "Let's Get Active" campaign in General AMV! Grading Scale under spoiler.

Spoiler :

0 = Nonexistant
1-4 = Below Average. Lacking in key components that would make it an average quality.
5 = Average
6-9 = Above Average. Slightly above average, but lacking qualities that would make it something perfect.
10 = Perfect

Concept/Originality: Conceptually, I really liked this AMV. It's not a typical romance video by any means, and it utilizes an anime from an age past that not many would usually consider. It steps outside of the box in terms of concept of romance/horror, so I liked the uniqueness of it. I felt like the story was told well, but (as I'll mention in more detail in editing/sync) the entertainment in the storytelling is lacking in some regard. Still, in terms of concept/originality, it's definite above average in its mark. 7/10

Editing/Sync: As I alluded to in concept/originality, the storytelling of the AMV wasn't as entertaining as it could have been. More specifically, I mean the entire video was really slow, both in scene selection duration and overall storytelling. The time before anything interesting really happened was an entire minute and forty seconds. In that minute and forty seconds, we see a couple in a bar, then driving and then going up an elevator. I realize that there needs to be buildup in an AMV's story to make the rest more interesting, but I felt like the buildup was a bit too long. During this long buildup (and during a majority of the AMV), there wasn't actually much sync involved either. As pan mentioned, it was just a very raw AMV. The time when the scenes would cut to another scene seemed randomized and not really cued on anything other than "well, this is where I'm going to cut at!". Utilizing some sort of beat sync would have helped out a lot. Like cutting to a new scene every 3-4 beats or something. Moving onward, there was something I really confused about. Why after her transformation into a spider thing did she run away from the man? I didn't understand why there wasn't any devouring. I mean, there wasn't anything stopping her! I think this is a plot hole that should have been filled up for audiences unfamiliar with the anime. I was equally confused with how quickly the man got back on the horse and picked up another woman. The scene selection should have made some sort of visual clue about this, or given us some sort of character motivation. Furthermore, the ending left me a tad confused (especially after reading the plot synopsis of the anime). Was it all a dream? It didn't make much sense seeing him surviving the attack and in bed with a completely different woman than when he started with.

All of that being said, you captured the mood of the song to a T. These two sources felt like they belonged together, and even though I criticized the story elements fairly hard (I write a lot when I see a lot of potential in people), you still managed to really convey an interesting story. I did a search on the plot of Wicked City, and the AMV actually strays pretty hard from the anime, so kudos on making something interesting out of this and manipulating the scenes so well as to make a completely different/original. I also want to compliment you on the sex scenes (an odd thing to compliment on, I know...). I felt like the sex was a necessary addition to this kind of AMV, but it wasn't crude or blatantly in our faces. It was tactful, and almost artistic.

In short, storytelling/scene selection/editing could have used some more polishing, but there were a lot of things done right in the video too.5.5/10

Visuals/Audio: This is on youtube, so I have a difficult time discerning quality, but for youtube, it was fairly well encoded, especially for an older source. 7/10

Re-View: I downloaded the AMV from YouTube and added it to my romance category collection. I LOVE original romance videos (romance videos are my "thing" I guess...), and this definitely fits a niche in AMVs that I love watching. 7/10

Overall: Editing/sync need polish the most. Your storytelling, while in need of some work, was still interesting enough to keep me watching the video. Not completely original, but definitely something I haven't experienced frequently. On-par quality for YouTube. Overall, it was (in my opinion) a slightly above average experience, that with more polish could be something very interesting and unique. 6/10

[The Chojin II]

The time before anything interesting really happened was an entire minute and forty seconds. In that minute and forty seconds, we see a couple in a bar, then driving and then going up an elevator. I realize that there needs to be buildup in an AMV's story to make the rest more interesting, but I felt like the buildup was a bit too long.

I can respect that, I'm a sucker for ambience and long builds personally. The song itself features a long moody build before the first lyrical passage and the video I suppose ends up reflecting that as a result.

During this long buildup (and during a majority of the AMV), there wasn't actually much sync involved either. As pan mentioned, it was just a very raw AMV. The time when the scenes would cut to another scene seemed randomized and not really cued on anything other than "well, this is where I'm going to cut at!". Utilizing some sort of beat sync would have helped out a lot. Like cutting to a new scene every 3-4 beats

I must disagree here. The song is divided into 4 beat measures and in general I cut at the start of each new measure. So there is an fact an even cut after every 4th beat during the build up with a few exceptions to emphasize a transition in the song or the story (ex. 00:27, 1:04 both linger 3 full measures before a critical transition to the drums and vocals respectfully) but I never went out of time with the music, I certainly never made a random cut. I want to make that clear. I will admit the song has some awkward patterns, subtle tempo changes, and switch ups that maybe hard to follow at points, I hope this would explain why the editing came off so chaotic when I feel it was more structured and in synch than what you described. I hope if you revisit the video that will come across. Nod your head to the beat and keep in mind the tempo change before the vocal passages, its mostly in synch. Hmmm, I am starting to suspect youtube, some compression issues, or something along the lines could be throwing things off a hair on the other end. Or I'm going deaf.

The scene selection should have made some sort of visual clue about this, or given us some sort of character motivation.

I hoped the lingering shot and falling leaves implied some vague lapse in time, but I wanted to keep the dreamy ambiguity of the narrative as well. I will admit I could have done more here perhaps to set up the next chapter.

Furthermore, the ending left me a tad confused (especially after reading the plot synopsis of the anime). Was it all a dream? It didn't make much sense seeing him surviving the attack and in bed with a completely different woman than when he started with.

Good lol It was my intention to provoke some confusion that will bring you back to the video for further consideration. There is some deliberate ambiguity and surrealness on my part, so the viewer is free to draw their own conclusions about the ending or the video as a whole. There is a point to it but I don't want to spoil the mystery I was trying to evoke by nailing it down with a definitive explanation, the important thing is the suggestive symbolism I was getting across, the song in visual form.

As for the Spiderwoman, he pried himself free and she scurried out the window. I wouldn't call it a plothole in the traditional sense, just that her true feelings and intentions are up to the viewer to decide in this edit. Its possible she felt rejected after he fought himself free. She's obviously clingy...maybe she didn't intend serious harm until the end. And remember she only makes her most violent moves after ambushing their car with webs and causing them to violently wreck, leaving them at her mercy. Earlier in the video, he physically overpowered her in bed to escape her clutches, so I never impled in this edit she could take him by force or would be willing to, so you could also read into it that once the after sex ambush failed and she was exposed, she just make a quick exit to regroup.

All of that being said, you captured the mood of the song to a T. These two sources felt like they belonged together, and even though I criticized the story elements fairly hard (I write a lot when I see a lot of potential in people), you still managed to really convey an interesting story. I did a search on the plot of Wicked City, and the AMV actually strays pretty hard from the anime, so kudos on making something interesting out of this and manipulating the scenes so well as to make a completely different/original. I also want to compliment you on the sex scenes (an odd thing to compliment on, I know...). I felt like the sex was a necessary addition to this kind of AMV, but it wasn't crude or blatantly in our faces. It was tactful, and almost artistic.

Thanks for the kind words, much appreciated. Despite disagreement on the beat synching, I'm truly grateful for a very detailed and thought out critical review that doesn't pull any punches. You don't shy away from the negatives so any praise feels well earned. Exactly what I was looking for, helpful and encouraging. Thanks. And if you can bear the horrid youtube video quality, I would love to see my "Urotsukidoji" video analyzed in similar fashion. Its also a romantic video with a different twist on an old classic, also a more distinct dance beat. If not, just give it a watch anyway. Thanks again for taking the time to write this up. Rreally fantastic write up.