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Information

• Member: Kira_Douji
• Studio: Liminal Augury
• Title: Beyond The Precipice
• Premiered: 2006-02-26
• Categories:
  • Action
  • Other
  • Serious
• Song:
  • D.N.Angel Ost 鼓動～Whenever～
• Anime:
  • Bleach
• Comments:
  
  ===== The Format =====
  
  I promised MP4 encodes. Well, I tried. I tried for a freakin' month to get my x264 video to sync with my audio. I'm sorry, no dice. It speeds up the video and I just cannot fix it no matter what I do. I'm sorry. Believe me, I wanted the beautiful size and clean encode probably more than anyone else. Unfortunately, I've just been utterly defeated. :(
  
  ===== Technical =====
  
  Spoilers abound. I can't even tell you which parts of the series this spoils, just... everything.
  
  Size: 640x480
  Codec: XviD (Divx5 compatable)
  Time to complete: I lost count, but probably a total of a week of actual footage manipulation. This doesn't include all the exporting and attempts to fix my x264 encode.
  Sources: DVDs, Raws, and one or two fansubs (properly editted, of course).
  Programs used: Adobe Premiere Pro 1.5, Adobe Photoshop CS2, Audacity, AMVapp.
  
  ===== Recommendations =====
  
  Turn off the lights before you watch this video. Watch multiple times. There's a lot of plot and quick scenes that may pass you by on the first viewing. Turn up the volume a bit, as the beginning's a bit soft, and you may not fully understand the beginning clips if the volume is too soft.
  
  ===== Title =====
  
  "Beyond The Precipice" was inspired by the poem Tite Kubo wrote about Aizen Sousuke titled Flower on the Precipice, in which I always associated Aizen with the flower: the man who stepped over the edge.
  
  We think the flower on the precipice is beautiful
  because our fear makes our feet stop at its edge
  instead of stepping forward into the sky
  like that flower.
  我々が岩壁の花を美しく思うのは
  我々が岩壁に足を止めてしまうからだ
  悚れ無き　その花のように
  空へと踏み出せずにいるからだ
  (Translation courtesy of Chirachira of Live Journal)
  
  ===== Concept =====
  
  The main concept behind this amv is distortion. This is why there is a lot of heavy filter work and a dingy overlay. Heavy use of the "Find Edges", "RGB Balance" and "Contrast" filters abounds as well as significant tweaking of the saturation property in nearly every shot. The effect that results is something that strikes the eye as dark, out of place, or just plain wrong. The focus lies in the plot of the Soul Society arc just being not right.
  
  More specifically...
  
  I introduce everything through Hinamouri, who is really a by product of this storyline. She is fine in the beginning, has a hero-worship relationship with her captain and in very short time loses her captain, has her world turned upside down by the implications of a letter he supposedly left her, snaps, and then discovers that he is alive just before he betrays her trust and kills her. This is the basic theme of the movie: looking at something one way, and then seeing the true, distorted picture beneath.
  
  Nearly every situation is covered. Urahara's research, and then into his manipulation of the characters (namely Rukia). How his research feeds into Aizen's ambitions, and from there into the depth of his manipulations (Gin and Tousen). Matsumoto and Hitsugaya's determination to uncover the truth is contrasted with Matsumoto's shared history with Gin, and Hitsugaya and Hinamouri's deaths. Tousen's friendship with Komamura, crossed with his early affiliation with Aizen. Following the theme of the good and bad sides of friendships comes the transition to Soi Fong and Yoruichi, displaying their combined background soon after showing a fight between two people who used to be really close.
  
  Rukia's history is a distortion in and of itself. Kaien's fight for his wife which leads to a fight against his own captain. This is then interspersed with a look at the way things were, which is sharply contrasted with how things turned out. Again, all to show that things aren't as they should be. Friends should not be turning on each other. Captains should not have to face their vice captains in battle. The bad guys shouldn't win. Yet this is exactly what happens all throughout the Soul Society arc and even before that. Death, destruction and mayhem that sends people into frenzied confusion, pitting them against those they should not be facing, and at the center of it all, just one man controlling the events.
  
  The last bit of the video is a bit of twisted irony, showing the good guys fight, rescue, and continue on... only to be beaten in the end. The same characters come up repeatedly, and through them a web spirals outwards encompassing much of the population of Seireitei. This is the power of crossing the threshold: of being somewhere no one else dares to go. We've crossed over from the land of what should be into the land of what is, and it's nothing like we could have imagined.
  
  On a more artistic note, I experimented a lot with color in this piece. Pieces that should be taken in together tend to be of the same hue and that hue is used to elicit certain emotions to correspond with the scene and lyrics. For example, the red/orange/yellow theme used throughout the section about Hisana, Rukia, Ichigo, Byakuya and Renji is a reflection of the sunset. It denotes an end to something in which they are all involved.
  
  ===== The Song =====
  
  The lyrics for the song are:
  
  鮮やかなかなを待とうように
  まよりた君は天使
  その声...微笑み...たかああってくぬねの鼓動
  果たせひなく深い愛の中
  やさしさと強さを知る
  痛みを...癒して...君のために羽をしろげよう
  
  [interlude]
  
  激しい雨の中ののばす指先
  見えない闇夜でも君を見つける
  いつかその手を引いて息もできぬほど
  強く君の事抱きしめるから
  
  [long interlude]
  
  閉ざされた世界から羽ばたく
  予感と運命をまわす音が聞こえる
  星も月も太陽も君が瞳
  あけるなら輝きをましてゆくだろう
  
  俺の名を呼んでくれ
  君に降り注ぐ悲しみをすべて受けとめるから
  身も心も捧げよう
  命を賭けても君の微笑みを守り抜きたい
  
  ... Which I cannot even begin to translate properly. Fortunately, someone else did!
  
  As if clad in bright flowers
  you're an angel that swooped down
  your voice...your smile...my heart beats faster
  
  In the midst of this neverending deep love
  you understand gentleness and strength
  Heal my pain and I spread my wings for your sake
  
  Even in the savage rain
  even in a night so dark you can't see your own fingers, I'll find you
  some day I'll take your hand
  and hold you so tightly that you won't be able to breath
  
  From this world plunged in grief
  premonition of beating wings and the sound of turning fate can be heard
  The stars, moon, and sun
  will grow more brilliant if you open your eyes
  
  Call my name
  I'll take the sadness endlessly raining on you
  I offer up my body
  even risk my life
  I want to hold on to your smile until the very end
  
  Also (something I forgot to mention orginally), this song was editted down to it's current length from 4:18 minutes. One of the interludes was a bit too long and I believe I snipped a bit from the beginning as well.
  
  So, essentially, this is a really, really twisted and intricate movie that you'll probably want to watch a few times over to really understand. (And it helps if you know Japanese). I very much like how this turned out. My favorite part is definately when I managed to make Byakuya spin in a full circle. Win. XD
  
  - Kira