main menu

• Members Main Page
• Search for AMVs
• Forum
• How-To Guides
• Site FAQ
• About us
• Login

Information

• Member: ck25
• Studio: A C.K. Idea
• Title: Empathetic
• Premiered: 2003-09-24
• Categories:
  • Drama
  • Character Profile
  • Serious
• Song:
  • Philip Glass with Michael Riesman and the Lyric Quartet "I'm Going to Make a Cake" - {The Hours}
• Anime:
  • Fruits Basket
• Comments: This is the video that I've taken the most chances on and really stepped out of the realm of playing it safe. It was a hard task to do so, but I think my end product is more than what I thought it could be. At first, I only used the first two minutes of the song to see if I could create a mood, in which, the images transition over many times from a happy to a melancholy atmosphere. This is definitely a video where the images speak for themselves, I mean, there are no lyrics...just the sounds of instruments that gradually move the story along. Working with just an instrumental song was not an easy thing to do (for me anyway) and I'm sure it will show in some parts, but I really wanted to form a parallel union with sound, seeing as how it's my favorite to do. I think I started this video sometime in July, leaving it alone in late August when I moved back down to school and eventually picking up again about a couple of days ago. A lot of hours was spent trying to fine tune this video, and although I think I failed in some aspects, I still think that I've succeeded in others.
  
  As for the story, this is how it came about: Largely about a time in my life when I felt that people were selfish and only thought of themselves...but with good reason. With so many problems in the world, how do we function when we can't even get a good grasp of who we our in a lifetime of worries. The characters try to struggle with helping others (especially in the last half of the song) but are then only faced with more internal problems...eventually they find each other...eventually...Anyway, let me break down the video:
  
  *Some spoilers ahead (speaking of which, this video is heavy in spoilers as it borrows scenes from nearly every episode, so you are now warned!)
  
  
  The first section with the three way split was actually supposed to contain more images (in picture form), but I eventually ditched the idea in favor of just focusing on the three characters I wanted to focus on> I know that the majority of Fruits Basket videos focus heavily on Kyo, Tohru, and Yuki, and I guess I'm not a whole lot different...but I figured that after finishing "Disturbing Behavior" in which Kagura is really the star, I was about due for a video like this. Anyway, the three way split just sets up the intro and the characters you'll be seeing the most of. I tried to go for the most neutral images of the three that I could find, really only succeeding in Yuki's image, but I think that you'll be able to get the rest despite it.
  
  The next section (:25 - 1:10 seconds), featuring the progression of piano keys that tremble in a downward spiral, focuses primarily on Tohru and the images start off happily (the state of being she's mostly in) and 22 images later, I've managed to get her to her most depressing and sad moments. In this area, I really played around with the size of images, and how to represent them to an audience, thus, why so many of the images have been cut and cropped. Again, this is me taking a LOT of chances.
  
  The second section (1:12 - 2:00) focuses on Kyo and instead of splitting images and such, I instead split his section into small subsections. For instance, there's a progression of scenes involving him and Kagura that get wrapped up, followed by him with his master, eventually leading to his transformation in the end. You really have to let the music carry you away to get the effect and the first time I watched a completed version of this progression, I actually got a chill in my spine!
  
  The next section (2:04 - 2:28) I decided to stick with Kyo but also bring in Yuki this time as well. Anyone who's into the manga of Fruits Basket knows why Kyo is so adamant at being Yuki, and I guess I incorporated that into these next batch of scenes. It's things that he's running from (Kagura) and things that he's running towards (Yuki), with Tohru watching above, not really knowing the full extent of what's going on, yet still being a concerned party...or being "empathetic".
  
  Next, we have Yuki's character profile (2:30 - 3:01). Aside from Akito who is seen talking (which I tried for the life in me to avoid, but couldn't without some severe awkwardness), I honestly thought that I nailed this section. It's mostly about Yuki and his tension between Akito that I tried to bring out, ending with Tohru who understands and comes between them.
  
  Tohru is then a transition for the next section of which we see her lying in bed sick. This leads to the next transition of Kyo, who looks on and does try to help her.
  
  Kyo then provides the next transition (see where I'm going with this?) for his ongoing battle with Yuki who we see in the hallway at school.
  
  The next Tohru section was actually a Kyo section but I changed it at the last second because I almost felt like she was neglected a bit, so I took it back to her and Akito's scene, with an image of her mom, who is the resounding cause of all of this (though it's not like she could have done anything about it).
  
  Anyway, it all comes back to a final three way split in which the see the Yuki, Tohru, and Kyo interacting with each other in the three way split images, eventually fading to the final scene. The point of the video is basically trying to come to terms with having the capacity to understand others, as well as yourself. They all find help in each other at the end, though they had to work at it.
  
  As for the music, well, if you know me, then you probably know that The Hours is one of my favorite movies of all time, which can only be enjoyed by the superb soundtrack containing one of the songs that is of course featured in this video. The music was taken from the original soundtrack CDd, as are the Fruits Basket clips taken from their respective DVD's
  
  Progrmas used
  ----------------
  -Smart Ripper
  -DVD2AVI
  -AVSynth
  -Adobe Premiere 6.0
  -Adobe Photoshop 7.0
  -TMPGEnc
  -CDex