Spiritual but not Religious

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vivafruit
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Spiritual but not Religious

Post by vivafruit » Sat Jul 10, 2021 10:47 am

This one took about three weeks to make from conception to creation, which is a pretty good speed for me. I have had mixed results when I try to edit with songs I've just recently discovered, but in this case the song's patterns are clear enough that editing to its flow felt pretty natural. I mostly wanted to explore the feelings surrounding religion and spirituality. When I was younger, I was very "new atheist", and looking back I think I was too dismissive about all of the intense emotion surrounding the topic.

The quote is from Jim Jones, who convinced his cult to commit suicide back in the late 70s (if you want to listen to something truly disturbing, the tape of him speaking with his cult before they commit suicide is up on youtube). When I listened to the quote in the context of the song, I felt like something clicked into place that I'd been missing for a long time. I hope I captured the power of that moment in the amv.



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Katranat
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Re: Spiritual but not Religious

Post by Katranat » Sun Jul 18, 2021 2:36 pm

Ok, it's been a week now, I think I can finally articulate a little bit about this.

As you already know, I really love this. The way this moves through the thematic elements using different anime sources is excellently done and feels very natural. I don't feel like I'm watching disparate scenes mixed together, this is a definite cohesive whole. I think my favourite part is the fire sequence, something about the dancing around the fire clip to that part of the music really grabs me.

From 2:37 onward things get interesting. Obviously 2:37 - 2:50 is the section with the voice clip, however (at least for me) you don't really feel the impact of the voice clip until after 2:50. You'd think that the clips of Jesus being crucified would be enough to start a tone shift, but for some reason it doesn't really sink in until after the voice clip is finished. There's something about the sequence of clips afterwards that slowly draws you into despair and the feeling of the words continues on. Not sure if I'm describing this accurately, or even if this was what you were going for.

Overall this is a really beautiful video!

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vivafruit
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Re: Spiritual but not Religious

Post by vivafruit » Mon Jul 19, 2021 2:42 pm

Katranat wrote:
Sun Jul 18, 2021 2:36 pm
Overall this is a really beautiful video!
Thanks a lot. This is maybe a weird thing to say, but I'm glad you were able to feel despair too, haha. I had the same reaction you did when I first listened to the song; the words just lingered in my mind well after they had been said, and they slowly re-contextualized the song for me. When I was first putting the amv together, I was very worried the scenes would clash and not get the desired result. I'm glad it seems to have worked as intended for you.

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Megamom
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Re: Spiritual but not Religious

Post by Megamom » Mon Jul 19, 2021 9:52 pm

This was really intense and beautiful, always thought that animemix are a cheap form of expression, but, in this case it is magnificent, there is a motif and a selection of scenes that accompany that motif, it is a fucking way to see this beautiful and sad world.
NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE

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vivafruit
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Re: Spiritual but not Religious

Post by vivafruit » Wed Jul 21, 2021 6:53 am

Megamom wrote:
Mon Jul 19, 2021 9:52 pm
This was really intense and beautiful, always thought that animemix are a cheap form of expression, but, in this case it is magnificent, there is a motif and a selection of scenes that accompany that motif, it is a fucking way to see this beautiful and sad world.
Wow, thanks!

I definitely can understand how anime mixes usually feel cheap. As you say, I think it's because most of them lack a strong motif. With a single anime, you get to inherit all of the anime's motifs for free. "This song matches this anime" is a good enough start to make some really strong AMVs. But with multi anime, you have to think of your own motif and pretty carefully prune the clips so that only the strong matches get in.

The upside of multi anime is that the raw clip quality is higher on average. Instead of picking the 100 best clips from one anime you get to pick the best clip from 100 anime. I also get to use really strange sources that few people have seen before - I've borrowed from short films, music videos, game cutscenes and commercials that usually just get ignored by vidders.

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seasons
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Re: Spiritual but not Religious

Post by seasons » Tue Aug 03, 2021 2:17 pm

I have complicated feelings about this video that will inevitably drag this post to a close, but until they do I will say what I can.

I love the opening section, the music has this Steve Reich thing going on and the understated scenes you use here internally sync to this part well. Obviously, so does the metronome/clock shots in the next sequence, and the reflections on the closeup of the eye. The closeup shot of Shinji at 0:47 that slowly pans out into a wide shot is a nice reflection of how the song takes on a new sense of depth and scale, introducing melodic elements that seem to echo in a vast open space. The Land of the Lustrous clip is a fitting companion to this, and that plays nicely into the next clip (the closeup of Mash). This is all really pretty stuff.

The entire part after this (1:09 to 1:49) is really solid editing and makes a good case for this being your strongest technical edit yet. Really interesting and striking visuals that play off each other really nicely. I love the Weathering With You clip at 1:50, it's a really nice way to lead into this calm sequence. It's really hard for Naruto to slide into a serious-feeling video like this without breaking the tone, but even this works really well. The clips that round out this part all worked pretty well for me too.
Spoiler :
I feel like the part of this song (2:37) that resonated with you most strongly and probably motivated you to create this AMV in the first place--judging from your comments--is where this video kind of loses me. But that's for deeply personal reasons that are too difficult for me to explain here and it has nothing to do with the editing of this video. I'm not necessarily objecting to the critique of religion that's offered here (or so I say, can I really be trusted?), this is just one of those topics that I think about a lot and it's difficult for me to fold into my enjoyment of this hobby. Saying that's impossible is like saying that AMVs can't be a way to explore serious issues or matters that you feel conflicted about. I don't believe that's true at all! This rambling isn't helpful, I know.
I absolutely love that clip of Reki spinning around at 3:17.

Great sense of flow through all of this, there's a thematic or a visual logic that makes every scene transition feel just right.

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vivafruit
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Re: Spiritual but not Religious

Post by vivafruit » Tue Aug 03, 2021 7:31 pm

seasons wrote:
Tue Aug 03, 2021 2:17 pm
I have complicated feelings about this video that will inevitably drag this post to a close, but until they do I will say what I can.

I love the opening section, the music has this Steve Reich thing going on and the understated scenes you use here internally sync to this part well. Obviously, so does the metronome/clock shots in the next sequence, and the reflections on the closeup of the eye. The closeup shot of Shinji at 0:47 that slowly pans out into a wide shot is a nice reflection of how the song takes on a new sense of depth and scale, introducing melodic elements that seem to echo in a vast open space. The Land of the Lustrous clip is a fitting companion to this, and that plays nicely into the next clip (the closeup of Mash). This is all really pretty stuff.

The entire part after this (1:09 to 1:49) is really solid editing and makes a good case for this being your strongest technical edit yet. Really interesting and striking visuals that play off each other really nicely. I love the Weathering With You clip at 1:50, it's a really nice way to lead into this calm sequence. It's really hard for Naruto to slide into a serious-feeling video like this without breaking the tone, but even this works really well. The clips that round out this part all worked pretty well for me too.
Spoiler :
I feel like the part of this song (2:37) that resonated with you most strongly and probably motivated you to create this AMV in the first place--judging from your comments--is where this video kind of loses me. But that's for deeply personal reasons that are too difficult for me to explain here and it has nothing to do with the editing of this video. I'm not necessarily objecting to the critique of religion that's offered here (or so I say, can I really be trusted?), this is just one of those topics that I think about a lot and it's difficult for me to fold into my enjoyment of this hobby. Saying that's impossible is like saying that AMVs can't be a way to explore serious issues or matters that you feel conflicted about. I don't believe that's true at all! This rambling isn't helpful, I know.
I absolutely love that clip of Reki spinning around at 3:17.

Great sense of flow through all of this, there's a thematic or a visual logic that makes every scene transition feel just right.
Thanks for the comment! Glad you liked the editing and flow - I also think it’s my best so far on a technical level. The final act was definitely a gamble on my part. I was hoping it would hit people as hard as the song hit me, but I also knew it had the risk of leaving some people behind. I end up worrying about these risky tradeoffs a lot. I considered submitting this to AWA Pro as my second video, but ultimately decided to forgo doing that because of how the alienating the ending could be to a diverse audience. Based on your reaction I think it was maybe a good decision.

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