That Deleterious Light - Magdelena Bay AMV

[AmadeusReborn]

This is my third real AMV, and I'm pretty proud of it! I've still got lots to continue to learn and improve, but I was very pleased that I managed to get exactly what I was looking for when I settled on a final direction for this video. I hope others enjoy watching it as much as I've enjoyed the long process of putting it together!

The AMV is meant to convey the draw of temptation, which ultimately is harmful to us in the long run if we let it win no matter how brilliant it looks at first. It's an erosion of the will leading to giving up, giving in. We can fight it, however temptation is not an intimidating foe but a seductive one. If one doesn't take action to address it, our natural state is to slowly let off the brakes and roll down the hill, until it's too late. We like easy choices, the comfortable paths. They are alluring like a moth to a flame, even if the light we sleepwalk towards ultimately consumes us.

As we enter the darker months of the year, I had been feeling these temptations eat away at me, and wanted to visualize them. I found myself subconsciously wanting to neglect my friends, job, community responsibilities, and housework. I was giving into bad habits because they were easy, indulging in pastimes I derived neither pleasure nor fulfillment from just to avoid "the hard stuff". The list goes on. I think making this has helped me confront that part of myself which was reaching out a hand to invite this temptation in.

[CrackTheSky]

This was a really interesting AMV. I love the conceptual focus, especially as this isn't a topic that is often explored in the AMV space; or, at least not with this level of intentionality. I'm a fan of more lightly-edited videos in general, so the looser approach worked really well and imo you did a good job at crafting a mood. There were a few passages that I felt really benefited from this style (for example, the stretch from 0:35 - 0:46) and in general the slower pacing and nocturnal scenery complemented one another to make this video feel vaguely foreboding and threatening, which really dovetailed well with your exploration of temptation.

If I have one critique, it's that I really don't think the lip sync did you any favors...and in fact it kind of took away from the video a bit. I think this is mostly because the vocals in the song are occasionally a bit distorted/modulated, so having the girl sing along with those lyrics with no corresponding visual distortion made those sections feel off. Also, the girl's face was often a lot more expressive than the more laconic vocals would suggest. This was never a huge deal but I definitely think I would have been even more absorbed in the video if that was handled better, or the lip sync was removed entirely.

Nevertheless, great job!

[AmadeusReborn]

I'm glad you enjoyed it, and am truly thankful for the feedback! With anything like this, it's easy to blind oneself to the weak points of one's work and accept them as part of the video without re-examining them later with a critical eye. Initially I had hoped that the lip sync would help emphasize the accusatory feel of the video and further cement the guy's impotence in the face of his own feelings by leaving him silent. However, I think you're absolutely right that in practice it only serves to remind the viewer that they are watching an edited remix of two separate pieces of media rather than a more holistic individual one, like the best AMVs often feel like.

Thanks again!