New Evangelion AMV - Focus on the Characters' Inner Voids

[Heaven_and_hell_is_earth]

Hi everyone,

I've watched anime for a long time, but this is the first AMV I have been compelled to make, because the song reminds me a lot of NGE. The focus is on the prevailing sense of emptiness in the lives of the characters in Evangelion. On a side note, I am surprised that there was no AMV in the database that used the song I have chosen.

All comments and criticisms welcome. I am happy to discuss any aspect of the video.

[CodeZTM]

Nifty. My first AMV used Evangelion too. I'll have to check this out and get back to you.

EDIT:

Not going to lie, it could have used some work.

First off, the video quality was poor. I would suggest getting DVD quality video if possible.

Next, some of the scenes looked out of place. Assuming that your AMV was meant to tell a story, select scenes that match the mood of the song or that matches the lyrics.

Overall, it was a tad below basic, but I know that you have the capablity to make a great AMV!

2/5

[Heaven_and_hell_is_earth]

Nifty. My first AMV used Evangelion too. I'll have to check this out and get back to you.

EDIT:

Not going to lie, it could have used some work.

First off, the video quality was poor. I would suggest getting DVD quality video if possible.

Next, some of the scenes looked out of place. Assuming that your AMV was meant to tell a story, select scenes that match the mood of the song or that matches the lyrics.

Overall, it was a tad below basic, but I know that you have the capablity to make a great AMV!

2/5

Many thanks for your comments.

I totally agree the video quality is poor, and unfortunately I do not have access to better quality.

Could you tell me which scenes were out of place? The song is all about superficial hedonism in a hi-tech society, e.g. when the verse runs "Motorcycle emptiness", it refers to the emptiness that is experienced by accumulating objects. Hence, I chose scenes which depicted the excessive tendencies for flash over substance. There was no specific story per se, but the distinguishing theme is how the characters seemed to place image above their true personalities, hence they live in a fantasy world where emptiness rules, and image dictates their actions.

Many thanks again.

[Kionon]

Could you tell me which scenes were out of place? The song is all about superficial hedonism in a hi-tech society, e.g. when the verse runs "Motorcycle emptiness", it refers to the emptiness that is experienced by accumulating objects. Hence, I chose scenes which depicted the excessive tendencies for flash over substance. There was no specific story per se, but the distinguishing theme is how the characters seemed to place image above their true personalities, hence they live in a fantasy world where emptiness rules, and image dictates their actions.

Even understanding your motivations, I find this hard to take seriously as a drama video. Too many of your syncs seemed humorous because they were literal. Now I realize your philosophy was to be intentionally literal, I just don't think that it's a philosophy most people on the org will get. For the most part we find literal sync to be a kind of lazy sync, as if the editor could not go beyond the basic definition of the word to represent an overarching message or mood. I am not saying that is the case here, what I am saying is that I can see that this might be a general disconnect between editor and viewers.

[Heaven_and_hell_is_earth]

Even understanding your motivations, I find this hard to take seriously as a drama video. Too many of your syncs seemed humorous because they were literal. Now I realize your philosophy was to be intentionally literal, I just don't think that it's a philosophy most people on the org will get. For the most part we find literal sync to be a kind of lazy sync, as if the editor could not go beyond the basic definition of the word to represent an overarching message or mood. I am not saying that is the case here, what I am saying is that I can see that this might be a general disconnect between editor and viewers.

Firstly, thanks for taking time to watch my AMV.

You're also right that there may be a disconnect between myself and certain types of viewers. You make some valid points for the case why my approach is not appropriate and that's fine, but I'd like to offer my angle on a few of the issues you raised:

The song's lyrics are very symbolic and in some sections, the idea was to show the symbolic representation, rather than the underlying meaning. In these sections, I didn't just want to force feed the underlying meaning to people, so I was hoping the viewer would sense the underlying meaning, through the symbols. For example:

"Culture sucks down words" - picture of a wedding, then a memorial. Wedding was supposed to symbolize life; the memorial death, i.e. through life to death, culture is prevalent and the lyrics then suggest that culture is a negative because it promotes a mentality of the masses which sucks down the words of the individual.

"Under neon loneliness, motorcycle emptiness" - picture of Misato driving a flashy car in a flashy way, and stepping out dressed to impressed. On a literal level, the motorcycle has a resemblance to the car. But the underlying message I wanted to get across was that Misato is very much an extravert who relies too heavily on image, and that in the last analysis, this leads to emptiness and loneliness. i.e. Misato here symbolizes someone who is too consumer oriented.

"Living life like a comatose" - Toji in a coma. Literal link is that he is in a coma. But he was supposed to symbolize someone living through life like an intoxicated dream, due to an inability to face up to one's inner thoughts and feelings.

"Swallow, swallow, swallow" - pictures of people swallowing. This is the literal link. But again, the underlying message is that in a consumer-led, me-me-me society, there is too much focus on consuming things from without and not enough focus from within. The scenes were supposed to be an ironic look at how the characters, who (as seen in the series) are running away from their inner selves, were enjoying themselves so much on externalities, whilst blissfully ignoring their inner void.

The final scene before fade to black showed "Warning, Warning etc." because NGE, I feel, was a warning not to run away from ourselves and was also, I feel, the overarching theme of the song. The scene just prior, showing Shinji screaming in pain (silently) was supposed to represent a wake-up call to viewers, to symbolize that the inner self of one who is running away from it, is screaming out for help.

The alternative would be just to find Eva clips that correspond to the underlying meaning directly. But this is what I have done in some cases. E.g.

"Each day living out a lie" - picture of Misato and Kaji. They were "living a lie" in the sense that they did not express their true feelings for one another, until Kaji died. And Misato never accepted that her father had such a prominent role in her choice of Kaji.

"Life sold cheaply forever and ever, and ever" - Picture of Kaworu and Toji, whose lives were wasted by an overarching organization. This is what the song lyrics were supposed to mean - that life is forever sold to the services of a large, bureaucratic government or business.

"Under neon loneliness, motorcycle emptiness" - Shinji sleeping rough under bright lights and riding on a train alone. Literal link as well as portraying the underlying message of the fact that despite all the technological wizardry in modern society, the distance between people is still all too evident.

So I understand your criticisms and concerns, but I think some of the clips I used did match up literally (word for picture, but words and pictures meant to symbolize something else) and symbolically (same underlying meanings) with the lyrics, and thus sets the mood for the underlying messages of both to come through. Some clips, however, I chose more to match up with the pace of the song, such as the first two clips and clips in the final minute.

I'm not saying you're wrong because you made some good points, but I just wanted to make it clear that the imagery was chosen not simply to show a superficial relationship between word and picture.

[Kionon]

I'm not saying you're wrong because you made some good points, but I just wanted to make it clear that the imagery was chosen not simply to show a superficial relationship between word and picture.

I never thought otherwise. Quite the opposite. Your ambition here is clear, I'm just not sure it was able to translate. I did get the general feeling you were going for, but I missed a lot of the sync because I think it was very specific to your view of Eva as well as your view of your storyboarding. I also acknowledge I last saw the entirety of eva back in 1997 and therefore may be missing context a... more fervent... eva fan might inherently possess.