Post
by Kinematics » Tue Jul 03, 2012 11:55 pm
Semifinal Group ABCD
Going to ignore most video artifacts, as I assume they're pretty much all coming from the source material at this point.
[Centurione] Don't Stop Me Now
Nice use of Apollon for the instruments. A couple selections ran counter to my expectations (eg: low notes while he's at the high end of the piano), but sync was excellent, and discrepancies easily ignored.
Pretty much everything up to ~0:42 (where she jumps from the diving platform) was decently solid.
Crashing into the storage locker seemed to come out of nowhere. Ill placed.
Stopping of the bicycle after crashing into the railway bar felt disjointed.
Entire unbraked run on the bike, while somewhat matching the lyrics, really didn't match the mood.
Trash can lid on her head at 0:57 was reused later in the video (1:25).
Not sure how the lyrics match up at all during this section (0:55 - 1:00).
Crashing her head into the post at 1:30 for the start of the 'rocketship' lyrics?
Other than the bit at ~1:46, there seems to be less and less coherency from here on.
Too much running.
The riff at 2:11-2:13 was good.
Honestly, while the primary video source was TGWLTT, it felt like a fairly weak choice paired with Apollon. Pretty much every Apollon segment helped bring out the energy of the song, but it's explicitly background, and needs the forground series to pull the video along, and that was only somewhat the case for TGWLTT. There were a number of segments that played well to the lyrics, but there was too much that felt like rather generic footage that didn't really contribute much.
[HaydenST] Having A Good Time
Amusing and unusual source.
Unfortunately, just about every clip felt like it could have been better used somewhere else in the song, interspersed with bits that almost worked. Makes it difficult to do scene-by-scene comments, so I'm just going to say, "A lot of stuff felt wrong."
The 1:30 ~ 2:00 period, with limited lyrics followed by mostly instrumentals, did pretty well.
Lip sync felt out of place. It wasn't bad, exactly, it's just that it was so sporadic that you get used to a non-lip sync approach to viewing, and then suddenly some random bit is tossed in there, and feels way out of place.
[LopezAMV] The Adam Bomb and Other Tales of Intrigue
Intro was weak, with no characters at all, despite the lyrics focusing on the 'I' (singer) of the song. The lyrics then move to non-personal references, but the video starts introducing characters. Probably intentional, since the video wasn't focusing on any particular characters (more of general lyric match), but it still felt wrong.
Most the rest past the intro, for the lyric portion, was amusing and decently matched; pretty much what was expected from initially hearing the song.
Loved the slips at 1:19, going through the different characters running.
Instrumental section was rather random. With no lyrics to match, it didn't seem to have anything else to really drive it. Sort of the opposite problem of Hayden's.
Ending was really weak.
[riccardocasu] Don't Stop Me Now
While the anime is well-used, the scene selections and general footage focus felt much fresher. Enjoyed it from that perspective.
Intro was somewhat weak. The facial expressions just don't quite seem to jive with the the lyrics.
However everything from the world on Karen's shoulders up to the fight with Karen worked really well.
Flames at 0:57 seemed like they were introduced too late. Running and hand push at 0:55-0:56 didn't really bridge well the bits between him in the sky and the portion on fire.
Cut from closeup of Koyomi after the flames, to the sudden pullback on the bike, was well done.
Uphill biking at 1:02 felt a bit random.
Karen's run at 1:28 (right after punching Koyomi) was way too rushed. Don't remember if it was like that in the original (probably was), but it felt out of sync with the rest of the movement.
Transition from the slam at 1:32 to Koyomi flying through the air at the freeway was disjointed.
Felt like there could have been a better transition scene before Karen leapt at him at the end.
Top Picks:
[riccardocasu] Don't Stop Me Now
Hayden's assessment of motivation for this group is probably not that far off.
Want to put Centurione's in there for the Apollon sections, but the TGWLTT parts really brought it down.
Lopez's is fun on the lyric portion, but falls down on the instrumental.
Hayden's is good on the instrumental, but kinda shambles about on the lyrics.
Lesson learned to actually watch the video before submitting!
