AMV Review #29: Youssef Bouâoud's Hypnerotomachia

[quadir]

AMV-Review's goal is to foster a sub-community that critically analyzes videos and looks for deeper meaning in the creations editors make. It is hoped that through this process will viewers and editors alike come to better appreciate videos that are well thought out, well executed, and progress AMVs as a medium of expression.

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Here, in the forums. Start a thread in the general forum to discuss your favorite AMV, make sure to provide your opinion beyond "It rocks!" and be polite to other posters, differences of opinion are expected.

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On Monday at 20:30 EDT (8:30pm) in #amv-review we have a moderated discussion on a recently released video.
On Thursday all evening in #amv-review editors present BETAs (come out and present yours!) to get initial feedback on AMVs in the making.

Come join us!

This week's moderated discussion video:
Youssef Bouâoud (Yusf) - 2007 - Hypnerotomachia
Category: Romance
Anime: Rayca (OAV)
Song: Jeremy Enigk - World Waits

Please use this thread to discuss this video, there's no need to read the IRC log, just watch the video, and start talking about it! What emotions did it evoke in you? What do you think the video taught you about the character it features?

Bonus Video:
(Pyro Wolf) - 2002 - Moonlight Shadow
Category: Action
Anime: Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust
Song: Mike Oldfield - Moonlight Shadow (Dance Mix)

After each discussion, we throw out a "bonus" video, which often doesn't lend itself perfectly to analysis, or is already well established but is worth recommending. Check it out!

Archive of previous moderated discussions:
2007 September 028-24, 027-17, 026-10, 025-03
August 024-27, 023-20, 022-13, 021-06, July 020-30, 019-23, 018-16, 017-09, 016-02
June 015-25, 014-18, 013-11, 012-04, May 011-28, 010-21, 009-14, 008-07
April 007-30, 006-23, 005-16, 004-09, 003-02, March 002-26, 001-19

[quadir]

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Discussion:

IRC Participants: DriftRoot (Lauren), Fall_Child42 (Todd Serge), ngsilver (Nate), quadir (Olivier Beaton), Rave_Epic (Tim Tolan), RathiSponge (Billy Welch)

20:31 <quadir> Video: Youssef Bouâoud (Yusf) - 2007 - Hypnerotomachia
20:31 <quadir> Link: http://www.a-m-v.org/video/150274
20:31 <quadir> Category: Romance
20:31 <quadir> Anime: Rayca (OAV)
20:31 <quadir> Song: Jeremy Enigk - World Waits
20:44 <DriftRoot> Thanks for this video, quadir, I really, really, REALLY appreciate getting the chance to see this.
20:44 <Rave_Epic> I've seen this before..I love it. :)
21:06 <Rave_Epic> I love the song. :|
21:06 <Fall_Child42> is this from a game?
21:06 <Rathisponge> I think the amv was very beautiful collectively. Love seems to be a big factor in the amv.
21:07 <Fall_Child42> and or how old is this OAV?
21:07 <DriftRoot> It's an OAV...not sure of the date.
21:07 <Rathisponge> I am not sure either
21:08 <DriftRoot> Rath: I appreciated that watching the whole AMV was important, it wasn't one of those vids that you can watch the first 30 seconds of and get the whole experience.
21:09 <quadir> I did have trouble sitting through it all at first, it's not necesarily my strongest genre, but I think it was worth it in the end
21:09 <Rathisponge> I think the scenes with the girl running around, posing for pictures etc and then walking along the mannequins, emphasizes the lyrics "no time for our love"
21:09 <Rathisponge> I agree Driftroot
21:09 <quadir> I can see people passing this up after seeing how slow it progresses
21:09 <DriftRoot> quadir: I mentioned that in my op, that some people might find it hard to see through. Definitely worth it though, like you said.
21:10 <Rathisponge> I think the slow progress is very fitting with the actual song
21:10 <Rathisponge> but I could see how others may find that too slow for their personal taste
21:10 <DriftRoot> It was...I also think the editing style has something to do with the pacing, it's not what most people would probably be expecting...they might get frustrated really quickly.
21:11 <quadir> has anyone seen this oav before?
21:11 <DriftRoot> Or worse, be like "aaagghhh, an icky artsy AMV!" *delete*
21:11 <Rathisponge> I have not seen it
21:11 <DriftRoot> not me, which I freely admit was one reason I probably enjoyed this AMV so much, I wasn't evaluating it against the original.
21:12 <DriftRoot> Nice clean slate, right here, it was up to the editor to use the footage however they wished (she? he?))
21:12 <Rathisponge> It seemed interesting how the anime made the real world blotted/blurred but the virtual "girl" was the clearer picture
21:12 <Rathisponge> I agree Driftroot
21:12 <Rave_Epic> Hmm..I've never even heard of this anime before.
21:13 <DriftRoot> It was kind of spooky in a few places, honestly. Not sure if that wrecked the lovey mood too much, but I blame it on the animation, not the editor. Mannequins coming to life? EEEEE!!!
21:14 <Rathisponge> I thought the mannequins were interesting, to me it helped to prevent a visualization of the lyrics
21:14 <Rathisponge> er precipitate
21:15 <Rathisponge> The girl showing affection to the mannequins with no return
21:15 <DriftRoot> One thing: watching this video it's hard to tell what the original anime looked like, you don't know what kind of editing tweaks were applied...
21:15 <Rathisponge> until the ending that is
21:15 <DriftRoot> It all fits together pretty well.
21:16 <Rathisponge> I agree, I think that is why I enjoy it, its almost like the anime and song were "meant" to be together
21:16 <quadir> yeah the first time I watched this video I thought it was a 3d model AE video ala daydream
21:16 <quadir> and they rounded out jagged edges by blurring and oversaturating everything
21:16 <quadir> while cool that would make a near 5 minute video a massive undertaking
21:16 <Rathisponge> Oh yah hehe
21:17 <DriftRoot> Yeah, and the editor said they didn't spend much time on it.
21:17 <quadir> I never pay attention to that
21:17 <DriftRoot> I'm just wondering what the colors in the original looked like, because what we see here is so...interestingly put together.
21:17 <quadir> one editor says 'I didnt really work on this hard' which means they only did 2 storyboard drafts and 2 weeks editing
21:18 <quadir> for another, it means they did it in 2 nights... which is more than their usual 1 night approach
21:18 <DriftRoot> two weeks editing...yeesh, it takes me two weeks to get 5 seconds of decent footage....
21:18 <Rathisponge> Yah the oversaturation if something the editor did, would also give it a more dreamlike feel, which the editor refers the title as transates as love in a dream
21:18 <DriftRoot> For me, not really working on something hard would be putting a mere 40 hours into it.
21:18 <quadir> so really I'd look at the video itself to judge the quality, not what the editor self-evaluated him/herself at
21:19 <quadir> it's also a massive copout
21:19 <quadir> like 'if you liked it awesome, but if you didnt then its just cause I didnt try'
21:19 <DriftRoot> Yeah, I don't pay too much attention to time put into something, unless it's excessive...which either means they had a hard time or put in a lot of extra effort.
21:19 <Rathisponge> I can see what you mean quadir
21:19 <Kit> or 'if you like it you're dumb i didn't try'
21:19 <quadir> so as far as technically, it's really hard to split them appart without having seen the original
21:20 <quadir> haha Kit|downloadfrenzy
21:20 <DriftRoot> Yeah, I'd say so, and who knows how much of a success this AMV based merely on the ethereal nature of the original footage?
21:20 * DriftRoot shrugs
21:20 <DriftRoot> Editors should exploit a series' best qualities, I'd say this one did.
21:20 <quadir> it's what they did with the final product anyways
21:21 <ngsilver> is there audio in this vid?
21:21 <DriftRoot> There is, but WMP wouldn't play it. I had to use VLC, forgot to mention that.
21:21 <DriftRoot> I don't know what the problem is...
21:22 <DriftRoot> Oh wow: here's some tidbits on the anime!!!
21:22 <DriftRoot> It's vintage 2002...with a running time of 30 minutes. Jeez.
21:23 <DriftRoot> Talk about a tight little package. @_@
21:23 <Rathisponge> Wow that isnt very much to edit with hehe
21:24 <DriftRoot> Now I'm curious to see the anime, I wonder how condensed the storyline is.
21:24 <DriftRoot> This is almost like some odd, experimental anime.
21:24 <Rave_Epic> Not to be too critical on the anime, but
21:25 <Rave_Epic> The 3d seems almost a bit..low-budget maybe?
21:25 <DriftRoot> It's old, it's an obscure OAV, I doubt they had much money to put into it.
21:25 <Rave_Epic> The models are a bit bland in the facial area and we don't seem the moving around that much in the video and when we do..they feel kinda stiff.
21:25 <Rave_Epic> see them^
21:25 <Fall_Child42> it really does ... spirits within was released 2001
21:25 <Fall_Child42> that looks vastlt superior.
21:26 <DriftRoot> But how much of that was on purpose...I mean, this is meant to be pretty otherworldly, they weren't aiming for realism.
21:26 <Rave_Epic> Then again, I might be bias on that front because I just made an Appleseed video, which was insane for 2004(imo).
21:26 <quadir> yeah once I figured out it wasn't the editor who modeled it, I thought it was game footage
21:26 <quadir> but it does say OAV
21:27 <Fall_Child42> quadir i thought the same thing ... like it was a really cool home brew thing.
21:27 <DriftRoot> Here's the OAV description from CD Japan: "Rayca is a girl of the 31st Century where individuals exist only as computer data. She comes to the 21st century to learn about our sub-culture. Characters are designed by Haruhiko Mikimoto of "Superdimensional Fortress Macross" fame."
21:27 <Rave_Epic> Intresting
21:27 <Rave_Epic> Interesting, rather. Keyboard = crap.
21:28 <DriftRoot> Expensive little bugger, $50 for a 30-minute OAV
21:28 <Rave_Epic> Wow.
21:28 <Rave_Epic> That's insanity....
21:28 <DriftRoot> Wait, it "Comes with a hardcover "Rayca - Visual" book."
21:28 <Rave_Epic> Oh
21:28 <DriftRoot> So this is sounding more and more like an exercise in artistic vision.
21:28 <quadir> that doesn't really tell us about the video itself
21:29 <quadir> in this case I think you can remain fairly detached from the original anime in enjoying the video
21:29 <DriftRoot> It tells us someone thought it was worth making a hardcover artbook for.
21:29 <quadir> no it just means the character designer has enough fangirls to buy them
21:29 * DriftRoot grins
21:29 <quadir> and that's the anime, not the video, so let's move it back to the video please
21:29 <Rave_Epic> Yep..this is something I would like to see more of. Anime that isn't that well known used for AMVs.
21:30 <ngsilver> I was wondering if we started discussing the vid yet
21:30 <DriftRoot> With little known music.
21:30 <DriftRoot> The music was rather Simon & Garfunklish
21:30 <quadir> ngsilver: people are sortof drifting in and out, it's a hard video to nail anything down for
21:30 <ngsilver> quite true
21:31 <quadir> the song and visual atmosphere for me were hard to stomach because they just let me wrenched, it was so emotionally straining to sit there in longing for 5 minutes and not have it resolved, or see where it came from
21:32 <DriftRoot> Really quadir? I felt it was resolved.
21:32 <Rathisponge> What was not resolved for you quadir?
21:32 <quadir> I'd call it emo but it wasn't dark
21:32 <Fall_Child42> Thank god, quadir has the same opinion as me so i can go back to reading about body snatchers in 1860s london
21:33 <DriftRoot> I felt emotionally strained at the end, but then the mannequin came to and that was enough closure for me.
21:33 <quadir> I'm looking at this girl walking through this field of manequins talking about longing and love, of not breaking her heart again, and I can't help but see the field as all the people who have left her down
21:33 <quadir> I guess you can say the coming to life at the end is the one who 'didnt let her down'
21:34 <Rathisponge> ah I didnt interpret it that way but that is interesting
21:34 <DriftRoot> Now see, I got the impression that these were all the people who didn't see the world that she saw, didn't really see her...but in the end one of them did. She did reach them.
21:34 <Rathisponge> I saw her as looking for any love at all
21:34 <Rave_Epic> like an emo kid
21:34 <quadir> hm, I see
21:35 <Rave_Epic> Atleast you picked a video that isn't getting us stuck on the theme.
21:35 <quadir> yeah Rathisponge so more of a searching within the void instead of let down by the void and despair
21:35 <Rathisponge> correct
21:35 <DriftRoot> Rayca, I guess her name is, seems like she spent a lot of time seeing things other people didn't see...which led her to feel trapped in a place that was empty...so at the end she gives up, but she didn't really need to despair because someone/something was there with her.
21:36 <quadir> kind of funny, I'm having a real hard time putting names on it to differentiate because I'm seeing the same emotions and movements just for different reasons
21:36 <ngsilver> I'm just happy that this vid didn't try to put in effects that arn't needed
21:36 <Rathisponge> When say you mean she sees things others dont see, what do you mean Driftroot?
21:36 <ngsilver> simple cuts and fades, done very well
21:37 <Rathisponge> er you say
21:37 <Rave_Epic> You've seen this anime, NG?
21:37 <ngsilver> no
21:37 <DriftRoot> hold on, quadir, VLC is crashing on me
21:37 <quadir> I usually have to relaunch vlc every 5-6 viewings for any video
21:38 * Rave_Epic doesn't use VLC period.
21:38 <Rave_Epic> Media Classic is perfect. Simple, works fine and doesn't seem to crash on me...ever.
21:38 <DriftRoot> "So hard to explain" at around 1:20...she's seeing this brilliant, vivid world but she can't share it with anyone, the mannequins are unresponsive...
21:39 <ngsilver> MPC didn't play the audio. so I'm stuck playing this in VLC
21:39 <Rathisponge> Ah , I see
21:39 <DriftRoot> VLC usually behaves for me, but every so often it won't give me the control interface back.
21:39 <ngsilver> perhaps my only complaint really, the audio doesn't work, even though I have the codec
21:39 <quadir> I think we've gone through it enough, it was a pretty straight forward video, was almost too slow for me, but in the end I was able to walk through the word with her, and I liked that the video lent itself to a few interpretations
21:40 <quadir> good breakup video IMO
21:40 <quadir> to pass the lonely nights
21:40 <ngsilver> yeah, I can see it like that
21:40 <Rathisponge> I wonder if that ties in to what the original anime was about, trying to find out more about the "real world" subculture, as opposed to everything just being virtual now
21:40 <quadir> any other last thoughts?
21:40 <DriftRoot> Ugh, this is way too depressing for a breakup video.
21:40 <Rathisponge> Overall a really beautiful AMV. I enjoyed it :)
21:40 <DriftRoot> This is one of the best AMVs I've seen in a long time. NICE JOB
21:40 <ngsilver> after a breakup I WANT to be depressed
21:41 <ngsilver> as a video, this doesn't really lend itself to something I want to see very often
21:41 <DriftRoot> If I want to be depressed and wallow in self-misery, I'd watch Witch Hunter Robin.
21:41 <ngsilver> not really my cup of tea, but it was edited very well
21:42 <ngsilver> Kept the editing simple, which made me want to continue to watch since the anime was used to tell the story

I'm pretty happy with how this week went, we seem to be past the experimental stage of late week. Not too technical superficial and not too analytical to bore me to death. Good discussion, hope people can make it out next week again, and see some new faces, maybe if you've been to a review in the past come out and give it another try.

[Vir]

Once I got past the slightly creepy feel of the character design here, I found it to be a nice sentimental video. I'll probably keep it around for a while and re-watch it. The best part is the very end. Nothing really memorable in terms of effects, but it looks nice enough. I don't know how much of it is present in the original.

One question in my mind about the story portion of this, is whether or not the character has too much time on her hands to check out cats in boxes if she's in a relationship where they don't have time to meet - but of course that might just be an exuse for something that lies beneath.

Spoiler :

P.S: Wasn't there spoilers in both these videos? I have no idea. But I have seen other cases where editors either forget or don't care about the spoiler checkboxes.

[Vir]

OK, I just read the IRC log and I got a bit of the same interpretation of the anime as you guys did.

[quadir]

Heads up that I won't be at this week's AMV-Review, Orwell has graciously offered to run it in my place this week. I'll be back next week so no worries. Hope you all show him the same respect you do me and that he does the same I would to you.

[Vir]

OK, so do any further video suggestions go to him or has this week's videos been chosen?

[quadir]

OK, so do any further video suggestions go to him or has this week's videos been chosen?

Still send your videos via pm to me on the forums or irc, or via email at quadir@animemusicvideos.org

Thanks.

[Orwell]

AMV review going on now if you care to join us.