Wolf's Rain: (Welcome to the Jungle) Darcia's Descent

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WesW
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Wolf's Rain: (Welcome to the Jungle) Darcia's Descent

Post by WesW » Sun Jul 13, 2008 5:54 pm

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Warning: This video contains major spoilers.
The first half of the vid, after the opening scene, is more or less a trailer for the series. The song itself is about the gritty, dangerous underbelly of Hollywood, and I stayed true to that style and tone in the scenes I chose. The second half of the vid focuses more on Darcia and his descent into madness after the death of his beloved.
My other vids that this one most closely resembles are Guns-n-Revy and Iron Maiden, though I think this one is faster and perhaps better than either of those two, so if you like action vids, give this one a try.
Editor of Classic Rock Productions - "Old-school editing for old-school Rock"

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DriftRoot
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Post by DriftRoot » Mon Jul 14, 2008 6:44 pm

I have to say, I really, really liked this video. I was expecting beat synch and got something better than that - MOOD synch in an action video? Sign me up. :D

The more AMVs I watch, the more I find it takes to keep my attention, and I don't mean in a splashy, fancy, extravagent way. I didn't get bored with this video, even though it was pretty straightforward and moderately paced. I think I can attribute this to the fact that I didn't feel like I was watching a random action video or a plot-intensive, oh jeez, here-come-the-black-fades drama video (a.k.a. same-old, same-old). It was some interesting thing in between that I could just sit back and enjoy because it wasn't trying to beat me over the head with one or the other. It was like "Ok, here's the deal, and then this and then this, and now isn't that nice?" And I was like "Yes, that's very nice! Thanks for asking!"

What I do think could have been improved was the song choice, which may sound weird, but let me explain: except for the rhythm and the mood it conveyed, it felt like kind of a stretch: wolves, animals, jungle, violence, blood...ok...but this AMV (at least to me) felt like it was being limited by the song, not set free. Also, the half and half video? Not a good idea...with a little fixing up, the first "part" could have been made to better support the last (or vice versa, I found the first part more interesting thant the last) - although I didn't think it fundamentally bombed - the transition didn't bring me to a screeching halt or anything.

:up:
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Post by WesW » Mon Jul 14, 2008 7:48 pm

DriftRoot wrote:I have to say, I really, really liked this video. I was expecting beat synch and got something better than that - MOOD synch in an action video? Sign me up. :D

The more AMVs I watch, the more I find it takes to keep my attention, and I don't mean in a splashy, fancy, extravagent way. I didn't get bored with this video, even though it was pretty straightforward and moderately paced. I think I can attribute this to the fact that I didn't feel like I was watching a random action video or a plot-intensive, oh jeez, here-come-the-black-fades drama video (a.k.a. same-old, same-old). It was some interesting thing in between that I could just sit back and enjoy because it wasn't trying to beat me over the head with one or the other. It was like "Ok, here's the deal, and then this and then this, and now isn't that nice?" And I was like "Yes, that's very nice! Thanks for asking!"

What I do think could have been improved was the song choice, which may sound weird, but let me explain: except for the rhythm and the mood it conveyed, it felt like kind of a stretch: wolves, animals, jungle, violence, blood...ok...but this AMV (at least to me) felt like it was being limited by the song, not set free. Also, the half and half video? Not a good idea...with a little fixing up, the first "part" could have been made to better support the last (or vice versa, I found the first part more interesting thant the last) - although I didn't think it fundamentally bombed - the transition didn't bring me to a screeching halt or anything.

:up:
Glad you liked it. I was beginning to wonder if anyone was going to post at all. (Is it dead on the forums or what? Where are threads still on page 2 that haven't been posted in in over a week.)
I'm also glad that you appreciated the vid for the right reasons, namely how it fits the mood of the song. I also tried to pick some scenes that aren't in every other WR vid out there, too. You also seemed to have properly picked up on the pace and tone. I make my vids to be watched in a relaxed position, like an action movie, not all tensed up like you're playing a twitch video game.
The song was nice in that I could have action in the instrumental sections, and then lyric sync in between with a nice variation of scenes, from action to dramatic.
Maybe I should revise the statement about the two halves of the vid, because I only meant that they tended to have those qualities, not that there was a clear break in style. What I mainly meant was that the last half of the vid was the reason I went ahead and checked the Character Profile box. (That, and also to communicate that the vid did have a story, which would not have been appropriate, from what I understand, if I had only checked the Action box.)
The song also has a major gear shift, which begins with the meadow scenes with Darcia and Himone.
The story of Darcia is pretty dark when you think about it, and I felt that the song, specifically the portion dealing with the memories and death of his beloved, really went well together.
All I was looking for in the Death of Jagara section was to not suck. This section was the hardest music I have ever had to try and interpret, so if it came off as even average, then I'm happy.
The final battle is in about every Wolf's Rain vid, I suppose, but I tried to use some emotional, sad scenes, and to show Darcia's final descent into madness and then death. Darcia was a bad guy, but he didn't start out that way, and if you'd lost a babe like that, who knows what you might do to try and get her back.

This is an action vid that has some scenes of sadness and loss like you would normally only find in a dramatic vid, and I'm sure some people won't like it for that, but I try to make vids that mature adults will like and identify with, not kids.

Here are some of my favorite scenes that may go unnoticed:
-The scene with Cher's guy and the serpent girl. If you put the lyrics together with it, it gives a whole new meaning to that scene.
-The "party" scene, where Jagara looks right into the camera and raises her glass in toast to the lines "Welcome to the jungle". I just love that scene.
-The scene with Cher and Darcia. The menace in his eyes and the fear in hers are like a scene from a classic movie. You don't normally see scenes like that in AMVs.

Btw, the first person to score the vid was an asshole who gave it a 1 for some unknown reason, so anything you do to try and compensate for that would be appreciated.
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Post by Autraya » Tue Jul 15, 2008 1:07 am

WesW wrote:Btw, the first person to score the vid was an asshole who gave it a 1 for some unknown reason, so anything you do to try and compensate for that would be appreciated.
I ignore star counts on videos, but you might want to consider that the dloader may not have spoken english well or just plain didn't like the video, no explanation is necessary AND there's always the person who did a mass dload and just donkey votes a random number to clear the cue, or made a mistake *shrugs*. Not liking something doesn't make one an asshole (despite popular oppinion to the contrary). Although to you it might be disenheartened it's probably better to ignore star ratings. heh be thankful it wasn't some more of the .orgs back handed stabbs (btw Driftroot it's unfortunate that you posted above for the analgy I'm about to make, but rest assured I'm not talking about you at all.) where you get a Qc saying how great it is and there's only 1 star rating which is a 1 or... everyone is really nice on the thread but your QCs are all nasty *shrugs*
Although the one's I from "myself" to "myself" talking about my multicoloured "penis" tend to be the most distrubing /me glares at Yannis

ehh I got totally off topic <_>
I'll dload this tonight and see how much changed from the beta
But I really haven't seen those ending scenes before in other wolfsrain vids that I remember .

And yeah the announcement forum is kinda quiet atm... must be school holidays
new banzors in the making :p

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Post by WesW » Tue Jul 15, 2008 10:49 am

Autraya wrote: I ignore star counts on videos, but you might want to consider that the dloader may not have spoken english well or just plain didn't like the video, no explanation is necessary AND there's always the person who did a mass dload and just donkey votes a random number to clear the cue, or made a mistake *shrugs*. Not liking something doesn't make one an asshole (despite popular opinion to the contrary). Although to you it might be disenheartened it's probably better to ignore star ratings.
I thought about most of those things, but it's more comforting my way. ;) I wish that people would ignore star ratings, but they don't. I mean, look at most any editor, and the amount of times a vid is dl'd is almost always directly proportional to its relative star rating. If the 1 had been the 50th rating it wouldn't have mattered much, but if a vid starts out with really low ratings then a lot of people won't give it a chance. At least that's been my experience.
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Post by DriftRoot » Tue Jul 15, 2008 11:42 am

WesW wrote: The song was nice in that I could have action in the instrumental sections, and then lyric sync in between with a nice variation of scenes, from action to dramatic.
I was trying to say that I liked the song because of what it allowed you to do, but it's unfortunate you couldn't have found a lyric-less version to use because, IMO, the lyrics kind of made it kind of excessive...almost corny - which is the band's fault, not yours, necessarily.
Maybe I should revise the statement about the two halves of the vid, because I only meant that they tended to have those qualities, not that there was a clear break in style.
Well, if you hadn't told me there was a break I'd still have noticed it, if only because the two halves didn't mesh seamlessly together - it went from a nice overview of Wolf's Rain to Darcia Darcia Darcia (eat your heart out, Brady Bunch) and I didn't feel like there was enough of Darcia in the first half to warrant such heavy focus in the second. If the latter had been lightened up a bit, I think you still could have followed Darcia's story, just not so closely that everything else went out the window.
Btw, the first person to score the vid was an asshole who gave it a 1 for some unknown reason, so anything you do to try and compensate for that would be appreciated.
Yes, there are assholes out there, but as Autraya said, that's not the only explanation and don't take it personally. People have different standards and do things for different reasons, even when they're participating in a scoring system that by its very nature is meant to level the playing field. Looking even a little deeply at video rankings on this site is a bad, bad, bad idea. Particularly where star scores are concerned, since people seem to take those a lot less seriously than ops, which also aren't gospel.
Autraya wrote:heh be thankful it wasn't some more of the .orgs back handed stabbs (btw Driftroot it's unfortunate that you posted above for the analgy I'm about to make, but rest assured I'm not talking about you at all.) where you get a Qc saying how great it is and there's only 1 star rating which is a 1 or... everyone is really nice on the thread but your QCs are all nasty *shrugs*
Heh? :? Did I miss something?
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Post by WesW » Tue Jul 15, 2008 6:29 pm

DriftRoot wrote:
WesW wrote: Maybe I should revise the statement about the two halves of the vid, because I only meant that they tended to have those qualities, not that there was a clear break in style.
Well, if you hadn't told me there was a break I'd still have noticed it, if only because the two halves didn't mesh seamlessly together - it went from a nice overview of Wolf's Rain to Darcia Darcia Darcia (eat your heart out, Brady Bunch) and I didn't feel like there was enough of Darcia in the first half to warrant such heavy focus in the second. If the latter had been lightened up a bit, I think you still could have followed Darcia's story, just not so closely that everything else went out the window.
Well, the song doesn't really mesh together seamlessly, either. You go from almost a rap style suddenly to a ballad, then a long guitar solo and finally a gritty rock style. I built the whole vid around the death of Himone section, letting the music dictate where things went everywhere else.
I guess it depends upon how you like things, but I don't see a problem with spending the first half introducing the characters and world, if you will, and the second half focusing in on the main guy. (And remember that Darcia barely appears in the whole Death of Jagara section.)
I hope you kept the vid, because I think that you'll like it more and more with multiple viewings. There's a lot in the vid, and unlike most other action vids it doesn't all come at you too fast to take it in and appreciate it.

A couple of other things that I'm happy about with the vid:
-There were 4 Sha-na-na... sections, and I managed to find three types of movement to represent the beats, without resorting to some type of fx.
-The two Wolf's Rain vids only share about 5 seconds of footage, and contain totally different endings. In the climactic arctic battle, Kiba is the only wolf that appears in both vids.

Btw, Autraya, even though Darcia turned into a wolf, he wasn't really a wolf. This is partially borne out in the way he died. In other words, I don't think this vid spoiled quite as much as you think it has.
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Post by Phantasmagoriat » Tue Jul 15, 2008 7:31 pm

I checked it out, and yeah, the changes you made were for the better, compared to the beta :) I still feel the same way about my earlier general comments, but you do have your own style of editing, and it's good to stay true to that; it's kinda laid back, and has sorta grown on me.

keep it up ;)
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Post by Autraya » Tue Jul 15, 2008 7:53 pm

DriftRoot wrote:
Autraya wrote:heh be thankful it wasn't some more of the .orgs back handed stabbs (btw Driftroot it's unfortunate that you posted above for the analgy I'm about to make, but rest assured I'm not talking about you at all.) where you get a Qc saying how great it is and there's only 1 star rating which is a 1 or... everyone is really nice on the thread but your QCs are all nasty *shrugs*
Heh? :? Did I miss something?
uhh mebbe, it's more along the lines of this;
He got a "1" and you were the only person to comment and said "nice" things.
So that disclaimer was incase people thought I was saying "I'm being sarcastic, everyone read between the lines 'cause I'm talking about driftroot"
Which is not what I was getting at. I was generalising :wink:
Btw, Autraya, even though Darcia turned into a wolf, he wasn't really a wolf. This is partially borne out in the way he died. In other words, I don't think this vid spoiled quite as much as you think it has.
aaarggghh more spoilers *throttles you*
1.) I didn't know he turned into a wolf
2.) I didn't know he died (or that was his name x_x)
3.) I didn't know he wasn't really a wolf and his wolf eyeball fell out at the end
;_;

ok comments on the vid; overall I think the sync could have been a lot tighter. For a character profile as driftroot said you probably needed more of a set up in the first half. Although it's a classic, this song really didn't do the story you were trying to tell justice and although what kept me interested were all the damn spoliers and parts of wolfs rain I hadn't seen it wasn't enough to stop the video from falling flat. "Old School" editing requires a good combo of scene selection, mood sync, internal sync among other things to keep the viewer entertained. What put me off were scenes jumping back and forth through the series in the first half with little cohesiveness and there were times when the music was fast but the motion in the scenes was slow and vice versa. Hard cuts not quite on beat and although it was good that you used different instruments even there sync needed more work. *sigh*
It's a different angle on wolf's rain but with the over exposure I've had to videos that itself was not enough I'm afraid.

Anyway there's my thoughts on the vid. 8-)
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Post by DriftRoot » Tue Jul 15, 2008 8:01 pm

WesW wrote:Well, the song doesn't really mesh together seamlessly, either. You go from almost a rap style suddenly to a ballad, then a long guitar solo and finally a gritty rock style. I built the whole vid around the death of Himone section, letting the music dictate where things went everywhere else.
I guess it depends upon how you like things, but I don't see a problem with spending the first half introducing the characters and world, if you will, and the second half focusing in on the main guy. (And remember that Darcia barely appears in the whole Death of Jagara section.)
To be honest, I didn't really notice the music changing because it seemed natural and flowed well. I did notice the video changing. YOU pointed out that there was a first and second half - above and beyond simply a music change. :) If you hadn't said anything I might not have said anything, that's how much I liked this video overall. But, since you brought it up... :P
I hope you kept the vid, because I think that you'll like it more and more with multiple viewings.
I keep very, very, very few videos. So few, in fact, that only one of my all-time favorites currently resides on my hard drive and that I rewatch maybe once a year. I did view your's more than once, though, which is more than I can say for most AMVs I download.
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