Review - Interstellar Cataclysm Weighs Heavy... - opalarmor

[CrackTheSky]

1) The video will not be posted by the creator (we have announcement forums for that).
2) The video will not have a currently active announcement thread.
3) The thread creator should post their thoughts on the video to initiate discussion.
4) The thread will start with a copy and paste of these 4 rules.


I'm sorry, I know there has been an inundation of review threads lately, but I've been wanting to get this one out for weeks so I figured I should just do it now. If you ignore all my other review threads, pay attention to this one. I think it's worth it. On to the review:

I want to present to you decent folks here at a-m-v.org an AMV that is so unique in its presentation that the only way to properly classify it is to use that oh-so-enigmatic "other" category that most editors just throw in when entering their video info to cover all the bases. In opalarmor's case, "other" is probably the only descriptor that will even get close to describing what this video is about.

I'm going against my usual MO here, because this is a video that is almost completely random and whose storyline/concept is more or less completely ignorable. Although opalarmor's description of his video claims that there is a common thread that runs through the scene selection and keeps everything together (if only loosely), it's just as easy to write that off as a weak excuse for making something utterly random. I personally subscribe to the former, but I have a feeling others might not be so generous; luckily, this is where the video shines.

Regardless of your acceptance of the video's concept, it's hard to deny that this is not only well-edited, but edited extremely uniquely. First, although this video was made in 2006, it boasts effect use that stands up to today's standards, if not in prettiness than in the fact that you'll be hard pressed to find other videos that make such creative use of such simple effects. On top of this, there is a ton of variety in the effects usage, and yet none of them look out of place. The overall 'feel' of the effects remains consistent throughout, and in my opinion this is probably the video's greatest strength.

Additionally, the editing is able to keep up with the often frentic pacing of the song. Cuts and other external sync devices are all placed spot-on, making the video flow extremely well. Considering the constant tempo changes in the song, this is high praise - the visuals never get ahead or fall behind the beat. In a similar vein, the scene selection just feels right, no matter how much you may argue that the scenes are random in relation to one another. This tends to add to the video's weirdness, but this in turn makes the video all the better - this video was meant to be weird from the start, after all.

The only things I can possibly complain about are some questionable lip sync, and the rather unimpressive visual quality. Neither matter much to me though, and everything this video does right masks its more minor mistakes.

This is truly top-notch editing, and I have yet to find a video quite like it. This video has been one of my favorites since I first started editing. Over the years, this has stayed near the top of my lists not because of personal fondness or a stubborness to let go, but because it stands the test of time as something truly unique - something I simply have not found anywhere else, either before it was released or since. How many AMVs can truly boast that they stand alone? In a hobby where hundreds of thousands of such videos exist, not many, and as far as I'm concerned that is a video worth keeping.

[Fall_Child42]

I have seen a couple of videos like this, but I really really liked this one.

Now, to carry over from another thread, this is actually what I think of as a "trash" AMV.

I think this amv is actually quite dadaist in nature. The music is a mashing together of rather boring pop music to make something new, and this video rips apart the "accepted" amv styles and mushes them back together in a collage to make something unique. Sure the video doe not have a "point" but i think it's pointlessness is its point.

To me this video seems like a complete deconstruction of the AMV form, and that's why I love it.

[godix]

Eh, I didn't like it. Weirdness for weirdness sake is fine. And I do tend to like, or at least admire the attempt, 'other' vids. But this was just blah. It didn't leave me with a feeling of "I've never seen that before!", instead it left me a feeling of "I've seen everything in it before, just not mashed up randomly and set to such a shitty song". It does well at what it was trying to do I suppose, but I just don't particularly like what it was trying to do.

[Knowname]

I think this amv is actually quite dadaist in nature. The music is a mashing together of rather boring pop music to make something new, and this video rips apart the "accepted" amv styles and mushes them back together in a collage to make something unique. Sure the video doe not have a "point" but i think it's pointlessness is its point.

I could present you with a giant shit and you'd like it wouldn't ya?

[Fall_Child42]

it depends on the context.