Image made by Char(SpringLumpling): Thanks so much =)
**1280x720 Encode posted, brought to you by Pete (Daikashisan).
Hey there guys, let's see...where to start.
This took me a little over 5 months to complete. If anything I'd say that I spent at least a good 160+ hours on this (I used up at least 40-45 of those hours messing with pan/crops).
This is by far the most time consuming and therein rewarding project I've ever attempted and I can finally say that I'm content, or rather satisfied, with one of my AMV's. One of the firts things you'll notice is that I used live action footage from the music video to the song, and well I'm sure not everyone will like that (especially considering the bad quality of the footage). But I did it mainly because the song and the music video are both great in that they let off a positive message; it's hard not to smile or feel somewhat happy when watching/listening to them. So in a sense this is my way of paying tribute to both the song and the band.
I feel that the concept of looking for something beautiful reflects the reason that many of us watch anime. In a sense anime is giving us both fuel for thought and subtle glimpses of beauty (both aesthetic and sentimental).
If you havn't seen the music video to Something Beautiful by Needtobreathe then you should do that before you do anything else xD
Here's a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yq1H3l7kyYU
About the video:
I ran into a few things that were simply out of my control, like the quality of the music video for one. But it's to be expected since the music video was compiled from fan-submitted footage; so I had to do my best to work around it. One thing that particularly stands out is that the entire first part of the amv is in grayscale. This is gonna be one of those hit or miss situations but I felt it was necessary to match my editing with the music video (since most of it is in grayscale). Another thing that will be hit or miss is my use of pan/crops. I feel that I effectively used pan/crops throughout most of the video, but then again that's based on what I was trying to portray. I tried to replicate the "shaky-hand" effect that home footage usually has and I think I got it right at some parts and failed miserably at others; but I guess that's for you to decide now xP
And I should note that I used very few anime Op's and Ed's. I tried to be discrete with the ones I did use by selecting clips that are not easily identifiable (but there are exceptions to this of course, like the Air OP)
On a side note, this AMV literally killed my social life and probably took a few months off my life from all the meals I skipped and time I spent sitting down lol. But now that I'm finally done with it I can't help but feel that it was all worth it. I think that's all I have to say for now, hope you guys enjoy it!
I'd love to hear your thoughts on it so be sure to leave comments :3
Note: Special thanks to Kristyn, Jon, Pete, SpringL, Ruby, Alex (Taite), Melissa, and everyone else who beta tested for me.
Here are some personal thoughts that you don't really have to read but if you do then you're cool and will probably get a sense of who I am from it:
This amv is special (to me) because it not only lets off a feel-good vibe but it also gives me the rare opportunity to make people smile (cheesy but bare with it). I know many of you will read this and think "what a loser", but I have a deeply-rooted desire to spread good will. So as long one person out there sees this and lets off a smile or two (real or implied) then it will have all been worth it. This is probably more cheese than anyone should take in on one sitting but who knows maybe I won't be preaching to the choir, there may very well be many of you out there who share the same outlook as me. So to those of you who bothered to read this and let off a smile, a snicker, or a grin (either at the video or at my lame-ness):
Thank You.
