Youtube link Cards version
"Sawako thinks she's a troublesome to her friends, so she wishes to "disappear" from their lifes.
But magic doesn't always work the way you want to... If you ever thought you would be fine without your friends, think again."
My entry for Project OrgEditor. With so many amazing entries, I really wasn't expecting to be 2nd place.
And since the opinions about the cards varied so much, I decided to upload both versions. I agree with those that said it works both ways, so...
--
A little story about how I did everything (since I've been getting a lot of questions about it and how I did it so "fast"):
Spoiler :
The scenes where people disappeared, I took screenshots and decided to rebuild the scenes in Photoshop. Lots of cloning and playing around with the patch tool. The most complicated scene was the one with a lot of students outside the classrooms. Initially I thought about making them all disappear on those 3 scenes, but 1) it would probably be too fast 2) I wasn't sure if I would be able to finish it on time.
Then there's also a scene with Chizu and Ayane in the bathroom with Sawako. Behind them there are like 3 girls that you would recognize from the first group of students who disappear. Not only it would ruin the mood, but it would also didn't match the story: people around her go away first, then her closest friends and finally Kazehaya. So that scene was redone frame by frame, because it's not a still image.
The scene choice was also a bit tricky... For those that saw the anime will probably understand this better. But the second season helped a lot here, specially that scene with Sawako and Kazehaya outside (I wrote down the episode soon as I figured out the story). Since the beginning I wanted him to be the last one to disappear, just like in Sakura (yes I'm a big fan of it too!) Her classmates disappear really fast, Tomoyo is not so fast and Syaoran stays for a long time next to her. Though this is all because Syaoran too has a few powers, but for my story this happened because of how she feels about each one of them.
Even though we're short on time, having the whole story inside my head helped me a lot. Also, before I even started selecting scenes I just wrote down clips of text with what would happen where. For example, the part where the magic happens was probably one of the first scenes I dragged into Vegas. I usually do this and it helps a lot, I also did it with Watery Symphony with Kai, though with solid colors for each season so each one would have the same "time".
Anyway, the story about the cards was a last minute thing. It might seem complicated, but for me it wasn't for a very simple reason... I used Cinema 4D for that. I did the card and then made instances of it (like duplicating) and made a quick animation of them, always thinking about Sawako in the middle. There's a part where the cards change from Clow cards to Sakura cards, but since everything happens so fast I guess you can't notice that. I work with this software almost every day at work, so all of this didn't take long. The tricky part was to mask the cards and since they turn around her two times (I think it's two times), at least two of them would have to pass behind her. But despite a few usual crashes, everything was cool.
So in the end, I just used the tools I'm most comfortable with: Photoshop and Cinema 4D to make the "magic" happen. Like I said to my friend Anna, Photoshop is probably like a second soul to me lol. Though I do avoid using it at home, because it feels like I'm working, but in the end I always do things that I enjoy so.... And Cinema 4D, I've been working with it for 2 years.
About the song cut, well I didn't do that in the middle of the video. If I have to cut a song I prefer to do it in the beginning so that my story doesn't end up confusing people (and myself lol). I knew those that love the song would notice the "saaaaaaaad" cut, but I'm glad that you only noticed that one! There are actually two song cuts. I had a lot of good reasons for not making the full song: 1) the scenes and who would disappear... I also wanted to make Ryu disappear or Pin or Kurumi, but then... Sawako and Ryu don't have a lot of scenes together and when they do they're happy, Pin is a jerk most of the times and the scenes he has together with Sawako either she's a chibbi character or he sees her as a voodoo doll (or something), Kurumi could fit, but I don't really like her... plus she's mean to Sawako, so even if Sawako likes her... it didn't made sense to me. 2) the chorus repeats sooo many times... I love the song, I really do, but in the end what would I do with a song where the chorus repeats like 3 times? I could do flashbacks and stuff, I thought about that, but it would probably be boring. 3) the slow part of the song in the middle had to be for Kazehaya and no one else lol. So it wasn't me being lazy, because I ended up finishing it way earlier, that was me thinking about a clear and solid story.
The end!
Then there's also a scene with Chizu and Ayane in the bathroom with Sawako. Behind them there are like 3 girls that you would recognize from the first group of students who disappear. Not only it would ruin the mood, but it would also didn't match the story: people around her go away first, then her closest friends and finally Kazehaya. So that scene was redone frame by frame, because it's not a still image.
The scene choice was also a bit tricky... For those that saw the anime will probably understand this better. But the second season helped a lot here, specially that scene with Sawako and Kazehaya outside (I wrote down the episode soon as I figured out the story). Since the beginning I wanted him to be the last one to disappear, just like in Sakura (yes I'm a big fan of it too!) Her classmates disappear really fast, Tomoyo is not so fast and Syaoran stays for a long time next to her. Though this is all because Syaoran too has a few powers, but for my story this happened because of how she feels about each one of them.
Even though we're short on time, having the whole story inside my head helped me a lot. Also, before I even started selecting scenes I just wrote down clips of text with what would happen where. For example, the part where the magic happens was probably one of the first scenes I dragged into Vegas. I usually do this and it helps a lot, I also did it with Watery Symphony with Kai, though with solid colors for each season so each one would have the same "time".
Anyway, the story about the cards was a last minute thing. It might seem complicated, but for me it wasn't for a very simple reason... I used Cinema 4D for that. I did the card and then made instances of it (like duplicating) and made a quick animation of them, always thinking about Sawako in the middle. There's a part where the cards change from Clow cards to Sakura cards, but since everything happens so fast I guess you can't notice that. I work with this software almost every day at work, so all of this didn't take long. The tricky part was to mask the cards and since they turn around her two times (I think it's two times), at least two of them would have to pass behind her. But despite a few usual crashes, everything was cool.
So in the end, I just used the tools I'm most comfortable with: Photoshop and Cinema 4D to make the "magic" happen. Like I said to my friend Anna, Photoshop is probably like a second soul to me lol. Though I do avoid using it at home, because it feels like I'm working, but in the end I always do things that I enjoy so.... And Cinema 4D, I've been working with it for 2 years.
About the song cut, well I didn't do that in the middle of the video. If I have to cut a song I prefer to do it in the beginning so that my story doesn't end up confusing people (and myself lol). I knew those that love the song would notice the "saaaaaaaad" cut, but I'm glad that you only noticed that one! There are actually two song cuts. I had a lot of good reasons for not making the full song: 1) the scenes and who would disappear... I also wanted to make Ryu disappear or Pin or Kurumi, but then... Sawako and Ryu don't have a lot of scenes together and when they do they're happy, Pin is a jerk most of the times and the scenes he has together with Sawako either she's a chibbi character or he sees her as a voodoo doll (or something), Kurumi could fit, but I don't really like her... plus she's mean to Sawako, so even if Sawako likes her... it didn't made sense to me. 2) the chorus repeats sooo many times... I love the song, I really do, but in the end what would I do with a song where the chorus repeats like 3 times? I could do flashbacks and stuff, I thought about that, but it would probably be boring. 3) the slow part of the song in the middle had to be for Kazehaya and no one else lol. So it wasn't me being lazy, because I ended up finishing it way earlier, that was me thinking about a clear and solid story.
The end!
xD ) but it really does make the AMV look incredible! 
Aw and yes the song cuts, gomene! You see... one week is not enough ;p besides like the said I would have to change a bit of the "story"
What am I saying...