GitS + Peter Gabriel (Trent Reznor) = DGDI1&0?

[808-buma]

Hey all,
this is my first full-fledged AMV and I entered it into a few conventions already. With it's premiere at AWA, I figured that it would be good time to announce it here!

DGDI1&0? - Do Ghosts Dream In One's & Zeros?

Music - Peter Gabriel's Growing Up (remixed by Trent Reznor): I originally heard this song on Gabriel's album Up, and when I did a search for it, I found a version of it that was remixed by Trent Reznor (of Nine Inch Nails) and I just had to listen to it. After finally finding it on an import CD from England, I waited a month for it to get here. Instantly when I heard it and the NiN remixing of it, I instantly thought of...

Anime - Ghost in the Shell OAV: a long time favorite of mine that I thought would mesh very well with Gabriel's song (well, the lyrics include "my ghost likes to travel" and I had just rewatched this anime, so it was kind of obvious).

The inital idea of this came to me in the shower (where a lot of my best ideas for AMV's have come from, so far - I just have to now do them ). After a good six weeks of initial work, I scrapped about half of it and started again as I really had no plot to the AMV. After going thru some heavy thinking, I came up with the story that is here presented:

DGDI1&0? - Do Ghosts Dream In Ones & Zeros?

or just click my sig link below!

here you can read the full details of the vid (sort of long winded, I know, but it did take forever for me to actually finish it). Any and all comments or opinions welcome.

Thanks in advance!

[Otohiko]

A Gabriel video? To something from Up (even if remixed) ?

Well I'll be damned! That album struck a chord with me big-time, and I've been listening to it a lot again lately.

Always wanted to see that, and behold!

***

The remix definitely works better than the album version would, and it definitely works.

It's a bit on the violent side, I think - it sort of sticks out like a sore thumb in what's an otherwise just odd out-there vid - but then the trippy cyber-imagery works in very well. The fact that you semi-ignore the lyrics and just stick to the textures is a plus. My favorite part is definitely the "...slow clouds pass us by...".

Conceptually, definitely interesting and works out enough. The only thing that really irked me is the subtitles. They could've been implemented a bit differently - they were a bit of a distraction at the more interesting moments. I'd go with something more 'far-out' and fitting in with the other trippy imagery in terms of implementing the text. Perhaps there was a bit too much of it in places, too.

Otherwise, eh. This is a Gabriel video I wanted to see

[808-buma]

I'm curious - did anyone who attended AWA actually see this vid up on the big screne? Would love to hear what folks thought about it! If anyone has, please post!

The remix definitely works better than the album version would, and it definitely works.

Yes, I thought so too! When I first heard the song, I drove my better half crazy as I listened to it over and over and over (and over). I use to complain about her doing the same thing (but of course, I was analyzing the song...). Reznor's remix does have more of an edge to it than the original mix.

It's a bit on the violent side, I think - it sort of sticks out like a sore thumb in what's an otherwise just odd out-there vid - but then the trippy cyber-imagery works in very well. The fact that you semi-ignore the lyrics and just stick to the textures is a plus. My favorite part is definitely the "...slow clouds pass us by...".

Violent? Really? There are only the 3 scenes I can think of:
1. the 'DIVE' sequence
2. the 'arms being ripped out' sequence (although I don't see this as being violent, but more the extent of Motoko's determination to get to the answer, really)
3. the very end right before the 'dream' sequence ends (but that's a very critical part of the whole story, so I don't think I could have eliminated it).

and I too like the 'trippy cyber-imagery' too (which I'm guessing is the whole 'hands' thing as well as the scan scene?). I always liked that part of the vid where she falls asleep and it fades to the hands opening up into those 'mini-manipulators' - sinister too. And yes, textures of the music was exactly the point of vid as I really couldn't see past the lyrics 'my ghost likes to travel'.

heheh you like that dream sequence, huh?

Conceptually, definitely interesting and works out enough. The only thing that really irked me is the subtitles. They could've been implemented a bit differently - they were a bit of a distraction at the more interesting moments. I'd go with something more 'far-out' and fitting in with the other trippy imagery in terms of implementing the text. Perhaps there was a bit too much of it in places, too.

Otherwise, eh. This is a Gabriel video I wanted to see

hehehe, I knew I'd get flak about the subtitles. As this was my first real AMV, I couldn't figure out a way to relate this complex story I had in my head without them. I really tried to strategically place them in parts of the song where there were no lyrics (except in the middle of the song where it cuts back from being a dream and continues with the extraction). I really had to try and condense what was said to what I thought was absolutely necessary for the story to make sence (as you can see that was hard for me as I tend to be long winded on stuff like this).

I guess I never meant this vid to be one that was only viewed once - I expected it to be viewed twice. The first time to get the gist of the story and the music down, and the second time for all of the subtitles put in to get the whole story.

As you mention it, I now can think of other ways that I could have relayed this information other than with subtitles (such as maybe a computer screen visual with the 'story' being typed upon it, or something), but at the time, I was sort of hard pressed even just getting this idea up, out, and entered in time .

Thanks for your comments!

[JudgeHolden]

So, could the title be a play on Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

I'm going to take a gander.

JH

[808-buma]

So, could the title be a play on Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

I'm going to take a gander.

JH

ding ding ding ding ding
yup, you got it - you win the prize. It was originally called 'Growing Up in the Shell' but I thought that was a bit cheezy, so I renamed it..

[808-buma]

wow, talk about being burried under all these other AWA announcements !

Anyway, wanted to make a comment on my subtitles, as I've been getting a lot of flak about it in the quick comments:

I guess I really wanted to tell a very complex story that I didn't feel imagery alone could convey. Maybe it was something that, as a newbie AMV-maker, shouldn't have attempted, but I figured 'what the heck?' Maybe a more skilled editor could have done it without them, but at the time, I thought that it was the best way.

I guess too that I never meant this AMV to be only viewed once (but I guess that's how many times most people will watch a vid to make a decision either 'yea' or 'nea' - which I should have thought of but I was focused on that goal ).

Anyway, please give it a look, and a second look too so that you can actually read what's all going on. And, as always, comments are welcome!

[Otohiko]

I think you're agonizing too much over the subtitle issue. But I think you could've done it in a way which would avoid the required two looks.

As a linguist and um... text addict (every piece of writing anywhere always grabs my attention) -
I think I've just come to realize that text always invites a lot of attention, and (literate) people are always drawn to it - because unlike other visuals, it carries very direct semantic meaning that is much friendlier to quick interpretation than anything else out there. It's the same as lyrics in music - vocals always attract a disproportionate amount of attention, and are very hard to ignore compared to everything else.

So, the bottom line with text for me, is that if you use it in your video at all - you should be prepared to admit that immideate attention will always be on text as soon as it clearly appears on screen. This doesn't mean that text shouldn't appear on there, especially if it adds to the video like it does here. But perhaps playing with it more as a sync element and eye candy of sorts might produce better results. Frankly, good use of text in a video is a bit like subtle, creative brainwashing that sort of blends with the picture

Anyways, don't worry about it. The video still looks good as ever, however many times I look at it; but it can be a little hard to pay full attention to either the text or the visual at the same time.

[808-buma]

Anyways, don't worry about it. The video still looks good as ever, however many times I look at it; but it can be a little hard to pay full attention to either the text or the visual at the same time.

Hmm, thanks! I understand your points about the visual impact of the text and at the time I just couldn't figure out a way of doing it differently. In hindsite, I can think of ways, but as I was pretty much created in a vacuum (really had no one to bounce the idea off of), it ended up like it did.

Well, it was a great experiment for me and I think a good attempt at a first video. Lets see how my next one turns out!

[808-buma]

well, with the Onna AMV contest results in, this was the best reported showing of this video (3-way tie for second ). Pretty good I guess for a first AMV.

Making this video was a lot of fun and fustration on my part (fun to actually create something from two unrelated sources and fustration in learning how to do this feat of creation).

now, what to do next!