JOURNAL: Chaos Angel (Dave Warren)

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  • Wow... long time since I updated... 2002-11-15 17:02:19 I think I am finished with "One Helluva Bad Day". I say "think", because even though I have put it in the database, I am still not sure that I want to leave one section as it is. The section in question, I had planned some ffects to put in, but I decided to not put them in because what I was planning, I decided would be too visually distracting and it would hinder the viewer's ability to tell what the hell was going on. But, the section in the last half of the middle section just feels like it needs something... but what that is, I dunno.

    Other news...

    I still can't FTP anything larger than about 30 KB into my site. I've come up with a possible reason why, which is supported by what I've found by asking other people. My University caps uploads to conserve bandwidth. Probably intended to inhibit P2P programs from eating up bandwidth, but it also makes it impossible to upload a video, or even a large JPEG.

    >_<

    In other news, I seem to be watching anime less and less frequently. I tend to BS on the computer by default when bored, rather than popping in DVDs. I am thinking of changing that because It's taking forever to watch Outlaw Star when I watch, like, two episodes a week. I also have Disc 1 of His and Her Circumstances yet to watch, and I've been consumed with the desire to watch Trigun again (damn good series), so I'm going to go for that.

    Thoughts on Outlaw Star.

    It's been awhile since I last saw Outlaw Star, and that was on Toonami's Midnight Run, so watching the uncut verson in subtitles on DVD is a huge difference. The sub voice for Gene is SOOOOO much better than the dub, both in terms of acting quality and appropriateness. I love how cute Aisha's voice sounds, although the English voice had it's own quality that I liked. I liked the English VAs job on Aisha myself, the scratchy voice has it's own distinct charm; I just like the Japanese version more. It's much cuter and easier on the ears in the long run.

    The story of Outlaw Star seems riddled with filler episodes. At least half of the episodes I've seen thus far (I'm not counting my memories of CN, only my most recent viewings, and I am currently on Episode 17, Between Life and Machine) just feel like filler that was put in to stretch the series out. I can't help but think that Outlaw Star could have been made as a 13 episode series rather than 26, and it would have a more cohesive storyline without needless filler. The general plot isn't exactly long or complicated, (Gene and Jim are hired by Hilda, find the XGP, get chased by the pirates, find the Leyline, boom. It isn't exactly complex.) and it would have more cohesion as a short series, I feel. Also, Aisha and Suzuka, as characters, just feel gratuitious. Suzuka, I don't buy her reason for joining the team in the first place. Why does she throw away her "contract" to kill Gene? Wouldn't her honor decree that she kill Gene and then kill Fred? No, she teams up with Gene because she finds him interesting. I don't buy it. I think the writers could have done better. And Aisha is essentially a eye candy combined with comedy relief. Neither one really has any importance to the story line. They are just there for flavor, and to give Gene a little harem.

    If I thought it were possible, I'd love to see Outlaw Star re-done as a shorter series, maybe even an OAV, with the needless filler removed and the plotline tightened up. Give Aisha and Suzuka a purpose for their existance, especially Suzuka. Don't make Gene spend half the series bull-shitting and not doing anything. (When Hilda dies, he seems concinced to find the Leyline and find out what she was killed for. But, up until the last 8 episodes or so, he doesn't really even DO anything.) Outlaw Star would work better, I feel, as a shorter series without all the crap filler. Or, at least, give it more narrative cohesion and make the filler episodes worth something.

    That being said, I do like Outlaw Star. I love the gorgeous animation, and I think it's a good action-adventure series. I love the world created for it, especially the technology and the combination of magic and sci-fi tech. I've always loved the idea of cultures where magic and futuristic technology go hand-in-hand, like in Outlaw Star and Final Fantasy 7 and 8. And Outlaw Stars mechanical designs, I love. The weapons and the ships are very creatively designed, and the Outlaw Star itself is simply gorgeous. The idea of Grapplar Arms, I also find extremely interesting. Granted, it's essentially a mecha, but Outlaw Star does it differently. It's not your standard transforming war-ship. No flashy stock-footage transformation sequence. Just simple arms. I personally like it. Simple, but effective. I'd love to pilot a Grapplar ship.

    Wonderful technological designs, great animation (although most of episode 18 relies on the old "use the camera to make them seem to be moving" trick, which I personally loathe), it's a simple, uncomplicated action-adventure story that is sadly dragged down by having half the series, if not more, act as crap-filler.

    Yeah. 
  • Flip-Flopping is FUN!! 2002-11-05 21:03:50 Ok, I broke my promise to myself and went to work on a totally different video. I am thinking of simply scrapping the Bastard video altogether because there isn't enough of the kind of footage I need to make what I want to create. As for the 14 video I mentioned earlier, well, I'll re-visit that later. I've begun working on a video project I am having a blast with, and I think will turn out to be a fun video. It's going to be called "One Helluva Bad Day". It's essentially Spike getting the crap kicked out of him by a VERY bad day on the job. I'm having a lot of fun working on it, and I love the ending sequence.

    It started off as simply an experiment to see how many effects I could cram into a video and still have it work, and as I started working on it, I begun to have ideas on how I could make it something more than just random idiocy. Now, it's not-so-random idiocy!! Originally, I was just going to pick random fight scenes for the sake of having footage to mess with effects with, and this whole video was never going to see the light of day. Then, I got the idea to essentialy re-tell Episode 22, Cowboy Funk, in video form, but that crapped out due to the amount of footage I could find in the episode that would fit the song I chose (I heard this song, and visions of Bebop just flew through my mind. So, I went with it), but now I have decided to focus on scenes where Spike gets the crap beat out of him, and make the video essentially one very bad day on the job for Spike.

    And yes, it will still feature a LOT of effects. The song I chose simply begs for flashy, eye-wrenching effects. I estimate render time at 48 hours. ;)

    Between the title I made earlier, and what I have just put into the video on a whim, I am discovering that I LOVE Text Integration. Premiere 6.5's Titles creater is very nice and I've simply fallen in love with it. Here is a sample from the video, the final scene in the video actually, so don't download the picture if you would rather wait for me to finish it before you look at it.

    http://www.davarius.com/images/Bad_Day.jpg

    I'f I didn't think the text would look insanely small when shrunk down, I'd make an avatar out of it.

    ^_^ 
  • GAH!! 2002-10-28 22:59:29 I found a glitch in my Course of Action video. Whenever the subtitles pop up, the screen turns faintly black. The blue background must not have been pure blue, so when the transparancy is applied, it leaves a faint black film over the picture, making it look dingy whenever the subtitles pop up.

    I wish I hadn't broken the mold (i.e. deleted the project file and source clips) when I finished CoA... >_<

    Goddess!! ::stress::

    Oh, well.

    I caught that mistake (too late...) when I was watching Course of Action again. I began to have ideas for a remake, wherein I explore Tenchi's role in the scenario I created for the video further. He doesn't play to strongly, and the video focuses mostly on Ryoko, but I have been wanting to explore further the role Tenchi plays in the narrative, because I think his reasons for getting back with Ryoko don't come across very clearly. He just seems to apparently drop Haruna for no real reason. I think his reasons should be explored further.

    Maybe later. I'm currently working on my Bastard video, but I may not finish it. There really isn't enough footage to do what I want to do. It would mostly be Darsh and Arshe fighting for no apparent reason. That's not what I want to do. It's hard to do a character tribute to a character who only appears in three episodes. There's not enough footage to focus on one character, at least not for the video I want to do (if I was just doing an action video, it'd probably be a different story.)

    Basatard needs to be longer, or at least go further into the character's backgrounds.

    ::stress::

    Maybe I'll put it on hold...

    Naw. I'm tired of backing out of projects. I'm going to finish this one, no matter how crappy it turns out to be. Then, I am going to re-visit my "She's Only 14!!" idea I discarded last summer.

    I want to do that video SO badly... ::whines:: 
  • ROMS 2002-10-23 19:01:55 I began to think about some of the old NES games I used to play all of the damn time. I missed them so much, I finally got with the times and downloaded an emulator and some roms.

    I forgot how much I love them... ^_^

    I love Kirby's Adventure, and I forgot how tough Lolo can be. Here's some outtakes me me playing Lolo. (note: I've begun to say "Goddess" instead of "God" when I get pissed, etc., on the theory that it makes just as much sense and carries just as much weight. Besides, I've always believed that if there IS a God, it's female, not male.)

    ----

    ::I screw myself over:: Goddess... ::starts stage over::

    ::I die:: Goddess... ::starts stage over::

    ::I die again:: Goddess... ::starts stage over::

    ::I screw myself over again:: Goddess... ::starts stage over::

    ::I manage to do both:: GODDESS!! ::breaks screen::

    Well, enough fun. I need to do laundry and play more Kirby and Lolo. Ja ne. 
  • 2002-10-22 15:49:00 The Dragon Half dub is going on my good dub list, which makes my Good Dub list w whopping three. (Cowboy Bebop, Hellsing, and now Dragon Half). I love the way the VA's handle the characters. It just works so well for me. 
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