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Information

• Member: starlady38
• Title: The Destiny of Roses (Let It Will Be) [Madonna Project #1]
• Premiered: 2006-03-20
• Categories:
  • Drama
  • Character Profile
  • Dance
• Song:
  • Madonna Let It Will Be
• Anime:
  • Rose of Versailles, The
• Comments: 7/2/07: REMASTERED!!
  
  That's right, folks, my first and probably only effort at remastering, since I got so many requests to do so the first time I released this video. This new version was made using DVD source footage encoded at a much higher quality level, and after watching the two versions side-by-side I can attest that the colors are truer, the picture sharper and the overall quality better on the remastered cut. Also, now with 100% fewer subtitles! And approximately 66% less lip flap!
  
  In all seriousness, remastering this was an interesting experience, as I had to recreate the video from scratch shot-by-shot, since I had foolishly screwed up my old project file. It's a lot easier to make a video when you know EXACTLY what clips you're going to use, right down to which frame to start at...and I would say that the process gave me a renewed appreciation of my own style as an editor, and of that style's weaknesses. There are a lot of places in this video where, with a little more patience originally, I could have tightened the timing just a little bit and made the video excellent. As it is, I think it's still very good. And as usual, my concept stumbles in the endgame, but unlike some of my other videos, I think I managed to save this one decently well.
  
  3/24/06: My seventh video. I know I swore I'd never use WMV again, but there you are.
  
  This is a video for "Rose of Versailles," an anime from the 70s which was one of the direct influences on Revolutionary Girl Utena, one of my all-time favorites. As soon as I watched the first episode of RV I knew I wanted to make this video, and I knew it would either be this song or another one from the same album.
  
  Madonna's "Confessions on a Dance Floor" rocks, quite simply. "The Madonna Project" is a vague idea I have of making an AMV for each of the 12 tracks on the album. I don't know if I will ever finish the project, but this video is #1 of 12 in any case.
  
  Oscar Francois de Jarjeyes is a French noblewoman whose father raises her as a boy to carry on the family's tradition of miliary service to the king. When the anime begins Oscar is 14 & it is 20 years before the French Revolution; Marie Antoinette is on her way to marry the Dauphin & Oscar has been offered command of the Royal Guard in charge of protecting the future queen. One of the themes in "Rose of Versailles" is Oscar's choice to "put aside her womanhood" in the words of the narrator and live a life of "glory and passion" in the words of the opening theme. In the first episode especially however, she has to prove herself despite/because of her gender, as well as choose whether she will enter the Royal Guard as its commander or not. Her father is pressuring her to join, while her servants hope she will start wearing dresses and make a debut in society. They're the ones who have to "let it will be" and let Oscar make her own choice.
  
  The AMV makes Oscar's father seem a little slap-happy, which is a distortion. He's no more slap-happy than any other autocratic father disappointed in his son (who's really a daughter, but that's irrelevant to him).
  
  There is also one shot in this video it might have behooved me to change, but I'd rather not. The anime is given to lots of dead time (seconds will go by while we stare at a character's feet, for example), and I wanted to preserve that aspect in the video. As for the rest, I couldn't be more pleased, and I hope you will enjoy it. Comments & opinions are always appreciated.