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Information

• Member: norskotaku
• Studio: OAS (OrangeAnime Studios)
• Title: Priceless
• Premiered: 2004-05-15
• Categories:
  • Drama
  • Serious
• Song:
  • Copeland Priceless
• Anime:
  • RahXephon (TV)
• Participation:
  • animecentral AMV Contest, animecentral AMV Contest (2004-05-14)
  • FanimeCon, FanimeCon (2004-05-28)
  • Animazement 2004, Animazement 2004 (2004-05-28)
• Comments: A long time in the works, this video had been in the back of my mind for many months before it was finally brought to life. One look at my profile will tell you I'm a Copeland fan ^_^ but this song was actually not on my list of amv ideas for a long time. I think it was shortly after finishing RahXephon that I got the idea for this video. One key moment in the series hit me pretty hard, and I wanted to create a video that would take the viewer through all the emotion I fealt while watching that part of the series.
  
  While listening to the Copeland cd in my car, I actually listened to this song rather than skipping past it in favor of the 4th track which is more upbeat. ^_^ After seeing the anime, and now listening to this song for the first time in quite awhile, I was struck by the beauty of this arrangement and how well it fit with the part of the series I had been thinking about. Just listening to the song took me through as much emotion as that moment in the series did, and I knew it was a video I would have to make.
  
  The actual production of the video was no easy task. I think I spent more hours on this video than I thought I would need to, and the finished product is well above what I expected this video to be. I learned quite a few new techniques in the course of making this video, and for me personally, this represents a new standard that my videos must live up to.
  
  Storywise, the video focuses on the relationship between Ayato and Asahina. For those who have seen the series, I'll be more specific below. For those who have yet to see the series, the video may spoil certain parts, but not enough to spoil the entire series, so don't let that keep you from enjoying it.
  
  As always, I welcome any opinions on this video, and will read and reply to your comments as quickly as I can. (and make every effort to do the same for one of your videos when I have the chance. ^_^) Also, if you first saw this video at a con, let me know! I'm curious who might've seen it, where and when, etc.
  
  (copy on Local server is Xvid)
  
  WARNING: the rest of this description may contain spoilers for the video and/or series. for best effect, try watching the video before reading on so I don't ruin anything for you.
  
  As I said above, this video is about Ayato and Asahina. If you're reading this, you've hopefully seen the series, and you know what happens between these two and how Asahina is killed. That moment in the series was what I spoke of before, so it is the first climax of this video, and the central point from which everything else was built. I pictured that moment of Asahina's death in this video before I ever knew what would come before and after it.
  
  I had a lot of trouble with the opening, and I must've spent a week trying various clips before I decided on how to open the video. I was also struggling over the difficulties presented by some of the footage. Many of the episodes that feature Asahina were cropped in the original anime, leaving black bars at the top and bottom of the screen. (I believe this was done anytime the stroy returned to Tokyo Jupiter after Ayato learned about the real world) Because of this, I could not use some clips where I wanted to in the song without mixing full screen and non-full screen footage. Somehow it eventually clicked to use this cropped footage at the opening, and I also clipped the footage in premiere as well to make sure it was all uniform. A few of those clips are actually full screen, so I had some freedom being able to make the center of the image a bit and the clip the top and bottom so it matched the other footage.
  
  After seeing how this worked out in the opening, I thought about taking it back to the same aspect ratio at the end of the video. Little did I know the last episode was already cropped like that. lol. so even if I didn't want to do it that way, I had to, and as much as I loved the transition from wide screen to full screen, I loved the transition back to wide screen even more.
  
  I may note that this was made entirely in premiere. I know the visual effects I created in the first instrumental part of the song may be done in after effects using masks, but I made these with layer after layer of footage in premiere. I think this video has a total of 5 or 6 video layers, which is well over the 3 I usually use.
  
  At the bridge, for Asahina's death scene, I took a chance using the biggest injury she takes as the first hit of the music. I worried about being able to keep the effect of the music strong since the injuries on Asahina were being played out in almost opposite order. Overall, I'm happy with how it turned out, as I feel it matches the music first and the story second. I think if I had gone in the order of the footage, it would've looked too much like one big scene from the anime anyway.
  
  Well, those are all my thoughts at the moment. I may edit this later as I remember more of what I wanted to say about the video. ^_^
  
  
  Honorable Mention (drama category) - ACEN 2004
  *WINNER* - Best Drama - Metrocon 2004
  
  ----- added Thursday, August 25, 2005 -----
  
  UPDATE 25.08.05: direct and indirect downloads have been removed for now. please continue to enjoy the local copy!