Information
- Member: MCWagner
- Studio: Artificial Suns
- Title: Land of Confusion
- Premiered: 2001-09-21
- Categories:
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Song:
- Genesis Land of Confusion
- Anime:
- Participation:
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Comments:
Entry into the AWA 7 pro contest. Was not nominated for any category in the pro contest, but did recieve a "VAT talent award" presented jointly by Big Big Truck and Alumninum Studios. I got a lot of very nice comments on this video while at the convention, so despite its lack of nomination in the pro category, I still consider it well recieved.
As always, my videos are defined by the technical problems I encounter while attempting to pull them togeather. The problem with this video was my inability to get clean source footage of the seventh episode of GR. My only copy of it is a crappy old fansub, about a third generation with a good bit of static fuzz. Anticipating finding a replacement, I went ahead and assembled it with what I had available. When a friend (from a local anime club) never came through with their clean commercial copy despite repeated promises, I lead a frantic search through everywhere I could find. I swear, the dub release isn't for sale ANYWHERE anymore. I had to settle for a raw rental from a Japanese grocery store. The problem? The rental had been watched enough that the tape had degenerated to the state of my fansub. Except my fansub was significantly brighter than the raw rental. Filters everywhere in a vain effort to meld the two sources togeather. About 45 seconds from the ending, you'll notice a sudden degredation of video quality. This paragraph was the explanation why.
To a large degree, this video was intended as a "rebuttal" to some of the more flashy, action and effect-intensive videos that have been coming out of late. No, they're not all bad, but from my witness of audience reaction and chatter on various boards, the effects are starting to become the determining factor in the most "talked about" videos of the year. (I suppose I could trace this back to "I Believe"...which is nonetheless a brilliant vid.) I find this rather distressing, as the videos that pulled me into this hobby were of the old 2-vcr style assembled for dramatic rather than flashy effect. (I am glad that I started out on a computer, as, considering the number of times I screw up, I'd never get a video done the old way.) Second, I had been drifting too far in that direction myself...especially considering that my technical ignorance always prevented me from getting the effect I wanted in the end. Also, I felt a need to do a serious drama video. Finally, I felt that taking a more "old-school" approach to the style, timing, and clip selection fit in perfectly with the retro manner of GR, as well as the selection of an (in comparison with most current AMVs) antiquated hit from Genesis. My "perfect 10s" in this hobby are videos like Marc Hairston's Nadia "Captain Nemo," the excellent "Why Me," etc., and I felt that I had a solid enough idea to try something along those lines.
Of course, the leopard can't change his spots, and I ended up doing some flashy cuts and snazzy transitions anway. Fewer than usual, though.
Most of this issue was frankly laid to rest at the contest, as there were several rather "old-school" style entries of amazing quality, including "Here Comes the Flood" to Future Boy Conan, "Farewell to Arms" to Naausicca, and the excellent "Pony Man" to Totoro. (Hmm... all Ghibli flicks...)
Anyway, most of my videos are built up around several "seed points," points of perfect scene-music matching in my ideas, which are then extrapolated and continued out in both directions until all the holes are filled in. I let this particular video rattle around in my head for so long, I had about twenty seed points by the time I started. I am especially proud at how well some of these points turned out in this video. "Burning into the night" to Von Folger's candle going out, "I won't be coming home tonight" to the Chief facing off against the eye, "Superman where are you now" to young Daisaku with his dying father, etc. The best moment, however, is in the flashback sequence following "I remember long ago..."
Tech specs...done on a pentium 3 with Ulead Media Studio Pro and the commercial VHS dub releases of GR 1-6.