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Information

• Member: HorrorPhD
• Studio: Dr. Raven Productions
• Title: The Mark of My Sins
• Premiered: 2006-02-24
• Categories:
  • Drama
  • Character Profile
  • Serious
• Song:
  • Nightwish Nemo
• Anime:
  • Trinity Blood
• Participation:
  • Anime Detour, Anime Detour AMV Contest (2006-03-25)
  • Tekkoshocon, AMV Contest (2006-04-01)
  • AniZona, AniZona AMV Contest (2006-04-14)
  • Kawaii-Kon, Kawaii-Kon Anime Music Video Contest (2006-04-15)
  • Tora-Con, Tora-Con AMV Contest (2006-04-22)
  • Matsuricon, Matsuricon 2006 AMV Contest (2006-04-22)
  • Otafest 2006, Otafest 2006 - AMV Contest (2006-05-22)
  • Fanime Con 2006, Fanime Con 2006 AMV Contest (2006-05-27)
  • Colossalcon, Colossalcon 2006 (2006-06-03)
  • METROCON 2006, AMV Contest (2006-06-04)
  • A-Kon 17, A-Kon 17 Experts Anime Music Video Contest (2006-06-09)
  • Anime Expo 2006, Anime Expo 2006 (2006-07-01)
  • PortConMaine 2006, Anime Music Video Contest (2006-07-01)
  • Animethon 13, Animethon 13 AMV Contest (2006-07-08)
  • JAPAN EXPO 7th AMV CONTEST, JAPAN EXPO Annual AMV CONTEST (2006) (2006-07-09)
  • AVCon 2006, AVCon 2006 AVMV Competition (2006-07-15)
  • Northern Anime Festival, Northern Anime Festival (2006-07-22)
  • Anime Evolution 2006, Anime Evolution 2006 AMV Contest (2006-08-19)
  • Anime Weekend Atlanta 12, AWA 12 EXPOSITION CONTEST (2006-09-22)
  • MAniFest 2006, MAniFest AMV Competition (2006-09-23)
• Comments: AWARDS/FINALIST ANNOUNCEMENTS:
  
  ***BEST DRAMA - ANIME DETOUR 2006***
  ***BEST DRAMA - ANIZONA 2006***
  ***BEST DRAMA - TORA-CON 2006***
  ***1ST PLACE/BEST IN SHOW - MECHACON 2006***
  ***MOST VISUALLY APPEALING - ANIME NEBRASKON 2006***
  
  **(And more finalist nominations than I care to count :P)**
  
  In early December, 2005, I received Trinity Blood as a birthday gift. From the first episode, I knew that one of my next projects would involve the anime, and more specifically, a character profile of Abel Nightroad.
  
  Thus, my life got put on hold. Honestly, I haven't had an anime grab a hold of me this tightly since Samurai Champloo and Cowboy Bebop. And if you're one of the few who know me well, you know that's a very big deal. I spent the next several days cutting my sleep short just so I could watch each episode. All the while, the ideas for this character profile kept running through my brain.
  
  As I watched the series through a few more times, the ideas became clearer. Abel Nightroad is, at least in my opinion, a character of great moral strength and even greater angst. I wanted to tell the story of his pain, his curse that he uses to defend the innocent that he has to reconcile with every day - the fact that he is a Kresnik (a vampire that feeds on other vampires, for those that haven't seen the series).
  
  When it came to choosing a song, well, let's just say I beat my head against a very hard wall. I wanted to find something that was just as epic sounding as the series was visually, yet something that also was appropriate for the concept I wanted to convey. As much as I hated picking something from the "overused" list of artists, Nightwish's "Nemo" was an obvious choice in the end.
  
  And then the nightmare began...
  
  Editing...ahhh, the editing. It was a glorious experience (if you like that sort of masochistic thing). This video went through 4 rough drafts that were completely different from one another, using different clips, different effects, etc. Eventually I learned that the best option was to take the best from all 4...draft number 5, which is what you'll see here. I nit-picked this one to death, peoples. From the timing, to the lyric matches to making sure the concept and emotion were never lost...I was ruthless on myself. In fact, at one point I thought about scrapping the project completely because I didn't think I would ever get it "just right." Thankfully, I'm stubborn and not one to accept defeat...especially at the hands of an AMV. :)
  
  
  The story and how it all plays out:
  
  The first and second verses (as well as their respective choruses) are all about Abel reflecting on his dark side and the sadness it brings him. Can someone smell the angst in the room? Cuz there's a lot of it. The second verse takes us a little deeper into his past, while the first is more about what's going on in the present.
  
  After this comes Cain, the antagonist in the video. Because of his actions, Abel comes to terms with what he is and what he has to do.
  
  And the end...while he still wrestles with "the mark of his sins," Abel uses his Kresnik abilities to defend the innocent in an attempt to cleanse his own soul.
  
  SPOILER WARNING: This video contains MASSIVE spoilers. If you haven't seen the series, or haven't seen all of the series...you've been warned. Proceed with caution!!
  
  
  Effects - alrighty now, this is where I get to look at my feedback on this and see whether or not you people read these descriptions. ;) THIS IS NOT AN EFFECTS HEAVY VIDEO. If that's what you're looking for, please, don't download it - you'll be disappointed. I used very simple effects, mostly in the transitions. There are ¼ second crossfades, fade outs, 2 white flashes and 3 overlays (one of which was done in photoshop), and a fade to white at the end. For a more cinematic and dramatic appearance, it has also been letterboxed.
  
  Soooo...the grand total clock hours, you ask? I stopped counting at 300. Almost three months including the time I used watching the series, formulating the concept, scripting, collecting footage, editing...and daydreaming about it at work. There was many a sleepless night, and many more times when my phone got shut off and my friends and family thought I'd fallen off the face of the earth because I was immersed in making this the best AMV I've made to date.
  
  Finally, to sum up my long-windedness, I'd like to thank a few people, without whom this project would have never seen the light of day (that's a hint to those of you who don't like it - blame these people!):
  
  Elifantboy - thanks for being a beta, for all the suggestions, help with photoshop and for listening to me whine.
  
  JudgeHolden - Ditto. You, unlike Elifantboy, had the good fortune to beta this when I was close to the end, so you were spared the majority of my whining. ;) As always, thank you for being constructive. Most importantly, though - thank you for letting me be a pest. :)
  
  Mom - thanks for helping me with song selection, interpretation, and for watching the final version with your mouth hanging open.
  
  Vlasis - Even though this one doesn't have your music playing in the background, you remain a constant inspiration. Thank you for reminding me (at the point I was considering scrapping this) that every artist anguishes over the final product and that I should just suck it up and get it done. Coming from you, that means a lot.
  
  Jeremy - Mr. Reeves, this one is for you. For all the help you've given me with codecs, software questions and complaints, right down to making 6GB of disk space seem like 100...
  
  That's it. I'm done. If you made it this far through my rambling, thank you and congratulations! Please enjoy this...and if you'd like to leave some constructive feedback, please do. All I ask is no flames...this video is as close to a piece of my heart and soul as you'll find thusfar, and besides, I've already burnt myself to a crisp in the process of making it. Oh, and if you have problems playing the video (it's encoded with DivX) or downloading, please send me a PM or email to raven_horrorphd@yahoo.com. Thanks!