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Information

• Member: AbsoluteDestiny
• Studio: Zettai Unmei Anime
• Title: A God-awful Small Affair
• Premiered: 2002-10-26
• Categories:
  • Drama
  • Other
• Song:
  • David Bowie Life on Mars
• Anime:
  • Metropolis (Fritz Lang 1926)
  • Metropolis (Rintaro)
• Participation:
  • Anime Weekend Atlanta 9 (Expo), Anime Weekend Atlanta 9 (Expo) (2003-09-26)
• Comments: This video is my contribution to the MiniVid Project,hence the curious title :)
  
  I got the idea before I saw the anime Metropolis but when I watched it I was dissapointed because my original idea didn't fit :P I later ignored this fact and used the idea to mess around with Adobe After Effects.
  
  This amv quite predicatbly combines the anime Metropolis with the 1926 silent movie that inspired it. The 1926 movie is better :D As for what the video means, I'll let you decide because if I say it might put you off watching the video ;)
  
  The video takes a great deal of creative license with the Metropolis anime - it's probably better if you've only seen the Friz Lang movie or didn't really pay attention to the anime Metropolis when you watched it.
  
  The lyrics are unconventional so I don't know how apparent the message will be straight away. I have edited this wonderful song down to just over 2 minutes from its original 3 minutes 45. but with good reason... the second verse about Ibiza and Norfolk just wouldn't have worked.
  
  Anyway, this video is an experiment - it's no where near as good as I saw it in my head but when it came to edit, the footage wasn't quite right and my After Effects skill was decidedly novice. It was my first time, ok :)
  
  Now enough comment, on with the notes...
  
  Lyrics:
  
  It's a god-awful small affair
  To the girl with the mousy hair
  But her mummy is yelling "No"
  And her daddy has told her to go
  But her friend is nowhere to be seen
  Now she walks through her sunken dream
  To the seat with the clearest view
  And she's hooked to the silver screen
  But the film is a saddening bore
  For she's lived it ten times or more
  She could spit in the eyes of fools
  As they ask her to focus on
  
  Sailors fighting in the dance hall
  Oh man! Look at those cavemen go
  It's the freakiest show
  Take a look at the Lawman
  Beating up the wrong guy
  Oh man! Wonder if he'll ever know
  He's in the best selling show
  Is there life on Mars?
  
  
  Additional Notes:
  
  In the video there is a brief scene where Duke Red is watching a scene from the Metropolis silent movie. Some text appears in his glasses that is both backwards and small so there's not much chance you'll have been able to read it. However, movie buffs may recognise the scene as it is where Freder is talking to his father about the terrible conditions he saw underground with the workers. Anyway, in objectin to his father's facism Frerder pleas
  
  "It was their hands that built this city of ours, father"
  
  That is what Duke Red is reading in the amv.
  
  There is another scene that you can probably read but it isn't on long enough for reading, really. It says "And on it we will inscribe: Great is the world and its creator and great is man." - the "it" in question being the Tower of Babel which you then see. The biblical story is referred to in both the anime and the original movie.
  
  
  Technical Notes:
  
  Footage Sources - Metropolis, Region 1 DVD by Columbia/Tristar and Metropolis (1926) Region 4 DVD by Eureka video.
  
  Audio Source - Life on Mars by David Bowie, from the album Hunky Dory
  
  Editing software:-
  
  Audacity 1.1
  Adobe Premiere 6
  DVD2AVI 1.76
  VirtualdubAVS beta3
  Avisynth 2.06+
  Decomb 4
  Convolution3d 1.1
  Photoshop 5 (for the credits)
  
  Codecs used:-
  
  HuffYUV 2.1.1 (rendering codec)
  PICvideo MJPEG (preview codec)
  XviD 04/oct/2002 build (distro compression codec)
  Lame MP3 3.92