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Information

• Members: VegettoEX, MeriC
• Title: My Fist Is The Worst Kind Of Weapon
• Premiered: 2006-08-04
• Categories:
  • Action
  • Character Profile
  • Serious
• Song:
  • Say Anything Belt
• Anime:
  • Hajime No Ippo
• Participation:
  • Otakon, Otakon AMV Contest (2006-08-04)
  • Anime Weekend Atlanta 12, AWA 12 EXPOSITION CONTEST (2006-09-22)
• Comments: CONCEPT:
  It's really amazing what sitting and watching a new show (for a change) will do for your AMV inspiration.
  
  A couple discs into Hajime no Ippo, we were pretty convinced we were going to do a video to it. Meri had a very loose idea for a video to Panic! At The Disco's "Camisado", but that was the problem... it was a very loose idea. My concept for Say Anything's "Belt" was also based on a loose idea, but that one just led into a few other loose ideas that ended up coming together in a more solid beginning-to-end idea, so we ended up going with that one. It was somewhat of a challenge in that the song did not tell such a literal-and-obvious story that we are so used to correlating (see 2005's Fake as an example), but it was a FUN challenge to force ourselves to match the story in a coherent fashion.
  
  
  THE STORY:
  Somewhat of a condensed re-telling of the rookie championship arc that starts off the story, we see Ippo begin as a timid high school student getting beat up and finding his place in boxing. He surprises himself with his strength and applies himself 200%. In typical shônen fashion, he befriends the bullies and everyone around him and ends up on top.
  
  We really went the route of emphasizing Ippo continuing to apply himself, but he just doesn't let it come out until the very end. Dramatic!
  
  So it's really a very typical story, but you just feel so much for Ippo. He works so hard for himself and doesn't ask anything of anyone in return. He smiles. And you just want to cry in joy with him at the end.
  
  
  MAKING THE VIDEO:
  We definitely wanted to have some kind of recurring effect that would (a) not be obnoxious, (b) let us pay attention to the music, (c) be easy to do, and (d) would feel natural with regular-style editing throughout the rest of the video. We had no idea what it was going to be, and weren't even thinking about it... when we saw Cartel's live performance of "Honestly" over on Yahoo! Music. Despite it being a live performance, it was edited like a traditional music video. We decided to rip-off some of their stylistic choices! It allowed us to accomplish all four of those aspects we wanted to address.
  
  Insane timings throughout the video. As always, we like to pay attention to the music. Yes, we're paying literal/metaphorical attention to the lyrics and maintaining the narrative flow, but if it's going to be an action video, we have to pay attention to the music, too. Each distinct section of the video plays nicely with its musical background. For example, the fast drums in the middle of the choruses are met with the rapid training punches and hits from Miyata, respectively. Before Ippo enters the big ring for the first time, the timing swings back and forth with the bass/guitar duo.
  
  Big thanks to Geneon for progressive R1s. *drool*
  
  Interesting tidbits about the video! The song is actually edited. The ending to the first verse, the first chorus, and the beginning of the second verse are removed. Reasons included them being completely irrelevant in terms of being able to even remotely match lyrics, and it kept the song at a length that would no longer be tolerable for an action video; it would border on drama and not fit with the original vision for the video. The video title is a nod to a Fall Out Boy song title.
  
  The video was constructed with Adobe Premiere 6.5, Adobe After Effects 6.5, and Adobe Photoshop 7.0.
  
  
  CONCLUSION:
  Not much else to say about the video! It's straight-forward, fun, and gosh darnit, that boy makes you smile. This quickly became one of our absolutely favorite videos that we've ever made, be it together or individually.
  
  
  LYRICS (edited-for-video version):
  I wouldn't sell my belt to industry,
  so they carded me... and they carted me off.
  Naked but that belt I wear so well,
  p-p-p-past the pyramids, and the liberty bell.
  
  I said woah oh oh, they carted me off.
  Yeah woah oh o-oh, they carted me...
  
  Hey... this is something I have to do for myself.
  Yeah, this is something I have to for myself.
  I have to for myself, I have to for myself... yeah... yeah...
  
  I ignored the sheep and shepards on my way.
  What can their small words say, when they say them that way?
  Bathed in sweat and feathered as a crow.
  I laid a beating on the sleet and snow, with my frostbitten toes.
  
  I remained unrecognized in my home town,
  beneath my monstrous gown, of feather and down.
  But I gathered up and army made of those...
  who aimed to shake them, from their repose.
  
  And we took up weapons, and we took off our clothes.
  And we took up weapons, and we took off our...
  
  Hey... this is something I have to do for myself.
  Yeah, this is something I have to do for myself.
  I have to for myself, I have to for myself... yeah...
  
  So what say you... and all your friends...
  meet all of my friends... in the alley tonight... yeah...
  What say you (what say you)...
  and all your friends (and all your friends)...
  step up to my friends (my friends)...
  in the alley tonight... yeah!
  
  What say you (what say you)...
  and all your friends (and all your friends)...
  meet all of my friends (my friends)...
  in the alley tonight... yeah!
  What say you (what say you)...
  and all your friends (and all your friends)...
  step up to my friends (my friends)...
  in the alley tonight... yeah!