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Information

• Member: dwchang
• Studio: Ninja Gaijin
• Title: Reflection
• Premiered: 2007-05-11
• Categories:
  • Action
  • Drama
  • Character Profile
• Song:
  • Ayumi Hamasaki Fairyland
• Anime:
  • Naruto
• Participation:
  • Anime Central 2007, Anime Central 2007 AMV Contest (2007-05-11)
  • Anime Expo 2007, Anime Expo 2007 AMV Contest (2007-06-29)
• Comments: So this is about 11 months late. I finished it in April of 2007 for ACen'07 and here I am uploading it in March of 2008. Sorry for the (massive) delay due mainly in part to my (obscene) laziness.
  
  Anyway, this is a fairly typical Naruto/Sasuke Character Profile video. I realize these aren't very creative and there are quite a few of them in existence, but I've wanted to make one to this particular song for awhile and I thought I could do a pretty good job with it (however uncreative it may be).
  
  I also looked at my previous videos and realized I haven't made an action video to a Japanese Song ever since 2003 2005 so that was another obligation. I mean not like I've ever made an action video using a popular action show set to a popular Japanese Song right?
  
  ...Castor Troy also sent me the R2's (three years ago -_-) and I felt semi-obligated to use them :P.
  
  Regardless of the lack of creativity, I hope you enjoy it!
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  Comments on particular scenes:
  First Verse:
  -As you'll notice throughout, the video is fairly chronological in telling the main story of Naruto and Sasuke. The first verse shows the rivalry between the two during the first season which subsequently turns into a friendship.
  
  First Chorus:
  -Similarly, the first chorus goes through the first few major fights such as Haku, the Chuunin Exam and so forth.
  
  Punching Haku (~1:21):
  -This is probably my favorite action-sync in the entire video. I tried to recreate its flow in subsequent choruses, but sadly failed.
  
  Fist Pound:
  -I feel obligated to point this scene out since it remains a favorite among a number of editors for whatever reason. It was so loved that it received a one minute track in the (ever popular) Cat on Keyboard in Space 2 MEP.
  
  Second Verse:
  -Continuing along chronologically, this verse highlights both Naruto and Sasuke training to become stronger for the Chuunin Exam Finals. For some reason I particularly like the flow of the scenes from ~2:06 -2:14. I just think they work well.
  
  Second Chorus:
  -The second chorus highlights the next major fights including Neji, Gaara and the first fight between Naruto and Sasuke.
  
  Chidori:
  -As I said earlier, I was unanble to recreate the feel of the previous chorus (the Haku scene) and feel this is perhaps the weakest part of the entire video (it still irks me). I tried fixing it so many times and came out unsuccessful every time. Given the tardiness of this video, I figured I should just release.
  
  Flashbacks:
  -From ~2:50 -3:40 I show flashbacks in both Naruto and Sasuke's (sad) childhoods. If you haven't already gotten the whole "they're a lot alike" vibe yet (Reflecton lawl...I get it!), then I've failed as an editor :P.
  
  Sasuke!
  -I manually added the audio here because...well I'm cliché. I dunno why, but Naruto yelling that out just seemed necessary here. Blame this on watching Dragon Ball Z and other cliché action animes since I was five years old?
  
  Naruto vs. Sasuke - Round 2:
  -This is more or less the climax of the video. I actually edited this section *first* because I was so excited about editing it. Also if this portion failed, the whole video would probably fail so I wanted to make sure it would work. Given my lack of action editing skills, I think it turned out well.
  
  Sasuke wins?
  -The conclusion of our fight (and the first "arc" of Naruto). Sasuke wins and ultimately leaves.
  
  Audio Edit:
  -At ~4:19 there is a massive audio edit that Rozard did for me. He did a great job. Basically an entire third chorus was cut and the ending of the song merged here.
  
  Audience at both ACen and AX saw the third chorus and I (and others) can attest it totally derailed the video and was totally unrelated. In my defense, there were no more scenes to use (Shippuden wasn't out yet).
  
  Final Scenes:
  -OK I lied, there are piano keyz :P. The effect is fairly simple with black and white keys fading in and then a color version of the full image cross-fading in (I wanted the color change to be gradual and not sudden).
  
  Also to be honest, I did this last part on the day of the ACen deadline and kinda rushed it. I do however feel it's an adequate ending showing the 'good times' and sets up the second arc in Shippuden.
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  Final Thoughts:
  Overall I'm fairly happy with the video. There are a few areas that I find particularly weak, but the concept comes out pretty clearly and that's the most important part. However, when I first started editing, I thought the video would be more 'effects-y' given some of the beats and sounds, but I didn't really need them to illustrate my concept so I didn't go with them. Also effects are hands down my biggest weakness so not like I was itching to use any.
  
  At the same time, this video further highlights (to me) that action videos are a weakness of mine. I actually submitted this video to ACen as an action entry, but it was moved to Drama by the time of the contest. I can certainly understand why they moved it (and especially see it more as a Drama/Character Profile now), but it still tells me I have a lot to learn when it comes to action. I'll keep at it I guess.
  
  In any case, I hope you enjoy the video and if you're part of the 1% who will actually read this entire video entry and get to this point, thanks and enjoy!
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  Hours Spent: It was so long ago, I don't remember. Probably somewhere around 50 - 60?
  
  Equipment and Software used:
  -My Quad Core 2.4 Ghz Computer
  -Adobe Premiere 6.5
  
  Thanks to:
  -Castor Troy - Provided Naruto R2s. They look GORGEOUS.
  -Rozard - Made a fairly massive edit in the audio that was necessary.
  -Pwolf - General Beta Testing.
  -AtomX - Effects help.