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Information

• Member: dwchang
• Studio: Ninja Gaijin
• Title: Iron Chef ACen 2003 - Eternity
• Premiered: 2003-05-17
• Categories:
  • Fun
  • Dance
• Song:
  • Rebecca Young Forever
• Anime:
  • Armitage III: Dual Matrix
  • Battle Angel
  • Iron Giant
  • Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counter Attack
  • Patlabor: The Movie
  • Super Dimension Fortress Macross: The Movie - Do You Remember Love?
• Participation:
  • Anime Central 2003, Anime Central 2003 (2003-05-16)
• Comments: This is the video I created at Anime Central 2003's Iron Chef competition. The gist of the competition is similar to that of the Japanese TV show "Iron Chef." Competitors are given 5 of the 6 ingredients about two weeks prior to the contest (not the secret ingredient) so that we can watch them and prepare. We also come in with a CD full of music which we will later be able to choose from. At the competition, the secret ingredient is revealed and the Iron Chef and Challenger are given two hours to create a video. Surprisingly, we had a packed house of around 200 - 300 people with standing room only. I am glad they were entertained, but I will admit I was quite nervous.
  
  At ACen this year, the Iron Chef was Outlawed Productions and I was the challenger. Our sponsor was ExpertDV (like AWA...provided AWESOME computers and accessories) and on the Judge's Panel were EK, David Williams (of ADV), Greggo (the game show guy) and Monica Rial (English VA for Hyatt in Excel Saga).
  
  The Theme was:
  -Robots :D
  
  Our ingredients were:
  -Armitage III: Dual Matrix
  -Battle Angel
  -Gundam: Char's Counterattack
  -Macross: Do You Remember Love?
  -Patlabor the Movie I
  
  And the secret ingredient was:
  -The Iron Giant
  
  As for preparation, I pretty much finalized on a song (was 90% sure) and watched all five of the known ingredients with that song in mind. I therefore tried to "catalogue" as many scenes that *might* work within my song. In particular, "happy" scenes. If you've seen these shows, you know how little there is with respect to "happy," but I was stupid enough to want to make a happy video. I mainly did this since I knew the audience wanted to have fun and would thefore have a good time. It is first and foremost entertainment for the crowd right?
  
  As said above, I was 90% sure on the song which could've been really bad, but I lucked out. This cataloguing helped a great deal in the actual contest since I came in with a pretty good idea/concept and *just* had to find scenes and use the secret ingredient :).
  
  Unfortunately, I hadn't seen the secret ingredient, but was still extremely happy when I saw it since I knew that it had happy scenes between the robot and the boy character. This would work well as opposed to say "Big Wars" or "MD Geist." As you will see, the secret ingredient worked out wonderfully and I have Quu to thank for that.
  
  Thankfully I was able to come out on top, but it was a well-fought battle. The contest was very fun for both the Iron Chef and I. I hear the audience also had a great time with the antics of the judges as well as a few of my own intoxcated antics as displayed on one of the projectors. It was also interesting that Dan and I took opposite approaches to the video. Dan went with action and I went with Fun/Heartwarming. I'm sure it was difficult for the judges and I was honored to take part in such a fun and challenging competition.
  
  Here are some details on some scenes. Interesting tidbits, reasons and criticism. I do apologize since some of it is a bit fuzzy:
  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Comments on particular scenes:
  Opening Lens Flare
  -This scene was mainly done for trythil and Ashyukun's amusement. Right before the contest, they joked that I should use the almighty lens flare. I was stupid enough to agree. Right off the bat, I created a black matte and then applied the lens flare and keyframed it. I'll be the first to admit that I had *a bit* to drink beforehand (to relax) and my friends tell me it took around 5 minutes to do this :-P.
  
  "We will, we wil be Young Forever"
  -Chose a scene of Armitage with her hair blowing in the wind. This seemed to fit with the "Ever and ever" echo and a good thing to lens flare back (i.e. a lens flare from white -> scene). Originally I tried to put the lip-sync (used a lot near the end) here, but the layers didn't look right. I'd like to say that I think this scene is too long and I don't like it that much (other than the Lens Flare :-P). I wish I could've made the cut shorter and found a new scene, but you know how it is with only two hours.
  
  Musical Scenes prior to lyrics
  -These scenes "sounded" like flight and fast movement to me. Therefore, I chose scenes of Valkyries flying from Macross and Gundams flying. In particular, I had to choose scenes that *did not* contain any violence or explosions. It was difficult with the Macross missile scene, but I lucked out. I like the Battle Angel scene since it fit the final beats, but I dislike the Gundam scene quite a bit and wish I could've found a better syncing scene, but oh well.
  
  "We are the ones to make it right. We are the people of our time. We hold the.."
  -Decided to use scenes from the secret ingredient (Iron Giant) early since I couldn't immediately think of a scene that would fit this from the other ingredients I had watched. Somehow I lucked out, went through the footage quickly and saw this touching scene between the Giant and the Boy. I timed the "make it right" to the Giant's finger touching the boys face. This made sense since (what little I know about the show) it was a touching scene in the show. Complaint is I made it too long...reasons for this below.
  
  "We hold the future in our hands"
  -This is one of the scenes I had planned the entire time. I sort of have "Odorikuruu" to indirectly thank since that video reminded me of this scene in Macross. I timed "hands" to Minmei moving her hand outwards. Of note, I wanted to time Minmei at the beginning with "We hold the," but couldn't make the scene long enough without it looking weird (slow-down). Therefore the Giant scene is still there until "future." I think it hurts the flow a bit.
  
  "Together we can have it all"
  -Once again decided to go with the secret ingredient since I couldn't think of a scene to fit this scene right off the bat. Timed "all" with the Iron Giant having his two hands go outwardly. wanted to imply the forest and all this nice scenery was "all." I've heard that this scene and the Iron Giant scene before ("We are the ones to make it right") are the ones that won me the competition since they worked real well and were heartwarming (shrug). i heard quite a few "awwws" here ^_^.
  
  "With every step we're moving on and on"
  -Used scenes from Battle Angel where Yugo walks towards the city in the sky. I have to thank Hsien/Kusoyaro for inadvertently making me remember this touching scene. It was used in his video "With Every Light" (which I watch often) and therefore could remember the scene. The overlay of the city and Yugo's face was planned. I thought it made sense since he always looked up at the city.
  
  "There's enough for everyone"
  -Chose a humorous scene from Patlabor where the Noa brought back some tomatos. The audience laughed. I did this just to get a giggle since the line was "enough for everyone" and the mechanic crew rushes over and eats everything (shrug)
  
  "And more to go around"
  -I have no idea why I chose this...timed "around" to the roses.
  
  "You will be forever free"
  -Timed "free" to the transition to Gally.
  
  "With all this love around"
  -Timed "around" to Gally hugging the professor.
  
  "We will, we will be young forever"
  -Chose a seem with happiness and more importantly motion (since the music seemed to imply energy). Timed Minmei holograms to the "Ever" echo. Had this planned coming in.
  
  "We will, we will stay young forever"
  -Chose a scene of the Iron Giant flying up. Seemed to work. Had a Minmei lip-sync on the echo "ever and ever." Chose a scene that would be easy to lip-sync and would be "acceptable" (i.e good enough). Didn't have much time to do a good one and hence the reason I chose to overlay it since the audience would be "fooled." :).
  
  Musical portion
  -Again went with flight for these parts. The music just sounded like it. Again used the Minmei lip-sync on the echo of "Forever and ever." Overlayed it on top of the Iron Giant flying towards the heavens. I liked this scene quite a bit. I dislike the third scene I used (Char going into battle). Wasn't as dynamic as the other scenes and didn't fit the flow as well.
  
  Final scene
  -Went with a simple scene of Gally smiling. Seemed to be a good way to end the video (on a smile).
  
  End Screen
  -Was stupid enough to use this charicature someone drew of me at ACen for my end screen. I obviously added this AFTER the competition (a week later) when I received the master to make my distro versions.
  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Final Thoughts:
  For the most part, I am pretty happy with this video given the time constraints. I am unhappy with a few scenes, but accept them because I only had two hours. Even though it's a pointless video, apparently it was heartwarming and more importantly fun. My greatest AMV moment ever comes from this: After announcing I had won, they played my video again and the entire audience (~200 - 300 people) clapped through the entire song (to the beat). I've never felt that good before ^_^.
  
  I hope you enjoy it and please keep in mind the time constraints :). Wow even though I did this video in two hours, I still wrote a lot.
  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Hours Spent: 2 ^_^
  Physical State: slightly intoxicated (not drunk as *some* creators said I should be)
  
  Equipment and Software used:
  -Computer provided by ExpertDV - had a Matrox X100 (~$1199.00 O_o) in it for real-time editing.
  -Really cool editing mouse-like thing - let me go through footage REALLY quickly with this rotating circle.
  -Adobe Premiere 6.5
  -Adobe Photoshop 6.0 - for text messaging with the audience ^_^
  -Already ripped footage
  -Some screwdrivers made with Absolut :-P
  
  Other people I'd like to thank are:
  -dokidoki for introducing me to the song Young Forever. He made a great Grave of the Fireflies video to this song. I suggest watching it. Watching his video a few months ago introduced me to the song and in turn the entire concept. It planted the seed.
  -Kusoyaro for his advice prior to the con. He steered me away from my initial song choices (too hard) and gave general advice (although the drinking one would be a bad one). Also inadvertently helping me remember scenes through his With Every Light video.
  -AtomX for general help and advice. I bounced ideas and songs off of him for the two weeks.
  
  Awards/Recognition:
  Anime Central 2003
  -I won the match and became Iron Chef for 2003?