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Information

• Member: TnAdct1
• Studio: Toon Addict Productions
• Title: How Dandy Spent His Summer Vacation, Baby
• Premiered: 2015-06-14
• Categories:
  • Comedy
  • Character Profile
  • Fun
• Songs:
  • Jenna Russell Red Dwarf Theme Song
  • Seiichi Nagai Seaside Driving
• Anime:
  • Space Dandy (TV)
• Participation:
  • AnimeNEXT 2015, AnimeNEXT 2015 AMV Contest (2015-06-12)
• Comments: FINALIST: Anime Mid-Atlantic 2015 (Comedy)
  
  The Basic Concept:
  
  “How Dandy Spent His Summer Vacation, Baby” started out as a simple concept: having read about how some people compared Space Dandy to the British sci-fi/comedy series Red Dwarf (and being familiar with similar AMV’s using fellow sci-fi/comedy animes Martian Successor Nadesico and Irresponsible Captain Tylor), I wanted to do an obligatory Space Dandy/Red Dwarf AMV, with the plan being that the video would utilize a mixture both lyric sync and clips that match the upbeat feel of the song. As I worked on the video in a non-linear fashion (i.e. I worked on different sections of the video as I got ideas for them instead of starting the editing process from the very first scene and ending it with the very last shot), it eventually dawned on me that the choice of footage I used for the video made it feel like a series of escapades that Dandy would have during a period of summer vacation. As such, while keeping what I already had done so far in terms of editing, I decided to embrace the concept of the video being about Dandy’s summer vacation, with me opting to change the planned title from something that would reference Red Dwarf (with me including “Baby” at the end as a reference the episode title structure of Space Dandy) to one that reflects the summer vacation concept.
  
  While the video in general was completed well before the deadline for some of the anime conventions that I plan to enter this video at (with me referring the initial draft as the “beta”), I also knew that I can use this time to polish it up (whether it’s choosing a better clip for one section, expanding on the concept of another section, or other tasks). Thus, whenever an idea to improve the video eventually pops up in my head, I used the time between the “beta” completion and contest deadlines to incorporate it.
  
  AMV SPOILERS BELOW
  
  The Dates:
  
  After I decided to go the route of having the video depict Dandy’s summer vacation, I wanted to ensure that that video wasn’t me inserting random clips of the show and actually had a general concept. The solution: I included a timestamp at the start of each segment to reflect the idea of how each one is supposed to take place on a different day of Dandy’s vacation.
  
  Notes:
  -For the timestamps, I went with a font that replicates the alphanumeric display on pinball tables (it was included as part of a pinball emulator program that I use), thus giving them a feel that’s one part “digital watch” and another part “old-timey idea of what fonts used the future would be like”.
  
  -The dates that I used for the video weren’t any random dates. Rather, I actually put careful consideration into them (especially in terms of in-jokes). For those who need help understanding the choice of dates:
  *June 21: The official first day of summer. Appropriately enough, the date also reflects the final day of Anime Mid-Atlantic 2015 (a con where the video made the AMV Contest finals at).
  *July 5: The date coincides with both the premiere date of Space Dandy’s second second season and the final day of Anime Expo 2015.
  *July 19: The original air date of the episode that provided the source footage for this segment.
  *July 24: The first day of Otakon 2015 (my main summer con and the main focus in terms of which con I’m making this video for).
  *August 10: The day the first trailer for Space Dandy made its world premiere at Otakon 2013.
  *August 23: In my area, that’s the last Sunday in 2015 before the start of the new school year.
  *September 1: The earliest day that Labor Day, which is considered to be the unofficial last day of summer, can be held.
  
  Additional Notes
  
  -One touch that I love in terms of the intro was how the first thing that’s visible when the shot fades in is the star on the back of Dandy’s coat.
  
  -The reaction shot of Meow and QT after the “all alone” line is actually a composite shot that I made after I finished up the “beta” and I decided it would be better if the shot happened inside the Aloha Oe (while Dandy is in his “I’m all alone” state) instead of the actual site of the shot, the space alien registration center. Given how the original shot was a still shot, all that needed to be done was to find a frame of the Aloha Oe interior with no one in it (I was able to find one in the “space fleas” episode) and prepare the matte on Photoshop using the two images that I wanted to merge.
  
  -The “Fishy World” concept came about after I completed the “beta” of the video and felt that I could put more effort in terms of story into the “fish planet” segment of the video. Eventually, I came up with the idea Meow wanting to go an aquarium/fish-based theme park after seeing an ad for it on TV (for obvious cat-related reasons), only for it to be closed due to inclement weather (AKA the sun burning everything).
  
  -When turning the shot of the picnicking fish into the “Fishy World” commercial, I decided that it was clever to depict Dandy as the type of person who can’t afford a regular television set, hence the scene being all black and white (as I felt a black and white CRT set would be the only one that he could afford).
  
  -I originally wanted to have a sign that conveyed the message that Fishy World was closed due to inclement weather. Unfortunately, the waves of heat in the shot and my newcomer status in AMV editing forced me instead to incorporate it via speech bubble from Meow (with me reading up on the basic comic book standards of speech bubbles when creating it).
  
  -I’m very satisfied with the end result of the “mermaid dream” section of the video, as there was a great flow being the music and the clips (especially given how instrumental portions tend to be some of the harder parts to edit in an AMV). Ironically, it was also the one segment that had me the most concerned about in terms of AMV contests due to the chance of judges being anal (no pun intended) about the technical specs and the fishing loincloth Dandy wears (with me having a “censored” version ready just in case).
  
  -Syncing wise, there was a couple moments where I was simply forced to drop that idea during the Scarlet sequence due to how awkward looking the end results would be in my perspective. The first was the introduction of Scarlet herself,as I had hoped to have the fade happen as the second “line” began. The other syncing plan that I dropped involved having Dandy’s reaction to an angry Scarlet be set to the drum beats.
  
  -The “One Severe Beatdown Later” card was a quick throwaway joke I inserted when I realized that I really didn’t have anything to accompany the drum beats at the end of the instrumental. Besides, it’s sometimes best to leave the results of what an angry Scarlet did to Dandy after she caught up with him to the imagination.
  
  -To make it appear as if the two warring empires are arriving from opposite ends, I flipped the shot of the Gogal Empire fleet (i.e. the fleet with the dominatrix Statue of Liberty head) so that they’re coming from the left (instead of from the right, as it originally appeared).
  
  -I had different shots in mind when it came to the members of the Gogal Empire. However, tech concerns in one shot (and the fact that a captured Dandy is supposed to be depicted in said shot), made me opt to change the scene late in the game. On the bright side:
  1. The new scene does provide a better image of Dr. Gel (I wanted to make sure that the rulers and their right hand men were depicted in the video in some form before they get vaporized in end).
  2. It gave me a chance to include a shot of Dandy and Meow reacting to the chaos that they are stuck in before the big “surfing” scene.
  
  -The shot of Dandy and Meow space surfing was something that I had planned to include when I first came up with the Space Dandy/Red Dwarf AMV idea. In the end, I liked the way the shots of Dandy and Meow surfing on the rubble of the blown up planet turned out, as it comes off as one continuous action with a change of camera angle (whereas Dandy does stop to look at the carnage and the camera in the original footage).
  
  -Originally, I had Dandy’s friends also fall victim to the exploding planet. However, with Meow being part of the surfing scene, I replaced it with the rulers being vaporized instead (Duran Duran and Dr. Gel were still going get vaporized in my original plan). Probably for the best since it not only allows Meow and QT a chance to “live” (for a better word), but also because, even with all the footage set at Boobies, Honey doesn’t appear at all in the video.
  
  Software Used:
  -Vegas Pro 11 (Editing)
  -Adobe Photoshop (Mask and speech bubble making)
  -VLC Player (Snapshot taking for mask creation and credits sequence)