main menu

• Members Main Page
• Search for AMVs
• Forum
• How-To Guides
• Site FAQ
• About us
• Login

Information

• Member: Scintilla
• Studio: Aquiline Studios
• Title: My Evil Alien
• Premiered: 2005-01-06
• Categories:
  • Drama
  • Serious
• Song:
  • Evanescence My Immortal (Band Version)
• Anime:
  • FLCL (Fooly Cooly)
• Participation:
  • Sakura-Con Anime Music Video / Orriginal Video Animation ontest, Sakura-Con Anime Music Video / Orriginal Video Animation ontest (2005-04-08)
  • Anime Boston 2005, Anime Boston 2005 (2005-04-29)
  • Nan Desu Kan 9, Nan Desu Kan 9 (2005-09-16)
  • Anime Weekend Atlanta 11, AWA 2005 AMV *EXPOSITION* (2005-09-23)
• Comments: Please ignore the date on the title cards; it is an error. I completed this video on 1/4/05, NOT 1/4/04. Thank you.
  
  
  What They Say:
  "Ten thumbs way up." - Tono_Fyr
  "Best serius FLCL video since Mad World" - OtakuForLife
  "Smooth, fresh, clean and tasty as hot cornbread." - Unfound
  "Easily the best Evanescence video I've seen, and right up there with the top FLCL videos." - Coffee 54
  "If I had to choose between chaining Kevin Caldwell in my basement while forcing him to churn out excellent videos in my name, and watching this video, I'd go with Caldwell. But I'd think really, really hard about it." - DOKool
  
  
  What I Say:
  
  - Intro - Slow, scene-setting shots with no actual characters in them. Meant to convey emptiness and/or loneliness. Last scene was color-corrected; originally it was too bright and multi-colored, so I toned it down and made it more yellowish (and a little reddish) to match the other shots.
  
  - "Suppressed by..." - The hand stands there like as a constant reminder to Naota that he can't escape from the dull routine of his life in Mabase, especially not that Haruko's gone. It's also an ominous sign of something bigger to come. NOTE: it is never meant to be implied at any time in this video that Haruko is gone permanently; she can and does come back before the end.
  
  - "Your presence still..." - Haruko used to inhabit the top bunk, and apparently she's left her glove and mirrors (for her Vespa) behind, not to mention the Gibson Flying V guitar that came to be Naota's. (Not to be confused with Haruko's own Rickenbacker bass.)
  
  - "These wounds..." - Perhaps the only small bit of humor in this whole video.
  
  - "There's just too much..." - I did not actually alter these scenes, other than maybe slowing them down somewhat; this sequence, made up of red-tinted copies of scenes that had appeared in past episodes, appears in Episode 4. Naota is remembering first how Haruko first ran into him (literally), and then how she seemed to care about him; in the actual episode, these memories are clashing with the rather painful reality he's now witnessing. Or is it actually reality? It's never really made clear.
  
  - "And I held your hand..." - Lyric synch! But it does make sense; Haruko is the one who first taught Naota how to "swing the bat" and the importance thereof.
  
  - "But you still..." - I had originally wanted to use this scene for the line that actually mentioned, you know, crying, but I found that no other scene really expressed the sentiment of the current line better than this one. Well, okay, maybe the other one I used at the end for this same line...
  
  - "I've tried so hard..." - Imagine, if you will, Naota waking up in the middle of the night with thoughts of Haruko, and having to check the top bunk to remind himself that she really isn't there anymore. The bat remains as a memento of the lessons she taught him, and then there's the (more obvious) big ol' Rickenbacker just sittin' there.
  
  - "But though you're..." - I tried to make these lines make sense: Haruko is with Naota in this scene, and she's trying to prepare him for the big home run he's got to hit in order to save the city; but then when he most needs her, she's gone, leaving him to take the actual first step alone. However, another reason these scenes are there is to set up the first part of the coming action sequence. :)
  
  - Instrumental part - And thus begins the action sequence, probably the funnest part (and also the last) of the whole video to edit. :) Two measures in, I change setting, skipping ahead to the battle scene in Episode 6. Amarao occasionally pops in for an outsider's perspective (and also because I was running out of footage).
  
  - At 2:08, when the lightning begins to form between the two guitars, the color correction was mine; I wanted something to make the lightning frames stand out from the rest, and it just so happened that it also lined up with the beats. :)
  
  - 2:20: I believe I used at least Scale, Fast Blur, and Invert, in case anyone was wondering.
  
  - 2:25: And with this last big hit, the action is spent and things slow down again.
  
  - 2:35-2:38: Keyframed desaturation.
  
  - Happy ending implied. I would have found it much harder to do a sad one, and furthermore, I think the music in this ending section calls for something uplifting.
  
  
  Tech Stuff:
  
  Filters used for postprocessing (high-res version): Deen, VagueDenoiser, FastLineDarken
  Filters used for postprocessing (low-res version): GoldDust, VagueDenoiser
  
  Also, I processed the audio: the cymbal crashes on the CD sounded pretty darn lacking, so I boosted the high frequencies, and the difference was like night and day. (Well, at least to me.)
  Thankfully, the 192Kbps MP3 encode in the final video has preserved the high frequencies pretty well.
  I also compressed the dynamic range (so that people wouldn't have to turn their volume up and then down), applied hard limiting (so that it was a decent volume without clipping), and cut out the second verse and chorus (as I'm sure most people will notice). :)
  
  
  Acknowledgements:
  
  Thanks to AbsoluteDestiny and Ermac for writing their Guide to All Things Audio and Video, to which I still refer fairly often.
  Thanks to DJI and Voices_of_Ryan for pushing me to get this sucker finished. :)
  Thanks to Trythil for advice on one scene.
  And of course, thanks to Cyanna for general beta viewing and encouragement. :)
  
  
  Downloads:
  This video's links are no longer available. See here for an explanation of why.
  If you would like a copy of this video, please go to the Aquiline Studios website and get it there.
  
  
  What the Judges Say:
  Best Drama/Romance at Sakura-Con 2005
  Best Editing at Anime Boston 2005