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Information

• Member: dwchang
• Studio: Ninja Gaijin
• Title: Soar
• Premiered: 2005-01-15
• Categories:
  • Action
  • Fun
• Song:
  • Be For U Freedom
• Anime:
  • Last Exile (TV)
• Participation:
  • AnimeNEXT 2005 AMV Contest, AnimeNEXT 2005 AMV Contest (2005-06-17)
• Comments: This is a fun little Last Exile action video that I had a blast making. I got the idea while listening to random music on my Ipod on a flight back home for the holidays. It was short and simple enough that I could hammer it out fairly quickly.
  
  It's also my return to JPop infamy and did I mention I have a variation of piano keyz in it? :P If you're wondering, I'm calling it "Tidal Keyz" :P. It's going to change the AMV World >_>. Can you feel the dripping sarcasm as I make fun of myself? :P I'm sure people will laugh at me using such an effect...again but it was pure self-indulgence and I had a blast making it. That's what matters right?
  
  The concept is pretty simple with a focus on flight and Claus and Lavie's love of it. The entire video simply divides into a "prepare for flight" section and then well..."flying" section. I'm a freakin' genius -_-;;. Nothing deep or a story and obviously no real lyric sync since the song is in Japanse :P. Just a fun action vid (yeah I make things other than Romance :P).
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  Comments on particular scenes:
  Preparing to fly:
  -The first section of my video just showcases preparation scenes like fueling up, buckling seatbelts, etc. I wonder if viewers will dislike that I didn't sync to the dominant beat that comes in around ~0:08 and stays throughout the video. If you've seen my videos, you know that I'm not really the type of editor who tries to hit every beat in an action video. I much more prefer trying to sync to the "flow" of the song. How words are said, the notes (high to low? fast? slow?), etc.
  
  If you're interested, really watch the movements. Even simple things like a character moving their head. Most things in my video are intentional in an attempt to match the flow. Hopefully I made the correct decision and you, the viewer, like it.
  
  As for specifics, ~0:26 - 0:27 is just a simple white matte being faded in and out to match the cymbal. The next scene is the main reason I did this.
  
  FLY!!!:
  ~0:28 is probably my favorite sync in the entire video. Yeah it's just a straight cut, but it worked out exactly as I saw it in my head. It also just "bursts" out of the screen after the previous fade to black and white flash.
  
  General Comment:
  -As I said above, really observe the movements of the vanship and *when* it moves and where. You'll hopefully notice it's at specific moments in the song and how the singer says things.This is what I mean by flow. I'm such a stickler for it :P.
  
  Dog Fight:
  -After an initial flight sequence, I have a dog fight with a Guild ship. Nothing crazy, just more simple cross-dissolves. At ~0:54 I have the Vanship falling and then fade to black for the next scene.
  
  Tidal Keys:
  -Rolling through a bunch of piano notes? A bunch of "keys" turning from right to left? GENIUS :O
  
  As for technical details, the scene was a lot more difficult than I thought it'd be. Thankfully Ashyukun was able to help me out ;). Anyway, the effect is 15 separate compositions (basically each key) in After Effects which I then imported into another composition and rotated via the "3D layer" option.
  
  Like the previous "FLY" sequence, I then have the Vanship "burst" towards the viewer. I obviously like this scene like the previous one ;).
  
  Secondary Characters:
  -At ~1:06 I do a sequence where I highlight a few other characters. Namely Alex (the Captain), Sophia, Tatiana, Alvis, Dio and Mullen. The editing is pretty simple, but this sequence actually took a lot longer than I anticipated. I wanted to mimic the feeling of a true anime opening where they go through a few of the characters and I actually watched quite a few anime openings to see how they usually synced this. Hopefully I got the feeling right ;).
  
  End:
  -At the end I have Claus and Lavie smiling and showing their love of flight. Seemed like an appropriate way to end the video. The last sync is a radial blur/zoom on the title and was, again, used to mimic the feeling of an anime opening. Make no mistake though, I'm not trying to parody an opening, I just felt like doing that at those particular moments. Oh and did I mention it looks cool? ;)
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  Final Thoughts:
  So as I said earlier, this video was a real blast to make. It was short and simple enough that I could fly through it without losing interest. I currently have three unfinished videos on my hard-drive where I lost interest and since I've got quite a few deadlines coming up, I felt this would be a great "jumpstart" for my editing. I haven't finished a video since AWA in September, but now feel somewhat renewed. It also helped that it was an action/fun video which I rarely do.
  
  In any case, I imagine 99% of you didn't read this, but to the 1% who did read and watch, thanks! I hope you enjoyed the video. I certainly enjoyed making it.
  
  Take care!
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  Hours Spent: ~15 Pretty short for me.
  
  Equipment and Software used:
  -My Dual 2 Ghz Athlon Computer
  -Adobe Premiere 6.5
  -Adobe After Effects 5.0
  -Adobe Photoshop 6.0
  
  Thanks to:
  -Ashyukun - Help in After Effects for the "Tidal Keys."
  -Corran - Beta-testing. In fact, only person I allowed to see it since I knew he's a Last Exile fanboy :P.
  -Rob Schmit - Suggested I increase the # of keys from 9 to 15. Made the effect look a lot better.