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Information

• Member: dwchang
• Studio: Ninja Gaijin
• Title: Always In My Heart
• Premiered: 2005-08-19
• Categories:
  • Romance
  • Sentimental
• Song:
  • Chicago You're the inspiration
• Anime:
  • Ah! My Goddess (OVA)
  • Ai Yori Aoshi
  • Final Fantasy 10 (X)
  • Final Fantasy X-2: Another Story
  • Fushigi Yuugi
  • Vision of Escaflowne, The
• Participation:
  • Otakon 2005 AMV Screenings/Contest, Otakon 2005 AMV Screenings/Contest (2005-08-19)
• Comments: I guess I'll steal a line from my 2004 Otakon entry Waiting For You for the beginning of this description:
  
  "Yup, I made another Sappy Romance video to 80's cheese an 80's song."
  
  Unlike my previous romance video though, this video does not contain a story and the theme is actually quite simple:
  
  A celebration of the love that the couples share in the 5 shows/games.
  
  Perhaps that's simplistic, but the song lends itself to this type of a theme given the lyrics and feel. And given last year's entry (or rather it's perception), I thought it was about time I made something happy and just pure sap ;).
  
  Lastly, did I mention I had fun?
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  Comments on particular scenes:
  Instrumental Intro
  -Just showing off all the couples that will be highlighted in the video.
  
  Notes on beginning:
  I do realize the first verse and chorus feel strangely familiar to my video Glory of Love. I will not even begin to refute that. I mean hell, even the lead vocalist (Peter Cetera) is the same and furthremore, I use a lot of the same scenes (which I do blame on the fact Escaflowne has VERY little in the way of actual romance between the two characters). However please allow me to explain.
  
  I am unsure if other edtiors are like this, but I find that once you have a good "foundation" down (usually one verse and chorus) and figure out the timings, sync-points, flow, pacing, mood, etc. that you will use throughout a video, the video is MUCH easier to complete since you kinda have a template to look back on. I'm a stickler for consistency.
  
  Having said that, perhaps I should not admit this, but I started video with only two weeks to the Otakon deadline. I knew I needed to have *something* down and fast. Now it's no surprise that I know the Vision of Escaflowne quite well and thus chose to use it at the beginning to lay this "foundation" down. This portion of the video only took me one day and is easily the reason I finished on time. If you know how I edit, me doing more than 10 seconds in a day is amazing in itself, so a minute is like O_o.
  
  But again, if you find this unoriginal or downright annoying, I certainly won't argue with you since it IS a regurgitation of a video I have already made, but well...I did it so I'd actually finish the video at all. Small price to pay :P.
  
  Other than that, I surprisingly have very little to say about the first verse and chorus since this type of editing and even this source and song are my "bread and butter" so to speak.
  
  Fushigi Yuugi Portion:
  -Now we move on to the 2nd couple I will focus on. Miaka and Tamahome. It must be noted that I actually hate the show Fushigi Yuugi, but I do realize it is a gold mine for romantic scenes :P. You'll also notice throughout the video I rarely use "beat-sync." This is intentional and I instead go for traditional lyric sync and also *how* things are said and end, which I personally call "flow."
  
  "And I know (echo)"
  -These echos were originally a problem for me, but I figured out a simple solution using very long fade-ins.
  
  "From tonight until the end of time"
  -This was surprisingly more difficult than I originally thought it would be. Namely the last shot (of the zoomed kiss) moves at a different speed than the previous shot and it was difficult to figure out the exact setting that would make the transition less harsh. It originally was quite jarring. Perhaps it still is.
  
  "Everywhere I go"
  -Thanks to MeriC's Fushigi Yuugi video Deceptive Passions for this scene selection. I couldn't find anything and then saw this and thought "perfect" :D.
  
  "In my soul"
  -I love the part where Tamahome's symbol starts to shine and take up the screen on the last beat. Yes this was intentional ;).
  
  2nd "You're the Inspiration"
  -Perhaps I'm playing with the audience here, but I realize how meaningful and important this scene is in the show and thus saved it for the last part of the chorus ;).
  
  "No one needs you more than I"
  -Now I may dislike the show, but this image of Tamahome and Miaka sharing a final kiss before he disappears is pretty awesome.
  
  "Ah Ah Ah Ah Ah"
  -This is hands down my favorite part of the entire video. Ever since I got the idea to do this video, this particular sync has always been in my head. A mask of Belldandy and Keiichi spinning on top of the previous scene and then "bursting" forth to create the transition to the next show I want to highlight.
  
  Thanks a ton to AtomX for his help on the effect. and helping me to finally realize this scene which has been in my head for so long. It looks beautiful and given what I said about the previous scene, the mask overlays so wonderfully on top of the Fushigi Yuugi kiss.
  
  As for the technical aspect, the effect uses a simple elliptical black and white matte to create the "glow", some zoom effects and a light blur.
  
  Belldandy and Keiichi flying on a broomstick:
  -I don't know why, but the violins playing notes higher and higher implies (to me) flying *shrug*.
  
  "Wanna have you near me"
  -We transition to our fourth show. Ai Yori Aoshi. Seemed like a suitable place to transition since the instrumentals and guitar die down.
  
  Surprisingly, this entire section of the video uses only one 5 minute scene in the show. It had everything I needed.
  
  Lastly, I realize I'm missing the drumroll at the end and that is intentional. I feel syncing to that wuld ruin the mood of the video. It's a romance video afterall, not an action ;).
  
  "Ah Ah Ah Ah Ah" Part II
  -Similar to the AMG transition, I wanted to use a similar scene (i.e. spinning) to transition to the final couple (Tidus and Yuna). Thankfully such a scene exists, but at the same time, I'd be lying if I said I was as happy with this transition as I was with the previous.
  
  Perhaps it's the blending of CG and Anime, but this particular transition feels a bit harsher (the light strobes in particular) and the transition more forced.
  
  Lastly, the mask isn't as clean as the AMG one. I feel this is because Tidus and Yuna are underwater and thus their hair flows "strangely" and without the water (i.e. mask), one wonders, why their hair looks so strange.
  
  I've been told I'm over-reacting and over-criticizing and perhaps I'm the only one who sees it this way. I guess that is understandable since I edited the video and scene and can see things in more detail.
  
  Oh well. At least the glow and final portion of the transition looks cool :P.
  
  "When you love somebody. Till the end of time." Part I
  -Like any good 80's song, the final portion of the song is kind of a "cooldown" portion and I use it to go through most of the couples with a final highlight. Yes, I realize Ai Yori Aoshi did not get such a sequence, but I will explain that later.
  
  "When you love somebody. Always on my mind..." Part I
  -More of the same. This time with Ah! My Goddess. It must be noted the final two syncs are actually footage played in reverse and it was a pain to sync. I imagine some of you know editing reverse speed footage is a pain in Premiere.
  
  " When you love somebody. Till the end of time." Part II
  -As predictable as it is, yes I saved my favorite romantic scene from the Vision of Escaflowne for their final portion of the video. Can you blame me? ;)
  
  On the symbolic side of things, the last two scenes used are the two last scenes in the actual anime.
  
  "When you love somebody. Always on my mind..." Part II
  -Moving on to Final Fantasy X. For those who have played FFX, the first part is from the very end of the game where Tidus disappears. I then follow with scenes of his return from FFX-2. Specifically Yuna jumping towards him. This is all intentional given the significance of the scenes within the game (i.e. The ends for both games)..
  
  "When you love somebody. Till the end of time." Part III
  -I realize Ai Yori Aoshi is missing from the final sequence, but I felt it would be more appropriate to end with Yuna and Tidus finally reunited in a warm embrace. It feels like a much more powerful ending. Especially if you've played the game and know the significance of the scenes.
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  Final Thoughts:
  To be honest, I'd be lying if I said I did not make this video for Otakon 2005. As some of you realize, I have won two times in a row in the Romance/Sentimental category with Glory of Love in 2003 and Waiting For You in 2004. I'd also be lying if I said I didn't think winning a third time in a row wouldn't be pretty cool.
  
  At the same time, please don't misinterpret my intentions. This is a legitimate idea of mine, but I obviously decided to do it now (vs. later) since it was an 80's sap video and would fit in the tradition of Otakon for me :P. I mean come on, what would Otakon be WITHOUT me doing an 80's sap video? :P Don't answer that -_-. In turn, I think that the fact I'm actually thinking of the possibility of winning will be why I don't win ;). The previous two times I didn't think about it. At the same time, if I lose will I be that upset? Hopefully not ;).
  
  I also realize that this video is pretty fan-friendly in terms of source and as you'd expect, that is also intentional. Again, a legitimate idea of mine, but I chose it intentionally since I felt it might do well in an audience-vote. So yeah, you can call me a fan-catering whore I suppose.
  
  Regardless, I am still pleased with this video and how it turned out. It's certainly not my favorite video of mine, but it was fun editing with so many sources I've yet to use and as I wrote, a few of the scenes/effects turned out perfectly (for me). I guess since I'm happy with it though, that's all that matters so perhaps I should end this description :P.
  
  In any case, I imagine 99% of you didn't read this, but to the 1% who did read and watch, thanks and enjoy!
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  Hours Spent: ~2 weeks of editing for a few hours a day.
  
  Equipment and Software used:
  -My Dual 2 Ghz Athlon Computer
  -Adobe Premiere 6.5
  -Adobe After Effects 5.0
  
  Thanks to:
  -AtomX - General Beta Testing, but more importantly helped quite a bit with the concept and creation of the few effects in the video. Mad props!
  -MeriC - General Beta Testing. Was especially helpful for the Fushigi Yuugi section since I am not that familiar with it and actually hate the show.
  -Silver_Moon - Helped with capturing the Final Fantasy X and X-2 footage.
  -Corran - General Beta Testing
  -Rozard - General Beta Testing
  -Castor Troy - His thread on capturing PS2 FMVs was a life-saver.