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Information

• Member: Amizadai
• Title: Now We Are Free (aka Nau We Are Free)
• Premiered: 2002-12-28
• Categories:
  • Drama
  • Character Profile
  • Serious
• Song:
  • Gladiator SoundTrack Now We ARe Free
• Anime:
  • Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
• Comments: Nausicaa will always have a special place in my heart because it was the very first anime I watched. I was probably in Primary school at the time, and coming across a serious animation film was a first for me. It's a beautiful anime... if you haven't watched it, you really should. I can only hope that this AMV is faithful to the anime's feeling of hope, grandeur and beauty to pique the interest of people enough to watch this classic.
  
  Teaming footage from Nausicaa and music from Gladiator has been an idea I've had in mind for a really long time... it festered for about a year and a half before I started on it . And then it took about a year to edit, tweak, despair over, and complete. Now it's finally done.
  
  While the song I used has vocals, it was sung in a foreign language. So I ignored the lyrics and used the song as I would an instrumental piece. I went with emotions rather than the meaning of lyrics, and matched audio cues and legatos (I think that's what all those cool vocal acrobatics are called).
  
  This is mainly a character video - I wanted to show Nausicaa's strength, her weakness, her brutality, her compassion. And overall, the running theme of her call to destiny.
  
  I hope you enjoy the video. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding it, you can express them in an opinion, or email me at amizadai@starhub.net.sg. I will definitely reply.
  
  Below you can see some of the progress I recorded as I worked on the video - you can skip all that if you're not interested. Just scroll to the bottom of the page for the video links.
  
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  NOTE: If you don't seem to be able to download the video, try again in a bit. The server seems to only allow 2 simultaneous downloads, and you just might be the 3rd person in the queue. So, don't give up, go make yourself a cup of coffee or pet your cat, or read a page from the newspaper, and then try again. And if you liked it, write me ashort review. I'd love to hear what you thought.
  
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  +++ Updates +++
  
  28 February 2002
  
  Since my arrival in Australia, life's been a lot more freed up. I've actually managed to edit quite a bit of the video! Nowhere near done yet, but it's looking encouraging!
  
  I'm currently editing using the VCD files, so my disks won't get all crowded. But once I got everything down pat, I'll substitute the MPEGs with footage from the DVD.
  
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  14 March 2002
  
  Haven't touched the video for a couple of weeks... I'm giving it a rest while I tackle other things. Hopefully the time away will serve to give me a fresh perspective when I get back to editing it again.
  
  As it is, it's about 70% done. I've shown it to some people, and feedback so far has been positive. It's not saying an awful lot though, because most of these people have never been exposed to AMVs.
  
  I did like what one girl said about my vid though... she said it was "moving". Wow. I certainly hope it lives up to that description.
  
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  14 April 2002
  
  OK, it's been exactly one month, and I havn't finished the last 30% of the AMV. Yes, I sucky suck suck suck. But I am planning to finish it up week after next, when all my assignments are done. And I'm going to use better a video source as well, to make the whole effort worthwhile. For all you know, I may even enter it into a contest! Weeoo!
  
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  02 September 2002
  
  OK, since the last update, I've lost my Matrox video card, gained a new Canopus card (to be purchased in the next day or so) and re-done pretty much my entire video. Until last night, it was 70% done. After a day of messing with it, progress has shrunk to 40%. But I'm a lot happier with the new edits. Hopefully I'll continue on this inspired vein.
  
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  05 November 2002
  
  Brief update about my AMV, because the majority of the update is already in my journal entry (dated 05 Nov). http://www.animemusicvideos.org/legacy/journal_show.php?mid=528
  
  Drurmroll please.... The edits have all been done, but I a now re-mastering from DVD footage. I AM ALMOST DONE! T_T
  
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  10-28 December 2002
  
  Been editing on a new vein of inspiration since 10 December. Since then, I have made various tweaks fueled by my anal-retentive streak, made the unwise decision to totally re-edit the ending, hated the result and returned to the original ending (thank God for the Save As function).
  
  I spent Christmas home alone editing because I was so sick I couldn't go for any of the family gatherings I'd been invited to. Somewhere around that time, I realised that:
  
  a. I was never going to be 100% happy with my video
  b. I should probably do what Jbone does and release my versions of my vids so I can keep the option of editing open.
  c. AMVapp rocks.
  d. Xvid rocks.
  
  +++ +++ +++
  
  I'd like to thank:
  
  - Alvin for writing me a solid critique for my video even though it was still a draft.
  - Wally for being brutally honest about the parts that sucked.
  - SDC for walking me through the encoding process.
  - The rest of the AMV Singapore gang for being my first test subjects.
  
  
  
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  NOTE: If you don't seem to be able to download the video, try again in a bit. The server seems to only allow 2 simultaneous downloads, and you just might be the 3rd person in the queue. So, don't give up, go make yourself a cup of coffee or pet your cat, or read a page from the newspaper, and then try again. And if you liked it, write me ashort review. I'd love to hear what you thought.
  
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