Raggedstar – FFS3 BETA: Welcome Home

vs BalcoZero, Firewerwolve, Jpeniera, and xPosskx
(oh just shoot me now…)
Theme: ‘TALLICAAAAAAAAAAA

Well, what sort of witchcraft is this new footage? As those who have seen the collections video, recently I got The Plague Dogs on DVD. It was originally set to make it’s debut in the completed Madokara Mieru (being in the “winter” segment), but that’s not finished yet. Well, it gets it’s debut in an exclusive beta.

This is a very experimental video. It’s my first where just about every clip has a filter, I used text and voices more than I ususally do, stuff like that. Plus, the combination was perhaps among the most challenging I’ve ever used (TPD, a movie that is pretty much dead and depressing the entire way through, being done with a pre-Black-Album song).

Ok, I went through a lot of thought with this video so read it well. This song is most likely about something along the lines of “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest”. A Sanitarium is a hospital for chronic conditions, such as mental illnesses. Snitter and Rowf may not be insane, but their situation I found had certian parallels to the book and song. For one thing, it’s a bitch to real life (as well as to my psychology course. Fuck, how do people honestly support the bullshit that is the mental health field?). I don’t wear any rose-coloured glasses, and these all point to the same conclusion. Rejection, death, alienation for no fucking good reason, backstabbing, having it be a crime to be yourself (whether you’re an animal or just a little bit weird) and being “fixed” until there is nothing “you” left (which leads to bad things, namely supression and rage), GAH! Ya, it’s a little hard to explain, but my mind is weird. I know many therapists and councellors want to lock me up for it :3.

To explain farther, the filter was used for good reason. Hospitals are places that are very clean (trust me, I’ve seen the cleaning schedules for even in my college’s clinic), but it’s just to hide the dirt on it’s soul (*coughbrownfilter*). The Sanatarium in the video represents two parties: the research facility and the identical brutal nature of reality (the Todd, which represents that dark, emotionless, kill-or-be-killed attitude). Snitter and Rowf escape the facility, but they’re met with a crueler reality. Their only means of refuge is an island Snitter sees, though they never reach it.

Raggedstar – FFS3 BETA: I’m Not Jesus

vs TenrouFang (WON)
Theme: Apocalyptica’s “Worlds Collide” album

I’ll admit that this album is amazing, but it was so hard to find a song I was confident with. TenrouFang can say all she wants on how she’s screwed in this match-up, but she has the ability to pull off some good stuff (you better be reading this, girl lol). I needed something good, which was hard to do with this album (none of the lyrical songs fit anything I had), so I had to fudge it a little with my favourite of the lot (which happens to be among the hardest).

Takato, my good goggle-headed friend, you do rage very well. This video basically focuses on episodes 34-36, my favourite Digimon battle ever. Takato (the quietest and least confident of all the goggle-heads) loses his mind at Beelze(bu)mon’s betrayl, wanting him dead and has no forgiveness. His anger sends Guilmon into a frenzy, and lashes out as Megidramon. I know he does become sorry (for Guilmon) at that point, but even as Dukemon/Gallantmon he’s still out for revenge until Juri/Julie stops him.

Song: I’m Not Jesus
Artist: Apocalyptica (ft Corey Taylor)

Raggedstar – Animash – Evil is Hot

Don’t tell me that it’s not, ’cause evil is hot :3
(ugh, Warner, you don’t own Time Life anymore. Why are you giving me alerts?)

I AM ASHAMED AT ALL AMV MAKERS! HOW THE BLOODY HELL AM I THE FIRST TO USE THIS AMAZING SONG!? Seriously, it has “AMV” written all over it. Editing isn’t good or fancy, but the concept is amazing.

I actually saw this musical last November. It’s called “The Toxic Avenger” (based on the B-movie of the same name), and it’s a rock musical that was playing in Toronto and New York. It was hilarious, and this was my favourite song. I mean come on, isn’t that song so true?

I don’t do alternate plots, but this video essentially has the roles of the mayor and the scientist being played by Zira and Scar (with the choruses breaking for showing some of my favourite examples of hot villains. Don’t worry, I added some females too). There’s too many to show, and I had to even cut out the ones in video games (such as Dark Jak, Evil Rao, and infested Sarah Kerrigan). Kinda obvious, but Zira is seducing Scar for information, like how the mayor did in the play.

NOW, there is quite a bit of timing issues. Why? Because when I was fitting in my opening/ending/note, the keyframes and layers decided to shift. I fixed most of it, but when you’re dealing with 9 layers, it’s really hard.

Song: Evil is Hot
Artist: The Toxic Avenger Musical

Thanks to Possk and Shado for helping me with FMAB and FF clips!

PS: That’s actually my college lol.

Raggedstar – FFS3 BETA: Madokara Mieru

It’s FFS contest time again: The only time you could count on me to have a reliable output of AMVs lol.

My pairing was to use a song from Corner Stone Cues. Blackfang didn’t know this, but Corner Stone Cues is actually a music library for licensing, not a band lol. Oh well, whatever. CSC covered this song from an artist called Christopher Tin, who also wrote a translation for the song and some other background information on his blog (that I took into account when making this video http://blog.christophertin.com/2008/0… ).

Now, I usually say that FFS betas will NOT be completed, but this is among the exceptions. I WILL FINISH THIS (ya, just like Hollow and Van Nuys *cough*). With any luck, this will be my V3 LFS Preview.

This song uses a series of Japanese haiku poems, each representing different seasons and stages of life. Truly beautiful work. I used that to create this AMV. All 18 of the works I use will be used (though Vegas doesn’t like that) and they are all associated with one season. There is also a colour and texture (that I made myself ^^. I’ll let people download them if they want) to correspond with each season. To add on, I tried to make summer and autumn festive with the claps and drums (as well as a dancer, which isn’t seen yet).
Spring = green filter, sparkly moss texture
Summer = gold filter, grass texture
Autumn = red filter, leaf texture (not seen)
Winter = dark blue/purple filter, water/ice texture

Song: Madokara Mieru
Artist: Corner Stone Cues (Christopher Tin cover)

Raggedstar – Felidae – Master’s Voice

EDIT: …wow…these are the shittiest thumbnails ever. First is of my opening, second doesn’t do the video justice, and the third is of my ending. WEAK!

For my little pet/friend ShadowSmiffDemon (aka the superior AMV maker of awesometacular epicsauce).

FOR FENRIS’ SAKE, IT’S DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONE! None of us needs a lesson in how slow I am at editing (also how sometimes editing programs, no matter what they are, seem to like to mess around with your sanity and decide not to work), but this was started in July 2009 and finished…this morning. It has also been less than a month short of me uploading a FULL AMV in a year. Woo, I suck.

Speaking about sucking, even though there are some really good parts, some parts just look so disgusting and messy. Perhaps it was due to the method of editing (ie. jumping to different areas), since I never had a smooth beginning-to-end look at the video. Actually, a lot after the beginning of the second chorus (that I did yesterday by the way) was edited before the last ending point of the beta. You can even see differences in style even in between lines. And thanks to Dame (I think it was you) for giving me advice on how to clean up that chalk area. And thanks again to those who gave me crits when the beta was uploaded.

Right, some minor things were changed in the beta (timing, making the black/white thing clearer, changing the purple/yellow filter to a matching orange/yellow), though the story hasn’t. It’s focused on Pascal and Francis’ friendship. After Francis gets involved with the murder cases, Pascal treats him almost like a son. During this time, Francis is attracted to Pascal’s intellect, and begins to trust him deeply (though not aware of Pascal’s true intentions of having him finish his work, almost keeping and molding him for himself). As Francis discovers the cruel truth by solving the clues involving the exotic cats, Mendel, Claudandus sect, the cruel doctor, and Felidae, he fights back to protect the world from him.

Song: Pet
Artist: A Perfect Circle

Honours:
Feb 25:

#5 – Most Discussed (Today)) – Film & Animation – Canada
#59 – Top Favourited (Today)) – Canada
#5 – Top Favourited (Today)) – Film & Animation – Canada
#65 – Top Favourited (Today)) – Film & Animation – Global
#8 – Top Rated (Today)) – Film & Animation – Canada
#46 – Top Rated (This Week)) – Film & Animation – Canada

Raggedstar – Digimon Frontier – Van Nuys

SEE? I SAID I WOULD FINISH IT! AND I DID! HOLY FUCK IS THIS AN OLDIE. Ok, so The Dark Passion Play and Hollow are older, but one I hit a brick wall and the other needs to hit a brick wall and be rubbed against it until it can be sold as a discount pizza topping.

Anyways, this video was my entry for FFS2’s finals against Possk (and it ended up losing unlike said pizza-destined beta) but it was still worth the work to upload. Even though it sat around for so long, Van Nuys in total had about 2 months of work. I wanted to make it pretty simply edited. There were some pockets with more editing, but it was mostly to keep up with the song (particularly near the ending repeat of the chorus).

And since I can’t be damned (after 5 renders) to post another explanation of this video, here is what I said on the beta. Following it is my brain-dump entry on the Cache. It’ll save a lot of space on the description.

“Ok, the idea isn’t the easiest to get, so lemme spell it out. The song is about Van Nuys, California. From what I’ve heard, it’s not the nicest place out there (don’t hurt me). Now, although Tamers had the darkest Digital World, it was also the season that spent the LEAST time there (15 eps?). Digimon Frontier isn’t the darkest, but it does kind of have that deepist pits of despair in the plot (come on, love or hate the season, that bit with Mercurymon vs Takuya was hardcore. I HAD to open with it). The kids in this season are trapped in the Digital World, and they’re at the mercy of the potentially vicious nature of the world.”
http://tehcache.blogspot.com/2011/07/amv-files-van-nuys.html

Song: Van Nuys
Artist: Sixx AM
Footage: Digimon Frontier, Revival Of The Ancient Digimon

Raggedstar – FFS2 BETA: Vitamin R (Leading Us Along)

Wow, I’m actually the FIRST to upload in this round?

vs Firefang086 (WON by default)

WHY DO I ALWAYS HAVE TO DO THE DRUG SONGS? x___x
Ugh, you know, as the contest goes on, I start to like my second “So Far Away” video more and more. It’s sickening.

This song is good, but what’s so hard was finding out what went with it. This is most likely about Ritalin (sp?), soooooo…I couldn’t figure out what to do with it. That took me AGES. I decided to do it to Elfen Lied as a video focusing on Lucy’s misery caused by Kurama, and how she makes an already sad and lonely man even more broken (ie killing his assistant, Kisaragi, and ripping his “daughter”, Nana, literally limb-from-limb). Once Kurama captures Lucy (and accidentally orders troops to kill her human friend), she swears to make him feel how she does (guided by her Diclonius killer instinct).

“Hey, I thought your eps were in English”
They are. The audio clip was from the OVA (ep 11.5), which was never dubbed.

Seeing as I was just about clueless on how to organize, not sure how much more I can discuss this video. Very challenging. This is the semi-finals for the contest, so if I make it through, it’ll just be by a squeak.

Song: Vitamin R (Leading Us Along)
Artist: Chevelle

Raggedstar – FFS2 BETA: Master Of Puppets

Vs Wyrewolf (WON?)
(NOTE: This round has the partners working on the same artist, but can be different songs. Of course I had to have one of the hardest bands to AMV to)

TLK on Raggedstar’s channel? HOLY JEEBUS, BATMAN!!! Well, don’t expect another. This was just a special idea I had in my head.

IRONYYYYYYYYYYY! Wyrewolf made me a birthday video with Scar in it (no Zira), and I’m facing her (…again) in this tourney with a Scar (…and Zira) AMV. Not only is Scar a womanizer, but he’s the frickin’ MASTER OF PUPPETS YO!

Damn I really hate this video. It’s just so busy and sloppy and…ew. Note to anyone planning to use this song in an AMV: Don’t, especially if you’re in college. 9 AM to 5 PM is harsh. The concept is great, but I had to sacrifice a lot of tempo/mood matching (especially at the beginning) which is part of what killed it (shame, since I love this song).

The concept is quite simple. Scar and Zira are manipulators that are…er…off their rockers (to quote the Muppets, Zira is “whole grain and nuts”) and their quests for power in grisly ways. The song I believe is about drug addiction, but I had to cut that out since I couldn’t match it lol. I could see Zira “chopping her breakfast on a mirror” though LOL *shot*.

PS: I’ll shoot anyone who tells me to “finish” this. For anyone that doesn’t know, this song is about 8 minutes long. Just doing 1 minute was hard enough. Hell, most of this video was made last night (stayed up ’till 2 AM)

Raggedstar – FFS BETA: Hollow

Won the final round of Blackfang29’s beta tournament vs Wyrewolf and ShadoWolfDemon. I swear I’m going to kill you if Shado starts going on about this lol.

My first AMV of mine containing Digimon Frontier (season 4), and focuses on the two brothers Koji (long hair) and Koichi (short hair). For education purposes, the kids in this season transform into Digimon rather than having partners (the white wolf is Koji and the giant bird is Koichi’s evil evolution. KendoGarurumon and Velgamon = badass). Koji is the warrior of light, Koichi the warrior of darkness.

Let’s get things straight. I don’t like Frontier as a season. I’ll admit there are a lot of delicious parts though (very dark like Tamers, quite sad at parts). However, I ADORE Koji and Kouichi in their hotness (WOLF’S RAIN REF PEOPLE! Koichi and all of his evolutions are played by Crispin Freeman, the voice of Tsume. That makes him even more hot) as well as their relationship. Koji I now have determined to be the character most like me. We tend to have the same outlook, particularly on how we find avoiding emotional attachments to prevent being hurt later to be realistic.

Now, I had no idea what to do with this song. This first started as a Takato AMV, then a Balto one, and now I went and downloaded most of Frontier so I could make this AMV. Both brothers are incomplete (hollow) in a way. Koji keeps emotional distance from everyone, and Koichi longs to meet his long-lost brother. When they both meet, they learn they can never part (light and darkness rely on each other).

Perhaps my most painful AMV to pre-render. I don’t know why x_x. As you can see, my video quality at some parts are really bad. Sorry. And sorry for trying some new techniques. Just found out how to “pulse” and do the funky rectangle thing.

Unlike the others, I MIGHT complete this ugly monstrosity. I still have a few ideas to continue.

Song: Hollow
Artist: Submsersed

If anyone hasn’t figured this out yet, all AMVs are done for fan and self-educational purposes.

Raggedstar – FFS BETA: So Far Away

UPDATE: This video will be shown at Anime North 2009’s Exhibition category.

vs ButterflyIllusioned (I won…somehow)

FFS contest beta…not going to finish, please don’t ask. However, this one is maybe the best out of all of my contest betas.

ANYN is a difficult anime to make AMVs with, so I should use it when I can (though not be horribly repetitive). My last AMV focused more on Mei’s perspective and on their friendship. This one is in Gabu’s perspective and talks about their friendship, BUT also looks at other stuff more importantly (as it touches on more of my interpretation of the song’s meaning/story).

I used the line “so far away” to describe Gabu’s development. He’s “so far away” from what he used to be (watch the AMV. It’ll make more sense). First he was a beast that considers goats to be his favourite meal (I’m almost positive he was in the hunt where his mom was killed at the beginning, hence why I used those scenes. I tried not to get Giro in there, but oh well), and then makes friends with his “dinner”. However, he’s happier this way. He’s not ashamed, though he felt like it was too good to be true at the start since something so good could only be in a dream (“somebody shake me ‘cuz I, I must be sleeping…”. That was also the scene where Gabu did have those kind of thoughts, so score!).

Song: So Far Away
Artist: Staind

Honours:
Dec 17
#44 – Most Discussed (Today) – Film & Animation – Canada
#64 – Top Favorited (Today) – Canada
#6 – Top Favorited (Today) – Film & Animation – Canada
#70 – Top Rated (Today) – Canada
#8 – Top Rated (Today) – Film & Animation – Canada
#46 – Top Rated (This Week) – Film & Animation – Canada

Dec 18
#12 – Most Discussed (Today) – Film & Animation – Canada
#29 – Top Favorited (Today) – Canada
#2 – Top Favorited (Today) – Film & Animation – Canada
#72 – Top Favorited (Today) – Film & Animation – Global
#21 – Top Favorited (This Week) – Film & Animation – Canada
#52 – Top Rated (Today) – Canada
#2 – Top Rated (Today) – Film & Animation – Canada
#18 – Top Rated (This Week) – Film & Animation – Canada

If anyone hasn’t figured this out yet, all AMVs are done for fan and self-educational purposes.