[saiyuki vid] After Midnight

[permetaform]

After Midnight | .avi (640x480, 30 Mb)
AMV.org Mirror | download page
_{Source: 'Genso Maden Saiyuki', produced by TV Tokyo, Dentsu, and Pierrot
Song: 'I Don't Know What I Can Save You From' by Kings of Convienience
Summary: The rain will stop.}
Extras: Vidder process notes.

Critque will be adored, so will comments.

To watch the files [.avi], open in any media player.

_{If it doesn't work, make sure you've installed the codec:
DivX = high-quality at small size.
[for Windows] (free, no spyware)
[for Mac] (free, no spyware)}

Or, take the shortcut and download the VLC player, the most stable thing EVER, free, no spyware, no extra downloads.

Credits and Acknowledgements: Thank you coffee_and_ink for brainstorming the vid with me and the narrative beta, lierdumoa for listening to me rant and rant and rant some more about this vid and for beatwhoring beta for me, thank you boniblithe for giving me a supplementary beta of it, thank you karose for looking it over and chatting about Saiyuki with me loooooong into the morning and for reminding me of why I was making this along with louiselux, misstressrenet, and ciceqi who were all lovely and rambled about why they loved Saiyuki when I needed it most. Thank you absolut3destiny for introducing me to avi-synth and post processing without which this would have been a granulated mess. In addition, much thanks must be given to coffee_and_ink, ciceqi, and louiselux for hooking me up with some episodes ::blows kisses:: this vid literally couldn't have existed without you!


I Don't Know What I Can Save You From by Kings of Conscience

<sub>You called me after midnight
Must have been three years since we last spoke
I slowly tried to bring back
The image of your face from the memories so old
I tried so hard to follow
But didn't catch the half of what had gone wrong
Said "I don't know what I can save you from"
I don't know what I can save you from

I asked you to come over, and within half an hour
You were at my door
I had never really known you
But I realized that the one you were before
Had changed into somebody
for whom I wouldn't mind to put the kettle on
Still, I don't know what I can save you from
I don't know what I can save you from</sub>


Blarg: I'm calling this done because the thought of working on this any more than I already have is making me want to stop vidding. Frankly this could be improved, and I need to integrate the footage that louiselux was a total rocking babe to supplied me with, but at this point in time and with my other commitments, I don't have the time to work on this. Even more important, I desperately needed the space on my laptop to work on RL projects and my VVC auction vid.

This is, if anything, THE vid that I WILL remaster, if for nothing but to stop me from cringing in dismay.

[edit] alee_gothphyle made Gojyo icons from screencaps from my vid!

Comments

[karose.livejournal.com]

The Subliminal Tenpous love you anyway. :D *hug*

[permetaform]

awww! ::giggles and hugs back:: The Subliminal Tenpou EYE OF DOOM! XD

[talitha78.livejournal.com]

Cool vid! I don't really know what the heck I'm looking at, but it seems slashy and it has awesome special effects. That's good enough for me. :D

[permetaform]

=) Thank you! And the slash? SO CANON. =D

[ranalore.livejournal.com]

It seems there are some added scenes from the first version you showed me, and I think they really add to the...through narrative, I guess, of the vid. That final shot of them dealing the cards, I think that used to be just the second set of cards being set down. Now that you show them together and then show the cards going down, it ties back better to the first set of cards being put down at the beginning.

I still love the frames within frames, the mingling of manga and anime, and connection of Gojyo's mother with the blonde woman whose name I can't remember. I love how much both the beat of the song and the pulsing changes of clips are like heartbeats, underscoring the yearning of my take on the vid's message.

And of course, I can't get over what you did with Gojyo's hair. That alone makes so much difference, I can't even tell you. Seriously, I love this vid.

[permetaform]

o.o

That final shot of them dealing the cards, I think that used to be just the second set of cards being set down. Now that you show them together and then show the cards going down, it ties back better to the first set of cards being put down at the beginning.

::wibbles in yay::

underscoring the yearning of my take on the vid's message.

YAY! ::GLOMPS YOU::

[permetaform]

o.0 ...she'd been talking about this??

but god, thank you! ::glomps:: I'm glad you like it =D

[sweetestdrain]

Gaaaaah. You have no idea how much I love that song, I freaked out when I realized you had used it. Kings of Convenience!

And the vid - I am admittedly not familiar with the source - but it is gorgeous. The colors, the special effects, the pretty-but-maybe-a-little-deranged anime people. And there's something about the cut style you used that's really mesmerizing to me, but I'm not sure why. The vid is very awesome. I want to go watch it again now, but alas, must sleep.

[permetaform]

=D aww thank you! I'm so glad that you like this!

[winter]

What codec are you using? I can hear the music, but not see the video :/

[permetaform]

divx:
[for Windows] (free, no spyware)
[for Mac] (free, no spyware)

Or, take the shortcut and download the VLC player.

[emariego.livejournal.com]

Oh, oh. It almost made me cry!
Thank you so much for turning me on to this manga!

Awesome song choice, great clip editing and yummy slashy goodness.

::glomps you::

[permetaform]

hee, thanks =)

[baka-gaijin.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for this vid! Absolutely beautiful! I've only seen 4 eps of Saiyuki (shakes fist at AnimeNetwork). Ahhh man! You just sealed the deal on me buying the series on Ebay. To Hell with paying the phone bill or the cable bill! There have to be priorities in life. XD

[permetaform]

ahhh, umm, warning tho, the anime isn't very good compared to the manga, but I think if you've managed to survive 4 eps you should be good. =)

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

Wow. I think there are some changes since I saw the earlier version, and they work - the narrative flow works really well and is a lot stronger. Putting Tenpou and Kenren in ties in beautifully with the lyrics and I loved the little flashes of Tenpou and Hakkai's opening eye - it's gorgeous. And yay! for red haired Gojyo:D

I especially liked the bit with the blonde haired woman and the link to Gojyo's mother. It completely got across the comparison and link between her tears and Gojyo's mother crying and what it might mean to Gojyo. I thought that having an animated shot of Gojyo's mum might work better though, as the still shot (was it from the manga?) just seemed too... still. I felt like there should be more movement there, if that makes any sense at all.

[permetaform]

Putting Tenpou and Kenren in ties in beautifully with the lyrics and I loved the little flashes of Tenpou and Hakkai's opening eye - it's gorgeous. And yay! for red haired Gojyo:D

thank you!

I thought that having an animated shot of Gojyo's mum might work better though, as the still shot (was it from the manga?) just seemed too... still. I felt like there should be more movement there, if that makes any sense at all.

Like maybe the movement of her crying? Tears falling? (rain falling, heh) I'll play around with that more when I'm remastering this. =D thank you!

[permetaform]

This was really lovely and neat and I'd never seen all the use of insets (?)--new to vidwatching. Captivated despite only familiarity with source material being the first volume sof the manga. :-p

oh wow thank you then, for leaving feedback, 'cause most people new to watching seem afraid to. Insets are as good a word as any 'cause I'm stumped myself as to what to call them.

The use of frames within frames was extremely neat: I especially liked the silhouetted-window juxtaposed with the more up-close interactions of red-hair and the orange?-haired woman, and the sequence toward the end where the inside frame cut to a door cut to a larger opening door to the sky.

=D yay! I'm glad you like them! The frames ending up to the door to the sky were almost an accident, I noticed that the door opening to the sky worked well with the music and so kept it and played around with that theme more...

The song had a strong recurring bass/rhythm, and the sequences dissolved/cut/infrramed/??? around it with an interesting variety, using it as a steady backbone, and this worked well for me.

Thank you! That was one of the points where I was nervous 'cause the cutting gets very very fast...

Recurrent punctuation with images of red--the blood-drops, the cut hair, the red-handled scissors, the apples, and that final grace-note of red falling-star. Or maybe my brain simply doesn't like other colors. :-)

XD Actually, I adore that you noticed all those, 'cause actually...red didn't really exist in the anime before I got my hands on it. It was either faded red or reddish orange or (in the case of Gojyo's HAIR) it was pink. ::CRINGE:: after awhile I couldn't stand it any longer and lierdumoa poked me and was all like "you KNOW how to do it, just do it already!" So I gave in and did.

=) I'm so glad you liked it! And that wasn't really incoherent at all!

[loligo.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow. I love the way that the song and the visuals both juxtapose jerky, bouncy rhythms with the song's overall smooth flow. And I *love* all the geometric elements that are like manga panels.

And oh my god, the animation in that series looks as eye-gougingly bad as everyone says it does. I didn't think it was possible. How, how could that happen to a manga which displays such utter visual genius?!?!

(So how did you turn his hair red?)

[permetaform]

Yay! I'm glad you liked it!

And unfortunately, the vid-bunny bit me before I got a change to look at the available source carefully. By that time, DOOM.

The animators CANNOT DRAW OMG WTF.

(my thoughts at the time...)

Turning his hair red was the result of using upwards of 4 tracks, an upper layer either blue/green screened and/or chroma keyed (ie. "make that color disappear), the lower tracks were various combinations of the original image, but pulled waaaaaaay into the red spectrum.

However, for a few shots this didn't work 'cause there was too much detail, so I color changed it in photoshop and then stuck it back into the timeline.

[boniblithe.livejournal.com]

Red is the color of loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooove.

Words cannot express my looooooooooooooove for the vid.

[permetaform]

::just beams and grins at you::

::GLOMPITY::

[permetaform]

awwwwwwwww! ::tackles back more::

[nightengale.livejournal.com]

I watched it through once, and am teared-up and trying to breathe normally.

I'm gonna have to watch this five or six times more before I can begin cutting it apart and critting like I did for your Sunburned vid. I want to do that for you, and I will within the next week or so. Prod me generously if I don't--you and this vid both deserve the attention.

Karot told me about the hair, and I didn't understand why it would matter so much. I always change the color in my head anyway. But this...god. This is SO MUCH MORE than the hair, but I'll get the hair out of the way right now to let you know how much affect it had on me.

::snugs tight:: Greaaaat job hon. More to come once I'm composed~

[permetaform]

ohh, wow, thank you!

I suspect it's the hair *with* the blood and apples and scars and whatnot, or at least that's how I intended with it. ::wry grin:: looking forward to your comment!

[blu-mondae.livejournal.com]

I thank you for this if only because I finally managed to get my codecs sorted out, and now I can watch DivX on my mac.

And now for the squee: I don't know vidding, but I know what I like, and I like it! Cheers for red hair! SO worth the effort you must have put into it. And the Gaiden bits. And, I really, really like the song, which I've never heard before.

[permetaform]

heee! thank you for this comment! I'm glad it's made sense even if you're new to vidding, I know the vid goes by SO fast. Kings of Convienience is a super-band of the best people from several ska bands, they're a bit obscure, but with some perky music. =)

[alee-gothphyle.livejournal.com]

I am just... well, you know, "Wow" really doesn't cover it.

Unfortunately, I fear that your vid has left me so in awe, and so in love, that my vocabulary has deserted me. I confess to having joined the Saiyuki love train very late (as in *cough* I just devoured everything I could get my hands on over the past 6 weeks), but this? Well, if I am in any position to judge being the queen of knowledgeless newbies, is a work of sheer perfection.

The music, which echoes with the muted rush of roaring, falling water and harkens to all the rain issues in the Gojyo/Hakkai dynamic.

The absolutely AMAZING work you did with Gojyo's hair.

The stunning edits, manga panel effects, and the buidling surge of emotion throughout the vid narrative.

And, most of all, the message of the lyrics themselves...

Well, I wish to worship you. I am simply overcome with fannish adoration for you.

[alee-gothphyle.livejournal.com]

And, because I think you should have something tangible in honor of my delight, and because it is in fact "5" Day (heh -- whole new reason to celebrate Cinco ;) -- I have for you some icon bases of your wonderfully remastered and clairol'ed Gojyo. I hope they are one tenth as pleasing to you as your vid was to me!! :)

[wyhcadci.livejournal.com]

Kind of late but connection has been screwing up on me lately. Much Much LOVE!!!

...know anywhere where I may download the song from? ^^''

[permetaform]

=D thank you!

and er, maybe on one of the music search communities? It's a fairly rare band.

[madame-maya.livejournal.com]

I can't get the video to show! The sound plays, but I can't see anything! Something about a decommpressor not working. The fuck?

[permetaform]

Try VLC player, it's one of the most stable players around:
http://www.videolan.org/

[kintail.livejournal.com]

Ok, here goes... comments that have been simmering in the back of my brain for over a month. Prompt I am not. *hangs head*

First of all, to say I am new to watching vids is the understatement of the millennia. I had never watched a vid in my life. I'd added your journal to my reading list a bit before you posted this because of your Saiyuki links and discussion. I noticed you talking about vids, of course, and I was quite curious, and yet my brain jumps all over the place and drops things so I never got around to actually looking for vids to watch until *plop* you dropped this post into my lj reading and of course I had to check it out. In other words, this was the first vid I *ever* watched. Ever.

I had some vague expectations, but this blew them all away. Every single moment, every beat, was so thought out, every intricate layered part of the sound was echoed in layers of visuals and movement. I had no idea at all such things were possible. The framing and insets and flicker-stutter thingies that matched the music and mood perfectly, and of course the *colours.*

So much of it made me feel *yes* this is what the anime *should be.* You took the good ideas that they didn't implement so well, like the small frames on a mostly black screen and layering of images, and you make them work so well. And you took the things that they completely messed up (like the pink hair) and fixed them. And greatly minimized the really ugly art.

I had never heard the song before either, and on first watch, I was completely caught off guard by the happy-bouncy calypso-like music starting up over the darker lower sounds being juxtaposed with the splashing of blood and the first look at Gonou dying on the road. The contrast was like a punch to the gut in a way, so unexpected. And yet as soon as I recovered I realized how incredibly well done that was, the music coaxing the guard down just as such a painful and serious scene was shown, because Gojyo had his guard down then and what he experienced cut right through like a punch to the gut from a trusted friend he never knew he had. And then I realized how incredibly well done it was because finding Gonou, even dying, was the best thing to ever happen to him, and the single most important thing to change the course of his life from then on, and so the happy-bouncy music fit in that way too.

I really like how you used the frames not just to show division and lack of connection, but also show connections being made, like when Gonou and Gojyo are in separate narrow vertical frames far apart and then Gojyo's frame "grows" to go meet and include Gonou, symbolic of being isolated and then making him part of his life.

I loved the Gaiden moments, of course (being such a huge Gaiden fan), but I also liked that you didn't overdo it, that showing they knew each other before was enough, it was deja vu like whoa for them but not really anything they actually remember consciously or understand, and it is not really Kenren and Tenpou's story here -- their story is part of the larger story, yes (in the way that Saiyuki without Gaiden is not the full story), but not it is not the particular story you are focusing on here.

I wondered why you left Kenren's hair pink in most of that sequence, though, but upon later thought I realized that since the falling cherry blossoms (traditionally symbolizing "the impermanence of life" and "the beautiful but tragically short life of the samurai" if I recall) are the major understated point of that particular scene in the Gaiden story (besides introducing the characters) and that theme is even more important now at that moment when Gojyo and Gonou meet -- not just that they knew each other when they lived before, but they also died before and those lives are over and they are no longer those people, and so leaving Kenren's hair the close to the colour of the blossoms has its own message. Or maybe I'm reading too much into it? (I still prefer to think of Kenren as black-haired though. ~_^)

[con't]

[permetaform]

I had some vague expectations, but this blew them all away. Every single moment, every beat, was so thought out, every intricate layered part of the sound was echoed in layers of visuals and movement. I had no idea at all such things were possible. The framing and insets and flicker-stutter thingies that matched the music and mood perfectly, and of course the *colours.*

oh god ::SNOGS:: this just...eee ::wibbles::


And greatly minimized the really ugly art.

::giggles:: oy, thank you for that. I actually went through at one point to count the different art styles that went into the bits of animation and think I came up with about 9 that are shown in that vid alone...


the single most important thing to change the course of his life from then on, and so the happy-bouncy music fit in that way too.

Yes! ::bounces:: And I was trying to work that irony level really really hard in this vid, because it's very much Gojyo's limited and flawed point of view. (my favorite bit is actually on the line "I tried so hard to follow /
But didn't catch the half of what had gone wrong"; 'cause that's the moment when Gojyo actually 'senses' Gonou In Peril =D)


I really like how you used the frames not just to show division and lack of connection, but also show connections being made, like when Gonou and Gojyo are in separate narrow vertical frames far apart and then Gojyo's frame "grows" to go meet and include Gonou, symbolic of being isolated and then making him part of his life.

OMG YES. YES. ::TACKLEGLOMP LIKE WHOA::


and it is not really Kenren and Tenpou's story here -- their story is part of the larger story, yes (in the way that Saiyuki without Gaiden is not the full story), but not it is not the particular story you are focusing on here.

::nods:: yeah! it's sorta like at one point my beta was all, "there's too much Goku and Sanzo here" but I kinda felt that the vid wouldn't be complete without them too... they're like my platonic OT4. =D

Or maybe I'm reading too much into it? (I still prefer to think of Kenren as black-haired though. ~_^)

::nods:: I like Kenren as black haired better too, yet the pink hair kinda 'fit' in a way in these scenes the way they very much didn't in the other scenes and I think you might have hit upon a reason why. On a practical level, to actually make Kenren's hair black in that section would have meant coloring that sequence frame-by-frame...and while I thought the red-hair color change was crucial to the Gensomaden scenes, the Gaiden scenes didn't bother me nearly as much and as well the pinkness added to the 'floaty' feeling of that sequence. Black had a huge chance of 'weighing' that scene down unless I do it really really carefully, and the effort v. gain balance on that wasn't worth it in the end. ::wry grin::

[kintail.livejournal.com]

[cont'd]

Meantime, on my first watching of this, the moment when the petal hit the surface of his wine and the ripples spread just so lining up with the heartbeat sound in music was the exact point when this vid completely broke through my rational mind going "so hey wow this is a vid, huh? never seen one before but it seems really interesting..." and *connected* and my heart jumped up into my throat, and I just watched and felt and breathed and reacted to the rest of the vid on a much deeper more involved level -- which of course is harder to put into words. *^_^*

The use of colour, especially red, was so amazing. Often made even more effective by playing up the saturation and brightness to make it the most intense thing in the scene, although if you don't mind a bit of concrit from a vid-watching newbie, it seemed in a couple of the nighttime scenes in the woods from the Chin Iisou arc, Gojyo's hair was a bit too bright and saturated to look like part of the scene, when everything else was so dull and either dark or washed out, and there seemed to be too much contrast with the shadowed parts of his hair so that it was jarring rather than connected. In dim lighting like that I'd expect even bright red to appear dark and dull, like a burgandy or maroon colour. On the other hand it stands out like the blood droplet and ripples on the plain black background after the greysclae flashback and manga scenes of his mother's death. The symbolism more important than realism, and maybe a message of the meaning they attach to it being too extreme and disconnected from reality at that point in the narrative?

One other part that really struck me, before I forget, was the echoing of Kanan's knife with Gojyo's scars, and with the beam of Iisou's puppet shooting at Gojyo, how they flash one after the other almost like subliminal messages (like how you first worked in the Gaiden images too, with the eyes), and even the angles line up and echo each other. Not a connection I'd made before consciously, and you make it so powerfully here each time, as if Kanan's knife and Gojyo almost getting killed those two times cause the same pain, all tangled up together in Hakkai's messed up emotional state.

It was on subsequent watchings that I was able to put the "story" of the vid into words for myself, though I think I "got it" on a deeper level right from the first. Strange, because a lot of it is there in the lyrics -- the not quite connecting at first, despite wanting to connect, but the past was too much in the way. Then realizing how much they meant to each other when they were separated and Gojyo thought Gonou was dead -- and *that* scene was also so very well done, especially the way you used the frames to fragment and juxtapose and layer things -- then once they were together again they kept trying to save and protect each other, and failing, and finally realizing that they can't save each other from their pasts, and they certainly can't save each other from themselves, but they can be there for each other and they can accept each other completely and that's what matters most.

[cont'd]

[permetaform]

going "so hey wow this is a vid, huh? never seen one before but it seems really interesting..." and *connected* and my heart jumped up into my throat, and I just watched and felt and breathed and reacted to the rest of the vid on a much deeper more involved level -- which of course is harder to put into words. *^_^*

ohhh! ::wibbles and glomps::


although if you don't mind a bit of concrit from a vid-watching newbie, it seemed in a couple of the nighttime scenes in the woods from the Chin Iisou arc, Gojyo's hair was a bit too bright and saturated to look like part of the scene, when everything else was so dull and either dark or washed out, and there seemed to be too much contrast with the shadowed parts of his hair so that it was jarring rather than connected.

Yeah, I'm going to have to agree with you on that one. I was a bit meh on that myself, but towards the end I'd realized I worked on this vid for half a year and enough was enough and set myself a deadline. (Le sigh.)


One other part that really struck me, before I forget, was the echoing of Kanan's knife with Gojyo's scars, and with the beam of Iisou's puppet shooting at Gojyo, how they flash one after the other almost like subliminal messages (like how you first worked in the Gaiden images too, with the eyes), and even the angles line up and echo each other. Not a connection I'd made before consciously, and you make it so powerfully here each time, as if Kanan's knife and Gojyo almost getting killed those two times cause the same pain, all tangled up together in Hakkai's messed up emotional state.

YES! ::bounce!:: Completely! =D


Strange, because a lot of it is there in the lyrics -- the not quite connecting at first, despite wanting to connect, but the past was too much in the way.

::nodnodnod::


Then realizing how much they meant to each other when they were separated and Gojyo thought Gonou was dead -- and *that* scene was also so very well done, especially the way you used the frames to fragment and juxtapose and layer things

Yay! thank you! I was a bit stumped as to how to show relationship when they're separated, but then just went back and decided to carry through the theme of blocks of frames and fragments.


then once they were together again they kept trying to save and protect each other, and failing, and finally realizing that they can't save each other from their pasts, and they certainly can't save each other from themselves, but they can be there for each other and they can accept each other completely and that's what matters most.

OMG YES. YOU GOT IT. YOU GOT IT SO MUCH. ::SNOGS::

[kintail.livejournal.com]

[cont'd]

The scene with the reddish-blonde woman was particularly well done too, not just because it was beautiful and lined up so well with the music, but the emotion of the scene itself was already powerful and you heightened it even more, and the use of the manga to remind us of his mother again too, and yet the black around the bright colours of the woman and Goyjo and the window and the silhouettes and everything made it very strong as the "darkest point" of the video, with the blackness closing in on everything and choking off possibility for life and love and positive connection, only negative connection of echoing the past and associations with hurt and death.

And then the way you followed that with opening everything up with the silhouette of the bell-ringing for sunrise and leaving the full frame open and bright and renewal and sunlight, closing in again around Hakkai in isolation and then Gojyo goes and throws an arm around him and everything opens completely again. Acknowledging the pain of the past and letting it go, moving forward into simply accepting and being there for each other and finding that to be far more powerful than trying to protect each other, shown with full-frame shots, the full picture, the full experience, layered again with the helping each other towards the open doorway to summarize but still using the whole screen and they're always together not cut off from each other anymore by the framing, and then open and outside and ready to travel on.

I think I'm not very coherent anymore, repeating myself and forgetting to say other things, but it's really hot and humid here and my brain is melting.

And I can't re-watch with the sound turned up because nekonexus has work tomorrow and is trying to sleep, and the headphone jack on my computer isn't working. Grr...

Overall: so amazing. Like the best fanfic, gives me new insights into the depth of their characterization and relationship, makes me appreciate canon and fanworks much more because of it. Simple enough to connect strongly on the first viewing of it and get me all choked up and grinning, powerful enough to evoke that reaction on later watchings, and complex enough that I see something new every time I watch it again.

Now you see what I meant when I didn't think my one paragraph of response to your fic counted as "extensive feedback"? Heh, when I get extensive, I get really extensive. Hope you don't mind!

[permetaform]

oh god. you've made me tear up. more later.

YOU MADE MY DAY. ::SNOG::