Video #34: All the Sights I've Seen (REM / Utena)

[dotsandlines]

I made two videos in a row that start with "all" and didn't notice it until I started posting listings. Ha.

Title: All the Sights I've Seen
Song: REM, "The Great Beyond"
Anime: Revolutionary Girl Utena (moderately spoilery)
Genre: Romance, uplifting drama, symbolism jamboree

Links: YouTube (probably won't last long) / Org / Direct (XviD AVI, same as the org)

Several years ago, I made a short version of this video for a multi-editor project. After the remastered box set was released, I bandied about a bunch of ideas and played around with a couple of them. This one seemed to feel right. It gets at some aspects of the series that I love, but hadn't approached in AMV projects before - particularly Utena's absolute determination and the way that her resolve echoes through the rest of the cast. (And, well, Utena's character overall. Most of my other vids were about side characters/plots.)

My last video actually marked the point at which I'd been making AMVs for 10 years, but a) I think I didn't realize that at the time, and b) it would seem weird to tag a goofy video with a note like that. So I marked this one instead.

Viewed from the org, I haven't made a dramatic AMV since 2006, but I did make a dramatic Avatar: The Last Airbender fanvid in 2011. So it hasn't been that long.


More minutiae:
The lyrics are abstract and repeat constantly, but overall I wound up with this strange mix of slavishly over-literal sync and distantly symbolic sync. Eh.

Played around with a lot of repeating images (arches, roses, stairs, the castle, the flashback version of Utena's meeting with Dios/Akio, Saionji and Touga practicing kendo, Utena and Anthy's bedroom window, the Shadow Play Girls...), so I really hope that it looks intentional. It is intentional. I swear.

3:07 (Jury's "breaking through") is my favorite shot in this video. Aaaaa, Jury~ still awesome. When that worked, I decided that this project "deserved" to be seen through to completion.



Thanks for watching.

Comments

[aliceylain]

Oh wow, I'm so glad you made a longer version of this!

I still need to watch it about a hundred times more but you always have a good sense of movement with regards to the music. I imagine that it's tougher with a slower song than an upbeat one and this one moves flawlessly with the music! I don't know if I'm sold with all the overlays throughout the video (most of the time it works really really well and sometimes I'm having a hard time figuring out what's happening on the screen) but as always, I love your Utena videos. I'm feeling particularly nostagic since I just watched the end of the series last night. Even ten years later after having seen the series, it still punches me in the gut.

[aliceylain]

Also, I think my favorite bit is around 3:07 too! I adore the part where you have four shots of the duelist roses breaking apart and then Utena slams her first into the ground (a part that I have always loved in the original series). Then there's the line about keeping flowers in full bloom and Anthy's skirts are billowing. And I'm really taken when the castle disintegrating while other scenes are showing. The more I watch this video, the more I love it!

[dotsandlines]

Thank you! :D yay. I understand the overlays issue; sometimes I think I did overdo it. Gotta let the images breathe. But anyway.

Had to go big with the last shot after the four sets of blowing petals - that's the high point of the song. It's such an awesome scene. After everything is lost, everything, Utena still doesn't give up, and she still believes in her dream - her original dream, not the one Akio tried to sell her. Flail.

I re-watched most of the series a little while back too, and I was kind of relieved to find that I still love it. Especially the last few episodes.

Thanks for watching. ^_^

[aliceylain]

You're welcome! I was wondering if I could pimp this on tumblr?

[dotsandlines]

Aaaabsolutely. Thank you!