Wing and a Prayer

Anime - Area 88 OVA
Song - Kenny Loggins - I'm Free (Heaven Helps the Man)
Completed April 2008
Premiered May 16, 2008
AnimeMusicVideos.org Link
YouTube Link

This idea's been kicking around in my head for a while, though originally it was using the Area 88 TV series, not the OVA, before I decided to go entirely 80's cheese with it (source from 1985, song from 1984).

I mainly wanted to do a drama about the separation between Shin and Ryoko, and give it a bit of a different twist, with Shin wanting to stay in Area 88, because the fight is something he believes in to the point of leaving Ryoko behind (which is the exact opposite of the actual series).

Convention History:

Anime Central 2008 - Entrant
AnimeEvolution 2008 - Entrant

Right Here

Anime - Shakugan no Shana
Song - Triumph - Somebody's Out There
Completed February 2008
Premiered March 21, 2008
AnimeMusicVideos.org Link
YouTube Link

This was a nice simple Shana/Yuuji romance video that sprung into my head after hearing the song on the radio.

The footage only goes up through the first few episodes of the second season, since that's as far as the DVDs were when I was making this video.

Overall, I like the video, but for such a fast-paced series, this slow video sometimes feels a little off.

Convention History:
Anime Boston 2008 - Finalist
Tekkoshocon 2008 - Finalist
Anime Central 2008 - Entrant

GLMR (Iron Chef)

Anime - Macross: Do You Remember Love
Song - Guilty Gear Isuka Soundtrack - The Cat Attached to the Rust
Completed October 2007
Premiered October 23, 2007
YouTube Link

From a 4-way Iron Chef battle in the #superic channel on IRC, including Ghet, me, Meteor Dragon, and Rave_Epic. I got one of the four votes cast by the judges, so came in tied for second.

Interpersonal Communication (Iron Chef)

Anime - Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS
Song - Coldpay - Don't Panic
Completed October 2007
Premiered October 10, 2007
AnimeMusicVideos.org Link
YouTube Link

My video from the Online Iron Chef Tournament 3.0 Round 1, which lost to Douggie.

Not really a fan of the song, but the video didn't come out too badly.

I gave it a title when it got sent to Youmacon in response to ngsilver's begging for entries. The title means nothing, it's just a pair of words that sound relevant and form the initials "IC."

Convention History:
Youmacon 2007 - Winner, "Most Orignal"
Bakuretsucon 2007 - Finalist

HAWWWWmingbird (MEP Segment)

Anime - Idol Defense Force Hummingbird
Song - Hirano Aya, Katou Emiri, Fukuhara Kaori, & Endo Aya - Motteke! Sailor Fuku
Completed September 2007
Premiered September 30, 2007
AnimeMusicVideos.org Link
YouTube Link

When in Rome...

Peer pressure from the Mastermind and his followers made me do it, and I have no pretensions that this is anything other than a slapped-together job to get in on the fun.

And yes, that is the System 7 box, cursor, screen, and sound.

A Kanon Carol

Anime - Kanon (2006)
Song - Trans-Siberian Orchestra - The Lost Christmas Eve
Completed June 2007
Premiered August 17, 2007
AnimeMusicVideos.org Link
YouTube Link

Kanon has been in my mind for this song for several years, and I was planning on making an all-girls video using the 2002 version of the series for quite a while. I was looking for a copy of the DVDs for the series for less money than I was finding when the first episode of the 2006 remake broadcast. My plans for this video were immediately put on the shelf until I could get the new version.

The first step was shortening the song; I've always hated the middle section with the "Christmas..." chant, so I wanted to take that out, along with the final section after the faded chord, since it seemed superfluous to the song. I ended up also cutting the second verse and chorus, since I was having a great deal of difficulty finding scenes that would fit that section of the song once I decided to focus on Ayu rather than have the video skip among the various girls for different parts of the song (Ayu was always intended for the final section before the instrumental finale, though, which I think is the best segment).

The video on the R2 DVDs was insanely high quality; it's no surprise that they retail for 6000 yen each. They were progressive and anamorphic with almost no video issues coming off the disk, so I didn't need to filter a thing, and it allowed me to release an 848x480 distro copy. Whatever KyoAni paid their encoders for these disks, it wasn't enough.

Editing was pretty straightforward, without much in the way of effects other than a few white flashes/fade to white moments. I'm still a KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) editor, and prefer to have the footage tell the story, rather than have the video taken over by effects. Editing this way does make the user have a passing knowledge of the series you use, but it's the way I feel more comfortable.

Convention History:
AnimeEvolution 2007 - Finalist
Anime Weekend Atlanta (Pro Competition) 2007 - Finalist, Best Sentimental
Bakuretsucon 2007 - Finalist
Another Anime Con 2007 - Winner, Best Drama

Azu Heart

Anime - Azumanga Daioh
Song - Nakatsukasa Masami - Feeling Heart
Completed April 2007
Premiered May 11, 2007
AnimeMusicVideos.org Link
YouTube Link
YouTube Link (Side-by-Side version)

This video was created especially for Anime Central's 2007 Theme contest, "Faux Anime Opening." I went through almost every DVD, tape, and fansub I own looking at openings for ones that I though I could do on a technical level, and that had at least some scenes that I could think of replicating using another series. Ten openings made the list, including a remake of my first AMV ever, and the one that I could most easily see was Azumanga Daioh replicating To Heart's opening.

I had to wait for several days after deciding before actually being able to edit, as RightStuf's release of the first To Heart DVD wasn't out yet, and I didn't want to work from a very low-quality VHS fansub copy from 2000. I was able to make a list of potential scenes from Azumanga that would match, as well as generate the credit list that would be used in the video (all the credits in the video are accurate for Azumanga, save the opening theme credit, which matches the To Heart opening credit, thanks to ja.wikipedia.org for providing the correct kana/kanji for positions and names).

The final video was made in four parts: the opening, up to the logo, the title logo itself which was made using After Effects on the desktop, the main video, which was duplicated twice for the half-rolled section, each duplicate being sepia-toned, and the ending segment, which was simply a keyframed 4-point matte.

Overall, I'm happy with the way it came out, though I'm disappointed by the edges in the masks at 1:25-1:32, Tomo's and Osaka's in particular stand out. Something to work on in future videos.

Convention History:
Anime Central 2007 - Finalist (Theme Contest)

Designs by Daidouji

Anime - Card Captor Sakura
Song - Lazytown Soundtrack - Step By Step
Completed February 2007
Premiered April 20, 2007
AnimeMusicVideos.org Link
YouTube Link

This idea came to me while I was digging through my short songs looking for something that might have fit the "Magical and Musical" magical girl MEP. I ended up not joining the project, but the song paired with CCS stuck in my head.

The overall idea was to showcase Tomoyo's contributions to Sakura's adventures, which mostly consist of costumes and videotape. The main realization I came to while going through the series:

Tomoyo is a really creepy girl at times.

Technical
Ripped/filtered on my Windows desktop, edited in FCP on my Mac laptop.

Digital effects came out in force for this one, especially the opening sequence, which took twelve video layers, and I'm quite proud of how it came out. Each of the "Hollywood Squares"-type also have their own internal linking theme, if you look for it.

Convention History:
Anime Boston 2007 - Finalist
Toracon 2007 - Winner, Sports/Romance/Other
AnimeEvolution 2007 - Finalist
Bakuretsucon 2007 - Finalist