AMV Files - Sovngarde Song

Don't mind me as I play with the formatting, not only for the actual blog but also the organization of the AMV Files articles. Trying to make them more organized as opposed to just vomiting information everywhere.

So, here's how things go when writing these things. I usually get them done in one of 2 ways:

1. I lack the motivation, time, or energy to edit, but I have an idea floating around. So I use these to brain dump to show off the idea, keep tabs on thoughts, and maybe even give me the muse to get started.
2. Pretty much the same as #1 except I'm already in production and I'm stuck or otherwise have free time (like waiting for an upload or render to finish).

See, the last few AMVs I did didn't allow me to do either. The processes have been pretty short and relatively uneventful, which means I'm behind on 3 of them. So, let's waste no more time and look at Sovngarde Song!

AND NO MORE WE'LL BE SILENT

WITH THIS SOVNGARDE SONG IN OUR EARS!

Title: Sovngarde Song
Song: "Sovngarde Song" by Miracle of Sound
Focus: The everlasting courage and spirit of the dogs of Ohu through the generations
Footage: Ginga Nagareboshi Gin (anime and manga), Ginga Densetsu Weed (anime and manga), Ginga Densetsu Riki (manga), Ginga Densetsu Weed: Orion (manga). Recolours from Rascal of SFF (Orion, Weed, Shiro, Riki), and SilverEye of GingaBoard (Gin)
Progress: Completed...since February
Exhibition Class participant at Anime North 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Adz-Fg5GMWs

 

Blogger seems to be offended by the fact that I don't link my main Youtube with this blog and insists that my main video doesn't exist according to this search engine.


GETTING STARTED

 

 

So imagine you're home from work one January evening, ready to relax on the internet. But wait, it's down! Not only is it down, but apparently down in much of your province (and New Brunswick of all places). Well that sucks. I guess I'll just play some video games, since 90% of mine don't require internet. But then I remembered I was at that really shitty part of Wind Waker where you need to derp around and collect the Triforce shards (you know, the absolute worst part of the game). I got stuck and no strategy guide. Excellent x_x. At that time I haven't made an AMV in months, so my eyes warily loomed over to the Sony Vegas quick-launch icon I tend to keep beside Firefox. After editing for several hours, it just kinda carried on from there and my beta was ready the next day. So yes, thank Rogers for buggering up the internet, since it seems a lot of people like this one.

Sovngarde Song was my favourite song at the time from Miracle of Sound (link leads to video, his account, and some links where you can buy his music). Miracle of Sound is a one man act featuring Gavin Dunne, the ultimate form of gamer, nerd, and musician. His songs tend to draw heavy theming from games (and movies/shows), about characters, genres, or the work itself. He's also consistently GOOD, often making a song every two weeks or so yet having more hits than misses. Gav's music is also readily available on Bandcamp and iTunes and has a Youtube. In fact, I asked his permission to make this video :3





See? If asking permission to use something was this simple then I would do it more often!



THE INTERPRETATION

This song is about Skyrim, and is pretty simple to understand at least on a base level (or at least my understanding of it). Much like the people of Skyrim, the dogs of Ohu face head-on the wrath of the elements and the relentless foes threatening their home and way of life. The dogs value courage, selflessness, and honour to overcome various dangers and was an easy match with this song. To be honest, a typical action AMV could've worked too, but I noticed the song is divided into clear segments with different tempos and feelings to them, and then you just gotta tie everything together.

Time Frame	Content
0:18-0:50	Presenting the struggles and suffering of the dogs, the "men of the north"
0:50-1:45	The call to action, and introducing the word of the "Sovngarde Song" as a symbol of their beacon of courage, Riki, as the dogs get ready for battle
1:45-2:01	Switching generations, initially comparing the depictions of the final battle and then moving on with seeing the original soldiers paired with their successors in GDW
2:01-2:17	Smith and John, two of the main soldiers (also the only veterans Weed meets for much of the series) still fighting in their old age, then Weed living through that same fighting spirit.
2:18-2:41	Aaaaaaaand here comes everyone else. I tried to make John's eyes more significant there before "feel the fury" but Kage's clip had too much jerking. Was supposed to mean something similar like done with Weed. Also Ohu's new invaders are introduced.
2:41-2:55	Call to action, much like it was before. A few veteran shots in there too to reinforce the ideas of succession, ending with Weed and his "big three" (Jerome, Kyoshiro, and Tesshin)
2:55-3:27	The new generation leading the push alongside the veterans
3:27-3:42	Just your typical switch-off between GNG and GDW
3:42-4:00	Various notable sacrifices of some veterans. Wanted to put some GDW exclusive characters too but couldn't find any that really hit the mark.
4:00-4:07	The finale and an intro to the "epilogue". The calm after the storm and remembering the dead (shown here with the "successor" deaths of the two sets of Kai deaths, Akatora, and his nephews). Ending with a quick recap of the generations and an appearance of Weed's later son, Orion.
4:07-4:41	The introduction of the 4th generation of Shiro's lineage of ass-kicking beardogs in the mountains with dogs in GDW: O, and the spirit goes on. And no, I don't know why that one pic jitters that much.

 
 
 
While I don't storyboard like this in any videos (though like with Assassin Unforgiven's storyline, it seems like it), this was the structure I was looking for in both the song and the video. Next AMV files I'll show you one hell of an AMV storyboard though. Usually when I first get my ideas for footage and songs, certain lines tend to jump out at me more. The one featured below was perhaps my first idea for the video.



LET YOUR BLOODLUST ENGAGE!

THE STRUGGLE

So, one of the things that really dangled in my mind was what happened in 2009 relating to Soldier Side. The story goes that I entered the video as my first participation in a real, "professional" AMV contest. Soldier Side's editing took nearly 6 months (plus several months prior of listening to the song repeatedly to get ideas). It was DQed for graphic violence. I got really upset, but I wanted this video to at least be SEEN, so much of the violence in Sovngarde Song has been dialled back (not like it was hard, considering this song is much more upbeat and doesn't have the same depressing subject matter). However from the very end in the final draft, I can't remember who it was but someone pointed out a big no-no...considering an explanation of graphic violence was "violence to the eye"

I THOUGHT IT WAS A PEBBLE!!!

Well...that was an oopsie on my part lol. So I quickly added Gin before the final version was uploaded.

Except for the anguish of my precious internet being MIA for much of the evening, there was actually very little struggle with this video. Vegas was surprisingly well behaved except for the times it decided to not like a frame. No seriously, I approached a frame in ep 17 and the whole program crashes, though of course it was in a clip I needed (Akame running at Genba at the second "under these blows". I had to be very careful and not even touch that frame). Has anyone had shit like this happen? I'm actually kind of amazed. The other technical blips were things fairly small, like one of the Orion pages flickering (and would not get better despite effects or changing the format of the image) and the funky border lines being inconsistent when flipping down Jerome, Kyoshiro, and Tesshin.

CONCLUSION

The song otherwise worked very well with Ginga and I'm somewhat pleased with the result. Not perfect, but still ok.

On a closing note, I will say something. I was shocked when I saw my GDW videos years ago brought down by Nihon Ad Systems. I was nearly suspended after 5 years on Youtube. Since my Ginga videos were very popular (mixed with other copyright crap and me generally not being active), it did lead to a bit of a lull in viewership. This video's views and comment responses kinda made me take the hint that you guys really missed them too. Sovngarde Song is more active in comments and had about 3 times the views of Voice Of The Journey (uploaded about half a year after). I can't promise more Ginga videos (GDW is particularly difficult and not that fun to edit with), but I'm glad a lot of people I haven't seen in ages pop up and say they liked it.

And of course beats everyone fawning over Shadow On The Wall. I mean bloody hell...!