Video Information

Information

  • Members: MeriC, VegettoEX
  • Studio: Temple O' Trunks
  • Title: Obligatory EVA Trailer
  • Premiered: 2003-06-13
  • Categories:
  • Song:
    • Sealab 2021 "Tinfins" Original Trailer Audio
  • Anime:
  • Participation:
  • Comments: ** WINNER: 1st Place (Best Trailer/Short Film); PortCon Maine 2003 Anime Music Video Contest
    ** WINNER: Grand Prize; AWA 9 (2003) Expo Anime Music Video Contest

    Like many of our music video ideas, this one came to us when we least expected it. Mike and Meri had not made a trailer since "The Professional," made less than a year earlier, and hoped to make a new one at some point this year. Several ideas floated between the two for many months, and, as usual, nothing really clicked.

    Then, one lazy Sunday evening, Mike, Meri and Andrew "Deluxe" (Mike roommate and star of Meri's "All-Purpose DBZ Music Video") were enjoying some nice "Adult Swim" on Cartoon Network. One of the trio's favorite shows, "Sealab 2021," came on. It was an episode no one in the group had seen before: an "Entertainment Tonight"-type episode, hyping up the summer release of a movie starring the Sealab crew. At the end of the episode, a trailer for the fake movie "Tinfins" finally appeared. We were hooked by the first line: "would you put your brain in a robot body?" Not only was this a tribute to an older "Sealab 2021" episode from the first season, but Meri and Mike seemingly read each other's mind the instant the trailer began: this has to be done to "Evangelion."

    The two finished watching the trailer, and immediate knew that the entire thing fit Evangelion perfectly. Giant killer machines, mostly gone bad, regular humans on the run, entertainment ensues! Thanks to the wonders of the Internet and college dorm room T1 connects, a digital copy of the "Sealab 2021" episode in question downloaded instantly. After a quick audio rip, the trailer was ready to be made!

    Spring Break is meant to be a time for college students to unwind. Mike and Meri, however, spent it editing this trailer. It was just one of those ideas that HAD to be done quickly, for our own amusement, as quickly as possible. Meri ripped all of EVA to her computer in about a day, and another day was spent making the MJPEG files. Like most of Mike and Meri's collaborative music videos, Meri bought her computer to Mike's house to work on the video. That's where the cats and the soda live, after all.

    The first thing that need to be done was to decide which EVA characters would play which Sealab characters. Obviously, Misato would fit cleanly into the role of "Debbie." Shinji would be the macho "Marco," because well, it's just plain stupid. The hardest part was figuring out who would be "Captain Murphy" and who would be "Dr. Quinn." Obviously, Gendo is the man in charge of the EVAs and is most responsible for their creation. However, Kaji could also work, and would fit due to the large amount of interaction with Misato / Debbie needed in the video. So, it was decided that Kaji would play our lead scientist "Dr. Quinn" while Gendo would be the hopelessly inept "Captain Murphy." Our cast was complete!

    The trailer opens up with Kaji and Misato talking at the table, as Misato asks "Would you put your brain in a robot body?" After some talking back and forth, Kaji eventually replies "No.... I'd put it in something BETTER." This scene also contains one of our weirdest video edits. We edited Misato's eyes to face Kaji. In the original version of this episode in EVA, Misato is looking in the opposite direction. Amazing what a bit of Photoshopping can do.

    After the intro, we see a shot of Nerv, suspiciously labeled "Sealab: The World's 2nd Most Advanced Research Facility." The sign in front of Nerv, was all Meri, as she insisted cheesy graphics be inserted into the video for comedic effect.

    Next, we see Kaji explaining his horrifying new creation... a perfect killing machine, "needlessly turned into a robot." Does that fit EVA or what? :)

    "Holy crap!" screams Gendo. C'mon, what's NOT to love about Gendo screaming "holy crap"? :)

    "WHAT have you DONE!?" yells Misato / Debbie. Fun lip synching.

    Up next is the line "but in order to survive..", where we show several of the Nerv / Sealab staff looking stunned.

    The next scene, "... they'll have to destroy his creation," shows sillouhettes of the EVA pilots, looking menacing.

    "Get him out of there! Something's wrong!" begins the attack of Kaji / Dr. Quinn's creation on humans. We used the scene of Gendo being attacked by the EVA prototype because, well, it fits... it's a robot on a rampage, wow!

    "Oh, you think?" -- Just a Nerv / Sealab staffer making a sarcastic comment. This was fun to lip sync.

    Then, the screen goes black, and we see the monster loom over the city in the rain. What could be happening!? All of a sudden, all the power in Nerv / Sealab goes out, as Misato and Kaji are in an elevator. Misato gasps. *gasp!* It's the monster!

    "She cut the power!" -- Shinji / Marco crawling around in the dark. Just looks kinda silly.

    "How they hell can it cut the power!?" -- Nerv staffer (sorry, we don't remember his name) as "Stormy" from Sealab yells nervously as he turns around.

    "It's a SHARK!" says Fuyutsuki. It was fun throwing him in here with such a weird voice.

    "Holy crap!!" says Gendo as he literally pops up on to the scene. Meri insisted that Gendo have a thick, black, corny outline as he pops up onto the screen and says his line. We think it turned out pretty funny.

    The next sections simply line up actions in the video to sound effects in the original audio, with a little lip-synching here and there (Shinji's "Let's go fishing..." is simply too funny). 1:19 to around 1:25 is a quick mix of both serious and amusing shots, alternating between the two as much as possible, ending with the EVA slamming its head against the wall.

    Yes, at 1:26, that is indeed the original "Tinfins" trailer playing on the television ^_~ Closing the segment with an explosion in typical "Sealab" fashion, we cut to Misato gasping (which we had to animate frame by frame, export, re-import, and then slowly zoom in on for that effect), and a scream from EVA Unit 01.

    The end~!

    This trailer played at Otakon in two places, literally at the exact same time. At around 8:30 on Saturday (9 August 2003), the "Fan Trailers" block played all trailers sent in. The crowd ate it up, giving it one of the biggest applauses of the night. At the same time, Scott Melzer played it during his Fan Parody Creation panel (we are told that it was given an equally large reaction, just not by as quite as many people as in the other location). We were actually surprised to find LOTS of people laughing the INSTANT it started due to their recognizing the original audio immediately. Cool stuff!

Opinions (32)

  • Orig
  • Visual
  • Sound
  • Synch
  • Lip
  • Effects
  • Effort
  • Re-View
  • Overall
  • 9.62
  • 9.35
  • 9.50
  • 9.42
  • 9.38
  • 9.23
  • 9.38
  • 8.96
  • 9.31

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