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Information

• Member: Otohiko
• Title: Destruction Dive
• Premiered: 2004-08-01
• Category:
  • Action
• Song:
  • Dio Holy Diver
• Anime:
  • Macross Zero
• Participation:
  • CNAnime 2004, CNAnime 2004 (2004-08-27)
• Comments: *Editor note - 8/28/04:*
  *Video was shown at Canadian National Anime Expo's AMV Competition on August 28, 2004, one of the total 10 screened. First major contest passed - yay!*
  
  Greetings!
  
  Here's something more conventional, but hopefully quite enjoyable from me.
  If you're a fan of early 80's hard rock/metal to any degree, I'm sure you'll appreciate this relatively straightforward, aggressive action video.
  
  What may you expect to see? Why, fighter planes, tropical destinations, fairly attractive women, and explosions of varying shapes and sizes, of course - courtesy of Macross Zero's high-budget artwork! To make it sound less pointless, let me point out that the video also features an arbitrary storyline of a paradise lost to destruction brought on by the coming of war, along with which came our hero. Straightforward enough for someone who doesn't know the plot of the anime, yet with enough inner references to satisfy a more informed viewer. All is well then.
  
  What may you expect to hear? Why, one of rock's great classic guitar riffs and some blazing solos courtesy of a guy named Vivian, and vocals/lyrics courtesy of an old bat known as Dio - a legend in of rock in his own right. This song deserved an AMV, and I'm honoured to present it to you.
  
  The important question is, then, whether it all makes a good video. Well, why don't you look and see for yourself?
  
  Appreciate your time, as always!
  
  -Oto
  
  ***
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Source info:
  
  Dio - Holy Diver (from album Holy Diver, 1983)
  
  'The Metal Observer' gives this album 10/10. I couldn't agree more. This is just fun stuff, classic, good-time rock. I hope you enjoyed the song as much as I did, as despite its' outward simplicity, it's easily among my best favorites. No wonder I made an AMV to this.
  
  Lyrics:
  
  Holy Diver
  You've been down too long in the midnight sea
  Oh what's becoming of me
  
  Ride the tiger
  You can see his stripes but you know he's clean
  Oh don't you see what I mean
  
  Gotta get away
  Holy Diver
  
  Shiny diamonds
  Like the eyes of a cat in the black and blue
  Something is coming for you
  
  Race for the morning
  You can hide in the sun 'till you see the light
  Oh we will pray it's all right
  
  Gotta get away-get away
  
  Between the velvet lies
  There's a truth that's hard as steel
  The vision never dies
  Life's a never ending wheel
  
  Holy Diver
  You're the star of the masquerade
  No need to look so afraid
  
  Jump on the tiger
  You can feel his heart but you know he's mean
  Some light can never be seen
  
  Holy Diver
  You've been down too long in the midnight sea
  Oh what's becoming of me
  
  Ride the tiger
  You can see his stripes but you know he's clean
  Oh don't you see what I mean
  
  Gotta get away
  Holy Diver
  
  
  -The original song is 5:51 in length, while the AMV's audio track is 4:42. Worry not, however, as all of the cuts have been to the very long ambient intro and an exceedingly stretched final fade. At the same time, I preserved the music structure pretty well entirely, giving a short but sufficient flavour of the intro at the outset, and a decently-managed fade at the end. Mission accomplished?
  
  ***
  
  Anime:
  
  Macross Zero is an OAV series that began in 2002 to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the franchise. It's not exceptionally inventive as far as storyline or concept design, but it more than makes up for it with top-budget CG graphics, great action, and just a good blockbuster feel.
  
  One complaint people may have about the video is the eclectic visual nature, especially in terms of switching between 3D CG air and mecha combat and 2D animated characters on a tropical island. My answer to the complaint is that the anime is exactly that way. I feel I've done the best I could to keep it cohesive.
  
  The OAV's 5th and final episode is not out yet, though will be shortly, and the video uses the first four. Oh, to come clean right away: the show has not yet been licensed; and the video uses (very good quality, but still...) downloaded fansub footage. Bad? Judge for yourself. I believe it's quite adequate.
  
  ***
  
  Editing comments:
  
  Well, there isn't much to say. It's not a technically stunning vid. However, it still ranks as one of the most fun-to-edit videos I made, and also the 2nd most edited video - even if it's quite simple visually. Almost all the editing is simple A/B cuts/transitions, very few filters, about three overlays in the entire thing.
  
  All my earlier videos, such as 'The Wasteland' have been edited at a rate of 3.5 hours per 1 minute of video (of pure editing, discounting preparation, ripping, compression, etc.). This one took about 5 hours per minute, so it's a decent effort, spanning two fairly long stints (initial production and fixing/re-editing period) over the period of 1.5 weeks.
  
  ***
  
  Editing System:
  
  Space Groove Mark I:
  
  Athlon XP 2400+
  512MB 533MHz DDR RAM
  80GB HD
  GeForce FX5200
  
  Premiere 6.5
  
  Great thanks to cLess-R34 for help with beta-testing, and to TobinHood for starting off a thread of thought which eventually led to making this.
  
  Cheers, and thanks again to those who read this far!