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=== Description ===
My fourth video.

The Idea for this video spawned indirectly from a friend of mine, who
give me this song, and alot of the sentimentalities in it are connected with
her. I decided to use the idea of running away with someone you love theme, and no anime I could think of better fit that theme than laputa. The show almost perfectly matches the song. I put alot of effort into this video, about 50 hours in the span of about 4 weeks to
create it. It doesn't have alot of effects, but alot of thought has went into each scene
selection for the particular verse, and I spent alot of time fine tuning the timing so it runs
very smoothly.

This video isn't just a bunch of random "sweet" scenes put to the lyrics of the song
however, I actually tell a story from start to end, (or at least attempt to) which was a
bit of a challenge to do for me. I hope you enjoy the fruits of my labor.


=== Technicalities ===

Video Format: Xvid 2-pass encode VBR with file size set to 70 (seemed to be the best
compromise to quality/size) Use Divx to play for best quality.
Audio Format: Lame Mp3 192Mbs 44.1 khz Stereo
Source Footage: Official Disney DVD - Laputa Castle in the sky, Cleaned up footage a bit with
Smart smoother filters in Virtual dub. (since the animation is a bit old)
Software Used: Adobe Primiere Pro (7.0), Extensive use of Adobe Photoshop CS for most effects
(like the flashback scenes) and minor footage editing (window), VirtualDub, Avisynth 2.5, DVD2AVI.
Time to complete: 50 hours in the span of about 4 weeks.


=== Personal Notes ===

Just some personal notes on my editing and scene selections for various spots in the video. Please read AFTER you watch the video. I don't want my own opinions to effect yours ;p

"Close my eyes, let the whole thing pass me by" The Idea of the flashback sequences to this
verse seemed to work well for this video. It helped to fill in some missing info on the
background of the story without interupting the current flow of the video. Used photosho for
the white wash fade effect thing to make it seemed dreamy like.

"I'll run away with you by my side" Theres so many obvious scene choices for this part of the
lyrics. However I tried to select footage that realy showed the relationship between them
more. Using the train scene at the begining I thought realy worked towards the feel of the
story aswell.

"I think about your face, and how i fall into your eyes" I tried alot of different scenes
here, but in wanting to keep with the general story i was trying to tell, I wanted the
background to be in coherence with the suroundings, so I constructed this scene using
background and footage from diferent areas, editing Shida out of the frame with Patsu. It
essentially is 2 images panning with each other. I made them move so as to not make it look
so static.

"I don't need to solve this case and i don't need to look behind": This part you won't get unless you've seen the movie. its not just random scenes, but is more tied with the story of the movie. Its basically hinting about her past.

"The outline I trace around the one that I call mine" Here i was at a loss as to what footage
to use here. So I tried to make the best of it with a sortof filler. This is the only one in
the Video.

"Theres no time to waste asking why" (1:27) one of my favorite parts... don't know why, it
just feels good ;p

"I'll run away with you~" 1:29 : I debated a while weather or not to use this darken flashing
effect here. in the end all the opinions I received thoguht it helped with the intesity of
the scene, and I agree, so I decided to keep it.

"I need to let go, letgo, letgo, letgo of this pride": I had a little trouble getting this
scene right due to the nature of it. Shida shaking Patsu was timed to the song, and i did a
freeze frame and zoom there for more of a dramatic effect. Please comment on if these were
effective.

2:04-2:06 : THis might not be as easy to follow if you havn't seen the movie, but if you got
the impression that he sold her to them for money, then you got the reaction I wanted. Even
though its not true ;p Its supposed to be like him fighting in his mind on what to do at that
moment, and wishes he could change the corse he did choose.

"Repeating over in my mind": I realy liked the effect I get when I watch this part. You can
see she missed him and hated to see him leaving.

"Some things you can't erase no matter how hard you try": I just like this part. I had using these 2 scenes in my vision since the very begining. THe whole "seeing him in the window" thing is supposed to be in her mind, not literally in the window. That scene btw took me about 3 hours to get right, most of that time spent in photoshop with a 2-4 point eraser editing out all those pesky white dots around the edges of the window so it didn't look pasted over the background footage, which was very apparant due to big diference in luminocity.

"An exit to escape" this scene choice was obvious.

"asking why" 2:36: This was a pain in the butt to edit to make his mouth stay closed. I had to move the image exactly to the pan of the movie, which was NOT easy to do. I went through must be 20 modifications to get it as good as it looks, and its still not perfect.

from 2:42-3:11: I intentionally dragged this out to make it more dramatic, of him comming back to save her. Alot of editing was done in this section of the AMV since alot of those sequences were not long enough. I had to splice and mix certain frames to make them loop without looking like it was. Especially the part with all the flames.

"I know i'll always love you" 3:26~ One of the parts of the video I found most enjoyable to edit. I Tried to make the viewer realy feel the love between the 2 with how i transitioned between the scenes. Repeated images are intentional here.

3:40 "Close my eyes" froze the frame on her blinking, and zommed up there to make it look like she closed her eyes rather than just blinking. Its really a simple edit, but those who don't know the movie might not notice it was an edit.

"Asking why" 3:49: one of my favorite parts of the video just because of her expression in that scene. I wanted to show her happyness at that moment by using that cut there.

Towards the end of the video I was running out of ideas on how to close it all off. I ended up deciding on the 2 of them running to meet each other with the echo effect switching scenes between the 2 and having them meet with the hug at the end, and to seal it all off with the glider leaving laputa at the very end. It was the best thing I could come up with at the end considering the limited footage I have to work with.

As you can tell I realy had alot of fun working on this project, and so is also one of my best to date. I hope you enjoy it as mush as I enjoyed making it.


Local link is a MQ Xvid Encoded slightly lower quality for lower file size and better playability on slower machines.

Indirect: I have removed the indirect link due to bandwith overuse problems. The local one has the best quality one anyway ^_^

Warning: Contains Minor Spoilers. Part of the Ending is given away, though you are unlikely to understand it much unless you see the movie. I tried not to give away too much of it.