AMV: Valley of the Dolls

[lizardjay]

Konan's birthday is tomorrow, 2/20! I didn't originally start this AMV to make it a birthday tribute, but it's one now.

(Apparently Yahiko's birthday is the same day? Sorry Yahiko. This video is rough for you.)

Watch on YouTube

• This one's been 10 months in the making. It was really tough for me to plot, for lack of a better word. I had the ending "death" section basically finished last April... but I got stuck on how I'd actually get to that point. I also ended up changing songs from my original pick, which is something I've never done before. Normally I either have a structure decided before I even sit down to work on a video, or I'm so confident in the idea that I don't need much of anything pinned down beforehand. I redid sections of this more than I ever have before... putting things down on the timeline was a complete guess and it took a long time before the major beats even became clear. It finally solidified in the last week or two though and I managed to work on it like a normal AMV. Obviously, I prefer the easy videos to that experience :D but I think it was still valuable to find out that it's possible to push through the confusion.
• I considered making this a combo Konan and Nagato video, and I think it would've been a little stronger that way. The first chorus would be about Nagato in his assault on Konoha and lead up to his death. I mean, "living with identities that do not belong to me" paired with all the Pein bodies? But I'd already prepped everything for a Konan AMV and I didn't want to hunt for more Nagato clips.
• The borders closing in for the final fight scene were inspired by me watching Everything Everywhere All At Once a couple weeks ago. (I polled my friend to see if he noticed the borders at all and he said no XD one of my Youtube comrades did though so currently we're 50-50.) The goal was partially to make a more cinematic effect, and partially to make a feeling of "closing in" as Konan gets set on her path. Then, when she's revealed to be alive at the end, it opens back up.
• Konan has so few good-looking fights that I had to use an OP :(
• I need to hunt down some more constructed reality AMVs, assuming they exist. I really, really like doing them, so looking at other people's methods will be helpful. (This is probably something to post in the amv dot org forums...)
• The rain trio as kids are so extraordinarily cute 😭😭😭 their little faces!!! I can't take it.
• Based on the timing, I'm pretty sure this Konan AMV from last year is what inspired me to make one of my own. Just rewatched it and it's great!

Comments

[hokuton_punch]

Ohhhhh, that's GORGEOUS and I fucking love the ending!! WRECK HIM, KONAN ♥

[lizardjay]

Thank you!!! Konan is going to DESTROY him very soon 😇

(I mean, I love Obito. But Konan deserved to be allowed to make him suffer.)

[vriddy]

This is really pleasant and flows so well!! I really liked the atmosphere the song added to the videos, I wouldn't have guessed you changed it.

[lizardjay]

Thank you ^_^

Yeah, the song change was definitely for the best, it worked out really well!

[brightly_lit]

Wow, this is gorgeous and heart-wrenching, even though I don't know the characters!! (I'd love to know more about the person made of/who controls paper now, though!)

By "constructed reality AMVs," do you mean AMVs where you use the footage to tell a story different from the one told in the original anime? Because that's something I'm totally into, as well. :-)

I so know that experience of fighting to even find a basic structure. I couldn't even narrow down the focus of my first Your Name AMV until I saw another Your Name AMV and got inspired.

I did not notice the borders closing in while watching, but I felt it! So I guess it had the intended effect. :-)

As always, the visuals go wonderfully with the words and music. You are very good at this.

[lizardjay]

Konan is super cool; her paper powers are never really explained but they're beautiful and powerful.

By "constructed reality AMVs," do you mean AMVs where you use the footage to tell a story different from the one told in the original anime? Because that's something I'm totally into, as well. :-)

Yes, exactly! I've been doing a lot of this with manipulation (for example, in this video, the end shot is edited; she didn't originally have purple eyes or a red flower, I did that for the narrative of the video) but of course you can do it as well just by the order of your clips and things like that. I'm interested in all types! If you know any examples I'd love to watch them :D

The one that comes to mind for me is from this Youtube channel that combines animated movies. It's hard to explain.... here's one of their videos with a romance between Jane from Tarzan and the captain from Treasure Planet. I'm in awe of how they did it. Every detail is perfect?? I've tried to do some similar things, pasting one character into another scene, and my efforts look SO clumsy next to this.

Anyway, after all of that, thank you!! I'm glad you liked it :)