However, I did make one last edit to the movie, and it’s significant enough that I decided to replace the YouTube upload that contains the scene affected (Part 8). My biggest disappointment with the game’s story is that the villain is not defined very well. In an effort to fix this, I rearranged some dialogue so that the details of the villain’s ultimate plan are now revealed earlier. It’s a small change, but one that makes the story a little more coherent (In the original staging of the scene, Faye and Kent seem to be responding to revelations they haven’t heard yet) and adds more tension to the ensuing big three-way brawl that originally occurred before this information came out.

Click here to view the recut Part 8.

Shortly after The Song Remains The Same was posted to YouTube, I found this blog post in which the writer tries to tie the game story’s thematic elements with that of the series proper. I responded with some thoughts of my own in the post’s comments.

Press: Have you seen the fan edit of the Escaflowne movie titled Nescaflowne, and how do you feel about people playing with your designs and spoofing them and whatnot?

NY: I have not actually seen that movie, but would be very interested in doing so. but generally I am not a character designer who feels the need to have complete control over everything I draw. If fans create something like a doujinshi or cosplay, or even fan dubs I feel that in a way it shows how well liked my characters are. So I generally like to see people enjoying my designs.

Full interview here:
http://www.zentendo.com/features.php?articleId=325&page=1

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=8EEBA46A28DC9750

The mixing of these scenes should only take me another day or three, and then all I got to do is work on the brightness issue and assemble the deleted scenes. My current thinking is that Song will be released on YouTube first while I investigate the feasibility of reformatting the video for 16:9 display for DVD/DivX release. I had experimented with making ReDeath 16:9 on its DVD, but cropping ReDeath for 16:9 resulted in a softer image compared to having my HDTV zoom in on the 4:3 letterbox image, so I left it non-anamorphic. But since Song requires subtitles (for most), it seems worthwhile to give it the 16:9 treatment so people with widescreen TVs don’t have to choose between a big picture and being able to read the dialogue. We’ll see.

Also not cool is that my old external firewire drive (a 120GB I’ve had since late 2001, on which Nescaflowné and ReDeath ReDux were edited) is flaking on me. Some footage and music cues were damaged and needed to be replaced. Thankfully, the damage to the whole is minimal, but I’ll definitely be retiring this drive from editing work once this project is complete.

I’ve crossed the halfway point and am currently considering shortening one, maybe two of the action scenes. If I can do it without butchering the music behind them, I most likely will. That’s about it for the edits I think the video needs, everything else is just tweaking a subtitle here and there or adding some sound effects where needed. I also think it’d be cool if I could find someone to translate the end credit theme for me (it’s in Italian), but that’s just extra credit. And then, it’s the deleted scenes and the DVD authoring, but I think I could get this online before then.

I finally got back around to editing! Judy’s been bugging me for forever to make a dub so I figure if I start editing stuff, maybe I’ll get back in the mood to actually crank something out. Anyhow, this is actually an old trailer reborn. I made a similar version of this way back in 2002 on my old editing system. Recently I jumped at the opportunity to get Final Cut Studio for a good price, so I’ve got quite a respectable editing setup now with my MBP and my new monitor. Anyhow, if I’ve learned anything from cutting this KoF trailer it’s that 1) new NLE software and hardware are a joy to use and 2) I’m way rusty at this editing bit. I think I spent about 3 hours total ripping, editing, and cutting this trailer from DVD to Youtube.

Because we’re Studio Sokodei, this thing ain’t done-done yet. The number one flaw was that the thing was too damn dark (most notably damaged is one of my favorite gags in the video which got zilch response from the audience). I should’ve gotten the hint from how murky the trailer turned out on YouTube. But yeah, that’s at the top of the list. There are a handful of subtitle rewordings I’m considering (Though thankfully, I noticed no embarassing typos during either screening). I compiled the screener DVD three times in the 24 hours before premiere due to volume problems I kept discovering, and there were still some in what got shown, but limited to less than 30 seconds of the whole. I may also trim a few more lines. And last but not least, I’d like to edit and sub the around-6.5 minutes of deleted material.

Kelvin suggested that some of the earlier action scenes are too long and that I need to make the volume range more dynamic. I knew I definitely had to minimize the footage of actual gameplay as much as possible, but it’s a fine line between making something too long and making something so short as to be insignificant. There’re a couple of action beats I think I can reasonably shorten, one where Spike and Bianca are chased by aircraft and a point when Faye gets into two “fight against multiple goons” sequences in less than 4 minutes, and I’ll definitely seee what I can do with them. Volume range is something I’ve never really thought about on any of the videos I’ve edited. As long as nothing overpowered the dialogue, I figured that was all that was needed. But then, Song is far more action driven than the parody dubs and I guess the rule is that action scenes should not be pitched at the same volume level as coversations and vice versa. Another thing I’ll look into.

I’m gonna take a least a week off to decompress from Fanime before jumping back in to fix stuff, but I promise it’s not going to be a 5-year-process to completion this time. Unlike the dubs, I have no reservations about making this available to the public as soon as I’m satisfied with the final cut, and I’ll post that news here when that happens.