"Battle Chess"

• Source Video: Cowboy Bebop
• Soundtrack: "One Night in Bangkok" from the musical Chess (Andersson / Rice / Ulvaeus)
• Performing Artist: Murray Head / London Concept Cast
• Category: Fun (Action)
• Premiered: AnimeIowa 2001 (08/25/01, 1st Place)
• Also Seen: Katsucon 2002 (revised version)
• About: This video takes the perhaps cliched approach of trying to work on two levels: in this case Ed takes the part of the American (Murray Head's character), who is playing out a game of chess, while the rest of the cast acts out the various gambits, taking the parts of the pieces.
  Interesting tidbits:
  • The chess game is inconsistent even in the original: while Ed always uses white, notice that the Chessmaster makes moves using pieces from both sides of the board. Might explain why he's so good, eh?
  • Well, I think he's got a resemblance to Yul Brenner (of The King and I fame):
    
• Version 1.0: 07/30/01
  Revised 01/16/02
• File: Available by request . (MPEG-1, 352x240, 33.3Mb)

"East of Eden"

• Source Video: Trigun
• Soundtrack: "Adam Raised a Cain"
• Performing Artist: Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band
• Category: Character study (serious)
• Premiered: Katsucon 2002 (2/16/02)
• About: Just a little character sketch of our favorite cross-toting gunslinger, at least his darker side. There be spoilers here.
  Some parts of this I like quite a bit (the "Lost but not forgotten..." line, frex), but others may be, I admit, a bit visually confusing -- for example, I tried to get the final gunfight into the last chorus nonlinearly -- it came out something like: A-E-B-F-C-G-D-H. I tried to differentiate the EFGH part with a red filter, but somehow I doubt anyone would catch that. When I'd started it, I hadn't seen any other Wolfwood-centered videos, something that surprised me (plenty of Vash ones, though), but it languished in editing for several months with little work, in which time the hole seems to have already been filled. Oh, well.
• Version 1.0: 01/24/02
• File: Available by request. (MPEG-1, 352x240, 42.2Mb)

"The Bandits' Lament"

• Source Video: Slayers (TV, Next, Try)
• Soundtrack: "Volcano"
• Performing Artist: Jimmy Buffett
• Category: Comedy
• Premiered: Otakon 2002 (overflow tape 1)
• Also Seen: AnimeIowa 2002 (08/23/02, 1st place)
• About: Pretty straightforward execution: simple concept, little in the way of visual tricks, fair amount of lip synching. The "volcano" in this case... should be pretty obvious. Things get blown up. :)
  There's one clip (about 4 or 5 seconds) that might be considered a spoiler about a character in Next, but that's kind of hard to call.
  While the groupings of Lina's victims may seem sort of random at first, I did try for something of a progression of who's worried about getting blasted: it begins with just bandits, but soon includes henchmen, mazoku, companions, and innocent bystanders. Mt. Lina shows no mercy. :)
• Version 1.0: 05/12/02
  Revised: 07/02/02 (bound for AnimeIowa)
• File: Available by request. (MPEG-1, 352x240, 39.1Mb)

"Break My..."

• Source Video: 3x3 Eyes
• Soundtrack: "Break My Stride"
• Performing Artist: Matthew Wilder
• Category: Dark-ish Comedy
• Premiered: AnimeIowa 2003 (Sunday)
• Also Seen: Otakon 2004 (overflow)
• About: Just a little lip-synching to a popular 80's song, along with a touch of the good ol' ultra-violence.
  I thought the partitioning of the characters (Pai/Parvati/Yakumo) appropriate, along with the increasing levels of violence.
  I had originally started this last year, but only got a few clips done (around the China line). Some time later I got about half of the middle/Parvati section done, and then finished it between Otakon and AnimeIowa this year (a bit less than 2 weeks), just barely making the AI deadline. Pity it didn't get shown in the initial viewing. On the whole I'm pleased with the end result. Working with a relatively short series turned out much easier than the previous 3 videos -- or maybe it was because of the limits I'd set on the various sections.
  I guess not enough of the AI audience was familiar with the song and/or the anime, as they did not seem to anticipate the inevitible Yakumo section, though they finally caught on after his choruses started...
  Note: I found out that Fei-Oh is in the first OAV series (ep 2). At least that explains how Pai manages to catch up with Yakumo and his scooter...
  
• Version 1.0: 08/20/03
  Revised: 05/06/04 (bound for Otakon)
• File: Available by request. (MPEG-1, 352x240, 30.0Mb)

"Innocence/Lost"

• Source Video: Angel's Egg
  
• Soundtrack: "How Will I Ever Be Simple Again"
  
• Performing Artist: Richard Thompson
  
• Category: Serious/Sentimental (Maudlin?)
• Premiered: n/a
• About: Actually the first "serious" AMV idea I had. I went for the simple approach with no digital trickery other than simple fades, and deliberately tried to keep the number of obvious cuts to a minimum.
  
• Version 1.0: 07/31/07
• File: Available by request. (XviD AVI, 720x480, 56.5Mb)

Ideas

• When They Cry (Higurashi) / Tusk (Fleetwood Mac)
• Inuyasha / Boys of Summer (Don Hennley)
• Escaflowne / Don't You Forget About Me (Simple Minds)
• Tenchi Muyo / Justine (The Blasters)
• Slayers (misc?) / Smooth (Santana)
• Gundam Wing / Summer Nights (Grease OST)
• Tenchi Muyo / Only the Good Die Young (Billy Joel)
• Evangelion / The Traci Lords Polka (The Kabalas)
• Gasaraki / Don't Bring Me Down (ELO) or The Safety Dance (Men Without Hats)
• Read or Die / No Rain (Blind Melon)
• Tenchi Muyo / Run for Your Life (The Beatles)