The year is 2027. It is a time of great innovation and technological advancement. It is also a time of chaos and conspiracy. Corporations have more power than the government. Everyone’s fighting for power. For control. The World doesn’t care about right or wrong. It’s all about power. And right now, none of us have it.
A group of freedom fighters have gathered to join forces against the Umbrella Corp, an organisation with strategic outposts all around the world and a very specific agenda. With the latest developments in ultra low frequency radiation atmospheric processors, they have the technology to take control of the global weather. Their new wave blasters network can artificially induce rainfall anywhere, anytime, putting them one step away from becoming the largest umbrella manufacturer on the planet.
It’s not too late, we can stop them. Join the fight!
– Hey Nostro.
– Yeah?
– How about coming to a convention in Finland as guest of honor?
– Dafuk??!
– C’mon! It’ll be fun and stuff.
– Alrighty then!
This is how one of the biggest adventure of my life (so far) began.
Although I never stopped making AMV, I know I’m not a big name of the current AMV scene and left the top 10 a while ago. I really wasn’t sure I was legit for attending this event and expressed my doubts about it but as the Tracon staff insisted I thought to myself “hey, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that will probably never present itself again so let’s just go and see what happens!”.
So I’m being invited, the staff is taking care of literally everything for me, I can’t come empty handed. Should I bring chocolate, macarons, Eiffel Towers souvenir from Paris? I’ve got a better idea, let’s make a new AMV that we will premiere at the convention just before I get called on stage for the AMV contest!
It’s been a while since I went to a convention and I wasn’t sure what to expect of this guest of honor business but it turned out to be quite an adventure. 5 days in Helsinki & Tampere, guided visits, infinite food, taxi, killer hotel, private backstage room with my name on it (!!!), VIP all the way, double Nostromo interview, chat with Finish editors, handshakes and photos with fans (holy shit there are actual people who know me and like my stuff!). I wasn’t ready for this level of attention, everything was perfect and I hope I delivered a good enough performance.
The highlight for me was the screening of Umbrella Corp (beta™) in the amazing Tampere-talo auditorium. Damn, these people are serious about AMV! The convention was smaller scale than what I’m used to with Japan Expo (6 000 vs 240 000 visitors) but it was much more pleasant to attend with cool events such as cosplay, AMV contest, Final Fantasy concert, game/movie/anime symphonic orchestra/choir and other stuff but I was pretty busy and couldn’t see everything.
I was surprised by the quality of entries in the AMV contest. 50 videos were submitted, about half were pretty good and 10 were excellent. My job was to select the Best Execution and give a special award of my choice to any AMV. I called it “Nostromo Cyber Badassery Special Award 2000” and decided I would give it to the AMV I wish I had done. I finally came down to 2 AMVs, both deserving Best Execution and me struggling to make a decision. I was kind of relieved when I discovered on stage that the author of both videos was no other than WhiteDex (didn’t know you could send multiple entries to the contest) who also managed to get his hands on Best Action and Best Comedy. Turns out he didn’t have enough hands to carry all his trophies (see photo). Contest results here, photos 4 & 5 by Timo Virtanen and Noora Kurko.
I always say that there are 3 ways to start an AMV. You can start with a music that you want to edit with then look for matching footage, start with footage for which you need to find a music or you can start with nothing and run around in circles faster and faster until you build big enough inertia to reverse Earth’s spin buying you time to find a solution. I went with the 3rd option this time. Well, I promised I would produce something and I had a deadline but basically no idea or source. I went through my entire playlist several times but even the cool tracks I was keeping for future projects didn’t inspire me at that time. After 3 weeks I found the album Rain by Polyphonix. It was time to look for footage and edit.
What I had in mind when I started Umbrella Corp was pretty simple and was supposed to allow me to finish in time for Tracon. But new ideas emerged while I was filling my timeline making the project quite heavier to handle and forced me to send a beta version for the screening at Tracon. Basic editing was done but a lot of transitions were missing, some effects needed some more work, umbrella coloring was half done and only 10% of the video had been interpolated to 60 fps. You can’t really pixel peep on the big screen and it was a one shot so I guess it was ok. Well, nobody complained about the frame rate, color grading or my messed up key frames.
Frame by frame umbrella coloring wasn’t the funniest part of the process (about 100 frames). I tried to use color/chroma key tricks to avoid going frame by frame but the result wasn’t satisfying. I don’t have much to say about the editing or effects but I did try some new stuff on my transitions. I actually had to use my Sharingan on WhiteDex to steal his camera movement transition special skills. I didn’t know him at the time but since I had to watch all videos for the AMV contest, I took some time to analyse his techniques. This led me to FINALLY learn how to properly use keyframes bézier curves in Premiere. About time Nostro! It looks pretty cool but it requires so much trial and error, it’s not even funny.
I haven’t been watching a lot of anime lately, maybe 1 or 2 series a year and my anime folder was pretty much empty so I looked everywhere, got a bunch of random stuff and spent a month preparing my footage. I filled my timeline with over 200 different sources but ended up only using half. I guess I could use my leftover for an other project.
As usual I used a lot of OP & ED, a few actual anime clips, 3DCG & music videos as overlays and even a perfume commercial. I didn’t run out of footage like I usually do but instead got stuck with clips that I couldn’t figure out where to put.
| Beeple | 3DCG | link |
| Resident Evil Umbrella 3D Logo Intro- Free Template | 3DCG | link |
| Royksopp Tour Visuals. Monument | 3DCG | link |
| Thank God It’s Pi Day | 3DCG | link |
| Warriors – 2014 World Championship (Imagine Dragons) | 3DCG | link |
| Ano Natsu de Matteru | Anime | link |
| Black★Rock Shooter (TV) | Anime | link |
| Charlotte | Anime | link |
| Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai! Lite | Anime | link |
| Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai! Ren | Anime | link |
| Clannad ~After Story~ | Anime | link |
| CØDE-BREAKER | Anime | link |
| Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge | Anime | link |
| Ef – A Tale of Melodies | Anime | link |
| Fantasista Doll | Anime | link |
| Fate Kaleid Liner PRISMA ILLYA | Anime | link |
| Fate Kaleid Liner PRISMA ILLYA 3rei!! | Anime | link |
| Gakusen Toshi Asterisk | Anime | link |
| GATE | Anime | link |
| Gekijouban Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika | Anime | link |
| GJ-bu | Anime | link |
| Golden Time | Anime | link |
| Hanamonogatari | Anime | link |
| Hibike! Euphonium | Anime | link |
| Hidan no Aria AA | Anime | link |
| Hyouka | Anime | link |
| Hyperdimension Neptunia | Anime | link |
| Kabukimonogatari | Anime | link |
| Kamisama no Memochou | Anime | link |
| Kanokon: Manatsu no Dai Shanikusai | Anime | link |
| Kimi no Iru Machi | Anime | link |
| Kiznaiver | Anime | link |
| K-ON! | Anime | link |
| K-ON! Movie | Anime | link |
| Kyoukai no Kanata | Anime | link |
| Little Busters! | Anime | link |
| Log Horizon | Anime | link |
| Mahou Sensou | Anime | link |
| Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei | Anime | link |
| Mushibugyou | Anime | link |
| Nagi no Asukara | Anime | link |
| New Game! | Anime | link |
| Nisekoi | Anime | link |
| No Game No Life | Anime | link |
| Oda Nobuna no Yabou | Anime | link |
| One-Punch Man | Anime | link |
| Otorimonogatari | Anime | link |
| Psycho-pass | Anime | link |
| Re: Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu | Anime | link |
| Selector Infected WIXOSS | Anime | link |
| Senki Zesshou Symphogear GX ~Seiten Galaxy Cross~ | Anime | link |
| Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso | Anime | link |
| Shinmai Maou no Testament | Anime | link |
| Shinsekai Yori | Anime | link |
| Sola | Anime | link |
| Sora no Method | Anime | link |
| Strike the Blood | Anime | link |
| Sword Art Online II | Anime | link |
| Taimadou Gakuen 35 Shiken Shoutai | Anime | link |
| Tamako Market | Anime | link |
| Toaru Kagaku no Railgun S | Anime | link |
| Toaru Majutsu no Index | Anime | link |
| Tokyo Ravens | Anime | link |
| Ushinawareta Mirai wo Motomete | Anime | link |
| Vividred Operation | Anime | link |
| Yumekui Merry | Anime | link |
| Dior Homme Genesis – The art of fragrance creation | Commercial | link |
| Ar noSurge | Game | link |
| Ef – The Latter Tale | Game | link |
| Fate Stay Night [Réalta Nua] | Game | link |
| Kangokutou Mary-Skelter | Game | link |
| Megadimension Neptunia VII | Game | link |
| Superdimension Neptune VS Sega Hard Girls | Game | link |
| Sword Art Online Hollow Fragment | Game | link |
| Sword Art Online Hollow Realization | Game | link |
| Tales of Berseria | Game | link |
| Tales of Xillia 2 | Game | link |
| World End Economica | Game | link |
| cYsmix – Aumetra the Sequel | Music Video | link |
| Dive to Blue | Music Video | link |
| EastNewSound｜滲色血界、月狂ノ獄【Vo. nayuta】 | Music Video | link |
| Hachioji-P feat. Hatsune Miku – TRAP x TRAP | Music Video | link |
| Livetune – Tell Your World (tilt-six Remix) | Music Video | link |
| Mitchie M – Burenai ai de | Music Video | link |
| MuryokuP – NEXT STAGE | Music Video | link |
| Omar Eox Visuals – Alien Recall | Music Video | link |
| Polycube – Another | Music Video | link |
| Sasakure.UK – Mr. Wonderland feat. Perio | Music Video | link |
| Susumu Yokota – Patinated Room Key | Music Video | link |
| To7 – Doppelganger | Music Video | link |
| Yarita – Engine | Music Video | link |
| Yasuyuki Yoshida – Exit Through | Music Video | link |
Polyphonix feat. Kanae Asaba – Rain
I started looking for music in May hopping to be able to start editing right away but finding the right piece was harder that expected. I went through my playlist several times, tried some stuff with various tracks but I couldn’t get anything interesting going. I subscribed to multiple YouTube music channels and randomly wandered around on Soundcloud for 3 weeks before finally discovering Polyphonix and Rain, their new album that just got out.
I chose Rain featuring Kanae Asaba that immediately gave me ideas, allowing me to finally start looking for footage. Finding Polyphonix also led me to a bunch of other cool artists that I’m saving for future projects.
Finding a path when someone has
Led you far away.
Can I get back to what I’d known?
Slipping away, something just fades
To oblivion.
It’s just too late. I can’t be saved.
Ah, just like the spring-time rain,
Emotions overflowing.
Ah, just like the spring-time rain,
Emotions overflowing.
Now that I have partaken in
What I can’t escape,
I can’t return. No other way.
If I can drown out all the noise
Searching for a sign,
Maybe the answer can be found.
Ah, just like the spring-time rain,
Emotions overflowing.
Ah, just like the spring-time rain,
Emotions overflowing.
Franchement, Bravo! J’ai vraiment aimé ton AMV encore et encore! Toujours différent des autres éditeurs un peu répétitif dans leurs style, mais vraiment génial! Cela est toujours un pur plaisir d’admirer tes œuvres vraiment top… et au diable le surplus de superpo. Ça reste mon amv coup de cœur de cette année 2016! Les plugin”s” sont? Il faut vraiment que je m’améliore sur ton style que j’admire! Encore bravo!
Merci. J’utilise toujours les mêmes outils depuis 2008. Premiere CS5.5 + Sapphire + Twixtor + PaintShop. Rien de neuf.
Je vais commencer à essayer de faire des AMV 😀 Tu n’utilises que Saphire et Twixtor comme addons ? J’en ai vu pleins d’autres mais je préfère installer uniquement ceux dont j’ai besoin ^^ Et Photoshop fait l’affaire pour faire de l’AMV ou PaintShop est largement au dessus ?
Ça dépend de ce que tu veux faire. Twixtor c’est un peu chaud pour un débutant je pense. Il y a bien d’autres trucs à prioriser au début. Je suis sur Paintshop depuis 2003. C’est pas indispensable pour les AMV mais bien pratique pour quelques retouches.
Tout d’abord merci 🙂 Je prendrais ça en compte, j’ai un peu commencé et faire le render avec Twixtor ça prend 6 ans xD (j’ai un proco qui est bof et une carte graphique HORRIBLE), je ferai donc le slow motion sans. En tout cas c’est toujours une claque que je me prends quand je regarde ce que tu fais (j’avais jamais regardé la timeline c’est fou !) Bref, continue comme ça !
Hi Bro! I really liked it, but once you surprised me! It would be great if you could take part in the traditional New Year’s mep again at the end of the year Good luck in your new projects ..
Thx. I probably won’t do MEP anytime soon, too much backlog. Also PS4 pro!
Did you ever consider using “correct” input framerates for twixtor, ignoring repeated frames? I’m not sure how it would work with the Premiere Pro version of the plugin, but some people get really interesting results in their AMV’s when motion is happening every frame. Hell, if I’d know how to do that in PP I’d probably drop AE that instant!
I didn’t know there was a setting for removing repeated frames on Twixtor. It’s not available on Premiere. My method consists in creating a nested sequence for each clip. I make it 200% or 400% speed to get rid of duplicate frames from the outside of the nested sequence on which I then apply Twixtor. There might be a better way, but mine works.
Yeah, thats how I did it in AE before as well. I’m not sure about 400% speed though, I thought most of the footage was either 12 or 8 fps when talking about character animation so I’d rather have it on 300%. I very rarely come across 6 fps scenes for which you’d use 4x speed. Oh, and then we have variable framerates as well ^^. Anyways, one thing I tried in Premiere is to change the interpreted framerate for the nested sequence, nest it again and apply twixtor afterwards but I remember having some unwanted results… or not, I did it a while ago. Thanks for sharing your method though, maybe that will work for me. Also, my second favorite AMV after Auriga, so no 11/10 this time 🙂
thx. I do interpret my clips also. I put everything to 30fps. Most anime then need a 200% to get rid of duplicate but it’s say 1/3 need 400% usually that’s when it comes to character animation. And I also do the occasional manual duplicate frame removal. Damn, we’re having so much fun.
Haha, tell me about it. I sometimes use SVP (that thing for smooth 60fps realtime viewing) on some bits of footage to save time. The 3.0someting version even has an option to remove duplicate frames, providing mixed results. But you can save some time with it, I guess. Motion guidance and motion layers in AE twixtor, that’s a whole different story, took me a loong time to get a hold of that with some assistance from one german lolli too.
Great post and even better AMV! Umbrella Corp itself shows that you deserve to be invited as a guest of honor in such events. Hope you had fun cause you deserve it!
I did say that you are considered a legend in Finnish AMV scene. ^^ But I’m glad you enjoyed your stay. And should you happen to be in Finland during one of the future conventions, hit me up and I’ll secure you a pass. 🙂
Neat, I’ll bring my Nostro-Work-In-Progress cosplay this time!
The first transition into 4:3 was one of the best things you’ve ever done. The second was kind of lackluster. This is probably the most tight video of yours, direction- and composition-wise. I like the song, though it’s probably not a track I’d listen by itself like some of your older videos. Dat hypnotoad. It was actually stranger to see footage from K-On, though, I felt old (peculiar effect, considering K-On is not the oldest series that is used). This killed madvr, I couldn’t get it to render faster than 15ms, and 15 was still too slow as it was dropping frames. I should read the plot now, I guess. The final scene with Oreki was a really fitting end. The third point of interest would be the kaleidoscope-ish sequences around the third minute mark. Yeah, I’m about done with the random nonsequitor sentences, thanks for asking 🙂
Care to share your madVR settings? I use Jinx for image upscaling and downscaling and Catmull-rom for chroma. I also heard of an even better upscaling method, using something simillar to waifu2x, but for realtime video viewing. And it requires a beast of a card as well ^^.
In this case exactly? Practically minimal. It doesn’t seem to fare better even if I bump everything to Nearest Neighbour. Which is weird, because this video is mere ~16000kbps, while Into the Labyrinth at ~10000kbps renders in just 5ms. Maybe it’s the 10bit that makes such a huge difference? I don’t know. EVR-CP actually manages to render the video without dropped frames, so I just switch to it whenever. That being said, I’ve different profiles for 60fps and for 30fps, and for full hd / hd / sd. For example for 30fps sd I can get away with image doubling and NNEDI. Best advice I can give is that you should also use different profiles for the different sources, the rest is tinkering.
Autant j’avais moins aimé les 2 AMV précédents (je n’ai jamais été fan de Hatsune Miku en plus), autant je préfère celui ci qui revient dans le style de Quantum Ripples sur certain aspect je trouve. Personnellement le meilleur des AMV reste Binary Overdrive parce qu’à chaque que je le regarde j’ai l’impression de voir une histoire courte, ce qu’on ne trouve pas vraiment dans les AMV suivant. Néanmoins, j’apprécie énormément ton travail que je trouve vraiment un cran au dessus de la plupart des autres, aussi bien au niveau technique, qualité d’images, qualité audio, synchronisation, et surtout fluidité. Merci pour ton travail et continu de nous en mettre plein la vue et les oreilles 😉
Toujours aussi génial ,encore bravo. Le seul reproche que je pourrais faire c’est qu’un amv par an c’est trop peu quand on est accro^^
Thank you.
nostro, you are the master and this new amv my god 11/10 and version 10-bit 10000/10. One big THANKS, hopefully see another job like this soon.
how do you make the amvs 60 fps? the animes usually have 23-24 fps.
Character animation is actually more around 5 to 10 fps. I use Twixtor, a plugin that interpolates extra frames to smooth down the animation. It’s far from being full automatic though and requires manual adjustments for each scene when it works at all. I also manage to get 60fps feel by using camera motion and overlays.
Tu comptes revenir un jour ? 🙂
Je pense oui. Je suis en train de retaper ma maison en ce moment et ca n’en fini pas, il y a toujours un truc a réparer.