The best Hong Kong action French period romantic monster movie evah!

[gwyn]

Even though I'm very disgusted with the whole vid sharing thing right now, I've posted a new vid. Yes, that's a big L painted on my forehead.

Fraternité
Fandom: Brotherhood of the Wolf
Song: Blue Lily Red Lotus
Artist: Susheela Raman
File: QT Divx avi, 23.6MB
I recommend VLC media player (there's a link at my site) as always -- makes this look much better.

I can't say that anyone who hasn't seen the movie will be able to get much out of this, but then, I never know. I thought people who hadn't seen Deadwood wouldn't be able to parse Come to Jesus, but apparently I was wrong. So.


In the "because I am stupid" department. Last night when I was making the web encoded version of this, I realized that I'm about thisfar from committing seppuku over this encoding thing. Everyone else I see around me gets these flawless encodes that have no pixelization to speak of, and yet I cannot seem to achieve that. I suppose I should just be happy that I have a way to get a large window file up at a reasonable DL size, but I want these flawless encodes, too. The instructions at astolat's LJ that everyone mentions are for Windows, and I'm a Macolyte. I keep fiddling with things, trying programs, to no avail. These Divx avis are the only thing I know how to make, but they pixelate in strange places for no discernible reason. I don't have a lot of the fancyass programs many vidders do, either. I've literally begged people for their processes to get a better encode, but... they never respond. I find this really discouraging. For the most part this file looks good, I think, but.. it could be a lot better.

Anyway. The one thing I did manage to figure out last night after months of frustration was that somewhere along the line, in DLing all these encoding programs, my settings for the QT player had been pretty much bunged, and that was why they were reading my avi files so poorly. Here I roll my eyes at the people who email me and whine about how their computer won't let them watch my vids (I always say, if you're on a Windows computer, please go into your WMP defaults and uncheck "make WMP your default player" and like magic, it works!), and here I didn't even think to go back and check if my default settings had been bunged up. Yup. So I reset them, looking for the one that mentions avis, and sure enough, it plays the files less herky jerky than it has been recently. You know that thing about how if you give a bunch of monkeys typewriters? Yeah.

So, the dumbass finally at least figured that out. The good news is that I can now check the encodes in QT without wanting to cry, so I can make sure everything's copacetic in both QT and VLC. The bad news is, they still look like shit in the regular QT player -- seems utterly unable to handle a slow pan and certain other types of shots, and it's way, way mushy. But at least the superfast cuts in this don't disappear completely now in the QT player.

But. On with the void!

Comments

[sdwolfpup.livejournal.com]

I'm looking forward to seeing this but I just wanted to ask, did I ever send you my encode process? Not that I'm, you know, the Queen of Encoding or anything, but mine turn out all right. Except for interlacing issues which I can't seem to kick.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Yes! yes, yes, yes! I think your encodes look fantastic. I tried the 3ivx and had abysmal luck back last year, and have just stuck with the Divx thing even though I'm obviously not doing something right.

I have to catch up on the vidlets! You guys are making it impossible to keep up, but I want to see them all. It's insane January vid *watching* is what it is.

[keiko-kirin.livejournal.com]

Oh cool! I really want to see this, and now that I'm DSL-enabled, I will be dling this as soon as I get home. :-) And I sincerely hope eventually someone else on Mac will send you some good settings info, because I want to know, too. I have noticed the same thing about QT player's mushiness. Actually, it plays simple .mov's a bit mushy, too, I feel. Anyway... I'm looking forward to the vid, and I share your encoding pain.

[barkley.livejournal.com]

I'm at work now, and can't download, but I just wanted to say after much hair pulling and experimentation, I was finally able to encode an .avi that other people could view a couple of weeks ago. I plan on writing up the experience, but you've motivated me to do it sooner rather than later.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Since I heard about your experience I have been loath to load QT 7, and am avoiding it like the plague. It seems like every time these things change, we end up suffering for it. I don't know why it has to be such an ordeal. Or, for some people. Others seem to skate through and I hate them because they are beautiful.

[mlyn.livejournal.com]

WOW.

Now I rilly rilly rilly want to watch that movie again. So. freaking. pretty.

But I love the cuts in the faster part at the end (and all throughout)...it helps when you tell me what you're doing, because then I can look for it and appreciate it. I can tell already that the song is going to be stuck in my head, and I'm going to be watching it repeatedly for the next month.

I hope your dad is doing well, btw.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

We'll have to see if we can plan to make some time to watch the movie. I realized that a vid, though, cannot really do justice to how beautiful it is. Nor how weird.

Dad seems okay, I just called him, but he's still kind of disoriented, and it's situations like this where I realize how very old he is.

[ixchel55.livejournal.com]

OK, strange. I saw your post on my flist, stampeded to download, watched it (comments in a sec) then came back to comment and the post was gone. I had to track it down to your LJ site. Weird.

So, the vid. LOVE IT! I've been waiting for this since you did your little poll 'lo these many months ago and I'm not disappointed about the wait!

Unusual choice of music but it so totally works. Unusual movie so why shouldn't it have unusal music. The pacing was wonderful. Slow and rather dreamy at first, then the beat steps up and then steps up again. Great clip choices.

I must go back and watch it again. This one ranks up with my favorite vids.

BTW? The coding on my was perfect. No errant pixel patches or anything else.

Well shit! Now I need BotW icons! sigh! an icon junkies work is never done!

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you liked it! I remembered you were one of the people who voted for it in the poll. I'd looked for a really long time for the right kind of music -- it had to be as unusual as the movie, with different pacing and something mystical about it. When I first heard this, I knew this was it. It's hard to find things as odd as the movie itself!

I need some BOTW icons, too. I think I might try to capture some jpgs from the clips I dumped in, and see if I can come up with anything. If i do and you want some, just let me know.

[f1renze.livejournal.com]

I don't know the source, but I really enjoyed this! I adored the lingering, haunting feel of the beginning shots, the flow of movement and care for composition throughout, the emotions matched with the breathy, more vulnerable parts of the song, the exquisite pacing, and the cool unexpected clip choices, especially toward the end. All of these kept me glued to the screen, excited to see what came next. Just lovely, and I think I would really like the movie!

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

I'm really glad you gave it a shot -- you're my "haven't seen the movie" test case! I wasn't sure how well it would scan if someone hadn't seen it. Thank you so much for watching it and for the wonderful comments.

It's really gorgeous and unlike any other film you'll ever see. If I can get more people to give it a try, I will have succeeded!

is reduced to surfer-talk

[mackiemesser.livejournal.com]

Dude!

So awesome.
Seriously.

I had forgotten just how very strange that movie was...
This whole vid was just gorgeous (no pixelization, slowing, or jerking problems for me, playing with Realplayer v.10 on WinXP, if you're at all interested in the technicals), and I adored the music. Atmospheric, dynamic, and the very last image of the ash on the wind was a perfect visual complement to the sound.
Cool.

I'm gonna have to watch the movie again, aren't I?

Re: is reduced to surfer-talk

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Dude! Thanks! I'm glad it looked okay (it always amazes me how people who know what they're doing can configure players to accept files that the rest of the great unwashed don't know how to do). For the most part, I think it looks okay, but the part where the wolf guys toss Mani's body and the part where Fronsac discovers it are really pixelly and mushy to me. I guess that's not too much to complain about, but my Band of Brothers vid, that's upcoming, has more mushy spots that I can't get rid of no matter what.

It really is the craziest movie, but what I love about it is that it also has some great underlying real drama in it, and that it never makes the characters too comically outrageous. You do really care for them, and for what they are doing, and especially for Fronsac and how he wants to stop the killings and the group who's perpetrating them, and avenge Mani's death. I do so love a bit of reVENge.

Re: is reduced to surfer-talk

[mackiemesser.livejournal.com]

Ok, I've watched it a few more times, specifically for the parts you mention as looking pixellated and mushy. And...yeah...it's there a little, but not to an extent that I thought was particularly noticeable or distracting as a viewer (I'm well aware of how the most minuscule thing can be huge if you're the creator; even tho' I love it to pieces, I still get frustrated over the mistakes in the window I made for my parents' bathroom) and only significantly visible when I maximized it to full-screen. Not to downplay that annoyance, but, for me, I'd far rather see a really well-done vid, where it's obvious a lot of thought has gone in to the music choice, the editing is tops, there's story or atmosphere to spare, with source smudginess than something with pristine, flawless source that's pedestrian, lacking even a basic understanding of editing principles, with a musical choice that makes me want to cry/sledgehammer someone. (God, especially the music choices! I'll spare you the rant on that one.)

One of the things that I love about the movie is that it is so very, well, French. That combination of passionate sincerity with a sort of faintly amused world-weariness is unique, particularly in an action-ish movie.

[dualbunny.livejournal.com]

Fantastic! :D

Love the contrast between the slower, elegant first half, where it seems like the story is being laid out and resolved, and then you shift gears not once but twice into showing all of the bit and pieces left out or still to come. You did wonderful things with this lovely source. :} If I hadn't seen the movie already, this would easily put it on my must-see list.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

thank you! I'm thrilled that you liked it. I was a little worried about that shifting gears aspect, that people might think the first part was all there was and give up, so I'm really glad to know it worked well.

I need to get over and catch up on all the insane vidding projects now that this is finished. I'm so far behind and I want to see what you all are doing!

[killabeez.livejournal.com]

Wow, this is incredible. I loved that movie, but only saw it one time in the theater, and had forgotten so much about it -- but this vid brought it all back. I was watching, fascinated by the hypnotic music, the hypnotic images... and I started remembering more and more about the film... and then the music got faster, and my heart started to beat faster, and then it got faster again, and I forgot to breathe, and just stared. That last sequence is like, straight to the hind-brain, and made all the hair on my arms stand up. The two shots at 3:18, the howl that goes into... what is that a shot of? A melon smashing on a statue? Or is it something more grim than a melon? *g* I can't remember that from the movie. Anyway, those two clips, the motion from one to the other sent a chill right down my spine. That juxtaposition is one of those images, like some of the edits from The Ring, that just fucks with your head, you know what I'm trying to say? Anyway, it is way cool.

Also? That music kicks ass.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank you. I am especially glad you liked the music, as I know that voices/singing like that can really set people off, so I'm glad that it works for people. I feel really lucky to have stumbled on her music; a part of me wonders what she is saying, but a part of me doesn't want to know for fear it will ruin how I see it as a kind of artistic backdrop for the movie.

The stuff flung on the statue is punkins! That's the scene I always refer to as the pumpkin-hunt; the marquis (little crush-boy that he is, so in love with Fronsac), Fronsac, and Mani are all "testing" out their weapons of choice on poor unsuspecting pumpkins before they hunt. It cracks me up because the pumpkins blow up in such spectacular fashion, way more than a real pumpkin would, and one of them even pours liquified pumpkin innards out of a round hole -- I guess we're supposed to believe the pistols are that powerful. It's emblematic of what I love in that movie -- it's so OTT and yet... somehow, not at the same time. That pumpkin that gets splatted on the statue just seemed very visually arresting -- it's Mani's tomahawk throw, I believe. Right after he flips his hair back. ;-)

[killabeez.livejournal.com]

I have a great fondness for OTT. *g* (says the girl currently immersed in Xena)

Thanks for reminding me about what's going on with the punkins. Obviously, I need to watch this movie again!