Elfen Lied Mein Teil - AMV (NSFW/NSFL Warning)
24I did this video as part of the "Draw it again" Challenge for artists, Except as a Video Editor.
Original video here: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7y9ygz
These videos are a lot more understandable if you know what the song means, so here's the lyrics and translation: https://affenknecht.com/lyrics/rammstein-mein-teil-lyric-with-english-translation/
There is so much in this I did that I didn't do in the original.
1. Inclusion of the original music video by Rammstein including every part that Till Liedenmann is lipsycing to the lyrics(minus a few frames because it would have ruined the scene). Weaving in the original video with animation was unexpectedly difficult to work with, and it consumed a lot of time trying to test clips. Many clips were rejected simply because they had flashing, or colors that broke the flow of the video.
2. Focused heavily on Topic relevant clips, avoiding fillers. Each segment is focused on detail, and is closely related to the lyrics in it's own kinda fucked up way.
3. Effects work like Glow, Sepia tones, and controlled film grain and noise. Certain clips I added noise and sepia too to "lower" the quality to make them feel similar the original Rammstein video.
4. Mouth masking and animation syncing. I edited many clips to that their lip sycing would be similar or spot on to the lyrics in German.
5. Walking subtitle text with shadow and bordering. My old video has the sub titles but they were basic and colored in a way to make them stand out, making them lack consistency.
The subtitles in this one are unique as they translate as the words in German are being spoken, as if the editor is a German native speaker, translating things directly. But the translation is not from the lyrics. It is instead a translation made to fit a more direct interpretation of the lyrics as to translate in sequence, and still emphasize childhood trauma.
6. Rythem and Color focus. Glow and Sepia tones were added, and clips were chosen to maintain a color similarity or stark contrast without making the color tone shift heavily through out the video. This version is much more subtle, and consistent with coloring, stepping between color, and using effects to transition color tone.
7. Exclusion of characters and scenes that weren't relevant to the chosen symbol characters from the Rammstein videos, and Chosen character pairings between each video to try to invoke a connection between the music video and animation. EG Nana is entirely omitted from the video as she does not fit the theme, until the very end at which "Lets eat!" is spoken. This nod is only relevant if you know what the song is about. Bando is only included as a Victim. Till Liedenmann and Lucy are representative of each other between the 2 videos. Richard Kruspe and his Twin brother Gordon Kruspe fighting are meant to represent the struggle between Kaede(Lucy's childhood name), Her inner-self, and the feeling's she has with Kouta.
8. An actual Thumbnail. The thunbnail features Till hidden behind lucy, with a blood spatter so that it characterizes the focus of the video.
These were all things I didn't care to even think about in my previous version.
Why Elfen Lied and this song? Elfen Lied's title text is in German, and it's opening and closing artwork are inspired by Gustav Klimt, an Austria painter. There's a strong undertone of German/Austrian inspiration, and the traumatic nature of the anime tied in with the song as both were released about the same time. July 24th 2004, and July 26th 2004. Just 2 days apart. The horrific childhood implications of the song, and the TV series made the music an unsung antheme for the animation. This is why there's such a strong focus on Lucy's childhood in this music video.
I am also starting to learn German, and I have a friend in Austria who speaks German and English fluently. So It seemed like a really good time to remake this video, to give me a familiarity with German language music.
Total editing time of the original, around 6 1/2 hours, over 2 days.
Total editing time of the remake, estimated around 32 hours, over 1 month and 10 days.
Screenshot of the final timeline if you're interested: https://i.imgur.com/Y2AytfB.png
Thanks for watching, and reading.