#With specific puzzles and camera angles and music | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sonkitty · 3 months

Text

Crowley S2 Hair Post #4 Redone

(For reference: The Sideburns Scheme)

Crowley, Good Omens 2, Episode 1, The Arrival, The Perfect Entrance Trick

The entrance is part of the coffee shop scene, but it is so special, I am giving it its own post.

Sideburns Check

This show has treated us to something. Crowley does a full spin so that we can get a really good look at the hair from multiple angles. It's not that close up but still good. Thank you show and Crowley!

The sideburns are short. They are the intended shortness after driving. In turn, they are the shortest they have been up to this point in the present day storyline.

Short sideburns happen around human spaces most of the time, at this point in the story.

...

Brighter Red Streak Check

It's easy to think the brighter red streak is not there because of its position. The above image is brightened and more saturated with white rectangles to indicate where I see the streak.

I often find the streak above the center of his left eye and going up from his forehead. Here, the streak actually starts from his part on the top.

...

Hairstyle Changes

In both the Bentley and here, the top hair flared upward. Just outside the coffee shop, the flare has shifted further to his right instead of straight upward and lining up with his nose as it did in the Bentley. There is no extra saturation streak on the right side of his forehead.

Earthly Objects: The Perfect Entrance Trick

(For reference: Earthly Objects)

We have arrived at our first Threshold Trick!

This part is going to be very detailed because of pockets and thresholds.

Here are some GIFs to start us off:

This sequence is The Perfect Entrance Trick. Way, way back before I thought there might be an Earthly Objects game and was just exploring the sideburns, trying to figure them out, I remarked on my appreciation for the camera work and music for this segment. I always compliment those parts because they are so good. They contribute beautifully to the idea here.

While setting aside the Sideburns Scheme and trying to figure out Earthly Objects, I made a "Bonus Round" part of my main post because this sequence had me so amazed. It looked like threshold-only touches and avoiding earthly object touches, but I couldn't be sure due to some specific questionable things I will explore further down eventually. Nonetheless, it sure seemed to me like Crowley knows how to play the game as an expert, so if he is aiming for threshold-only touches, there must be something to his methods that gets the job done. These Threshold Tricks might even be special supernatural bonus points he's earning in the game.

My understanding of the game at this point in time is like so: In this sequence, they are threshold-only touches, but how are they threshold-only touches with this game's mechanics? That's what an audience player is supposed to figure out in the puzzle.

The Perfect Entrance Trick is actually the third Threshold Trick I found without realizing it because I did not have the words, "Threshold Tricks" for myself then. It felt like the first one I found when I was trying to understand Earthly Objects. I had already found The Bigger Thresholds Trick and The Door Trick without realizing they were Threshold Tricks too. I didn't have names for them then. I just knew there was something special about sideburns and thresholds so caught onto those parts. It took something more than weeks to put these ideas together because I spent a lot of time just thinking and making pictures while readying myself for making posts about sideburns.

Before we go over this particular sequence in more detail, here's something I think the game is putting forth as a challenge. The Pocket Trick is a hidden giant with a giant impact on many things. While I am at a point that I do not think I will ever solve The Pocket Trick to my satisfaction, I believe a significant one of its hidden messages is, "Pay attention to the pockets."

As stated in my main post for The Sideburns Scheme, pockets are a big, little thing in GO2. They are easy to miss and to dismiss. One should also pay attention to doors and windows, but because the pockets are so easy to overlook—even more than windows, it's a good idea to mind that message on pockets specifically all the same. Between doors, windows, and pockets, pockets are the hardest to see and to understand.

In Earthly Objects, a pocket can be a hole created by a character's body between their own self, part of the screen, part of an earthly object, or even part of a threshold. A pocket can be two or more characters surrounding something or someone on the screen in the framing. A pocket can be a character surrounded by things in the framing. A pocket can be the actual literal pockets characters can have on their clothing. That includes the ones we understand are actual pockets and even little holes the clothing can make on itself. Pockets are everywhere, but making sense of them for how they count, when they count, and what they count for, is another story. It is overwhelming—as if "think outside the pocket" wasn't hard enough in The Pocket Trick to begin with!

I think chances are good that pockets are somehow related to every Threshold Trick, and a big part of this challenge I do not expect to pass is to figure out how. That means I won't ever fully solve every Threshold Trick. So, I will pay attention to the pockets, tell you about the pockets, and admit freely, once again, my understanding of them is limited.

Okay, so here's the sequence in more detailed text form with paying attention to the pockets. It is very quick and heavily based on movement. Parts are also blurry. I won't swear everything below is correct because to play, I mainly have to guess based on clues.

With the car on screen before it is parked, I can find multiple different humans using pockets. However, one in particular catches my interest because he put his left hand in a pocket near where Crowley will park, and I recognize this human:

That guy shows up three different times in episode 6 during The Door Trick and The Door Catch. He is responsible or the Purple in the Rainbow Connection on Aziraphale's part.

Nonetheless, Crowley parks the car. The camera work is doing amazing things by going under the car, then around a wheel, focusing in on the shoes of the nearby humans before Crowley himself starts.

The door to the car opens, and Crowley touches the edge of the sidewalk with only one shoe. The heel is touching nothing behind it. The front tip is avoiding the rest of the sidewalk. That is the Single. The edge of the sidewalk is one threshold, and it was touched by only one shoe.

The camera pans up.

Crowley touches two different thresholds with his right hand. They are the window frame and the door panel for the door to his car. The fingertips avoid the window pane. That is the Double.

One of the tie strands becomes visible, including a clasp and a tassel. That's a thumb and thumb joint of one of the Tied Hands. Crowley's left hand moves forward such that the tie strand is visually in front of that hand. The left hand is important because it's the one that's going to do the Triple part of this Threshold Trick. I don't know the watch's role in pocket mechanics. It generally likes to be seen and seems to also watch things, like it's some kind of "lookout," but something more too.

Getting back to the left hand's movement with the tie strand, at the exact frame that thing happened, I can find a human visually behind Crowley's right elbow using a pants pocket with their left hand. They are wearing a white shirt over a darker one.

This part is a clue that this tie strand is going to be tied to the left hand and that it is the longer tie strand when both are seen together shortly.

Instead of moving ahead to get to what is going to be the Triple, Crowley has his back to the camera. He takes some steps and moves his arms around. I don't have it in me to log every pocket they make and close and what they might frame, but they do such things.

A light briefly pops out in one of the trees trying to communicate something, and I'm going with saying it's a little overhead light for Crowley since it's above his ear and to the left of his head.

There is a nearby car with red rear lights. These types of lights are often used to alert about a color switch in the Rainbow Connection when they light up a bit more. So, the main thing I see it to be an alert for is that pocket user already mentioned and knowing what we'll see soon for switching without an active Rainbow Connection. The pocket user is even pocketed briefly between these red lights. In fact, that overhead light mentioned above lights up at the start of when this human starts to pass the first of the two red rear lights. If those red lights mean anything else, I don't know what it would be.

When that human pocket user that was visually behind Crowley is finally completely off-screen, Crowley's left hand and the watch also go off-screen.

Crowley spins.

As he spins, both tie strands become visible. The longer tie strand is on Crowley's right. That means it is mirrored for now. The left hand becomes visible again too. During the spin, the tie strands switch. The longer tie strand becomes aligned with Crowley's left side. Generally, these things have a special mirror that flips through a Rainbow Connection Reflection, or whatever that Connection allows, in the Pocket Chain of The Pocket Trick. However, The Pocket Trick hasn't started yet, and this Trick is not linked to the Pocket Chain.

Well, without the initiating power of The Pocket Trick or a Rainbow Connection, it looks like a little spin switch is allowed this time.

The belt—which is Crowley's Belt Head—also became visible, and Crowley has his mouth open during this spin. The vest tips are surrounding the Belt Head to have it pocketed between them. Additionally, the longer tassel tip just so happens to brush along the belt during the switch. There is even another self-made pocket of hair like there was for the newspaper door. With the movement, the vest tips and their pocket over the belt shift further towards Crowley's left as well.

The left hand and the watch hide behind Crowley's jacket. This action is part of closing pockets between Crowley's torso and both arms.

Crowley finally starts moving toward the door.

The right arm opens a pocket between his torso again, this time by itself instead of with the left arm.

The left arm forms a pocket between Crowley and the main part of the jacket.

The pocket between the right arm and jacket closes.

Soon after, the pocket between the left and jacket closes.

Then the left arm hides behind Crowley. In the blurred movement, that longer tie strand connected to the left hand pushes off the vest temporarily and becomes visible in the air. This action creates yet another temporary pocket.

In motion, all of these pockets amount to looking like pocket-to-pocket passes in the animated GIF shown further below.

Once the tie strand has presumably returned to where it belongs, the left arm is finally ready to make its move on the incoming threshold.

Crowley's left arm reaches out for the door panel. There is a lock that is extremely hard to see in the blurred movement, but it is there above the push plate. Crowley's palm of his left hand covers it completely. He pushes the door on the lock instead of the push plate.

Some video frames reach a nice, stronger clarity. Here is the one that strikes my own interest most:

There are three digits touching the door panel. That's what makes this part the Triple. The index finger and middle finger are touching the front. Most of the thumb is touching the side. However, the ever so vital and important thumb tip is on the edge of where the door panel meets the window pane. Edges are thresholds, and pocket trickery loves edges.

The reflection of Crowley's left hand has pocketed the lock on the other side within the palm that is covering the covered lock. In other words, the palm has the locks covered.

The Tied Hands are making this acceptable because of their link to reflections. Plus, all those words I just had to write out because word play is a key mechanic for pocket trickery.

And there's more!

With the palm being busy with the locks, the thumb tip touches its own reflection while doing its edge touching. All of the digits, the real ones and the reflected ones are pocketing the door panel and its reflection because of their framing. Any issues with that window pane have been neutralized. There is a small bit of Crowley's right sunglasses lens past the door frame but not much.

The watch takes over in the next video frame to keep everything in order because that real covered lock becomes slightly visible. The watch's reflective surface lights up to say that everything's still as it should be. Parts of Crowley's face—and more of the sunglasses themselves—visually passed through the door frame at the same time that real lock became slightly visible, so this threshold has been effectively tricked. We must recall the Belt Head had a role to play in the matter.

The Perfect Entrance Trick is the easy one! But the pockets have increased its difficulty immensely.

Something that is missing in this first Threshold Trick is a rainbow. Four of the others have one. The Sunglasses Trick does not, but it does have a notable white light reflected on the watch in its last touch. Rainbows can take shape through refraction in white light. The lighting on the watch here is not as white as what appears in The Sunglasses Trick. It has a tinge of yellow.

Well, Earthly Objects is a game with puzzles—and some silly puzzles at that, so I'm going to say that this Threshold Trick is excused because the Rainbow Connection within The Pocket Trick has not started yet. The Rainbow Connection starts in episode 2. In fact, the way it goes is that The Pocket Trick gets its official rainbow first. It and the other Threshold Tricks finish in episode 6. In episode 6 is where all of the other rainbows appear for the other Threshold Tricks.

The Perfect Entrance Trick is the only one that both starts and finishes in the first episode. It is the first of three Simple tricks. The Simple tricks are the ones that start and finish in the same episode.

Another way I like to play this game is that these Threshold Tricks are based on simple ideas even though they get so complicated—especially once pockets are known to be so important. I call these simple ideas "core concepts" because these things are indeed conceptual. While I don't like word play as much as The Pocket Trick does, I do like it some. So, let's toss some alliteration in here too.

My best guess for this one's core concept is, "Make a Perfect Entrance while making an entrance." The idea is also to introduce the Threshold Tricks. Each one is required to have a primary Single, a primary Double, and a primary Triple. A single is 1. A double is 2. A triple is 3. Add up 1, 2, and 3, and you get the number 6. That equation of 1 + 2 + 3 is what makes the number 6 a perfect number.

A standard set in Earthly Objects is 3 points. A Threshold Trick has a minimum of 6 points for its theoretical bonus rewards and must be done in this special format.

I had to look that up that part on "perfect" because that was the word I wanted to use to describe The Sunglasses Trick when I put those pieces together. I am familiar with the Tekken franchise due to a past stronger obsession with Devil Jin. In Tekken, a PERFECT is when a player wins a round without taking any damage.

So, once I grasped that 6 is a perfect number, for me, it was like "Oh! That's what the first one is! It has a name! It's a Perfect Entrance!" I had described it as a "beautiful entrance" in my Bonus Round section. Again, that took something more than weeks to figure out.

Also, David Tennant is perfect for the role of Crowley. I love this actor-character combination so much.

...

When Crowley enters and sits down, Aziraphale is sitting down, but there is no actual visible back of a chair for Aziraphale. I am reminded of Crowley's remark in episode 5 of "Looking where the furniture isn't." In one of my posts on Earthly Objects, I note this type of thing as a mysterious vendetta Aziraphale has with chairs. A lot of times, the back of one cannot be seen for Aziraphale. When he's in the bookshop and a back of a chair can be seen, his back will still not touch the back of the chair.

...

Story Commentary

Setting aside the threshold trickery at play in Earthly Objects, Crowley's open mouth could also be interpreted as him using his snake demon senses to find Aziraphale's precise location.

After the Threshold Trick itself is done, Crowley's body is briefly fully obscured, and suddenly the door's moving for him without his hands doing anything. The left hand that was on it is gone. He may as well be using telekinesis on the thing.

Crowley continues onward until he passes Aziraphale on Aziraphale's right. Aziraphale himself glances to his own left first, as that's generally where Crowley is expected for him. This movement also allows Crowley's body to be obscured briefly. He could even mouth something to Aziraphale without us seeing it.

The red on the back of the collar on Crowley's jacket is briefly visible before Crowley himself finally sits down and says, "Right, what's the problem?"

The car transformed a little. There's an extra part of a window frame on the window pane that wasn't there before.

...

Muriel

(For reference: Bookend Buddies - Crowley and Muriel (Part 2))

Muriel's first scene preceded this one. That makes their first scene the front bookend to the first Threshold Trick. Their last scene will act as the back bookend to the last Threshold Trick (The Window Trick).

In turn, Crowley's first Threshold Trick is the back bookend to Muriel's first scene.

...

That's it for this post. Way back when I started to track these things, I did have a tendency to update even these posts, so that could happen again, just FYI.

...

Main post:

The Sideburns Scheme

...

Past version of this post:

Post #4 (entering the coffee shop)

#crowley #good omens 2 #good omens #good omens s2 #david tennant #good omens season 2 #good omens meta #good omens crowley #crowley good omens #crowley s2 hair project #crowley sideburns

60 notes · View notes

thunderboltfire · 25 days

Text

Chants of Sennaar: a review

What if You had modern dictionaries at the Tower of Babel?

It's been a while since I've played a proper point-and-click game and I've got charmed by the fact I've seen Chants of Sennaar described as Dark Souls of Duolingo, so I've decided to buy it.

Is Dark Souls of Duolingo an accurate description of the game? Not really, I wouldn't describe it as exceptionally difficult. It's pretty innovative in its gameplay though, and it definitely draws a bit from Duolingo in its mechanics. Especially in the way the main character learns languages.

Chants of Sennaar puts you in the boots of the Traveller, whose main goal is to explore the mysterious, ziggurat-like Tower. In order to do so, he has to find passage through several floors and learn the languages of its inhabitants to move upward the Tower.

Armed with contextual clues and a notebook used as a dictionary, we learn the meaning of foreign glyphs and decipher the grammar, which helps us solve problems and uncover mysteries.

From a linguistic perspective, the interesting choice that simplifies the language learning is that the Traveller mostly listens, and rarely ever needs to speak/write in learned languages. Also, technically speaking the entire conversation goes on in writing - the inhabitants of the Tower speak in comic word bubbles, which removes the problem of the phonetics, but to compensate for lost complexity, each language has its own writing system. Most of the complex glyphs are based on combination of concepts related to simpler glyphs, which makes them a neat puzzle on their own.

To not spoil too much - the grammar and syntax of the languages are mostly similar, with one big exception and individual exceptions for some grammatical phenomena. For the linguistic nerds out there, all the languages of the Tower are isolating languages, which makes the sentence structure more of a concern but also makes inflexion pretty much nonexistent.

The story has an air of a parable, with the characters not having specific names and most factions representing certain concepts and approaches to life in an archetypal way. The effect is reinforced by the fact that none of the inhabitants of the Tower has a visible face - including the Traveller, whose face is obscured by a hood. It feels like a fable, and the feeling is enhanced by the monumental architecture (which can be considered a separate character telling a large part of the story) and the deliberate color schemes, drowning the locations in gradients of colored light.

The game's visual style is both simple, utilising low-poly models, and very well-executed, with well-thought out color palettes (we don't talk about the water on the bards' level XD), camera angles and stylisation which builds fantastic atmosphere. The UI is extremely minimalistic, which puts further focus on the visually intriguing world. The OST is beautiful and haunting, and while the whole plot is rather uncomplicated with a simple moral, the legendary, cryptic air of it and the feeling of discovery makes it work.

Putting an innovative spin on a classic genre and building amazing atmosphere through visuals and music are definitely the strongest points of Chants of Sennaar.

I have two points of criticism - the last floor of the Tower, which seems to be a little rushed, and the sneaking sections. The game is generally very relaxing, apart from a few small sections in which there is some sneaking or one has to move quickly. To be fair, these sections fit the concept of the levels they're in, and are very forgiving (you can die, but the checkpoints are placed in a way that don't make you lose progress), but for someone looking for pure point-and-click they might seem unnecessarily stressful.

Overall, it's a great adventure and I thoroughly recommend it, especially if You like linguistics or interesting point-and-clicks!

#chants of sennaar #recommendation #review #this game is pretty short but I love its aestetics and atmosphere #the colors seemed a little harsh to me at first but they really grew on me #also I've got attached to the Traveller despite them being a literal pawn figure with arms #point-and-clicks will do that to you

8 notes · View notes

phantom-does-a-thing · 1 year

Note

good morning, my dear friend. do you have any horror media recommendation for this poor poor soul?

Yes always:

The evil within 2, basically the entire evil within series makes me insane I love those games so much. Specifically the second game. You don’t need to know of the first game to watch or play the second one (can confirm bc I did this. I did not know the first game existed when I played the second)

The little nightmares series also makes me insane, I’m particularly fond of the first game and I just replayed it yesterday. The monster designs are so good and the atmosphere, sound design and music is PHENOMENAL. The camera angle is really interesting and the first game makes me so normal. It’s a nice lil puzzle game but the controls r a little funky bc the depth perception.

Fran Bow is a really interesting horror point and click puzzle game, there’s a LOT of gore and it’s really interesting, I’ve only played a little of it bc I’m really bad at puzzles. It deals with a mental hospital and medication which is an. Interesting. Mechanic to say the least but idk I like the gore, might not be for everyone.

Lazaret is a free demo I found on steam that is probably one of the scariest horror games I’ve played in a LONG time. It’s completely free and I cannot wait for the full release I will give it all my money it’s so good. The demo is incredibly well polished and the mechanics are so good, I’m surprised it’s a free demo/early release. The graphics and atmosphere are so terrifying just ask Sky bc he sat with me as I panicked over it.

Annihilation was also a REALLY good movie (I’m moving on from games bc that’s all I can think of) it’s more sci-fi than horror but there were some scary scenes. It was a pretty short movie but also the body horror was so good I’m like so amazed by it. I’d watch it again ngl. The bear in it makes me so normal this movie was so good I highly recommend it.

The Lazareth effect was also a really good medical horror movie about bringing the dead back to life and coming back wrong <3 really good. Ignore the ratings I thought it was good.

Haunt was a more cheesy horror movie, the gore was bad and I think it had a low budget but I also really enjoyed that movie I thought it was a fun watch. I’ve heard good things about Skinamarink if that’s how you spell it but I’ve never seen it.

Also literally every single piece of art by Trevor Henderson I love his art so much he has a tumblr I don’t remember what it is tho. He has a Twitter and he’s soooo good.

I can’t think of any more off the top of my head but mmm horror <3

#lua tag #asks #rambling #phever dreams with phantom #mutuals #I loveeee horror so much

2 notes · View notes

rachelkruglyak · 6 months

Text

Manifest (Critical Television Analysis)

youtube

The TV series Manifest uses symbols through both cinematography and imagery to convey meaning. Camera angles and music convey to the viewer when important events are occurring and the significance of specific scenes. As Christian Metz wrote, “The properly aesthetic orderings and constraints— versification, composition, and tropes in the first case; framing, camera movements, and light ‘effects’ in the second—serve as the connoted instance, which is superimposed over the denoted meaning (Metz, 2009, 67)” These techniques heighten the viewer’s anxiety and raise the stakes as the images and audio becomes palpably intense. The story itself contains a large number of signs and codes that provide meaning to the characters and guide the viewers in understanding the religious messages. Throughout the series, characters grapple with symbols such as a peacock, sapphire, gemini, wooden dragon, volcano, and Noah’s ark, all of which help to determine the characters’ fate. The filming and the use of these objects and puzzles heightens the emotional connection to the characters and intensifies the viewers’ reactions to them.

After the passengers share the trauma of the flight together, their lives are completely altered and their fates are forever intertwined. The situation shares similarities with the show The Leftovers as Sonia Front observed, “The catastrophe inaugurates a new mode of temporality, the time of an aftermath that is qualitatively different from the time of before (Front, 2021, 252).” When the passengers of 828 discover that their collective fate is linked, and that their behavior will determine whether they all live or die on Death Date, there are many opportunities for the characters to “other” each other. Throughout, characters are “othered” if they behave in ways that threaten the safety of the remaining passengers. This leads to highly emotionally charged interactions throughout the series.

One of the passengers who is “othered” is Adrian, an African-American passenger who starts “The Church of the Returned”. Adrian initially views himself and the other passengers as miracles, but after a fire burns down his Church, Adrian’s comes to believe that the passengers are agents of the apocalypse. When several people die in the fire, Ben Stone, the main protagonist of the show, tells his wife Grace, “the only thing the police need to focus on is finding Adrian.” Even when Grace points out that Isaiah started the fire, Ben insists that Adrian is responsible, “At the very least, Adrian created a murderer.” When Ben confronts Adrian, he says, “Well, your religion led one of your followers to murder people in a fire.” Adrian says angrily that it wasn’t his fault, he had a calling and told Isaiah his vision of a burned out airplane with dead passengers everywhere. Isaiah recreated it. In this scene, Adrian is wearing a cap covering his face. He has a bit of an accent that makes him seem more foreign. Ben replies, “No, this is on you. You created a monster by making Isaiah think we’re all immortal.” Adrian gets defensive and responds asks Ben if he’s considered that the Callings create more bad than good. As Ben and Adrian fight intensely about the meaning of the Callings, the rapid, short shots with closeups of their faces heighten the intensity of the scene. Later in the episode, Adrian says “Matthew 24:24. My dad used to quote it. ‘False prophets will arise from the dead to perform signs and wonders.” As Ben and Adrian discuss a possible dark side to the Callings, there are rapid shots of close-ups of their faces. In contrast to most of the lines that they deliver looking directly at each other, Adrian looks to the ground when he says “signs and wonders,” heightening the importance of the term and giving the audience a reason to believe that he has discovered a hidden truth. This technique is consistent with Christian Metz writing that, “In short, the connotative meaning extends over the denotative meaning, but without contradicting or ignoring it”(Metz, 2009, 73). In the scene, the camera techniques reinforce the intense emotion and the sense that Adrian may have recognized an underlying pattern the others missed.

Another character who is “othered” is Angelina, who comes to abuse her powers and threatens the Lifeboat meant to save them all. In one powerful scene, Angelina uses the powers of the omega sapphire to give Ben a fake Calling in which he sees his dead wife Grace telling him to bring Eden to her in the cemetery. Once he gets there, Grace appears to soft melodic music illuminated in a soft white light. She tells Ben to give Eden to Angelina. Grace fades away and Angelina appears. The music gets dark and ominous. Angelina points a gun at Ben and tries to convince Eden to leave with her. Ben insists that they let Eden decide who she wants to be with. As tense music plays, both Angelina and Ben try to convince Eden to choose them. The camera focuses on Eden, who chooses Ben. Drumbeats are heard, and they run away while Angelina shoots at them. Angelina grabs the omega sapphire and lets out a massive scream depicted with visible ripple in the image. The other passengers, even though they are not physically nearby, put their hands over their ears in pain from the scream, showing the passengers are all connected and with the sapphire, Angelina is extremely powerful. Passenger Vance, horrified to learn that Angelina created a fake Calling, points out that they will not know if a Calling is real or fake, and wonders what the consequences will be of misusing the Omega Sapphire.

In addition to Angelina and Adrian being “othered” for their individual actions, in some scenes, Angelina and Adrian are “othered” together. Two years after Angelina leaves the Stone’s home, Adrian gets a Calling that leads him to Angelina, and he allows her to stay at his compound. When another passenger, Donovan, who also lives with Adrian asks why he won’t let anyone upstairs, Adrian tries to hide the fact that it’s Angelina. When Donovan confronts him, the other passengers are shocked to learn that she is there because they know that she killed Grace Stone. Donovan says, “You want to be careful what you say, Adrian. To deceive God’s people is to perform signs and wonders.” Angelina then appears and when confronted by Donovan, who calls her a murderer, she threatens them with a bomb. As ominous music plays, the passengers get on the ground. Angelina declares, “Today is your day of judgment. This will be your trial by fire. My guardian angel will save those who are worthy and shepherd us towards salvation!” Adrian tries to convince her not to go through with it, “Eden is just a child, not an angel.…You don’t need more blood on your hands.” But she rejects his pleas and tries to detonate the bomb, which doesn’t go off.

One could argue that Adrian and Angelina aren’t actually being “othered,” that they are only being treated in accordance with their behavior, which reflects their actions, not their attributes. Another counter-argument would be that some of the main characters who are sympathetic like Grace and Vance are played by people of color. But the writers chose to give Adrian and Angelina more sinister, less sympathetic trajectories, while Ben Stone and Michaela, the two leading characters who are both white, are consistently depicted as heroes.

An important symbol in the TV show is the concept of the Death Date which is similar to the notion of a new apocalyptic event described by Sonia Front, “The new time becomes the time of awaiting a subsequent build-up toward a predetermined goal: another catastrophic event, which will, this time, bring total annihilation (Front, 2021, 252).” Ben tells his family that Griffin, who also returned but wasn’t on the plane, was underwater for 82 hours and 8 minutes and his death was exactly 82 hours and 8 minutes later. Ben says the 828ers were gone for 2,037 days, and Olive says the return date, “June 2, 2024.” Olive says it’s been in front of them all along. The peacock represents the goddess Juno, June. The petrograph of the constellation showing Gemini twins represents the number 2, June 2nd. Cal’s wooden dragon represents the year of the wood dragon in the Chinese Zodiac, which is 2024. This gives an example of the type of codes and symbols that imbue the show with puzzles and many layers of meaning.

In the series finale, massive volcanoes appear all over the world. Passengers arrive at Storm King Mountain and talking amongst each other. The floor rumbles, and the plane emerges from the fissure. Michaela says everyone needs to get on the plane because it is the passengers’ version of the scales and it’s time for judgment. At the Stone house, Olive is looking through old photos and finds an inscription, which reads “forgiveness lightens the heart.” Olive finds a picture of Ben carrying a girl through a fire, who was previously thought to be Olive. Olive calls Ben and tells him the only way for him to survive his Death Date is to forgive Angelina. Ben picks Angelina up and carries her onto the plane. They are told that it is a good time to pray. The plane takes off and flies above volcanoes. Some people are having trouble breathing. Michaela thinks it’s judgment. One of Angelina’s followers bursts into flames and others do as well. Saanvi says it’ll only happen to those who deserve it, as her arm starts heating up. Saanvi heals, but fissures form in Angelina’s skin and hot red lava can be seen covering her body. In a flash, she incinerates and turns to ash. Her death resembles the volcanoes that are so prominent throughout the series. Angelina’s ashes turn into spirits that fly around the plane. A large, dark grim reaper appears. Ben and Michaela tell the grim reaper they followed every Calling and ask “isn’t that enough?” and the spirits disappear. Everything becomes silent. The volcanoes outside are gone. The apocalypse is over. Dark lightning and a bright light appear in the sky in the distance. Michaela and the captain decide to fly directly into the glow which gets brighter and brighter until the plane comes to a stop.

Awash in bright light, the stewardess Bethany opens the door and Ben and Michaela lead the passengers out to a blinding light. They enter an airport, where Ben’s mother and Grace are waving at them. They’re back when they were supposed to have landed in 2013. People they had lost along the way are there. Cal and Olive, who can’t remember what happened, get their childhoods back. While emotional music plays, through a voiceover, Michaela says Flight 828 bound them together, changed them, and taught them how to live and what’s worth living for. The camera shows close-ups of each passenger reuniting with loved ones. Saanvi’s girlfriend is there waiting for her. Ben tells Grace that Saanvi will cure Cal’s life. Michaela runs outside and finds Zeke, who is a taxi driver. The scene zooms out to show them driving away.

(1) Metz, Christian. Film Language. In Film Theory and Criticism. 7th edition. Eds. Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.

(2) Front, Sonia. Post-Apocalyptic Stress Disorder In The Leftovers. Studia Anglica Posnaniensia 56 (2021): 251–274. doi: 10.2478/stap-2021-0028.

(3) Metz, Christian. Film Language. In Film Theory and Criticism. 7th edition. Eds. Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.

(4) Front, Sonia. Post-Apocalyptic Stress Disorder In The Leftovers. Studia Anglica Posnaniensia 56 (2021): 251–274. doi: 10.2478/stap-2021-0028.

#oxyspeculativetv #@theuncannyprofessoro #speculativetvanalysis #Youtube

0 notes

theatre-expert · 10 months

Text

The Art and Craft of Filmmaking: From Concept to Silver Screen

In the world of storytelling, few mediums are as captivating and immersive as filmmaking. The ability to combine visuals, sound, and narrative into a seamless cinematic experience has enthralled audiences for over a century. From the early days of black and white silent films to the cutting-edge digital spectacles of today, filmmaking has evolved into an intricate art form that requires a delicate balance of creativity, technical skill, and collaboration.

1. The Birth of an Idea: From Concept to Script

Every cinematic journey begins with an idea—a spark of inspiration that evolves into a concept. This initial step is crucial, as it lays the foundation for the entire filmmaking process. Writers, directors, and producers collaborate to develop the concept into a coherent story that resonates with audiences.

The concept then transforms into a screenplay. This stage demands precision in dialogue, pacing, and scene structure. A well-crafted script serves as the blueprint that guides every subsequent aspect of production, from pre-production to post-production.

2. Pre-Production: Building the Framework

Pre-production is the logistical groundwork that paves the way for a successful shoot. This phase involves casting, location scouting, costume design, and set construction. Each decision contributes to the visual and emotional tone of the film.

The director collaborates closely with the cinematographer to establish the visual style of the film. Storyboards and shot lists are created, outlining each scene's composition and camera movement. This meticulous planning ensures that the director's vision is effectively translated onto the screen.

3. Lights, Camera, Action: Production

Production is where the script comes to life. It involves capturing the scenes and performances that will eventually become the heart of the film. The director orchestrates the cast and crew, guiding actors' performances and making real-time decisions about camera angles, lighting, and blocking.

The director of photography (DP) plays a crucial role in crafting the film's visual identity. They manipulate light and camera settings to evoke specific emotions, whether through stark shadows or vibrant hues. This collaboration between the director and DP is the bedrock of cinematic storytelling.

4. Assembling the Puzzle: Post-Production

Post-production is often likened to assembling a puzzle. It's the phase where raw footage is edited, sound is designed, and visual effects are integrated. The editor works tirelessly to shape the narrative, ensuring each scene flows seamlessly into the next.

Sound design and music play a transformative role in the filmmaking process. A well-composed score can heighten tension, evoke nostalgia, or elicit empathy. Sound effects enhance realism, immersing the audience in the world of the film.

5. The Final Curtain: Distribution and Exhibition

Once the film is complete, the focus shifts to distribution and exhibition. Filmmakers must decide whether to pursue festivals, theatrical releases, streaming platforms, or a combination thereof. Each avenue has its benefits and challenges, affecting how the film reaches its audience.

Marketing and promotion are essential to draw attention to the film. Trailers, posters, and social media campaigns create anticipation and drive interest. The goal is to connect with viewers who will appreciate the film's themes, genre, and artistic merits.

6. The Collaborative Tapestry

Filmmaking is an inherently collaborative process. From the director's vision to the grip's precise lighting setup, every member of the crew contributes to the final product. Each role is a thread woven into the intricate tapestry of storytelling.

Clear communication and mutual respect are essential on set. The director sets the tone by fostering an environment where ideas can flourish, allowing the best creative choices to emerge. A cohesive crew can turn challenges into opportunities and elevate the overall quality of the film.

7. The Ever-Evolving Landscape

The landscape of filmmaking is in a constant state of evolution. Advancements in technology have democratized the medium, enabling aspiring filmmakers to create high-quality content with limited resources. Digital cameras, editing software, and online distribution platforms have reshaped the industry's dynamics.

Virtual reality, augmented reality, and interactive storytelling are pushing the boundaries of traditional filmmaking. As the art form expands, new opportunities arise for storytellers to experiment with immersive experiences that engage audiences on a deeper level.

8. The Power of Visual Language

One of the most remarkable aspects of filmmaking is its ability to communicate without words. Visual language transcends linguistic barriers, allowing filmmakers to convey emotions, themes, and ideas through imagery alone. The choice of camera angles, framing, and composition can subtly influence how the audience perceives a character's emotions or the mood of a scene.

Color palettes play a pivotal role in storytelling as well. Warm tones can evoke nostalgia or comfort, while cool tones may suggest mystery or detachment. Filmmakers carefully select colors to reinforce the narrative's emotional resonance, providing a sensory experience that complements the script's dialogue.

9. The Impact of Editing

Editing is often referred to as the "invisible art" of filmmaking, as its impact is felt subconsciously by the audience. The way scenes are assembled and transitions are handled can dramatically alter the pacing and emotional flow of a film. A well-edited sequence can build tension, create surprises, or elicit laughter.

In the digital age, editing has become more accessible to aspiring filmmakers. However, mastering the art of editing requires an understanding of rhythm, pacing, and storytelling dynamics. Editors weave together disparate shots into a cohesive narrative, ensuring that the audience remains engaged from beginning to end.

10. Challenges and Rewards

Filmmaking is a labor of love, but it's not without its challenges. Tight budgets, tight schedules, and unforeseen obstacles can test even the most dedicated filmmakers. However, it's often these challenges that spark creative solutions and lead to some of the most innovative storytelling.

The rewards of filmmaking are immeasurable. The thrill of seeing a concept come to life, the pride in overcoming obstacles, and the joy of connecting with audiences make all the hard work worthwhile. Filmmakers have the power to transport viewers to new worlds, provoke thought, and elicit profound emotions.

11. The Journey Continues: Filmmaking's Future

As technology continues to evolve, so too does the landscape of filmmaking. Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are reshaping how audiences experience stories, allowing them to immerse themselves in narrative worlds like never before. Interactive storytelling blurs the line between creator and audience, granting viewers agency in shaping the outcome.

Furthermore, the democratization of filmmaking tools has empowered underrepresented voices to share their stories. Filmmakers from diverse backgrounds are introducing fresh perspectives and challenging traditional narratives, enriching the cinematic landscape with their unique viewpoints.

Unlock Your Filmmaking Potential at Our Institute!

Are you a passionate storyteller with a burning desire to bring your narratives to life on the silver screen? Look no further! Our Filmmaking Institute is the creative hub where your cinematic dreams take flight.

At the heart of every great film lies a skilled filmmaker. Our institute is a nurturing ground for aspiring filmmakers, a place where you'll learn not only the technical aspects of filmmaking but also the artistry that breathes life into every frame. From the inception of an idea to the captivating final edit, our comprehensive program covers every facet of the filmmaking journey.

Why Choose ICE Institute (Institute of Creative Excellence)?

1. Expert Faculty: Our institute boasts a roster of accomplished industry professionals who are dedicated to shaping the filmmakers of tomorrow. With their vast experience, you'll gain insights into the latest trends and techniques, ensuring your skills are always cutting-edge.

2. Hands-On Learning: Theory meets practice in our institute's hands-on approach. You won't just study filmmaking – you'll be making films! Get your hands on industry-standard equipment and software to craft your stories with finesse.

3. Collaborative Environment: Filmmaking is a collaborative art, and our institute mirrors this reality. Collaborate with fellow students from diverse backgrounds, fostering the teamwork and networking crucial in the film industry.

4. Personalized Guidance: We understand that every filmmaker's journey is unique. That's why our faculty is committed to providing personalized guidance, helping you refine your strengths and conquer your challenges.

5. Showcasing Your Work: Your creations deserve an audience. Our institute provides platforms to showcase your films, inviting industry professionals and enthusiasts to witness your talent.

Embark on your filmmaking odyssey with us – where imagination meets technique, and dreams become realities. Join our program now, and let's turn your passion for storytelling & film direction into a lifelong cinematic adventure through our Acting & Film direction course.

Ready to take the first step? Enroll today and immerse yourself in the world of filmmaking like never before. Your journey from concept to silver screen starts here!

In conclusion, filmmaking is an art form that marries creativity, technical skill, and collaborative effort. From concept to silver screen, each stage in the filmmaking process contributes to the creation of a captivating and immersive narrative experience. The power of visual language, the impact of editing, and the challenges and rewards of the journey all play a role in shaping the final product.

As we look to the future, the boundaries of filmmaking continue to expand, offering new avenues for creativity and innovation. With emerging technologies and diverse voices at the forefront, the world of filmmaking is poised to captivate and inspire audiences for generations to come. Whether you're an aspiring filmmaker or a dedicated cinephile, the magic of cinema invites you to be a part of its ongoing evolution, where stories come alive on the canvas of the silver screen.

#bollywood #succession #film #education #filmmaking #storytelling #cinema #cinematography

1 note · View note

god-of-war-3-mod-8d · 2 years

Text

İndir Cheats for God Of War 3 APK - Books & Reference tarafından geliştirilmiş Appscreativa Inc

💾 ►►► DOWNLOAD FILE 🔥🔥🔥 Nowadays the only mode available on the sports console gives players the opportunity to play against all the opponents. Different types of gamers will have different approaches to the game. It will not require any core knowledge to install, play or update with this guide on how you can do it yourself! All tutorials are created for new players who want an easier way of learning from scratch without having an excessive amount of information thrown at them all at once which could lead to someone feeling overwhelmed instead of being able to explore things more freely while providing tips and tricks along the way. The God Of War 3 Apk series is one that always delivers. The first two games are groundbreaking, delivering an unforgettable experience with emotional depth and some truly jaw-dropping moments to be found along the way, but it was hard not feeling let down by this third game in particular. Luckily for us gamers though there will always be more adventures set before these warriors as everything else does come together beautifully eventually even if late sometimes due mostly because developer Sony Santa Monica did such good work here making things feel just right again without really. The God Of War 3 Apk Remedies for PlayStation 4 recaptures the emotions thirty years ago with a resolution of p and better frames per second. This is a wonderful god of war 3 android game with a whole lot of action and excitement. The gamers are required to climb up various things such as the walls, jump across the charms, and swing on the ropes. In addition, they have to solve various puzzles, which might be simple or complex. Sometimes you have to place the specific object in a particular place to solve the mystery. The story in this game will keep you glued to your screen. Overall, the players have rated it at an average of 4. Then start it up on PC to check out all of these different characters! Now you can be the most interesting character in many anime series with this app. There are two modes: functionality and others, depending on your preference for different types of games. The following is information about what characters like Naruto Uzumaki from Naruto Shippuden , Ichigo Kurosaki Bleach , or Goku Black from Dragon Ball Super would look like through these video-game styled illustrations created by artist Sachiko Sugita. There are so many challenges in the game, and each one is harder than the last! The goal here was simple-collect coins from enemies by defeating them in different ways like trapping their attacks between two shields or even getting behind enemy lines undetected while attacking unsuspecting warriors unprotected. This is an obstacle in destroying enemies; stop the promotion with these pictures instead of masking the wrong button during a fight scene The good news? I have some beautiful pictures showing off what he looked like when wearing his Enephicios suit! The Softness allows you to learn how to manipulate yourself within this fight while the Large Size is evident gradually with each new peak that he reaches towards sea level or below. The makers have done an excellent job to make this new battle much harder. In contrast with the original, God Of War 3 Apk Remastered Mobile suffers from a lot more camera angles that are not only difficult to see but also extremely pixelated. The music from God of War 3 Remastered Mobile is also impressive. Brooding, raging songs produce a leveling feeling. Additionally, shadow and light are used to show the degradation of the earth as well as the tiny hints of optimism. The underworld is awash with screaming and hurling pain with the corpses that are dead. God of War III Remastered is an amazing game that has been upgraded to play more smoothly on a robust platform and is breathtaking. I really enjoyed the original and am awed by the remastered version that is a more modern game instead of a beautifully restored work of art. The most important thing to do when solving them is to trigger the button so you can run anywhere until nightfall! The only difficulty I have with God, the Mobile Mobile is that it often gets in my way. The axes of this camera are almost completely dead but luckily you can get around them by using its corners as tracks! Olympic walls shine brighter, and shadows flicker horribly in Hades. I wish it had more inlovment in the game as apposed to a stand alone extra???? Before initiating the installation process, ensure that there should be no previous version of God Of War 3 APK installed on your system. Now approach the system settings, go to the security and then clack on Enable option. To install this app on your android device follow the followings steps. For smooth installation follow the given method. Once your install the emulator then the process is not too difficult. Follow the below-mentioned steps to ensure a smooth installation. Use the official website to download an emulator on your MAC. You can download anyone Nox players or Bluestacks players at your ease. People who are unable to play the game can play it on their phones by downloading and installing the PS Emulator. This is a tool that makes it possible to play PlayStation games on mobile devices. It brings a more impressive experience. It does not have connections to online matchmaking, and it can be enjoyed completely offline. Anroid Games Action???? Updated Latest Version Requirements 7. Size 91M Get it on. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Telegram Whatsapp. Report this app Download links do not work There is a new version Others. Public Reviews. Is God of War 3 available for Android? Can you play God of War on Android? Does God of War 3 work on PS5? Can you play God of War offline? What's new Minor bug fixes. Related apps. Touch install. Follow the steps on the screen.

1 note · View note

comradekatara · 3 years

Note

in certain games you unlock deeper levels of friendship through tokens of affection - what sentimental/practical items would those be for each character? i believe aang would be partial to wind chimes & of course sokka is fond of puzzles

okay chell had to explain what this means to me, to which i asked “do game devs know anything about human interaction whatsoever?” (apparently not!) but since you mentioned wind chimes and puzzles i’m just gonna assume you’re asking what items represent these characters, rather than “how would you bribe them into friendship” (because that would be......weird)

aang: a wind chime is so apt tbh. like aang is an aeolian harp, the way he is both the avatar and the last airbender, an instrument to be played upon by destiny, by nature, by the wind. i have a million thoughts about this but instead i’m just gonna link to this coleridge poem and my art associating aang with the joanna newsom album “divers” instead of actually expounding on this idea (for now). hopefully y’all just Get what i mean?? lmao

sokka: puzzles works bc he’s fundamentally obsessed with solving problems, especially if said problem can be solved in a creative way. maybe also an encyclopedia, because he’s concerned with the endless pursuit and acquisition of new knowledge. though i guess he’s often associated with a boomerang or a sword, which are sort of like, The Thinking Man’s Weapons™ but it makes me sad to think about how sokka’s life and identity are so intrinsically tied to war, so let’s eschew that for the purposes of this exercise

katara: i mean her mother’s necklace is such an integral symbol of her identity and her legacy, but i guess if we’re going with non-specific items, i guess i would have to go with, like, a freshly baked loaf of bread? or really just any warm food that is sustaining and nourishing. personally i think giving someone bread and eating freshly baked bread is an act and experience of love. it reminds me of the warmth and care and giving, that combination of practicality and sentimentality in how katara loves her family. and while i also really appreciate the depths of her rage, i think if anything, katara is defined by her capacity for love and warmth, baked bread sustaining you through the harshest winters.

toph: okay this is gonna sound obvious, or perhaps facetious, but i do just really think toph’s perfect item is. a rock. like sokka literally gives her a rock (a meteorite, to be specific) and this gift immediately becomes her most cherished possession. and yes you can argue that it’s because it was a special rock, or because sokka gave it to her and it’s the thoughtfulness behind the gesture that made it so special, but at the end of the day toph loves being given rocks for a reason! toph is stable (fighting with katara aside, bc sisters just be like that) and enduring and contains this quiet wisdom that makes the earth not just a weapon she can use, but a relationship she fosters, in understanding. toph loves rocks and she is a rock and that’s that

suki: it is the year 2020 and everyone listens to music directly from their smartphones, so i am just going to broadly generalize here and say suki could use a music playing device (whether it be an ipod, a walkman, or a gramophone). like i just think suki could really use a soundtrack. yknow?

zuko: i think above all, what zuko needs is a cat. i think if iroh had gotten zuko a kitten when he was 13 he could’ve avoided the next three years of “need[ing] to capture the avatar to restore [his] honor” because zuko would’ve been way too preoccupied with taking care of his new pet, and healing from his trauma and growing as a person in the process. as we see in the “life-changing field trip” episodes, zuko learns from iroh to help himself through helping others, and he would be able to recognize his own humanity and vulnerability through caring for a cat. he is a cat and he needs a cat!

azula: a candle. because you set it on fire on purpose. nuff said.

mai: i’m not gonna say knives because that’s both obvious and fallacious. mai’s proclivity for knives may seem sick and dope (because she is), but it is not, in fact, the world’s healthiest coping mechanism, and i think she could benefit from branching out, maybe finding some less violent hobbies. actually i desperately wish i could give mai my over the garden wall dvd because i think her depressed ass could really benefit from witnessing wirt’s Journey. or really any art that could help her cope and explore her own feelings of emptiness (i also think she would love dostoevsky), but personally otgw is my pinnacle of “coping with depression media” and i think it would be mai’s too. dont @ me

ty lee: a camera, to capture all the moments in which she is a unique observer, while standing behind the lens, inherently out of frame. people are too intent on the contents of the picture to speculate on the nature of who took them. being as flexible as she is, she always gets the best angles. she makes every scene look natural.

yue: an empty journal, ripe for filling. she needs an outlet to document her inner thoughts. her life (both lives) are about what she can give and do for other people, about sacrificing herself for her duty to the world, and so i think it is in fact necessary that yue write, in a space just for herself where she does need to monitor her behavior or her feelings or feel guilty for being her own person with wants and desires. i’ve always thought that as the moon but also as a human, her singularly unique experiences would make for incredible poetry, if only she had somewhere to write it.

#the gaang and #aang aeolian harp zuko tom o bedlam yue bright star aaaaa go crazy #anyway....#asks #missastraea

75 notes · View notes

thisbassslaps · 3 years

Text

My Favorite Video Game Levels

Here are five video game levels/areas that are memorable to me. The music, creative design, unique atmosphere and intrinsic value are all decisive factors that led to my ultimate choices.

5. Great Deer Yard Hotel

Deadly Premonition: The Director's Cut - (2013)

The Great Deer Yard Hotel is filled with interesting facts about Greenvale and its historical hotel. If you enjoy game aesthetics, you will love Deadly Premonition. All of the main locations (e.g. the Hotel, A&G Diner, Sheriff's Dept, Galaxy of Terror and Muses Gallery) are carefully decorated and should be explored at a slow pace. The Great Hotel was the point in-game where I was wholeheartedly pulled into SWERY's mysterious world. The nods to Lynch and Kubrick in the hotel were pleasing, especially the picture of Snoqualmie Falls in York's hotel room. While inspecting each room, hallway, piece of art and furniture, I enjoyed reading about specific objects and finding a few easter eggs here and there. The meeting with Polly for breakfast is my favorite cutscene. The ridiculously long dining table and the nonchalant behavior/deadpan conversation is hilarious and charming. And...what better way to finish an early morning meal than with a hot, fresh cup of coffee?!

youtube

4. Ice Cavern

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D - (2011)

Recently, I have noticed that I enjoy the colder seasons a lot more than the warmer ones. For whatever reason, winter levels intrigue and comfort me (Ando Prime in Star Wars Ep. I Racer, Mountain Village in Majora's Mask). The Ice Cavern is my favorite winter level and one of my favorite game areas of all time. The ice cold soundtrack is what really stands out for me. The shimmering keyboard bells and gusts of wind offer the sensation of arctic serenity. Besides getting the Iron Boots, there isn't much of a need to spend too much time in this mini-dungeon, but I really enjoyed the serendipitous atmosphere and the puzzles that were a part of it. I loved the sliding block puzzle and the incorporation of the Blue Fire. I was in awe of the final room, where you meet with Sheik in order to learn the "Serenade of Water". As the serenade plays, the camera angles sweep to show the stars on the ceiling and also reveal the glistening icicles that surround you. I love the sense of peace and beauty that is offered in this area.

youtube

3. School II

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 - (2000)

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 was one of the funnest games to play as a kid. Each new game release seemed to get better and better in some way (up until Project 8). I have some fond memories of Tony Hawk's 1-4. I primarily chose School II to take the number three spot due to the overwhelming sense of nostalgia that I feel for the level. Oftentimes, this was my "free skate" level of choice. Its career goals were nicely implemented/spread out and the secret areas were fun to engage with. In free skate, School II was a fun choice because I could spend a solid amount of time at a specific quadrant in the level, perform more "realistic" tricks (maybe a kickflip back-smith or kickflip back-lip), then move somewhere else and have just as good of a time (the Roll Call Rails and planter ledges were always a blast). It was also cool to skate a few famous skate spots within the level. These spots included the Leap of Faith, the Gonz Rail and the Carlsbad Gap. Watch out for that golf cart! Beep beep, "skate or die, dude"!

youtube

2. Clock Town

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D - (2015)

If I could live in a video game world, I would choose to reside in Clock Town. It is a quaint, vibrant, entertaining and cordial place to live. During my first playthrough, I noticed that there is always some "goings-on" in Clock Town. I had fun walking through each building and engaging with the townsfolk. Everyone has their strict schedule, with certain tasks that Link can observe or investigate. I enjoyed following the Postman and Kafei during their daily routines. In addition to the incredibly personalized NPCs, the attention to color and set design are impressive. The Stock Pot Inn seems like a wonderful place to stay. Granny's (Anju's Grandmother's) room is beautifully decorated and the Mayor's Residence in East Clock Town is filled with endearing character. For me, the curved marketplace in West Clock Town is the most memorable area. I've had vivid dreams that take place in something similar to this bazaar strip. The Astral Observatory is one of my favorite locations as well (if it counts as a landmark in Clock Town). What I love about Clock Town, and Majora's Mask in general, is that it has an incredible fall carnival, harvest season atmosphere. There are many games that pull from traditional Halloween themes. In my opinion, MM has more of a unique autumn, crisp air, comfortably spooky art-style. If I were to be a Clock Town resident, I would prefer to be a pumpkin farmer...or a corn grower...and...I'd sell my crops before the moon drops!

youtube

1. Angry Aztec

Donkey Kong 64 - (1999)

There is something special about the developer Rare's game design. Banjo Kazooie, Donkey Kong 64 and Conker's Bad Fur Day all have distinctive graphics, campy storylines and collectathon-driven gameplay. In regards to DK64's levels, all of them are quite memorable. Fungi Forest's day and night cycles offer an innovative twist, Gloomy Galleon is an entertaining 3D water level, and Jungle Japes is a great beginner level. When compared to Jungle Japes, Angry Aztec slightly increases the difficulty, offering more challenging puzzles, platforming and enemies. Angry Aztec takes the crown because I felt completely engrossed in the game environment. The copious amount of tasks had me on my toes for hours on end. There were two Kongs to unlock—Tiny Kong and Lanky Kong. There was also a giant dragonfly boss to defeat. The act of forward thinking was firing on all cylinders and the childish fear of being defeated was raised at a fairly high level. Diddy Kong was my favorite character, and I thought that his jetpack challenges were the coolest thing ever. The additional temples were also exciting and filled with creative content. The Arabian-inspired "Angry Aztec" music track, composed by Grant Kirkhope, is absolutely phenomenal and one that I think about and listen to in present times. As a kid, I would often daydream about DK64. During recess, I would talk to one or two of my friends about boss battle strategies, or go over ways in which to progress through a certain level. My friends and I loved this game, which makes it very special in retrospect. Thanks to Grant Kirkhope's spectacular soundtrack and Rare's love and care for the Donkey Kong franchise, I have become a lifelong Donkey Kong 64 fan.

youtube

#picsandgifsarefromgoogleandyoutube #deadly premonition #great deer yard hotel #the legend of zelda #ocarina of time #ice cavern #tony hawk's pro skater 2 #school ii #zelda #majora's mask #clock town #donkey kong 64 #angry aztec #favorite levels #Youtube

5 notes · View notes

alethiometry · 4 years

Note

How are you liking AC Valhalla so far? Any characters you love? Any characters you hate? Is there anyone as sexy as Brasidas?

hiiii thank you for asking!! i’m going to keep this as spoiler-free as possible.

i’m really liking it so far! i have my gripes about gameplay mechanics and the buggy launch, but at this point i have either grown used to them or am happily experiencing stockholm syndrome and am just enjoying the game for what it is (and hoping the stuff that needs patching gets patched soon).

here are some things i love:

the voice acting is so good. SO GOOD!!!

eivor! she stands out among the protags of other ac games i’ve played because she always has this community about her. she’s a loved and respected leader to her people, they’re always happy to see her return to the settlement, she’s got her crew to back her up at a moment’s notice, there’s always portions of the main quests where she has companions fighting beside her.

basically all the other characters in ravensthorpe! they’re a fun bunch and a loving community and they have their quirks and i love hanging out with all of them. petra in particular is an absolute sweetheart and not a day goes by where i don’t feel awful for breaking up with her bc my goblin brain decided “lol i want to fuck my stepbrother’s wife who looks like kassandra in sweatpants”

HYTHAM IS A SWEETHEART. we love an assassin who is also, to use 2012 lingo, a pure and sweet cinnamon roll, too perfect for this world.

petting dogs and cats!

how dynamic the settlement is. every time i go back there’s something new and interesting happening, whether it’s a new sidequest an npc wants me to help out with, or a dispute between neighbors, or new dialogue with npcs i repeatedly interact with. i love having a home base that i can upgrade and that i want to spend time in.

the minigames! orlog is fun and frustrating but mostly fun, and the drinking contest is AWESOME.

quick-time assassinations for higher-level enemies! it’s a good balance between the old games where you could just indiscriminately kill fucking anybody in one overpowered hit, and odyssey where you had to either stack your assassination damage to get that sweet OHKO, or straight up fight the polemarchs.

the relationship between eivor and sigurd. i’m only about 40-50% of the way through the game so i’ve only seen a bit of it, but as someone who generally gravitates towards sibling narratives (i.e. odyssey, fullmetal alchemist, and way too many of my prime years wasted on supernatural) i really love their dynamic. i think it was an excellent idea to have that become one of eivor’s central narratives from the very beginning of the game. also, i get to fuck his wife.

(forces through gritted teeth) the... modern... day. i HATED layla in odyssey, to the point where i don’t even remember what happened in the modern story at all because every playthrough except for my very first one i simply mashed the skip button until i got back in the goddamn animus.. and i do not remember a single thing she did in origins. and maybe it says more about me than anything else that i wasn’t able to care about her until ubisoft (finally!!!!) brought back shaun and rebecca to make me care, but... this is the closest the modern day has felt to the desmond games, and there’s post-odyssey continuity with layla’s struggle as the keeper of the staff or whatever, and i really like it!

when you hover over different things in the map, the sound effects change. you get chanting music when you hover over monasteries, and ocean noises when you hover over the ocean! IT’S SUPER NEAT.

taking damage when you swim in the cold cold waters of norway made me chuckle. i can see how it might get annoying, but it doesn’t really bother me that much and it’s not that much damage.

THE SOUNDTRACK GIVES ME CHILLS IT IS SO GODDAMN GOOD

things i’m ambivalent about:

fall damage? i’m peeved that it’s back, but it makes sense. i do love that the breakfall skill makes it so that the most damage i’ve ever gotten from taking a long fall is like... 5 hp lmao

kill animations. they’re really cool and i love seeing what new fun way eivor has to brutally murder her enemies. on the other hand, the shift in camera angle can be annoying in the middle of a massive battle, and if there’s an object in the way of the very specific camera angle then sometimes i can’t see the animation at all and have to just stare at some wood/stone texture for like 10 seconds.

environment puzzles. sometimes they’re fun but sometimes i’m too damn tired to try and figure out the 3895th way to break into a locked building.

side quests world events. they’re fun but also seem largely... pointless? i wish we had one or two longer sidequests; some of my favorite moments in odyssey were on long sidequests like mykonos or the battle of 100 hands. i feel like this was a reactionary mechanic to people complaining that odyssey had “too many” sidequests or something idk.

tattoo parkour. i would like it more if eivor didn’t feel so “sticky” if that makes sense. i like the return of parkour puzzles, and i like collecting tattoos (the tattoo shop is always the first place i visit when i return to ravensthorpe), but the parkour in the game often feels quite clunky.

social stealth. another excellent idea that they brought back, but executed clumsily. i just don’t understand how it works, or, more importantly, why it’s even necessary in the first place. but it’s also easy to ignore, so whatever.

animus glitch platform puzzles. they’re super cool but for some reason give me massive anxiety.

things i don’t love:

some combat mechanics, like having a stamina bar and losing adrenaline when you get hit. i’m not here for any of that *~*~sO gRiTtY aNd rEaLiStIc~*~* bullshit. i just want to have fun and hack shit up.

that motherfucking god damn terrible fucking skill tree/map/web. who the FUCK thought it was a good idea??? the incremental changes between the big nodes feel kind of meaningless, and it’s very difficult to see the (completely arbitrary) progression towards the big nodes because they’re pathed out on SKINNY WHITE FUCKING LINES

synin got nerfed real bad :(

dag is a massive chode. and not even in a fun way, like stentor was in odyssey.

don’t really care for ivarr either if i’m being honest.

i do not give a single shit about fantasy asgard, and i’m kind of peeved that i apparently have to finish that arc in order to finish the game. (i didn’t like the atlantis dlc in odyssey either—a couple hades sidequests notwithstanding—so go figure.)

congratulations on reading this far if you actually bothered to do that! i don’t think any game will top odyssey for me in terms of setting/storyline/general vibes. but valhalla is a great, solid game in its own right.

no npc will EVER be as sexy as brasidas, but eivor is definitely sexier. she and kassandra and aya hold the 3-way title of Sexiest Assassin’s Creed Characters But Not In Like A Creepy Incel Gamer Way.

#assassin's creed #ac valhalla #charlotte plays acv #anonymous #asked

21 notes · View notes

keunayuya · 4 years

Text

Hanggang sa Huli MV in Details

October 11, 2020 (Saturday) | 3:30 PM

It took me a lot of time to compose my thoughts about the production of Hanggang sa Huli MV because I really wanted to slice every detail I have seen after watching the MV for several times (for the stream counts!), and to put them together for a solid explanation why the MV was a bomb. You might get a little bored by reading this, but hmm.. I hope you give me time 🥰

So, should I start now?

SEQUENCING

The Hanggang sa Huli music video a kind of a short story cycle, focusing on 5 different love encounters. The clips are sequenced based on who sings the part of the song. It is intented to make the viewers arrange it into 5 independent stories with each of them having their own rising, falling, and conclusion sections.

This dynamic technique has beautifully made the whole MV interesting because it created another puzzle to the story: the timeline.

TIMELINE

If you had a hard time focusing on the sequence of the 5 stories, it's because there were three timelines: the years 2009, 2019, and 2034. The love encounters of the boys took place in different times but the MV portrayed them as if they were at the present and happening at the same time. HSH MV Timeline details were put in numerous parts of the stories.

Justin and Sejun were Junior High classmates in 2009. In 2019, Sejun and Josh rode the same bus. Josh encountered a kid at the playground, who was actually the daughter of his childhood friend. In 2034, that same daughter became Ken's love interest, whom he found out to be in a relationship when he saw her at a cafe where Stell worked.

The different timelines only shows that LOVE is timeless and eternal. It can happen anytime, anywhere.

ALAB REFERENCE

Let's go to the obvious one. The association of the song Alab in the MV can be seen in each plot:

Josh - Red ropes = Red string bracelet

Justin - Green background and frame = Blackboard

Sejun - Crumpled papers = Crumpled papers in the trash can

Ken - Metal cage = Metal fence

Stell - Signboard 'THIS WAY, START HERE' = Signboard with same words

In those specific clips, their love interests were also shown at the same frame:

Josh - He first saw the daughter of his childhood friend, Athena; the time when he gave the red string bracelet to the kid

Justin - Allyssa Kristine was about to tell him the news about the scholarship while he was about to confess her feelings to her

Sejun - Photo of Constantine in a photo frame on his bedside table showing love for her even after several years

Ken - His first close encounter with Athena's daughter when he defended her from a guy who was about to harrass her

Stell - The lady customer's frequent visit in the cafe which made him excited everytime the cafe door opened

Meanwhile, the color association can be seen through their attires (except for Stell who was wearing a brown shade instead of yellow. But cafe crews most of the time wear brown or black uniforms, so his case is an exemption)

GO UP REFERENCE

So what about the song Go Up? Is there any association in the MV? Yes, of course!

The viewers missed to notice that the background is also a very important part of every film. In HSH MV's case, the Sky was frequently used usually being highlighted in many video frame. We know that Go Up is associated with reaching for dreams and the phrase 'The sky is the limit'.

The use of ample amount of Sky as background also tells us that we usually look up to the sky to remember that a lost loved one looks down on us from the heavens.

Aside from the background, if you may have noticed, cameras are positioned at a lower level, shooting the subjects in an upward angle, which is another Go Up reference.

GITZ REFERENCE

I got this reference from a comment on YouTube which really made sense so I put it here.

The independent stories of the boys can be mirrored in the 5 songs in GITZ album and we couldn't agree no more:

Stell - Tilaluha (Coffee shop at the MV)

Justin - Go Up (Aly reaching for her dreams)

Ken - Alab (Athena's daughter catching his attention)

Josh - Hanggang sa Huli (His eternal love for Athena)

Sejun - Love Goes (Lost loved one)

NAME USAGE

Names are widely used in the MV which are close to our hearts.

Allyssa Kristine S. Bernardo - A'TIN x SB

Allyssa - Alay sa (dedicated to)

Constantine Hermosa - Constant Beauty

Athena - A'TIN

The words A'TIN and SB were also used as names for locations, organization, and transportation:

SB National High School

A'TIN International Scholarship Committee

So Brewed Coffee (Cafe)

SB Transit (Bus)

SBalita (Newspaper)

FLOWER SYMBOLS

Flowers are also used in the MV to depict subliminal meanings:

Peruvian Lily - Friendship, Devotion

Tulip - Happiness, Affection, Caring, Good wishes, Love

Daisy - Innocence, New beginning

SOCIAL TOPICS

The music video also flashed some of popular topics in our society. As an influential boygroup, it is refreshing to see that their stand in these social topics are being incorporated in MV.

Mental health issue - Sejun's character portrayed as a depressed and traumatized person due to a tragic accident and death of his lover

Sexuality topic - Athena's daughter as a lesbian and in a relationship with the same sex

Harrassment / Assault issue - Depiction that anyone can be assaulted despite your sexuality or clothing or status

Bullying topic - Poster at the school's bulletin board, saying 'DON'T BE A BULLY!'

CAMEO ROLES

It is fun to see some people close to SB19 who played some roles in the MV:

Keith (@bboykillmo) - the guy who assaulted Athena's daughter and who was punched on the face by Ken

Don (@donvarin) - Athena's husband

OTHER SYMBOLS Part 1

The music video not only mentions social topics but also it is a personal story of SB19 on how everything led them to where they are now.

SUCCESS - Josh's corporate attire

HUMILITY - Going back to hometown (roots!)

PASSION - Athena's daughter dancing and Sejun's music player

ART - Ken's spray paint

FRIENDSHIP - Group photo of friends

PERFECTION - Coffee being slowly brewed

OTHER SYMBOLS Part 2

Other than that, the MV includes the following symbols which are also serve as significant elements of what is SB19

Sunny day / Sky - God at the center of everything

Rigid heart symbol - Strong foundation of SB19 x A'TIN

Carvings on the tree - SB19 x A'TIN forever

Grafitti - A'TIN

Brand - Endorsement

ETERNAL LOVE

During a past interview, SB19 shared their views on love and sacrifice. They unanimously agreed that true love is not measured by how much you can receive but by how much you can give to the people you love. They believe that it doesn't matter that you don't end up with that person. The important thing is you fought and you learned. Not everything happens in your favor and happiness is the root of acceptance.

HANGGANG SA HULI (Story of Acceptance)

The story of Hanggang sa Huli portrays the reality of 'almosts', 'what ifs', 'timing', 'grief', and most importantly, ACCEPTANCE. Love has no shape but has different colors. It can be a chemical reaction, but Science can never explain the emotion.

Hanggang sa Huli teaches us to love freely, to love everyone, to accept if something is not meant to happen, and to move forward for the better future.

----

Personally, I wasn't expecting too much symbolism in the music video but we all know that the magic of SB19 x A'TIN will forever be special and meaningful, so symbols are significant.

To the whole team of this production, I was very glad and thankful for them for releasing such kind of satisfying story-telling in a 5-minute video.

To Director Justin de Dios, who mainly came up with the concept and directed the MV, you are one of the best writers I have encountered.

To SB19, thank you for giving everyone happiness and hope. You deserve all the best.

SB19 x A'TIN hanggang sa huli. 💙

--Fin--

#sb19 sejun #sb19 josh #sb19 justin #sb19 ken #sb19 stell #sb19 #foodfandom #sb19 alab #atin #philippines #ppop #pop #ikako #hanggang sa huli #john paulo nase #josh cullen santos #justin de dios #felip jhon suson #stellvester ajero

6 notes · View notes

ninetyonekz · 3 years

Text

Translation of Destination of Asia (February 2016)

So, tell us a little about yourself?

- Hello everyone, we are Ninety One! Why Ninety One, you ask? For Kazakhstan, this is a very important numeral, because on December 16, 1991, our country became independent. By this we want to say that our art and movement are also independent, we want to show the spirit of free youth - this is the concept of our group. The team came together thanks to the k-top idols project, where A.Z. and ZaQ were among the finalists. Then there was the second season, Alem and Bala passed there, and then Ace joined us. We trained together for about an year.

Is it true that the group was based on Korean boy band model? If so, what traits did you adopt, and what did you decide to make unique?

- No, not really. We took only the system itself, adopted in Korea. In terms of the plan, we have a clear concept, everything is staged and rehearsed many times. After all, we all gathered from different regions of the country, each has its own specialty, but when we are together, we give a single concept and idea. Actually, this is what we adopted from our colleagues from Korea.

What inspires you?

All in chorus: EAGLEZ!

- There is a lot to say about our fans. This is the first fandom formed in Kazakhstan, and we were very surprised and glad that there were people who really love us. They show their support to us every day, every minute, every second. And you know, this greatly inspires us to do something, to write new songs. We feel this support behind our backs and receive a great boost of energy from it.

Do you write the songs yourself?

Alem: Of course! We have a fairly large team engaged in this part of the work. Before recording, we definitely consult about music and words, and only after that we start practicing in the studio. Lyrics are mainly written by our rappers A.Z. and ZaQ, and we participate in the composition of the tune, as co-authors. I think that in every song all the members include something of their own.

What is the relationship between the members within the group?

Ace: You can probably say that since the band was formed, we became very, very close, almost like brothers. We deal with problems together and, despite the fact that I joined the guys later than everyone else, now I can say for sure that we are one friendly family.

Alem: Yes, even more! We gathered from different parts of Kazakhstan, each had his own idea, his own views, but when we met, we approached each other like pieces of a correctly assembled puzzle! We have what we need, that's for sure!

- Do you listen to any music from Southeast Asia (K-Pop, K-Rock, J-Rock, J-Pop and so on)?

Ace: Well, personally, from the list of the above, I only listen to K-Pop. This is a great opportunity to gain experience and maybe even get some inspiration for your own new songs.

ZaQ: I listened to J-Rock for a while and I liked it. As for K-Pop, we still watch more from a professional point of view - this music is very different from Western music, and we can learn a lot from Korean artists. In general, you yourself understand, there are a lot of groups in different countries, and they are all different, but K-Pop teams are the closest to us in terms of concept.

- Is there a group that interests you?

ZaQ: Actually, it is very difficult to answer this question, since we are interested this direction as a whole, as I mentioned earlier.

Alem: Hyukoh! Although, in my opinion, it is difficult to call them a group, rather, they are artists, but this does not make them less cool. Especially their main soloist, who writes all the music himself.

- Find a word to describe the concept of your debut video? Was it difficult to work on the camera during his filming?

Everyone: Ayiptama or Don’t judge me?

ZaQ: The funny thing is that in the song we say Ayiptama “Don't judge me” to the girl, sort of like “Don't blame me”. If now we take and choose a word for our concept, then it is simply " Ayiptama ", do not judge us for the fact that we started it like this.

Alem: With dyed hair ...

Ace: The first time was, of course, difficult to shoot, since this is our first video. There were some problems, but, to be honest, there weren't any particular difficulties.

Alem: Actually, for everyone in different ways, we have Ace who is just talented.

Ace: Well it happened that we were preparing for filming both physically and mentally. We looked from what angle we look better, prepared ourselves, worked a lot with the mirror. And largely due to this, the shooting itself is wasn’t much, but it became easier for us.

Alem: We had a kind of warm-up, in plan, each one was filmed separately in the outdoors. They just found interesting places in the city, and even if there was a crowd of people, it worked anyway. Thanks to this, by the way, the feeling of embarrassment went away, began to see better angles from the side. But it's still difficult on the set, especially when there is a professional cameraman and directors who require more movement, and so on. This is not to say that it is absolutely horrible, but that it’s not easy - that’s for sure.

Do you have any idols on whom you would like to be equal?

Alem: I like Will Smith, but not as an artist or singer, but as a person. Well, of course you know, he is a very cool pop singer, rapper and writes the songs himself. Why do I consider him my idol? Probably because he always defends his point of view to the end and lives doing what he loves, completely surrendering to him. I remember he once talked about how if you start building a wall, then you need to build everything brick by brick. This is exactly what we all need to always achieve our goals and not be distracted by anything, even if something is not going as fast as we would like.

Ace: I agree with him. If you take on something, then you have to do everything to the end. Well, you know my idol for sure - is Arnold Schwarzenegger. At first he was just a bodybuilder, but he became the best bodybuilder, then he wanted to become an actor and became one of the best, then he went into politics and became the best governor, as many say in the United States. Where I am leading - everything he undertook, he did at the highest level.

A.Z: Eminem has been my idol since childhood. I really like both his personality and creativity. He always shows skill in his music and has a special, unique style.

Bala: I don't have a specific idol - I usually like one thing in different peoples, and I try to take the good from each of them.

ZaQ: I look up to my grandfather. Seriously, he is like Will Smith and Schwarzenegger combined, and indeed a very versatile person who constantly surprises me.

What is your ideal girl type?

Alem: I like active ladies. I can't even pinpoint exactly what is is, because it is always different. But what catches me the most about girls - their eccentricity and charisma, they always stand out against the general background. She may be …

Other members: Ugly?

Alem: Hey, no, no! Girls can’t be ugly, because there are no ugly women. I also like it when a girl is a good at speaking and is able to show her emotions.

Ace: Well, my ideal type of girl ... Actually, it doesn’t exist yet. I am attracted by calm, homely and well-mannered girls, I would call this type a "good wife".

A.Z: As for me, a girl should be, first of all, smart, friendly, polite and, I think, calm. To summarize - my complete opposite.

Bala: Before falling in love with someone's inner world, in any way looks at the appearance ...

The rest of the members: Maybe you can tell right away that you like beautiful ones?

Bala: All the girls are beautiful! And because of that, I like them all. But, to be honest, I prefer smart ones, those who are good at reasoning, are wise in their thoughts and also, perhaps, shy. Well. In general, shy cuties, here!

ZaQ: I don't have a specific type, but I like girls... such a, let’s face it, real. Who aren’t ashamed of their own opinion and simply aren’t ashamed of anything, well, you know, such extraordinary personalities. You can say, a little freaks, these are the ones that attract me. Those who don’t even care what people think of them, something like that.

Would you like to move forward not only at home, but also in Russia (with the CIS countries)?

Of course we do, why not? But first, we would like to create a certain starting base in Kazakhstan, and then, if our activity here is successful, we will try to work in the CIS as well! We can say that this is our main goal in the future, but everything has its time.

Do you have any plans to release a song in Russian?

- Not in the near future, but in the future - of course. And not only in Russian, in English, too. But at the moment we want to consolidate our position in our native country and for now release music only with words in Kazakh.

What is your current goal (both as a group and individually)?

- The overall goal is to create a subculture like Q-pop. There are K-pop, J-Pop, etc., and we should have Q-pop (qazaq pop). We want this direction to settle down in Kazakhstan and beyond. To become the founders of this movement and perhaps even create a subculture so that people in other countries, listening to our songs, think: "Oh, this is Q-pop." Our main desire - to develop the music industry and give it a second wind, and, of course, show our country from its best side. We also want to draw people's attention to the beauty of our language. And, of course, another goal is to enter the big stage and receive a national vocation. But in fact, we thought about these issues for a long time, and what personal goals we can have when we now have everything in common, including aspirations and plans. But still, of course, there are individual ones.

Alem: You know, there are so many languages in which jazz is performed all over the world. These songs become soundtracks for films, everyone knows them and hums them in everyday life. I would really like to create a project in which we could translate and perform all these compositions in our native language. I think this is quite achievable and the other members have even agreed to help me!

Ace: Most of all I want to fulfill myself, become successful and help your loved ones with full dedication, support them so that they do not need anything. Well, I guess that's a pretty good goal, right?

A.Z: Perhaps I have similar goals as the group - to promote Kazakhstan and our language around the world!

Bala: During the time that we are together, I have become very attached to the group. Since I’mm the youngest, I’m often spoiled by the rest of the members, and to be honest, I did not even think about anything other than "Ninety One". I always wanted to sing, and my goal, in fact, has already been fulfilled - I can do what I love with wonderful people. But as A.Z. said I really want to go to the world level.

ZaQ: I, alas, have not been able to finish my studies as a linguist, and my goal is directly related to our national language. I would like to show its beauty and versatility and prove that it can sound not only within the country, but also abroad.

Everyone: And we also plan to learn English at a good level, for example, like ZaQ and A.Z. They sometimes walk around the dorm, communicate with each other in English and even in Korean. Our immediate goal now is to understand what they are talking about.

There is also an individual question for Azamat: why did you decide to return back to Kazakhstan?

Ace: I had my own personal reasons, which I pondered for a long time and which I would not particularly like to spread. About a year before I returned, I already thought about it, but all the time I put off this difficult decision. At some point, the move still had to be made, I made a choice in favor of my home country. I am very grateful to everyone who was next to me in Seoul, who helped me and taught me, passing on invaluable experience. But now I'm at Ninety One and a new path is just beginning!

What, in your opinion, is lacking in the Kazakh show business at the moment and what are its strengths?

- The strongest side is that the Kazakh show business is just developing. This positive trend can be seen with the naked eye, which is good news. Plus, there are now many new bands and genres emerging so that people can finally choose what to listen to. What's missing? Perhaps systematic, practical and consistent. As well as special programs for the formation of artists and their promotion. However, this deficiency is now gradually disappearing.

Now for a fun question: Did you know that fans write fanfiction about you, and how do you feel about it?

Everyone: We learned about what fanfics are from our fans and decided to read it. In fact, it’s not only very strange, but also funny to realize that you are the main character of someone’s story. Plus, it helps us analyze how our fans see us from the outside. And, of course, it's nice that we inspire someone to be creative, so undoubtedly this aspect of our contact with fans also deserves special attention.

Alem: I once read about myself, about other members, and there were both normal stories and very strange ones. At first we were very surprised at this and didn’t believe that it was about us at all. And I also read a work where I am downright a bad boy, and I wondered if they really see me like that? Because I never had negative intentions and I am generally a kind guy.

What wishes would you like to leave to our readers and your fans?

- Smile always and everywhere, no matter what! Always be in a good mood and never lose faith in the future! And, of course, listen to our music! We also want to express our huge gratitude to our fans. What can we promise on our part? We will only make high-quality music, give the best that we can create! The main thing is that we believe in your support and love, and we will give it to you with great return! We also hope that you will support our first mini-album and our further work! Give good and good mood to others! We love you madly, we are very pleased that you support us! In any incomprehensible situation you have us, and we have you, and together we can overcome a lot. Eaglez, be always healthy and happy, because if we are happy, you should be doubly happy. Baqytta Bolnizdar! ("Be happy"). And, of course, we wish all the best to all Destination Asia readers!

#Ninety One #translation #boys

6 notes · View notes

aglitchinemotion · 4 years

Text

Little Distractions

“Is there anything else I can do for you, Doctor?”

Doctor Savel sighed, glancing around his unit before collapsing handily onto a chair in front of the screen on the wall. Look at her go – she even took his coat for him, hung it up and everything. He should have signed up for an assistant ages ago. Holdren had three, the blessed fuck. Probably didn’t even have to scratch his own ass…

“Sir?”

He roused out of his thoughts and eyed the girl. No – unit, not girl. That was going to be tricky to get used to. He’d always worked around synths, before, of course – from the time he was a teenager, they’d been a part of his life. Scurrying about carrying things, cleaning, obedient little cogs to keep the Institute running smoothly.

But to have one staring at him as he did now, awaiting instruction…

A mischievous whim struck. “Actually, unit, why don’t you pop in a holotape for me?” He gestured vaguely to the collection on a shelf on the opposite wall. “Soirée en Provence. It’ll be at the front, there.”

“Yes, sir.” She busied herself immediately, and in a few short moments the lights were dimmed, the projector humming as tinny, overdone romantic music smoozed through the air. He caught her eye and pat the cushion on the pristine white couch beside him

She froze. “… Sir?”

“Come, come. Have a seat. You’ll want to see this.”

Was this the first time he was seeing her hesitate to obey an order? But obey she did, perching delicately at the edge of the cushion as though she expected to be swatted off at any moment, like a naughty dog. They trained them quick for subservience, didn’t they? Puzzling, how many still managed to go rogue.

They watched in silence. The view swam over a faded, flickering image of some mansion in a vineyard. An argument in French, between two men – one older, one younger. A young woman ran out of the manor doors and through the vividly purple fields outside, framed by a dazzling view of the countryside. The younger man followed, caught her up in her arms in a seeming fit of passion. At last, the camera focused on the young woman’s features.

D8-84 blinked, puzzled. A moment of staring, then her eyes went wide, face lighting up in excitement as she pointed. “She looks like me!”

“You look like her.” Bemused he corrected her, lounging more comfortably. “The production line is always looking for new faces and algorithms to emulate in the creation process. I suggested this actress. Darla Gable, was her name.”

“Darla…” She mulled on that, little brow furrowing. Her hand moved to her head, fingering her curls. “My hair isn’t long like hers.”

“No, no. Wouldn’t be very practical, would it?” He waved a dismissive hand. “Besides, her style’s a bit – traditional for my tastes. The pixie cut suits you.” He flashed her a winning smile before he realized he’d done it. Funny – it was so easy to talk to her. And that blush, why, that looked almost human enough to fool him. Had they programmed that in, an instinctive reaction to a compliment?

“Am I – like her, then?” She spoke hesitantly, glancing at the swooning, over-wrought woman on the screen. “Am I supposed to be?”

“Be terribly useless in the lab, wouldn’t it, if you fainted at every surprise?” He chuckled, taking up a bottle of scotch and a little glass from the endtable. “No, unit. Your looks are hers – your personality is all yours. Or, rather, ours, from the algorithms used to make you.” But did a synth even have personality, really? How much was programmed, how much learned?

Questions better left for her actual creators. But he couldn’t resist prodding. “Do you want to be like her?”

“I want…” She bit her lip. She bit her lip. Dammit, maybe requesting her model specifically was a mistake. Too cute by half. Going to be damn near impossible to concentrate on pH levels in soil samples around her. At last she straightened, voice gaining a note of certainty.

“I want to be useful.” A nod. “I know that.”

“Well said, unit.” There was that blush again. They continued to watch as the daughter, a young heiress of the vineyard, was torn between potential suitors – the older man her father had lined up, and the young rapscallion who pretended himself wealthy in a stolen suit. She spoke with a lilt, tilted her hips and fluttered her lashes, tempting and innocent both at once. He snickered and paused, then rewound the tape.

“Try it.”

“Sir?” D8 snapped out of her trance.

“That – thing Darla did. With her eyes, and the pose. Do you think you can do that, unit?”

The synth blinked, dumbfounded for a long moment. Poor thing – this was probably well outside the social parameters she’d been uploaded with so far, though he knew for a fact he wasn’t the only one who entertained these 3rd-gens as more than a walking computer, to fetch and carry and log in daily notes. He sat back. “Go on.”

A soft breath. Then, delicately, she moved – lowering one shoulder, angling her hips to push up her body, lifting that swan neck, and the eyes. He’d almost laugh, if it didn’t also send a little jolt through him. He really did have something unique on his hands here, didn’t he?

“Not bad, for a first try.” He gestured and she sat again, face still red. “Keep practicing, mn? You might have some of the other synths swooning, if you keep that up.” A flash of a grin. What a delight it was to make her look flustered like that.

A little distraction wasn’t such a bad thing.

#man apparently pancakes and bacon makes me prolific #writing

2 notes · View notes

dorcasavelinehill · 4 years

Text

YOUR ARMS FEEL LIKE HOME - Ch. 2: What Works For Us

https://archiveofourown.org/works/21747418/chapters/51883102

“So here’s a philosophical question for you: is it really theft if we’re paying exact change plus tax?” Mike squished into the corner against the back wall of the liquor store (after only getting them slightly lost one last time before finding it) and watched intently while Donnie picked the lock. Leo pulled a long face. “It’s still breaking-and-entering. And we’re underage.” He stood squished on the other side, looking around furtively, as if he were expecting their father to step out of the shadows at any moment and catch them red-handed.

April considered his argument. “In America. Not other countries.” Leo looked at her. “What country are we in?” “Doesn’t mean we’re wrong. Could be a bad law.” “It’s not a bad law.” “Are you sure?” Donnie thrust a hand straight up between the pair. “Hi! Remember me? I’m trying to concentrate here!” Mike looked puzzled. “Why do you need your ears to concentrate on picking a lock?” “Someone hit him for me.” Raph gave Mike a light smack across the back of his head. As Mike rubbed his head, not the least bit perturbed, Donnie laughed, “Bingo!” The back door sprang open with a loud bang as it crashed into the far wall. Everyone went very still, waiting for any indication of an alarm going off, silently or otherwise. Even Mike was frozen, waiting, despite being the one who claimed the store alarm had gone on the blink and nobody had bothered to replace or repair it yet. When they were certain the cops weren’t on their way the group relaxed. April chuckled nervously as they made their way inside. “So we’re officially criminals?” Don gave her a light nudge with his elbow. “Only if someone catches us.” “Which we’re not going to let happen,” Leo said pointedly. “Think you can get the register working, Kitten?” April snorted, “No problem,” and set to work on it. “Oooh, Kaluah!” “No.” Leo grabbed Michelangelo by the bandana tails and yanked him back. “We’re buying beer and then we’re leaving. Raph, get me two Bud Lights.” Raphael leveled him a look that could have brought down a mountain. “I ain’t letting ya drink piss water.” He thrust two Shiner Blondes at his older brother. For himself, Raph selected a six-pack of Shiner 97, and snagged a bottle of Blue Moon for April. “Bingo!” April sang out. The register chirped for her and the cash drawer extended. There was no till, naturally, but that didn’t matter. “Bring ‘em over.” She rang up the Blondes, the 97, and the Blue Moon. “Can I have anoth-” “No,” Raph said. Annoying, but April didn’t feel like getting into it with him. Mike brought over a six-pack of some weird IPA thing called El Dorado, while Donnie grabbed a six of Guinness Extra Stouts. When nobody was looking, Don dropped her a wink. She ducked her head and hid a smile. At least one of the boys wasn’t going to baby her tonight. She rang it all up. Leo shrugged and dropped several neatly-folded bills on the counter top. “Alright, not exact change. They can call it a tip.” “They want a tip,” Donnie grumbled, “here’s a tip - get a new security system. Prefereably not one advertised on your local paranormal podcast.” “Ah, Donnie.” Raph slapped Don on the shoulder. “Nobody robs nobody in dis part ‘a town. Billionaires’ Row’s right down the street. Who’s gonna break in here?” He smirked and snagged his six-pack, leading the way out the back door. “Well, I ought to leave the door unlocked on principle,” Don snarked quietly. He didn’t, though. Locking up was easier than unlocking the door without a key. They stuck to the shadows, returning to their rooftops. Their rooftops - nobody else in the city could claim them the way the kids did. Running was freedom. Rooftop to rooftop was a straight path that only required a leap of faith, something all of them took fearlessly. The boys were machines of muscle and sinew that sprung and landed with precision. April was a little goat, her sneakers skidding on landing, but always recovering her balance in an instant, never losing her footing. They flung themselves at a building that towered over the roof they ran across. As they ran, jumped, and climbed, they caught hold of window ledges, siding, brick, and metal fire escapes. They accomplished all of this with no more sound than a quiet sigh of mortar and a gentle shiver of metal, while the children clambered skyward onto the next roof. Every movement was finesse. They moved fluidly, unseen from building to building, following the bright moonlight until they found a good spot with a nice view and plenty of room. It wasn’t the observation deck at The Rock, but they had a decent view of Central Park and the skyline.

*****

April unhooked her camera from the back of her belt. All the buildings glowed like fireflies in the darkness. She photographed the skyline, getting wide angle shots of several buildings, then photographed people dancing in the street far below them. She even managed to get several shots of a party bus moving slowly down a side street, the music, mostly dance remixes of popular tunes, drifting up as the bus passed by. April swayed, feeling the rhythm, then turned back to her brothers. They sat on the edge of the roof across from her, beers settled neatly against the ledge wall, safe from falling over. She seated herself between Mike and Don, kicking her legs like a little kid. Donnie handed her a bottle from his six-pack instead of the Blue Moon Raph had picked out for her. Either Raph wasn’t paying attention or he’d decided it wasn’t worth arguing about. Around them, the city sang. “Pretty night,” Mike said. “It’s going to start getting cold next month,” Leo said. He pulled a grimace that the others sympathized with. Of all of them, Leonardo felt the cold the worst, though he had learned how to power through it. This was probably going to be the last time they could get out for a long night before the weather got really nasty. That was probably the main reason their father chased them out for the evening. They had never kept to a strictly “human” schedule; the end of September marked a break period from intellectual learning and a return to heavy physical exercise. More advanced combat lessons, extended sparring practice in the dojo, and “winter cleaning,” where their entire home was inspected from bottom to top, searched out for any weaknesses in either defense or in structural integrity. Donnie took a long swig of his beer. “The service manual for the Triumph came yesterday.” Raphael grinned widely. “Awesome!” “You know we’re going to have to start from scratch with the engine,” Donnie said. Raph shrugged. “We gotta start somewhere.” “Oh, God,” Mike sighed. April buried her face in her hand. In March, Raphael and Donatello had pooled their funds and purchased a pile of junk they claimed was a 1973 Triumph Bonneville T120V. According to them, it was a motorcycle. Leo called it a relic of a bygone era. Mike declared it a desperate cry for help. April had hummed “Taps” over it and covered it with an old table cloth, the better to shield the remains from impressionable eyes. Despite its sad condition, Donnie and Raphael played around with it throughout the spring and summer, trying to catalog all the parts and determine what needed the most attention. Don tried looking for instructions online and came to the conclusion they needed a good, solid, hard copy of the service manual if they wanted to get it back to working condition - the idea of smearing grease and assorted bits of metal over his computer rubbed him the wrong way, and anyway, a manual took up less room than a laptop. Raph wasn’t inclined to talk as much as, say, Michelangelo, and if Donnie got lost in a project, he could be silent for hours while he observed or made notes or whatever he was doing. Get them on the subject of the Triumph, though, and you couldn’t shut them up. Automotives not being her thing, April quickly cut in before they could start talking specifications or spark plugs or whatever went into making a motorcycle. “Think Splinter will start training me on the sword this winter?” “Nope,” Raphael said. She jerked, eyes going wide. “What do you know that I don’t?” Her lips pulled down into a tight scowl. “You don’t got the muscle mass.” He took a long swallow of beer, finished the bottle, and set it down behind him, fetching another one. Without looking at Raphael, Leo casually reached out a hand and yanked hard on his bandana tails. Raph’s head jerked. He spat out a, “Fuck, Leo!” and glared at his older brother. Leo shook his head warningly. “That’s between her and Father. Keep your beak out of it.” Mike said, “I think you could -” Leo interrupted. “You, too, Mikey. Father’s the Master. He decides who trains with what.” “Thank you,” April said. She brought her bottle to her lips and was surprised to find it empty. “These go too fast.” Donatello handed her another of his beers. Raph watched the exchange silently. He could be such a judgy bastard sometimes, even if he didn’t come out and say anything. April quite deliberately opened and drank half the bottle while he watched. She wasn’t some baby anymore, after all. Mike rolled his eyes at all the unnecessary drama. “I’m staying out of it,” he said, pointedly looking at Leo, “but I think you can tell Dad what you want to learn. You don’t know he’ll say ‘no’ unless you try, right?” “Mmm.” April shrugged. “I guess. Just, if we’re gonna be stuck inside all winter, I want to learn something interesting. I hate going into lock-down.” She banged her heels against the side of the building. “I feel like a rabbit hiding in a hole in the ground.” Raph reached behind Don to grab her pigtail, but he only gave a little yank, not a rough pull. “Yeah.” His version of rough sympathy. April rubbed her head, thinking about the long, dark months ahead. The collective mood was somber. The run had been fun, and the chase, but that couldn’t dispel the dark cloud hanging over the five of them. Mike snorted and unhooked a small cellular device from the back of his belt, muttering, “Screw it,” under his breath. He poked at the touch screen. Music came out, blasting at first. He had to quickly lower the volume while the others winced. “Hang on, hang on.” The quality was a little tinny, but it was perfectly danceable. Stevie Nicks’ hypnotic voice belted out the grainy beginings of April’s favorite song

Rhiannon rings like a bell through the night And wouldn’t you love to love her?

He set the phone on the edge of the ledge, climbing onto the roof proper and tugging on April’s pigtails lightly. “C’mon, Kitten. I don’t wanna waste the last long night out, y’know?” April grinned and gave Mike a playful shove. “Knock it off.” “No, really!” Mike looked over April’s shoulder and wagged his brow ridges. “Leo, tell April she has to dance with me!” Leo sipped his beer without looking at either of the little ones. “April, go dance with Mike.” His lips turned up at the corners. Rolling her eyes, April hopped over the ledge to join Mike. It wasn’t exactly a dancing song, but it was her favorite, and Michelangelo was as inclined to indulge her as Leo or Raph. Mike wrapped his right arm around her waist, taking her hand and giving her a quick spin before pulling her closer and taking the lead. Leo, Raph, and Donnie swiveled around to watch the two of them finding the rhythm.

She is like a cat in the dark And then she is the darkness She rules her life like a fine skylark And when the sky is starless…

April ignored the first icy breath of the wind against her cheeks and shut her eyes, pretending the whole world was watching, like she had a spotlight on her, and instead of tight-fitting, black-and-grey leggings and wrap-around shirt, she wore a long, flowing dress and fresh flowers in her hair.

Rhiannon...

The background singers repeated, and then were abruptly cut off by a high-pitched voice suddenly crooning, Ohhhh This is a story ‘bout a guy named Al, and he lived in the sewer with his hamster pal, and all of them were startled out of whatever reverie they were all in. Mike dropped April’s hand and rushed for the phone, picking it up just as the jingle died. His thumbs flew as he texted madly. Leo turned to Donnie. “Did you check in?” he asked a little anxiously. Donnie shook his head. “You were supposed to!” “I thought you were! You told him you would!” “I said we would! We, as in ‘any one of us!’” Between them, Raph looked disgusted. “You two’re hopeless.” Mike finished typing out his text and listened for the beep. “He says make sure we’re home on time.” “That’s a given,” Don said. “Anything else?” Leo asked. The phone beeped again. “Um. He wants a selfie of us,” Mike said. Don squished close to Raph on one side, Leo on the other. April climbed into Don’s lap and ducked her head a little so she wasn’t blocking either Raph or Donnie’s faces. Mike crouched between Raph and Leo and held his phone up sideways, preparing to take a picture. “Everybody smile!” He paused for a moment, then said, “Raph, c’mon, smile.” “I am smiling,” said Raphael. He did not smile. “Damn it, Raph, just smile!” Leo said, poking him in the side. In retaliation, Raph parted his lips in an epic grimace, displaying teeth in shark-like proportions. Mike snapped the picture and sent it before Leo could protest. “Damn it, Raph!” “That was a smile! I smiled!” The two of them went back and forth for a minute when the phone beeped again. Michelangel read the response, then groaned loudly, grabbing their attention. “Eh?” “Wha-?” Mike rubbed his eyes, a headache apparently setting in. He handed the phone to Leo, who read it, shut his eyes, and blew a loud sigh out his nose, before passing the phone over to Raph. Raph took the phone, read it, and screamed, “Sonovabitch!” Donnie snatched the phone away while Raphael advanced on his younger brother. He held it out for April to read it with him. The message was short and simple. “Next time, make sure the beer bottles are not in frame.” Her stomach sinking, she scrolled the text screen up. There, indeed, was the photograph, shot at an angle to get everyone in frame, two half-empty sixers included by Mike’s feet. “You couldn’t pay attention for two seconds?” Raph hollered at Mike. Mike rolled his eyes, but his mouth pulled down guiltily at the corners. “Gezuz, Mike!” “You guys didn’t move! You just squished in! Why weren’t you paying attention?” Leo said, “Maybe we should pack it in.” He looked regretfully at the untouched beer bottles. “Yeah,” April said, “head home early and avoid being beheaded at dawn. He can kill us immediately.” And then a flash of light. Everyone blinked, caught off-guard. “Was that lightning?” Mike asked. “That was not lightning,” Leo said. All heads turned to April. As baffled as they were, she pointed both hands at her right hip, where her camera remained undisturbed. Meaning, if it wasn’t her camera flash going off… A second flash alerted the group to the direction of the camera. They turned and looked. Two buildings down, there was a mild commotion. Of the camera man, all they could make out at this distance was a hunched figure that looked like it was wearing a mask. It stood up straight when they looked at it, cocked its head, and then apparently figured out they realized it was there, because it turned on its heels and took off at top speed, jumping from one roof to the next, more clumsily than they, but surprisingly fast. “Oh,” said Leo. “Shhhhhhhhit!”

#tmnt fanfiction #tmnt fanfic #tmnt leonardo #tmnt raphael #tmnt michelangelo #tmnt april #tmnt donatello #tmnt splinter #tmnt

1 note · View note

rosecorcoranwrites · 5 years

Text

Video Games as Textual, Audiovisual, Spatial Storytelling

Video games are worth your while and are a unique form of storytelling. Games combine the best aspects of books, movies, and comics, while offering one other element, which we’ll get to later. First, let’s talk about games’ use of textual, audiovisual, and spatial storytelling.

Text and Subtext

Like a book, many games use text to tell their story. Older games rarely had voice acting, instead having each character’s words written or typed out on the screen. Games that now have voice acting still usually reserve it for cutscenes and use text for the majority of encounters in the game. This is somewhat equivalent to a comic’s use of speech balloons.

Some games, however, use text in a way unique from comics or books, and that is by using it in the descriptions of creatures and items. Okami is but one example of this; each time you fight an enemy, a description of it is added to your bestiary. These descriptions reveal new information that the player wouldn’t know simply from fighting each creature: that’s not just a flying fish, but the soul of a drowned woman; that electric mirror was struck by lightning, became a tsukumogami, and holds some of the theatrical feelings of it’s former owner; that scarecrow monster is the physical embodiment of loneliness felt in wintery lands. Although these descriptions don’t affect the main storyline, they add to the player's understanding of the world of the game. Similar encyclopedic items are found in other games, such as Pokemon’s Pokédex or Breath of the Wild's Sheikah Slate camera.

Certain games rely more heavily, if not entirely, on such descriptions to tell their story. Dark Souls is a hands-off game that gives players only the barest minimum information: in order to light the First Flame and stop everyone from going undead, ring two bells, fight four guys, get their souls and dump them into the Flame. That’s it. Not a lot to go on, and if that were it, I can’t see Darks Souls ever having become as popular as it is (especially considering how punishingly difficult it is). But beneath the surface lies a trail of breadcrumbs to follow; in the descriptions of each article of clothing, piece of armor, or weapon lie an intricate story and world building. If the player takes the time to pay attention to what is said, what items look like, and how they are described and then connects the dots, they are rewarded with a totally fleshed out story. Before I watched my brother play Dark Souls (It’s way too hard for me to play myself), I thought I hated dark fantasy, but Dark Souls sold me on it, and it did that with its subtle yet complex storytelling technique.

Art Style and Sound Effects

Games utilize visuals and sound in a way similar to movies, in that they present their story with specific camera angles and blocking (in cutscenes, at least) and use recurring theme music and sound effects. Games do, however, tend to be more stylized than movies. In terms of visuals, this was originally due to technological limitations; that is, graphics had to be simple because arcade machines and game cartridges didn’t have the capacity to handle more complicated data. Nowadays, the visual style of a game is a deliberate choice on the part of the developers.

As an aside, more realistic or better graphics do not necessarily equate to a better art style, in that “real” is not actually a style. There’s nothing wrong with games that choose realism, but I personally prefer those that present something more intentional: the painted scroll look of Okami, whose story is based on folklore; the lanky griminess of Dark Souls, which has themes of death and a world passing away; or the neon, middle-school-skater aesthetic of Splatoon, a paint-ball/skatepark simulator. Choosing a particular style and color scheme for a game can affect the way the player feels about it. Should they be scared, or amped up? Should it seem serious, or goofy and silly? Should the game feel artificial or realistic? Maybe it should be even more real than real, as in the detailed sci-fi sets of Halo and Destiny? These are things that good game developers ask and answer in the form of visual storytelling.

As far as the use of sound, the most stylized aspect of it is non-diegetic sound effects and the use of theme music. For non-diegetic sounds, I mean sounds that are meant to alert the player to something, but that are not part of the world of the game: the sound in the Metal Gear games that happens when someone notices Snake sneaking around, the beeping in Zelda games, and so on. Though such sounds function as alerts to the players, but I wouldn’t necessarily call them part of storytelling.

Music, on the other hand, absolutely serves the story. Games use recurring musical themes for specific characters and situations. Ace Attorney, for example, uses the “Turnabout Sisters” theme for Mia and Maya, while other themes specify which phase of a trial you're in: cross-examination, a dangerous situation or new revelation, or the final confrontation with the guilty party. Many game series have music that span all games such as the Halo Theme, The Legend of Zelda Theme, and Zelda’s Lullaby. When these play, not only does the player get a sense of the import of whatever’s happening in that particular scene, but also feels connected to something larger, something that spans decades (in the real world) or even centuries (in the story setting). Music like this creates cohesion and immersion, and is a huge part of the emotional impact of games.

Two- and Three-Dimensional Space

While comics use two-dimensional space, in the form of panels and pages, games can use two- or use three-dimensional space. Side-scrollers (those games that feature the characters in profile, moving more or less left and right), top-down games (where the players views all action as if they were seeing it from above) and other such games generally use space either to simply let the character more from one location to another (whether that is from one event to another, to different random encounters or battle scenes, or even just the beginning of the level to its end), or as a way to introduce puzzles.

While oftentimes games include puzzles to make the games more challenging, certain games incorporate them into the story. Ghost Trick’s gameplay consists of building Rube Goldberg machines in order to save people from being killed, but that's because the main character is a ghost who can only possess and manipulate objects. A three-dimensional version of this is Portal, where the premise of the game is that you find yourself in a rather shady laboratory that is running tests using a gun that can shoot portals, allowing you to teleport around the test chambers. The gameplay involves strategy and puzzle-solving skills, and the in-game setting literally involves the same thing (incidentally, while Portal would be a fun puzzle game on it’s own, the audio from GlaDos, the AI who runs the test, is what makes that game an unforgettable classic!). While comics require that the artist use space to tell their story, games like Ghost Trick and Portal require the player to utilize and interact with the space in order to become a part of the world and advance the plot.

Since we’re talking about three-dimensional games, which obviously include puzzles and getting from point A to B, I’ll mention that games have the addition of a sense of distance. That is, you might be able to see a volcano on the horizon, or know on your map where the next town lies, but you actually have to take the time to journey there. Thus, many a game includes a quest element. You, the player, take a journey and spend time in the space—the world—of the game. Not only do many games require you to complete a quest, many allow you to go off the beaten path, in the form of side quests, exploration, and choices.

But this post is getting long, and I have a lot to say regarding how that exploration and choice factors into what makes games truly unique. For now, I think I have shown that video games are worthwhile. Next time, dear readers—and gamers—I’ll share more thoughts on video games and why they are a totally unique form of storytelling.

4 notes · View notes

flynn-science · 5 years

Text

Ryan Reacts to Kingdom Hearts 3

Okay, so this is a mix of live reactions and post-world reactions. Lot of live reactions in the beginning and end, more sporadic in between. You can probably guess what I’m reacting to most of the time from the sequence of events.

Mmm dat orchestral Don’t Think Twice Needed a minute on the menu. Finally seeing it say KH3 was A Lot. HOLY FUCK WHAT A COOL INTRO The speed is the same as 0.2, with that sprint that kicks in. Will take some getting used to. The stained glass looks gorgeous though Nice touch of KH1 Sora’s jump animation changing to KH2 Sora’s Making choices again like the original. Vitality is probably health, Wisdom is probably magic, and Balance is, well, balanced. I’ll go balanced. (I’m on Proud, btw) Guardian, Warrior, Mystic. Same as the weapons in KH1. In that case, I’ll make the same choice I do there: Guardian. SORA HAS AN IDLE ANIMATION OH MY GOD BLOCK AND DODGE FROM THE START! Also this sky place is new for a Dive to the Heart (AND THOSE HOOOORNS, LISTEN TO THEM) The water looks great A four-hit combo instead of the usual three? Huh Scan from the start too Nice detail of Sora’s head angling towards the locked on target All this music sounds SO GOOD I’MMA NEED THIS SOUNDTRACK ONCE I’M DONE Ahhh that little soft version of Sora’s theme WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS KINGDOM HEARTS II.9 SHIT These Instagram-style posts on loading screens are adorable Oh damn, we get a LOT of abilities from the start. And this is on Proud! Dodge Roll, Air Slide, Aerial Dodge (formerly a Master Form ability), plus all the Flowmotion stuff Wow, THREE shortcut menus! 12 total! Wow, and a LOT more control over how allies use items. That can be very useful! Sweet, synthesis materials are back! Water is an interesting new spell. And being able to reorder the Magic menu is nice (though I only use shortcuts). Kinda glad the item art has stayed the same. Also hey, Wellspring is from BBS. And first AP Boost of course goes into Sora, as will they all. WOW USING THOSE IS WAY FASTER NOW Yooo that Underworld music with the Titans’ appearance Take a shot every time someone says “Sora, Donald, Goofy” Sora, Donald, Goofy counter: 1 HERCULES HAS JOINED THE PARTY “Team Effort: Always start battles with a team attack command.” Damn, what are those that this ability is FIFTY AP?! (Are team attacks that move we saw Sora and Goofy do in a trailer? The throw?) I like that tutorials are playable at any time Also I was worried Save Points might not return with that auto save message at the start ALSO THIS IS NIGHT OF FATE PLAYING IN THE COMBAT TUTORIAL Ooh, Panacea art is nice. (Panacea has only appeared as a command in games like BBS and re:coded, so it hasn’t had art before) *reads Ability Ring* Damn, if 10 AP is a SMALL boost, I can’t imagine how expensive abilities are gonna get (well, Herc does have that one 50 AP ability) Ultima Weapon returns, looks like Synthesis recipes are based more on collector’s goals than finding them. Looks like there’s 60 synthesis materials, sounds about right. Ooh, synthesis item rarities, types: soothing and pulsing are from BBS, writhing, betwixt, sinister are new. Looks like everything goes in Shards, Stones, and Gems. Ooh that’s a lot of Heartless. Hey when is Jiminy gonna show up? Gonna need to complete that Journal again. Oooh battle music has bits of the old Coliseum battle music. Sora, Donald, Goofy counter: 2 Environmental fire damage followed by Sora’s butt on fire limiting my actions. Neat. Okay, these have been live reactions so far, but I’m gonna stop doing that because it’s slowing my progress. “What the heck is Rage Form?” “OH. OH THAT’S A THING.” I keep seeing hidden Mickeys, I bet those are gonna be a thing with the camera once I get it. Also damn are they giving me a lot of ingredients for the cooking minigame I can’t play yet. So the biggest thing I’ve noticed about the new combat is that because they give you so many really powerful abilities (grand magic at higher levels, formchanges, attractions, team attacks) that are all basically free (are you hitting things with your keyblade or magic? Can you hit this specific enemy once? Can you wait for your teammate to give you a prompt?), the number of enemies in each fight seems to have SIGNIFICANTLY increased from previous entries. KH2’s level design this is NOT. Lots more nooks and crannies to search. Me approaching the gates of Olympus: “Is this Anor Londo?” Yay nostalgic Coliseum music! And oooh little environmental puzzles are back! Like from KH1! I forged Goofy a new shield! Aaaand playable Riku. I have no idea why they were so dodgy about the second playable character. This is only the third time Riku’s been playable. Anyway, gotta fight the Demon Tower again. Damn, Riku is WAY stronger than Sora right now. Wish I could have read his abilities (and moved shortcuts). Nice emulation of the death screen. Also hot damn, is that Repliku talking??? I guess Riku’s “other me” really could be Repliku. Awwwww yeah, Lea’s getting new clothes too! YEAH JIMINY! “Dream Heartbinder” So Heartbinders must be this game’s summon gems, and this one lets me use Dream Eaters. SORA’S THEME IS THE RINGTONE!!! Ienzo’s here, with a bit of OrgXIII music from CoM. HOLY SHIT THE GUMMI SHIP IS THE BEST IT’S EVER BEEN UPGRADEABLE KEYBLADES?! I guess that makes sense, considering they all have different formchanges. They want all of them to stay viable throughout the game. OH MY GOD, DEMON TIDE HAS SO MUCH HEALTH I guess the bosses have to with all these powerful attacks I have Does Hayner have a new voice? Olette sounds different too. Checked the wiki, all three have different actors. Pence sounds closest to his original though. So judging by the Dusks and Snipers, no more enemy-specific reaction commands. The Ducklings sell Gummi blocks now?? Huh. Whoa wait, the road out of Twilight Town’s Tram Common leads back to the world map? Can I NOT go to the clock tower in this game?? Man, Twilight Town felt really small. Hope the remaining worlds don’t, though they’ve certainly seemed significantly larger than the two I’ve been to so far. Also, totally called the Lucky Emblems, though I’m gonna keep calling them hidden Mickeys. I think Tou Story is my favorite world. Granted, I’ve only been to three, but still. The Gigas are super fun, Woody and Buzz look amazing, and I can’t stop whistling/humming along! AHHH CREEPY DOLL Lol, the Verum Nox poster even has a Square Enix logo. First death, the Gigas battle in the video game. GOD DAMN! WOODY dropping an amazing “The Reason You Suck” speech to Xehanort! “Unless you’re in the ~real~ Organization too? Good for you!” Damn, Sora! Also love hearing that music from Chain of Memories every so often Glad flowmotion’s jump isn’t as level-breaking as it was in DDD. Same goes for the attacks. Wow, so Rapunzel permanently leaves the party. Was wondering they’d just give her a different moveset like with Mulan/“Ping”. This is the first time a character permanently leaves your party. And of course, Marluxia. Who I didn’t think could or would return. And Vexen who rejoined willingly, which is, man. Not something I’d have done. Both Norted of course. And was Saïx missing his scar? Maybe he’s just Isa now. I could tell it was Unversed, and Flood specifically, in that first Monstropolis cutscene just from the sound of them spawning. That’s how I know I’ve put a lot of hours into this series. Monstropolis feels the most linear so far. Arendelle’s ice labyrinth is awesome, the level design gives me some light Dark Souls vibes. I like how there’s zero explanation for Sora, Donald, and Goofy being able to breathe underwater in The Caribbean. And by that I mean I would have liked even just one line to explain it. The ship combat isn’t as good as AC3’s and AC4’s, but it’s still pretty good for a one-world mechanic! The ship is a LOT more responsive than the AC ones. And damn, is this world open. Okay, San Fransokyo is gonna be a pain to search for chests and Mickeys. PRESS TRIANGLE TO SORA IS THE BEST REACTION COMMAND I HAVE EVER SEEN Jiminy telling people about summaries on the gummiphone is Square Enix saying “IF YOU DIDN’T PLAY THE GAMES, READ THE FUCKING SUMMARIES” Giant battle at the start of Keyblade Graveyard was cool, but hurt the frames, especially on the fake shadows. And just as I was getting hyped at the possibility of having Riku and Aqua as party members. Oh hey, just realized Riku’s keyblade has a Mickey keychain now too. “And so, as legend foretold, darkness prevailed and light expired...” “Your hearts will be torn from your bodies” “To move through time, you must leave your body behind.” THE FINAL WORLD?! Wait, Sora’s been here MULTIPLE times?? Okay, so the star talking about the person who’d miss them, whose heart has been taken by another’s? Strelitzia? Talking about Lauriam? Love and hate? Going back for fight after fight? Hm. Cloud or Sephiroth maybe? (Longshot, but it doesn’t sound like a khux character, or anyone else) Identical pair? There’s no twins in this series. Like walking alongside a mirror... maybe it’s not an literal identical nature? Same clothes, same food, maybe Xion?? “Nothing left to teach you”? Damn, that’s not much to go on. Maybe Eraqus’ and Xehanort’s master?? “Just friends... stepped back” Skuld maybe? “I’m gone... they’ve added another member” Could that be Xion? Wait, no, how could Xion be here, she’s still within Sora’s heart. Are these actual named characters we’ve met before? Or not? The one who was defeated and supposed to fade... Repliku?? But he’s with Riku now... Someone searching for their Papa??? Most of the characters in this series don’t have parents at all, so my only guess here is Pinocchio?? No way a Disney character ends up here though. I don’t think all of these are characters we know. Someone holding onto a sliver of memory, and a servant?? Yeah, these could all just have been ordinary people. Naminé?! What happened to Kairi??? Okay, so the darkness split them. KAIRI IS KEEPING SORA FROM FADING AWAY OH MY HEART “GO TO HER” SHE SAYS "That's not the official thank-you!" Lol Damn, this area is fuckin huge, why is it so huge?? A PORTAL?! A DDD PORTAL HERE?! Well this place is rad. I better see that weird Darkside at some point here OOOOOHHHHHHHHHHH OH IT ROTATES THAT'S FUCKIN SICK God damn, this game's got some of the best level design of the series! Is... is this OUR Chirithy? “He doesn’t remember the past”? Although I guess it could be Marluxia/Luxord/Demyx’s too. Or Ven’s. My bet is that it’s Ven’s. DID SORA JUST TIME JUMP BACK A FEW MINUTES??? Aaaand did nothing different. So now we’re world-hopping like we did back in End of the World. OH WHAT IS THIS DIVING INTO STATIONS TO PICK A WORLD?!?! YOOOOOOOO Just Kairi and Lea are left. Haven’t hit San Fransokyo or Twilight Town yet. Guess they must be in those two. Last one is San Fransokyo. Lea must be here. Kairi’s probably gonna be the last. “Traversing hearts to reach worlds” That must be what I’ve been doing here. Not jumping between worlds, jumping between HEARTS. Was Sora just considering telling her he loves her? He should have. Wait, am I back in time? This already happened... OH SHIT! THE LINGERING WILL IS HERE! EPHEMER! OHHHHHHH HO HO WOW! OHHHHHH FUCK! YOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Congrats to all the lucky people who got their names in the game! PRESS TRIANGLE TO UNION X GIANT SHADOW MASTER XEHANORT IS TERRIFYING I like how Axel is holding his keyblade by the guard instead of the handle OH SHIT MASTER YEN SID! YOOOOOO! Okay KH3, I want to fight thirteen bosses now, you hear me? DAMN that Ancient Light finisher on Starlight’s Second Form is STRONG YOOOOOOO THREE BOSSES AT ONCE??? (I really hope this is as tough as they were before, but seeing as Xemnas was harder in 1 than in 2, doubt it) Went to help Mickey first, so I’m taking on Marluxia, Luxord, and Larxene Oh come ooooon, I barely got to fight them! Luxord’s out, 12 to go OH SHIT THE OTHER TWO Larxene’s done, 11 to go. With XI conveniently up next. Marluxia’s defeated once again. 10 left. Hey whatever happened with that comment of their ancient keyblade legacy...? Xigbar... might be gone? So maybe 9 left. Dark Repliku is defeated, and light Repliku gave himself up so the Replica could be used for Namine. That’s sweet. 8 left. YO actual time of day change! I like the door switches. Nice having little environmental things like this. Hm, Kairi and Lea one way, Aqua and Ven the other. Well that’s no contest, gotta go back up my girl Kairi! Mysterious new hooded figure??? Oh. Oh no. I think it’s Xion. D: Yeah. It’s her. *Xion stops Xemnas “YEYEYEYEYEYEYEYEYEYYE YEEEEEAAAAAAHHHHH” *Roxas shows up “OOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHH FUCK” THE WHOLE GANG’S HERE YOOOOOOOOOOO Shout outs to Ienzo, Ansem, Vexen, and Demyx for helping Roxas return! WHY THE FUCK IS KAIRI GETTING KIDNAPPED A-FUCKING-GAIN, NOMURA WHY WAS SHE EVEN TRAINING, FUCK Okay, so Kairi and Lea/Axel are out, BUT ROXAS AND XION ARE IN OH HOLY SHIT, SORA SQUAD FORM UP!!!! I HAD TO STOP AND LISTEN TO THE MUSIC FOR A MINUTE It’s all three of their themes! (Plus a bit of Another Side) THIS IS THE HYPEST SHIT Aww, Saix’s death mirrors Xion’s. AND THE SEA-SALT TRIO REUNITE! Saix is out, 7 left. Xion turned, 6 left. Vanitas fades again, 5 left. I know some people had hoped for a heel-face turn, but I knew it wasn’t likely. WHAT TERRA’S HEART WAS IN ANSEM’S GUARDIAN THIS WHOLE TIME. THAT THEORY WAS RIGHT! Terra-nort’s back to just Terra. 4 left. Just wanna say, I love that it’s Sora who gets to turn the tides of all these fights. Who’s dull and ordinary NOW, huh?? AND he’s still going! Oh boy, time for a triple Xehanort fight! UMMM NINE KEYS (but why are they No Name and not the X-blade?) OOOOOOOHHHHHHH THIS BLEND OF ANSEM, XEMNAS, AND YOUNG XEHANORT'S THEMES Guardando Nel Buio, Darkness of the Unknown, and Impeto l’Oscurito 1V3 ME, I'LL TAKE YOU ALL ON Young Xehanort returns to his time. 3 left. I like how we all agree to pause the fight whenever someone falls. Xemnas fades. 2 left. Ansem as well. Just 1 darkness left. WHAT THE FUCK, KAIRI NOOOOOOOOOOOO AH SHIT HE’S GOT THE X-BLADE AH SHIT HE’S GOT KINGDOM HEARTS Oh hey, everyone’s caught up. Donald: “You can’t do anything without us, Sora.” Me: “Donald, shut the FUCK UP.” Xion: “Kairi will be alright.” Me: “OH THANK GOD” Scala ad Caelum. Stairway to Heaven. It looks like a proto-Land of Departure. But the music is Case of the Foretellers from X Back Cover. Could this place and Land of Departure once have been Daybreak Town? Damn, Dark Kingdom Hearts is over the ENTIRE Keyblade Graveyard now Spooky twelve figures are spooky Why do they have the Organization’s weapons?! I love this return of Destati though They all had a shared HP bar? Scala ad Caelum’s world icon is kinda shaped like a heart Oh wow, full Inception Weird hearing Rage Awakened without the Lingering Will here “There is one sky, one destiny!” “DEEEESTAAAATI!” Ohhhhh shit Shout out to the heart in the floor design though And the figure in the middle has 7 points Classic Xehanort pose from the KH2 secret ending Aaaaand now he’s got ANOTHER Kingdom Hearts! GREAT WHOA HE FORCED ME INTO RAGE FORM DESTATI IN FULL FORCE WHAT A RAD FINISHING BLOW! The canon death screen, the heartbeat, Donald and Goofy calling from my controller! ONE BIG BLAST! So Xehanort sees himself as some sort of white knight? A templar to guide the masses with an iron fist? Yeah, no dice dude. Sora’s right, not your choice to make, and destiny is beyond your control. So Eraqus really WAS with Terra all this time. MARK HAMILL IS BACK!!! Xehanort just hands it over, huh? Wow, closure between Eraqus and his apprentices after all these years Eraqus and Xehanort mimic Sora and Riku from KH2, and pass on. Go get her, Sora. HIKARI ORCHESTRAL Ven met his Chirithy! Lea’s finally wearing his new outfit. Aw, Xion looks good too! And Isa’s here! Naminé is back too! And I bet the Namine/Riku shippers are happy! AWWW They’re all hanging out at Destiny Islands! Look at them all being friends!!! THERE THEY ARE! WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT

Epilogue: XIGBAR HAS BEEN LUXU THIS WHOLE TIME?! WHAT WHAAAAAAAAAAAT?! You know while watching Back Cover I was like “Man, the Master of Masters really talks like Xigbar for some reason.” BOY DOES THAT MAKE SENSE NOW So what was it about Ava’s role with the Dandelions that led to her absence here? AND WHAT’S IN THE GODDAMN BOX Is it a Book of Prophecies? Something else entirely? In any case, I doubt Maleficent and Pete would be able to get it away from them all. Secret Ending, “Yozora”: Ooh, “Another Side, Another Story” vibes right off the bat. SORA! And... Riku? Well this is just Japan. Wait, the guy from Verum Rex? And a black coat, who’s probably Xigbar/Luxu or the Master of Masters? After watching, a friend informed me that Riku is in Verum Rex. And Sora’s dead. Cause he’s in TWEWY’s version of Shibuya, since that one building said “104.” But which one is the black coat in? It could be the Master of Masters dead, in Sora’s world. Or Xigbar/Luxu, still watching things.

I have no idea what comes next. But I am excited.

#kingdom hearts 3 #kh3 #kh3 spoilers #kh spoilers

8 notes · View notes