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toasted-valentine · 11 days

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Still Got Adamandi Details I’m Not Normal About, So Here They Are

A lot of these are going to make me sound like a massive fucking nerd lol

•Beatrix slapping Vincent’s hand away when he tries to grab the archive records from the table.

•Beatrix clearly not wanting to be there during the first two interviews, then just relaxing and teasing Vincent during their interview with him since they’re friends. The switch from strict professionalism to being a bit more playful is a good way of establishing that the two already know each other and are comfortable with one another, especially the opening line about Beatrix not knowing Vincent’s middle name. It’s just a simple thing, but gets the point across well.

•All of Portia’s reaction, highlights include the sweet to surprised one during the beginning of A Little More in Love and her “I’m not mad, just disappointed” look during Ghost Writer.

•The little flourish Beatrix does with the pencil during The One Who Pulls The Strings, I’m curious how many times the actor accidentally stabbed themself before they got that down lol

•This is something I notice gets done in both TAOPP and Adamandi, with the same actor too. The actor for Ambrose and Rowan changes the pitch of their voice and how high the notes they hit are depending on how vulnerable the character is being. Higher is more vulnerable and expressive, lower is more closed off. Extra fucked up points for the fact Ambrose’s notes get higher after he fucking dies.

•I’m going to be a massive music nerd for a minute, my music analysis skills are a bit rusty, so forgive me if I’m a bit wrong. The motif I like to call the “Beatrix Does A Bad Thing” motif. It plays whenever Beatrix does something wrong, it’s the skeleton of their three major songs. Starts with The One Who Pulls The Strings, gets a bit more complicated in the reprise, and is at full force in Ghost Writer. It’s like a building monster, first the bones, then the muscle, then the creature itself.

•The actors for The Saints and the other Phaethon nominees are the same people, so Vincent does in fact cut The Saints up lmao

•The glowing under Ambrose’s shirt goes from a visual of his muscles hardening to a show of his slit throat, which is evil and I love it.

•Beatrix covers their eyes and looks away when Quincy stabs Vincent, I can’t tell if it’s the fact they can’t stomach the murder, or if they fucking got blood on their face and that’s why they’re staring at their hand in horror when Portia comes on stage. It’s also a good transition motion to guide the audience’s eyes from the killing blow to them. They couldn’t actually use blood on stage, stage blood has to be minimal since it’s sticky, stains costumes, and is difficult to get rid of for continuity, so reaction shots like that get the point across well.

•Beatrix has a ring on in The Other Side of Failure, might be just a show that time has passed, or it could be that it’s to help them remember stuff but they’re no longer being tugged around on strings by the admin. Or crackpot theory, it’s one of Portia’s rings from earlier in the show, but I can’t tell if it’s the same one since none of the shots I’ve dug through are close enough to get details.

•The little hand motions Beatrix does in the show are mimicking a puppeteer pulling strings.

•The admins red coloration call back to Beatrix’s red string, it’s a visual callback to the fact she’s being strung along by them and manipulated. The Admin have it on their cloak collars too, keeping the collar in their designs.

•In Read All About It, one of the chorus actors fucks up their newspaper and forgets to close it when they’re supposed to with the others. It’s just something that makes me chuckle, cause you can see how fucking stressed they are about it, and that they close it when they pass behind Beatrix’s actor cause they didn’t think the camera would catch it lol

•When The Admin lift their arms in Read All About It Beatrix does the same, and when the music cuts out they’re super confused on what just happened and are staring at the newspapers contemplating what they just did.

•I just realized that the marks on Ambrose’s face in the second act weren’t meant to guide where his chisel was, but was a guide for where Vincent had to cut.

•Ambrose looks flattered when Quincy says their professor led a moment of silence, even in death he has his head up his own ass.

•Ambrose is projecting so fucking hard on Vincent during Sound Body Sound Mind, and it makes me laugh.

•There is a continuity error in Oh, Ms. Reporter! The drawers had red strings in them in the previous scene and during the wide shots, but they aren’t there during the close ups.

•This is just a story note, but it’s clever that they had Portia get a better position in The Daily. It serves a duel purpose in the narrative, it emphasizes the fact Rosswell has implicit bias and that she picks the person whose more white passing instead of the more skilled Latina with seniority, and gives an explanation to how they managed to get the article about Vincent and The Admin published. Beatrix wouldn’t have been able to on her own, but Portia’s position allows them greater access to The Daily’s resources.

•In Me, Myself, and I, I think the actor for Ambrose accidentally made their microphone crackle and you can actually hear a small pop in the recording, dude performed so hard the equipment had a small stroke. You can only hear it in the album tho.

•The is just a music thing, Vincent slowing down for his part to explain why being loved is great in Me, Myself, and I serves the music in giving a brief breath of air so when it comes back it feels like it’s going faster and more frantic. It’s a really common technique to make something feel like it’s going faster when it’s keeping a consistent, just had a short slow down.

•Ambrose grabs Vincent’s face during Student Body, it’s creepy, thanks I hate it. The actor for Ambrose did not have to put that much effort into being unsettling, but they did, and they made Ambrose as likable as he is in the show.

•Everything the actor for Ambrose does when the character dies, they’re jerking around like a corpse that’s gone stiff from decomposing. Give them a medal for managing to be the creepiest mf in that show, and keep them ten feet away from me because it kind of freaks me out.

•The little transition in Oh, Ms. Reporter of the chorus members spelling out Ambrose’s name but Vincent cutting it off to continue his song. It’s a creative lyrical moment and hints to the fact that Vincent cut Ambrose’s life short.

•A couple of the people who Vincent mention’s in Oh, Ms. Reporter are actual some of the people Beatrix was interviewing in the first act, you can hear them saying their names when they’re all yelling over each other.

•The little pieces of advice the main four give Portia during A Word to the Wise are foreshadowing. Ambrose trying to be perfect gets him killed, Quincy’s ambition and academic perfectionism causes them to snap, Vincent deciding to murder people instead of an actual project since there isn’t a use of trying anything else, Beatrix being a bystander and waiting to “do something great” gets people killed.

•Whoever wrote the line “What use is a candle if both ends aren’t burning?” is a menace to society and I want to give them all the money in my wallet, because Quincy burns both their hands later on, and that’s evil.

•The mic on Beatrix’s actor accidentally picks up them tapping the notebook too hard during The One Who Pulled the String, just something I find funky.

•Apollo was the god of young men, being eternally youthful, but was also the god of plagues and disease. Ambrose wants to be the white ideal of an eternally twinkish gay trans guy, but ends up falling victim to Vincent, who compares his actions to a disease killing someone.

•The music used to introduce Beatrix into Me, Myself, and I is the same as the beginning of Read All About It, they’re doubting their actions, and their mind is racing like the music.

•Vincent tries fucking squaring up with the other Ardess students during A Word to The Wise when Quincy is about to jump, dude just is ready to throw hands, it’s great.

•Ambrose tries to defend Vincent from the others, but turns around and betrays him after.

•I like the little spin that Roswell does to Beatrix, she’s getting them confused so she can take advantage.

•Vincent and Quincy aren’t singing during the “And two or three students like you” part, but Beatrix is because she’s internalized the racism of Ardess and is trying to fit in.

•Beatrix just is not having a good time during the interviews, and you can see them get annoyed when the nominees try sucking up to them.

•Fun little thing, they get around the fact Beatrix’s actor can’t spin around like the others when the names are read out during A Word to The Wise by having them stagger and open their arms. It’s a little thing, but gets around that nicely.

•When everyone starts stomping to the beat at the end of A Word to the Wise you can see Portia hesitate to join in, start slowly, then join in fully in the end and begin to sing with the others.

•The poses everyone strike at the end of A Word to the Wise actually have a lot of personality in them, Ambrose is being a dramatic dude bro, Quincy is stiff and nervous, Vincent stands out by having their hand to their chest, Portia is hopeful, and Beatrix just continues to smoke and seem disinterested.

•The “I don’t know, do you have any ideas?” guy is the funniest mf in the room.

•The A papers during Perfect at School form a halo. Again, the people who made this are evil and I love that for them.

•The umbrellas in Where Can I Run harken back to a funeral environment, which is nice foreshadowing that death follows Vincent everywhere for most of the show.

•Vincent wants to go home back to China, wants to go back to his family, to the environment he knows, but he’s stuck at Ardess. Without that degree he’s got nothing, he’d be a complete failure, so they’re stuck at a school they hate surrounded by people who hate them with only two people that like being around them.

•I want to find whoever decided to have Quincy accidentally smack Vincent in the face when he goes to kiss them during the first act as foreshadowing to the fact Quincy later harms Vincent, buy them dinner, and then make them pay for my therapy bills.

•I want to know what god the actor for Beatrix had to kill in order to gender so fucking hard. What kind of sacrilegious actions did they have to commit to win that?

•The newspaper that Beatrix’s actor has in one hand during The One Who Pulls the Strings is a random Princeton one and you can see the university’s name during some of the close ups lol

•During A Little More in Love you can see Ambrose’s actor getting ready for their cue under the bookshelf in a few shots.

•I find it funny that Portia hugs Quincy after A Little More in Love while Beatrix just looks offended and brushes Vincent off. Motherfucking Beatrix, blue hair and pronouns, Campbell tried denying the homosexuality allegations and is failing.

•This maybe speculation, but I think the reason Ambrose’s chest is highlighted in red is because he’s trying to work out enough to make his chest smaller. My friend actually does this, a lot of trans masc gym rats do.

•Vincent “Oh, Ms. Reporter!” Lin denies stalking people.

•Vincent keeps writing in their notebook during Sound Body Sound Mind, you can see them pull it out when they go to hide under the ladders.

•Vincent only calls Ambrose by his name instead of Bassford after killing him.

•I like Ambrose getting annoyed at Preston and Adrian not doing the kick line right lol

•I don’t know what Mandela affect bullshit is going on, but I always thought Ambrose kept the pages from Vincent’s notebook, and I have no clue where I got that idea from.

•I like that Portia starts wit “Hi hi!” when she’s nervous, and that she’s so frazzled trying to interview Beatrix that she can’t find a pencil and Beatrix has to give theirs to her. It’s just a cute little bit of character building. Beatrix actually pulls the pencil out from behind her ear, which is also a nice little bit of characterization.

•As soon as the interview starts Beatrix starts wrapping one of their strings around their fingers to try and not forget what they’re lying about. If you pay attention to what the actor is doing with their hands the entire show you can catch a few little fun character building bits like that.

•In the wide shots of the Beatrix and Portia interview scene you can see Beatrix start to stress smoke when Portia compliments them and says they should’ve gotten nominated. Mf feels the weight of her lies on her back real fast lol

•Beatrix sits like a bisexual, and I find that funny.

•Vincent almost manages to talk Ambrose down, but when Quincy gets brought up he almost starts crying and gets violently angry. So close there bud, so close.

•When Beatrix’s actor starts doing their funky little hand motions in Me, Myself, and I it’s actually on cue with the music, reference to Beatrix pulling the strings. They also move their hands on cue to Ambrose and Quincy singing “me, myself, and I” and on cue for when the singing stops. Nice touch.

•The person who Vincent takes the place of during Me, Myself, and I is who saw him fleeing the gym. Just noticed it, that’s such a cool thing. Was super confused on why a chorus member was there, then I remembered the line in Read All About It.

•Portia is still editing articles in the background while Beatrix is having a crisis of morality in the foreground lol

•The actor for Vincent pulls off the ribbon trick to symbolize Ambrose’s death by grabbing the ribbon from the bag while moving towards the back of the stage, hiding their hand behind their back while they continue to sing, and pulling the ribbon out with his free hand when time comes. The song is so grand in scale that no one in the audience would be being attention to his hands.

•The flour cigarette trick is actually refilled a couple times when time allows it, you can see the actor for Beatrix puffing fake smoke out with it a few times, but can only do it once in a scene due to the limits of the trick.

•It is hilarious how disinterest Beatrix sounds when reading Ambrose’s memorial, they know it’s not true and are bored by it lol

•One of The Saint’s actors, Saint Jude specifically, has the remote for the candles in their hand and are the one controlling it during Litany of Martyrs. You can see them accidentally reveal it during one of the close up and quickly try to hide it in their sleeve.

•Saint Jude’s actor doesn’t actually tie the bandage onto Quincy’s hand right during Litany of Martyrs so the actor for Quincy just uses their thumbs to keep it in place.

•When Beatrix gets their strings caught in the typewriter, the mise en scene us is used to emphasize how small The Prize Section is by having Portia sit on the glorified nightstand Beatrix is using as a desk instead of an actual chair.

•Vincent puts his feet up on the “desk” when he breaks into The Prize Section office, which is apparently a habit of theirs since they also do it when Beatrix is interviewing them.

•Adrian and Preston’s actors aren’t on stage as their characters until Oh, Ms. Reporter! because they’re also chorus members in Read All About it, so needed time to get changed and get their makeup done.

•The Saints are mimicking hellfire during I Hate and I Love, creepy as fuck, but one hell of a visual. They’re still there when Quincy is talking to Portia too, like goddamn, leave them alone you weird religious bongos.

•You can see Beatrix’s actor struggling to keep their glasses on their face the entire show, and it is the funniest thing to me, because I have similar glasses and I know how much of a pain in the ass they are to keep on when trying to move around quick.

•Of course English major Beatrix would correct Portia’s grammar when she’s trying to tell them that Vincent is the killer.

•I find it funny you can see Beatrix mouth “fuck” when Portia goes to raid The Prize Section for information after suggesting they stop Vincent.

•Alright, I think the way they spliced together the audio and video for the YouTube version is with two dress rehearsals and the two nights the show was put on combine. The dress rehearsals are the close ups, but you can tell which one of them came first based on the costume for Beatrix. The earlier one has gloves with the tags still on and the red string in the second act is shorter, plus they used to have a flower pin on the jacket but lost it for the actual show. The audio is from the actual performances from show night asides from a few bits where they needed to cut the audience’s reaction out, but the music on the album is a mix of all of them and just the best takes they had put together. It’s why the mic cracking on Ambrose’s actor can be heard on the album but not on the YouTube version, in the YouTube version the audio tech didn’t turn Vincent’s actor’s mic on in time during his part, so they had to use the cracked audio for the album.

•The Admin are casually homophobic and racist towards Quincy and Vincent during their meeting, actively try to divide them, and I want to kick all of them in the skull. You can see just how manipulative they are, calling Quincy and Vincent’s relationship a friendship, openly insulting Vincent, hinting that Quincy is being held back, they’re so fucking bitchy and I want them to get slapped with a tuna.

•You can see the different mentalities Quincy and Vincent have with how they react to the admin, Quincy is acceptance, and Vincent would definitely kill them all if possible. I love the “bullshit” line so much.

•I love and hate how hurt Vincent gets when Quincy accuses them of not caring. The entire Where Can I Run (Reprise) scene is so good, Quincy shoving Vincent off, the ghosts dragging Vincent’s jacket off them, both their parts being haunted by their respective demons with The Saints and the ghosts of The Marmorius.

•Explanation of the staging trick used to make it look like Beatrix and Portia’s actors are kissing. It’s a really old trick, but a useful one. The actors are both about the same height so it’s possible, they quickly press their foreheads together, turn, and the lights dim. They aren’t actually kissing, but the quick motion of it, the fact you can’t see their faces, and the dark lighting hides it. It’s also why Quincy and Vincent’s actors couldn’t do that, Vincent’s actor stands solidly at chest height with Quincy’s actor, and it would look too awkward to have them kiss like that. Quincy’s actor would have to bend down, and that would look really weird.

•Vincent calling his murders the “smoothest” murders just make me think of him being a smooth criminal lmfao

•The prop for Quincy’s notebook during I Hate and I Love and Vincent’s notebook for The Other Side of Failure are the same notebook, just a basic molskine I think.

•The boots for Beatrix’s costume don’t have laces because those are doc martens, and doc marten laces are a pain in the fucking ass to keep tied, so they just are using zip ups lol

#adamandi #vincent aurelius lin #beatrix valeria campbell #quincy cynthius martin #ambrose wellington bassford #portia elizabeth harper

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