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recentanimenews · 3 years

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FEATURE: Who We Think Should Win Employee of the Month from Heaven's Design Team

Earth is full of strange and interesting creatures, and in the world of Heaven's Design Team, those creatures are invented by a team of imaginative individuals hired directly by God. Throughout the course of the show, God brings many requests to this team, ranging from the specific to the abstract to the outright bizarre. Each designer takes a crack at these assignments in their own unique way, but today I want to find out who the most successful designer in Heaven's Design Team is. Let's determine the Heaven’s Design Team Employee of the Month by counting the number of approved designs each character came up with over the course of the show!

First, some rules:

1) Each design counts for 1 point.

2) Because design is often a collaborative effort, everyone who contributes to a design gets a point here. Very often in the show (and in real life), someone will come up with a good idea that has a fatal flaw they didn't consider and someone else will help by coming up with a solution to that problem. So many designs just wouldn't exist without people putting their heads together, so it only seems fair to credit everyone involved.

3) I won't be counting flat-out rejected designs against anyone unless they break a tie.

4) There are 11 instances where either no one, in particular, was credited, or essentially everyone was credited as they were doing a full collaboration. No one is getting points for any of them. For the record, though, they are the two Hell designs, seven whale and dolphin designs in Episode 2, the elephant in Episode 3, and the camel in Episode 13.

With that out of the way, let's get to the results.

Honorable Mentions: Kenta, Mars, Random Insect Department Guy (1 Approved Design each)

Kenta is the curious grandson of Saturn, known for forcing the designers to stretch their imaginations with his ideas and the Insect Department is filled with unnamed characters who do research on insects — both minor characters, but each managed to design something that got approved along the way. Mars is a mainstay in the series, as the reliable engineer who tests the designs her coworkers come up with to see if they would actually hold up on Earth. While not a designer herself, she still secured a point along the way.

6th Place: Saturn (4 Approved Designs)

Saturn is an old man whose claim to fame is designing the horse. While every designer has a "masterpiece" that they are known for, Saturn's love of the horse goes above and beyond. He is constantly trying to recapture the beauty and elegance of his most beloved creation; this single-minded dedication proves to be a detriment to his design efforts, as horses are very particular creatures, and trying to apply their traits to other things tends to have horrible side effects. He's even had one design outright rejected. It's no wonder, then, that he ends up at the bottom of the list, with only a few designs having found their way to Earth, but he is proud of all of them.

5th Place: Jupiter (9 Approved Designs)

As expected from the designer of the cow, Jupiter's main priority in design is how good they taste. He is so curious about the cuisine possibilities of the animals that he will even go out of his way to taste test ones designed by his friends — and at one point accidentally corrupts the design of one of Neptune's otters by getting it addicted to seafood when its teeth were not properly set up to handle eating that kind of food long-term. While many are surely thankful for Jupiter's gluttony, his single-mindedness leaves him near the bottom of the ranks.

4th Place: Venus (9 Approved Designs)

Always looking her best, Venus is a designer with a singular focus like Jupiter, except her priority is beauty. Her masterpiece is the bird, an elegant yet versatile design that allows for lots of variation without losing its functionality. Unfortunately, not all beautiful concepts are practical, which is often Venus' roadblock. She ends up tied with Jupiter in approvals but places one slot above him as she was only rejected once in the series, while Jupiter was rejected twice.

3rd Place: Mercury (10 Approved Designs)

Mercury is a man of simple means, dressing and eating plainly. His approach to design is similar, finding elegant solutions to problems. This can be seen in the simple but effective design of his masterpiece, the snake. This problem-solving mindset allows him to rack up many points by solving major issues with prototypes from other designers — while everyone else has one or two assists, Mercury pulls ahead with a massive four, proving himself to be the best team player in the group. He proves that while it's nice to get fancy, sometimes the best solution is to just solve the problem right in front of you.

2nd Place: Pluto (11 Approved Designs)

Looks can be deceiving, as the smallest but deadliest member of the group Pluto proves with her frightening designs. Much like Venus' focus on beauty, Pluto's obsession is with all things cute, but her sense of cute is a bit warped. Her designs are often outwardly grotesque, with a predilection toward the outright dangerous. It's no wonder that her most notorious design is the poisonous frog. Luckily for Pluto, the joy she finds in the morbid sparks inspiration over and over again. Anything is fair game for her, up to and including cannibalism. This leads her to be the second most prolific designer in the show — even if her designs are often misunderstood by her peers, her sheer output is hard to deny.

Employee of the Month: Neptune (13 Approved Designs)

The biggest, kindest member of the design team is also the most successful. Neptune's designs just can't be matched. Neptune's masterpiece, the sea otter, is a perfect encapsulation of his design sensibilities: cute, soft, lovable creatures that can creatively adapt to their surroundings to ensure their survival. His preference toward cuddly designs comes with an appropriate desire to protect them, and he often focuses on how to keep them safe. This sometimes leads to some outlandish designs — in order to keep Jupiter's snakes from eating up all his squirrels, he designed ones that fight them back! But his willingness to keep revising his ideas until they work pays off, averaging one approved design per episode. Keep it up, Neptune!

Those are the results of tabulating all the finished animals in Heaven's Designs Team. Beyond just proving Neptune's prowess as a designer, this goes to show there is great value in being curious and expanding your horizons when stretching your creative muscles. While none of the designers truly sacrificed their preferences, the most successful ones were willing to look outside their comfort zones for inspiration, and just like the animals they design, are adaptable in tough situations. Hopefully, you can find inspiration in that yourself as you encounter things you don't expect, in design and in life!

Did the results surprise you? Whose designs do you like the most? Let us know in the comments below!

David Lynn can be found obsessing over Fate/Grand Order on Twitter @navycherub.

Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: David Lynn

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

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ryqoshay · 3 years

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Tri-Arame: Sitting Sasuke

Primary Pairing Trio: YuuAyuSetsu Words: ~3k Rating: G Time Frame: Late in the first trimester of their 2nd year Story Arc: Stand Alone

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Author’s Note: Ever since myon included Sasuke in her SetsuAyu doujin, I knew I needed to include Ayumu’s pet in my fic as well. And I had to borrow a certain idea from the doujin as well, because it fit so well with headcanons I already had for the girls.

I’ll link the doujin as well as another source of inspiration in my followup post so tumblr doesn’t drop this one from searches; the tag is barren enough as it is...

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Setsuna hummed happily to herself as she entered the clubroom and turned toward her hidden stash of manga with the intent of getting a chapter or two read before the others arrived. The next book was being released soon in one of her favorite series, so she wanted to reread the previous book to remind herself where everything had left off. Of course, the series was so good that any of the books warranted a reread on their own merit as well.

However, something on the other side of the room caught Setsuna’s eye. Strange, she didn’t remember an aquarium there before. Her manga quickly forgotten, she made her way over. Oh, it wasn’t an aquarium as it wasn’t filled with water, rather it just had a bowl of it in the middle. What was the term used for… terrarium, that was it. So, what critter had one of her friends decided to bring to school?

Setsuna hunched down to get a better view into the various structures in which an animal could hide within the terrarium. At first, she didn’t see anything, so she shifted her position to check through one of the side panels. And that was when she finally spotted it, a purple snake, coiled up inside something that resembled a pink rabbit.

“It’s so~ cu~te!” Setsuna couldn’t help saying aloud as she stared, transfixed at the animal.

Though she’d never considered herself a fan of snakes, she wasn’t exactly afraid of them either. She’d seen larger snakes at the zoo and smaller ones while out hiking but had always been indifferent toward them. This time, however, instead of a neutral reaction, she found herself wanting to hold this one and see it up close. As such, Setsuna had to resist the urge to pull off the top of the terrarium and reach in. It would be best to ask permission from the owner, she told herself. After all, she didn’t know if it was venomous or if it would be afraid of strangers or whatever and the last thing she wanted to do was to scare or hurt the cute little thing.

“Setsuna-chan?”

Setsuna jumped and let out a startled cry as she whirled to face the door, twisting awkwardly from her position and throwing herself off balance. “Yuu-san? Ayumu-san?” She uttered, catching herself on the bookshelf.

“You found him…” Ayumu’s expression was apologetic.

“Eh?” Setsuna was confused. How was she expected to not notice such a sizable addition to the clubroom?

“Sorry for not asking permission first.”

Oh. Yeah, it did actually violate one of the school’s policies. But Setsuna hadn’t even considered that earlier as she had been so distracted by the adorableness. And of course, he belonged to Ayumu, the pink rabbit enclosure should have been enough of a giveaway.

“It’s fine. I’ll let it slide this time.” Setsuna assured.

Relief took over Ayumu’s posture. “Thank you.”

“So, to what do we owe the pleasure of his visit?”

“Construction.” Yuu said.

“Hm?”

“That storm last week did some damage to the exterior of our apartment complex.” Yuu explained further. “So now they’re fixing it.”

“And the noise has been stressing out Sasuke to the point where he’s not eating or even wanting to be held or do anything other than hide.” Ayumu continued.

“So, poor Sasuke-san is scared?” Setsuna turned her attention back to the terrarium. “Awwww…”

“Under different circumstances, I’d give him to Yuu-chan for a little while, but she’s right next door, so that wouldn’t be much of an escape.”

“That makes sense.”

“Plus, I’ve temporarily banned Yuu-chan from feeding Sasuke because she…”

“Ayumu~!” Yuu suddenly whined. “That’s supposed to be a secret! And besides, it’s not my fault he keeps looking at me with those adorable, pleading eyes. How could I not give him a second serving?” She blinked and covered her mouth as she realized she had just been the one to divulge the details of the supposed secret.

Both Setsuna and Ayumu laughed a little at the cute behavior.

“Anyway,” Ayumu continued “I was hoping I could either leave him here for a little while or maybe someone from the club could…”

“I’ll take him!” Setsuna offered before realizing she was interrupting. “Sorry, I mean…”

This time, it was Yuu who chuckled at the reaction.

“It’s alright.” Ayumu dismissed with a shake of her head and a smile. “But are you sure? Do you want to check with your parents first?”

“It will be fine.”

“Have you ever taken care of a snake before?”

“No, but surly I can look up what I need online, right?”

“I’ll just write up a list of things that Sasuke is used to, like feeding times and temperatures and light and such.”

“That works too.” Setsuna nodded. “Say, uhm… you said he didn’t like being held…”

“Oh, no, he usually likes it when I hold and play with him, but he’s just been so stressed by the noise…”

“I see, do you think maybe I could…” Setsuna’s gaze drifted back toward the terrarium.

“Well, he’s pretty shy around strangers.” Ayumu admitted. “It took him a number of visits to get used to Yuu-chan. You’re welcome to try, of course, but don’t be too disappointed if he doesn’t respond.”

Setsuna couldn’t help smiling as she lifted the hinged portion of the lid. “Hey, Sasuke-san.” She cooed as she reached her hand toward the pink structure.

A curious purple head poked out at the mention of his name and a forked tongue flicked out to taste the scent of the new person invading his home. Setsuna paused a few centimeters away, remembering Ayumu saying he might be shy and hoping Sasuke would be the one to close the distance. Thankfully, her instincts were right and a moment later he was coiling around her hand and wrist. She giggled at the strange sensation of scales sliding over her skin.

“Wow…” Yuu breathed in awe.

“I think he likes you, Setsuna-chan.” Ayumu said happily.

“He really is adorable…” Setsuna swooned as she pulled her arm out of the tank and moved it closer so she could better inspect the creature.

As if in response to the praise, Sasuke slithered farther up the raven-haired girl’s arm and held his head up close to her face.

“Uhm, forgive me for asking, Ayumu-san,” Setsuna started as she reached her free hand up to pat the snake gently on the head “but what made you choose a snake for a pet? He’s adorable, but I would have thought you would go with something…” she paused to decide the best word “fluffier? Like a rabbit or something.”

“It was all Yuu-chan’s fault.” Ayumu responded with a smile that indicated a wealth of warm memories were welling up within her.

Of course. That made sense.

“Rabbits are definitely one of my favorite animals,” the redhead continued “and Yuu-chan has known that since not long after we met. So, for my birthday one year, she saved up and tried to buy a stuffed rabbit she knew I would like.”

“But it turned out to be a bit too expensive.” Yuu added with a slightly embarrassed chuckle. “So as a last resort, I found a plush I knew I could get from a crane machine, a purple snake. I was worried she wouldn’t like it, but…”

“I’m sure Ayumu-san would like any gift from Yuu-san.” Setsuna thought aloud.

“You’re right there, Setsuna-chan.” Ayumu confirmed.

“Working hard to obtain a gift but ending up having to get something else that is still loved by the recipient because the thoughtfulness of the giver is more important to them is a classic trope.” Setsuna explained. “Some of my favorite episodes and chapters have been centered around such a plot device.”

Both Yuu and Ayumu laughed lightly.

“So that made you fall in love with snakes and that’s why you got Sasuke-san?” Setsuna pondered.

Ayumu shook her head. “No, that was Yuu-chan again. She spotted him at a pet store and set up a plan for me to get him.”

“Like with the plush from years before, he was more expensive than I could afford.” Yuu admitted. “But I had the store hold him for a few days and between Ayumu and I, and with some help from her parents, we were able to get him.”

“Mmm, that sounds nice.” Setsuna said with a smile, despite a small pang of jealousy. But who could blame her? Who wouldn’t want to be with someone so obviously devoted to them? “Hehe.” She suddenly laughed as a completely different idea came to her. “If I put him over my shoulders, instead of a feather boa, I’d be wearing an actual boa.”

“He’s a python actually.” Ayumu corrected. “A ball python. But he does like riding on my shoulders at home.”

“Want to ride my shoulders?” Setsuna asked of the snake on her arm as if he might actually understand. “I’d wear him through practice if I wasn’t afraid of him falling.” She continued as she coaxed Sasuke into position.

“He’s pretty good at holding on as I walk around.” Ayumu said. “But the sudden movements of our dances might scare him.”

“Mmm.” Setsuna nodded in agreement. “But still, wouldn’t it be fun to design a costume around him?”

“Maybe write a song about him?” Yuu chimed in.

“Yeah, something like a ballad with slow, graceful movements.” She hummed a random tune and made gentle wave motions with her arms, carefully monitoring Sasuke’s response. “Though I suppose if he’s shy, he may not like the crowd too much…”

“Or the flashing lights and effects.” Ayumu added.

“Well if that’s a concern, why not a small, private show?” Yuu suggested. “Like just the three of us?”

“That might work better.” Ayumu seemed to be warming to the idea.

“Sounds like fun.” Setsuna said with an excited smile.

“Oh, and if we do want to share it with others,” Yuu shared in the excitement “we could always film it and make it a PV to post online.”

“That’s an amazing idea, Yuu-san! We should try that someday.”

“Semp… AAAIII!” Kasumi’s call for her senior turned into a scream.

“Kasumi-san?!” Shizuku exclaimed as her fellow first-year spun and barreled into her as though she had forgotten she was there.

“S-s-snake!” The ash blonde cried in a panic, trying to push past the brunette to escape the clubroom they had just entered.

“Kasumi-san, wait!” Shizuku called before giving chase to her fellow first-year.

“Uhm…” Setsuna pondered as she moved back toward the terrarium. “Do we have anything here that we could use to cover this thing until I can bring it home after practice?”

“I think Kanata-san has a blanket or two…” Yuu thought aloud.

“We probably shouldn’t borrow them without her permission.” Ayumu dismissed. “What if she is scared of snakes as well and it ends up bothering her to have her blankets used in such a way?”

“Perhaps we can leave him in the student counsel office for the time being?” Setsuna offered.

“That sounds good.” Ayumu nodded.

“Back in you go, Sasuke-san.” Setsuna guided the snake down her arm and into his terrarium. “Everything will be alright. One short little move now and another big one in a bit, but then you’ll be in a nice quite apartment. Sound like a plan?”

For his part, Sasuke slithered into his rabbit enclosure and coiled up. However, after a moment, he poked his head out and stared at Setsuna for a few seconds before pulling back in.

“Looks like he agrees.” Ayumu commented before lifting the tank to take it to the student counsel office.

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Everything was not alright.

Setsuna sighed as she stared at the snake in the terrarium she had just finished setting up in her room.

She really should have checked with her parents first. Or perhaps she should have made sure she knew everything about caring for a snake before she jumped at the opportunity to do so. While she maintained confidence that she was able to do everything on Ayumu’s list, it took quite a bit of convincing before her parents let her store the frozen mice in their freezer.

And what the heck was up with this one instruction on the list? Was it normal for snake owners to sing to their pets to encourage them to eat? Or was it simply something special Ayumu did for Sasuke?

Well, Setsuna did recall reading at some point about some study performed with music as an aid in plant growth. And it was true that music had a power that transcended the need to understand the language of the lyrics. Babies and many mammals responded positively to music. So why not reptiles? Suddenly, the practice no longer seemed strange to Setsuna.

She got up and quickly made her way to the bathroom to retrieve the mouse she had left thawing in the sink. Ayumu had mentioned that since Sasuke was well past his scheduled feeding, that Setsuna should make an attempt as soon as possible.

“Ready to eat, Sasuke-san?” Setsuna asked, pulling the mouse out of its bag with a large pair of tweezers and opening the lid of the terrarium. “Here comes a cute little mouse.” She moved the food as though to pretend it was alive.

When Sasuke did not seem to repond, Setsuna leaned down to check. Sure enough, he hadn’t budged at all. His eyes were open, so he was undoubtedly aware of Setsuna and the presence of food, but he remained still.

Well, music it is then. Setsuna stood straight and took a breath.

“Hashiridashita! Omoi wa tsuyoku suru yo.” Setsuna began, keeping her volume low so as not to disturb her parents. However, she almost forgot the next line when Sasuke’s head popped out of his enclosure. “Nayandara kimi no te o nigirou.” The snake seemed to be ignoring the mouse and stared directly up at her. As there was no music accompanying her, Setsuna skipped a few beats ahead to keep the song going. “Daiji na kimochi maru de uragiru you ni sugoshita…”

Setsuna continued through the first verse, watching Sasuke for any further response beyond occasionally flicking out his tongue. Upon reaching the chorus, she began moving the mouse again. This time, it caught Sasuke’s attention. Just inside the enclosure, Setsuna could see scales sliding past each other as the snake shifted its position. Then, right as she reached the end of the chorus, Sasuke struck.

Startled at the swift movement, Setsuna almost dropped the tweezers. Her mental record scratched for second before she recovered and continued into the second verse. She then withdrew the tweezers and gently closed the lid before watching with fascination as Sasuke began the process of slowly swallowing the mouse.

Only a bulge behind Sasuke’s head remained as evidence of his feeding by the time Setsuna finished her song. Smiling, she retrieved her phone and snapped a quick picture to send to Ayumu.

“Good boy, Sasuke-san.” Setsuna cooed a she hit Send.

UeharaAyumu: He ate!

UeharaAyumu: Oh thank goodness

UeharaAyumu: I was so worried

UeharaAyumu: Thank you so much Setsuna-chan!

ScarletStorm: You are welcome, Ayumu-san

ScarletStorm: But no thanks are truly necessary.

ScarletStorm: I merely followed your well-written instructions.

UeharaAyumu: But I do need to thank you

UeharaAyumu: For providing Sasuke with an environment where he felt comfortable

UeharaAyumu: He trusts you

UeharaAyumu: And that is enough to be thankful for

ScarletStorm: Very well then.

ScarletStorm: On a related note, your instructions say that I should not hold him until he is finished digesting?

UeharaAyumu: That’s right

UeharaAyumu: I think most of us might need a rest after eating basically a week’s worth of food in one meal

ScarletStorm: That makes sense

Though it made sense, Setsuna found it a little disappointing. While her primary reason for agreeing to watch Sasuke was to help a friend in need, she also had a selfish reason of wanting to experience what it might be like to have a pet, even if just for a week or so. And part of having a pet was petting it and holding it and the like, right?

UeharaAyumu: But don’t worry, Setsuna-chan

UeharaAyumu: He should be good to go in a day or two, depending on a few factors

UeharaAyumu: But given the circumstances, I would bet on the lower side of that range

UeharaAyumu: Just check in on him when you get home from practice tomorrow

UeharaAyumu: He trusts you so if he’s ready, he will come to you if you put your hand near him like you did earlier today

Setsuna chuckled. It almost seemed like Ayumu had read her mind though the phone.

ScarletStorm: Alright, I will try that tomorrow.

ScarletStorm: Thank you, Ayumu-san.

UeharaAyumu: I’m the one who should be thanking you

UeharaAyumu: For agreeing to take care of Sasuke

UeharaAyumu: And for getting him to eat

ScarletStorm: You already thanked me for that.

ScarletStorm: And the pleasure is mine.

ScarletStorm: Anyway, I need to get back to my studies.

ScarletStorm: But I wanted to give you an update on Sasuke-san first.

UeharaAyumu: It was very much appreciated

UeharaAyumu: Have a good night, Setsuna-chan

UeharaAyumu: See you tomorrow!

ScarletStorm: Yes, you as well. See you tomorrow.

Setsuna set down her phone and turned her attention back to the terrarium, only to find Sasuke staring up at her. Oh dear… was this what Yuu meant when she meant by adorable, pleading eyes? She suddenly empathized with the plight the twin-tailed girl faced. The temptation to go thaw out another mouse was ris… No. She shook her head.

“I’m sorry, Sasuke-san.” Setsuna apologized. “Ayumu-san said you can only have one at a time. She was very clear on that. But… she didn’t limit how many songs I could sing to you… Would you like me to sing something else?”

Sasuke lifted his head and flicked his tongue as if to respond that he was interested.

“Alright.” Setsuna said with a smile. “How about an old favorite of mine from one of the best groups in school idol history?”

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Author’s Note Continued in Followup Post

#YuuAyuSetsu #Takasaki Yuu #Yuki Setsuna #Uehara Ayumu #Tri-Arame #Love Live Nijigasaki #fanfic

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hollenka99 · 4 years

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Now That I’ve Played SoulScape...

This will be a spoiler review so please don't read this if you plan on playing the game yourself. Will naturally also contain spoilers for SeptiScape too so the same goes for that game as well.

General Comments

(This was originally all bulletpointed but I decided it was easier to read as paragraphs instead)

It's so good to see the -Scape (Scapeverse?) boys again. It's been over 2 years so their face design looks slightly different but that's expected when it comes to continual development as an artist. My favourite new looks are Chase, Marvin and Nega.

Also voice acting???? Hell yeah! Marvin’s expressions give me the kind of vibe that they were inspired by cat memes and his voice acting seems perfect for him.

I was just wandering around the woods, exploring the area, when Angus makes a pun involving loss. It took me by surprise and I spent a full 10 seconds being super confused by this seemingly random comment before noticing the trees. Then I just wanted to flip my laptop. I can't remember if it was Dev Ritchy or Dev Blake who claimed responsibility but I want you to know I was glaring at my screen for a minute because of what you did. Have been lowkey wondering whether Lucky Luciano was there since this happened last night.

Straight up melted when Bing saw Angus in his true appearance and they started calling each other sunflower and angel etc. Their reunion during the good end and any/all interactions they have in this game send me every time.

I spent so long just wandering around Attitude City. Mostly because I was too dumb to realise the cliffs were to the side and you could get the bus to the skating rink. At least I got to explore the place thoroughly.

Loved seeing some characters from SPG making cameos. I saw Mack’s sprite and went “Surely not... oh my god it is!”. The dialogue with Billy where he makes references to chapter 1 of GITS were brilliant.

The only issue I had was in the church because for some reason it was super laggy and quite difficult to do anything in that room. But that it is just one small area that slightly dampened the experience. Everything else in the game ran smoothly.

Chad just showing up and being like "Well... how about I let someone of your exact description have all this weed of the dankest degree for free." was iconic.

Fuck Stacy. That's all I'm going to say. But it does go to show that men aren't the only ones who are capable of being abusers and thank you for showing that.

I had to take a moment when Jackie told his younger self that they were braver and stronger than they gave themselves credit for.

I am so glad Marvin has a friend like Beau who had his back while he was being taken advantage of. The world needs more Beaus.

I loved the art on Beau's cards. If it’s mentioned in the credits, sorry because I think I may have missed it but kudos to whoever designed those cards.

I could watch that empty room all day. I'm sure there might have been an easter egg if you chose to stay in the room multiple times but I didn't pursue it. Didn't even see Angus show up because I was anticipating a mild jumpscare from [OMITTED] so my hands were covering my face.

Not entirely sure what the cause of Emma's death is. When Henrik said he blamed himself, I originally thought he might have made the fatal mistake of letting a baby sleep in his bed. But I doubt Henrik would do something that dangerous, especially since he has a background in medicine. It's more likely to be an unfortunate case of cot death/SIDS, which just makes it sadder because sometimes that stuff can simply Happen and nobody is to blame, least of all the new father who simply left his daughter alone for a short while to get some sleep.

Bing's boss battle was so tough, I swear. He kept doing that attack where multiple people suffered a fair bit of damage. I lost to him once because I did not stock up properly. Classic case of not having enough BB when shops were available then not having access to shops when I did have enough BB to buy a bunch of white choc cookies and Jameson. 2nd time lucky though.

I found burn damage is your best friend with bosses. Now I will forever swear by this method whenever I replay this game.

I managed it on my first try but man, the fight between Anti and Angus was rough too. I couldn't get Angus' code manipulation trick to work with Anti so no burns to help me this time. Plus, the guy kept freezing time and healing himself like wow, who'd be mean enough to replenish their HP mid-fight. Anyway, it ended up being a case of them continually hitting each other with occasional misses and me feeding Angus cookies whenever his HP grew yellow.

When it came to the scene where Anti gets his souls back, I honestly thought Angus would give up his chance of feeling whole with nothing to fall back on because of the card Beau showed us where someone falls off a tower. I'm really glad Angus got to have a good ending too. Both he and Anti deserve to be whole and happy.

BAD END SEAN BAD END SEAN BAD END SEAN

No but seriously, I think it's really cool that both of the SeptiScape endings are canon. I have no clue who the shadow person could be but I am hyped to eventually find out.

I can't wait for EndScape to be released and we have literally only gotten SoulScape in the past 24 hours.

Angus and Anti

Thought these two deserved their own section since the game largely revolves around them and their conflict of wanting to exist but needing Posi and Nega to do so.

That first bit with Anti's horror world creeped me the hell out. It was after 10pm, maybe around 11 even. My room was completely dark except for my screen. I was so tense the whole time I walked around, incredibly wary throughout that section. I was living when Anti confronted Angus once you caught up to him. And when Angus went to find him in the woods near the campsite? My mind kept yelling 'ThisisbadThisisbadThisisbad' as we approached.

After that first bit, I looked forward to any Anti section because I love his character. He was completely justified in his motivations. I mean, Angus admits to stealing Nega as soon as he returns to his house with Sean after their fight in the first game. If anything, I'm surprised it takes him as long as it does for him to realise [OMITTED] is the true Anti.

I really liked the truth that it hadn't just been Anti that Angus affected when he grabbed Nega. There was also Henry and that universe's Bing, among others presumably. They all deserved a happy ending and it looks like they're getting it after all these years. I think it was very sweet that they threw Anti a birthday party as an epilogue.

Oh also, seeing the dynamic between Angus, Posi and Nega was really cool. They've obviously grown close to each other in the year that's passed since the events of SeptiScape. The souls admitting they felt returning to Anti was the right thing to do was the perfect kind of gut punch. You know deep down that they're right and Anti does indeed need them but at the same time you're going "Wait no, you can't leave Angus!"

All in all, I think the whole story arc concerning Anti and Angus was really well written. You want to dislike Anti because he's the antagonist to Angus' protagonist, an aggressive one at that. But you can't help siding with both of them.

Either way, I already said it this morning when I'd just finished the game about 15 minutes before but well done. You did yet another great job with this one. SeptiScape is one of my favourite games in general, I can tell I'll be replaying SoulScape several times like I have with the first game and I have no doubt I'll be here in 2-3 years gushing about EndScape just like I am right now.

Once again, thank you for creating these games. Now go grab a slice of cake, watch your favourite movie, put an album you love on blast... whatever it is that you do to treat yourself. You've all earned it.

#soulscape #power of friends games #soulscape spoilers #septiscape spoilers #probably missed a bunch of stuff but this is mostly what came to my head this morning once I finished #I am moving up north on Tuesday but I swear I will try write a couple fics this week #I was at church today and in Many Thoughts Head Full mode because of the game

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overly-critical-gamers · 7 years

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Dreaming Spires

Wow. Okay, so I’m a fan of games with interesting and unique themes. Ideally, when a designer explores uncharted thematic territory, they’ll also be inspired to come up with intriguing mechanics to match and hopefully those mechanics make sense with the attached theme.

But sometimes you get a game like Dreaming Spires.

Here, players will be building colleges that make up the University of Oxford. They do this by placing tiles with buildings and partial icons on them and then attracting scholars to their college that match the icons when completed. The scholars provide you with unique abilities that aid you in your quest to bring prestige to your university.

On your turn, you get four actions to choose from and you get four action points to spend. You can draw a coin from the money bag: coins randomly have a value from one to three. You can purchase and place a new building in your campus: some buildings are free (typically the ones with whole icons on them cost more) and buildings are color-coded and must be placed next to a building with a matching color (though partial icons don’t have to match up). You can admit a scholar if you have the necessary completed icons to attract them to your college. You can use a scholar for his special ability OR use the scholar to boost your reputation in a subject or two.

The game is divided up into four eras (unused scholars leave at the end of each era, presumably because they died) and there are events that come up twice per era. An event can trigger one of four types of bidding, which is frankly something I don’t think I’ve seen in any other game, and the reward you get for winning the bid depends on the card. You could have a standard auction where players just go around the table bidding until all but one player passes. You could have a silent auction where everyone puts money in a closed fist and reveals simultaneously (in that case you could have a tie and everyone who ties gets the reward). You could have a Dutch auction where the player who holds the Chancellor’s Mace (we’ll come back to that) starts counting down from 12 and all players (including the player doing the counting down) have an opportunity to state their claim to a bid when the countdown reaches whatever number they want to bid. You could have a “Contribution”, which is like the silent auction except all money bid will go to the supply regardless of who wins, 1st and 2nd place both get the reward, ties also get rewarded unless two players tie for first in which case there’s no 2nd place reward.

So what is the reward? In most cases, it’s reputation of some kind, which is tracked on a grid with cubes. This is a sort of area control system that you’ll use to score points at the end of each era. The grid expands to involve more opportunities for scoring as the game progresses (you only score grey boxes after the first era, then you’ll score grey and yellow ones at the end of the second, then you’ll also score red, then you’ll also score blue). The main concept behind the reputation scoring seems to be that you want to get your college involved in multiple subjects so that you’ll be in the running for more potential scoring.

I think the first big issue with this game is its unique theme. Everything about it just feels pretentious. I carried this around with me to multiple game nights trying to convince people to play it and nobody wanted to have anything to do with a game about “experiencing Oxford”. I get that not every game is going to fit every group, but this one in particular feels like it’s aiming at a niche audience.

Second issue is presentation. The game is overwhelmingly beige. All of the palette choices are subdued (except the player cubes and the benefit icons I suppose) and this only adds to the difficulty that comes with trying to get people excited about playing. The art on the tiles is not compelling and that’s a shame because I think it could be neat to have this bird’s eye view of a campus that you build up over multiple eras and it could be fulfilling to see what it grows into and compare it to other colleges at the table. Instead, the tiles’ art is very washed out in order to place an emphasis on the color-coded nature of the tiles and the partial icons that you need to match up. The scholar artwork is actually a strong point here - I guess I could see someone being excited about recruiting Tolkien or John Donne and seeing a picture of that individual and reading a little quote from them on the card. Also, and I get that this is nitpicky, but all of the cards have a dark spot on the back to the lower right of the big S. It’s an obvious blemish and somebody should have caught that when sending the files out to print.

Third issue is...gameplay. The things you’re doing aren’t all that complicated here, but the mechanisms used to achieve your goals are cumbersome if not just outright poorly planned. Let’s talk about one of the worst things: coins. Whenever you draw coins from the bag (even during set up), you get a random amount. This means that one player could start the game with $4 and another could start with $12. The player with $12 could by sheer luck draw only 3 value coins the whole game and the other player could draw only ones. Guess what? The guy who draws only ones is going to lose, not out of poor strategy, but just because money is random. That sucks. It’s just a bad system. The game wants you to keep your money secret and find ways to bluff others out I guess, but since you need money to either buy buildings or bid in all those auctions, if you always have less money than someone else, you will not do well against them.

The auctions...I’m fascinated by the implementation here actually. Most games would just say “you have an auction and the winner gets this thing”, but this game asks you to explain four different kinds of auctions to the players and cycle between them. I had never heard of a “Dutch Auction” before, but I think it’s a neat approach to bidding and I wouldn’t mind seeing more of that in other games. But the four different kinds of auctions all in one structure lead to confusion each time I brought this to the table.

And then there’s scoring. I’ll be honest in that I’m still not sure I did scoring right in any of my games. It’s more complicated than it needs to be and I’m also pretty sure it heavily benefits someone who takes an early lead because they get rewarded with free money AND they get points. Even if there’s some special nuance to the scoring mechanic that I didn’t pick up on, it really bogs down the flow of the game to stop after taking eight actions and consult a chart to see who has the most of each type of symbol in their campus at that time. And the matching of pieces of symbols on tiles to build reputation is another mechanism that just doesn’t make any sense thematically. Tolkien decided to come teach at your college because you have six gardens and two church towers? Even if you call the symbols by what the game refers to them as, it’s saying he’s attracted to your school because you have two units of status and two units of beauty. Huh? Wouldn’t it be better if he wanted to come teach at your prestigious university because you have the best literary department or something relevant to his background?

Most everything about this game is subpar and clunky. I think there’s a chance that a group of English majors might get together and get a kick out of seeing their favorite historical authors in the game and trying to build a school worthy of those lofty figures so they’ll come teach on their grounds. I did however find that usually nobody was particularly fascinated with those characters, potentially because the rest of the game was so awkward that it’s hard to be excited about much of anything involved here...except getting control of the Chancellor’s Mace, which is a literal tiny mace.

I really don’t think I can recommend this to anyone. Even if you come up with house rules that circumnavigate some of the glaring issues, the presentation is still going to be lackluster. I repeatedly had people get through the first era and refuse to continue and I think that speaks volumes whenever something like that happens with multiple groups.

3.5 out of 10.

- Sean

#thoughts #review #boardgames #Dreaming Spires #oxford #3.5

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gray-anxiety · 5 years

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No Sympathy Facts/ the chaos of my brain

I kept forgetting the damn name

Legit

Like “No… no wHAT????? Oh”

Aella is a name associated with storms and wind, so I gave her that name because I wanted someone who really did embody that

I kept wanting to spell Aella’s name allen smh

This book started when i finally got off my ass and convinced myself to do a mafia au. The entire plot was pulled out of my ass in a period of brainstorming that kept me up until 5:30 the next morning

I actually sketched out the apartment’s layout so I could see it better.

later I actually designed a messy version of what it’d somewhat be like in the sims

Karanese is actually a district in the Attack on Titan universe :)

Each chapter takes me like 2 hours to write simply because I play out each and every ending in my head and choose the best one I’d want to see in a story

Other times I legit just have a feeling like I absolutely know how a chapter plays out like Chapter 3’s murder fight scene. It just came to me and all I had to do was describe it like I had just watched a movie

Chapter one took a total of seven hours to write

The plot twists were created when I asked myself what cliche can I change?

(Except I kept a few just to make fun of it I.E. roommates and badboy x nerdy character because that shit is hilarious and can really show the dynamic of how different each character really is)

Chapter two bore me to death to be honest

An actual example of my brainstorming while writing down facts:

I have no idea what the fuck to do after chapter 3 help

I pretty much said fuck it to planning out a plot and just wung it

Where am I gonna place Hange and the others

What about Eren lol

OH SHIT I JUST HAD THE IDEA THAT HANGE AND AELLA WERE FRIENDS BEFORE AELLA WAS KICKED OUT AOUFHALIUEHFALIUEHF

THEY’D TOTALLY BE LESBIANS FOR EACH OTHER

How’d you come up with the name for No Sympathy?

hilarious answer, actually. I spent two damn hours laying on my bed googling “what’s your mafia nickname” to just messing around with broken languages on google translate until it just popped in my head. Pretty much I was like “oh shit that sounds lit and fearsome lets do it bois” and yeah

I’m actually making this list of fun facts while writing each chapter. I’m going to start working on chapter 4 tomorrow and hopefully get my shit together to make a somewhat good plot??

Lmao I lied I got really fucking lazy and wrote the chapter at 11 at night and published it at midnight

I wrote everything about no sympathy in one iCloud note and titled it “No sympathy; the complete chaos of making a book”

The true main character of No Sympathy is actually Levi since I feel like I understand him completely since I relate to him so much; making Levi the easiest character I’ve written about ever. Though, his true character (in my opinion) doesn’t necessarily shine through in the beginning chapters as Levi don’t get along with new people, but you can see him warm up to Aella by doing her homework, dragging her out of the party, etc.

I’ve realized I have a distinct writing pattern while writing No Sympathy: comma, semi-colon, double dash. (Chapters two and three really showcase it as I wrote those two back to back in the car)

Had I actually had the inspiration and the motivation to write this almost a year ago, I would’ve been writing about the mafia at 13, which is an absolute hilarious thought to think about when I look back to my previous fanfics. Then again, my dumbass 14-year-old self is just as clingy as my dumbass 13-year-old self lmaoo

I gave Aella the same birth day (not year lmao) as mine (September 10) so she’d be 17 during the first month of school and 18 for the rest of the book

Going off of that fact, Levi is exactly 1 year and 8 months older than Aella (I kept his original birthday)

My cat demanded that I gave him cuddles and attention so I had to stop writing for one entire day because he wanted cuddles

Normally my cat just lays on my chest while I write b u t n o he wanted cuddles

If Levi never came into the picture Aella would probably date Hanji (for all of those fellow LGBTQIA+ readers and readers that really love Hanji)

While writing chapter 1 I listened to Ghost by Halsey on repeat and I think if you read while playing the exact song it somewhat shows in the pace I set for readers.

The term ‘block class’ is actually derived from what my own high school (even though I’m not even fully considered a freshman yet jfc) uses when referring to a 90 minute class

The book Technically begins on a Saturday with Levi — the actual power duo meet that Monday (because unlike dumbass schools in real life, their first day of school was on a Monday instead of the Friday before.) on their first day. That Tuesday was chapter 4, Wednesday being chapter 5, Thursday being chapter 6 (we skip Friday because it doesn’t fucking matter in the story lmao), and Saturday being the day of the party.

Writing an x reader but without the reader was really fucking hard, honestly. I couldn’t just randomly say ‘Levi looked over at the H/C girl working on her homework across from him’ as it’d just be weird, so I thought of the next best thing and never described Aella — making her free for interpretation of her looks.

I was going to have Aella have a name reveal like ‘my real name is Y/N…’ but then I was like “No what? Fuck it. Levi already knew from the beginning after looking at her documents.”

No Sympathy was actually going to be an original story, but Levi’s character fit so well I decided to make it a fanfic.

I actually wanted to stop writing after chapter 3 because I didn’t know what to do with the plot, but I asked my friend for help coming up with the plot using the paragraphs of ideas I had to make an actual plot. So, I can successfully say I owe it to her for helping and the one sentence that kept me going in my head: “I want to make a story I’m proud of.” So I fucked up my (nonexistent, really lmao) sleeping and eating schedules and started working on this book everyday even when I didn’t post a chapter that day.

Though, it’s not really specified in the early chapters, Aella was bullied into being hated by the entire school — leaving her to be all alone, which actually happened to me and gave me PTSD after transferring.

Ironically, I gave Aella a ton of reactions and characteristics I would/ just generally have, but I see myself more in Levi, which is probably why I prefer writing about him over Aella.

As of writing this, chapter 5 is currently my favorite chapter as it is a mix of a filler chapter and a regular important chapter still just as important as the rest.

Depression and PTSD actually got in the way of writing so many times I actually am surprised I’ve written so much

As writing has always been my go to for letting out everything (as I have z e r o close friends lmao) I actually don’t realize when I’m done with each chapter until I realize I’m out of ideas for said chapter.

I don’t even realize I write about 2,000 words until it’s like “oh,,”

No Sympathy wasn’t just any fanfic for me, it was like I was actually Aella seeing the entire story unfold from beginning to finish

I tried to push myself to describe more, as I’ve noted while rereading my previous shitty fanfics — I struggled describing everything.

I tried to not have the basic “tch”, “brat”, and just random cursing from Levi unless it was at the exact wrong time (or I just put it in because I could totally see him saying that in said situation)

I tried characterizing Hanji as someone who wasn’t the basic overexcited dumbass most fanfics portray her as — instead I tried thinking of her as an actual person with reactions and different moods and tried to embody that each time I wrote her

Character development is a huge thing Ive been trying to work on ever since I wrote A Valkyrie and a Mischievous God (though that character development and story sucked ass and I cringe at how popular it’s gotten), and a huge target for it was none other than Aella. At the beginning you could see she felt trapped in an endless cycle of stress and fending for herself, but when Levi came in and was like “lmao I have money you don’t have to stress” she felt like she was in an odd spot, and eventually after she reunited with Hanji she started to feel more free

Parents were completely cut out of this story because I genuinely don’t know how to write them as mine are either states away by choice or always working, so I just had Aella get kicked out and had her entire family gone.

My best ideas surface at 4 am when I’m trying to fucking sleep

Help me

But hey I now have a new passion for this book

I generally didn’t know how to end it

buT THEN I D I D

A huge thing for me, and my entire driving motion for writing this was a simple sentence: “I want to write something I’m proud of.”

Am I proud of this?

Eh. It’s not shitty, I suppose. I could always do better.

Characterization was so difficult for me. I wanted to stray from basic fanfics of an overly hyper Hange (though, I couldn’t help in some situations, but after watching an entire season and a half in one day, you notice personality changes) and write and more serious one — except I’m a damn shitty author with so many grammatical mistakes my ex-mentor would literally rip her hair out.

Writing a book has always been my goal, and I know this is the only thing that will ever come close to it.

I have another Levi x reader planned, but I always hate doing the basic ‘_____’ ‘Y/N’, etc because it literally drives my depressed self I n s a n e when writing

Most times for my outline summaries of the chapters I just put my name in place of Aella lmao

I actually struggled a lot when writing this; sometimes I even broke down thinking no one liked this book or I wasn’t a good enough author to write anymore.

My asshole self mainly spent my summer writing this rip

Currently, as it is July 2nd, I am literally hoping to Levi that I fucking get this done before August or else I’m so fucking screwed with beginning high school and shit.

Oh yeah btw, I’M NOT FUCKING READY FOR THE FINAL SEASON. I’LL BE A DAMN SOPHOMORE AND THAT IN ITSELF K I L L S ME

I don’t know if I’m actually going to continue with this book, but have these collected facts I started writing the moment the first chapter was out :,) It’s already September and my past dumbass was right

High school is kicking my ass

I have another story idea/plot written out and I really like it so idk. I think I’d stop halfway again because I’d think that no one would like it

#no sympathy

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fernandezjl · 7 years

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vimeo

OFFF Barcelona 2011 Main Titles from OFFF, let's feed the future on Vimeo.

Still shocked and excited from last night, it's an honor for us to show you this absolutely MINDBLOWING TITLES made for OFFF by PostPanic.

Thank you so much to PostPanic, and specially to Mischa Rozema, Ania Markham and Si Scott, simply epic!!!

Written by Mischa Rozema and British graphic designer, Si Scott, the opening titles reflect their dark thoughts on a possible future. Directed by Mischa and shot on location in Prague, the film guides the viewer through a grim scenario embedded with the names of artists appearing at this year’s OFFF festival. The live action was brought back to Amsterdam for post, primarily carried out by PostPanic’s in-house team of artists but also with the additional help of freelancers and partner companies that we have enjoyed strong creative relationships with over the years. It’s really fair to say that this was a labour of love by a passionate crew of people.

Says Ania Markham, Executive Producer at PostPanic: “The images created by the crew of people working on the titles has been unbelievable, with nationalities represented including Dutch, Czech, English, American, Polish, German, Swedish and Belgian. It’s been a great opportunity for all of us to work together on a non-commercial project we’re passionate about and we’re so proud of the combined effort and final result.”

DIRECTORS NOTES (Mischa Rozema)

This project started out as a collaboration between myself and Si Scott. Right from the start, we decided that it should be the darkest thing we could make. I think it just felt natural to the both of us; if we had to nail the future, it would not be a nice place.

This idea evolved into a clash of times. Inspired by an idea from the late Arthur C. Clarke. He wrote about different historical civilizations meeting in a single point in time. So what happens when civilizations meet? The 'weaker' one gets eaten by the 'stronger'. You only have to look at history to see the destructive power of civilizations.

So the main underlying idea is: what would happen if the future lands on our doorstep today? Let's take mankind, add perhaps 100 years and then let them show up on our doorstep today. The future would pretty much devour the present. Probably in a matter of, let's say, 7 days… So that's what we're looking at. But every ending also means a new beginning, hence Year Zero.

There's all kinds of hidden messages in there. Like the virus eating away at reality, buildings and people, even at the viewers brain. It's behaving off course much like a computer virus. And the network of wires represents the future of social networking. I just made it physical and let it 'catch' the city and it's people like a net. All these ideas just serve as inspiration for us to create a future that worked for this concept. They're not meant to be deciphered by the audience. It's still meant to be just a title sequence and not an actual movie.

Now what makes a good title sequence? Personally, I think it's something that gets you in the mood, warms you up for what you're about to experience, be it a film, tv series or in our case, the OFFF festival. We decided to treat the OFFF festival as a feature film experience. So all we had to do was get the viewer into the right state of mind. Without, of course, being too narrative led. The best title sequences out there are nothing but a random collection of images/scenes that don't tell a lot if you watch them on their own. But edit them together and a new context is created. A context that matters, a feeling that gets the viewer ready for the main event, in our case, the festival.

To get started, the next thing we did was make a collection of ideas that would scare me and Si. So, anything drawn from our youth, right through to stuff that's inspired us over the years as well as seemingly random compositions that trigger the imagination of the viewer. For example, when we show you the aesthetics of a car explosion, it's carefully constructed. Why a car and not something else? Because an exploding car brings extra content to an otherwise simple aesthetic display of violence. A car doesn't explode by itself so instantly the brain tries to formulate the background behind it. It adds an either political or criminal edge to the violence. To me it felt appropriate because of the sense of protest and rebellion the shot has. And maybe the biggest question; was there someone in the car and if so, who was it? For me, every idea should provoke these kind of questions; from a girl in a prom dress holding a rocket launcher to a riot cop standing in the kitchen. All scenes have a pre and post story to them. In no time you're actually trying to connect these seemingly random scenes and boom; you've just created your own strange context. You now have a feeling, a taste and lots of questions probably. Questions that normally would be answered by watching the actual movie. But since there's no actual movie here we'll leave stranded with, hopefully, an uncomfortable feeling and lots of questions - some might feel unsatisfied and wondering why. Just like a nightmare.

We also wanted the actual titles to be different this time. Most of the time festival titles are driven by the idea on how to show titles. A mechanism that displays titles in a creative way. We actually thought to bring the festival theme to the foreground and have the titles play a part in it. Incorporate them so they become the actual fiber/texture of the piece itself. Practically I still think it's nice that the viewer has to actively look for the names and not get too comfortable. Even if it means to see it a couple of times which surely is the best we can aim for as a free project ; )

How about the shoot? Well, prior to Prague we created more than 50 ideas I could play with. This was always the intention. Go out shooting with a tiny crew, acting like we're still in art school and be open for anything that might happen. That's why we shot everything on 2 Canon 5D's (that and having no budget off course). This was a really nice change for me. Normally I prepare commercial shoots to the very last detail and there's a lot more people involved. Savage helped us out big time in Prague. We also had some bad news. Due to his back problems Si Scott had to abandon the project and couldn't join the shoot.

When we came back from Prague I started editing straight away and soon came to the conclusion we had about 60 vfx shots to work on and no budget and increasingly less time. Remember that this project was a side dish for PostPanic, we had to work on commissioned jobs also. But everybody involved soon fell in love with the project, including STORM Postproduction who are our neighbors (luckily for us).

In the mean time we received the title list. It had about 70 names on it! That's when I found out that the dynamics I wanted to use would probably not work. Just too many names that would make the piece too long to just show random images. So in the plane towards Prague I thought of bringing in a tiny bit of narrative. Which turned out to be the beginning of the sequence (1st act). I wrote in a lead character that would relate to the viewer.

The idea was to trick the audience into thinking they're watching some kind of documentary. We basically follow a guy going home. Bit by bit his environment gets stranger and more uncomfortable to watch. Is he living in a war zone? Slowly the background takes over and the piece changes into an urban nightmare. And like a nightmare, the story/edit doesn't always make sense but makes you feel really uncomfortable. I also wanted the viewer to experience the nightmare. That's where the dark matter comes in. Dark matter is what I call the macro shot bits. Flashes that derail your train of thought like there's something eating away at your brain as you try to make sense of the nightmare. I wanted the viewer to go nuts, alongside with the cast. Erase the line between nightmare and reality. The end result is something you won't come across easily on your tv. And is also just another fun way to do titles.

The sound design and music made by Hecq added a lot to the feel and scale of the film. It clearly divides the 3 acts (1st act: up to execution, 2nd from execution, 3rd final shot) and makes completely different ideas and scenes feel coherent. It also emphasizes the dynamics of the film and brings the much needed pace at the end. It's been great working with Ben. We've been surfing the same wave length throughout the project.

Finally I want to thank everyone involved for making these titles possible. For creating something out of nothing. For showing so much love for something as dark as this.

CREDITS   Directed by Mischa Rozema Story by Mischa Rozema & Si Scott Production Company: PostPanic Executive Producers: Jules Tervoort, Ania Markham DoP: Jiri Malek, Mischa Rozema Music & Sound Design: Hecq Senior Producer: Annejes van Liempd Production Assistant: Jacinta Ramaker Production Designer: Roland Mylanus Editor: Mischa Rozema

Prague Cast: Main Hero: Vladan Bláha Grafitti Guy: Tom Malar Main Hero Sister: Katerina Galova

Post-Production: PostPanic CG Supervisor: Ivor Goldberg VFX Supervisor: Chris Staves 3D Artists: Jeroen Aerts, Matthijs Joor, Jurriën Boogert, Marnix Reckman, Adam Janeczek 2D Artist: Erwin van den IJssel 3D Interns: Cara To, Xander Clerckx 2D Interns: Mathijs Luijten, Per Westholm Compositing: Chris Staves, Ivor Goldberg, Adam Janeczek, Matthijs Joor Graphic Designs: Si Scott Additional Graffiti Elements: Florian Stumpe Matte Painting: Wieger Poutsma Additional 3D and Compositing: Storm PostProduction

Production (Prague) by Savage: Executive Producer: Klara Kralickova, Pavla Burgetova Callegari Producer: Michaela Berkova Production Assistant: Vojta Ruzicka Prop master: Jan Fiala Location Scout & Management: Petr Bastar, Adam Fuchs Location: CREVISTON, a.s. Tattoos made by: Wowa tattoo prague

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a-lbeit · 7 years

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april 2017 faves

this one’s fucking long lmfao

planning for spring break 2018: i’ve mentioned a couple of times that i plan to drive to mount rushmore and, more central to my plan, the badlands in south dakota during the 2nd full week of march next year, during the last spring break of my undergraduate career. i think about it a lot, and now that it’s less than a year away, i’ve begun to primitively map out a route for myself–where to stop overnight, how many days to spend doing what, estimated costs, and so on. i plan to drive through cleveland and stay there for a day so that i can visit the rock and roll hall of fame and museum, and then take another night somewhere cheap in between it and my ultimate goal of western south dakota. it’s been really enjoyable for me to look at the map of the us and think, wow, if this really works out, i’m going to do something that i’ve dreamed about for years–driving (halfway) across the country and going to a really beautiful national park. especially recently, i’ve become a bit enraptured with national parks in general (after the rise of the alt nps), and going to the badlands is probably the easiest one to reach that’s also really high up on my list of parks to visit (i’m more into the western ones than the eastern because i love the environment of the west–all those mountains and deserts). so, although nothing will even start to be concrete until at least the start of the fall semester, i’ve been loving sussing out how my plan will work–hiking in the badlands and driving along the designated scenic roads, and of course the journey itself. i love driving so much, and i’m extremely excited by the prospect of getting to drive along 24 hours’ worth of (mostly) midwestern highway, listening to wonderful music and fulfilling what is honestly a dream.

doughnuts from sainsbury’s: they’re sugar coated, you can get rings or jam filled or vanilla filled or chocolate filled, and you get 5 for 65p. they’re fucking good, especially when they melt in your mouth because they’re so fresh.

old crow medicine show: my parents kindly bought me a ticket to see ocms performing blonde on blonde in manchester right before i come back to the states, which i am SO excited for, and i’ve recently just really been appreciating the group as musicians. i’ve liked them for a few years, probably since about the beginning of 2014, and although i still don’t know too too much of their repertoire, the 25 or so songs that i do know are honestly pretty astounding. i’m in love with that kind of sound, and i think they do their craft perfectly. here’s a little side story from a few months ago: after watching inside llewyn davis right at the beginning of this year, i naturally watched the little concert documentary thing that goes along with it, another day, another time: celebrating the music of inside llewyn davis. one of the performances is by gillian welch and dave rawlings machine and i think someone else, as well–maybe willie watson, ironically enough–doing a medley of a song called “i hear them all” with “this land is your land.” for about a month, i thought that “i hear them all” was another one of those classic, standard folk songs like guthrie’s song is–you know, a song that is pretty universally regarded as important both politically and in regards to quality. particularly the lyrics “i hear leaders quit their lyin, i hear babies quit their cryin, i hear soldiers quit their dyin, one and all” were ones that certainly could have been written nearly a century ago by a contemporary of woody guthrie or maybe even guthrie himself, and that i was just a bit ignorant in my knowledge of old folk music. however, after looking “i hear them all” up to listen to the original, i learned that that song was written by old crow. a song that i really thought had probably been in existence for decades was actually written by a current band about 10 years ago. and that is the reason i admire them so much. they and artists like them are sort of carrying on that era of music, which is just nice to know and to be able to appreciate.

kitty the truck driver from “springsteen and i”: tbh i haven’t finished that documentary yet lmfao and this fave is really random but i was kind of struck by this girl named kitty who was included in the allotment of fan videos explaining their love for springsteen. she’s a young and, more surprisingly, female truck driver, which is obviously something that you don’t see too often. as someone who has thought about what it would be like to be a truck driver (and who has even had pieces of a desire to become one–getting to drive across the country for a living sounds truly incredible), i appreciated being made aware that people like her exist. naturally, representation is such an important thing, and it’s nice to know that if i ever did fully commit to wanting to be a truck driver, there are other young females who are in the same field. and, of course, hearing her anecdotes about why she loves springsteen was great, as well.

into the wild and wild: these two movies are similar and wildly different at the same time. they both deal with having to rely on nature for survival, but wild ends on a much happier note than into the wild. i’m going to talk about them individually because it’s easier for me that way. i watched wild first, and it was captivating throughout. i cried a lot and it was quite hard to watch at times. the incorporation of cheryl singing songs to herself was something that i especially enjoyed, and of course her strength and perseverance were admirable and inspirational. i don’t think i could ever go on a hike like that, but both the plot and the cinematography were really good at getting me into an outdoorsy spirit (not that that was even remotely the point of movie). i really think that that film is important for everyone, especially women, to watch, and i plan on reading the book soon (and i want to read the book that inspired into the wild, as well). as for into the wild, which i watched a few days after wild, i didn’t like the main character, chris/alex, as much at first, but he really grew on me, and i loved the more “mundane” (which i put in quotes because no part of that movie is mundane, but some parts are more so than others) parts of the movie--going with kristen stewart’s character to salvation mountain, talking with ron at ron’s house. now, to discuss the ending--the last 15 minutes or so were very emotionally draining, and i think that the outcome really affected me, but it was obviously crucial to include his deterioration, which was (objectively speaking) the most hypnotising part of the movie. i think the fact that the whole story can even be told is astounding, considering that chris died in a very remote location and very alone. that people found his body probably 2 weeks after his death is, i think, something of an act of god, an event that happened so that the world could be educated on both his stupidity and his courage. yeah, i think that into the wild is truly one of those stories that are only made visible to the public once in a blue moon. at any rate, both into the wild and wild were awfully impressive, and they’re probably going to be in the back of my mind for a long time.

the descendants: i’ve loved this film for years, having seen it with my parents when it was in theaters. they dragged me to it, of course, but after the showing, i secretly fell in love with it. i’ve seen it multiple times since. but about a week ago, i decided to watch it again (i don’t think i’d seen it for at least a year), and i haven’t really been able to stop thinking about it. i finished it at about 2:30 in the morning, i think, and although i don’t particularly enjoy talking about my sensitivity, i need to say that i cried for at least half an hour after i finished it. i don’t think it was really because of the plot of the movie, although it certainly does end on a melancholy, yet somewhat sanguine note that i’m sure did increase my emotional imbalance. the music in that film definitely captures the feelings of the film in a way that not many soundtracks have accomplished (side note: i love every song on that soundtrack and i could talk for longer about just the music), and i think it also was a part of why the movie affected me so much. however, i think this particular viewing got to me because the descendants takes me back to a really specific time in my life that i get very nostalgic for. i still had a few years in high school left, so i could still be comfortably a kid while getting more privileges (like being able to drive, although my parents certainly didn’t give me carte blanche with that, let me tell you). it reminds me of charleston a lot not only because i watched it at a good time in my life, but because of the hawaiian setting--being on the beach, having the characters casually dressed, and so on. it made me want to walk for hours on the beach just like the scene in the film where the whole family searches for brian speer and matt tells his kids (and sid lmfao) nice stories about the times he and their mother had and what a character she was. i felt homesick more heavily than i ever have (in the sense that i have never really felt homesick lmfao), and i wanted so strongly to be in charleston. i looked out my window into the heart of fucking camden and felt rather ungrateful, but i couldn’t help it. at any rate, the descendants made me actually long for charleston, which i never thought would happen, and it made me excited to go back. and, of course, the film itself is so perfect--the characters, the story, the cinematography--and i think that it really is one of my favourites of all time, if not my number one.

“racing in the street,” bruce springsteen: this song is very low-key and relaxed while maintaining a lot of meaning, and that goes a long way. i think i read that a lot of people, including bob dylan, say that this is springsteen’s greatest song. i don’t know if i would necessarily agree with that, but it really is a great track. the imagery in the lyrics and the mood changes (both in his voice and in the instrumentation) are so intoxicating, honestly, and you end up with another great story of a blue collar life. fave lyrics (there are a couple): “summer’s here and the time is right”--i know that this isn’t really what this lyric is trying to convey, but with summer being just around the corner for me, it really speaks to me in terms of the endless possibilities of what i can do with this vacation. “she stares off alone into the night/ with the eyes of one who hates for just being born”--i do think that this is one of the best lines springsteen has ever written. it’s eloquent as fuck, and the concept of hating for just being born is something almost universally relatable that isn’t very often said like that. "tonight my baby and me, we’re gonna ride to the sea/ and wash these sins off our hands”--i really like this idea of being purified by a body of water. it’s an ancient idea, and tying in a small journey (i.e., driving, perhaps with his damning racing car) in order to reach a better place isn’t novel, but it is a way for the character and his girlfriend/wife to be jointly better.

#faves #favorites #favourites

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