I was NOT expecting twistedshipping to be as cute as it is icl…

EdITING dAY 2

SOUNdS ANd COLOURS

We went on to start with colour grading as I already had in mind what colours and tints we will be using.

Each scene was shot in the correct lighting and matched its mood thus we only had to enhance most of the stuff. The first half was in a yellowish orange tint as I opted for a warm colour since the mental illness had not hit her with full force and there was still a little bit of comfort and bliss.

As things process this shade keeps getting darker until it reaches the last scenes where we used the lights with red gelatin paper. Thus this shows a gradual progression of things getting darker and more red- an indicator of caution and danger becoming more prominent.

The office scenes also used a more bluish-green cool tone to show detachment since Jay started with being cold and annoyed to his sister. He has also lived a rather harsh life with the high dependency of his sister on him.

One of the flashbacks used a dark pinkish tint, while she was sobbing. From my director's POV I thought this color symbolised nostalgia and longing for what her life could have been had she not had such neglecting parents. The next flashback had a very greyish dull tint correctly symbolizing depressive flashback. I also really wanted a sepia vintage filter which correctly labels these scenes as from the past.

The film was now missing one extremely important thing- sound. Without the correct haunting music or romantic one so many scenes feel incomplete and can be interpreted differently. Since putting music is also a time taking task we had already made a list of what kind of sound tracks we needed. This was all non-diagetic music which we were going to be downloading from the web.

This is the background music we used. It is long enough, that we could select parts of the soundtrack for different areas. As the director sound is also soft so that it does not interfere with the dialogues, but visible enough to make its haunting presence known and therefore thought that it works.

This soundtrack had its 'bam' and very abrupt cresendos which were needed for different scenes like when Samaira suddenly gets up. There's no dialogue here and I wanted the sound to take the front seat and hold greater significance here thus this was a very loud sound track.

The scene where she texts her brother, needed chat bubbles to be edited on, which we would put the next day.

The next soundtrack we used was one that I personally really wanted. The instrumental intro of the song 'lovely by Billie Eilish' We needed a soundtrack that fit well for a scene where she was grieving and where she was exhausted with life since the same audio will carry forward to the next flashback. This song was both heartbreaking and was able to pull off the feeling of emptiness. This sound was matched with the next audio for the build up. One of the flashbacks , the depression one, needed a clock as water mark to show passing by of time. This we would edit and put the next day.

For the next scene something slightly dramatic was needed for this as it is finally the haunting presence can finally be seen. It is a significant scene and thus the previous song 'lovely' and this audio had a very eerie build up which matched the visuals. I also wanted the build up to end with abruptly because Samaira has a very soft but important dialogue, when she speaks to the shadow. Since the sounds here slightly over lapped each other a little bit of sound mixing. This scene was a confirmation of her accepting fate and needed to be emphasised and so we decided not to have any audio when she starts talking. Thus this audio made sense.

Apart from soundtracks we needed small audios for a lot of things like pouring water, footsteps etc. For this we could use either foleys or downloaded music, I started making a list of all the different areas of the scene we would require a foley for, to get ready to put them the next day

After this we went on to put in the title and credit slides. After searching it seemed like a good idea to add the title on the black screen after she shuts her drapes, this could then cut to her pulling the kettle which also started with a black screen and made sense. From the director's POV when Samaira shut the drapes was a kind of symbolism to her start to shutting down the outside world and reality. It seemed fitting to remind the audience of the title at this point. We already knew what our film name was going to be- the important part at this point was the formatting. We stuck wit a black screen since it easily got connected to the next scene's black screen. Another reason as the director was that since we decided to write Saaya in white over a complete black screen it gave off the effect of something being tainted- in this case Samaira's soul. Its like Samaira's logic and any thing good represented by the white font had gotten over powered and submerged in the wholly black background.

The font style we used was bold and slightly chalky. This gave a ragged feel and looked good. I also wanted a small phase under the title. I created a few options and sent them to discuss it with the group.

We finally decided on- A dark destiny. As the director my thought process was since Samaira was fighting an internal war with her demons. A war she thought was inevitable. It was like her 'destiny'.

We put the credits in the end and got a little creative with it. The last scene was when Samaira stabs herself and Jay immediately screams her name. We carry forwarded the audio of him screaming on the credits.

ooohhhh my god aly u r... Soooo so gcclever i am sooo ^_^ <#33 hugging u hugging . U UAGHHH i lovee lovee pictureing scenes in my head that havent happened yet <3 aly .. N ratm.. in da valley... omgomgomgomg ok so. the first like section of the song will be ramts backstory. w the lab n nukes n stuff. Then the instrumental between that n the second verse will be him travelling/arriving at cove , talking to codes n aly n lab for the first time, gettin his first assignment from cherry w the blackstone. the second verse will then be him mining and his time in the nether, a pan out of ramt on a cliff with lava pourin from da sky as u are more beautiful by far plays,, n learning . then it gets faster from there,, his swift downward spiral. hiseyes r darker n he writes out . a book and leaves it in a chest at codes's hause. codes arrives , there's the construction of the nether lab in the background .him fighitng w aly, (one frame) the second book, (one frame) codes coming back and getting put in the box, (three frames) then aly coming through, (like 4 frames v v silly, clear portal -> aly's hand -> aly -> pan out of the box in the background with ramt turnin around in fear, codes's hand against the glass, aly in shock); aly leaving with codes as ramt looks on (one frame), the fight at the dock (one frame) , then as the instrumental begins again it's ramt talking to cherry (two frames, ramt and cherry at the portal -> the shulker full of netherite n diamonds with ramt n cherry 🤝 in the background) cherry and ramt going to codes (one frame) codes back at the lab in the box, ramt and codes leaving the nether, codes escaping, ramt back at the lab with lynx in the foreground as the cresendo n the lyrics pick up again , cap looking up from a book in his treehouse, cherry waiting at his portal. as it gets louder, you have ramt's eyes softening, him talking to cap, cap and lynx standing side by side in that one pose i took a ss of after codes n aly showed up again,,, and at the second to final peak of the lyrics that are "and now i hear a symphony" it's cherry and ramt's discussion and him promising . not to die and then immediately after that at the highest note . its ramt in the box and aly in the foreground, then throughout that its his progression into fadin out, him giving aly a book, aly back in the overworld giving it to cherry, cherry and lynx and cap recievin their things from ramts will . n then the very last frame is ramt stepping into cove curiously for the first time ^_^ again ehehehehehe. v v silly . porrobbaly bwont be able to do All of it before m brain goes Bleguh but i will Definitely try beoccoz ... Very Very HEHEHEHE momence... HEHEHEHE an all this . will cover ramts current . like season ig :] hehhehehe v vv <33

im genuinely speechless holy shit you have this so well thought out and planned im ?????????? ramt this is INCREDIBLE oh my GOD

It’s really interesting to me, with the 3 Griffin campaigns, how Balance was very very on rails, Stolen Century is an exception and Griffin used a lot of what the boys contributed but even the finale (which i adore) had a ton of set pieces where there was One Solution planned out in advance.

Then Amnesty was entirely open, on the opposite extreme. It’s incredibly loose, and the players (mostly aubrey) have an incredible range of ways to solve the problems in front of them. The overall plot doesn’t come together as well as Balance as a result of this, and Griff talks a lot about how a lot of NPCs just couldn’t take up any space because of this, but the freedom is nice.

Then Ethersea feels like the best of both worlds. The players have a ton of choice in which missions or storylines they pursue, and as a result that impacts who is important to the story, but the individual ongoing storylines are very strong. Things are loose at the start and then tighten as the story progresses and it leaves a ton of room for solving problems (exploding Cresendo) without feeling as unfocused as Amnesty. It is really clear how much everyone has learned from the past 3 seasons

TGCF donghua Special Episode Thoughts (SPOILERS for episode & novel!)

Favorite moment:

Of COURSE that amazing ending sequence, which is the mirror of Dianxia's backstory at the end of the first episode, except this time from Hua Cheng's point of view. Speaking of, holy mother of YUM, dear gods, Hua Cheng:

Look at this "hideous" man. I am DROOLING.

Funny thing is, I didn't even know his appearance was supposed to be a secret, that we technically hadn't seen his face yet all this time. I remember we had a super quick glimpse of him in the Banyue pit and I thought that was his reveal, that that'll be all we'll get for now and I was fine with that...that is, until this ending sequence happened and we actually see him in his entirety. My eyes will forever never be the same. What was I even thinking??? The flashes in the pit were absolutely inferior to the real thing. No comparison. He is so gorgeous; I can't WAIT for Xie Lian to meet him next season.

Second favorite moment:

What I love about this scene is first of all it features some of my favorite lines from the novel, "If you don't know what to live for, then just live for me. If you don't know the meaning of life, then take me as the meaning your life." Even though Dianxia was playing it up for dramatic effect, I loved how he crawled towards San Lang and then uttered the lines with such conviction. I LOVED the way the music reached a cresendo during his words--hell, I love the music in this entire episode, this entire show, period. I also love how bittersweet this scene is: here Dianxia is so embarrassed by his own words that he even laughs about them, dismisses them, not know just how much of an effect they had on the person he said them to, how they really did serve to motivate that person to live on, to exist, utterly for him. Not knowing at all that that person he said what he now thinks were silly words to is right in front of him. The irony!

I'm still making my way through the book so I haven't gotten to the part where all is revealed to Xie Lian yet, but I can only imagine how shocking and emotional this particular revelation would be. It'll probably be ten years before we get to see all that in the donghua, if we ever do, but I'm gonna keep on crossing my fingers and hoping.

"I swear, whether in Heaven or or on Earth, you cannot find someone more sincere than me". The subs left out the Heaven or Earth part but it's still such a good line. Love also how San Lang precedes that by trying to reach out to touch Dianxia but is like too afraid to. The donghua really captured his feelings of...I guess I'd call it timid inferiority...so well.

I have a strong suspicion what that ring is (irl, I've seen companies advertising turning ashes into diamonds as a keepsake of your loved ones...never tried it so I don't know if it's the real deal or some kind of scam) and I cannot wait to get to that revelation as well. Putting aside the potential significance of this momento, the fact that Hua Cheng left Dianxia a ring to wear around his neck is already a beautiful gesture on its own.

I already miss seeing how San Lang looks adoringly at Xie Lian. In fact, I think I'm going to miss San Lang for quite a while since next season I think we'll be mostly spending time with Hua Cheng. Not complaining at all since Hua Cheng will no doubt look at Dianxia just as adoringly, but I will miss this cute guy.

Also already missing the cuteness that is Dianxia. I love all his expressions...the way he said "San Lang" just made my heart explode. How can he be this adorable??? Really, bravo to Jiang Guangtao-laoshi, his voice actor, for such an endearing voice performance. I actually started listening to the Qiang Jin Jiu audio drama because I've become a fan. Imagine Xie Lian being super seductive all the time. That's the ear candy I'm enjoying now, even though I only understand like less than half of the plot due to my shoddy Chinese comprehension.

Proud of how San Lang didn't just lose it when Dianxia cradled his face like that. This man really has unbelievable self control.

I loved that they were chatting in bed like an old married couple. I'm sure this is a glimpse into their future married life. 😁

Besides SanLian, I know Banyue was in this episode as well, I still think she's adorable and love her voice, and I'm glad she gets to enjoy a torture-free life now (I am assuming she does).

I'm glad we got this special episode to really close out the season, but I'm still kinda confused as to why we didn't get it at the actual end of the season but rather as an odd stand alone episode like this. Obviously it picked up right where the 11th episode left off, so it would've slotted in perfectly well. I was hoping the reason they held on to it was because they were going to attach a teaser PV for the next season, but alas that wasn't the case. I wonder if they just needed more time to finish the episode. I still don't quite understand how the Chinese donghua industry works: for something seemingly as popular as TGCF, you would think they'd have good enough budget and resources to finish episodes in time and to make more than just 12 episodes. There are other donghua shows I've seen on Bilibili that have blown way past 12 episodes, so I don't understand why they have to stubbornly stick to a dozen only for something like TGCF. Or is it a danmei thing, I wonder. They just don't want to devote the time and resources to danmei shows beyond just 12 episodes? So weird. Again, VERY GRATEFUL we're getting a second season. SINCERELY praying that we get many more seasons after so that eventually they'll finish out the book. God I hope I finish reading before the donghua team finishes putting out the show.

And that brings me to: Current Reading Progress...chapter 160. Look, I'm gonna be honest, I'm just not a fan of the whole jinx demon concept or the Brocade Immortal. I know all mysteries of the week lead back to the gods and their backstory, but as CONCEPTS, I was just NOT into them so I constantly got distracted. I know MXTX-laoshi was under a LOT of pressure from both censorship and just ridiculous deadlines (I was told she had to produce a chapter a day, which is INSANE), so I feel like a douchebag for even thinking anything negative about the book...not to mention I'm only on Book 3 still so maybe all of this will be wrapped up nicely at the end. But for now, yeah, those two as ideas are a bit underwhelming and almost silly (especially the Brocade Immortal) and maybe I don't need the backstory of ALL the gods. Anyway, before anyone yells at me, there's always a chance I might change my mind about all this by the end...which I hope to get to soon. Didn't finish the book in time for this special episode which was my goal, so readjusting the goalpost back a little further...hopefully just a tad...like a few weeks, because I DO want to get to the unrelenting pain soon so that I can get through the suffering and finally to the HuaLian happily ever after ending.

OK real talk about kevin's singing voice. it's absolutely wonderful. he has grown so much since his last twitch sings. there are still things he needs to work on like breath support, however he has made so progress in his tone and projection (tho it was a bit much for his mic at times that's not really on him) and I feel like a proud mother. he has a very unique sound and he is able to keep it constant throughout different songs as opposed to purely just copying what the original artist did. he's beginning to tell when to cresendo and when to decrescendo and how to transfer between then smoothly. A lot of people were mentioning his falsetto in the chat and while I agree it sounded really good there was not enough attention to his chest voice it was absolutely beautiful. i'm just so proud of how far he's come.

Danganstuck: the 78th Class vs. the Black King

As promised!

First, a couple notes for context: the DR1 cast are the Beta kids of my Danganstuck, with SDR2 as the Alpha kids, i.e., their session is post-Scratch (of course there's a Scratch, the original session has Junko in it). V3 is the universe created by the 77th and 78th Classes. DR:AE and DR3 I'm still mulling over, but I imagine they are alt timeline sessions reachable via the Furthest Ring (I need Fukawa to get there somehow).

Though I have a sort-of rough progression planned out in my head, I haven't sat down yet to fit everything into a timeline, so please bear with me.

The essential bits you need to know are that the DR1 kids fight their Black King at some point in the session, with the only relevant prototypes right now being a Kibougamine school pamphlet and Jin's body (he gets a very Mom/Bro death, where Junko kills him and Kirigiri finds the body later). This makes the Black King manifest as the school itself with a huge version of Jin's upper body coming out of it. All the other prototypings are applied as well.

For right now, all of the players are present at the Black King fight because of various time shenanigans and god tiering. I'll refine this explanation once I figure out where exactly this fits into the Danganstuck timeline.

Whew, okay, we can get to the actual scene. Obviously, this will make more sense if you know the canon story behind Rex Duodecim Angelus, but it's not 100% required.

The song starts with the 78th Class (minus the twins) on the Battlefield, looking up at where the Black King is emerging from the fog. Everyone is a bit unnerved by how massive he is, and there's a close-up of Kirigiri taking a deep breath and opening her eyes as the headmaster's face is revealed.

The first few repetitions of the King's theme are the King lashing out at the students, who dodge with varying degrees of grace.

When Karkat's theme comes on, that's where Sakura and Oowada, the two blood players, jump into the fray. They smash away at the King's many limbs.

Next is Terezi's theme, where Naegi the Mind Player marches out to face the King. He tries shouting at "Jin" to convince him to remember his humanity, which doesn't do a lot of physical damage, but does cause the King visible mental distress that reflects in his movements. The final beat of Terezi's theme shows Naegi dramatically opening his eyes ala the end of an Anagram segment in a trial.

The King strikes back some, movements more errartic than before.

Tavros's theme comes in as Breath player Yamada majestically flies in dressed like Buku, dropping bombs, while Breath player Kuwata hits baseballs with an electric guitar into the King's body.

Everything halts for Kanaya's theme when Ishimaru the Space player blows a whistle, followed by him kendoing the King backwards and covering part of him in paper announcements.

The Meowrail crew's comes in next: Celes, Void player, holds herself in a stately manner as she is carried in by her planet's consorts. She derisively pours scalding tea on the King's limbs. The other Void player, Maizono, is using her Voicekind strife specibus combined with a microphone to send powerful sonic blasts at the King. Nepeta's little playful parts represent Fukawa and Sho flipping between each other and popping in and out of the background to fend off the King.

The final attack in this segment (during the seadweller part) comes from Asahina, Life player and swimmer, agilely dodging attacks and striking back as if the whole thing were a dance. Meanwhile Hagakure, Hope player, is cowering in the corner but predicting and warning Asahina of a few incoming attacks.

The King begins his assault anew, entering a more furious barrage of attacks.

When Sollux and Aradia's part starts up, Togami is standing still with his arms crossed and a sneer on his face, using his Time powers to halt the King and his attacks momentarily so that Doom player Fujisaki can quickly type in commands to release attacks on the King. Alter Ego also flits in and out in the background.

As their assault ends and the music fades into a bike horn rendition of the King's theme, Naegi looks up at the King's HP bar--there's only about a quarter of health left.

As he points this out to the others, they notice that the King has stopped attacking, and instead is looking around in a panic. The bike horns crescendo and a hugely powerful attack lands, accompanied by a deafening thunderclap. The King's health bar rapidly depletes, as do about fourteen more of them right after the first one empties, leaving a final bar very much in the red.

In the aftermath of the attack, the class looks to see the Rage player twins standing on the battlefield: Junko posing and Mukuro saluting.

The King goes back into attack mode, badly wounded and desperate, trying to strike the twins but failing and being hit back in the process.

The twins make it to where everyone else is standing, and as the military march comes on, they walk right by Light player Kirigiri. Junko pats her on the shoulder as she goes by, offering a wink while Mukuro gives her a nod.

Kirigiri clenches her gloved fists and begins to walk forward with purpose, gaining momentum as the music cresendos. Finally, she's running at the King full tilt.

She looks at her father's face on the creature, closes her eyes, and throws herself forward with everything she's got to land the killing blow.

She's left panting and dazed on an empty battlefield, feeling the rain soak her through.

Guitar as Choir | polyphonic origins of guitar music

In my article Loud, or Robust?, I mentioned performing Narváez in a 12th century cathedral with a 4-5 second reverb. It was magical. It was transformative. I heard every voice of a four-part texture as if it were being sung. I must assume that this is how Narváez and his colleagues and audience of the 16th century heard their music. It is not the same in a carpeted room with soft plaster board walls and absorptive curtains. I’m sure old Luys did not always play in a magnificent acoustic, but the norm in Spain today is very, very different than the norm in America. Floors are NOT covered in rugs and carpet – they are hard tile. A bar in Spain is LOUD – voices carry and reverberate as do the stone streets. It is downright cacophonous. Play a guitar there or a vihuela and it is loud, not muted, and the notes are much more sustained, or vocal, if you will.

Where did Narváez’s music come from? Why did he write what he wrote and from what traditions did he emerge? The vihuela repertoire commonly played on the modern guitar is but a tiny portion of the extant repertoire: roughly 700 pieces contained in seven books. Of that at least half the pieces are arrangements (intabulations) of choral repertoire. And most of the rest are fantasías in the choral, or polyphonic style. The few sets of instrumental variations called diferéncias are in fact quite rare and dance music is virtually non-existent. Some might surmise that dance and diférencias traditions were the more popular style that did not need to be written down. I don’t believe there is any evidence for that however, and even if so, it would have certainly been considered of lesser importance, or sophistication. Afterall the guitarra was deemed the instrument of the street.

    Miguel de Fuenllana makes it clear in his introduction that the purpose of his book is to teach the art of composition through the study of the great masters of his day: Guerrero and Morales, Flecha and the Flemish composers Josquin, Gombert, Willaert, etc. By the very nature of his written format [red numbers in the tablature which are to be sung] he makes it clear that his practice involves singing one part of the texture while playing all the parts. One piece demands that you sing the bass, another the alto and so on through all the voices. Teresica Hermana is a great example of very quick complex polyphony demanding great technical skill of the left hand while singing the bass part. [Listen Teresica Hermana]

I Fedeli is an ensemble specializing in the performance of 16th and 17th century music. It was founded in 2006 by cornetto player Josué Meléndez with the aim of reviving the best and most exciting repertoire written for the cornetto… You can watch a video of magnificent polyphonic playing on Facebook

The first masters of the guitar were thinking vocally – the lute or vihuela were the only way to play all voices at once by oneself. The desire was to experience these vocal masterpieces in the privacy of one’s room. Certainly any professional musician of the day had spent his youth in a choir and was a highly trained vocalist. Keyboards were not yet dominant and orchestras did not exist for another 200 years. Instrumentalism, as we generally think of it, emerged from this vantage point.

What if we were to regain this viewpoint? What if we were to figuratively sing our music? What would that entail? On a practical scale, that is a huge topic I do not aim to deal with now, though it is worth noting that communal singing on both small and large scale has become rare in our culture. From a conceptual point of view, there are things we can do as practicing guitarists. We don’t need to add words but rather play with the concept of a constant variety of attack [consonant] and timber [vowel]. A singer uses consonants to release, or articulate, vowels. There is an infinite palate of vowel sounds, variations in every language and dialect are endless. Each vowel has a distinct color: an a sounds much warmer than an e; an u a little darker than an o. Try to play those two vowels on the guitar. Play other vowels. How do you make an u, or an o? Does each string have any particular vowel color it likes, or can you make all vowels on all strings. If you were to play Lagrima right now, would the first four melodic notes all be the same vowel? Or each different? Try it both ways. Does each nail sound different? How can we use that to our advantage, rather than always trying to even out our sound.

Segovia famously said the guitar is like a mini-orchestra: a flute section here, a trumpet pops out there; the strings alternate with the winds. It’s effective, but not subtle, not moving. Playing as if one were singing demands a constant gradation of tone, subtle or not, given the textures and mood of the music. This idea need not be limited to melodies, any texture can be colored in this manner: arpeggios, repeated chords, pointillistic sections. Indeed the purpose of arpeggio or tremolo is to create a more sustained texture, but that texture can be constantly shifting in hue.

In this scenario, one can take advantage of the inherently different tone of each nail, or each finger’s proximity to the bridge. Don’t just alternate i and m because it’s what your supposed to do – rather explore using one finger or changing not only attack, but timbre for an accented note. Dissonance or consonance can be greatly enhanced by the use of color – try playing the dominant chord nasally and the resolution more roundly: or use an e vowel on the dissonance and an ah to resolve it.

Finally, the ultimate use of these techniques can be greatly enhance the execution of cresendos. Start soft and tasto, progress toward loud and ponticello. If, as I show in the blog Polyphonic Basics, you are practicing a simultaneous crescendo and decrescendo, the use of this technique of timbre can greatly enhance the separation of voices, though it obviously can’t work literally at the same time without great contortions of the hand positions. I will show this further in Part II of Polyphonic Basics.

Explore. Have fun experimenting on simple melodic pieces. Go to YouTube or your CD collection and listen to the approach of your favorite guitarists. Are they exploring the full subtlety of timbre the guitar has to offer, or merely making broad gestures in one color, then another.

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Guitar as Choir | polyphonic origins of guitar music was originally published on FRANK WALLACE