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4amfnaf · 2 years

Note

I am just here to say that your human Monty AU has me WHIPPED and yes absolutely you should write more <3

And so the Monty oneshot becomes a Monty series. I apologize in advance for this being stupid long (and for taking a stupid long time to finish it).

Big Talk (part 1)

Big Talk pt. 2: Electric Boogaloo

Something New

Human! Montgomery x Rockstar! Reader

In which the hotshot bassist sees the up-and-coming singer in action, and finds himself feeling something more than lust. Has the singer’s allure caused him to pursue romance over sex?

CW: Bar ambience/alcohol, more horny thoughts, profanity, comedic mention of murder

It was Saturday night, around 7:15 when Montgomery rode up to the pub on 4th street. He had made the obvious choice to take his motorcycle; it was what brought in the most bitches, and that was exactly what he was there to do. As he parked his bike, he couldn’t seem to wipe the stupid smirk off his face. It had been a long week since the night he met you, and he was itching to get his hands on you again. You wouldn’t be slipping away from him that night, he’d make sure of it. But, out of courtesy of course, he would watch the show you had so teasingly invited him to first. He even showed up early in hopes of catching you before you went on, just so you knew he was there. Monty liked to think his presence might make you nervous, it’d be awfully cute if you tried to impress him. He snickered quietly to himself at the thought. The man removed his helmet and clipped it to his bike, then shuffled his fingers through his bright red hair to get it spiked up again. He then flipped one of the mirrors on his bike so he could see his reflection, and with a quick smirk, he was ready to enter the building.

The bar was pretty packed, but to be fair it wasn’t huge. Freddy’s band had played bigger places, but Monty could tell immediately that this was a different kind of crowd than what Freddy’s band attracted. It was his type of crowd. Your type of crowd. He felt a little buzz go through his body, smirk widening.

Monty promptly started searching for you with his eyes. He was a pretty tall guy, so he thought maybe he would be able to pick you out, but there was no sight of you amongst the blend of bargoers and metal heads. He was about to make his way into the mass of people and search for you more thoroughly, but then he set his eyes on the stage. The lights hadn’t gone up yet since it wasn’t time for the show to start, so he could only see a ghost of your figure, but Monty knew it was you. Your silhouette was burned into his memory, you had even made your way into some of his dreams, each appearance making him more eager to see you again. His heart seemed to pound against his ribcage, as if it was trying to push him towards you from inside his chest. With that, the man made a beeline to the stage, carelessly pushing through the sea of people to get to his destination.

As you finished setting up your equipment, you turned to look out at the crowd. You couldn’t deny that ever since you had arrived at the pub you had been looking for a certain someone, even though you knew he probably hadn’t come yet. Hell, you weren’t actually sure he’d come at all. A week prior, you had felt real confident in your teasing behavior, but looking back on it, you couldn’t help but be consumed by the fear that you had completely misread the situation. You were tipsy, and not thinking straight in the presence of an attractive man, what if what you did was completely stupid? What if Monty wasn’t into the whole cat-and-mouse thing? What if leaving him on the dance floor like that was just a complete turn off, and he had no interest in seeing you again, and you had just completely humiliated yourself by even inviting him to your show at all??

You took a deep breath. ‘Well, I guess tonight will be the moment of truth.’

Trying to shake your anxiety, you scanned the crowd, looking for any sign of the man you were hoping to see. He was hard to miss, so if he had come in surely you would have seen him.

“You lookin’ for someone, dollface?” a deep voice called from somewhere below you. As soon as it reached your ears, you felt a pleasant chill down your spine. In shock, you whipped your head down to the front of the crowd.

And there he was, in all his glory.

Monty was leaning on his elbow, which was propped up on the edge of the stage. He looked so aloof, almost uninterested, but the familiar crooked grin on his lips told you that wasn’t the case at all. That night he wore a white tanktop, ripped a little by the neckline, revealing an unfairly small amount of his built chest. Covering it was a dark purple leather vest, distressed and decorated with spikes and patches. With the same star-shaped sunglasses he wore the night you met him, he looked devastatingly gorgeous. You were salivating at the sight, but you did your best to maintain the cool demeanor you had established last time you met.

“Well, well, look who showed up.” You glanced at your watch. “And a whole half an hour early. You’re really that eager to see the show?”

The redhead flipped his sunglasses down to look at you, a gesture that made your heart stop. “Well, I couldn’t help but be curious after what you told me, sweetheart. Besides, I’ve never been to this place before. Thought maybe I should-“ he looked you up and down,“-check it out.”

You wanted to scream. You wanted to leap into his arms and start up right where you left off the last time you saw each other. However, instead of that, you simply strutted to the front of the stage and knelt down in front of him. He watched you every step of the way, not even trying to be subtle about staring you down. You couldn’t help but chuckle. All this attention had put you right back in your mindset from the Saturday before. You knew playing a little hard to get was a good idea, it always made things more fun. With the way Monty was looking up at you from below the stage, you were shocked you had ever doubted yourself.

“Aw, you remembered what I told you? I guess I did say I could prove myself tonight, huh?” you spoke, innocently avoiding eye contact. Monty picked up on your subtle teasing, and couldn’t hide his eager smirk.

“You did, so I expect to be impressed tonight, rockstar,” he stated. You gave him a flirty smile before standing up, his eyes trailing your body as you did so. As you looked down at him from the stage, you couldn’t help but feel powerful. Your confidence almost felt uncharacteristic to you, but you couldn’t help it, it was like Monty’s nonchalant attitude rubbed off on you when you were around him, and you liked the way it felt.

“Hopefully I won’t disappoint. I’ll see you after the show, Monty~” you drew out the sound of his name, loving the flicker of desperation you saw in his eyes as you spoke. With that, you stalked away, going to finish getting ready before it was time to go on. You could hear Monty’s deep chuckle fading behind you as you exited the stage, and your body heated at the sound. Not even 3 minutes of interacting with him and you were already experiencing the physical aftermath. You couldn’t even begin to imagine how you might feel after a more intimate experience with him, but oh boy did you wanna find out.

For the next half-hour before your show, Monty decided to kill time by getting a drink up at the bar. He didn’t plan on getting drunk or anything, he was hoping to make it home alive after all, but if he was gonna be at a bar he might as well get a little buzz going. About ten minutes into sipping his drink and aimlessly scanning the room, he suddenly found himself surrounded by three people, all scandalously clad and smelling strongly of perfume and cigarette smoke.

One of them spoke, a woman on his right. “Hey, aren’t you the new bassist for that one band? The um- uhh…”

“Yeah, thats me,” Monty interjected with a smirk. “What can I do for ya?”

The trio giggled bashfully. “We were at your show a couple weeks ago. You really stood out,” another one of them stated, madly batting their eyelashes. He simply chuckled.

“I’m glad to hear that, sweetheart,” he drawled, leaning cooly back onto the bar. The trio giggled once more, before almost simultaneously closing in on him. Before he knew it, Monty was being felt up and fawned over by a group of strangers.

“You were so cool on stage.”

“You’re even more handsome up close.”

“You’re so muscular, do you workout? I bet you’re really strong.”

He chuckled at the shower of compliments. He certainly didn’t mind the ego boost. The trio was awfully touchy, clutching onto his biceps or combing their hands through his hair, but he couldn’t say he minded that either. As expected, he was reveling in the attention. This was routine for him at that point, people would often flirt with him after shows, or even just when he was out in public, and he loved to flirt back. Stuff like that was what he usually looked forward to when going out, and since he had the time to kill, he allowed the three strangers to continue roaming his upper body and gushing over him. Monty got so caught up in the flirtations that he almost didn’t notice the lights going up on stage signaling the beginning of your performance. Just as the room lit up, one of the trio finally asked the golden question.

“You know, we’d really love to get to know you better. Do you maybe wanna… get out of here with us?” the girl inquired, seductively running a finger down his abdomen. Any other time, Monty most likely would have agreed, but as he heard the jarring sound of a guitar coming through the speakers, he remembered why he had even gone to that pub in the first place.

“Heh, you make a tempting offer, but I’m here to see the band tonight,” Monty stated. He shrugged off the lingering hands to accentuate his point, creating a little distance between him and his pursuers. The three of them pouted, barely hesitating to latch themselves onto him again.

“Aw, but there will be other shows,” one whined.

“Yeah, you can see them some other time, come with us,” another one proposed.

Monty was about to respond, but his train of thought was completely disrupted when he heard another sound come from the stage.

It was your voice.

At that moment, Monty finally set his eyes on the stage. He was immediately taken aback by your presence, so much so that his jaw went a little slack, and he didn’t fix his sunglasses when they slid down his nose. You were center stage, the bluish-white lights shining down on you like you were a gift from the heavens. Your voice had captured Monty’s full attention, and he was damn near hypnotized. Without even taking his eyes off of you, he abandoned the bar and started making his way into the crowd, not even hearing the pleas and complaints of the three he had left behind. They were already long since forgotten.

Once he made it near the front, he simply watched you perform in awe. He never thought you would be bad, but he didn’t expect you to be so… metal. You weren’t kidding when you said you sang heavier stuff than Freddy, your vocal style alone was nothing short of badass, but the pounding drums and heavy guitar riffs behind you created a killer combination that almost overwhelmed the senses. Monty felt like he was having some sort of spiritual experience, he had never felt this way before. When he finally managed to lock eyes with you, he couldn’t tell if the beating in his chest was from the bass or from his heart.

Up on stage, you couldn’t deny that you were performing your heart out. You got worried at first when you started the show and you couldn’t see Monty anywhere, but the look on his face when you finally found him in the crowd instantly wiped away all your anxiety. He looked at you like he had seen God, and it was an understatement to say that your confidence shot through the roof. You couldn’t help but smirk when you happened to make eye contact, reveling in the effect you seemed to have on him. All throughout the show, you played a game of shooting him glances and little acknowledgements, but never enough to satisfy him. After all, as much as you were trying to show off for Monty, he wasn’t the only one in the crowd. So, you made sure to spend plenty of time interacting with other crowd members, sometimes even interacting with people who were torturously close to him while not even sparing him a glance. You couldn’t put your finger on why (and honestly neither could he), but your playful avoidance drove Monty absolutely wild.

Believe it or not, Monty was feeling different during this performance than he thought he would. Considering how he felt about you leading up to that point, he figured this show would be somewhat charged with lust and sexual tension, and oh boy was it, you looked sexy as all hell rocking out on stage, but there was something else. Seeing you perform, especially with so much talent and energy, elicited a different feeling. Genuinely, he couldn’t help but feel a new type of respect for you as a person. You were crazy talented, and you made music that was right up his alley. Rather than fantasizing about ripping your clothes off, he found himself wanting to talk to you about your music history as soon as possible, ask how you learned to sing like that, maybe see if theres any bands you guys both like and share some music together. Oddly enough, it was the first time in a while that Monty found himself wanting more than just sex from a person he was attracted to. He was that awestruck by you.

As soon as the show was over, the man rushed to see you, pushing through the crowd without hesitation. He caught up to you as you were stepping down from the stage, and his heart rate noticeably spiked when you locked eyes with him. There was an enormous grin on his face, which caused you to smile as well.

“You really weren’t kidding when you called yourself a rockstar,” he spoke. You couldn’t help but giggle, his awed smile was just so contagious.

“I’m glad you think so,” you responded, leaning back against the wall behind you.

“I mean, that was a great set, Freddy couldn’t dream of singing that shit! How did you learn to sing like that?”

You laughed. “A lot of practice, I’ve been working on it since high school.”

“Really? I’ve been playing bass since around high school.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah, started when I was 17, playing Misfits songs and shit. You know, we should totally get together and jam sometime-“

Monty stiffened a little. What was he saying? Had he not come this far to get in your pants? It seemed he had thoughtlessly ended up losing sight of his original goal, but for some reason he didn’t really care. This surprised him, he was actually a little confused. He was undoubtedly attracted to you, so why wasn’t he just cutting to the chase like he always did?

“Yeah, that would be fun!” you exclaimed, causing the man to snap out of his stupor.

“Ha ha, yeah…” he chuckled, awkwardly leading into silence. After a second, your eyes drifted away from him, and Monty began to internally panic a little. He needed to say or do something fast, or else the spark might die and he would lose your interest. He didn’t go out that night just to get tongue tied and leave the pub all by himself, no, he had a goal. So to solve the issue, Monty decided to just quit thinking so much and follow his instincts.

Suddenly, you saw his arm shoot out beside you, resting his palm on the wall by your head. Your eyes widened at his action, and in less than a second he had your unwavering attention again. His lips curled up into that flirtatious smirk that made your heart beat madly, and your mind flew into a frenzy of unspeakable thoughts.

“Can I take you somewhere?” he asked, his other hand beginning to trace down your arm before taking hold of yours. You were almost too entranced by the gesture to notice as he slowly pulled you away from the wall, guiding you in a direction you couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to.

“Might I ask where?” you inquired in response, not that you cared. At that moment he could take you anywhere and you’d be fine with it if it meant you get to hear his voice and feel his warm touch.

Monty shrugged lightly as the two of you reached the exit of pub. “I guess we’ll find out when we get there, sweetheart.”

As you left with this man you hardly knew, for a second you felt like you should be worried about leaving your band behind to pack up without you. However, memories of the Saturday before, and the way he had been looking at you all night reminded you that at the time you couldn’t care less. He kept a firm grip on your hand, leading you to a shiny motorcycle with a deep green paint job, almost matching his flashy gator skin pants. The man finally let go of you just to mount the bike, leaving your hand feeling cold and lost. You intently watched his every move as he put on his helmet, so focused on every twitch and flex of his muscles that you almost didn’t notice when he held out a second helmet to you. Considering your stupor, you stared blankly at it, prompting Monty to chuckle.

“Come on, sweetheart, you trust me don’t you?” he asked, the devilish glint in his eye bringing you back to your senses.

You scoffed. “Not one bit.”

And with that, you took the helmet out of his hand and clipped it on before seating yourself behind him on the bike. You couldn’t see his face, but you could sense his smirk as you wrapped your arms around his torso.

“Hold on tight, doll,” he advised, but it was barely audible over the revving of his motorcycle. Before you could even respond, he sped off into the night, subsequently causing you to follow his flirtatious directions.

You had no clue where he was taking you. Back to his place? Maybe. A secluded place to murder you? Not likely, but not impossible. It wasn’t quite like you to just disappear into the night with a guy you hardly knew, you were typically a bit more skeptical cautious than that, but something about Montgomery just encouraged you to be carefree. He made you want to take these risks that you normally wouldn’t, and it felt freeing. The limited time you had spent with him melted away your stress, and replaced your work overwhelm with an overwhelm of excitement and confidence. Whatever he was doing to you, it was working– and it felt great.

Ironically enough, Monty didn’t really know where he was taking you either. He trusted his gut, and his gut told him to take you somewhere, but it didn’t exactly tell him where. He was hoping that you didn’t notice the way he seemed to be driving aimlessly, unsure of his own destination. Deep inside he was floundering. Could he take you back to his place? Sure, that was his initial plan anyways, but for some reason that didn’t feel quite right anymore. Monty glanced around as sporadically as he could while driving, looking for any ideas. As he approached the outskirts of town, he was began to feel doomed. Surely this would end awkwardly and you wouldn’t want to see him again, and this would serve to be his first major loss in years.

Then, as if God was on his side, Monty spotted something out of the corner of his eye, and a lightbulb went off in his head. Suddenly, he knew exactly what to do.

Before you knew it, Monty had turned down a couple back roads and parked the bike at the bottom of a hill, taking off his helmet. You were starting to fear that maybe he actually was taking you to a secluded place to murder you, and you hesitated a little as the redhead got off the bike. He noticed this, and held his hand out to you.

“Come on, I wanna show you something,” he exclaimed, gesturing up the hill with a nod of his head. For better or worse at this point, you removed your helmet and took his hand. You’d already come this far, if Monty was gonna murder you then so be it. At least you’d die at the hands of a hot rockstar.

With one of his signature smirks, he led you up the hill. His hand protected yours from the summer night’s chill, and you found yourself feeling comfortable once again. When you finally reached the top, you realized why he took you there.

“Is that the drive-in?” you asked, awestruck. Sure enough, in the distance was the old drive-in movie theater, displaying some film you had never seen. You knew the place existed of course, but you hadn’t been there in years.

“Yep. Used to come up here with my friends all the time back in high school so we didn’t have to pay to get in. See, it’s close enough to see the screen, but far enough away that the workers don’t catch you,” Monty explained, eliciting a chuckle from you. He guided you a little further before seating himself in the grass, you by his side.

Contrary to what either of you expected to get out of the night, the two of you simply engaged in some casual talk. You asked him about things like how he ended up in Freddy’s band, and why he decided to get into music in the first place. He told you it was just the only thing he was really passionate about, and you couldn’t help but relate. Then, he asked you what bands you liked, and how long you had been with your band, and you told him what you loved, and how you had been performing for the past few years, hoping to make it big. As the night went on, and the movie continued silently in the distance, you could feel yourself getting closer to the man next to you— physically and emotionally.

“You know, it was a total fluke that I was at the bar last weekend. I only went because Chica begged me,” you mentioned, looking over at Monty. “I usually just go to bars for shows, not for fun. It was complete chance that I happened to meet you there.”

The man laughed loudly, leaving you dumbfounded. “I don’t think it was chance, sweetheart.”

“What do you mean?”

“I didn’t plan on going out that night either. The only reason I did was because Freddy asked me to. And then, him and Chica introduced us to each other. That sound like chance to you?”

You thought for a second, before breaking into laughter yourself. “Wait, so we were set up?”

“Sounds like it, rockstar,” he affirmed, and the two of you just continued laughing.

“I can’t believe it was a set-up and I had no idea, it was so obvious!” you exclaimed.

“Well,” he looked over at you with the softest gaze you had seen from him so far. “I think I’m glad they did it.”

As you looked over at him, you were suddenly captivated by the look in his eyes. The way the moonlight illuminated his skin, and cast a blue tone over his face was an image that you would find burned into your memory for years to come. In all honesty, you weren’t sure you had ever seen a man quite as beautiful as Montgomery looked right that second.

He was thinking all the same things about you. The pale lighting reminded him of how you looked on stage that night, except this was so much more peaceful, and private. Everything about this moment was so simple, yet for some reason, it felt so special. Monty felt like his heartbeat would break his ribcage as he slowly lifted a hand to your cheek. Your skin was soft, and cold to the touch from being outside so long. You wondered if he could feel how flushed you were, but as he pulled you closer that became the least of your concerns.

Slowly, in a way that was uncharacteristically delicate for him, Monty met your lips with his own. Suddenly, every pent up feeling from the past week seemed to release itself between the two of you, and you seemed to melt into each other. It wasn’t rough, or messy, or desperate like you might have expected it to be only a few hours ago. It was warm, and careful, and passionate. It was so simple, yet for some reason, it felt so special.

It was something he wasn’t used to, and something you hadn’t felt in a long time, but everything about it was good. As you pulled apart, and looked each other in the eye once more, both of you seemed to share the realization that this was the start of something big, something new. You had no idea where it would go, or how it might end, but everything in you wanted to find out. With that, you pulled him back in, and Monty eagerly reciprocated. As your lips collided once again in a starlit harmony, and the planets aligned, and angels cried and all that shit, both of you could only think one thing:

‘Thank God for Chica and Freddy.’

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grellsutcliffzine · 2 years

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Q2 Special: A Special Delivery

In light of Thursday's Instagram/Twitter Valentine’s poll, we'd like to share one of Grell's own slow mornings, written by @roshytsunami!

Accompanying art is by quiggloo!

CW: Comedic violence, blood.

Last night was terrible. Grell barely had the energy to jump home to her flat. She was lucky she even managed to get home, let alone open the door last night. Honestly, humans interloping with demons has become tedious. Oh, she doesn’t fault them in their taste, not at all. How hypocritical would that be, when she still yearns for Sebastian from time to time? Well- yearns to see his face underneath her shoe with a dash of blood, typical for a girl like her longing to see a man completely at her mercy.

Still, the humans she had to reap last night were completely useless. Clueless, even, in what they had bartered! A soul for destruction would make sense, perhaps even one filled with lust, but last night's entertainment had fallen flat. A poor dear thought to save her beloved by selling her soul for his life. So stupid! A soul reaped can never be returned...you would have thought with the Campania incident, humans would have learned that lesson. Alas, a girl can dream.

Yet when that blasted alarm began to blare in her room, she clenched her teeth and slapped the offending thing off her counter. It’d barely been a few hours since her beauty sleep got disrupted by such irresponsible humans! However, her routine in the morning does take time, and if she dailies any further she’ll be late to dispatch, and if she is late to dispatch, William will become angry at her.

“Hmm, the thought of Will’s slightly clipped tone does send shivers down my spine,” she chuckles, burrowing in her lush blankets a moment longer before grumbling. “A lady needs to be prompt and on time.”

She sighs, getting out from the warm cocoon as her feet find the slippers. She pouts sleepily, reaching for a robe haphazardly thrown at the edge of her bed. She makes her way towards the kitchen. She needs something warm and sweet to wake up properly and feel more like herself. She can ignore the nest on her head and bare face for a moment or two. She yawns, eyes drooping as she performs the familiar shuffle and begins to set the kettle.

However, as soon as she has it turned on, she hears a familiar throbbing sound. It ceases to stop as her head aches from the disturbance. She can’t take the sound anymore as she grabs her chainsaw from the table and opens the door, revving it through the body before her in a sleep-induced haze. The sound stops, only for Grell to come to as she pushes her long hair from her face.

“Oh,” she comments to herself, seeing the milkman quiver and twitch on the ground as blood pools around his body. She pinches her lips together before laughing.

“No use crying over spilled milk,” she laughs, taking the glass milk from the floor, leaving the milkman to die on her doorstep. She needs to have her warm drink before dealing with that nonsense outside.

#grell sutcliff #grell sutcliff zine #fanzine #anizine #black butler zine #black butler #fanfic #black butler fic

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passiveagressiveukulele · 3 years

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Sound project reflection

OUR GROUP

If there’s one thing that came out of the sound project it was that, as Zoe put it: You can make poetry from footsteps. I thought that was... quite poetic.

Initially, I felt our group lacked enthusiasm for the project. No one seemed to have any ideas, preferred clips or possible directions for the genre. So I gave myself the task of going through the clips and contemplating what the soundscape could be like. At the time that was the only thing I could do whilst lying horizontally. No clip sparked joy. No clip until clip 6. Watching it, I immediately heard the airplane noise and the pilot’s announcement. At first, my angle was comedy, but looking back on it, there’s nothing really comedic about it. Our sound design has more in common with the surrealist works of Roy Andersson, Alejandro Jodorwsky and David Lynch than with a dumb American holiday comedy I had in mind.

For the first draft Findlay and I shared the workload. I listed all the sound effects we’d need and took note of the time references. Then I rummaged through Free.Sound.org looking for the effects that would fit as close as possible. Even though Leo suggested we stay away from that site in the future and use the Nexus library, Free.Sound will have a special place in my heart. If you look closely and listen critically enough, it is a wealth of unexpected noises. Once I delivered all the materials to Findlay, he pushed all the right buttons to put them on the timeline. The first draft sounded promising.

After Leo and Juliet gave us feedback our next stop was foley. Foley was where we started working collectively. Bethany and Findlay were on the buttons, while Jack, Rosie and I shuffled everything we could get our hands on in the foley suite. We covered the rustling of leaves, paper and plastic bags, laundry blowing in the wind, the protagonist’s movements in the flat, dangling keys and zipping the suitcase. And then we went a few steps further. Rosie re-enacted the protagonist’s heavy, puffy-eyes breathing, while Jack and Bethany to read out a generic airplane scenario we found online. As much as I love Free.Sound, this gave our project a personal touch. Only we could have created those sounds.

When Findlay delivered the final sound design to us we were all quite happy to go ahead with it. But when it came to the crit we didn’t expect it to nearly fry the speakers. Rookie mistake.

Another major thing we got caught on was the lack of syncing. I feel like this is something that can be learned only with constant practice in ProTools. The mind and the ears have some training to do in that field as things that looked synced to me, didn’t look synced to the sound professionals in the room.

I liked that our footsteps stood out from all the other sounds level-wise, but I think we over did it and that’s why the lack of sync was so noticeable. We lacked a variety of footsteps too, which is something I never thought about - how every footstep sounds different. Every footstep is a special snowflake.

The overall crit consensus was that we had all the right components but they need finessing otherwise they come out crunched. But finessing also requires time, and that’s something we were short of. One can easily go mad playing and replaying the same sounds over and over again until they can’t tell quiet from loud and everything looks in sync. That’s the main lesson to take on board for our genre film - leave plenty time for sound post.

But not all is gloomy, seems our surrealist concept landed well and our attention to detail and layering were commended. Despite the sloppy execution, it was a good learning experience. My main takeaway is foley. It opens endless creative possibilities. For the next sound related project I’d like to get my hands on ProTools. I’m tired of contemplating, I want to get into the nitty-gritty of footstep poetry.

GROUP 6

What a killer atmos game! The first thing that caught my ears was the feeling of being transformed to the places on screen. The room felt menacing and lonely, the staircase felt wet and cold and the street outside felt like a war zone. Any yet, all three were held by the ever-present gunfires and cries outside. It really got my heart racing.

The paper rustling and drawer opening felt so present, as if the sound was directly pulled out from set. It’s incredible given that this group hasn’t done foley. Well done! The only moment in which I’m not totally convinced by it is during the bin bag shot (but I only noticed that on the second watch).

The rain was done superbly. I love the shift between the interior and the exterior shot. The rain also carries this sound design’s tension. Much like the ticking clock in the background, it makes every passing second deadlier. The greatest achievement of this sound design is the achieved rhythm. Looking at the muted scene, it’s hard to see the rush. It’s comprised of fairly long takes. What the sound design does is accelerate the action. Something is at stake, will he make it in time, will he make it in time? Pure thriller genius.

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elusive---ivory · 4 years

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The Woman In Velvet pt 14

Oof, second to last chapter, boys. We all knew this was coming. A shoutout to @princessgeekface for being my editor through this process. You are wonderful 💕💕💕

PARING: Arthur Fleck x Oc

WARNING: Violence

Masterlist

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Part 9

Part 10

Part 11

Part 12

Part 13

Part 14

Taglist (I love you all so so much 💕💕):

@jaylovesbats @memory-mortis @gloomyladyy @mijachula @princessgeekface @radio-hoo-ha @lolacolaempath

"I'm not sure my wife would like that. Maybe my next wife." Murray's voice boomed on the stage.

Roaring of laughter came from the audience.

"You should see our next guest coming up. I'm pretty sure this guy could use a doctor." Murray commented.

"Oh? Does he have sexual problems?" Dr. Sally asked.

"I think he's got a lot of problems. Let's show that clip one last time." Murray said.

Arthur's clip played.

The audience ate it up, listening to Arthur's laughter in the clip.

Sandy rolled her eyes, looking over at Arthur, who was staring intently at the curtains.

Sandy stood back from the curtains, carefully watching Arthur's movements. The tech guys next to Arthur looked uncomfortable, and tried shuffling away.

"You might've seen that clip of our next guest. Now, before he comes out, I just wanted to say that we're all heartbroken about what's going on in the city tonight, but this is how he wanted to come out. I honestly believe we could all use a good laugh. So, please welcome Joker."

As the jazz band started, the curtains fell back, revealing Arthur. Arthur came onstage, dancing and twirling around.

Sandy watched from backstage. She looked over by the curtain, seeing Arthur's still lit cigarette. Sandy picked it up, taking a small puff, before distinguishing it.

Arthur shook Murray's hand, then headed over to Dr. Sally, who was just expecting a hug. He cupped Dr. Sally cheeks and kissed her passionately.

Sandy rolled her eyes, crossing her arms backstage.

Whistles and ahhs came from the audience.

Dr. Sally had a very shocked look on her face, as she sat back down.

"That was quite the entrance." Murray commented.

Arthur looked around at the scenery of it all.

Murray looked at Arthur, raising a comedic eyebrow. "You ok?"

"Yeah, this is exactly how I imagined it." Arthur replied.

"Well, that makes one of us." Murray joked.

Laughter and applause came from the audience.

Sandy continued watching from a small television backstage.

"So, could you tell us about this look? You said when we spoke earlier that this wasn't a political statement." Murray said, pointing out his makeup.

"That's right, Murray. I'm not political. I'm just trying to make people laugh." Arthur looked over to the audience, not one of them chuckling.

Sandy cracked a smile backstage.

"And how's that going for you?" Murray commented, again.

The audience once again roared with laughter.

Sandy's cracked smile turned into an angry frown.

Arthur mocked the audience's laughter with his own demented cackle.

"Tell us about your lady friend backstage. She's also dressed as apart of your act. Do you two got a thing going on?" Murray asked.

Sandy paused. Her eyebrows furrowed at the TV. She crossed her arms

Arthur smirked. "It's a little more than 'a thing'. She's my sweetheart. My dear, Sandy."

Awws and oohs came from the audience.

Murray laughed. "Ha. I've heard that one before."

The audience howled with laughter.

Sandy glared hard at the television. She wasn't laughing one bit. All of Murray's jokes were stale and just blatantly mean to Arthur.

"So you tell us you're a comedian. Got any new material? Wanna tell us a joke?" Murray asked, not sounding too pleasant.

The audience applauded.

"Yeah? Okay." Arthur took out his joke book.

"He's gotta book full of jokes." Murray commented.

Arthur flipped a few pages into his notebook.

Arthur paused for a second.

"Take your time. You got all night." Murray laughed.

"Okay, okay. Here's one, knock knock." Arthur said.

"And you had to look that up." Murray commented.

The audience laughed.

Sandy couldn't take the stress. She bit her thumb. She wanted to bash Murray's skull in, see if he was still joking about that.

"I wanna get it right." Arthur's voice was somber.

Sandy couldn't look. She turned her head away from the television.

"Knock, knock." Arthur repeated.

"Who's there?" Murray replied.

"It's the police, ma'am. Your son's been hit by a drunk driver. He's dead." Arthur chuckled.

A loud groan came from the audience.

Sandy laughed at Arthur's edgy joke. Two of the tech guys stared strangely at her. She smiled, watching the television.

"No, no, no. We do not joke about that." Dr. Sally scolded.

"Yeah, that's not funny, Arthur." Murray said.

Arthur chuckled, looking down. "Yeah, I'm sorry. It's just been a rough few weeks. Ever since I..."

Arthur trailed off. His eyes wandered over the audience.

"Ever since I killed those three wallstreet guys." Arthur said, quietly.

Murray looked around at the audience. "Okay, I'm waiting for the the punchline."

"There is no punchline. It's not a joke." Arthur's voice was monotonous. His eyes swelled up with sadness.

A loud gasp washed over the audience.

Sandy closed her eyes, taking a deep sigh. She couldn't help, but feel remorse in this moment. Remorse for Arthur. The tech guys stared at the TV in shock.

Murray gave Arthur a disgusted glare. "You're serious, aren't you? You're telling us you killed those three young men on the subway?"

"Mmhmm." Arthur mumbled.

Murray raised his eyebrow. "And why should we believe you?"

Arthur smirked, shrugging. "Got nothing left to lose. Nothing can hurt me anymore."

Arthur paused for a moment, before chuckling. "My life is nothing but a comedy."

Loud booes came from the audience.

Sandy smirked.

Murray shook his head. "So let me get this straight. You think killing those guys is funny?"

Arthur smacked his lips. "I do, and I'm tired of pretending it's not. Comedy is subjective, Murray. Isn't that what they say? All of you, the system that knows so much. You decide what's right or wrong. The same way you what's funny or not."

More booes and groans came from the audience.

Murray stuttered. "I think I might understand that you did this to start a movement, to become a symbol."

Arthur rolled his eyes. "Come on, MurRay. Do I look like the kind of clown that could start a movement? I killed those guys because they were awful. Everybody is awful these days. It's enough to make anyone crazy."

Murray leaned back in his chair. "So, that's it you're crazy? That's your defense for killing three young men."

Arthur smirked, widely. "No. They couldn't carry a tomb to save their lives."

Sandy laughed loudly from backstage. The two tech guys were glued to the screen, cautious of the lady in front of them.

Arthur smiled, hearing Sandy's laughter from backstage.

More booes and groans followed the audience.

Arthur dramatically rolled his eyes. "Oh, why are people so upset about these guys? If it was me dying on the sidewalk, you'd walk all over me. I PASS you every day, and you DON'T notice me. Oh, but these guys, because Thomas Wayne went and cried about them on TV."

Sandy could hear the pain and tension in his voice. Arthur was at his breaking point. Seeing him like this broke Sandy's heart. A black tear ran down her face. She cracked a smile, holding it all together.

Murray continued pushing his questions. "So, you've got a problem with Thomas Wayne?"

Arthur nodded his head, vigorously. "Yes, I do."

Arthur turned his head towards Murray.

"Have you seen what it's like out there, MurRay? Do you ever actually leave the studio? Everybody just yells and screams at each other. Nobody's civil ANYMORE! Nobody THINKS what it's like to be the other guy. You think men like Thomas Wayne ever think about what it's like to be someone like me. To be somebody, but themselves. They DON'T. They think we'll just sit there and take it like GOOD LITTLE BOYS and we won't WEREWOLF and go WILD."

Sandy's eyes widened, as she covered her mouth to silent her laughing sobs. She never seen this much pain coming from just one man. The techs seemed to get invested with Arthur's big speech.

Murray his head. "Are you finished? There's so much self pity, Arthur. It's almost like you're making excuses for killing those three men. What about your sweetheart, huh, Sandy? She's not awful, right? Not everyone, and I'll tell you this, not everyone is awful."

Arthur glared at Murray. "You're awful, Murray."

"Me? I'm awful? How am I awful?" Murray said, defensively.

Arthur's green ocean eyes glared menacingly at Murray. "Playing my video. Inviting me on the show. You just wanted to make fun of me. You're just like the rest of them."

Murray scoffed. "You don't know the first thing about me, pal. Look what happened because of what you did. What it led to. Two officers are in critical condition because of what you did."

Arthur started laughing with a gentle tear rolling down his face.

"And you're laughing. You're laughing. Someone was killed today because of what you did."

Arthur kept nodding and smiling. "I know. How about another joke, MurRay."

Murray shook his head. "No, I think we've had enough of your jokes."

"What do you get when you cross a mentally ill loner with a SOCIETY that ABANDONS him and treats him like TRASH? I'll tell you what you get. YOU GET WHAT YOU FUCKING DESERVE."

Arthur pulled out the gun, shooting Murray in the head.

The audience ran screaming in terror.

Arthur laughed to himself. Getting up, he shot Murray a second time in the chest

Sandy and the techs witnessed the horror firsthand. Sandy ran out onto the stage.

"Arthur." Sandy screamed.

Arthur walked up to the camera.

"Goodnight, and always remember. That's life."

Arthur was promptly tackled by security.

#joker arthur fleck #joker x reader #arthur fleck x reader #arthur fleck x oc #joker x oc #the woman in velvet

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conorkennedy · 4 years

Text

Lil Uzi Vert & Playboi Carti: The Role of Leaked Media, Cult Audiences and Memetic Content to Generate Hype in the Internet Age

In the age of over-saturation of media thanks to the internet, how does someone new stand out? If people like Virgil Abloh and Nigo have shown us anything, hype is what creates the aristocracy of what’s cool. More importantly though, how does one keep hype and attention on oneself or a brand, when the internet tends to fixate on something new every week.

In the wake of the Soundcloud Era of hip hop (2015-2018), only 2 artists have seemed to sustain relevancy. XXXTentacion and Lil Peep have passed, Kodak Black and 6ix9ine are locked up and many others have lost their relevancy within hip hop and pop culture, sans 21 Savage and Denzel Curry. Lil Uzi Vert and Playboi Carti have maintained their significance within popular hip-hop culture. They have not only have sustained their hype but expanded it to general audiences.

This is largely due to the presence of the large cult audiences of both artists. Cult artists keep their hype alive in-between releases, via the creation of internet memes. Memes spread like a virus across the internet and keep artists trending during droughts of publicity. Which is incredible considering both artists are known for keeping a relatively low profile among the press and social media.

Carti and Uzi are able to cultivate these large cult followings through their eccentric personalities. However, their use of ‘snippets’ to tease their audience about the creation or imminent release of new music is not without its effect. These short clips of music, commonly known as ‘snippets’, are the premiere of new and unreleased music on an artists’ Instagram Live livestreams in short clips, usually under a minute or thirty seconds long. This practice would help foster cult audience members as fans would record and share them to other fans via online forums and social media fan pages.

Lil Uzi Vert is infamous for this practice and often accompanies his snippets with his near signature dance sequences, such as the case with ‘Futsal Shuffle 2020’, ‘New Patek’ and ‘Like Me (Myron)’. Which only make his snippets more iconic to fans and causal viewers alike. Some snippets are released or leaked as full songs, such as ‘Futsal Shuffle 2020’ and ‘New Patek’, while others live in infamy as never seeing the light of day, like ‘Lotus’. And if years pass with no release or mention of the snippet, fans can only hope for a leak of the full song, such as the case with Kanye West and Jay Z’s ‘Living So Italian’, driving demand for leaked music to skyrocket to please fans.

The memetic content of both Lil Uzi Vert and Playboi Carti is largely fuelled by each artists’ aura of mystique surrounding them and their sophomore studio albums “Eternal Atake” and “Whole Lotta Red”. The fanatic obsession with these albums then inflames the infatuation of fans with leaked material from their favourite artists. On prominent websites where leaked material is collected and shared, like [REDACTED], Uzi and Carti are amongst the most prolific with hundreds of songs leaked on the websites. These leaked songs then spread to more mainstream websites like Youtube and Soundcloud, where a greater amount of fans can find and listen to them. This has led to awkward moments at live shows. Where Carti or Uzi will perform unreleased material to a crowd that will sing along to every lyric.

youtube

These leaks can then transcend cult fanbases of both artists through the creation of memes, both about and surrounding leaked music. This is best exemplified in the popularity of Playboi Carti and Yung Nudy’s “Pissy Pamper/Kid Cudi”. Which became one of the most popular songs of 2019, without a release, thanks to the backing of meme accounts on Twitter and Instagram. These accounts would use the song as a backing track to a variety of comedic psychedelic imagery. The song would also be continuously propelled to the forefront of Spotify’s “Viral Charts” despite never being officially released. The song would be randomly uploaded by random users and fans, gain popularity and reach the viral chart, where it would then be removed by Spotify. “Kid Cudi” would push Carti into mainstream pop culture. As the song, memes about the song, his sophomore album “Whole Lotta Red”, as well as hype for the album in general would gain Carti more exposure to a greater audience and attention in the press. Despite his only official release being a 40 second feature on Tyler, the Creator’s “IGOR”.

The same would happen with Lil Uzi Vert, although without a hit leaked song. Hype for both of these artists have sustained, even without major releases or the press coverage that comes with them. Although unintended for Uzi, Carti has used this strategy for each of his releases. Initially gaining hype in the underground in around 2014 for the “Red” Tape and later in 2015 would officially release the song “Broke Boi”. Playboi Carti would have his fans begging for his debut mixtape and his fans scratching their heads, wondering how he hadn’t lost momentum amongst a sea of new and exciting talent. This hype would build until 2017 when Carti would drop his self-titled debut tape, with smash hits like “Magnolia” and “wokeuplikethis*”, as well as fan favourites like “Flex” and “Location”, to critical acclaim.

Marketing strategies such as these are not entirely new. Back in 2008, before the release of “Tha Carter 3″, Lil Wayne would release “The Leak”, a compilation of leaked music that was recorded during the C3 sessions to build buzz for the project. This strategy would prove successful as Tha Carter 3 would sell over one million copies in its first week of release. The last hip hop album to do so until Drake’s “Views” in 2016.

Within the age of media over-saturation, thanks to the internet, the power to grab people’s attention for a long period of time, leaked media, help to feed a hungry core fanbase is unmatched in generating hype for a project or artist.

#playboi carti #liluzivert #hip hop #hip hop leaks #social media marketing #rap

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nixniivalis · 4 years

Note

♦ // teach shawn how to slow dance, neraine :|

Acts of Intimacy

♦ : Slow dancing

|| @mainevcnt ||

Shawn talked a lot. Words flew out of his mouth like they were going out of style. In the past ten hours since she had met him Neraine learned he was very good at talking. Standing on the sideline, running commentary as she taught six-foot-and-some-pocket-change guys a box step. She had to tell him to spit out his gum, twice. He was a fighter, a man with bloody knuckles who put his foot in other people’s faces for a living. It was a real pity he didn’t go into comedic improv, Shakespearean theater, or Broadway. He couldn’t do movies but he was born for the stage. Shawn needed a crowd. He thrived, survived off the energy of an audience. His charisma was natural, his gesture animated, and his confidence unmatchable. No shame, no fear, only a desperate need for the spotlight. However, theater required teamwork and Shawn was too competitive. He was champion, heartbreaker, the greatest of all time-- the ‘wrestling’ worked for him. Appropriate fuel for his arrogance.

The gymnasium laid in low light. Everyone cleared-out twenty, forty minutes ago. The building otherwise empty but for a janitorial staff vacuuming the halls of the performance center. In the room over, Neraine heard the sound of weights hitting the floor. Some other soul getting their late night reps in. Celia put her hands on her hips. The shadows casted odd angles on his face. She lifted an eyebrow, waiting for Shawn to run out of steam. It took a second, all goofy grins, pure charm with golden blonde hair and bright blue eyes. The magic lost on her unimpressed stare.

Shawn ran his mouth, yes, yes, he knew how to dance, he could do a box step in his sleep. What about a do-si-do? He can pole dance and he was sure to rub it in that she couldn’t. Of course, Shawn preformed all these movies, as silly, ridiculous, or raunchy as they were. Hips gyrations and flailing arms spoke of a well-coordinated man. He had body awareness and a seamless grace. He’d be an easy student if he’d shut-up.

“Are you done?” Neraine demanded. “I don’t have all night.”

“Yes, yes, please, go ahead,” Shawn replied, bowing to her with a flourish, gesturing for her to bestow her wisdom upon him.

She smirked, corner of her lip upturning. Neraine offered her hand to Shawn, palm upturned. He seized it in his own and slipped his arm around her waist, yanking her close. His grin was pure cheese, teeth, lifted eyebrows, a burning smolder to melt the hearts of tasteless women the world over. Shawn spun her around into a quick-skip step and jaunted them around the gymnasium. Big smile, singing some unrhythmic song as he swept her into the lively dance. Neraine choked on laughter, mouth pressed thin and breathing out her nose hard. Neraine twisted under his arm, spinning out, slowing their movement. She put her foot down, forced Shawn to a stand still. Neraine pulled him back and he shuffled into position this time. His palm polite on her waist and her hand scooped into his. Back straight, all prim and proper.

“Is it out of your system?” Neraine asked him. Shawn nodded, biting his lip, and Neraine could see the physical effort needed to reign in his smart remark. He was stiff through the shoulders, all hard lines and tension. The uncertain, nervousness, of a man who might be out of his depth despite talking like he was an olympic swimmer-- just a little. It’s not like she’s won professional competitions doing this.

Neraine interlaced their fingers. Lips parted, and gaze softened, she turned to watch their hands. The intricate, delicate movements of knuckles and digits, tangled, rising, falling. Neraine hummed, vague and old tunes, light, fleeting as memories. The leitmotif of a ballet from her childhood, hidden in the corps, a little girl dressed as an egg blue fairy. Beyond the sway and twisted of their arms. Neraine stepped into him. Lead him into an undefined step, she moved him. Capturing the idea of an audience in rapt attention to a romantic ballad. The awkward wedding shuffle of people who thought they understood a waltz. All emotion to supplant their technical failure. Or, at least, Shawn staring at her like she was nuts. It was all layers, masks, games, artificially generated feelings, pure expression.

“It’s not about moving yourself,” Neraine murmured. She wound her arm around his shoulder, resting her cheek against his collarbone. “You need to learn to move someone else.”

She parted from him, captured both of his hands. This time she guided him back into the waltz position. A comfortable, but not distant, ways apart. His hand now on her opposite hip and Neraine holding him. She stepped into Shawn off her left foot. He tripped on her toes but with gentle coaxing and some firm verbal commands she talked him into the stride. It was all reversed, backwards for him and she saw him churning his brain to flip instinct. She guided him into long steps --not too long-- and a rise-fall, with the beat she muttered beneath her breath.. Worked them into the proper clip for the dance. Pivot on your toes, be lighter, you’re stomping.

“I thought I was supposed to lead--” Shawn protested.

“And let you ruin my dance?” Neraine quipped in return. “I don’t think so.”

Despite this protest she lifted her hand and Shawn spun her beneath his arm. Neraine reset their position, letting him lead this time. She guided him through the flourishes, the competition winning pivots, and all the fancy tricks not necessarily in the canon. A sweep with her draped over his arm, she didn’t need to teach him the lift. Then the elegant finale, now parted he bowed to her and she curtsied like she wasn’t in yoga pants. Neraine straightened, catching her breath and rolling out her shoulders. She eyed Shawn, the air conditioner clicked on, cold air struck her dry lips. Blood stricken down his face, red, red, crimson, and coating the white ring mat. The phone screen lighting the dark back hallway like a beacon. The corporate assistant on lunch break chattering about who Neraine just talked back to. Neraine averted her gaze.

“That’s enough for tonight,” She said, jaw setting. She passed Shawn and picked-up her bag from beside the gym door. She slung it over her shoulders and glanced back towards him, “See you tomorrow.”

The door swung closed behind her, groaning on the hinge. Neraine’s footsteps echoed down the tile halls. A forty minute ride home on longstrips of interstates on her mind. She emerged out the back and walked around the building. Past the well-shaped shrubs and into the rear parking lot. That morning she had parked her bike beneath a cedar tree. The streetlights burned white, casting glowing circles of moths and static. Hot summer night, sweat stricken down her back as she zipped-up her jacket. Neraine mounted, hand resting on the throttle. She heaved a sigh, it’d been a long day.

#Anonymous #❉ Destiny's Path┋IC #❉ La rêverie┋Verse: Modern #❉ Pests┋Asks #neraine: is totally okay being Emotionally Close and Romantic as part of a preformance but is completely incapable of handing an Emotion #when outside of a dance #me: you dweeb #idk if i wrote shawn right #but i hope i got his vibe

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werewolfdracomalfoy · 6 years

Text

BFU s5 e6

The Haunting of Hannah Williams:

(nice title)

Pros:

that montage in the very beginning with Shane yelling and the cuts after each number- that’s some good shit right there

house call???

“Prove once and for all”

a psychic??

the noise within five fucking seconds of being in the house

watching the results with Hannah

“looks like that dresser has eyes” really Shane??

Hannah freaking out about Matt’s dad made me cry like a baby both times I watched this

off camera grandpa part

spooky rain

and then the spirit shushes him?!?!

seeing a ghost by your bed in the middle of the night and being annoyed about and then rolling over to go back to sleep is such a fucking mood

the ovilus thing

this is on here twice because it gives a lot of interaction that I am a fan of

Shane calling the spirit a dork in the super aggressive way that usually only comes from children who don’t know any other harsh/bad words to call someone

“do you fear the tall man?”

Shane’s scream/growl thing

both Ryan and AJ dying of laughter when he does this

the “Shit” like yes what a mood

also the comedic timing of that spirit to respond like that

“Well Fuck that” (I included the capital ‘f’)

Shane peering into the attic because he is a giant of a man

Ryan picking on Shane’s size

I like Alix’s name

“Scratch the big guy!”

the little switch when Shane said what’s that and Ryan said maybe the wood creaking. how cute

Shane says “has the haunt begun” and I hear my mother laughing from downstairs in this very moment

but also, this was funny

every time Ryan says “Well, guess I’ll just go fuck myself,” it makes me think of cr1tkal and I love Charlie a lot

the creepy little girl has a “calming influence”

LITTLE CHILDREN: DEMONS IN DISGUISE

“I hate the way I feel in this room”

also, I don’t really believe Shane is a demon, but the way he says very good when AJ is talking about the old spirit that presents itself as a human has major demon!Shane vibes

shuffling footsteps and dRAGGING SOMETHING??!!!??!

Matt and Ryan and AJ all hear a woman speaking or laughing or something

“It’s messing with your brain”

“No, they love it, cause they’re feeding into their energy”

Shane- “Let’s feed it”

this is the part where the spirit fucks with Ryan through the ovilus and I love and hate this part

Shane points out that he has goosebumps and saying “they’re involuntary!” like a nerd

“do you hate Ryan?” “no”

“I respect the method”

“so any demons can just come down and slither into my heart”

the cuts back and forth while they’re getting ready for bed is some good shit

“yeah, we probably didn’t do much” no shit Ryan, you probably didn’t do anything

Cons:

alarm system thing is weird but idk, I don’t think it’s that spooky??

the transition to the discussion of the little girl is very awkward

the ovilus thing

this is on here twice because it sounds extra creepy and I do not like that part

why are there a few random switches between normal camera and night vision

“that’s the thing. I don’t feel like there’s a little girl here”

well fuck that with a capital f

Jackson doesn’t want to talk about Matilda

is that clip a clip of her actual son curled up on the kitchen floor?

seeing people in his room a lot

there are hands here? AJ please don’t explain but also explain

I hate all of the images they use for Matilda with the exception of the one Jackson drew

the girl with the hair in her face- pretty sure she shows up twice

the graphic of a little girl with pigtails and that weird/creepy blurry smiley face

why are you reaching for a confirmed ghost of a little girl?

how is this key thing a confirmation of what the girl’s intentions are? this is still a source of mystery for me

also, Hannah, please shorten the way you tell these stories

or please edit the way these parts are presented

why would the BFU guys be able to fix this? has she ever watched anything else they’ve done?

if anything they just rile up spirits with the yelling and whatnot

do NOT compare this house to the Sallie house I beg of you

also please go back to the Sallie house

sleeping in different rooms

nothing happens while they sleep, step up your game ghosts ghouls and demons

please wear glasses Ryan

Hannah doesn’t immediately move out like please leave

the statement about mirrors being a portal and I turn immediately to my right and stare into the dual giant closet door mirrors right next to my bed )))

overall 8.5/10

#buzzfeed unsolved #sometimes i review things

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timeywimeygalaxy · 6 years

Text

Pump those breaks!

Summary- This is a like a small ficlet based on this post by @ethospathoslogan (i hope you don’t mind me tagging you in this! >.<)

Pairings: Platonic LAMP, though hints at Logince at the end.

Warnings: Fluff?, Deceit is in this too not in a bad way though!

A/N: I tried... I really wanted to write this when I saw it I tried to write it as a comedic piece, I’m still a bit rusty with my writing skills after like years of not doing it so I hope y’all like it! ^.^

Grabbing his car keys and heading out the door, Thomas stopped in his tracks at seeing Roman and Virgil squabbling over who got the front seat.

“It’s my turn princey! You had it last time!”

“But you kept kicking the back of my seat, so it didn’t count!”

They were getting rough with each other trying to drag the other back from the car door handle.

Not again. Thomas sighed to himself

“Guys c’mon!” Thomas’s sudden voice made both sides stop and stare at him wide-eyed, he had to admit he held back a giggle at the picture before him, both Virgil and Roman had each other in a headlock ready to throw the other down to the ground.

“Look you two, place nice!” Thomas looked between them both ”Virgil’s right Roman you called shot gun last time so it’s his turn now and no kicking the chair” he held a finger to both of them giving them a stern look before walking around the other side of the car, once he was gone from there line of vision Virgil grinned and stuck his tongue out at the creative side who shoved him with his hip, Virgil shoved back but before another scuffle could break out Thomas’s voice cut through the air again “don’t start! you going to get in?”

Glaring at each other they both obliged their host.

---

Driving down the highway, Thomas glanced at his mirror to see Patton and Logan pop into view clipping their seatbelts in the back “yay! A family road trip!” the fatherly trait clapped his hands eagerly Thomas grinned at him from the mirror and pressed a button causing the windows to roll down letting in a soft breeze, as a silence fell between them all for a few minutes they all just looked out the window enjoying the scenery passing them by, after about half hour of this though

“We need some tunes it’s too quiet!” Roman whined leaning over Logan who tried to back up he held his hand up trying to push Roman back from being his personal space invader, over the noise Thomas could hear Patton “Sit down kiddo! Safety first!” whilst glancing in the mirror he could see his morality trying to pull Roman back down, but Roman fought against him as he tried to connect his phone’s aux lead to the car stereo whilst accidentally bumping Thomas’s gear stick arm.

“Ooh sorry,” he said with not much of an apologetic tone

“Roman! Sit down!” Thomas scolded trying to keep his eyes on the road whilst also dealing with what was happening beside him.

“Sit down, back to your corner princey!” Virgil twisted around and gave a mischievous grin clearly still smug about getting the front seat, Roman glared at him as Logan’s hands wrapped around the creative’s side shoulders finally pulling him back, he fell back into his seat as Logan pulled his seatbelt over and clipped him back in securely.

---

“What you got there lo?” Patton asked looking at Logan’s hands curiously, he blushed slightly as he slowly opened his hands to reveal a jar of crofters, Roman’s eyes grew wide “you bought crofters!”

“Hey, be careful with food in the car please” Thomas reminded them.

“I will be careful Thomas I promise” Logan replied taking out a spoon from his pocket.

“Dude you’re just going to- “ Virgil started but his question was already answered when Logan spooned a huge bite of the jelly into his mouth

“Oh, okay yep guess you are” the anxious side rolled his eyes and put his headphones on slouching down into his seat again.

“Say Logan, you got a second spoon in there by any chance” Roman asked smiling at the jar the logical trait was now holding quite protectively as he shovelled the blueberry jelly into his mouth making some inhumane noises that Patton shuffled away slightly looking a bit worried at his fellow side, “no” Logan hiccupped.

Virgil glanced over at Thomas whose hands were starting to grip the steering wheel tightly.

“Could I maybe have like a tiny…bit?” Roman inquired leaning towards the jar in Logan’s hand he clutched it to his chest protectively “if you wanted jelly you should have bought your own Roman” he said this not breaking eye contact with him whilst eating another spoonful, Logan was now easing away from Roman as much as he could not see that he was squishing Patton further into the window.

“uh Logan-“ Patton breathed

“Play nice guys” Thomas’s breath hitched, his grip on the wheel tightening as he looked over at Virgil who was now watching the scene unfold.

“Please specs? C’mon isn’t sharing caring…or something like that” Roman whined as he reached for the jar sitting tightly in Logan’s hand he moved the jar further from Roman’s reach, his seat belt, unfortunately, restricting his movements now pretty much squishing Patton completely in the tiny area of space he had left, Logan was now holding the jar above his head as Roman was reaching for it almost crushing all three sides in the process.

“Get your own!” Logan yelled

“But it’s just a spoonful!” Roman

Thomas’s grip tightened.

“Hey get off me!” Patton squeaked under Logan’s body weight as each of them was now kicking as multiple limbs were now flailing around the car still being restricted by the seat belts the were tethered under.

“Please calm down all of you!” Thomas tried to shout above the ruckus that was going down in the back seat of his car.

“Thomas tell him to get off my crofters!” Logan wailed

“Thomas tell him to share!” Roman retorted

“Stop kicking my chair!” Virgil screamed back twisting around to face the others to see Patton under Logan’s back and Roman leaning over both trying to reach for the jar that now Logan was extremely close to spilling.

Is this what a stress headache felt like? Thomas wondered to himself with his patience wearing extremely thin.

“Pat- no virg- Lo-“ He was growing more frustrated, why did he have so many sides!

“Guys! Seriously you need to pump the breaks!” he gave up remembering their names at this point, his knuckles were white now.

They weren’t listening to him.

Hearing everyone’s voices shouting over each other he finally snapped.

“I WILL TURN THIS CAR AROUND IF YOU FOUR DON’T STOP NOW!” Thomas shouted his voice breaking slightly.

Silence fell between them all instantly for a moment before a small ‘pop’ was heard in the car.

“Well isn’t this nice” a silky voice came from the back seat as all five of them started screaming in unison, the car skidded slightly as Thomas manoeuvred his rear view mirror to see Deceit who was dramatically draping himself over the three sides sitting in the back, lying over all of them his head on Roman’s lap and his legs on Patton’s lap, he was clearly enjoying the chaos that was ensuing around him of screams and sudden movements as Roman and Logan’s bodies fought against seat belts, the car screeched to a sudden halt sending deceit tumbling to the floor and all of them lurching forward in their seats.

As the dust settled outside the car, everyone was silent for a few moments in shock.

“Is everyone ok?” Patton looked around with a face full of concern adjusting his glasses that had fallen during the sudden stop, he helped Deceit up and propped him on his lap as he hissed at Roman who glared at him, donning a smug expression he cuddled into the fatherly trait a slight blush creeping up his scales.

“Guys you need to learn to not do stuff like this especially when I’m driving!” Thomas sighed running his hand through his hair exasperated at the sides whom he loved so, an awkward silence fell between all of them, the sides all glanced at each other sharing the same expression. guilt.

“We- we’re sorry Thomas, we know we can be too much sometimes and we need to be more aware of how we make you feel” Roman said regally that Virgil looked slightly surprised but the others nodded along even Deceit as they all agreed, Thomas nodded and smiled “thank you, you all need to look after each other as well” he looked at Deceit when saying this who gave a half smile in response and buried his face further into Patton’s chest, Thomas gave them all a smile at them understanding, they all sat staring at each other for a moment taking in Thomas’s words before he finally spoke again “okay now that that’s settled shall we get on our way?” there were murmurs of agreement as he started the engine up again and pulled away.

On the road again it was unbearably silent once more, Deceit left since he wasn’t needed anymore also there wasn’t really a safe seat for him in the car Thomas glanced in the mirror to see Roman looking very solemn, head leaning on his hand gazing out the window, Thomas nudged Virgil and nodded towards the stereo, Virgil understood grabbing the aux lead he connected it to Thomas’s phone and “under the sea” from the little mermaid blared out through the speakers, he saw that all of them perked up upon hearing some good old Disney and once Thomas started belting out some of it himself they all soon joined in.

---

Arriving at their destination, Thomas turned off the engine as Virgil silently nudged him and nodded to the back seat, looking around he had to stop himself and Patton from squealing “Awwh!” out loud they both beamed upon seeing Roman and Logan sleeping soundly, Logan’s head leaning on Roman’s shoulder as Roman’s head fitted neatly on top of the logical trait’s, his glasses askew and slipped slightly down his nose, Logan’s mouth was hanging open slightly still stained by the Crofters jam he had eaten as Roman’s held a small smile, Virgil quietly got out his camera and took a picture of the two of them to show them and tease them later.

#thomas sanders #sanders sides #patton sanders #logan sanders #virgil sanders #roman sanders #ts fic #ts fanfiction #deceit sanders #sympathetic deceit #tw deceit #roadtrip #Sanderssidesfic #lamp #calm #platonic lamp

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westphotolukedas · 4 years

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Production Journal - The Farewell

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As a creative of British Asian origin, I am attentive of the perceptions of the Eastern community within Western mainstream culture. Crazy Rich Asians (2018) was an uplifting rom com that limited Caucasian actors to background fodder and reserved leading roles for those of Asian descent. Although glossy in its approach, it was a landmark victory for ethnic minorities in the film industry who have long been typecast to portray dated stereotypes. It suggested that we could be charismatic, comedic and above all desirable. Awkwafina is a rapper, comedian and writer who has successfully transitioned to acting. Her character Goh Peik Lin is a bleached blonde version of her gregarious stage personae. In The Farewell (2019) she plays another feasible derivative of herself as aspiring writer Billi Wang.

There was no shortage of story beats in the film that resonated with my own narrative. As well as a protagonist played by an actor with a similar background, the writer and director Lulu Wang is a Chinese American eager to accurately depict her upbringing. In the opening scene Wang walks the streets of New York while speaking to her grandmother on the phone. She confidently exclaims that she is wearing a hat for the cold weather, even though she is not. In response, her grandmother says she is at home when she is actually at the hospital for an appointment. ‘The back-and-forth makes for an elegant volley of disinformation; if love is kinetic, it’s best to keep things moving,’ wrote Chris Gayomali in his review of the film. It sets up the dynamics of the plot that eb and flow between familial ties with cultural expectations. In Chinese traditional it is regarded as moral to withhold the severity of a medical diagnosis from an elderly relative, even if the outcome is certain death. This clashes with the sentimentality of American born Wang as she struggles with the situation. In an emotive exchange, her mother asks her to conceal her feelings when she blurts, ‘Chinese people have a saying - when people get cancer, they die. But it’s not the cancer that kills them, it’s the fear.’ (Gayomali, 2019) (Ide, 2019)

Anna Franquesa Solano (Born 1984) is the cinematographer responsible for The Farewell’s (2019) sensitive visuals. After graduating with a degree in Art History from the Universitat de Barcelona, she later studied film in New York. Her other noteworthy projects include I Don’t Like Cinnamon (2009), Silent Notes (2020) and The Normal People (2020). To breech the fourth wall, the characters walk directly into shot in slow motion during select scenes. While centred in the frame they stare at the audience as if in a dreamlike trance. This picturesque device references the Asian understanding of the passage of time. Buddhist thought encourages its practitioners to bring attention to the present moment and cast aside a preoccupation with the past and future. Furthermore, Solano pays close attention to filling her frame with long, timely shots. In a heartwarming scene, Wang and her grandmother practise Tai Chi together. The differences between the characters are shown to be generational as well as cultural. Nineteen takes were attempted and it was nearly left on the cutting room floor. My interest in the footage is its semi-autobiographical nature with two actors playing versions of themselves. Although there is a degree of scripting, the director captures genuine emotion by allowing any candid spontaneity to play out. As a result, it is equal parts documentary and constructed. (Weber, 2020)

Summary

There are certainly media codes that I will recreate from The Farewell (2019) and I am hopeful to represent its semi-autobiographical aspects - setting up a situation and then letting it resolve on film appeals to me. My interview is not purely documentary because I need to extract enough footage for the project and make it appear real. My email conversation with Teemu Hupli also covered some of the spiritual themes in this blog post.

‘In another tutorial I mentioned that there have been arguments that the Western conception of time has tended to be that time is linear - that it moves in one direction from past to present to future - and this is essentially what Hollywood conventions of continuity are designed to represent illusionistically. You can find this kind of conception particularly strongly in the philosophy of Hegel, who saw history as a progressive movement towards an ultimate goal of what he calls ‘spirit’ gaining freedom (you can try to read more about this by researching Hegel’s Philosophy of History, but it is heavy going reading, and I would perhaps suggest not spending too much time on it right now). More importantly, however, it was therefore interesting that your work seemed to derive inspiration from Japanese filmmaking. It has been suggested that the Japanese, or more broadly, Oriental conceptions of time are less linear than the Western notion, and therefore it stands to reason that some films originating from those areas construct different ‘pictures' of time too. This would be quite a fitting connection if your project ends up playing with questions of what is ‘genuine' thinking and talking in the here and now of ‘natural time’ so to speak; what is rehearsed, memorised and edited acting of such thinking and talking; what is continuous shooting and what is not, etc.’

Production Notes

The cyclical nature of Eastern philosophy was not investigated in the final cut of my piece. The voice over covers events that are not necessarily linear; however, there is a progressive property to the clips that expresses a beginning, middle and end. This is sealed with Natalie giving advice to her audience before switching a television off at the end. In post-production, I made attempts to shuffle the order of events but my experience as a filmmaker made this edit confused and unconvincing. The dream sequences from The Farewell (2019) were appealing too but I was not proficient enough with my knowledge of camera techniques to present my version of this storytelling device.

In several of the scenes of my film, Natalie and I are playing versions of ourselves in a similar fashion to Awkwafina’s portrayal of Wang. To film the section where we meet at the front door, I placed the camera in the kitchen and shot through the doorway. I was satisfied with this frame within a frame and then I left the flat to re-enter on cue. The events that occur on screen were not planned or scripted, and on some level, are representative of our real life interactions as friends. Following this, I found another shot in the living room that enabled us to speak to each other and remain seated on sofas. During an early screening of the project, I was given feedback that the burnt out window was distracting. I was not able to reshoot the scene and I feel that the way that it compartmentalises the composition is appropriate - I am respectful of her space as a performer that she may need to express herself. The chatting and laughing between us are spontaneous acts. She is actually showing me the Shakespeare script that we discussed beforehand and the enthusiasm is sincere. In the final cut, the voice over of her talking about improvisation seemed appropriately matched to this moment.

My initial proposal foresaw outside scenes shot on location - Natalie walking, on public transport and crowds. These were never produced due to time restrictions. As a result, the film comes across as more stagnant by being restricted to the confines of her flat. The scenes above contribute some spark to the footage and it would have been interesting to see how she engaged with strangers, other friends and family.

Bibliography

Ide, W. (2019). The Farewell Review - Beautifully Bittersweet Chinese-American Family Drama. The Guardian. Available from www.theguardian.com/film/2019/sep/21/the-farewell-review-lulu-wang-awkwafina [Accessed 10/04/2020]

Gayomali, C. (2019). How The Farewell Director Lulu Wang Stayed True to Herself. GQ. Available from www.gq.com/story/lulu-wang-the-farewell-interview [Accessed 10/04/2020]

Weber, J. (2020). The Farewell - 10 Things We Learned from The Director's Commentary. Screen Rant. Available from www.screenrant.com/the-farewell-things-facts-trivia-learned-directors-commentary [Accessed 10/04/2020]

Final Cut, Manual Mode, 25 fps, WB Natural Light

#wallpagescreen #westphoto #annafranquesasolano

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missaligrace · 7 years

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Teach me how to say goodbye :’(

Fourth and final show for me in Moscow. And of course I loved it. This production is so consistently good. Everything about it is lush and amazing. I’ll never get over the sets, the lighting, the costumes, the makeup, the flawlessness of the stage direction. (Also I’m sure people disagree with me here but I have seen a LOT of theater and this has been one of the best-looking and most lush shows I’ve ever seen.)

Also Ivan must have taken drugs or maybe had just a cup of coffee beforehand because a miracle of miracles happened!! He actually seemed to care! He didn’t just shuffle around the stage looking mean. He had inflection in his voice. He interacted with the cast. Like during Sink mit Mir, he approached Alfred quickly with a hand outstretched, but Alfred shook his head and looked terrified, and Ivan immediately softened his approach and the look on his face, like he was actually reading what the other cast members were doing. He was in super good voice and had some really amazing notes that he actually put work into. I am so proud of him. The bar is set so low for you Ivan that I’m so impressed when you even try. :’) Good job my beautiful tall lad. If you didn’t look so freaking good onstage I’d say it was time for you to move on (which he will be doing this summer).

Also I didn’t really care for Irena. She played a very sexual Sarah, and while maybe some people like it, I found myself not caring for the interpretation. She took the easy way out of a lot of notes. A few were really amazing and powerhouse, but overall it kind of felt lazy to me. Maybe it was just an off night? She was just quiet and sexual, and while Tanz is obviously about Sarah’s sexual awakening blah blah blah, it’s flat and boring just to make her a sexy girl the whole time and moan into her sponge and whisper all her lines to Alfred. Oh well.

I think people have already talked about Roman as Herbert? He was significantly less flamboyant than anyone I’ve seen. Maybe he was trying to do the Robert D Marx route and make Herbert more threatening and less of a purely comedic role. I think Marx got that down, but maybe Roman needs some work. At least Marx still managed to incorporate some humor while still being a more threatening Herbert. I’ll have to watch some clips of Roman to see if my opinion of him might change with other performances.

ARLTAN. Oh Arltan. I will kidnap you and make you be my sexy dance slave forever. You will dance to Carpe Noctem on our wedding night. And our prenup will say that you are never allowed to cut your hair or wear anything other than leather pants.

This production is SO solid. Even though I’m nitpicking, overall it’s one of the best productions I’ve ever seen of anything. I’ve heard rumors that the Vienna revival is going to be bringing over some Russian cast members, and if so, I will sell my soul to be in Vienna this winter. PLEASE Rostik and Alexander. No Ivan. He’s tired and he already did a good run in Berlin. And PLEASE no Mark in Vienna. Please please please.

Goodbye Бал Вампиров. You have amazed me beyond words. You deserve all the attention and applause and much more.

#tdv #бал вампиров #Иван Ожогин #mark seibert #robert d marx #rostik #Ростислав Колпаков #Ирина Вершкова #Александр Казьмин #Арлтан Анджаев #tanz der vampire #okay did i freaking forget anyone else #oh yeah #Ром��н Графов #okay now THAT'S everyone

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immedtech · 7 years

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AI film editor can cut scenes in seconds to suit your style

AI has won at Go and done a few other cool things, but so far it's been mighty unimpressive at harder tasks like customers service, Twitter engagement and script writing. However, a new algorithm from researchers at Stanford and Adobe has shown it's pretty damn good at video dialogue editing, something that requires artistry, skill and considerable time. The bot not only removes the drudgery, but can edit clips using multiple film styles to suit the project.

First of all, the system can organize "takes" and match them to lines of dialogue from the script. It can also do voice, face and emotion recognition to encode the type of shot, intensity of the actor's feelings, camera framing and other things. Since directors can shoot up to 10 takes per scene (or way more, in the case of auteurs like Stanley Kubrick), that alone can save hours.

However, the real power of the system is doing "idiom" editing based on the rules of film language. For instance, many scenes start with a wide "establishing" shot so that the viewer knows where they are. You can also use leisurely or fast pacing, emphasize a certain character, intensify emotions or keep shot types (like wide or closeup) consistent. Such idioms are generally used to best tell the story in the way the director intended.

All the editor has to do is drop their preferred idioms into the system, and it will cut the scene to match automatically, following the script. In an example shown (below), the team selected "start wide" to establish the scene, "avoid jump cuts" for a cinematic (non-YouTube) style, "emphasize character" ("Stacey") and use a faster-paced performance.

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The system instantly created a cut that was pretty darn watchable, closely hewing to the comedic style that the script was going for. The team then shuffled the idioms, and it generated a "YouTube" style that emphasized hyperactive pacing and jump cuts.

What's best (or worst, perhaps for professional editors) is that the algorithm was able to assemble the 71-second cut within two to three seconds and switch to a completely different style instantly. Meanwhile, it took an editor three hours to cut the same sequence by hand, counting the time it took to watch each take.

The system only works for dialogue, and not action or other types of sequences. It also has no way to judge the quality of the performance, naturalism and emotional beats in take. Editors, producers and directors still have to examine all the video that was shot, so AI is not going to take those jobs away anytime soon. However it looks like it's about ready to replace the assistant editors who organize all the materials, or at least do a good chunk of their work.

More importantly, it could remove a lot of the slogging normally required to edit, and let an editor see some quick cuts based on different styles. That would leave more time for fine-tuning, where their skill and artistic talent are most crucial.

Source: Stanford

- Repost from: engadget Post

#ITlive #engadget #AI film editor can cut scenes in seconds to suit your style

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justanotherme23 · 4 years

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My Deep Learning Final

It’s 6:00 on a Sunday in quarantine and the Tinder matches have stopped responding. I’m lonely and bored; it’s time to share with the world the single greatest comedic achievement in my life. My Deep Learning final. It’s a long story, but I hope that someone besides me finds it as fucking funny as I do. I’m not the greatest writer, but we’ll give it a go!

I signed up for a class called Deep Learning. To make things simple, it’s an image processing class for crazy smart graduate students (i.e. not me). We write computer programs that identify the locations of objects in a picture. With our programs you could feasibly split porn vids into individual images and count how many unique penises are present in a video. You could even identify how close people’s mouths were to the penises to determine how many blowjobs there are! But that’s just one application

Once upon a semester’s eve, I realized I was failing and the only assignment left was the final project. I needed to get a 90 or above to pass. It was actually a really cool project. The teacher had created a video game comparable to Rocket League but with hockey instead of soccer, and minus the flying and crashing. Games were 2 players against 2 players, whoever scores the most goals in a two minute time limit wins. Students could work in teams, but I do school remotely and so worked by myself. Here’s a short clip of the environment.

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The students’ job is to make a team of computer players (one team each) that could drive the puck into the goal such that each player receives the video stream of the game as well as information describing the position of the player being controlled at each timestep. A player makes 1 decision that each step, or frame, of the game is played. We can tell a player to accelerate, break, steer, and do some other things. Then, this action is sent back to the game program to calculate the next step.

TL;DR it’s the same idea as if you were to control the car with a console controller, just represented as numbers and steps.

This is where things get ~hairy~

Players were going to be graded based upon their performances AGAINST OTHER STUDENTS’ PLAYERS. This scared the shit out of me. Even worse, each player’s program could only run for 1 tenth of a second on a CPU.

That.

Is.

Bonkers.

Deep learning programs require a cubic hecton of processing power to do anything meaningful. The whole entire semester we had been making large programs on expensive computers to accomplish tasks similar to the final. These programs require GPU’s, generally used for playing the latest and greatest Call of Duty or mining Bitcoin – they can get quite expensive and sometimes hard to come by.

Asking a CPU to run the same program is like giving a SpaceX rocket to a 5 year old. It’s going to take them a long ass time to figure out which knobs to turn to start the thing up while they neglect safety requirements for literally anything else running around it at the time the program launches. A program that takes days on a GPU takes years on a CPU.

The time limit meant our programs had to be less than a tenth the size of what we had been learning on throughout the semester. This was reportedly a result of the Teacher not being able to find an applicable computer for the final?? Rules are rules, and I knew there would be a huge drop in the performance of the program.

I nevertheless gave this final project all of my free time for a solid week. One morning I sat down with a full box of cereal in front of the computer. When I next stood up to go to bed, the box was empty. Yet this was all I had to show for my effort at the end of the week. The black dot running around the screen is the program’s prediction for the location of the puck.

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That sucks! The player couldn’t tell how to steer to hit the puck until it was very very close. It just kind of shuffled back and forth across the arena knowing what general direction to head in. I was depressed.

A few days before the final, the TA announced they would be holding a practice tournament. We could pit our players against each other before the due date to see how to make improvements. Here are the results. I was 3rd to last, doomed to fail the class.

BUT THEN. Something clicked.

My results were horrible, yes; so were almost everyone else’s. Since the vast majority of goals were scored against only 3 players (myself included), the second placed player was MORE LIKELY TO NOT SCORE IN ANY GIVEN MATCH. That’s fantastic news.

Then I noticed something else while playing with position logic. The players and the puck always start from the same positions! Instead of abiding by the ideals of the class to use deep learning – as it obviously wasn’t working for all except one team – I decided to use an … alternative solution.

Let’s say you’ve started living in a new city and need to get to the nearest Starbucks. You look it up on the look-up phone and find the route from your home to the Starbucks. Then you remember the route. You use the route every morning to get coffee before work. You have memorized to take a right; go 2 steps forward; take a right; one step forward; left; then you’ve arrived. The only problem with this memorization scheme is what happens when you start one block off of where you live. Following the exact same steps leads you to the middle of fucking nowhere. So I made an assumption based on the fact that each player starts from the same position. ~The players can memorize their routes from a given starting position to the goal~.

This piece says if the player were to arrive at the exact listed position, perform a recorded set of actions.

A route to a player is simply a list of action that they take to get from point A to point B. The actions you see above are a stored list that describe exactly that. How to get from the starting position to the puck and from the puck to the goal.

There’s one other important assumption. The other players must not interfere. It was clear after seeing the preliminary results that everyone was stuck with their little players piddling around searching for the puck. So provided the goals were scored fast enough, I could assume the enemy players remained about in the spots they started! Here’s the resulting route. This route is valid both right after the game starts and right after a goal is scored, at which point the positions of everything reset.

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Now, I had no idea if this would work. If anything at all about my assumption was wrong, if the puck was slightly of place, if the other players don’t stay in the same spot, the plan would fail. It was midnight, an hour before the deadline, and this was the best solution I could come up with. But the next morning THIS HAPPENED

Not only did I get enough points to score some goals but I FAR AND AWAY BEAT EVERY SINGLE OTHER PLAYER IN THE TOURNAMENT. I completely undermined the intention of this final project with a solution that is technically an exploitation of the environment. It’s a fucking ridiculous solution that would not have worked if ANYTHING in the startup of the game had changed. Even rotating a player by the smallest amount would have completely ruined the plan but it WORKED FUCK YEAH!! NONE of the smart ass people in this class with all their effort could beat the most ridiculous gameplan imaginable! People commented on the post asking for how I won and I didn’t say anything out of fear I would be disqualified. I’ve not been able to tell anyone.

To whomever reads this, you are the only one who knows about the total extent of the ridiculousness of the situation. How many hours I spent trying to do the right thing. How I figured out the requirements were impossible. How this graduate level class – filled with geniuses who aren’t me – was unable to compete with this one simple trick to score goals fast. It is so far my greatest accomplishment in life and thinking of it will never not make me laugh. Thank you for listening 😊I hope you enjoyed it too!

#deeplearning graduateschool finals fuckyesthatsoveromfg

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jess-salt · 7 years

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Commedia Self Assessment 2

I am self assessing the scene in which Columbina is trying to get somebody, mainly Pantalone, to propose to Arlecchino, who is dressed as a girl.

What do you find most interesting about your physical performance?

I think that my gestures in this scene when i am trying to get someone to propose to Arlecchino as i am using big, over the top gestures which i think gets more people's attention on and off stage. I also think that my projection of voice in this scene and my tone of voice is quite comedic as, again, it is over the top as i am wanting to get people's attention. I think that these both are interesting as they're over the top and i think it also makes it entertaining to watch.

How could you experiment more with your movement?

I think that i could experiment with the way i stand as Columbina never stays still, i think that i could experiment with how i show that and what i am going to do when i have to stand still. I think that i could keep swaying my hips to to side and then play with my apron which would show that i am fidgeting as Columbina cant keep her whole body still and she like to be moving around.

What was good about your physicality?

I think that in this scene, my gestures and body language were good. As i have researched into Columbina and watched clips of people portraying her i think that it has given me some inspiration and i have developed that into the way that i portray her. I think that my body language was good as i have gotten into the habit of sticking out my bum and breasts as that's what Columbina did. I think that my gestures were good as they were over the top and they went with everything that i was saying and i think that they were comedic.

Have you remembered your blocking and movement?

I think that with the part of the scene where i use all of the space, i don't really need to remember any blocking i just have to make sure that i use a large space of it but for the parts where i do have blocking, for example at the end where Pantalone has proposed and Arlecchino has said yes i need to make sure that i am on the side which everyone is not so that i can pull Arlecchino aside to talk to him.

Do you use appropriate gestures and facial expressions? If so when where and how effective are they?

I think that, from the feedback that have been given, gestures i use effective as they are comedic and add to what i am saying. For example when i am saying how “beautiful” Arlecchino is and also when i say that he/she has “all the right curves in all the right places” the gestures which i add to that when i say it makes it more comedic.

What could be improved ‘even better if……’

I think that, from the feedback i have been given, i need to be more flirtatious with Arlecchino. Even though i am i need to be flirtatious with him so that it is very clear that i am. I also need to flirt with everyone on the stage not just Arlecchino as Columbina flirts with everybody.

Characterization

Are you using appropriate acting techniques?

I think i am as i am using my body language and my gestures to show how my character is feeling. I am also using them to make what i am saying more comedic. As i am wearing a mask i having to rely more on my body language and gestures to get across to the audience my feelings and to also to make it more comedic.

Is this an appropriate portrayal of the Character? (Think about Age; status; power in relationships; personality and attitudes).

I think that this is an appropriate portrayal as in this scene it is showing Columbina’s over the top side and i think that i am showing that Columbina is like this with my over the top gestures when i am trying to get someone to propose to Arlecchino. I think that my body language is also showing this when i am going up to the people in the audience asking them if they want to propose as i think that my body language is flirtatious and over the top.

Can you identify your levels of tension? Do you show your feelings physically?

I think that when i am trying to get Arlecchino out of the Sisters of Mercy through my body language and my gestures, you can tell that i am frustrated with him for not coming out so i have to drag him out. I think that throughout the scene my feelings come across very clear. Another example would be when Arlecchino is making demands and i have to pull him to one side to remind him that he isn't a woman to which he calls me a peasants and i think that through my body language and my gestures you can see that i am offended.

Is your character's objective clear in each scene? If so what is it?

In this scene my objective is to get someone to propose to Arlecchino. I think this is very clear as i am asking anyone and everyone if they want to propose to Arlecchino, i am even asking members of the audience if they want to marry Arlecchino. I think that throughout the scene my objective is very clear through my objectives, gestures and the things i say.

Is the acting technique appropriate to the style of the performance. Entrances/stance/exit/audience interaction?

I think that it is as when Commedia was performed in the 16th century they did audience interaction which me and Calhan do in this scene.

Do you use a range of emotions and actions used to meet your character's objective?

I think that i do as, inside i know that if this plan doesn't go well Isabella will be really mad and get me kicked out and fired. I think that, as i said before, throughout the scene my objective is clear as i am asking most people if they want to marry Arlecchino. I think that at the start is isn't as clear but when i start saying how beautiful he/she is and when i start asking people if they want to marry him/her my objective is made clear.

Do you react to other characters on stage?

Yes i do, i think i react to everyone on stage. I think that i do it the most when everyone is lining up to propose to Arlecchino i think that when each individual is proposing i am reacting to them all in a different way. I also react to Arlecchino through the scene, for example when he calls me a peasant and am offended and i lean back a bit and put my and on my heart to show that i am offended.

What could be improved ‘even better if……’

I think that when i first come onto the stage i could make my entrance bigger and over the top to make it more funny as my big entrance will be ruined by Arlecchino as he doesn't come out so i think that if i make my entrance bigger and more over the top it will be more comedic for when Arlecchino doesn't come out. I also think that i could use my body language more to show that i am flirting with everyone

Group performance

What elements of the scene/ performance worked well?

I think that we used the space well and effectively, we do this when people are coming from all doors of the set to come onto the stage when they hear that there is a beautiful woman wanting to get married and then even more people come on when they hear that she is rich. We also do this when we are all surrounding Dr Graziano when he is about to propose but then we all shuffle to surround Pantalone when he says he wants to propose.

What could the group improve on?

I think that we could improve on being on the stage at the right time and knowing our cues so that the scene runs more smooth and we none of us are confused as to when we need to come on. I think this because some people don't come onto the stage when they are supposed to and then they are confused as to when to come and then they keep rehearsing the mistake.

Was there anything about the performance of the scene which could be made even better?

I think the part where the people are cueing up to propose i think that to make it funnier that the people could be trying to push to the front so that they can get in there first. I also think that we could come closer together when we are surrounding Dr Graziano and Pantalone when they are going to propose.

If so how could we improved this?

I think that we all need to make sure when we come onto the stage and what line is their cue line. I also think that we need to go over that part of the scene and add more comedic parts such as the pushing into the line for the proposal and then being closer together and make sure people remember it.

Action plan

I need to work on my character stance and making sure that i am not standing still. I also need to work on my entrance, making it bigger and over the top. I think as a group we need to work on the scene and make sure that everyone knows what they are doing and when to come on.

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