#this footage is very choppy

[are-we-really-doing-this]

I come bearing last-minute gifts for Fred Durst Friday.

[edgybutnotveryedgy]

That awkward moment when a prospective editing job has very poorly edited videos and the worst possible effects

[sarah-yyy]

what: period cdrama // 40 eps, roughly 55 mins each  where: youku (you can also dl the app) // youtube // coming up soon on viki (usual disclaimer that i do not use eng subs so i don’t speak to the quality of subs) why: do you love watching a poor little meow-meow get tortured in a variety of ways before he decides to go fuck it, i’ll be a demon lord and kill everyone who wronged me?? do you like enemies to fated to kill you lovers??? do you enjoy PAIN AND SUFFERING??? this is the show for you

meet tantai jin, the cdrama fandom’s newest obsession 

cursed prince of the Jing kingdom who was sent as a hostage to a neighbouring kingdom. he’s been unloved and bullied all his life - think, discarded and left to die by his own father, kicked around by servants, begging for scraps of food, abandoned and slowly betrayed by everyone around him... it’s NOT GOOD buddies, you will watch his life unfold and you will become attached and want to let him do whatever the fuck he wants 

surprise surprise this sad pathetic man will one day become

THE demon lord who destroys all of humanity etc etc. look at this wardrobe upgrade??? amazing. beautiful. bad for humanity but great for him. good job, bud, you did well.

ANYWAY this show opens with demon lord tantai jin (affectionate) going on his lil’ murder spree (understandable). the fate of humanity as we know it to be rests on the shoulders of one li susu

to defeat tantai jin, she will transmigrate to the past into the body of ye xiwu (tantai jin’s evil wife who whips him every night (not in the fun way sorry buds) and tortures/bullies him for because it pleases her) to try to kill him while he’s weak, before he turns evil and amasses power. this is for the good of humanity!!! but also he’s truly so pathetic in the past that she can’t quite seem to put her heart into it (there’s also this whole finding his evil bone and getting rid of that before she can kill him problem but HMMM) and decides that?? maybe if she shows him some care and love??? she’ll subvert his murdermurdermurder tendencies????

this is the gist of the show!! there are a few arcs that we go through like all good xianxia cdramas, so we get to see them live through a few different lives (think: ten miles of peach blossom, pillow book etc etc), and every single dynamic between them is SO GOOD!!!!! we have spicy enemies to lovers!! cutesy arranged marriage between strangers to lovers (who don’t communicate enough for them to be happy)!!! star-crossed lovers fated to kill one another!!! 

the show is so goddamn pretty!! the aesthetics!!! the cgi!!!! the costumes ohmygod, i have never wanted to buy so many headdresses before

LOOK AT THIS!!! HOW PRETTY WAS THIS!!!!

he’s got this whole demon look LOCKED IN who else does it as well as my boy tantai jin

this show is very PRETTY but make no mistake there will be a lot of angst!!! that’s part of what makes it so good!! luo yunxi does Tortured, Feral and Deranged™ SO WELL i weep every time i see him on screen, i have truly not been Okay since this show started airing, buddies please join me in till the end of the moon hell, you will not regret it, promise 😇✨

⚠❗ few post-finale thoughts so y’all go into it with full disclosure (and can’t yell at me for inflicting pain on y’all, just know what i am also Suffering™) - stop reading from here if you want no spoilers for the show at all. 

trigger warning: there is some dubcon in ep 14 (stretches between approx. the 25:00-27:25 min mark) between ming ye and sang jiu 

we were all hoping for a happy ending, but this ends on a bad-open scale, depending on how you look at it. @minmoyu​ has helpfully directed me to a happy audio-epilogue which was apparently shot but didn’t make its way into the episode?? we still dk if the footage will be released as an extra?? we can all form a prayer circle and HOPE i guess

the plot is HMM the further to the end we get, probably because they had to cut the eps down, so it’s a little choppy, esp the last few scenes??? idk idk. it’s a bit exhausting to watch towards the end, because you root for ttj so so much and he tries so so hard and SIGH. i need another few working days to digest this, i’m still a bit :/ about the ending

would i still rec the show, post-watch? yes! this show starts off really solid, and luo yunxi carried the show throughout. like. y’all thought lyx was good in ashes of love?? watch him in this. every single micro-expression was flawless. bai lu’s acting is always so dependable, and it’s the same with this show!  

this show has an a+++ ost (i mean it’s got the king and queen of cdrama osts liu yuning and zhang bichen, literally how could this be bad)!! and CERTAIN side characters are so so good (pian ran my baby girl, ye qingyu who grows on you, decidedly NOT bingchang/tian huan/mo nv although i will concede that chen duling’s acting in this show was Incredible). 

[pixelatedquarter]

Day 38 of Tourdust:

The information was choppy, but between several sources we could place what was happening. Very early on in fact we got footage of the kiln, and that was invaluable in keeping a lot of foblr's sanity in check.

Alongside some videos scavenged from the depths of instagram, we managed to barely break out the charcuterie board to wait out the silence when news broke of another pride event happening live onstage, and this one we got to witness. Straight is seeming increasingly unlikely to be a thing that exists, but alas we got no news of maybe what we expected to be the main event of the evening, just that What A Golden Catch has made its triumphant return to grant us a double medley.

We were once again fortunate in having a stream to witness The Magic 8 Ball's massacre. I think the only reason we are still here alive in the trenches tonight is because The Magic 8 Ball decreed that the kids are, without a doubt, alright. Although they probably ate too many nutella crepes.

I must leave now, but as I'm writing this we are still missing one vital piece of intel regarding this night: Does Pete's little cabbage still love him a thousand times?

[quizzyisdone]

The Colour Red (Pt. II) | Jason Hudson x Fem! Bell x Russell Adler

Chapter Title: Bad Moon Risin' Word Count: 3.7k Pairing: Jason Hudson x Fem! Bell x Russell Adler Masterlist Synopsis: Bell and Adler arrive at the safehouse in West Germany, where she meets the rest of her team, save Alex Mason and Frank Woods. The team gets down to business -- they've all gathered to take down the elusive Perseus, the infamous soviet agent whom they know next to nothing about, save for that he's planning something big. That much, Adler is sure of. To figure out their next move, Adler and Park use a memory recollection technique to help Bell recall Operation: Fracture Jaw, yet another memory Bell had lost due to her head injury two months prior. A/N: Hey! I'm back, totally not inspired by the new Black Ops VI trailer at all. Like, at all. Anyways, here is the next installment of my personal favorite series, The Colour Red. Keep in mind this is a slowburn fic, and sorry about the lack of Hudson in this chapter. I hope you enjoy! Warnings: Strong language, mentions of weapons, canon-typical violence.

**Title inspired by "Bad Moon Risin'" by Credence Clearwater Revival

[Part One] [Part Two]

You don't need to read part one to understand this chapter, btw

The car halted to a full stop as Bell fluttered open her eyes, Adler lightly shook her shoulder, stirring her even further awake. 

“Bell. Welcome to West Berlin” He gave a half-hearted smile, a cigarette between his teeth. Bell groggily roused herself from the passenger seat, watching Adler closely as he held the lighter close to his face, letting a puff of smoke blow back in the wind behind him.

The light from the flame illuminated the scarred half of his face, and she could see that where he had shaven was uneven and choppy, a stark contrast to the close shave on the “normal” side of his face. Still rather handsome, barring his scars. He had a classically attractive, well structured face, resembling that of movie stars such as Robert Redford. Blonde hair, blue eyes and very charismatic. He must have many women wrapped around his finger back in the states, Bell presumed.

Adler took one last glance at her, then began to approach a woman that was leaning against an old, worn garage door. Bell took in her features as well. 

She had an uncanny familiarity about her. She had silky, jet black hair cut and styled into a practical bob, unusually tall but athletically built, and she sported pragmatic yet stylish clothing. She had delicate, feminine features but still yet appeared to be able to keep up with the likes of a black ops legend such as Adler -- a strange dichotomy between graceful and deadly. 

Adler had told Bell that she was a legend in her own rite at MI6, that’s why he had requested her for the op. Apparently, it was true that while she was known for her lethality and pretty appearance, it was her brain, not the obvious honey trap she is, that he was interested in. Adler had joked several times that she was a walking cliche, a classic femme fatale type.  

The more Bell seemed to take in her appearance, her shattered memory would begin to piece itself together again. Her face. A red door. A jungle. Sterile white lights. Televisions. War footage. Then nothing. Whenever she was on the precipice of piecing her memory back together, it seemed it would shatter again.

Adler glanced back. “You comin’?” He said with a slight frown. Sheepishly, Bell nodded, not having realized she spent too much time what would appear to the others as staring into space for no apparent reason. 

Bell hurried to catch up with him, trailing behind Adler closely even as the oddly familiar, yet bitter scent of tobacco filled her nose. That closeness, she wondered, it may be obvious to Adler, which she could live with, but would it escape the notice of the others? She hated that, her clinginess to him, but it made some sense (at least that is how Bell would justify it) -- Adler was the only kind face she could remember after her fall. 

Although she didn’t want to admit it, she preferred to be close to him at all times. His presence was comforting, the anxiety she felt would fade away in an instant -- she could almost forget that she couldn’t remember. One might mistake the connection for romantic, as Hudson, their handler had pointed out rather astutely (and irritably) before they departed from Langley today.

 Bell couldn't help but notice the parallels either, he very much played the part of her knight in shining armor, saving her from sure death, never having left her side while she healed, gently guiding her as she navigated regaining her lost memory. Although she must admit she has lingered on such an idea, Bell recognized Adler very likely felt no such way towards her.

She knew his feelings towards her. They had been through hell and back together, saved each other's ass, and understood each other like no one else. Bell knew where she stood, something more than a friend but less than a lover. It was a strange, blurry purgatory between platonic affection and passionate love.  

He had helped her remember the basics. With his guidance, she now knew that her name was Anabelle Meyers, hence the name “Bell”. She was a cryptographer and a linguist working for MI6, she had spent the better part of a year in Vietnam with Adler when she began working a joint operation with MACV-SOG and MI6 and they’ve been friends for 13 years. Two months ago, on a solo operation, she had taken a long, hard fall, hitting her head. Bell would've died if Adler hadn't been there by random chance. Bell could recall that in perfect detail now, although it was fuzzy just a week ago. 

“Park.” He acknowledged and nodded towards her. He glanced back, noticing how Bell followed so closely behind him and smiled to himself. It gave him some kind of pride that she leaned on him as a protector of sorts. 

“She looks familiar.” Bell whispered as soon as they were out of earshot of Park. 

Adler stopped in his tracks for naught but a second, “Maybe you saw her at the Century House in London back in the day.” She knew that it wasn’t likely they had never been acquainted, nor ever having even met each other, but Bell let the conversation go -- chalking it up as some kind of weird deja vu nonsense. 

When the door opened it revealed a large warehouse-like room with a table set in the middle, a bulletin board with the face of man that was supposedly Perseus and a giant red circle around it (Bell quickly noticed how the picture gave her an uneasy pit in her stomach and her head would begin to hurt), an array of weapons upon a wall guarded by chain link fence with a lock, and all the other stereotypical features befitting a CIA safehouse. 

“We’ll talk later, okay?” Adler whispered to Bell as he approached the gathering of folks around the table set in the middle. “Bell, this is Helen Park, Lawrence Sims who you’ve already met, and Eleazar Azoulay. We just call him Lazar, though.” He introduced her to them.

Lazar gave her a friendly but quiet hello, Park nodded, and Sims simply stared daggers at her before turning his gaze back to Adler. “Mason and Woods are finishing some business in Kiev, but you’ll meet them later.”

“Do I know them?” Bell asked meekly and Park cocked an eyebrow, smirking to herself as she glanced at Adler, silently beckoning him to answer the question. 

“Ah,” Adler chuckled lightly. “No, you know them by reputation, but not, ah, personally.” Bell nodded in response before letting him continue. He turned back to the rest of the group, while Bell stood snug behind Adler. “There’s been a surge in Russian chatter for the past 48 hours. The CIA and DoD are tapping their inside sources for anything substantial, but no leads of Perseus so far.”

“MI6 has come up empty handed as well.” Park added.

“We’ll have to start somewhere, so we’re going back to 1968, Vietnam.” He strode towards to the bulletin board, pointing at a polaroid picture of Sims and Adler sitting side by side, labeled Operation Fracture Jaw. “One our closest encounters with Perseus. Bell, you don’t remember this, of course, but you were there.”

“Fracture Jaw, what a steaming pile of shit that one was.” Sims grumbled.

“Also the first time where Perseus pinged our radar. While you were on the ground, you dug up some intel on him.” Adler continued, he held a folder with a dried, bloody handprint and Cyrillic printed on the front. “We’re gonna help jog your memory so you can crack this. At the time, the CIA’s best analysts couldn’t decode that thing, but we’re gonna have you take a shot.” Adler placed his hand on Bell’s shoulder, giving it a firm squeeze. 

“Yeah.” Sims scoffed. “If even Weaver couldn’t crack it, what makes you think she can?” He had said it with such venom, such doubt that it made Bell wonder what had happened between them. She made a mental note to ask Adler about it later, but for the moment, she hardened her gaze, attempting to make herself seem less vulnerable than she truly felt.

“It can’t hurt, Sims. She’s always been one of the best, you know that.” Adler said pointedly. “Anyways, we’re gonna use a hypnosis technique. While our little Bell will be in a hypnotic state, I will be reading the operation report, retelling every detail of what happened when she and you were boots on ground. Theoretically, she should remember it all and be able to decode it.”

Sims shrugged, Park and Lazar nodded in affirmation. The group disbanded wordlessly, Park headed over to the computer by the gun rack with Lazar trailing behind and Sims went over the gate that locked the chain link fence. That had left her and Adler, as he lit another cigarette (his fourth in the last couple of hours, Bell noted) and sat at a chair in front of the evidence board. 

He stared quietly at it, his mouth was set in a frown but his sunglasses had made it impossible to even begin to guess what the man was thinking. 

“Adler,” Bell spoke quietly, tapping his shoulder. Adler smiled ever so slightly, the small gesture was a welcome change from Sims’ behavior just a moment ago. “Can I ask you something?” 

“Anything, kid.” He said coolly, taking a drag of his cigarette.

“That memory exercise we’re doing, we can use it to recover some of my memories?” A glint of hope appeared in her chestnut eyes.

He chuckled, low and husky. “Ain’t that exactly what we’re doing, Bell?” She rolled her eyes but gave a small laugh in return.

“You know what I mean. Like, the memories that aren’t from war or anything like that. Something a bit happier.”

Adler grimaced then sighed, ashing his cigarette and sitting up straighter, and the small smile that appeared on Bell’s face vanished, like she knew he was about to tell her some unfortunate news. The pair sat in an awkward silence as Adler thought about how to break it to her.

“We can’t really.” He reached for her hand, giving it a light squeeze before pulling away. “The memory exercise only works when you have either one or two things; a written documentation of a memory that we can actually get our hands on or someone who was also there that can recall the memory and tell it to ya.”

“Oh.”

“When we found you, you didn’t have a journal or anything on you. Not even dog tags. No one would have been able to identify you if I wasn’t there.” He pursed his lips, offering a small apologetic smile. “Sorry, Bell.”

“Well I mean, we’ve been friends for a while. What do you know about me? Anything about my family?” The hopefulness had returned to Bell’s eyes, and Adler could feel a lump forming in his throat as he thought deeply. 

“Uh, well,” He cleared his throat. “You never spoke anything of them really, it seemed a sore spot for ya so none of us ever really pried.” She glanced down, looking utterly defeated as she sniffled. Adler tried to lighten the conversation at least a little. This wasn’t the place nor the time. “I know that you used to have a nicotine addiction worse than me.”

Bell chuckled. “I still crave them all the time.”

Adler chuckled, clapping her shoulder. “Tell you what,” He said, reaching into his pocket to grab his cigarettes. He handed one to her and she placed it between her teeth, giggling a little as he lit it for her. “I think you deserve at least one. Old habits die hard.” She took a drag, blowing a playful ‘O’ into his face. “Atta girl. I’ll get you a pack tomorrow.”

“I knew I liked you for some reason.” She smiled, the first genuine smile Adler had ever seen out of the woman.

“I’ve always been an enabler of your bad habits.” 

__

January 26th, 1968

Camp Haskins, South Vietnam

0700

“Bell, time to wake up” A raspy voice had startled her awake, the boot of the offender shaking the fold up chair she had practically passed out in. She groggily opened her eyes to find her new teammate with a shit-eating grin on his face. “It’s crank time.” 

“I’m up” She grumbled, rubbing her eyes. He swiped the chair back to the ground where Bell had been leaning, causing the legs to harshly meet the floor and she nearly fell forward. The man chuckled lightly.

“C’mon sleeping beauty, you knew we were doing this.”

“Yeah, I know.” The exhaustion was still evident in her voice as she rose from the chair, grabbing the M16 she had left leaning against the wall. She followed behind him, taking in the scene around her as she left the tent, the morning sun already beating against her skin.

It hadn’t been her first choice, being assigned as an agent working boots on ground with MACV-SOG, and it certainly wasn’t her first choice to be placed in the middle of buttfuck nowhere Vietnam. Her work was typically confined to that of a desk in an office, in the comfort of air conditioning and without the threat of an enemy attack at a moment’s notice. However, given her limited but notable military work, her handler thought she would be wasted back home in the comfort of an office in London. 

Her handler was of course right, but she wished he wasn’t as the stench of gunsmoke, gasoline, and body odor filled her nose. She watched about a dozen shirtless, grimy men going about their business. Most had simply ignored her, but a few had leered at her as she passed by, perhaps bedazzled by the first clean and somewhat attractive thing they had probably seen with their own eyes in months, Bell cockily mused to herself. 

“Camp Haskins, what a sausage fest.” Bell said quietly, chuckling.

“I heard that.” Adler yelled back good naturedly, and Bell half walked, half jogged to catch up with him. “You should be thankful, this place is a fuckin’ oasis compared to the shitstorm out there. Those boys keep it that way.”

“Yeah, yeah ‘God bless our troops’ and all that shit they keep telling us.” She jabbed Adler’s arm and he laughed softly. 

“I know it’s not what you’re used to, but your handler could’ve done worse for you.” They approached the landing zone, her other new teammate, and Adler’s best friend, she had determined based on their interactions, sat on the ledge of a helicopter ready and waiting for them. 

“Finally found Bell?” He hollered out over the sound of the whirling blades of the craft, without looking up from the magazine he was reading. Lawrence Sims was his name, he had dark skin with large, almost doe-like black eyes to match. He wasn’t a looker, but he had a friendly, jovial feel about him. Adler approached him, snatched the magazine from his hand to take a lingering glance at the lewd picture within. 

“That shit’s gonna make you go blind, Sims.”  He threw the magazine back at Sims as Bell loaded herself in. 

“That’s why I want it all right up here.” He replied jokingly, pointing his finger to his temple and shooting a playful, friendly wink at Bell.

“You’re not helping Bell’s accusation that this place is a sausage fest.”

“I’d say she’s made an astute observation, then.” Sims clapped his hand on her shoulder. She returned their grin. However, as the pilots began to load in, the mood shifted dramatically with it, like someone had sucked all the humor out of the situation and brought them back to the real world. Adler took this as his cue. 

“We got a new assignment. FOB 4 Ripcord is holding a vital asset that Charlie wants real bad.” He shouted over the deafening sound. 

“What kinda asset we talking about?” Sims asked. 

“The kind you don't ask about. Ripcord has been taking a hell of a beating, so it's our job to secure the asset and get the fuck out.” Bell began to stiffen and her palms began to sweat inexplicably, which Adler seemed to take notice of. “Relax. We got fast fliers providing combat air support for this mission. It'll be a walk in the park.”

“I’m holding you to that.” She said, putting on her headset as Adler took his leave. He climbed in the helicopter just opposite of them, and with that, about half the armada began to lift off. The chatter rang loud through the headset.

“Badger-niner-one good to go.”

“Badger-niner-two clear to go.”

“Badger-niner-three rotors up.”

Sims shuffled a bit, pulling a cassette tape from his pocket. “You like music?” He asked. Bell nodded, a lump beginning to form in her throat. “Good because I was gonna play it anyways.” He inserted the tape into the helicopter’s radio. He bobbed his head to the beat, singing to himself. His voice sounded muffled, the chatter over the radio began to sound more distant and then eventually, nonexistent. The only sound she could truly make out was the lyrics to the song Sims had played.

I see the bad moon a-risin' I see trouble on the way I see earthquakes and lightnin' I see bad times today

She felt sick, nauseous, the sound of the music only worsening the deep pit that began to build in her stomach, she began to sweat, hyperventilate, her vision became blurry, all the colors merging with the blinding light of the rising sun until-

__

Present Day

“Shit.” An indiscernible voice cursed, and with that, she felt a sharp jab on some unidentifiable place on her body and all faded into darkness again.

__

January 12th, 1968

“You all sitting comfortably?” Adler’s voice quirked up over the radio.

“Why do I feel like you’re about to tell us some bad news?” Bell quipped, noting how her palms were no longer sweaty the way they were just a second ago, calm had overcome her senses once more as she glanced around her. No one seemed to notice her little episode. Good.

“Because you’re a smart girl, Bell. But the news isn't bad. In fact it could be very, very good. The asset at Ripcord is gonna have to wait a little while. We're breaking off from the armada. Taking a detour.” 

Sims raised his eyebrows at this new development. “And... that's good because?”

“A source tipped us off that there may be a heavy hitter from town, a Soviet operative known as Perseus.” 

Bell’s head began to hurt again, the pain teetering on intolerable but she attempted to ignore it for the moment. However, the pain seemed to get worse and worse the more she tried not to think about it, and once again, her vision became blurry and all colors became one again.

“First time Perseus pinged our radar…”

__

Present Day

Bell found herself back in bed, the overhead light shining directly into her eyes again with a pounding headache to boot. She tentatively lifted her head and rolled onto her side, confused as to how she even ended up here. One moment, she was smoking with Adler and the next she was here. 

“Oh God…” She groaned painfully, grabbing the water bottle that had been left on the table adjacent to her bed, gulping down nearly half the bottle in one go. 

After she had come to, she began to hear the muffled voices from outside the door, although most of what they were saying was unintelligible, she managed to make out some words and phrases.

“...too much…”

“...resistance…try again soon” 

“...need something to…won’t be happy…” 

Bell couldn’t make out anymore, and the pounding in her skull overpowered her curiosity and she laid back down. She closed her eyes, yearning to let sleep take over her body once more when the door opened, Park and Adler walked in, both staring at her.

Adler’s eyes were of course, unreadable through his signature sunglasses but his expression was set into that of frustration, while Park’s seemed more confused than anything, her brow furrowed as if she was working out some complicated problem in her head.

“How are you feeling, Bell?” Park asked clinically. 

“Like I got hit by a bus.” She whined, Park nodded in assent as she scribbled something in a notebook.

“That’s to be expected.” Park replied, not looking up from what she was writing. Adler cleared his throat as he sat at the foot of the bed, beckoning Park to put the pen down. “Forgive me, I’ve just been documenting the recovery of your memories.” She smiled. “I have a vested interest in your case, seeing as the methods we are using to help you remember are relatively new and-”

“Cut to the chase, Park.” Adler interrupted, and Park sighed in frustration at his impatience. 

“The exercise we attempted tonight wasn’t as successful as we had hoped.” Park explained, reaching into her pocket to hand Bell two blue-colored pills. “For your head, love. You had some kind of reaction at the mention of Perseus during recollection that disrupted the hypnotic state. Pitiful thing, really. Your subconscious must have fairly negative feelings regarding your time spent with Adler in Vietnam.”

“That makes two of us, Bell.” Adler commented, the distaste evident in his tone as he stared off. “Not my favorite time to remember either.”

“Well, I do believe recollection can still be therapeutic for Bell and is essential to the task at hand. Get some sleep Bell, we’ll pick up where we left off in the morning,”  Park gave a courteous smile and left the small, sorry excuse for a room, closing the door behind her. Silence hung in the air for a moment as Bell and Adler were left alone.

“I’m counting on you, Bell. Get some good sleep, need ya sharp for this.” Adler broke the silence, standing from where he sat and heading for the door as well. As he turned the handle, he looked back towards Bell. “Remember, we’ve got a job to do.”

As she fell back asleep, the lyrics for the rest of that song tauntingly played again and again in her head. 

Hope you got your things together Hope you are quite prepared to die Looks like we're in for nasty weather One eye is taken for an eye

Tags: @mayasnowforest @kult6 -- I know you guys asked to be tagged like two years ago, but here y'all are <3

[ladynaberrie]

the sky weeps crocodile tears

Pairing: Fives x Senatorial Aide!Reader

WC: 0.5k

Rating: T

It rains a lot on Lahn. Fives doesn't miss Kamino.

A/N: did i pick a little-known planet from the Kanan comics (which i haven't read LOL) solely because i could make it fit the vibe i wanted? You bet your ass i did.

Warnings: super vague references to sex lol, maybe a little melancholic hehe, sfw but mdni pls <3

Lighting crackles across the sky, illuminating the rooftops of buildings across the bay. 

(A storm approaches).

You know it’s something that happens daily on Lahn, sometimes even twice a day or more. Light showers and thunderstorms, buffered by hours of sunshine. It’s well into the evening now; the lights flicker as the city comes to life.

Fives sinks down into the bed behind you, kissing your bare shoulder before wrapping his arms around your stomach and resting his chin in the crook of your neck. You lean back into him, enjoying his warmth as you pull the sheets against you.

The rain begins to sweep across the bay, rippling and cascading through the choppy waters. 

The two of you watch in silence, safe and dry behind the window. It feels never-ending, thunder rumbling nonstop as the lights in the distance twinkle away. The locals of this world not giving the rain a second thought. Your brows pinch together in mild irritation.

“I’m not sure if I’d like Kamino.” 

You’d never been there, only seeing what footage Burtoni has provided to the senate. The stark white facilities are surrounded by a torrential downpour that actually is almost never-ending. Your mouth curls into a small frown.

Fives stiffens behind you, before slowly tightening his hold on you.

“Yeah?” he asks quietly, some sort of raw nerve exposed in front of you for the first time. You pause for a second, before reaching back to pet the side of his head, letting your nails gently scratch his scalp. 

“Yeah,” you murmur back. “Too much rain. I love it, but in reality, if it never stopped, I think I’d get a little sad.” 

Fives snorts humorlessly before snuggling into you, trying to press his face deeper into your skin. Lightning flashes, briefly illuminating your reflections.

“There are worse things about Kamino. Trust me.” 

Your stomach lurches unpleasantly, and you file that away as something to maybe bring up to Bail later.

You turn to give his temple a chaste kiss, and his eyes shut at the sensation. “Well, we’re on Lahn now.” 

A gift from fate, as Bail had Senatorial business here, and the 501st was on their way already for whatever reason you were not privy to. (Fives had refused to tell a very nosy, very bossy version of you, despite your best efforts).

Fives grunts, kissing your shoulder again. 

“Yeah, fucking Lahn.”

You roll your eyes, fingers continue to comb through his hair. 

“I think you’d really like Alderaan. It’s nice there.” Fives hums, hands beginning to restlessly drift against your skin. 

“I’m serious. It’s beautiful. You should see Aldera.” His hands drift lower, and he drapes himself more solidly against you. 

“I already like Alderaan because it gave me you.” 

You giggle as he comes alive behind you again, kissing your jawline, free of whatever had weighed on him.

Lighting crackles across the sky, illuminating the rooftops of buildings across the bay. 

(A storm approaches).

[posthumanwanderings]

off today and up at a reasonable time. will express my love and gratitude for the homies for Valentines Day one day late by taking care of the following: bring drafts down to 100 go through all my youtube notifications (it’s a lot, I have anxiety / conflicting thoughts looking at this stuff for reasons) post all my romantic themed mixes w/downloads for Patreon record / gather footage for a very belated Halcyon Highways vidmix test more N64 stuff out for next streams w/Rosalie’s Mupen GUI (really excellent emulator so far! other N64 emulators kept crashing or had choppy audio) if finished all that, plan for the next course of action...

[kathrynhoward]

the quality of your gifs are so good, what do you do to make them with this quality?

I use the highest quality footage I can find (1080 usually, but occasionally 2160 if my laptop has space for it and I can find it, and a lot of older shows/documentaries are only in 720 or smaller). In most cases you want the largest file size you can find.

I use Photoshop CC, and use the video frames to layers method- and to make the videos I use VLC to clip larger videos into smaller clips (usually a scene or the part I want to gif, usually under 2 minute clips). I use every frame- every other tends to make the gif look choppy and low quality. 

For my full size gifs (540p across) I do the least amount of cropping possible, so they're not zoomed in and save the quality. I also have photoshop actions that I've made for sharpening (I have one that pretty much automates the process of resizing, timing, sharpening in one go) and do all my colourings from scratch.

Thank you!! If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask

I've been gif making for 10+ years and spend several hours a day on photoshop, so it's a lot of practice and trial and error.

I made both these gifs, just 3 1/2 years apart (and the bottom one was from Jan 2021, so the top one would be about 5 years old, and the bottom a year and a half, they're just the only ones I have that I've giffed at different times with a very obvious different in skill)

[scumbag-monthly]

The Young Ones - Cash 🧊

Original air date: 15.5.84

Reviewed by: @xgardensinspace

Darling fascist bully boys, it is very exciting to be here with you all, celebrating the 40th anniversary of The Young Ones by reviewing all of their amazingly chaotic episodes! I chose to talk about Cash, and here’s why: The episode gave us some unique “firsts”, great visuals, and very quotable phrases that live rent-free in my mind. Unique things like Vyvyan’s The Damned t-shirt; seeing the fireplace in the house and thus making the drawing room be the fourth wall; meeting the boys’ next door neighbour; the gang FINALLY gets to have some proper CASH for once in their life (even if it was extremely brief); and chopping up Neil’s hair! (his bit alone was a big reason why I picked this episode as one of my options for review; Neil with short, choppy hair is such a cute visual and I still really want to draw him like that. Plus he wears one of Mike’s suits and I hold all of this very dear to my heart.

Now, I’ll break down some of the most notable moments and quotes (at least for me) of the episode in hopes that this will showcase the highlights of why this episode is so bloody amazing.

“I’ve just nailed my legs to the table.” It came so unexpectedly that I was laughing for 10 straight gay minutes when I first saw it. It’s not about Mike “floating”… It was the whole “nailing PLATES” to the table that did it for me. The way this joke was set up and the final punch-line form a beautiful choreography that was immaculately timed. I also can’t quite figure out how the practical effect of Mike floating was done, but I think I’d rather leave it a mystery.

For starters, Mike nails plates down to the table. At first there’s this whole hilariously magical moment because Mike has done the impossible! But then the episode turns around and gives us one of the most unexpected gags I’ve ever encountered in comedy:

Speaking of SFXs, we get to see some Poulterghoosts layered over the footage and it’s a very fun addition to the episode for the codpiece face joke alone. We then see an EXTREMELY chaotic and extremely funny scene on the neighbour’s telly that is a spoof of a famous UK advert about bicycles. The quote “Think Once, Think Twice” is directly taken from the advert and the cinematography for it is actually very spot on to the original! And speaking of the random cutaways, “The Madman” bit is definitely my favourite in the entire series, just because Steve Dixon’s performance still gives me the good kind of chills. His laugh is so perfectly villainous, and everything about it is just so pointlessly chaotic. “You won’t catch me with mee trousers!”

Boomshanka, and the entirety of Neil’s letter to his bank manager come from this episode! And I KNOW you know the entirety of that letter by memory right now… We all know it. This, and Rick’s commentary on eating ear wax is EXACTLY what I meant about this episode just having a multitude of quotable moments. Other great examples include… the entire scene about Vyvyan being pregnant: “I’M GOING TO HAVE A BABY.” “How… How did it happen?” “Didn’t your parents ever tell you about the birds and the bees?” “What if the bird got stung halfway through? Ostriches are really big.” “AH! AH! The contractions have started!” “Vyvyan’s baby will be a pauper! Oliver Twist!” Who even thought of this joke?! It is just so insanely ridiculous to have a pregnant Vyv. Obviously he isn’t, but the fact that Vyv just pulled these bollocks out of his bottom is ridiculously stupid. We’re all definitely still here for it. I mean, we sat there for a fart joke with the neighbour earlier. And… SPOILER ALERT! The whole baby bit is another big joke on passing wind. This show is TRULY for a mature audience. ;)

There’s a bit where Vyvyan curses God (played by DJ Alan Freeman) and we actually get to see what God in The Young Ones universe looks like! He shows up again in Summer Holiday, but Cash was his first appearance. This God is suave and always throwing the best comebacks, so I wouldn’t be surprised if this God was Mike’s biological father. Next up, Mike proceeds to use the super powers his God dad gave him, and calls out for a newspaper, which arrives on cue out of the blue. They look at the very blank list of job adverts, and the only position available seems to have Rick’s lisp: “Join the Profeshionels.” Everyone backs out of applying, and force Neil into taking the job. (Vyv’s excuse being pregnant, of course.) But the way Rick replies to joining the army: “Ahm, well, M’yes, no, mnyeah…” became my catchphrase to complain about stuff as well.

And then the episode gifts us with an exasperated Rick smoking 6 cigarettes and AT LONG LAST, the fabulous Neil with a suit two sizes too-small and his new choppy hairdo.

With a clean-looking Neil, the boys step out of the house to go get that “Profeshionels.” to the beat of this episode’s musical guest; Ken Bishop’s Nice Twelve. I am super in love with the quick edit cuts they used in this scene, because it perfectly fits the song as well as the exasperation the characters are probably feeling. If you’ve ever been poor and living day to day, you’d understand this feeling too.

Neil ignores SPGs advice of not telling the Army officers that he was a pacifist, so he then gets shoved into joining the police force because THEY WILL LITERALLY TAKE ANYONE. Now, this wouldn’t be alternative comedy and Alexei Sayle’s skit if it didn’t include social commentary on the pigs– I mean, the police force. If they take anyone into the force and the only job qualification is to know how to make that “Khjjjj” sound for when talking on the radio… then what does that say about the policemen out there guarding our streets? Neil is so aware of the corruption that he even announces himself with; “Open up! It’s the pigs.” when going to investigate his friend’s house. It’s simple jokes that, unfortunately, are still relevant today. Alexei’s performance here is super cute and memorable; definitely one of my favourites. His Benito Mussolini-look-alike character’s got great energy, and it turns out he’s a contestant for the Eurovision doing all these funny noises. His routine is so compelling that I find myself doing these funny noises when in a good mood.

The episode’s final gag is Mike telling Rick he’s got everything under control, to which Rick replies that if Mike’s got it all sorted, then; “A massive, rear-articulated lorry loaded with money and food and everything they need [will] come smashing through the window…” and so that’s exactly what happens. They are rich enough to give out “... a large sum of money.” as a tip for their service helpers now. So much money, that Vyv can eat Caviar with a ridiculous amount of ketchup. So much cash, that Neil doesn’t even recognise the inside of the house. So he thinks that the boys have become furniture thiefs, and complying with his new job, he decides to do something about it. And yet another quotable quote arises after Neil ask the boys to come with him quietly. “No, we’re going to come very noisily.” followed by tuneless wailing.

So finally, Vyvyan’s baby sees the light of day as a massive fart and… Mike celebrates by lighting up a cigar on Vyvyan’s lips, exploding the entire house yet again.

And that’s it… credits roll and the boys stare at the burning house in awe. Very typical way of ending the episode if you ask me. Okay… I am honestly finding it very difficult to spot any negatives in this episode as I rewatch it for the review, and I think that’s definitely a plus! I suppose fart jokes are a bit childish, but some people seem to enjoy toilet humour so this bizarre episode will please their folly just fine! ANYWAYS! I don’t think this episode is regarded as one of the top ones, but I really love it and it’s definitely one of the most quotable one amongst fans! And that’s saying something. Now go on, and may the seed of your loin be fruitful in the belly of your woman.

[solaris-z]

Akuma no Ko - Evil Child (cover English lyrics)

Akuma no Ko - Evil Child

[Verse 1] 

A hero is born 

Out of ashes and fire 

I sat on the throne - built on 

The bullets and the bone 

But I close my eyes and 

Deep down inside I know 

They don’t understand 

That the devil has at last begun to show

[Verse 2]

Is that why you hate me

Did you let them tell you

So do you believe that we’ve been nothing but awry

A crime you don’t carry 

Their words will always vary 

Don’t let them deceive you 

Don’t let them choose how you die

[Pre-Chorus]

Unfurl your broken wings 

And let them soar up high

Forgetting that we never may return

But stranded in the sky 

I will deny

This false peace

If I cease 

To have a home

If I just live, then what’s the point of being born? 

[Chorus]

Sadly I gaze at this cruel world

But here with you, I forget its freezing cold 

Droplets of blood mix with morning dew 

All that I did - know I did it all for you 

Even if it’s right, I won’t rejoice

Even if it’s wrong, it is my choice

The only truth today 

Is predator and prey 

So do you hear the strength within my voice? 

[Verse 3]

The footage of rainfall 

Rolls over and over

The end credits All ignore 

Because they are so small 

Like names of the dead 

In the movie called warfare 

I don’t care

Why they bled, what kind of life they led 

[Verse 4]

So what is this anger 

This fury, this rancor 

I cannot do much, yet can’t hide

Inside the spite in me

A human conundrum 

Of feelings, don’t know why 

I can’t block this humdrum

No matter how much I try 

[Bridge]

The words are just a shell

That store our burning souls 

If overthought the meaning grows too worn

Be heaven this or hell

What I can tell

Through my eyes 

That one guise 

I trust alone 

If I just live, then what’s the point of being born? 

[Chorus]

Sadly I gaze at this cruel world

But here with you, I forget its freezing cold 

Droplets of blood mix with morning dew 

All that I did - know I did it all for you 

Shadows of the beasts I used to hate 

Bodies of the men outside the gate

The only truth that stands 

Is blood upon my hands

This evil that has bloomed within my heart

The only truth I feel 

The one I can’t conceal

Is evil that has been there at the start 

I.E. The “Rap” Song or the “Singable-NonSingable.” No, really. This is one beast of a song to sing, not only because it’s musically very complex (although lines 1-4 in the chorus aren’t my favorite, music-wise. For me, that intro kind of comes out of nowhere, but I’m not a musician, so I won’t question it), but also because of the tightly-packed lyrics. I tried my best, but there are still quite some tongue-twisters and hard-chewers (the biggest ones are line 6 in V1 and line 7 in the second chorus). 

My first big tip for singing it is to go through it very slowly to familiarize with the non-trivial lyrics (that’s on me, but more on that in my post on the creative process). The second big tip is listening to the original lyrics. Most of my lyrics align with how the original ones are sung and are pretty intuitive. The tricky ones are as follows: 

In the final line of V1, don’t stretch out “the” (the first instinct, at least when I sang it, was to stretch it out)

In V2, “believe that we’ve” is sung in a choppy fashion; it makes sense if you reference og lyrics. That’s because of the internal rhyme going on (again, creative process post). 

Anyways, feel free to ask me if you want any clarification on how a certain lyric is sung! Happy singing! 

[Link to the post where I explain how I went about this song]

Art credit: @rainbuniart on Twitter

[dualbrew]

How to easily stream your (New) 3DS to a PC

For a long time, capturing footage from a 3DS was a pain - streaming the 3DS screens either required a hardmod to install a capture card (which, if you can, should still do if possible), or use one of the several wireless methods (NTR CFW and HzMod) that gave poor results, especially on Old 3DS.

Today, thanks to the effors of zbash92, there is now a way to stream the New 3DS display to your computer with actually decent picture quality and low latency!

New NTR CFW test done back when it was firstly released

Here's a few applications of streaming your 3DS to a computer:

Playing on a bigger screen

Recording footage of 3DS games

Capturing audio for OSTs or music you made on 3DS

Below is a guide to setting everything up, including audio capture.

Requirements

A hacked New 3DS system (Old 3DS users might use HzMod via a separate guide but the performance is VERY POOR. Old 3DS can still have their audio captured by audio cable.)

A good network connection that both the New 3DS and your PC share

(If you want to capture audio) A 3.5mm to 3.5mm audio cable and either a microphone port or a Y splitter that has a microphone port

Setup wireless streaming (3DS)

Install the .cia file onto your 3DS from the latest release of this NTR fork

Run the newly installed app, go through the setup until prompted to run a desired version - pick 3.6 HR at the very bottom

Press X+Y to open the NTR CFW menu and choose Remote Play (New 3DS) - this will show you the IP address your console has, and will also let you configure quality and performance options

Setup wireless streaming (PC)

Install one of the following NTR viewers: - NTRViewer (Windows and Linux, x64) - Snickerstream (Windows, x86 and x64) - kit-kat-slim (Windows, allows using input redirection AKA controlling your 3DS with the PC) - Twix (Windows, also allows input redirection and looks fancy) - cuteNTR (Linux) - cuteNTR-OSX (Mac OS) There are other ones, including for Windows 10/Xbox and even Wii U, but the performance may not be ideal for these

Run the NTR viewer you chose and input the IP address you got earlier. You can also set quality and performance options in the viewer as well as rendering options if available

Connect to your 3DS and enjoy looking at your console on a bigger(?) screen!

Setup audio capture

Connect the 3.5mm to 3.5mm audio cable to your 3DS headphone port and PC's microphone port (directly or via the Y splitter in computer's headphone port)

You can test the audio by either enabling listening to the new microphone device or using a program such as Audacity or OBS

Notes and Issues

TRY NOT TO CLOSE YOUR 3DS LID! It can sometimes lead to black screens and no response from the console, in which case you should hold the power button until it shuts down

This CANNOT record your DS, DSiWare or GBA VC games. Those require a capture card or using an emulator instead. Audio can be captured regardless of what your system is running

Some games may disable your internet connection, which means that you need to use patching option provided by NTR CFW or your NTR viewer of choice

If your NTR Viewer doesn't work, check firewall and viewer's render settings first and then try other viewers for your system

If your viewer disconnects on still screens, increase the timeout/wait time of the viewer if available (for Snickerstream, it's in Advanced settings)

If you have choppy framerate, decrease the quality, fiddle with QoS value and Encoder Priority, or get a better internet connection :p

If you have audio issues, try switching between microphone out and line out

-- Red

[project1939]

100+ Films of 1952

Film number 128: Big Jim McLain 

Release date: August 30th, 1952 

Studio: Warner Brothers 

Genre: noir thriller 

Director: Edward Ludwig 

Producer: Robert M. Fellows, John Wayne 

Actors: John Wayne, Nancy Olson, James Arness, Alan Napier 

Plot Summary: Jim McLain and Mal Baxter are working hard for HUAC, relentlessly and only somewhat constitutionally ferreting out Commies. Their latest assignment requires travel to Hawaii, where they chase a minor spy ring. 

My Rating (out of five stars): ** 

It's propaganda time! When the heroes of a film are Communist witch hunters working for HUAC, you know something is very wrong. Especially when those heroes are disdainful of the fact that their suspects are entitled to the protections in the Bill of Rights! Most of the time I either wanted to yell or laugh while watching this. 

The Good: 

Nancy Olson. Her presence is always both so warm and intelligent. I loved her in Sunset Boulevard, Pollyanna, and The Absent Minded Professor, and she was the only ray of light in the film for me. (I also loved hearing that she was a liberal Democrat who hated the script but agreed to do it only so she could travel to Hawaii and work with John Wayne. She thought the movie was so bad no one would go to see it!) 

Hans Conried. He’s a legendary character actor who appeared in almost every sitcom ever from the 1950s-1970s, and he cracked me up as an eccentric man totally off his rocker. 

There was some picturesque location footage all around Hawaii. 

The Bad: 

Where to start? How ‘bout that the good guys are HUAC?! 

John Wayne. I’m not a big fan, but I do find him effective in some movies. When he’s not a cowboy, though, he struggles more with dialogue, sounding extremely monotone and unnatural. When he had to smile and flirt with Nancy, it was almost painful. 

The two main investigator protagonists spoke with palpable rage that the 5th Amendment existed for more than just “good” Americans. Hearing a similar conversation about the Constitution in Walk East on Beacon two days ago, it was chilling to remember the forces in the country who didn’t understand why everyone is entitled to the rights enshrined in it. They wanted to pick and choose who got those rights. 

There were lots of stupid stereotypes of what Communists were. Professors? Intellectuals? People involved in Labor Unions? Impressionable college students? Check, check, check, and check! I’m surprised no famous artists, writers, or actors were in this movie, cause we sure know HUAC loved targeting them! 

The script was not very smooth- the plot zigged and zagged too much. It felt choppy and disjointed. 

Like Walk East on Beacon, this it was just too dry. Thrills or excitement barely occurred. There were a couple of fist fights? That was about it. 

The villains were not interesting. There were too many of them, they were hard to keep track of, and they were fairly nameless. 

On assignment in Hawaii supposedly doing important government business, Jim seemed to spend at least half his time dating Nancy! He was sitting in restaurants, dancing, and going for scenic drives with her as much as he was surveilling and investigating. 

The maniacally patriotic voice over at the beginning and end was so over the top, it was laughable. And supposedly it was only the Soviets who made propaganda??? 

There were so many ridiculous quotes! Here are a few I wrote down: 

“This is the hearing room of the House of Representatives Committee on Un-American Activities. We, the citizens of the United States of America, owe these our elected officials, a great debt. Undaunted by the vicious campaign of slander launched against them, they have staunchly continued their investigation pursuing their stated beliefs that anyone who continued to be a communist after 1945 is guilty of high treason.”

"I wanted to hit you, but now I see you're a little guy. That's the difference between us [Americans and Soviets]- we don't hit the little guy." 

 “After being a hard-working dedicated Communist for almost 11 years, I came to my senses and recognized Communism for what it is- a vast conspiracy to enslave the common man.” 

[freya-development]

Pixellation Assignment

Our first task at the beginning of the second semester was to create a short, fifteen second animation using pixillation. The theme included in the brief was magic.

To start out with, we made a brief storyboard after bullet pointing some ideas. Our plan was to use a combination of green screened hand photographs and green screened person photographs to make an animated short in which they both interacted, demonstrated below.

We then recorded the footage (or photos in this case) that we needed by having the actor move slowly while the person behind the camera took several photos as they moved. We were also able to use the green box pictured to attempt the effect of the actor flying through the air, although this ended up looking more cartoonish than we'd initially intended.

We realised partway through filming, however, that we were yet to include the theme of magic anywhere in our animation. Therefore we chose to improvise. The final few frames of the storyboard include the actor falling from the tissue being shaken in the large hand, but we decided to change the person into a different object. Luckily, there was a plush toy in the same room that we opted to use instead.

In order to get the photos required for this, somebody threw the toy into the air and then dove behind the green box mentioned prior in order to not be caught in the photos that were quickly taken. This was repeated several times in order to get the required results. We also did some brief editing of some photos in Photoshop later due to issues with keylighting and the variation in the green shades. This essentially included copying and pasting sections of the green screen over sections that weren't keylighting properly in After Effects even after adjusting the keylight filter parameters.

Once this was done, we took the image sequences into Adobe After Effects and used key lighting to remove the green background and replace it with a stock image.

Once this was done however, we realised that the resulting footage was not long enough for what the brief had specified and therefore had to quickly come up with an extra segment. Due to time constraints and green screen room availability, hand pixillation is what we went for. The hand would make a notebook appear out of nowhere, spawn a very basic version doodle of the later footage, then disappear the notebook and transition into the next section. This was going well, however it was not until editing later that day that we realised the notebook used had green on the front. As this was against a green background, keylight was not working and there wasn't time to reshoot. To fix this, we instead chose to use the colour range filter instead of keylight, allowing us to pinpoint the specific shade of green used in the background green screen, separating it from the green on the front of the notebook. While the final result was choppy in comparison to if it had been two separate colours (some parts of the notebook cover were too similar in shade to the background to work), the front of the notebook was not transparent and we were able to edit in a stock background with relative success.

We then edited all of the footage together and added comical stock music to it, which resulted in our final outcome.

[jihanesroom]

Mixed Media Animations

I wanted to incorporate elements of animation into my film, particularly with more experimental forms that utilised existing footage as opposed to strictly 2D or 3D animation. As such, I looked towards employing rotoscoping or mixed media animation, which are two emerging forms of experimental animation. I was inclined towards using mixed media, mostly due to it's characteristically messy and hand drawn style resembles punk zines from the 1970s with a bricolage of mediums such as newspaper and cuttings. In addition to this, mixed media is an unfamiliar medium I had never tried and wanted to challenge myself with, under the pretence that my inexperience will create a more raw and juvenile product. I was inspired by small youtube mixed media animators such as noonglow and lou for their emphasis on cuttings and drawings with camera movement.

As I want to have multiple mixed media animations, I thought it would be best to undertake the longest and most challenging animation. I began my process by taking extra footage of one of my actors dancing, as I wanted this animation to be long and in the background. To make the dance more visually stimulating I filmed it on a 360 spinning gimbal. Upon completing filming, I uploaded my footage and edited the lighting to be both monochromatic and extremely high contrast, as to make the movement clearer as I knew it would need to be printed extremely small.

Then came figuring out how to export the footage as individual PNGs, which would not be possible on Finalcut. As such, I switched to Adobe Premier Pro, and exported it as 8fps as opposed to the classic 8 as it would both save time with cutting images, but I also enjoyed the choppy quality it gave the footage.

Though it was exported at 8fps, it still resulted in over 150 individual image. As such, I then printed the images with a contact sheet format due to its small, compact size in order to save on paper. To add another layer of visual interest, I made scratchings outlining the movement with a cutting knife, which not only served aesthetic purposes, but also enabled the movement being clearer. This, paired with needing to cut each image out and stick to newspaper was a very time consuming, laborious process.

After this process, I needed to scan every page before manually adjusting every frame to fit within the Finalcut aspect ratio. By in large, though the process of creating even a 20 second mixed media animation is an extremely time consuming endeavour, it is worth it due to the impressive results you finish with, and I look to be creatig more with different and unique techniques to pad out the duration of my music video.

Final

[mo79zz]

After Effects 1

In this session we learnt how to make a 5 second moving poster for a water bottle brand called air up.

We first created our composition from scratch not from footage as we weren't importing anything. Then we imported our first .png which was the bottle. Once it was in a position we were happy with we would add a keyframe, then reposition and scrub along to the point we wanted it to transition to and add another keyframe. We did this for each .png we imported.

This is the final product and I am really really happy with it.

Air Up moving poster

Keywords to refer to:

Easy ease - makes the transition of an object from one place to another a lot smoother.

Key framing - marking points of where the transformations begin and end i.e. image is still at 3sec and rotates out of frame by 6sec

Spacial interpolation - changes the transition shape so it can be wavy/curved rather than move in a straight line

I enjoyed this session a lot and I’m very proud of the outcome. It makes a difference from animating on procreate and having it be really choppy between shots. I look forward to using this for my final Pick, Pack, Sell! poster and the style of advert has given me inspiration for my bonbons. However, I think I will slow my own version down a little bit more as it’s a bit too fast especially when played on a loop.

[skipverse1-blog]

Walk and run cycles

With the animatic done with, I wanted to get straight into creating the walking and running animation cycle. I knew that I would need some kind of reference to create these, but as I'm quite camera shy I opted not to film myself. Instead, I used images like this one from www.schoolofmotion.com

And while this was defiantly handy to have, I still felt like I needed to watch a walk cycle in motion. Fortunately I remembered a guy on YouTube called Kevin Parry who is a professional stop motion animator. Kevin filmed himself on a tread mill and did 100 unique and different types of ways to walk. At the very start of the video was a generic walk cycle which I used as my main reference. (100 Ways to Walk - YouTube)

I started out by creating 3 main poses on frame 0, 8 and 16. Then I added more detail on frame 4 and 12. Here is the final result.

For the running animation, I decided to use a different reference. I wanted a run cycle that was a bit more different. As the style for this project is heavily influenced by the game HI-FI Rush, I decided to see how the main character in that game runs. I tried to look it up online but had a hard time finding good enough footage to reference, so I went onto the game and recorded a bunch of different angels myself.

I took the footage into After Effects and went through some of the shots frame by frame, and basically did the same thing as last time. Three main poses on frame 0, 8 and 16 then two more on frame 4 and 12.

I baked the animations and set the frame step to 2, then changed the animation curves from Bezier to Constant which gives me the choppy look of being animated on 2's which is the animation style I plan to go for.