postscript - "Gekijouban Revue Starlight: Critique, or Contemporary?"

Jul. 10, 2023 12:35 AM

This post was originally written for my Dreamwidth blog on the timestamp written above - the original formatting has been preserved whenever possible.

It's been about four months since I uploaded my first "real" video of note to the Youtube channel. Initially intending for it to be a one-and-done might have been the smart plan in hindsight, but I'm afraid the wannabe video essay brainworms have finally infested my spinal cord like the world's most persistent tapeworm. Sorry.

My thoughts on the quality of my work have scarcely changed since I started, and subsequently, finished work on this video. The Assault Lily video will forever be my overall favourite product, if in part due to how much the series has caught my attention in recent memory. (I hear AZONE gave Kazuha even brighter blue hair, AND they/them pronouns, last I checked. Incredible.) However, the Revue Starlight video stands out as my own personal magnum opus - like the white whale that evaded Ishmael, my personal tribulations with manifesting this script into visual form are no less frustrating and long-winded. Nonetheless, I'm proud of what I could achieve, both with limited time on my own part, and the limited skillset available to me during production.

Rather than ramble for 10,000 words, I want to talk about some of the various factors that went into the Revue Starlight video. More specifically, what made the cut, what didn't, and how I feel about the video now that some time has passed. Let's la go.

the groundwork for the video, & writing the script

I mention this in the comments of the video itself, but this video initially wasn't intended for production so soon. The script itself started life as a review/analysis of the film, intended to be nothing more than an extended cut of my thoughts on what was otherwise an incredible movie. That being said, you can look through the finalised script yourself, quickly pinpointing where it stopped becoming an opinion piece, and more an overview on cinematography that many people would have rapidly glossed over in favour of "the yuri." I might have overdone it.

Well-established art critic Roger Ebert outlined the state of amateur film critique as such: "During any given week it's possible to read tens of thousands of words of evaluation and analysis about this show or that movie [...] without ever coming across one sentence that delves into form in any detail."

Many will dismiss his hypothesis as elitist bunk, designed to strip away any semblance of fun away from the normal people who don't know better. But when a friend showed me this article again during the editing process of the Revue Starlight video, I began to remind myself of the importance behind form in film. Why does this matter to an animated movie about drama kids? Hell, why should it apply to ANY form of animation?

This key detail is what separates a surface understanding of this series from much greater analysis.

I discuss form and mise-en-scène constantly in this video, because I think it's crucial to understanding HOW Revue Starlight as a series operates. Sure, there's some blink-and-you'll-miss-it scenes that require less technical understanding, but having a finer appreciation for the medium you're engaging with, especially with a work as freeform and open to interpretation as this one, allows you much greater room for how you understand the director's intent.

It's somewhat of a coincidence that I had taken a few "history of film" classes in university before working on what eventually became the script, because I think many of the finer details I mention would have otherwise missed my head entirely. One of the first concepts you learn in (what I imagine must be all) film study classes is of the elements that comprise mise-en-scène - composition, props, actors, costumes, lighting. They hammer this term into your head with all the finesse of a DeWalt power drill, and if you don't end up remembering some portion of it by heart when you're done with those classes, odds are you're not leaving with a passing grade. It's annoying, sure. But like virtually anything in life, fundamentals are key. Without this, I think my analysis of Revue Starlight as a series would have suffered far more, knowing that I lacked basic understanding of the mediums it portrays itself in, rather than having a mild annoyance that I have to copy and paste the exact accent every time.

My memories of writing the script are hazy. I remember having started work on the analysis the moment after I had watched VeggieSubs' v1 translation of the film in December of 2021, frantically typing on-and-off for the better part of three days alongside other obligations. The first real draft is a tad different from the final product I present today, but aside from some relatively minor changes to account for recording and video formatting, it's basically the same.

A massive detail that I intentionally left out of the video is the Revue of Resentment between Futaba and Kaoruko. Though the scene is visually breathtaking in many respects, with the sudden contrast between wide and close-up shots throwing you around the action of life like a ragdoll, I confess that I couldn't find nearly as much insight to talk about compared to the other portions of the film. Being vindicated somewhat by director Tomohiro Furukawa describing Gekijouban through the lens of a "delinquent manga" puts me at ease, because for every scene where something has immeasurable significance, you also have scenes where what you see really is what you get. I imagine that'll attract the ire of many people who ship those two, but you can't win 'em all.

With regards to reading material, I did source a large majority of it from my time in university. I have an embarassing amount of secondary works that I saved out of personal interest, and they came up more often than I'd like to admit in the video, so if you have some time to read them, check them out. Maybe not Aristotle's Politics, though. Too long.

editing the video

I started editing the video roughly around the end of January. At first, I didn't really know how long it would take to edit a video of this scope, but as I continued working on it piece by piece, I had a rough idea of how much I could get done at a time.

Starting out was rough. I mean, really rough. I forced myself to learn DaVinci Resolve (my video editing software) from what is essentially scratch, having never experimented with it past basic transitions and cuts. I messed around with audio mixing for a whole week, just to get settings that sounded decent enough to cover for my horrid mic settings. Recording was probably just as stressful, as I quickly realised many noises that I never noticed making ended up slipping through the cracks, even in the final product. I'm embarrased that not all of the narration could be redone or cut, but it's a concession I ended up making before the video got stuck in development hell.

There's a few lessons I learned in the editing process that I wish more Youtube creators would take greater note of in those ridiculous "influencer guides" you often get fed up with. The most important point I took to heart, especially early on, is that planning your ideas goes a long way. I'd often run into a portion of the script that didn't add much, so I ended up just cutting them entirely. Knowing what is and isn't crucial to the points you make in these kinds of analytical videos is super important, because when I watch similarly styled content nowadays, I can usually deduce whether someone's going to get to the point solely based on the video length. (I'm looking at you, YGO creators. Script your shit.)

Author's note: That last part didn't get any better, fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck

In terms of footage, I didn't try going for highest possible quality, merely compromising with anything I had already. Apparently the free version of Resolve doesn't have native support for H.265 footage, so learning this was certainly a hoot. As a side note, you don't have to get the absolute best quality footage you can find, but taking some time to compile some decent quality that doesn't conflict with your timeline resolution beforehand will definitely help you out a bit.

There's... not much else of note I can talk about here...

additional thoughts

I've only grown more fond of the Gekijouban video with every rewatch. Unlike a lot of my YGO content, where it often feels like there was an ulterior motive behind them, this video feels much more genuine to me, by comparison. I honestly enjoyed the time I spent working on this project, because I think it answered a lot of doubts about my ability to make videos of such scale. It's still the longest video I've ever produced, and that will likely never change for a long while, but I'm satisfied that this one was quantity and quality. (As much quality as I can get right now, anyway.)

If the Assault Lily video is my most enjoyable project, then the Gekijouban video is my most rewarding. The relief and satisfaction I have in knowing this is a real thing that I have done can't be understated, plus it convinced me that making videos is fun! Even if I improve my editing and audio mixing in the months and years to follow, I don't think I'd redo this at all. It's probably more than fine, and I'm happy that the feedback was overwhelmingly positive all round.

This video was a challenge to myself, a test for whether I was capable of making such analysis. Perhaps, on some level, I found the achievement I was looking for.

I realise that I do not know how to end postscripts, but I hope this serves as some insight into how I formulate video ideas. Apologies if this sounds like pretentious rambling of a different nature, or if my words didn't ring true in much the same way they did in my creative output. Sometimes it's hard to find the right words when you're trying to describe a task you did in hindsight.

Thank you for continuing to watch my videos. I can't say when the next longform video will see fruition. I merely hope you will be around to witness it eventually bear fruit.