Live Action Music Videos


About Live Action Music Videos

I first began editing Live Action Music Videos with Adobe Premiere CS5.5 in 2012. I never submitted these to contests for years because all of the contests I went to only accepted music videos with anime content. That changed when I went to Anime Weekend Atlanta in 2014. From then on I began submitting my live action videos from past and present in whatever contest would accept them.

Live Action Music Videos work a little bit differently than Anime Music Videos. You have far less visual expression in anime, so imagery without much movement can be boring. Meanwhile, with animation you usually can get far more fluid movement and it can be easier to make fluid sequences. There's also the general stigma in the anime community about using dialogue in your music video. Unless you're doing this for comedic purposes, the reaction to this dialogue is going to be polarizing.

There's a division in the audience between those who watch the original japanese (frequently referred to as subs because of the subtitles that go along with this method of watching) and those who watch the english (frequently referred to as dubs because of the dubbing that english voice actors provide), and fans of the subs will frequently chastise most dubs for bad acting or inaccurate translations. The difference in a live action video is that, at least in my case, the original language is english and because of the style I've incorporated with enhancing the narrative with trailer-esque or short stories my approach has been more accepted.

Currently I edit Live-Action Music Videos with Adobe Creative Cloud's version of Adobe Premiere.


Nightmare (2022)

AWA 2022 Accolades Best Horror/Best Storytelling && Youmacon 2022 - That Wasn't Weed, Shaggy

This is a music video that I submitted to Anime Weekend Atlanta's Accolades event in 2022. It won the Best Horror and Best Storytelling Awards. It also won the That Wasn't Weed, Shaggy award at Youmacon's Fan Art Theater Contest in 2022.

This was genre-swap conversion of Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings from fantasy to horror using a combination of a theme from The Witch and another longer theme from Dead Space 2

This Music Video features music from:

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Do you know what's going on? (2020)

AWA 2020 Pro Best Video/Best Live Action/Best Artistic Endeavor && Momocon 2021 Most Intriguing

This is a music video that I submitted to Anime Weekend Atlanta's Peer Review Online (PRO) event in 2020. It won the Best Video, Best Live Action and Best Artistic Endeavor Awards. It also won the Most Intriguing award at Momocon's Music Video Contest in 2021.

This was a transformation of The Walking Dead && Fear the Walking Dead into a story about COVID-19 (suggested by my fiance) using the theme from my favorite film 28 Days Later.

There were several things I wanted to accomplish with this video, including:

1. Telling a compelling story about the times we're living in without including a single zombie. In order to accomplish that I had to replace zombie attacks with the consequences and conflicts that resulted from the virus and still have it be impactful.

2. Framing the story as a documentary (also suggested by my fiance). In order to accomplish this I had to incorporate a plugin called Big Red Giant (suggested to me by maboroshistudio) in order to utilize the powerful and highly customizable VHS effect available in that tool suite. This is primarily featured at the beginning and end of the video, in addition to all the handheld camera footage.

The title actually comes from a mantra that is repeated three times throughout the video: Hey Mister, you even know what's going on? at the beginning, the middle and the end; which is meant to be talking about the people who haven't been taking the pandemic seriously.

There are several things I did throughout the beginning to disorient the viewer, including the tape starting effect at the beginning, the upside-down clock, the cut from older Rick to younger Rick and the tape degradation/skip when panning over the dead bodies.

The biggest thing I spent time on though by far was the dialogue. I rewatched huge chunks of the show picking out lines here and there and saving them in my notes with timestamps. Then I gathered all those pieces and picked the best parts to put the puzzle together. I've taken this approach before with Convergence, but this is definitely the most successful video that I've attempted this strategy with. The biggest challenge with this was making it sound like natural conversations, which I spent a lot of time on.

One of the moments I like the best is the transition from the vhs footage filter to the higher quality look as Rick says Starting right now we have to live in the real world. with this transition completing just as the word real is said.

There are also some moments where I tried some more complicated effects like masking at 0:55 and 1:48. I'm not as experienced with this so I feel like I did okay but I could definitely improve here.

I took a personal challenge when I was making this video not to show a single zombie in order to make it truer to the pandemic and to prevent taking the easy way out of all of the dramatic moments just being zombie attacks. This forced me to look for other ways to compel the viewer.

My favorite part of the video is definitely the Hershel's speech montage:

"You step outside...you risk your life. You take a drink of water...you risk your life. And nowadays you breathe...and you risk your life. Every moment now...you don't have a choice. The only thing you can choose is what you're risking it for."

There's a lot going on here: the shots of Beth sitting with the baby against the door, Negan hitting the baseball bat on the table and the shots correlating to Hershel's dialogue (Sasha coughing, the blood water, etc.). I spent a lot of time figuring out the timing for all of this so that everything landed the way I wanted it to.

A shot I knew I wanted in the video from the moment I started making it was this extended shot of Rick running as he looks at his injured hand. Originally I tried to make this a set of effects shots with his wife and children showing up in the imagery for motivation but it became too busy and people didn't like it because it was the only shot like that in the video. Eventually taking it out turned out to be the better call, it's a lot smoother as one continuous shot.

One of the elements that helped save the video later in the editing process was bringing back the character of Morgan. Moments like you know what it is and the conflict in the climax were definitely things that made the back half of the video work significantly better after I figured those moments out.

I knew I wanted to include scenes from the CDC arc of The Walking Dead the moment this became a COVID-19 video. My fiance had a lot of recommendations of segments of the show to use and this was one of the best. Jenner's lines helped a lot to sell the drama I was trying to show and the prison sickness arc was also a huge assist in terms of showing disease symptoms throughout.

Another speech that I knew I wanted to include early on is Negan's

Bet you thought you were all gonna grow old together...sitting around the table at Sunday dinner in the happily ever after. No...doesn't work like that Rick...not anymore.

Beyond the obvious allusions to COVID-19 here, I also tried to show what Rick had lost between Carl and Judith (perceived loss for the video), as well as the brief clip with Maggie grieving Glenn. There's also a brief interaction at the end of this segment where Rick is walking with Carl and Morgan looks outside and there's a quick cut of them holding hands that I liked a lot.

After this I bring back the VHS filter from the beginning to close out the video with the mostly documentary style footage. The dialogue here works to bring the viewer into the story braking the 4th wall (though not for the first time as earlier dialogue does this as well). The 2nd to last line that Tyreese says further supplements the title choice for the video.

The final vhs filtered shot includes a timestamp that correlates to the US election date from 2020, encouraging others to take action to help get a leader into office that could handle the COVID-19 crisis better than Donald Trump managed to. As the video stops here and pans out it also brings to mind the viewer watching the video as it finishes, further supporting the idea that the video is speaking directly to the viewer.

Overall in a year when I didn't even plan to make a video initially this turned out to be one of my most ambitious videos I've ever created. I think it turned out particularly well and is among my best work to date.

This Music Video features music from:

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F Society (2020)

AWA 2020 Pro Best Live Action Nomination

This is a music video that I submitted to Anime Weekend Atlanta's Peer Review Online (PRO) event in 2020.

This verdict is not justice, it's accountability.

Those were the words heard around the world after the George Floyd verdict was announced and the first time a white police officer has ever been successfully convicted for killing a Black man. On May 25th, 2020 George was arrested, pinned down and then held down by the officer's knee until he died from lack of oxygen.

But the story didn't start there. On February 26th, 2012 Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by a member of the neighborhood watch, George Zimmerman. Over time the movement grew until it climaxed in the summer of 2020 with the George Floyd protests.

Ethnic minorities have always been mistreated by the police in America. They've even been attacked in their homes like Fred Hampton and Breonna Taylor, sometimes for political reasons and sometimes because of gross negligence and misinformation. Whatever the reasons are, it's time for us to wake up and ask ourselves do we know what's going on?

This was the first time I attempted a current events video based in politics and a movement such as this. I think the song perfectly encapsulates the problems highlighted above just as it did over 20 years ago. In addition to Black Lives Matter I also made other references to the Trump administration throughout given the political landscape at the time of the recent riots.

I also experimented with special effects here a little more than usual with the color correction work I did on the staircase scene. This is also a much faster paced video than I typically do with the live action format, a trend I began doing more recently with Toxic Orphans back in 2019.

I even incorporated elements of my own life at the time given my recent engagement and upcoming wedding in 2022.

This video may not have won any awards but I'm proud of what I was able to accomplish here and as a political video it feels like a good first attempt.

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Marvelous World (2019)

AWA 2019 Pro Entry

This is a music video that I submitted to Anime Weekend Atlanta's Peer Review Online (PRO) event in 2019.

I could never be a comedian.

There's a particular combination of memorization, improvisation and wit required to run a gig like that and while I may not have the chops to pull that off, there are others that certainly do.

And one of those is The Marvelous Ms. Maisel. Starring Rachel Brosnahan and streaming on Amazon Prime, the show's focus is on Miriam Maisel: a housewife from the 1950s who decides to take her life into her own hands and after a life-altering moment, becomes a comedian. The show's rhythmic dialogue and family dynamics have made it one of my favorite shows of the past few years.

So I already knew I wanted to make a music video with this source but in the brave new world of peak television with streaming services everywhere you turn, not everything gets a home release anymore so I had to turn to bootleg emmy voter dvds for source footage (ironic since you can stream the show in 4K).

When it came to the song I had recently rewatched The Little Mermaid, and as these things go I was constantly picturing aspects of the video, but in this case it was one scene in particular: 0:51-1:00, by far the scene that I knew I wanted to portray from the beginning. Beyond that, there were just a lot of parallels for me between the lyrics of Jodi Benson's Part Of Your World and Miriam's story about wanting to leave her cozy little life and be under the spotlight.

In the end this video wasn't nominated for anything at AWA PRO. There were some criticisms made over the live action lip synching throughout as well as some confusion over the relation of the song to the source material, but ironically, locally, it was considered one of the best videos I've ever done. A strange disconnect between the editing community and the casual viewer I suppose. Maybe I should I have submitted it to Expo.

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Toxic Orphans (2019)

AWA 2019 Expo Entry

This is a music video that I submitted to Anime Weekend Atlanta's Expo event in 2019.

When you've been making music videos for as long as I have, sometimes you have to subvert expectations.

An example of a good reaction to subverting expectations was when Alfred Hitchcock killed his apparent protagonist only 30 minutes into the film Psycho. On a more modern note, Game of Thrones and Avengers: Endgame would further build on that legacy with their own shockers.

An example of a more mixed reaction to subverting expectations was when Rian Johnson changed the way storytelling worked in Star Wars, and united a flame in fandom culture that still hasn't died down yet.

Now when it came to my video, it was more about subverting the expectations of what people have come to expect from me, though there are some content aspects to be discussed as well.

I've never made a video with a Britney Spears song before, but this is just one of those songs that seeps into your brain over the course of your life and takes hold. I typically stay away from stuff this popular or this mainstream, but when I was thinking about Orphan Black, it just matched so well for me.

Speaking of clone club, my video has an all-star cast starring Tatiana Maslany and...that's about it. There's some others present, but she plays a ridiculous amount of characters on this show and the video primarily focuses on the five main clones:

While featuring some brief cameos from the following clones:

Beth - (seen briefly in the opening montage, intercut w/Sarah)

Krystal - (Intercut w/Sarah at 1:10)

Mika (M.K.) - (Seen in the opening and ending montages, sheep mask)

Now beyond that, this is the first time I've attempted to tell a fast paced story more in line with the type of video you'd more typically see as an AMV in a live action format. This can definitely make it a little harder to follow for newcomers to the material but I think it gives the video an energy some of my other material lacks.

And lastly there's the ending. Some of you might feel like it comes out of nowhere, some may think it's gratuitous and some may cry spoiler for a six year old plot twist, but I personally think the video builds up to it in an organic manner given the fact that there are multiple forces attempting to take Sarah's child throughout the video (including Rachel and Helena), and the final result is that none of them take them from her, but for some random freak accident. Thus, subverting expectations.

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Madness (2019)

Agamacon 2019 - Best Horror/Judge's Choice && AWA 2019 Pro-Best Horror/Character Profile/Live Action/Storytelling Nominations

A wise man once said: "It's a lot harder to convince people you're sane than it is to convince them you're crazy."

This is a music video that I submitted to Anime Weekend Atlanta's Professional Awards contest in 2019 and Agamacon's Music Video Contest in 2020. It was nominated for the Best Horror/Best Character Profile/Best Live Action/Best Storytelling awards at AWA and won the Best Horror/Judge's Choice awards at Agamacon.

I first heard this song when I was playing the first portion of the Minerva Half-Life 2 mod titled Metastatis (or Carcinogenesis) in 2007. There was a song that would play in it titled Absconditus that stuck with me. So much so that when I knew I wanted to create a Hannibal music video, it suddenly clicked that this was the perfect song.

In 2015, Hannibal, one of the darkest, most artistic television shows ever made came to a close. It captivated my attention while it was on, and it hasn't left my mind since.

From the very first frames of the video you can tell that there's something wrong with Will Graham. When he's kissing Alana Bloom, you can see the madness consuming his mind with his twisted interpretation of what's occurring.

For the next segment, you may notice some sound effects that aren't in the song. I added those and experimented a bit, slowing down and reversing certain sound effects to get the intended twisted sound I was looking for.

This video is very heavy on dialogue. I had to spend a long time equalizing the song with the dialogue so that everything was very clear in comparison to the song in the background. This was particularly difficult with Mads Mikkelsen because he has a very thick accent that took a while for me to balance correctly. This also applied to sound effects like gunshots.

There was also a lot of cross-cutting I used with completely unrelated sequences to accomplish my storytelling. One such example was from 1:05-1:15. Another example is 2:24-2:43. Both of these sequences, while the cross-cutting relates to the dialogue are about completely different subjects than the scenes which they are cut against.

While I was working on this video, I went to an art show and found a piece of art that inspired me. The artist told me a story about how it depicted their friend's son that was going through a difficult time in their life involving drugs, their own kind of madness if you will and I think you can see the visual correlation between the two (particularly from 1:30-1:54, which is probably the start of my favorite segment in the video)

Art piece depicting the madness the artist's friend's son was enduring.

The next section (2:24-3:10) shows how Hannibal manipulates Will into eating the flesh of Abigail Hobbs (afterwards, having had twisted nightmares he ends up throwing up her ear). This is probably the closest thing I have to a climax in this video, which is atypical of most structures in that the climax is subdued compared to most typical storytelling.

For about the final two minutes of the video (roughly 3:24-5:07) I tried something a little different and that was a took a single monologue and used it as is for the backdrop for this portion of the video. Typically if I use dialogue (as I did for the rest of the video) I mix and match different statements together to achieve the pace I want but this particular exchange worked for me as-is. This sequence uses future events of the show, but is still very true to the conversation they're having.

The final part of the video (5:07-5:36) is the coda, using a mix of moments previously seen in the video and other shared moments between Will and Hannibal to create a microcosm of the story told in the rest of the video.

This is definitely one of my favorite videos I've ever made.

This Music Video features music from:

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One that I want (2018)

Agamacon 2019 entry

This is a music video that I submitted to Agamacon 2019.

This video was initially inspired by the love of my life. She has always loved Grease, but neither of us had heard this cover until it was used on The Leftovers. She didn't care much for that show, but she loved that cover; so I kept that in mind.

Later in our relationship I introduced her to Homeland. It took a little while for her to latch on at first, but by the halfway point of the season she was hooked and I knew I'd finally hit a winner. We proceeded to marathon through the other five seasons and over time I realized that combining her two favorite things just might be the right idea. So I decided to give it a shot.

The opening of the video (0:05-0:10) is a mix between foreshadowing of the ending and the struggle that a woman (named Carrie) is feeling about what occurs over the course of the video. The following portion from (0:11-0:42) is a fantasy as Carrie and a man (named Brody) explore their time together, blissfully in love and unaware of what lies ahead of them.

The turning point comes next, at (0:43-0:58). Suddenly, the spell is broken and Brody leaves her alone, heartbroken. This is when we learn that Brody has a family that he has knowingly betrayed, with a wife that has been waiting for him and he is filled with regret. It was once I was putting this sequence together that I finally felt like the video was beginning to come together. This continues in the next portion, from (0:59-1:14), where Carrie can't get past the feelings she has for a man that has abused her and used her; meanwhile, he gets to receive counseling and reconciliation.

At (1:15-1:39) they embrace each other once more. However, for Brody this time it's not the same. He can't get the faces of his children out of his mind: a confused daughter, an innocent son. And finally, the memory of a faithful wife, pushing him over the edge and away from Carrie once again. She is not taking this well.

We now follow them on their separate journeys, from (1:40-1:59), as they navigate the mess they've made for themselves. Brody goes on a spiritual walk through a forest, leading to a lake where he prays for guidance. Carrie is in the midst of a psychological break as she collapses onto the bed. This continues from (2:00-2:26), as she has a dream that makes her realize that she is now pregnant. As she realizes the full implications of what this means, she envisions a future where she raises this child alone, and this shakes the fabric of her world.

The action now shifts, at (2:27-2:32), back to Brody's family and things are not going well. The facade has not held up and his family life is now shattered, this man is now a husk of his former self. The final portion of the video, from (2:33-2:45), shows Carrie reaching back out to Brody once more, pulling him out of the wreckage of his former life. Their lives will never be the same, but maybe now they can build a better future.

This Music Video features music from:

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The Butterfly (2017)

Agamacon 2018 - Honorable Mention && AWA 2017 Pro Entry Agamacon 'Honorable Mention' award plaque for 'The Butterfly' in 2018

This is a music video that I submitted to Anime Weekend Atlanta's Professional Awards contest in 2017, Youmacon's Fan Art Theater Contest in 2017 and Agamacon's Music Video Contest in 2018.

The 100 is a TV show that has a cast that first and foremost centers around rebellious teenagers. I first heard this song in the season two finale of The Leftovers, and one time when I was listening to it I realized just how perfectly it matched these characters.

This is a character profile video focused on Octavia and her journey from a free spirited teenage girl to a hardened warrior. Her primary relationships that are explored throughout are with her brother Bellamy and her lover Lincoln. I called the video The Butterfly because of the focus on Octavia's transformation and also because of the perfect shot of Octavia coming out of her cocoon at 2:18. I added the shot of Octavia admiring the other butterflies at 0:39 later to help sell this analogy.

A new technique that I incorporated into this video was cross-cutting with spatial similarities. This was used to add a new visual dynamic and to help sell themes of love and sacrifice. Examples of this can be found from 1:44-1:46 with the christ-like shot of Lincoln and again when he is falling after being shot from 2:00-2:04.

This Music Video features music from:

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Alone - A Short Story (2016)

Youmacon 2016 - Genisys is Skynet && AWA 2016 Pro-Best Live Action Nomination Youmacon 'Genisys is Skynet' award photo from Fan Art Theater for 'Alone - A Short Story' in 2016

Click to see larger version

This is a music video that I submitted to Anime Weekend Atlanta's Professional Awards contest in 2016 and Youmacon's Fan Art Theater Contest in 2016. It was nominated for the Best Live Action award at AWA and won the Genisys is Skynet award at Youmacon.

I came up with the idea for this video when I was listening to the part of this song that starts in this video at about 4:53, and I knew I wanted to make a tragedy. Not only did the song fit the material extremely well, but it was written for a movie that was written by Jonathan Nolan, the same writer who would go on to make Person of Interest, the show that is used in this video. However this song is originally 16 minutes long, so I grabbed the portions I knew I wanted to include and put them together in a version that ultimately ended up being roughly 7 minutes instead.

I knew for sure I was going to lead up to these major tragedies, but I wanted to justify it, and not just throw them in the video for shock value. So I decided to start with the concept that brings these people together (0:00-1:46), then I established the two primary relationships (1:47-2:55), after that I introduced trials for the characters, and this is also the darker 2nd half, as well as foreshadowing for the ending (2:56-4:52), next is the build up to the climax and the climax itself (4:53-6:21) and finally the falling action and the ending (6:22-6:46). I didn't want to end it after the climax because that's a rather nihilistic ending and I wanted to leave some hope after the tragedies ensued.

After Shades of Reality, this was a huge return to the idea of dialogue enhancing the narrative, but on a far bigger scale than any video I had done previously. Unlike Honor and Vengeance, this was a far more linear story, focusing on two core relationships that both lead to catastrophic consequences. I have been criticized by some in the past because of the length of this particular video but I believe each piece in this narrative is necessary and to shorten it in order to appeal to a mass audience would cheapen and diminish the effect it has.

The most experimental sequence that I created in this video was the build-up to the climax from 4:53-5:18. The idea with this sequence was that the character Shaw is having a mixture between a psychotic break and a premonition telling her that if she stays with her lover Root that the world is going to end and she has to sacrifice herself in order to save her friends. That sequence, and the following breakdown with Root against the chains was the whole reason I wanted to make this video in the first place. The slow-motion tragedy was already part of the footage from Person of Interest, but the way that it plays out in my video was inspired by the opening of a film called Melancholia. I am very satisfied with how this ultimately turned out.

This Music Video features music from:

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Collision Vision (2016)

AWA 2016 Expo Entry

This is a music video that I submitted to Anime Weekend Atlanta's Video Art Track Expo in 2016.

The initial concept for this video was to combine an assortment of beautiful imagery. This was also the first music video I had made in a while, so I was trying to get my feet wet again.

Originally this video was going to incorporate dialogue from the character Rust Cohle from the first season of True Detective, but I ultimately couldn't find anything that fit the vision I wanted to portray within the video. So what ultimately ended up onscreen is a little more abstract than I initially intended. If I were to clarify it, the story is about the end of the world, and a man who has a vision that a massive comet is going to destroy it. However, what he doesn't realize is that he's having visions about other worlds, parallel universes in a sense. This is why when he goes to the bar because he's in a pit of despair and can't get these visions out of his head, he continues to have visions of this other world. Some people are able to escape this catastrophe on space ships while others are left behind. In the end, the man is unable to stop the other universe from collapsing and is left to contemplate what he could have done to stop it.

When I first saw Les Revenants (or The Returned), I knew this was the song I wanted to use. It has a mysterious sense of wonder and I thought it fit perfectly for the vibe I wanted to portray. I always knew I wanted to use Super 8, but the idea to use True Detective came later. I had originally intended to use the original Sin City, but A Dame to Kill For was what I ultimately ended up with. And I originally had a shot in my head from Lucy, but in the end Melancholia ended up being a much better fit. The inclusion of Interstellar footage was to add more wonder and a connecting thread to the True Detective footage.

This Music Video features music from:

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Shades of Reality (2014)

Youmacon 2016 - Best in Show && AWA 2014 Expo Entry Youmacon 'Best in Show' award photo from Fan Art Theater for 'Shades of Reality' in 2016

Click to see larger version

This is a music video that I submitted to Anime Weekend Atlanta's Video Art Track Expo in 2014 and Youmacon's Fan Art Theater Contest in 2016. It won the Best in Show award at Youmacon.

This music video was originally inspired by my sister, who introduced me to this song and inspired me to use it. I thought it would be perfect for Fringe and completed it in time for the one year anniversary of the show's ending.

Due to this song's heavy use of lyrics and the intensity of the music itself I decided to forego any use of dialogue in this particular video. This let the lyrics and images speak for themselves in a way that I had never done when it came to live action music videos. Unlike in my breakdown of A Broken Home I'm not going to link to individual lyrics because the song ended up fitting Fringe so ridiculously perfectly that it would just be me linking the entire video in countless chunks. However, I will discuss particular sections of this video that I want to emphasize.

The beginning of the video (0:00-0:49) is a specific series of vignettes that serves two purposes: the first is that it worked as a set of varied mood pieces that introduced different elements of the show and the characters that would be further explored. The second is the images that show up before each section: this is actually a code. Throughout the entirety of Fringe's run at every commercial break there would be an image, originally appearing to be something innocent such as an apple. But if you look closer you can see that the seeds are actually human fetuses. There is also a golden dot usually present with these images. These glyphs are actually part of a cypher that gave each episode a secret word that, once fans figured it out, added extra significance for the episode that each word was tied to. I utilized this cypher to dedicate this video to my sister, whose name is spelled out in the order the images are displayed.

Fringe was a show about parallel universes. Because of this, each character had doubles and I utilized these variations (or shades) throughout the video with a splitscreen effect (coupled with piano footage) contrasted with the one person in the show who had no double (specifically from 1:01-1:12). In addition to this, I also utilized splitscreen and cross-cutting to showcase spatial similarities across time (from 0:49-1:02), such as Olivia reliving her horrible childhood memories, Walter walking with a child through a portal into another world and Peter drowning and coming back into existence in the same place.

From here on out the video becomes more conventional, laying out the story with the lyrics in a more traditional manner. Though at the halfway point I utilized a few brief moments that related to a storyline where Peter had disappeared from existence. Throughout this storyline there were these very brief flickers of him that hinted at a return, which I coupled with the lyric a distant echo (2:35-2:38). This storyline also figured into how I created the ending, where Walter and Olivia can sense Peter's presence coming back into existence (3:59-4:06).

I think one of the reasons why this video was given the attention it was is because in addition to having unique elements, it matched so perfectly against the lyrics that it allowed people who had never seen the source material to appreciate it, while those who had seen the source material could get even more out of it with all the little references I placed throughout.

This Music Video features music from:

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A Broken Home (2013)

AWA 2014 Expo Entry && Youmacon 2016 Entry

This is a music video that I submitted to Anime Weekend Atlanta's Video Art Track Expo in 2014 and Youmacon's Fan Art Theater Contest in 2016.

I came up with this idea when I first heard this song in the Homeland trailer for season three, and I thought it was the perfect fit for a Breaking Bad video. The lyrics fit extremely well with what I ended up putting together, including the following sequences below:

In addition, I also continued my trend of using dialogue to enhance my narrative, especially in these key sequences:

What this ultimately did was create a new hybrid of video where the dialogue and lyrics played off of each other and combined to become a greater whole. And as everything comes crashing down at the end (4:22-5:17), I pulled together several different conflicts, such as Jesse getting attacked in the desert, and then saved by Mike; Hank getting attacked in his car; Walt and his wife fighting at the same time Jesse and Walt are fighting; and Gus accepting his fate.

This Music Video features music from:

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A Primal Night (2013)

No Contests Submitted

This is a music video that I haven't submitted to any contests yet.

This is a music video featuring the titular character that my video editing handle is based off of. It was a different kind of video than I had previously done up to this point. It showcased more of the use of dialogue to enhance a narrative that I had previously used, but it also used a song that was a remix of one of the core themes from the show. This certainly made editing this video easier (and, arguably, lazier), but at the same time it also created a different kind of vibe compared to my previous videos with the faster paced musical beats leading to a more frantic style of editing.

One of the key moments in the music that I wanted to utilize was at 1:15. It's at this point that the song kicks into high gear, combining kill sequences, violent black and white animal attack videos (symbolizing Dexter's primal animalistic urges) and scenes of Dexter and his brother in a car which help build the momentum. Moments in this section that I'm particularly proud of include the cross-cutting of Debra looking at photos of her crime scene to when she was actually on the table (1:23-1:25), the way the drop of blood hits Dexter's shoe in time with the music (1:26-1:28) and the splitscreen of Dexter's rogue gallery over the course of the first seven seasons of the show (1:33-1:35; although the timing on this particular sequence was a little off I think it still works).

I want to address the ending because it could come across as a little confusing. The moment after Dexter says It is over when I say it is (3:08-3:16), is actually cross-cutting between a fantasy that Dexter has of saving his mother as The Dark Defender (in black and white) and his real-life memory of her dying. So the idea is that he's saying that she's not dead until he says she is and that he can bring her back (which is, of course, the fantasy of a psychopath).

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Honor and Vengeance (2013)

Youmacon 2017 Entry && AWA 2014 Expo Entry

This is a music video that I submitted to Anime Weekend Atlanta's Video Art Track Expo in 2014 and Youmacon's Fan Art Theater Contest in 2017.

I believe this was the first truly successful attempt at making a music video that incorporated dialogue to inform the narrative. There are multiple ongoing storylines throughout and the dialogue from a variety of different characters all flows really well together. As opposed to my previous efforts, there are also quite a few vignettes that tell their own little stories, such as Arya's list and the wordless introductions of the four core storylines: Daenerys' time in Qarth, Jon Snow's journey beyond the Wall, Theon's betrayal and the various schemes in King's Landing between Tyrion, Cersei, Littlefinger, Varys and Sansa.

One thing I accomplished in this video that I haven't really been able to replicate in any of my future works is seamlessly cutting conversations together that have nothing to do with each other in a way that builds pace and has dramatic resonance (such examples of this include 3:15-3:23 and 3:38-3:44). Another technique I utilized was repurposing dialogue transposed on top of scenes that also have no direct relevance (other examples of this include 3:48-3:55 and 4:32-4:38).

I have ideas for a sequel to this video that I'll eventually make.

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It Ain't Like It Was Before (2012)

No Contests Submitted

This is a music video that I haven't submitted to any contests yet.

This is a music video focusing on the relationship between Rick and Shane in The Walking Dead. This featured a lot more dialogue than my previous attempt, and a more effective dramatic thoroughline. It's not always well done though, some of the audio transitions are harsh and the cuts aren't always clean either. I can see a pretty big difference in the way I cut things when I made this compared to videos I've done more recently. This is a little more blunt.

I've considered doing other Walking Dead music videos since this, but the right idea hasn't quite come along yet.

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A Tale of Two Men (2012)

AWA 2014 Expo Entry

This is a music video that I submitted to Anime Weekend Atlanta's Video Art Track Expo in 2014.

This is the first live action music video I ever made and also the first music video I ever created using bluray footage. It was appropriate that Lost was used, since it's once of my favorite television shows of all time. Looking back on it I think it was an interesting experiment that proved that I would be able to create more music videos with this kind of visual quality and included some interesting comparison shots. This was also the first music video I ever made that included dialogue informing the narrative (not counting my failed experiment in my AMV Brother). This is a trend that I would continue and improve upon in future music videos.

I'm still intending to make more Lost music videos in the future with different character pairings.

This Music Video features music from:

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