#fuck binging

[alpaca-clouds]

Why the Pacing in Castlevania feels slow - but actually isn't

Okay, based on my long, long write up from yesterday, where I went into the theory of pacing narrative media, I want to talk quickly about one thing. Because I love Castlevania, and I think - outside of season 4 - the pacing in this show is pretty spot on. Mind you, the pacing in Nocturne is a bit better than in the original show, however, the reason that a lot of people feel that Nocturne is much faster paced than the original four seasons.

But the reason why people have this feeling is... actually kinda funny.

It is the editing. I say it right now: Castlevania is edited in a way that is untypical of how visual media is edited. And to this day, I am not fully certain who made the call. Was it Warren Ellis or was it one of the directors? I am not sure. I am assuming it was Ellis, given that the directors are the same in Nocturne - and the editing is very different in Nocturne - but that is just me assuming things.

So, what do I mean by this?

It is fairly easy: Usually TV shows have episodes with an A plot and a B plot. At times there is a C-plot too. And those two plots are interspliced. Meaning, you usually get a scene in A, then a scene in B, back to A, back to B, then maybe a bit of C, then back to A, then B, C again, A, B... You get the idea. This is usually something that is still around because it was needed in more episodic storytelling, but even in serial storytelling these days the idea remains. And as such, the creators try to engage the audience a bit more, by switching between the different plotlines. There is more change, hence the pacing subjectively feels faster.

Castlevania does not do this. Castlevania goes about the different plotlines more in the way a book is going to do. Basically, a large chunk of plotline A will play out, and then a large chunk of plotline B. If there is a third bit for the episode, then also a large chunk of this.

So, in each episode of Castlevania, it usually goes like this: We first spend about 8-10 minutes with one or two characters. And then 8-10 minutes with one or two other characters. And eventually at some point maybe 4-6 minuets with someone else.

The one episode that does this differently is season 3 episode 9. Yes, the rape episode. Where the intersplicing of the scenes clearly tries to communicate something - which is a lot more clearer here, of course, because the show normally does not do this.

When we go into actual analysis however, Castlevania covers about as many plot beats as most other streaming series do, per episode. It just feels slower, as it feels as if the scenes last longer - just because we linger with the characters. Mind you, if you ask me, the pacing is actually still too fast, because of streaming. As I said before: Ye olden days, when shows got 25 episodes per season were better. In a nice world, what we got as Castlevania, would have gotten at least like 50-55 episodes, with some good old fillers in there, that would allow us just to get to know the characters a bit more.

There is just two issues here.

For once... I do not know how else to put this, but: Yeah, people are tiktok brained too much these days. Basically a lot of folks feel bored with an episode lingering with one thing for almost 10 minutes.

And also... look, streaming and the "binging model" has really, really messed with how people consume media and how they expect pacing to go. Because in general pacing these days is too fast. And because of this, the audience is given way less chance to linger with the characters. And that is not a good thing.

And yeah, I will admit, this is topic that starts to annoy me. My two favorite movies from last year (outside of Wicked) were Heretic and Conclave, both of which I watched in December. And reading through the reviews of both movies, I saw so many people complaining about how supposedly slow the pacing in either movie was.

And... Okay, I will openly admit: The first half of Heretic is slow. Like, it about 40 minutes of people just talking around a table, before the "horror" aspect of the movie starts. However, I will argue this works very well, because it builds up properly.

And meanwhile Conclave? Frankly, this was one of the fastest paced movies I saw last year. Just there was no action. But the plot? The plot was in constant movement. Like, there was an important plot development literally every few minutes for the entire two hours. It is just, that of course most of this happens through "people talking".

But guess what: In a lot of media "people talking" will move the plot forward. Not everything needs to be action with fast editing.

To come back to Castlevania: The one season I will argue was not ideally paced is season 4. Because it is fairly clear that Ellis at least hoped to have a few more episodes. I talked before about how neither Sypha, nor Hector properly get to finish out their respective character arcs. Sypha's arc is set up in season 3, and then just gets abandoned in season 4. And Hector's arc mainly plays out off screen. We never get to see him going from: "I am miserable and I was used and abused" to "Okay, I need to do something about this". We get the information that his happened at some point in the 6 week time skip between the ending of season 3 and the beginning of season 4. But we never get shown it. Same with Carmilla's descent into madness and how exactly Striga and Morana got to the point they are in episode 4. Other than that, season 4 is not particularly rushed. Basically it is just that the time skip skips about stuff, that would have been nice to have. But then within season 4? The pacing is fairly okay. Not quite as well as especially season 2 and 3 (mostly because it is fairly uneven), but pretty alright.

But overall? Castlevania is fairly well-paced. Just in terms of how many plot and character beats happening per episode. It is just presented in a way, how you would normally present the story in a book or maybe even a comic - rather than in the way that is way more common for visual media. And because of it, it feels slower.

And in the end I will say one thing: As an autistic person, I actually gotta say, I do prefer the way those four seasons present the story - with the long chunks, rather than interspliced. It gives my autistic brain a lot more time to focus and get into each scenario we get per episode, rather than having to switch back and forth between different scenarios.

Ironically it does remind me a lot of early 2000s Japanese horror media (including anime), that often was edited in a similar way. Though I do have no idea if this was somehow intended or not. But in general the pacing does remind me a lot of Ayakashi, Mononoke and their peers.

[making-you-in-spore]

i made a twerkey from miitopia in spore [2008]

[shizunitis]

Ghostfire Shen Yuan loyally following the lonely, undying, forgotten Luo Binghe from the original outline.

They never even met.

Shen Yuan had died long before Luo Binghe’s story was set to start. Abandoned by his System, he was left wandering the realms, searching for anything to latch onto, anything to stave off the darkness encroaching on his consciousness whenever he stopped. He keeps himself entertained with little jokes and references that will never reach anyone. At least back home, there were other people on the opposite side of his screen reacting, seeing. Paying attention.

He never would have thought he’d miss the times he was perceived by others. He’d give anything, though. Anything.

He stumbles upon the protagonist as he’s ascending the stairs of Cang Qiong Mountain Sect for the first time. Dressed in rags and heaving with the effort, Luo Binghe is exactly as Shen Yuan had pictured: a little bun, soft and kind and so very brave.

The excitement wears off soon enough. When the tea ceremony is held, Shen Yuan watches, hopelessly trying to stop the cup from hitting Binghe’s head. He lunges at Shen Jiu; let him be identified and exorcised, at least he would have done something with himself, however useless. It doesn’t work. Of course not—nothing can come between Luo Binghe and his fate.

Shen Yuan thinks about leaving. Many times. But every time he considers the possibility of going back to wandering the world, or just passing on… Well. There’s still a lot to see, isn’t there? It will get better. It will.

Only, it doesn’t. Not really.

There’s no harem; there’s no warm comfort offered to Luo Binghe by a sympathetic beauty, no wedding celebrations, no moments of gentle companionship, however brief, however superficial. There’s no camaraderie with his demon underlings, his generals, his allies; it’s all casual cruelty and dismissals, before it’s violence and subjugation.

There’s no joy. There’s no hope. There’s no ‘better’.

Something is wrong, that’s clear. Something is wrong, and Shen Yuan has no one to blame.

This is not the Proud Immortal Demon Way he knows.

Centuries later, when Luo Binghe begs for the heavens to allow him to die, Shen Yuan hears. When Luo Binghe rages against the passage of time, alone in the wreckage of his palace, left behind by everyone he’d ever known, Shen Yuan accompanies him. When Luo Binghe lies down in the Holy Mausoleum and refuses to get up, Shen Yuan waits, as he had for centuries, until Luo Binghe opens his eyes again and takes to the road.

They end up in a hidden realm so filled with Yin energy that Shen Yuan can channel it to manipulate his form into that of his former body. It’s not detectable by the living, but it’s there. He feels stronger, too. He can walk, float, fly, interact with what few other ghosts they encounter.

Still, Luo Binghe cannot see him.

Luo Binghe doesn’t talk much. Well, that makes sense, he was never in the habit of talking to himself, but still. It’s lonely.

They end up in a town where a diviner takes one look at Luo Binghe and offers him a free reading. Shen Yuan can’t enter her tent, well-warded against foreign entities as it is, so he waits outside.

She tells Luo Binghe of the little hanger-on he’s got. A powerful one, too, though he’s still getting used to his powers. He’s been here for a long time, she says. Since he was a child. He comes from far away—farther than even the most distant star.

Luo Binghe begins talking to him. Shen Yuan isn’t sure why, but he’s not complaining!

Luo Binghe also begins meditating again, trying to soothe the damage done by Xin Mo over the centuries. For every meal, he places a few fruits or snacks across from him on a plate he’d made himself, which he eats only after finishing his own dish. He makes space by his side whenever he walks on a narrow road. He stops at every landmark and tells stories about them, always starting the same way.

“Do you remember when…” becomes Shen Yuan’s favourite phrase.

One night, Luo Binghe sighs and looks across the table. Shen Yuan places himself so that he’s in Luo Binghe’s focus.

“What is it, Binghe?”

Luo Binghe doesn’t answer him, of course. Still, it feels like a conversation, when he says:

“I wish I knew your name.”

Shen Yuan frets. He’s been trying to manipulate the physical world, but he never got the hang of it. He’d tried drawing in sand, with water, just pushing things off shelves. And yet, nothing.

“I’m sorry, I wish—” he tries, but Luo Binghe is already talking again.

“I wonder if we ever crossed paths when you were alive.” He’s expressed this thought more than once. Shen Yuan never likes to think about how they’ve missed each other, how they’d been set up for failure from the start. “I wonder if we would have been friends.”

Shen Yuan scoffs. Of course not. Him and the protagonist? No way.

But—those cold star eyes, blindly searching for him, trying to land on him… They make him want to say, I would have liked that.

He reaches a hand out to touch Luo Binghe’s forehead. He’s taken to doing it whenever Luo Binghe broods, or makes a silly joke Shen Yuan wishes he didn’t find funny. It’s soothing.

He wishes Binghe could feel it.

When his finger touches the demon mark, it blazes. Luo Binghe gasps, that heavy gaze settling on Shen Yuan’s face.

Shen Yuan startles, and jumps away.

“No! Wait!”

Shen Yuan hesitates. Luo Binghe is looking around himself, eyes begging for even a wisp of Shen Yuan’s shadow.

He can’t deny Luo Binghe this.

He can’t deny himself this.

He reaches out again. This time, he cups Luo Binghe’s cheeks. When those eyes clear of panic and widen in awe, he whispers, softly, “Shen Yuan. My name is Shen Yuan.”

Luo Binghe looks like he’s been handed a treasure so precious he’s afraid to touch it. He hesitates, raising his hands in careful starts and stops, before taking Shen Yuan’s face in them, gently caressing the soft, cold skin of his face. His eyes dance with the haste he takes in memorising Shen Yuan’s features.

Then, he smiles. Helpless and weak and so, so precious. Shen Yuan has not seen hope so bright in Luo Binghe’s face since that fateful day on Cang Qiong Mountain.

“Hello, Shen Yuan.”

[bacchuschucklefuck]

they licensed his ass

my finished piece of the FWMS (official name definitely 100%) thing we started a few days ago! I had fun I hope folks had and/or continue to have fun with the sketch as well.

[astronnova]

doodles (as i avoid work) of the super awesome you wouldn't like me alive fic by @ectoplasmranch which i binge read in a 7 hour sitting yesterday

[taviacoolcat]

colin: and what if i did have feelings for you?

penelope:

[theladystrikesagain]

[soft5ku11]

[Part 1] [Part 2]

Not gonna lie, I'm kinda pissed that Guzma only started wearing that shirt AFTER it got too small for him. I was gunning for it myself, but nOOooo... I'm surprised the balance board ain't broken yet, I swear to god it's supposed to have a weight limit.

[punkasshunter]

Cleaned out my pens after moving a bunch of stuff and am super out of practice so just messing around a lil tonight

[blubebbie]

> Shadowheart: Show off new friend!

you hold up your excitable new friend to lae'zel, she seems incredibly irritated by this action! you can't imagine why!

> Karlach: Open the barn doors.

oh god. you really didn't mean to intrude… but now that you are, it is becoming increasingly more and more difficult to look away!

> Karlach: Save Astarion!

thank the hells you had this barrel of firewine on you to put him out. he'll be fixed up in no time!

==>

OH GOD HOW CAN FIREWINE BE SO FLAMMABLE

> Wyll: Calm down Karlach.

pt. 1

[queerspacepunk]

"came back wrong" but it's from a nap

[rottingjam]

it’s been a while since i posted on here— but im back with a bcs study :w

[taireierre]

LESBIAN BEAM GO!!!!!

[unpretty]

way back in the day every time i reinstalled my windows partition, my first priority would be to get objectdock and launchy and rainmeter installed to make my desktop actually usable. but then for a while there i actually stopped needing it. the start menu was actually functional as a keyboard-only app launcher, and the taskbar was customizable enough that having a dock and a clock separate felt redundant. so it's extremely funny that with windows 11 i am once again installing rocketdock and rainmeter and now fluentlauncher. microsoft simply could not stop themselves from making windows unusable again.

[tomboxed]

one in the same

[anarcho-karlachism]

This shit is gonna be amazing.