#the music is sped up to match the speeding up of the video

[a-third-attempt]

Tell me you have no taste without telling me you have no taste.

I will scroll thru the craft tag on instagram just to hear the atrocious fuckin audios 

[dollediary]

I Could Make You Feel Better.

jake x fem!reader

overview: female masturbation, dry humping, mutual masturbation(?)

word count: 2.6k

not proof read, so don't mind typos or grammatical errors too much <3

"seriously?!" jake asked you in disbelief. you nodded shyly, feeling your cheeks heat up while he only made a face. "i don't believe it, y/n."

"im serious!" you protested. it may have been hard to believe, but it was true. "really..... i've never...touched myself before," your voice was low as you looked away.

"so let me get this straight. you let me touch you before you could even touch yourself?" he asked, bringing up the time you let him play with you when you two went to the movie theater.

it was a time frame where you two were taking your first steps toward being sexually intimate in public, for the thrill of it, though it was more so for fun rather than something you planned on really getting into.

you shrugged, making him look at you crazy. you guys had done many things in terms of being sexual together such as watching porn together on rave, sexting, sending nudes, etc.

all those times, he's made it clear that he masturbates to and because of you.... he had assumed you did the same. it was a shock to him.

"what?" you laughed, looking at him while he was silent in thought. he had so many questions, so many words he wanted to say but he didn't know how to.

"so do i like... not make you horny or...?" he let his question trail off as he bit his bottom lip, feeling embarrassed to even ask in the first place. you smiled and raised an eyebrow.

"of course i get horny, dumbass," you rolled your eyes."if i didn't enjoy it, i wouldn't keep doing it with you. i like how wet you make me," you responded though he still didn't understand. he sat up properly on the bed and scooted closer to you.

"what do you do to please yourself, then???" jaeyun was an avid masturbator. he probably became more addicted to it after the two of you started sending nudes to each other.

he went from various tabs on pornhub, xvideos, etc., to only relieving himself to your pictures and videos... which really amplified the results. to think you haven't done the same with him is crazy.

"i thought what we did was pleasure on its own, i never really felt the need to do anything more," you shrugged, crossing your legs. he looked at you and licked his lips.

"you should try it, and use the videos i sent you while you're at it," he said, biting his bottom lip. you nodded slightly and picked your phone up to look at the time.

"i should get going, don't like leaving the pet home alone too long," you said, getting up from his bed, he nodded and got up with you walking behind you to the door.

he gave you a kiss before you left and continued thinking about the conversation you two just had as he walked back to his room. needless to say, he let his mind and hand wander.

-

you and jaeyun were laying down on his bed watching t.v. the two of you hadn't been doing anything special, and frankly you were still sweaty from a hot day at work.

you would've showered sooner, but he insisted you lay with him as a "sorry" for being too busy working overtime to spend time with him.

hating the fact that you had been basically sitting in your own filth for maybe the past thirty minutes, you decided to get up and shower. "you got some clothes i can put on?" you asked.

"yeah, go ahead. i'll have em at the bottom of the bed for you," he said not even looking at you...too indulged in the screen i guess. you nodded and grabbed your phone as you made your way into the bathroom.

when you got in there, you undressed yourself, ran a bubble bath, and put a towel out to use when you were done. you went to grab your phone to turn on some music, looking at your wallpaper that was a picture you took of him.

...maybe i should try now? you thought to yourself. you locked the door quietly and slipped into the steamy tub opening your locked images in your gallery going to the folder you made of his pics and vids.

you went to one of his most recent nut videos he sent you, when you guys were exchanging nudes, and played it. your eyes watched intently, trying to take in everything that was going on as if you were seeing it for the first time.

you watched as his hand slowly stroked his cock in an up and down motion, tightening once it was at the top and such. you turned the volume up to hear his small grunts and shaky breaths he let out as he kept going.

you felt a small electric in your stomach and took your free hand to take a quick swipe down to see you were getting wet. you opened your legs, deciding to just get it out the way. and thank god jake loved filming long videos.

you used your finger to turn the volume up more as you let your hand trail down to your clit as you started rubbing slow circles to match the pace he was going. your breathing became irregular as you sped up to keep up with him.

your body, wanting to climax when he does, started forming a knot in your stomach as you felt yourself start shaking. seeing from the video, he was shaking and getting louder, ready to bust.

you bit your lip and kept his speed up feeling yourself getting ready to cum, his hand started shaking the same way yours were as his semen spit out with every stroke he made, though he stopped after a few.

you kept going, closing your eyes as you forced your high out to its fullest extent, twitching more as you bit your lip harder. after a few more seconds of that, you stopped and pulled your hand away feeling the last seconds of pleasure left behind.

you let your breathing go back to normal as you looked at the remainder of the video, which was jake turning the camera around to give you a corny ass smile with a thumbs up.

you rolled your eyes and exited out of your gallery, putting your phone aside as you watched yourself up completely. after you finished, you got out of the tub and wrapped yourself up, walking out the bathroom to see jake had put some clothes for you to wear at the bottom of the bed.

you unfolded the towel and dried yourself off while he watched you intently from his spot. you looked over to him and smiled as he quickly looked away, biting his lip.

you finished getting dressed and laid down next to him on the bed, burying your face into his side. "you smell good," you mumbled into his shirt. he hummed in response.

"pay attention to me, jaeyun...i did it," you mumbled again. he turned to look down at you to see you had a cheeky smile on your face as you looked back up at him.

"did what?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. your smile only grew wider as you closed your eyes thinking back to that amazing feeling you felt, though you couldn't recreate it to its fullest extent.

"i masturbated~" you sang out. "and to that video you sent last week, it felt so good. i think i overstimulated, too," you continued, though he didn't seem to care so much. he only responded with a shrug and looked back to the t.v.

"how do you know if you really came, though?" he laughed, not even looking your way. you furrowed your eyebrows as you removed yourself from him, sitting up to look at him crazy.

"uh- i'm pretty sure i know what it feels like," you argued, feeling defensive about it. what you just experienced couldn't be you assuming you came. "it's the same way you would know."

"i don't think you have," jake persisted, sitting up. he placed his hands on your ass as he pulled you up onto his lap. you looked away from him feeling annoyed with how he was acting.

he took your turned head as an opportunity to start kissing on your neck. you closed your eyes, humming. but you realized what he was doing and quickly bit your lip as you opened your eyes again. "i think i know my body more than you do, asshole."

"don't get smart with me," his accent and deepened voice grumbled against your skin, making you shiver. he started biting down on your skin, leaving hickeys. you didn't protest and wrapped your arms around his neck.

"i don't...like you doubting...me," you breathed out, losing track of your thoughts as your body decided to focus more on what he was doing to you.

he wasn't just leaving love bites on your neck, he was also itching his way up your bare thigh and as he rubbed circles, it made you wet in no time. "i'm not. im just not really sure you know what that is."

"even if you do, don't you think i could make you feel better?" you couldn't decide whether you loved or hated what his choice of tone was doing to you. you always loved his accent, and how he deepened his voice when he wanted to get something out of you... but this is the time you stand your ground against him.

and it's a fight you were losing because of how easily he could seduce you. "...no," you managed to get out, making his movements stop for a second before he continued what he was doing.

he didn't say anything, but he grabbed your chin in-between his index finger and thumb forcing you to look him in the eyes. you wanted to melt under his gaze, but before you could react he pulled you into a kiss not wasting anytime, basically attacking your lips.

he wouldn't even let you get a breath of air, pulling you back into the kiss with his hand on the back of your neck, forcefully, only letting you breathe when he himself needed to. he slid his hand up your shirt making you shiver at how cold it was against your skin.

he pulled away from the kiss, only to place his tongue along your jawline, licking up to your ears leaving kisses. his hand was now massaging your breast, pinching your nipple every now and then. you mentally thanked yourself for not putting a bra on.

his lips met yours again as you allowed his tongue to slip in, swirling around yours as you sucked on his every now and then. he pulled away and looked you in the eyes out of breath before he immediately

his hands were feeling all over your clothed body. "i'm gonna take this off," he breathed into your ear, tugging at the end of your shirt, making you nod as you lifted your arms up to make it easier for him to take it off of you.

his mouth immediately found its way to suck on your left breast, as he squeezed the other one with his hand. you hummed, biting your lip as you felt your hand go down to play with the hem of your panties.

you slipped your hand in, making your way down to your clit to relieve some of the throbbing. but before you could start rubbing, jake snatched your hand out. he unlatched his mouth from you before he grabbed your chin the way he did before, except more roughly. "stop being needy, i'm gonna give you what you want."

you smiled and nodded, feeling the heat rush to your cheeks from the way he handled you. this time, he kept your chin in his hold only changing it to hold with his four fingers, using his thumb to rest on your lip. "open," he said, pulling your bottom lip down. you did as you were told, opening your mouth a little, though he didn't seem to be pleased by it since he used his thumb to open it more.

"stick your tongue out," he whispered, biting his lip, not bothering to move his thumb as your tongue lay on top of it. first he gave you open mouth kisses, moving with his tongue to be on top of yours before the both of you closed your mouths to finish the kiss.

it was a lovely sound and feeling, making you get wetter by the minute. you especially grew weak in the knees when he added tongue sucking into the combo as he continued. you moved your hips forward as you tried to scoot closer to him to break the distance between your bodies, earning a groan into the kiss from him.

"fuck, keep doing that," he said, moving. his hands to place them firmly on your waist, helping your movement. he threw his head back as you repositioned yourself on his left thigh, enjoying the feeling of his erection in his basketball shorts on your clit.

by now you were more than soaked, and from all the teasing and stalling he had done, you were ready to climax. "jaeyun, i'm gonna cum," you breathed out, speeding up your speed, ready to finally cum. he, knowing he wasn't near his yet, only closed his eyes and nodded.

"cum for me, baby," his grip on your waist tightenedto keep you steady as you kept riding his thigh, feeling your breathing speed up as a knot formed in your stomach. after a few more seconds of that, you finally felt the high hit, sending electric chills all over your body.

jake french kissed you while lifting you up so he could quickly pull his shorts and boxers down before placing you back down. soon enough, you were back on his (now naked) thigh, his dick being between your thighs, his hands on your hips, moving at a quick but steady pace.

you couldn't hold back your moans as jake forced you to keep going, pushing you down on his erection more, then resorting to lifting you up enough so that he could hump you easier. feeling himself come closer to his climax, he took you off his lap, before kneeling in between your legs, stroking himself while looking you directly in the eyes.

you didn't hesitate to reach your hand up to his cock to help him finish, but he only moved it away shaking his head. "i wanna nut on your face," he said, making you get wet again. you nodded and stayed still, seeing that was really all you could do since he looked close.

his eyes fighting so hard to stay open as he continued, he finally started spurting out semen while letting out a throaty moan. it landed on your tits, some landed on your lips, even some on your eyelashes and forehead. he stroked himself a few more times, before he stopped from the pain of overstimulation.

when he got his breathing back to a norm, he quickly went to get a towel to clean up the mess, leaving you sitting there. you wiped some of the cum off your eyes, then licked the cum that happened to land on your lips.

when he came back, he wiped off the excess, laying beside you. though you both were sweaty and gross, you both had an unspoken agreement to just wash up in the morning. he turned to you with his signature smile. "now wasn't that better than before?"

you rolled your eyes at him. in all honesty, you forgot all about what happened earlier. so, sadly jake ended up winning the 'argument'. looking everywhere but his eyes, you reluctantly nodded. "yeah. you win this time i guess."

"YES!" he said, smiling wider. he pulled you closer to his chest, kissing the top of your head. "it's okay, baby. we both knew i would win in the end."

[infernwetrust]

To Take Care Of [Duncan Shepherd x Jim Mason] Part 2

PART 1

Summary: Duncan comes to visit Jim in California one last time.

Warnings: PURE SMUT, fluff, angst, swearing, drug use, emotional

WC: 3.0k

A/N: I can’t believe I literally cried writing this at 6AM lmao. If anyone likes to listen to music while they read for a real tear-jerker, I was listening to Show You by Kasbo the entire time that I was writing this. Thank you for reading! -Juno

GIF by langdonsblood

The entirety of dinner, Duncan and Jim never once stopped speaking. What they could eat in an hour turned into 2 because they always had a lot of catching up to do when Duncan was back in town or if Jim went down to D.C. It was a sight to see and the both of them couldn't stop giggling about it; how completely opposite the two dressed in the styles that they taught each other about. And when Duncan got up to stretch before clearing the table, Jim's eyes shot straight down to the print between his legs. Jim was always staring at Duncan when he had the chance. Whether it be because he simply adored the man or because he was beyond horny, he could almost never take his eyes off Duncan Shepherd if it was just the two together.

After dinner, the two made their way into the parking garage of Jim's apartment complex and into his car where they shared a joint or two... or three. It's a good thing that Jim always kept a case of water bottles in his trunk because both of them had a very serious case of cotton mouth.

"Fuck, I can't drink it fast enough." Duncan said as he gulped his water down and his cotton mouth still wasn't going away. High off his ass, Jim bursted into giggles at his boyfriend's failed attempt to get his mouth and throat wet. Mouth full of water because he happened to be drinking, of course he sprayed most of it all over his dress shirt.

"Guess I gotta take it off now." Jim said, still giggling.

"No, no." Duncan replied, licking his lips and watching as the water soaked through the material, exposing Jim's toned chest. "Leave it on."

"Okaaaaay." Jim threw his head back, sighing happily before returning his gaze back to Duncan. "So how long is this trip?"

"It isn't." Duncan answered, his eyes glossy from his high.

"What do you m-,"

"I'm not going back to D.C., Jim. I- I'm leaving everything behind. So that we don't have to keep doing this. I miss you a lot when I'm gone. No amount of texts, calls, and video chats can compare to just being here with you."

"Duncan are you se-,"

"Yes. Remember when I told you a couple months ago that I was working on something huge?"

"Yeah." Jim answered, his voice trying hard not to crack.

"I sold what I could and packed what I could. I'm having a couple things shipped down here. And I knew that if I told you while I was back in Washington you'd try to stop me, so I just did it, slowly. I'm discussing buying a house with a couple property owners out here, just have to go see them in person. I was hoping that you would mo-," Jim cut Duncan off, slamming his lips against his in a fiery kiss as he finally let some of his tears go.

"Duncan..." he said as he pulled away, leaving his forehead against his. "I always could of just moved to D.C. You know I'd drop everything for you."

"I know, but I didn't want to. You have a nice little life here in LA and out of PV. It's simple. You're away from the lime light. Private life. DC was so hectic and I was so stressed all the time. Being here with you and loving you, the sand in my toes, a whole lotta margaritas and vodka cranberries, and some of the best sex I've ever had." Jim blushed at Duncan's words.

"California is an interesting place, I can say that for sure. I love it here."

"That's something someone not from California would say." Jim chuckled, causing Duncan to laugh.

"Besides." Duncan continued. "You're still so young and full of life, Jim. DC will suck that right out of you. It's only good for a visit, I promise you that. I've never felt so fucking old."

"Duncan you're only 33."

"And you're 27."

"You're not old, Dunc. At all."

"Oh, I know that now that I've actually been doing things other than working." He winked at Jim.

"And when you're like 76 and I'm like 70, you'll still be my sexy young man."

"Very funny."

"Duncan, I love you." Jim said, turning his body slightly in his seat so that he could face Duncan a little bit better.

"I love you too."

The two sat in silence for a while, staring at each hazy eyed before their gazes finally drew their lips together again, but this time they kissed hungrily. They were handsy.

"No. Not here." Duncan moaned out as Jim's lips made their way to the side of his face and down to his neck.

"Okay. Okay. Fine. C'mon though." Jim quickly hopped out the car, Duncan following behind him. Locking the doors behind them, the two ran through the parking garage like teenage boys; giggling as Jim looked back at Duncan who was hot on his heels. When they got in the elevator, Duncan pinned Jim up against the wall, putting his lips back on his in a breathy kiss filled with hard pants and their hands roamed freely once again. Duncan gripped Jim's ass tightly, pulling him closer, when the elevator dinged. Jim grinned against Duncan's lips before taking off again down the hall. Another chase that Duncan somehow managed to keep up with. How he managed Jim's level of energy he was unsure of, but he loved it anyway.

Jim couldn't get his keys in the door fast enough, pushing it open immediately as soon he heard the click. He tossed his keys on the counter and Duncan pounced on him again. This time, he picked Jim up, Jim wrapping his legs around his waist in yet another steamy kiss, Duncan carrying him to the bed. Jim left his shades open, the moonlight that shined brightly through his window being the only source of light they had to guide them. Duncan set Jim down by the bed, quickly pulling his hoody over his head before ripping Jim's shirt clean off. Jim, too high off marijuana and Duncan's love, didn't seem to care as he fumbled with his belt before finally unbuttoning his slacks and pulling them down.

Duncan pushed Jim down onto the bed before pulling his sweats down. He climbed on top of him, sinking between his legs, planting soft kisses along the surfer boy's neck as he grinded against him through the material of his boxers. Soft kisses were soon turned into harsh sucks and love bites as Duncan left behind a few hickeys on his neck and chest. Jim whimpered underneath him, thrusting upwards for a little more friction, but Duncan planted him back down, thrusting right back. The both of them loved the feeling of the other growing hard in response to each other's touch.

Jim's breathing got heavier as Duncan trailed his tongue down his chest down to his abdomen and just above the hem of his underwear. He slowly pulled them down, leaving kisses and bites on Jim's thighs. Jim let out a low hum in approval before Duncan put him inside of his mouth.

"Mmmmm, Dunc." Jim moaned as he got to work on him. Duncan moved slowly at first, swiveling his tongue over the head. Jim propped himself up on his elbows to get a better view. He bit down on his bottom lip as his breathing became uneven. He gripped the bedsheets beside him, slowly moving his hips to try and match Duncan's rhythm. But then Duncan sped up, completely throwing Jim off. And he was a mess again, slumping back down into his mattress as he let out a deep moan. He grabbed a nearby pillow, throwing it over his face attempting to keep himself from getting to loud, but he knew was pointless. Duncan pushed Jim all the way to back of his throat, allowing for Jim to thrust even further upwards as he bit down hard on the pillow.

"Fuck." he growled as he sunk his hips back down, allowing for Duncan to start bobbing his head back up and down. He was sloppy now, slobbering all over Jim as he moaned, groaned and whined. Tossing the pillow to the side, his hands found their way in Duncan's hair, tugging gently as he brought him closer and closer to the edge.

"Fuck, baby. I'm so close." Jim moaned out, but Duncan didn't stop. Using one of his hands he massaged Jim's balls. His stomach twitched and he knew he was close and when he was right there about to spill over, Duncan stopped, flipping him over into his stomach. He quickly pulled his boxers off, getting his hand wet enough and stroking himself a few times before pouring himself inside of Jim.

"Shit..." Duncan mumbled as Jim's walls wrapped around him, inviting him in. "Still so nice and so warm." Jim bit down on his pillow for the second time tonight. Duncan slapped his ass before he began sliding in and out of Jim whose leaking erecting rubbed back and forth against the soft and warm sheets.

"Missed you so much.." Jim said, barely above a whisper, but Duncan heard him.

"I missed you too." Duncan replied in his ear, speeding up his pace, his hips rocking back and forth. Pure nostalgia filled Jim as he Duncan fucked him with the same intensity he did the first night they met, the second time they got to see each other, and the night that they made it official. Submerged in a world of pleasure, Jim closed his eyes and replayed that memory again, vividly.

"Wanna go for a walk along the boardwalk?" Jim asked Duncan as he shoved his last piece of fried Oreo in his mouth. "And I don't knooooow, maybe tell me what's on your mind? You've been awfully quiet since we sat down to take a break."

"Yeah, come on." Duncan got up rather quickly. Jim got up too throwing his trash away before the two began their walk. They walked closely together, so close that Duncan managed to slip his hand into Jim's and the two intertwined fingers.

"So you're not mad at me for something?" Jim questioned, looking over at Duncan.

"Mad at you?" Duncan asked confused before finally sighing and stopping all together, standing completely in front of Jim.

"Well yeah, you haven't been-,"

"Jim, I love you."

"I know Dunc, I love you t-,"

"No, Jim. I LOVE you. I am IN LOVE with you. I can't keep visiting you and having you visit me and not letting you know how I feel. And you know I'm not all about labels, but this is a label I want. It's a label I need." Duncan poured out. "Every moment I spend with you, I've never felt so alive. Every call we make, every text we send, every time your name or face pops up on my phone, I'm flooded with nothing, but good memories.

"And I know I can come off as a little passive sometimes or shut down, but it was never because of you Jim. I have my own issues that I'm working on. Every time I have to leave or you have to leave, I start counting down the days until I can see you again. Jim you make me so so so happy." Duncan continued. "Fuck this is a lot, just be with me Jim. Please?"

Jim threw his arms around Duncan, pulling him into the tightest hug he could manifest and when he pulled back he pushed his lips up against his in an effort to not start crying in front of all these people.

"Duncan I-," but Jim couldn't even finish his sentence before he hung his head low, arms still wrapped around Duncan's neck.

"There you guys are!" Jim's sister, Medina shouted as walked over to the two. "We've been looking for you guys for a while." Duncan drew his attention away from an emotional Jim, to smile over at Medina.

"You just told him didn't you?" she questioned, smiling right back. When Duncan had landed in California a few days before he already knew what he wanted to tell Jim, but he was nervous and they had gotten so comfortable without their label, he didn't want to ruin that. So when the opportunity presented itself, he sat down with her and poured his heart out, to her, about her brother. She did nothing, but encourage him to go ahead and tell Jim how he was feeling. She wasn't going to let him know how crazy in love Jim was with him too. She wanted Jim to do that himself.

"You knew about this?" Jim snapped his head up to look around at his sister.

"I did."

"She did. She helped me, actually. This confession probably would have been waaaay worse had I not sat down and talked it out with Medina." And for a moment, Jim let go of Duncan, throwing his arms around his sister and lifting her up off the ground in a bear hug.

"Why are you so good to me?" Jim asked her.

"Remember when all we had was each other?" she asked back. "Everyone deserves a shot at happiness Jim and you helped me find mine, so why not bring you closer to yours, hm?" Jim chuckled as he put her back down, giving her boyfriend, Calvin, a fist bump before returning his attention back to Duncan.

"Duncan, I love you too. I'm in love with you." Jim breathed out quickly before his tears could catch back up to him. "And I have so much more to say, but I'm trying so hard not to cry. For a fucking brick wall at times you sure are a tear-jerker. And be yours? I was already yours, Duncan. In my heart, I was already yours. No one was ever going to take me away from you."

"Picture pleaseeeeeee." Medina squealed as she took her phone out of her backpack. "This is too good of a moment to not capture on camera."

"Think you can hold your tears back one more time for a photo, boyfriend?" Duncan questioned, Jim's heart fluttering at the word.

"Shit, I don't know, but it has to be quick." Jim said, a mixture of laughter and a cry. "Because it's coming."

"Jim?" Duncan called out, pausing his thrusts as he held onto Jim's hips. "Why are you crying? Am I hurting you? Do you need me to stop?"

"God, no, Duncan." Jim said. "Keep going. Please. You make me so so so happy." Those words alone were enough for Duncan to realize that he and Jim were thinking about the same memory. And with our further question and without pulling out, he flipped Jim over, so that he was now on his back.

"Just like old times, huh, ocean eyes?" Duncan asked Jim, biting his lip at him. The familiar nickname gave Jim goosebumps. The moonlight illuminated the both of them to each other perfectly, casting shadows around the rest of the apartment.

"Mhmmmmm." was all Jim could get out before Duncan kissed him, slowly, tenderly, and sloppily as he slowly began to move himself in and out of him. Jim's hands tangled their way into Duncan's hair as the kiss deepened and so did Duncan's movements. He took long, deep, and slow strides in and out of Jim, wanting him to feel each and every one of them. They whispered sweet words to one another between their heavy breaths and moans.

Jim wrapped his legs around Duncan as his own pre-cum pooled and pooled against his stomach and he wanted nothing more than for Duncan to take him there again. Duncan took this as an invitation to speed up, moving a pillow behind Jim's head so that it wasn't slamming into the headboard. It was messy now, erratic, Duncan's movements. The both of them were struggling to keep themselves together, struggling to keep each other together with how good they felt. Jim clawed everywhere, especially at Duncan's hips, in an attempt to pull him right back into him when he would thrust out.

"Right there... right there... right there." Jim moaned every time Duncan slammed into his spot and before he knew it, he was coming undone underneath Duncan, hands free. Duncan noticing, grabbed Jim's cock pointing it upwards so that it painted him instead of Jim, stroking him fast as an aid. Duncan's name left Jim's mouth repeatedly as he let go, gripping at Duncan's thighs as hard as he could to stop himself from shaking uncontrollably.

The sight alone was enough to send Duncan over the edge and threw his head back, moaning out Jim's name in return as he pushed all the way in, holding himself there, releasing all of himself deep inside of Jim. He rode out his orgasm before pulling out. He was going to grab for a towel when Jim yanked him back down on the bed, climbing on top of him. He slowly trailed his tongue across Duncan's chest, getting up every last bit of himself.

"Faster clean up." Jim mumbled against Duncan's lips before laying against him all together. Duncan pulled the covers up over them before wrapping his arms around Jim, when Jim heard him sniffle. "Are you crying now?"

"No." Duncan said, obviously lying.

"Uh huh.." Jim said propping his head up on Duncan's chest to look at him. "I love you."

"I love you too. But, um, above moving in with me once I get one of those houses; would you?"

"Of course. If it means that I don't have to go a couple months without seeing you, then of course." Duncan smiled, kissing Jim on his forehead.

"Never have to worry about that again."

"Good..." Jim mumbled, beginning to doze off. Within a few minutes, Duncan found himself asleep, right along with him. Home.

Taglist: @jimmason @angelicmichael @whatcodysaid @9layerdevilfoodcake  @xavierplympton @guiltyfiend @mikhalxngdon​ @theneverendinghunger​

[kaiowut99]

5D’s Episode 29… With an “Uncut” Dub?! (Re-Edited 4Kids Dub/Japanese OST)

“A Looming Threat! The Dark Signer Ushio?!”/”Good Cop, Bad Cop”

Everybody listen!

Well, after over 2.5 years now (...welp), this little mini-project is finally wrapped up! (Well, not totally, as I realized I have to go back and fix a few things for consistency, but y’know) It’s been neat editing these to throw the Japanese OST back in, and while I might do a few clips here/there now for fun, unless 4K/Konami Cross Media decide to flub up more episode uploads without their dub OST, I probably won’t be doing more full episodes. (Need to work on finalizing my GX subs finally, haha.)

But in case this is still the first you’re hearing about my mini-project here, let’s get you up to speed:

So, the official Spanish YGO channel on YouTube flubbed a few uploads of the 5D’s dub such that they ended up uploading a few episodes of the English dub instead of the Latin American dub (21-29)–but with none of 4Kids’s background music! Which meant that I could swoop in and re-insert the original Japanese soundtrack (which I did by matching each track to how it was looped in the episode), but I wanted to do more by also tweaking the dub itself so that not only was it matching the original footage, but the dialogue was more in line with the original dialogue timing-wise (since I couldn’t salvage much of what they changed).  Hence, the “dubbed uncut” gimmick here.  To this end, I’ve also used dialogue from Duel Links where applicable, or even borrowed audio from other episodes with the vocals isolated to lend to that effect.

Check out the masterpost of episodes here!

Check out this episode’s WIP videos! WIP #1     WIP #2     WIP #3

This was an interesting one to work with, and I was looking forward to it because of the Jack/Carly scene at the end over Jack Battle; it was also neat working in OSTs like Ceremony off Sound Duel 2 and mesh it with the dub, while recreating some of the OST tweaks they did (like speeding up Carly’s theme or sputtering Rua/Ruka Battle 2 as Jack calls Carly out lol).  Dialogue-editing-wise, this wasn’t as bad as 28, thankfully, as most of the dialogue was more or less adapted well, though I still did need to grab dialogue from other sources to cover for some dub fails, and I did grab audio from episode 30′s dub for the preview.  I also translated the “Road of the King” poster shown in four scenes (two outside the gala that happens and two inside as Godwin talks), using the dub’s “Atlas Rising - The Rise of Jack Atlas” name.  And since this is the last episode I’m working on, I thought it’d be cool to make use of Mark de Groot’s awesome Last Train - A New Morning English cover to really channel more of that “what if uncut” energy (just a shame no solid English CROSS GAME cover exists, but hopefully my eventual full translation when I post it will help that along). Full breakdown below, if you’re curious.

So, yeah... Enjoy, folks! Now that these are all done, I’ll be focusing more on my finalizing my GX subs and looking into finally reuploading my 5D’s sub/dub comparisons onto a new site, though this has made me want to revisit my 5D’s!DBZ Kai project occasionally, lol (I do want to see about using TheMilkman’s reduced-filler cut of Kai, though, as I thought it was a much more streamlined way to watch the show, but we’ll see).  I do have ideas for clips to create later on, but for now, enjoy these and think of what could have been (and could still be if we ever miraculously get a redub...)~

*cracks knuckles*

So, in the Noteworthy Cards section, the twins’ dialogue is still all from Duel Links, as I stitched together a “What will this Monster be?” line for Luna to match Ruka’s line, and recycled the ���You get to see!” edit I used in 27 for Leo.

For the cold open, I tweaked Trudge’s dialogue to remove more of the “working together” fluff from the subplot they added (I removed the more overt mentions in 28 since I couldn’t edit around it).

*cue Last Train*

In Carly’s scene with the officer, I recreated the Carly Nagisa theme as used here, which was pitched and sped up by nine seconds, and replaced the one officer’s line about her needing to go outside with Carly gasping (since the officer was originally silent).  Once outside, I used a mix of lines from 27 and Duel Links to stitch together a better line about her fortune matching the original more, then did so again over the transition shots to the Road of the King/Atlas Rising red-carpet event (where the dub inserted a commercial break).

At said red-carpet event, I used a Duel Links line to make Carly’s “Angela! Didn’t see you!” line after bumping into Angela “No way! Angela!” to match the original.

Once the ROTK/Atlas Rising gala starts, I used the Japanese audio from the transition to it to after Godwin steps down the stairs to remove dub!MC’s added lines, then shortened Goodwin’s lines hyping up the movie so it all finished while he was onscreen, using the Japanese audio as the audience clapped.  When Yusei and Jack start hearing the movie on their TV screens, I used Duel Links lines to make Jack’s movie dialogue match what was said in those scenes originally (and the dub was inconsistent), and after Angela calls bull on the movie’s “Jack was born in the Tops” narrative, I kept the reporters prodding Godwin in Japanese with a subbed line because of how 4Kids edited them such that they kept speaking in turns within a shorter scene.  As Carly looks up at the movie before running off, I used a Duel Links line for Jack in the movie, and as she talks with Misty, I shortened Misty’s (fluffed in the dub) foreshadowing line to Carly to match the flaps.

I didn’t edit the scene with Yusei and Trudge much, and then as Carly bumps into a reporter outside Jack’s hospital, I wanted to remove the cameraman’s “We’re still live!” (since he was originally quiet, and you wouldn’t talk over a live shot like that lol) but the reporter’s “I’ll show you sorry” line overlapped with it, making a clean cut hard.  When Carly makes it inside, I shortened her (fluffed in the dub) line about her costume working, then as Trudge walks in, I switched to the Japanese audio to remove his “only doing this to get close to Goodwin” dub-only line, and kept the dub’s Dark Signer birthmark SFX as it appears on Trudge (since the JP version seems to just use the regular Signer one for it).

After the eyecatch, I used the Japanese audio as Mikage peels the apple (since Mina was humming), then switched to it again after Jack says he wants to be alone to deal with the dub cutting Mikage’s bow and removing Mina’s “call me if you need... anything” line).  Once Jack’s outside with Carly and possessed!Trudge walks up to them, I redid the Dark Signer birthmark SFX and the glowing right after to remove the dub’s added zoom-in SFX, then after Jack gasps, I switched to the Japanese audio to remove the dub’s added flashback-transition SFX.  As Carly flashes back to possessed!Dick’s dueling in 28, I added in the “whooshing” SFX and recycled some SFX from 28 to remove “Wipe his mark clean!” from possessed!Dick’s dialogue and adding "Blizzard Strike!!” from my edit in 28 to it, also recycling Yusei’s yelling/groaning to keep Carly quiet--her on-screen “A glowing mark like Yusei” line right after is recycled from 28 (Carly’s original line was “That glowing on his arm...”).  Used Japanese audio as Ushio activates his Disk, then stitched together a “You’re a Dark Signer?!” line for Jack to replace his “I seriously doubt [I’ll be the first to fall]” line to Trudge.  I vocal-isolated Carly’s “Yusei won” line after Jack asks when Yusei’s happened and put it just before he does, replacing Carly introducing herself (which doesn’t happen originally until just before the last turn), and using the Japanese audio for the SFX as Jack looks determined.  I used a Duel Links line to cover Jack using Carly’s name just before he has her use his Duel Disk, and then the duel starts.

I recycled a Trudge “It’s my move” line from later to remove his “Let’s cut the conversation” line (I did what I could to remove how conversational they made possessed!Trudge) over the 4000 LP shots, and then I vocal-isolated parts of Carly’s excited lines about dueling with Jack to remove the dub’s flashback-transition SFX (which they used over a vision...), recreating the Rua/Ruka Battle 2 theme playing here and the sputtering that happens when she declares her turn only for Jack to correct her and say it’s his, lol.  I vocal-isolated Jack dialogue from later in the series to use a proper Vice Dragon effect explanation over Jack’s trash-talk line to Trudge, then did the same for a Carly line in 37 to fix an error where she mentions Vice Dragon having 2400 ATK (as I thought it’d sound better than “twenty-hundred” lol).  I shortened Carly’s and Jack’s (fluffed-up in the dub) lines about his being a “once-great duelist,” then recycled some Trudge laughter to cover for his “Hey, has-been!” line; as Carly sends cards to the Graveyard for Warm Worm’s effect, I redid the Graveyard-sending SFX to remove her “That’s how this works” line and the dub’s add-on to that SFX, adding on a Jack “What’s going on?” thought per the JP script.  As Carly reacts to having to send more cards per Shield Worm’s effect, I switched to the JP audio as the split-screens happen and the cards are sent to use those SFX.

As Carly declares another turn but catches herself, I used an “It’s my turn!” line from Jack to remove his “Let me see my cards” line, then tweaked Carly’s line to fix an error where she has Strong Wind Dragon take out Shield Worm in a “direct attack” so it’s “take out Shield Worm and attack!”; I vocal-isolated the resulting “Dimwit!” and “Did I mess up?” lines from Jack and Carly to remove the dub’s split-screen SFX.  As Trudge brings back Shield Worm with Regretful Rebirthborn, I moved his line about its effect so it started while he was onscreen per the JP script, also removing his “you and your little assistant” fluff, and I vocal-isolated Jack’s “Not as sorry as Trudge is going to be” thought to remove the dub’s added zoom-in SFX, using part of the JP audio to use that SFX, and then using the JP SFX as Carly sends the cards to their Graveyard.  Having removed Jack’s fluff here as there was a dub commercial break inserted, I tweaked a Duel Links “From my hand” line to use before he declares his Twin-Shield Defender summon, using the JP audio for the summon itself.

I moved Trudge’s “It’s my turn then” a second or two earlier, then used the JP audio after he summoned his Worm Tokens as the split-screens and counter fly-ins happen, then vocal-isolated part of Trudge’s line after to remove the dub’s split-screen SFX, and I used the “chaos” part of one of Trudge’s Duel Links lines to try and fix the dumb “Dark Tuner Chaos-Rogue Catastrogue” error (which I do 2-3 more times), using the JP audio as Chaos-Rogue’s summoned.  I moved Jack’s “What’s this Dark Tuning business all about?” line a second or two later to remove his use of Carly’s name, then used the JP audio from where Chaos-Rogue starts tuning to the Worm Token glowing to remove Carly’s added line about Dick Dark Tuning, and used the JP audio as Dark Diviner/Pitch-Dark Zumwalt’s summoned.  I redid the SFX as Carly sends cards to the Graveyard per Chaos-Rogue’s effect to move part of Trudge’s line attacking with Dark Diviner earlier (since 4Kids cut a second or two from this shot), and then vocal-isolated part of Trudge’s line about Dark Diviner’s effect to remove the dub’s split-screen SFX.  I switched to the JP audio as Carly sends cards to the Graveyard after as I moved Trudge’s line a bit to shorten it, then after Carly shields Jack from the attack, I vocal-isolated part of his line to Trudge to remove the dub’s split-screen SFX and used a Duel Links line to extend his dialogue (which 4Kids shortened); I also vocal-isolated Trudge’s line after to remove the dub’s split-screen SFX.

As Carly apologizes to Jack, I used a “Well?” from Duel Links for him to remove his guessing Carly’s name now that she properly introduces herself, and then vocal-isolated their lines as they start their turn to remove the dub’s split-screen SFX.  I used the JP audio after they draw, then again when they activate Mind Trust, vocal-isolating part of Jack’s line to remove the dub’s split-screen SFX and stitching together various lines to extend Jack’s explanation of its effect by adding a mention that it’s a Tuner with half the Level of the Monster he releases that he’s adding to his hand (4Kids cut this short and he just says “to pull a weaker Monster”).  I added a whoosh as the screen goes up Strong Wing Dragon to match the original audio, then as Dark Resonator’s summoned, I used the JP audio as the ATK counter flies in (but at a lower volume, since 4Kids moved Jack’s dialogue about the summon to during the summon itself, since Jack’s lips weren’t moving when he originally said them while onscreen), and stitched together a “Dark Resonator tunes with Twin-Shield Defender” line to remove the “tune-up” line, using Duel Links lines for Jack’s Exploder Dragonwing chant.  I vocal-isolated part of his explanation of its effect to remove the dub’s split-screen SFX, and then his line having Exploder Dragonwing attack to remove his “Of course [I still have it], I only lost yesterday” line to Carly, using his Duel Links “King Storm!!” shout for its attack, and switching to the JP audio as the attack hits and causes the explosion.  

As Trudge comes to, I added a Duel Links grunt over a second of lip-flaps that the dub cut, then no real dialogue edits to Carly’s and the reporter’s lines as she runs out with Jack.  Then, as Goodwin meets up with Yusei, I edited his “It’s time I told you the whole truth” line to match the flaps, adding a vocal-isolated “You see” from 26 just before “It’s time I told you the truth,” and used the JP audio after Yusei gasps looking to where he points to end the episode.

In the Preview, as mentioned, I used dialogue vocal-isolated from episode 30 to recreate the JP dialogue, though I did want to use Crow’s “Ready! Set! Duel!” from Duel Links but it wasn’t working too well, so I stuck with his “Time to ride!” from 30 that hopefully still sounds good.

*phew*

[princessbilliam]

Otaku Nation: Anime's Effect on American Pop Culture

The modern age of Anime arrive in Japan in the 1960s, and within the course of the following decade or so prospered to the giant robot, distance battle genre bender that we would soon realize as the anime of now.

Evolving within the next 30 years or so, it reached a summit where it could start to overtake and eventually become an essential component of different cultures, similar to the Hollywood of the 1930s quickly grew to encompass the remainder of the planet and inform their pop culture. In precisely the exact same fashion, American pop culture becomes increasingly informed by the trends and cult reaction to anime.

On the other hand, the national awareness as to where these shows came from as well as the poor marketing of the shows made them forgettable and rather than a jump in point, they behave as a nostalgic reminder. Know more NaijaVibe is a pop culture and entertainment website

When Speed Racer came, the beginnings of a true understanding that Japan was producing something fresh and exciting started to install. The prevalence of Speed Racer was never that of its American contemporaries, but it created at a established fanbase the openness to devour newer offerings in the future in Starblazers and Robotech (a convoluted perversion of multiple animes, but nevertheless a comparative success in the countries ). Nonetheless, the effect was largely underground.

From the 1980s, the addition of Beta and VHS made it possible to join together with friends and watch more varying forms of anime. When Akira arrived in 1989, the effect was real. People who knew of Akira were lovers for life, eagerly awaiting their opportunity to partake more and more of the developing tendencies out of Japan.

For Japan's role, this age was a period of major expansion, a veritable boom in the company. The 1980s saw the success of shows such as Gundam and Dragon Ball overgrow the national consciousness and become runaway sensations. The explosion of the manga sector before hand, with serializations of works by Akira Toriyama and Katsuhiro Otomo in the early 80s simmered in the childhood of Japan and finally seeing the commercial possibilities of those functions, creating in the process a major conglomerate of companies in the Akira Committee to bring the huge funding of Akira to fruition.

By the 90s anime was the mainstream in Japan, and the result was that the ramping up of production and increased output of shows. In part because of the simple, streamlined art style, multiple artist were able to work on a single project and create episode per week for years at a time, leading to monumental runs such as the case of Dragonball (156 episodes) and Dragonball Z (276 episodes). The ability to serialize and turn a story into something that millions of youths would tune into each and every week made firms billions (of yen) and secured the sorts of industrial sponsorships and funds necessary to undertake extraordinary jobs that would require huge sums of cash to finish.

Back in America, a few executives were starting to see the impact that these shows were having in Japan. Slowly and very carefully they began taking the hottest, Dragonball Z and Sailormoon by way of example and finding timeslots first in the afternoon, before the daily retinue of American cartoons, testing the waters of marketability. In 1995, the trickle of anime into the states was only that, a relative trickle. Sailormoon aired every morning in syndication, but sliced and missing key seasons to relate the endings of significant storylines. Dragonball Z ran an equally mild run early on Saturdays in syndication that was abruptly cut when the rights to the show have been lost by the initial company and bought by Funimation.

All the while, works from Japanese specialists like Hayao Miyazaki were being overlooked, passing undetected through limited release in the countries, while making him a God of his own craft in Japan. All the while firms like Manga, Funimation, and Viz were buying up licenses and releasing small known, untraceable reveals that no one knew the origin of. The shows were treated badly, often dubbed and cut up to accommodate American audiences. Viz even launched the very first Anime magazine in 1993 using Animerica, primarily reviewing their particular products but still giving a view of this civilization that nobody knew anything about.

Butin 1995, the release of the shows in the Usa along with the premiere and rave reviews of Neon Genesis Evangelion at Japan, Otaku curiosity abroad began to spike. Otaku is a bid of a misnomer as it is a little bit of a insult in Japan, a mean spirited way to call someone a nerd. Here though, it normally signifies a purveyor of Japanese pop-culture and with all the Otaku so in fashion right now it's less of an insult than the clique. The early 90s was a time of massive growth of interest from the little known import of Anime however, and the American marketplace was not slow to react.

In 1997, tv programs made broad sweeping moves to bring displays to the mainstream. The Sci-Fi station had always needed a small market in its own latenight line up for cult classics like Vampire Hunter D, but Warner Bros finally brought the genre to primetime. And in 1998, a small known video game for the Game Boy exploded at the American market, bringing along with it its whole arsenal of marketing ploys, including the childish, but enormously popular Pokemon anime. Finally, kids throughout the nation were gluing themselves to the tv series as earnestly as their Japanese counterparts had for nearly a decade earlier hand.

Miyazaki's new film played to better reception, receiving a proper release through Miramax. Princess Mononoke has been a success in the terms of the time, even receiving the coveted two thumbs up (let alone an overview whatsoever ) out of Siskel and Ebert. Movies started to arrive in America more liberally, still finding small release, but release at least. And the shows started to pour into. At the time, the fansub scene was more or less the only way to get access to some of the more obscure titles being released in Japan. But since the market thrived, so did the licensing by major companies, and it really started to become prohibited to fansub certain shows since they might be published by a company eventually.

Thus began the closing and full assimilation of Japanese pop culture into American. The DVD format sped up the process, as more episodes of a series could be packaged into a disk than a VHS and production prices plummeted, removing a lot of the financial threat of an untested foreign product in the American marketplace. Cartoon Network surfaced its Toonami afternoon cartoon slot, in which they showcased anime that had been in existence for just a time, but was able to appeal to a much larger demographic and spread the word about these great narrative driven cartoons from throughout the ocean. An whole generation grew into the expanding popularity and became entranced by the epic storylines, amazing storytelling and capacity to show in a cartoon what many considered adult topics and much more mature perspectives on matters like competition and personal success. The Japanese ability to cross genre as well as the extremely higher production values which started to enter displays made in the late 90s and outside supposed amazing shows that appealed not only to children but to adults and outside.

What began as a crossover, gradually began to actually alter the manner in which American's promoted their tv to kids. Shows with more adult articles appeared, and in some cases emulated the Japanese structure. The authors at Pixar crafted brilliant, more maturely themed animations with no ridiculous musicals of Disney ago, and Disney even dissolved their attempted format in favor of much more adult, stories that were complete. The devolution of American quality in animations though as they attempted to match the output signal meant even more Japanese entries in the market. Now, if you flip on Fox kids in the morning you'll find more than half of those shows on are animes. And Cartoon Network nevertheless presents multiple entrances themselves, with much more adult offerings in their Adult Swim block late at night.

These days, you will find anime oriented t-shirts anyplace, an entire aisle devoted to DVD releases at Best Buy (compared to the 1 row only seven years ago) and the achievement of this Anime Network, a channel solely devoted to Anime programming. Magazines like Newtype, a Japanese trade magazine to the Anime sector is now translated and released in America every month with previews of new shows, and American directors like James Cameron are looking to direct live action versions of manga like Battle Angel Alita.

Now, we view new releases from Japan within seven weeks, and the fansub community has to scramble to keep up with what is legal and what's not legal to offer through their services. The internet itself has made it a huge community, in which a show can be recorded on Japanese television, ripped and subbed, subsequently uploaded within a couple hours for the entire world to view. There is no place over, and new displays are immediately available. And it's evident in the universities too. Japanese is one of the most pursued languages, filling up instantly with a lawn long waiting list each year, and much more segments being added each year.

[pokefan531]

Miraculous Ladybug Production Analysis

Today, I will be reviewing Miraculous Ladybug on the production quality. This goes on video quality and knowing its original format. We will be going over the base resolution, framerate, audio, and others. I've done some test by analyzing different sources of the show, and to see the techneical side.

Miraculous Ladybug credit goes to Zagtoon. Images are used for demonstration.

Video Resolution

On TV stations and on digital distribution, it is common to air or stream it on 1080p. In fact, most anime are digitally drawn on lower resolution than 1080p. For Miraculous Ladybug, this is the case.

Miraculous Ladybug is rendered at 720p, across all episodes and specials as of current. By taking some frames from Netflix stream, it is clearly upscaled from 720p. I did some check by looking at individual screenshots of the show and look at it on Photoshop. Looking at the characters hairs and some edges, you can tell that the source is upscaled.

It is common for a 3D animated TV show to render at lower resolution than 1080p, aside from the texts and the credits. The credits are clearly 1080p while the background is just upscaled to 720p. The text are clearly sharp and doesn't have anti-aliasing. The Ladybug icon on the left is also 1080p. On the opening, only the text are rendered at 1080p, but it's not as sharp as the credits. Still, it doesn't have jagged edges on the texts. Again, it is mixed with 720p background. Also, the logo scene seems to fit well with debicubic filter. I've tested upscaling filters with Avisynth on the frames to see what was the best. It seems like the studio actually use Bicubic scaling with Blur=1, and Ringing=3 setting. It is the default filter setting on Avisynth's Bicubic filter. I've check some masking between original frame and debicubic and use bicubic again, there was no difference aside from blurring out small compression artifacts caused by streaming.

So clearly, the show is upscaled from 720p with Bicubic filtering, with texts being full HD, especially seeing the credits.

(Although, the scene where Plagg gets sucked in on Stormy Weather, the vertical resolution looks like it's half. We know the show is not interlaced, but what happened?)

(Look at the edges of the objects when watching 1080p quality. It is certainly upscaled. Images from Robostus episode and The Bubbler)

Tonemapping

Like most 3D television shows, all scenes are tonemapped to sRGB/rec.709 colorspace. No HDR or wide color gamut is natively supported. Since it is tonemapped to SDR displays, at certain points, Ladybug's outfits seems to have slight red value cut. It is seen when the red shades are over 255 red value, that it can't go brighter and either shows red banding, or red highlight details may be lost. However, the problem is minor, since other color values are present to shade over it.

Overall, the show looks colorful and looks nice for any displays.

(The suit seems to lost some the bump mapping due to compressed tonemapping? Images from Stormy Weather.)

Framerate

By looking at available sources, it seems like the show is rendered at 24fps. By watching Princess Fragrance and The Mime from official Miraculous Ladybug Youtube channel, I can hear the speed difference from most sources that plays at 25fps. It supposed to sound like the 24fps version. Background music tracks and the theme song are available. They seem to match the episodes' audio speed by reconizing the tempo. A lot of sources are seen as 25fps, with the audio sped up without altering the pitch. Technecally speaking, it would be 23.976fps instead of 24fps, but still is.

Framerate Conversion list

As said above, a lit of sources found are playing the episodes at 25fps with sped up audio, but no audio pitch has changed. It's common for PAL conversion to speed up 24fps content to match their 50hz displays (aside from portable displays and computer monitors show natively 60hz). However, in recent years, they use better technology to speed up the audio without altering the pitch, so that it stays true to the pitch of the original format. That way, no one can tell the difference.

Since PAL regions use the format above, I'll list the countries and channels that airs in 60hz or NTSC regions.

South Korea:

The show is aired in the original format. It's 24fps on all channels that airs the show.

Japan:

The show airs in the original format.

Brazil:

The show airs in the original format.

Canada:

Quebec airs the french version, but airs it at 24fps. Family Channel airs it the same way too.

United States:

On Nickelodeon, they would air it at 25fps. Even though most content in the country would air at 24fps, 30fps, or 60fps, Nickelodeon decides to air their shows at 25fps to make more room for commericals to earn more revenue. That also means they cut the credit sequences for the same reason too, with the credits displayed on last 30-seconds of each episode. The audio pitch is unaltered, however. Even their streaming services airs the show at 25fps. Few of their early episodes has wrong conversion on their website, by converting from 25fps to 24fps, albert, with interlaceing, for some weird reason. They look terrible when Nickelodeon had them on their website back in 2015. It is unknown if KidsClick airs it in the original format since I never watch the show from their platform.

Latin America:

This is the most weird conversion of them all. While the show airs at 24fps, Disney Channel LA did the inverse of PAL conversion. THAT MEANS the audio pitch is LOWER than most sources! When I saw their commericals or clips of the recordings taken from their channel, I can hear the audio pitch being altered, but not the typical PAL way. It is very uncommon for NTSC standards to do this sort of thing. I even went to Costa Rica to hear how the show plays over there. I hear the audio pitch being lower as of last year. This is very rare for any channels over there to do this. I don't know what source Disney Channel LA got for the episodes, but it seems like they got 25fps ones and decides to think it is converted already for PAL regions. Very weird. However, streaming services outside the channel never had this issue. It is unknown if PAL countries like Argentina did this too. Their Disney Channel is basically the same, except it's their timeline and broadcasts in PAL format, 50hz.

It is possible that each country can air the show in their own local channel. However, you would have to be in the spanish community to know if they're playing the show correctly.

Netflix:

As far as I know, they have the episodes at 25fps everywhere. iTunes:

Not sure if they still have it, but I remember them having 25fps playback.

Youtube:

Only Princess Fragrance and The Mime are available. It is in the original format, and so as the clips on their Youtube channel.

Overall, it is commonly seen as 25fps in most platforms. I'm not sure if they preserve 25fps on Shouts Factory's DVDs R1.

Blu-Rays

There hasn't been a Blu-Ray release for the series. It's not uncommon for the series to be released on Blu-Ray. Star Wars The Clones Wars, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Samuari Jack, and Batman Animated series has got blu-ray releases at 1080p. DVDs are never HD, and are usually compresses poorly due to using MPEG2 codec from 1990s. You can only find the HD versions on digital platforms. I only know iTunes would do digital release of their episodes. You may have to rip the episodes yourself from other digital platforms. I know not many TV series here have blu-ray releases, but majority of the medias are movies and anime. In Japan, they have very high sale rates on Blu-Ray releases. Not only you get to watch the episodes without internet, but you have very high quality studio like video at the highest resolution with barely video compression artifacts.

Audio

It is common to have stereo audio on TV shows. However, Netflix seems to have 5.1 Surround Sound audio for the show. Usually, the voices are at the front speakers, while you hear the rest of the sound everywhere, with panning from one or multiple speakers to the next. Nickelodeon has aired the show in surrounded sound format before on their HD channels.

Censorship

Miraculous Ladybug is a family friendly TV series, and nothing weird or inappropiate is in it. It was intentionally made for worldwide audience. However, very few television networks made their censorships to any shows. Miraculous Ladybug never got cuts or alterations for anything, but rather small decisions.

On Disney Channel UK, they did a simple motion blur on some scenes to avoid or reduce fast motion lights to reduce risks of seizures. Most notably, the transformation scenes, catching the Akumas, flying butterflies restoring damaged properties, and fast fight scenes that takes big part of the screen. On Frame-by-Frame, the image either have the next frame blended on the current frame, previous frame blended on the current, or both.

Reducing seizures by motion blur may help, but the show doesn't have any strobe or seizure induring scenes. Most broadcasts would leave the show alone. Even Japan leaves the video untouched, despite having paka-paka laws in place on TV broadcasts for airing Electric Soldier Porygon in December 1997. All TV shows have the "Watch in bright lit room" notice on the beginning of the episode in Japan.

Saudi Arabia has skipped Copycat for some reason.

(The bottom one is from Disney Channel UK. All episodes are censored this way to reduce fast bright objects.)

Conclusion

Miraculous Ladybug is rendered at 720p 24fps, with sRGB/rec.709 colorspace. The framerate, whether you're watching 24fps or 25fps, you wouldn't hear the audio pitch being different on the latter, so it's fine. The audio is maxed to 5.1 Surround Sound. Censorship goes from very small to none.

The overall TV show's quality seems pretty good for a TV series. Netflix has all the episodes for two seasons. Even if watching upscaled content, it still looks pretty fine. The audio and sound editing seems pretty great. The animation is smooth overall. The second season is the best season so far. It can be possible that later on, the series may start doing native 1080p rendering. It could be due to the fact that ray tracing on the studio's budget would take too long to render 1080p. Hopefully, native 1080p may soon be used for the future.

[shibee-inu]

Hankvin Week day 3: At work & Secret Admirer AU

AO3 Link

There’s a note on Hank’s desk when he comes into work that morning.

To Hank’s surprise, it’s not an unusual occurrence these days. Lately, he’s been getting things from someone claiming to be his ‘secret admirer.’

The very first note had been simple: ‘I think I have a crush on you. -Your secret admirer.’

Hank had stuffed it in his pocket and tried to ignore it.

At the time, he’d thought it was a practical joke. It had seemed like something another officer might pull to get a laugh.

The next note came three days later: ‘You are so beautiful. -Your secret admirer.’

He tried to match up the handwriting, but nobody in the office matched up. The notes were both written in the same curly cursive, probably done to mask the handwriting of whoever had done this.

Now, it’s become something that happens quite often.

Usually it’s some compliment, like ‘you look lovely,’ or ‘your voice sounds like music.’ Or sometimes a ‘hope you’re doing well.’

Once, he’d found a box of chocolates on his desk with the note, ‘Just as sweet as u. -Your secret admirer.’ It had been startling, to say the least.

Hank is slightly embarrassed by the fact that he’s kept all of the notes. But hey, it’s not like an old man like him gets a lot of compliments these days.

Today’s note reads, ‘I love the way you laugh. I wish I could make you laugh like that. -Your secret admirer.’

He’s had enough of wondering about who’s written these notes, he decides.

He had already asked Connor to try to figure it out with his high-tech shit, but there was nothing useful on anything he’d received.

No finger prints, no DNA, not even a stray hair. Whoever it was, they’d been careful.

So, it’s time to ask Fowler if he can review the footage from the security cameras.

When he asks Fowler, the man is clearly confused.

“Why do you need the footage?”

Not really wanting to admit the real reason, Hank leaves out some of the details.

“Someone’s been putting things on my desk. I just want to know who it is.”

Fowler raises his eyebrow, thinking about the request for a moment.

“...Fine. Just this once.”

“Thanks, Jeffrey.”

Hank makes his way to the security office.

Upon hearing that he has Fowler’s blessing, the Security Officer inside lets him search through the recent tapes on a separate terminal, off to the side of the office.

He figures the best one to check would be last night’s. His admirer had clearly left one between him leaving yesterday and arriving this morning, which gave him a window to search through.

He sped through the tape at 4x speed, stopping at anything suspicious.

For the most part, nobody went near his desk. Occasionally, people would walk past it, but closer inspection proved that they hadn’t placed anything there.

At around 11, he slows down the video as he sees someone speed towards his desk.

He watches, in normal time, as Gavin Reed approaches, looks over his shoulder around the bullpen, and then places something on his desk.

For a long moment, Hank stares at the now-paused screen.

Gavin fucking Reed.

After a long minute of staring, Hank checks from other days where he’d also gotten notes.

Every time, without fail, he finds footage of Gavin putting something on his desk. And then, more damning than anything else, Gavin puts a box of chocolates on his desk one night as well.

Hank is reeling. He isn’t even sure how to react.

He hands the footage back to the Security Officer and thanks them, heading back to his desk.

Well, what the fuck is he going to do now?

Pulling out the note from today, he reads it again.

I love the way you laugh. I wish I could make you laugh like that.

The other dozen notes are sitting at home in a drawer, Hank having looked at them all multiple times. He remembers most of them clearly.

Gavin had written every single one.

Gavin had made him smile, made him feel wanted, made him feel loved.

It’s either some kind of sick joke, or... or Gavin Reed has a crush on him.

He glances over at Gavin now, the detective staring at his terminal as he types something up.

Hank thinks about what it would be like to kiss him, and his heart beats a little faster.

Before, Hank hadn’t really considered the possibility. Gavin is attractive, yes, but he’d never shown any sign of being interested.

Well, until these notes.

He decides on a course of action, then bides his time until the perfect moment.

Connor leaves at the end of his shift, wishing Hank the best before heading home. Hank’s working a later shift today, meaning he still has two hours before he gets to head home.

For once, the later shift works in his favor. The station has begun to clear out, left with a lighter staff for the night. Seeing the perfect opportunity, Hank stands and walks over to Gavin’s desk.

“Meet me in the Observation Room.”

He gives no more explanation than that, simply heading to the room without looking back.

After only a minute, Gavin joins him.

“The fuck is this about?” Gavin says, more teasingly than hatefully.

Hank doesn’t bother wasting time, just getting straight to the point.

“I know you’ve been leaving those notes.”

Gavin freezes. The air in the room turns tense.

“...What notes?”

“Don’t play dumb. I saw it for myself. And I think you owe me an explanation.”

Crossing his arms, Gavin shifts his weight, clearly thinking over his options.

“Okay, yeah. I’ve been the one leaving the notes.”

“And? Why?”

Gavin bites his lip, a blush spreading over his cheeks.

“Um. Cuz I- cuz I’m fucking into you, okay?”

Hank almost can’t believe that. But the notes had seemed so sincere, and Gavin seems to be serious now as well.

“Really?”

“Really. I was just too much of a chickenshit to say anything.” Gavin pauses. “Sorry if this is- weird. And if don’t, uh, feel the same, that’s fine.”

With a shrug, Hank responds, “Suppose you’ll have to take me on a date so we can find out.”

“W-wait, what?”

“You heard me. If you’re into me, let’s go on a date.”

Slowly, a smile forms on Gavin’s face.

“Yeah, okay, sure. Tomorrow night at 8, I’ll pick you up at your place. How’s that sound?”

Hank smiles back. “Sounds perfect.”

[theiceandbones]

ALL THE 5S FOR THE MUSIC ASKS!

OH GOODNESS THANK YOU FRIEND!

5. A song over 5 minutes long: The Mariner’s Revenge Song by the Decemberists. That is SUCH a jam always 

15. Something to BELT SHAMELESSLY/do DIVA HANDS to: Honestly? Just about anything from Fleetwood Mac, BONUS for anything by Stevie. Some personal favourites are Second Hand News, Seven Wonders, Gold Dust Woman, and Little Lies. They just *CLENCHES FIST*

25. A song with a great music video: I’m feeling nostalgic now so I’m gonna have to go with Diane Young by Vampire Weekend. They had to actually film it sped up so that when the video was edited how it was meant to be seen it would match the actual speed of the music. Oh and Ezra Koenig is god

35. A great song you discovered thanks to a movie: OH NO this is tricky because I don’t watch a lot of films but uhh. Right now I’m thinking of Ça Plane Pour Moi by Plastic Bertrand from Ruby Sparks. Or anything from Submarine really because I adore Alex Turner 

[15001700tt]

Gift or Talent?

@peachangkyvn HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOVE!!! it feels like we're worlds apart but really I am so glad we became friends. so since I can't give you a physical gift here’s something that I thought of like back in July.

Baekhyun x Hyun Jin

Word Count: 1,173

Piano AU

It was a pretty quiet night, Baekhyun was at practice with the boys, wasn't supposed to come home early at all. Hyun-jin (you) took this opportunity, to watch some of his performances. He was such a passionate performer, Hyun-jin gets mesmerized by the way his fingers seem to dance a role the keyboard effortlessly, almost as if it was another person that was slaving away in the practice Rooms.

Those are the nights she really worries about him. When they’re preparing for their concerts and comebacks. He doesn’t function, which is why she's here to help him through it. There are times where she feels him slowly tire out. Those are the days where she draws the line and takes him out to relax, not worry about it anymore.

As she watched his performance in one of his concerts he was playing ‘my turn to cry’ she could feel his pain and grief he expressed in the song. His fingers still working away at that piano, not missing a single note just like his warm angelic voice. Her eyes drew to his perfect form in black and white and how he effortlessly looks perfect.

Her attention slowly went to the piano that sat in the corner of their living room, where Baekhyun sometimes practices on, but mostly to show off the great skills he acquired from hanging out with Chanyeol. Above it hang pictures of memories they made together and other memories with the boys and their girlfriends. The wall seemed to be filled with happy memories, ignoring the grief that they have to go through with the hardships of being a successful band.

She made her way to the piano with her phone in her hand still playing the sweet melody. She took a seat and ran her fingers about the keys. She wasn't a professional and she can't play by ear like Yixing can either, but she took some piano lessons when he was younger and they stuck with her through the years. She paused the video of Baekhyun and played a familiar tune to her ears, she learned it by heart when she was still practicing. It was a simple tune, not very complicated but very beautiful. She was a bit rusty but she smiled nevertheless, she still remembers. She pulled out some music sheets that Baekhyun had tucked in the drawer next to the piano and found one that didn't seem too intimidating.

she started out slow, unsure before speeding up to meet with the desired tempo, there were some obvious mistakes but she was still better than she expected. Since this wasn't something that she heard before, mostly things that Baekhyun and Chanyeol and lay composed when they were over but discarded. It was still very well composed by 3 talented men. She started going through the music sheets, one by one she played it, she roughly could hear her mistakes before she corrects them, she couldn't focus on the mistakes when she was feeling the way the music float in the air and carry her. She was having fun, she could care less that she wasn't as good as she would’ve liked.

She switched back to another video of Baekhyun it was ‘my answer’ and tried to replicate it, she had more trouble since it was more complicated but she still gave it a shot, she was so immersed in concentration she didn't hear the click of the lock.

The door to their apartment opened and in came Baekhyun with soft brown hair ruffled, and fluffy from the guys ruffing it and him running his hands through it. As he locked the door, he could hear a soft melody being played, it sounded strangely a lot like his voice. He rounded the corner and found Hyun-jin at the piano and playing the notes roughly to replicate the ones in the video.

He smiled at how perfect and cute she looked. He leaned against the doorway and watched for couple more minutes. Watching her make mistakes and correct them and then trying again to pick up her pace to match his.

He loved that even when she's alone she's still trying his hobbies and trying to try out his hobbies. He never would've guessed she would take up piano, but from the way she was doing this wasn't her first time sitting in that uncomfortable chair. He wondered what other mysteries his girl has if she's this good at the piano and he never would've founded if Chanyeol didn't get drunk off his ass and had to call Sang-Soo to pick him, making everyone go home earlier than planned.

She was having trouble playing the break, he chose that time to make his presence known and help her as well.

“You didn’t mention you knew how to play the piano”

“Holy shit, you scared me.” She breathed out,

“You’re good, you have a gift” he complimented as he took a seat next to her and played a soft harmony.

“I wouldn’t call it a gift”

“Is it a talent then? Whatever it is, it's beautiful and you should continue” he continued.

“What happened with the guys?” Hyun-jin switched the subject, she was embarrassed that she was caught but he didn't seem to tease her that much, nevertheless, she didn't want to give him the opportunity.

“Chanyeol can't handle his alcohol” he explained.

“Ahh” she nodded before she focused on his fingers that were still playing the soft harmony, she replicated it and followed his lead.

“Were you trying to learn ‘my answer’?”

“Yes, not much luck though” she sighed. He started to hum to the song and began playing it.

“Maybe you should try doing each part separately, it will help a lot” she nodded and focused on his hands. He started to show her how each part should be played and gave her time to learn it, then they moved on to the next part.

By the end of the night, she practically learned the whole song, just needed to work on her cues and timing. The first time she got right on her own, he smiled so big and was so proud of her. He felt immense pride in his girlfriend for being able to learn such a hard tune in a few hours.

“I think you deserve a break and practice more tomorrow if you want, for now, let's go sleep because I am tired and I want to cuddle my amazingly talented and gifted girlfriend” by the end of the small monologue he was whining. She laughed at his cuteness and grabbed his hand as he sped up in front of her to pull her towards their shared bedroom.

As they laid down in bed and slowly falling asleep, he heard Hyun-jin mumble something that strangely sounded like, ‘I am surrounded by talented people, it rubbed off on me’

His soft giggle is what she heard in response before completely falling asleep, but she missed a part.

“Gifted for remembering, talented for replicating.”

[t4tripsandtours]

FREE FILMORA 11 CRACK | FILMORA 11 FREE DOWNLOAD | WONDERSHARE FILMORA CRACK | FULL VERSION https://youtu.be/7MnTlqiHwj0 Download Link: https://ift.tt/oPdLpZM Password: 1234 Filmora is an all-in-one home video editing software for PC that has powerful functionality and a fully stacked feature set. This software is a solid app that gives you the features and styles that have been previously only available to professional filmmakers that have a certain level of experience and the expensive applications to match. Filmora video editor has a simple drag and drop interface, which gives you the freedom to be artistic with the story that you want to create. Wondershare Filmora 11 is a great video editor for Windows! Fast processing, proxy files, and adjustable preview quality help you be more productive. Fix common action cam problems like fisheye and camera shake, and add effects like slow motion and reverse. Change the aesthetic of your video with one click. It has both creative filters and professional 3D LUTs. Craft new worlds by layering clips and using simple green-screen effects. Perfect your sound with keyframing, background noise removal, and more. The video editor ensures every frame of your creation is as crisp as reality with full 4K Support. Features and Highlights Text & Title Now you can create beautiful animated messages from the text & titles library. Music Library Add your favorite music directly into your movie to create the perfect atmosphere. Overlays & Filters Transform a movie into something spectacular with handcrafted, overlays and filters. Elements Take your video to the next level by adding impressive Still and Motion Graphics. Frame By Frame Preview Precise control over both video and audio frame by frame. Speed Control Control the pace of your clips, to create a beautifully sped-up time-lapse or stunning slow-motion effect. Play In Reverse Easily reverse your footage and get funny videos you have never imagined. HD Support Bring clarity to your video with High Definition support, for better close-ups so you can view every detail. Transitions Seamlessly combine multiple pictures and videos with easy-to-use transition effects, turning scattered moments into a meaningful story. Wondershare Filmora 2022 is an amazing video editor for Windows! Audio Separation Remove background noise by easily separating, adjusting, and applying the audio that best matches your movie. GIF Support Import, edit, and export animated GIFs. Audio Mixer & Equalizer Audio editing tools that give you complete control over how your video sounds. Social Import Importing just got easier. Choose from a selection of sources including Facebook and Instagram. Built-In Video Effects A variety of titles, filters, overlays, transitions, and motion graphics are included so you can easily up the quality of your videos. Music and Sound Effects Save time hunting for the perfect song. Access a library of royalty-free music and sound effects inside Filmora. filmora 11 crack,filmora 11 crack download,wondershare filmora 11 crack,filmora 11 full crack,filmora crack,filmora 11 free,filmora 11,how to download filmora 11 crack,filmora 11 free download,wondershare filmora crack,filmora 11 download,filmora x crack for windows 10,filmora x crack,how to crack filmora 11,filmora x crack for windows 11,filmora version 11 crack,filmora 11 full,wondershare filmora 11,filmora 11 cracked,wondershare filmora 11 free, 2022Download Link: https://ift.tt/oPdLpZM Password: 1234 Filmora is an all-in-one home video editing software for PC that has powerful functionality and a fully stacked feature set. This software is a solid app that gives you the features and styles that have been previously only available to professional filmmakers that have a certain level of experience and the expensive applications to match. Filmora video editor has a simple drag and drop interface, which gives you the freedom to be artistic with the story that you want to create. Wondershare Filmora 11 is a great video editor for Windows! Fast processing, proxy files, and adjustable preview quality help you be more productive. Fix common action cam problems like fisheye and camera shake, and add effects like slow motion and reverse. Change the aesthetic of your video with one click. It has both creative filters and professional 3D LUTs. Craft new worlds by layering clips and using simple green-screen effects. Perfect your sound with keyframing, background noise removal, and more. The video editor ensures every frame of your creation is as crisp as reality with full 4K Support. Features and Highlights Text & Title Now you can create beautiful animated messages from the text & titles library. Music Library Add your favorite music directly into your movie to create the perfect atmosphere. Overlays & Filters Transform a movie into something spectacular with handcrafted, overlays and filters. Elements Take your video to the next level by adding impressive Still and Motion Graphics. Frame By Frame Preview Precise control over both video and audio frame by frame. Speed Control Control the pace of your clips, to create a beautifully sped-up time-lapse or stunning slow-motion effect. Play In Reverse Easily reverse your footage and get funny videos you have never imagined. HD Support Bring clarity to your video with High Definition support, for better close-ups so you can view every detail. Transitions Seamlessly combine multiple pictures and videos with easy-to-use transition effects, turning scattered moments into a meaningful story. Wondershare Filmora 2022 is an amazing video editor for Windows! Audio Separation Remove background noise by easily separating, adjusting, and applying the audio that best matches your movie. GIF Support Import, edit, and export animated GIFs. Audio Mixer & Equalizer Audio editing tools that give you complete control over how your video sounds. Social Import Importing just got easier. Choose from a selection of sources including Facebook and Instagram. Built-In Video Effects A variety of titles, filters, overlays, transitions, and motion graphics are included so you can easily up the quality of your videos. Music and Sound Effects Save time hunting for the perfect song. Access a library of royalty-free music and sound effects inside Filmora. filmora 11 crack,filmora 11 crack download,wondershare filmora 11 crack,filmora 11 full crack,filmora crack,filmora 11 free,filmora 11,how to download filmora 11 crack,filmora 11 free download,wondershare filmora crack,filmora 11 download,filmora x crack for windows 10,filmora x crack,how to crack filmora 11,filmora x crack for windows 11,filmora version 11 crack,filmora 11 full,wondershare filmora 11,filmora 11 cracked,wondershare filmora 11 free, 2022

[skamthemuse-blog]

Chapter 5: The Tape

8 hours earlier…

“Elias your music is shit,” Adam yelled from the back of Yousef’s car, jammed in between Mikael and Mutta. Elias turned it up louder, flipping his friend off as he did so. Yousef sighed loudly and turned it back down, not taking his eyes off the road.

This had been the tone all trip. They were all so close to jumping down each other’s throats it was as if they were in a pitch-black dynamite factory and someone was walking around blindly with a match. None of them had been in a good mood since the premiere. This was probably due to the severe sleep deprivation the Hei Briskeby boys were facing. The Saturday night they had all gone down to the police station with Even. They had been there all night and all they could get was a “we don’t know” and “we’re looking into it” from the officers. On Monday morning they had decided Even wasn’t going home alone. They had all wanted to be with him, arguing over whose house he was going to stay at. Then, Eskild had shown up. He said that Magnus had called him. Eskild let them know that Noora was gone for the next few days and he would be more than happy to have Even stay with them. The boys knew there was no arguing with Eskild on this matter. When Eskild offered his hospitality, there was no saying no.

They had stayed with their friend at the Collective all Sunday night, taking shifts sleeping, but no one saw Even after they got through the front door. He had locked himself in Noora’s room and refused to let anyone else in. Eskild had made it clear that he could deal with the situation alone after Mikael fell asleep, after his thirty-first hour awake, over a bowl of cereal and almost drowned in the milk. From there, the boys gone to Yousef’s house. Since the moment they had walked through Yousef’s door on Monday, they had been trying to piece together what could have happened but the harder they tried, the more implausible things got. The worst part was that no one would tell them anything. And to them, that translated to no one knew anything.

It was around 3am on Tuesday morning when Elias had loudly exclaimed, “Fuck it! This isn’t working!” He hadn’t really known what would work but he knew he had to get out of the house. They couldn’t just sit around waiting for a phone call that would never come.

Yousef had looked at him with empty eyes, defeated as the rest, “Then what do you want to do?”

“Drive,” Elias replied with the first thing that popped into his head. “We go see where exactly they went missing and we find them.”

“The police are—”

Elias cut Yousef off “The police aren’t doing shit! And we can’t sit around until it’s too late. We have to do something.

No one had argued. No one had the energy to. So, after catching what little sleep they could, the group disembarked on their mission. They had no idea where exactly they were going. They knew the road and that Jonas and Isak had disappeared somewhere between point A and B on a map, but no news coverage had said exactly where. Part of the problem was that the road all looked the same.

“Stop!” Mutta yelled about twenty-six minutes into the trip, startling everyone in the car. Yousef slammed on the breaks. The car behind him narrowly missed crashing into the back of their vehicle. Yousef slunk down slightly as the driver behind sped past, spewing obvious obscenities at him and flipping him off as they went.

“Mutta!” Yousef yelled, turning around. He was giving his best stern dad look. It would have been humorous if they hadn’t almost been part of high-speed collision.

Mutta pointed to a tree beside the road. It looked like all the rest of them, so it took a second to figure out what they were supposed to be looking at. This tree itself wasn’t significant, but the yellow police tape attached to the trunk marked what they were seeking. This was where Isak and Jonas had gone missing.

Yousef pulled over to the side of the road. Everyone got out of the car. The group stood around in silence for a moment. Elias didn’t know what he thought they could find but everything seemed so… normal. As if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. It made Elias sick just thinking about it.

“We’re not going to find anything here,” Adam proclaimed after about ten minutes of the group just standing there. Like the world’s longest moment of silence. They had all been thinking it, but he was the only one brave enough to vocalize it.

“But where next?” Mikael asked.

Yousef turned and walked back to the car. As he opened his door, he called around, “There’s a gas station a few kilometers back. If they stopped anywhere before they got here, it would be there. Maybe they saw them.”

With that, they were off again. Connecting the dots on an empty map. Maybe eventually they’d see the full picture.

***

The gas station was busy. Cars were coming and going faster than Elias could keep up with. Unfortunately, it turned out to be faster than the employees could either.

“Sorry boys,” the attendant at the front counter told them after they had explained the situation, “I just don’t remember your friends. I told the police that too. We see a lot of people in here every day.”

“Please just take one more look,” Mikael pleaded, holding up the photo of Isak and Jonas on his phone once more.

Yousef leaned over the counter, “Do you have a security tape we can check?”

“If I did, the cops would already have it,” the attendant continued. “Ours stopped working about a week ago, before your boys came through here. It just shows static. We have a guy coming to fix it tomorrow, but I guess that won’t help you all that much.”

“Not at all actually,” Elias muttered under his breath. Yousef elbowed him gently in the rib.

“Thanks anyway,” Yousef smiled. He guided his disappointed friends towards the door.

Once outside, all the boys headed in the direction of the vehicle, deflated. Except for Yousef. Yousef walked straight to the road adjacent to the gas station. He didn’t stop and wait for them. He just kept walking. The other boys watched him in confusion.

“Where are you going?” Elias asked, jogging to catch up with his best friend.

“Just because the gas station doesn’t have a camera, doesn’t mean someone else around here won’t.”

“You think someone else saw them driving by?”

“I don’t know. But it’s better than turning around and going home with nothing.”

Yousef was right. Turning back home right now would just make everyone more frustrated and upset. They would repeat the cycle they had been on for the last few days of waiting and hoping. The funny thing about hope was that there was only so much of it one had to run on. Elias didn’t want to know what was left after hope, but he knew that they were all soon to find out if they didn’t find some semblance of an answer.

Elias walked, stride by stride with Yousef down the street. Most of the shops weren’t open yet this early in the morning. They were mostly unassuming mom and pop shops. They weren’t the kind for big security systems. Or most of them weren’t. Yousef stopping in front of the exception: Happily Ever After Wedding Gowns. It wasn’t much, but there was a little camera hanging from inside the window that faced out onto the street. While it wasn’t open, there was a generic looking young man, around their age, steam cleaning a dress inside.

Yousef knocked on the window of the store. The man looked up. He pointed gestured to the closed sign. Yousef took a step back. Elias stepped in, knocking harder this time. The man opened the door.

“Sorry buddy but we’re closed,” the man said, trying to fake confidence that he obviously didn’t possess. He seemed scared of Yousef and Elias. If Elias had to guess, it was racial prejudice showing its face, based on the way he was looking at them.

“Come back in two hours,” the man began closing the door. Elias stuck his foot in it, preventing him from doing so. He didn’t have time for this.  

“Look, we’re not here to buy a dress,” Elias said, annoyed.

Yousef explained for his friend, “We think that you can actually help us with a missing persons case.”

“A what?”

Elias pointed to the camera in the window, “The video on that camera may be the last thing to see Isak Valtersen and Jonas Vasquez.”

“I saw them in the paper this morning.”

“Can we please just check.” There was a desperation to Yousef’s question that both boys knew the dress shop man couldn’t ignore.

The man opened the door back up all the way. “Look, the footage from last week is on my laptop at home, but if you want, my fiancé’s there right now. I can get her to show you it. Let me just write you down the address.”

***

Elias and Yousef had gathered their rest of their team and made their way on foot to the apartment complex that the man had written down for them. It wasn’t too far away. The location of the wedding dress shop must have been planned because of the apartment’s location. It couldn’t have been the other way around. It didn’t really seem like the sort of place you would just put a bridal store. To each their own.

Once inside the apartment, the boys climbed up to the second floor. They stopped in front of number 204 and knocked on the door. It didn’t take long for a young woman with blonde hair to open it. As soon as Elias saw his face he recognized her. She was someone who was has always made herself hard to forget.

“Vilde?”

***

The boys sat in Vilde’s living room awkwardly. They had come to find answers to one mystery and found themselves solving another. Elias had never known Vilde well. They had chatted back and forth that one time in high school, flirting a little. He’d always thought she was cute. She still was. But she looked a lot more… tired? Yeah, that was the word he would use. Tired.

Admittedly, he didn’t know much about what had happened between his sister and Vilde. All he really knew is that one moment all the girls were best friends and the next they weren’t. When he had asked Sana about it she just changed the subject. He had asked Even about it once but Even said that he really didn’t know. He knew bits and pieces of gossip from Isak and his other friends, but he couldn’t say any of it was more than just rumours. He also said that what he did know for sure, he couldn’t say, for Magnus’ sake. One thing that was consistent across all the stories that Elias had heard from various people, was that Vilde started drinking a lot more in her senior year. It was getting to dangerous levels. Apparently, alcoholism was something that ran in her family. He remembered Even saying Sarah had helped Vilde get through some of it back before Vilde left. He wondered if she was still drinking.

“Your uh, fiancé seems nice,” Yousef said, trying to alleviate the crushing silence that had a grip on the room.

“Oh, he’s not my fiancé,” Vilde replied quickly. It was almost defensive.

“But he said…”

“He’s asked me a couple times. I’ve never officially said yes. Why put a label on happiness?” Odd.

“But you two own the dress shop, right?” Yousef continued.

“Oh yeah. Well, it was my idea but it’s under his name. And his money too. He’s an entrepreneur.”

“How did you meet him?”

“I don’t really remember,” Vilde replied, holding a steady smile. It was obvious to the boys that she was lying, and they knew she could tell because she changed the subject, “Why did you come here?” It dawned on Elias that she must not know about Isak and Jonas. If she did she would have put two and two together. Or maybe, if she knew, she would come home to her friends.

“Um, it’s kind of a long story,” he started. What do I even say. “Actually,” Elias continued, “it’s about Isak and Jonas.”

“Are they here too?” Vilde looked a little nervous. As if the thought of more people she had known back in her adolescence would see her like this.

“They, uh-” Elias looked over to Yousef. He hated to be the bearer of bad news.

Yousef took the hint, “They’re missing.”

Vilde’s brow furrowed, “Missing?” That obviously hadn’t been what she was expecting. For Elias, it was proof she really hadn’t known.

“Yeah. That,” Elias replied.

“Since when?”

“Friday night,” Yousef replied. “Look, Vilde we think the camera in your shop may have seen them come through here. Then we can pinpoint the exact time it happened. It’s our only lead right now.”

“Why haven’t you told the police?”

“The police haven’t done shit,” Elias said. “It’s been four days and we’ve heard nothing. We don’t have time to wait. Please, Vilde. They were your friends too.”

Vilde stood up and walked into the next room without a word. Elias wasn’t sure for a moment if she was actually intending on helping or running away from answering them. Thankfully, she returned a moment later with the laptop. She set it down in front of them, already on Friday’s video.

“You’ll have to fast-forward to whenever they were here,” Vilde told them. She took a step back but didn’t leave. She was just as interested in what may be on that tape as they were.  

Yousef leaned forward, sliding the video bar on the laptop forward. He looked over at Mutta and asked, “What time did Even say that Isak left that voicemail for him?”

“18:16,” Mutta replied.

“It has to be before then, if their car was found after town,” Adam said.

It took just under half hour to reach town from the spot where they had found the police tape. The footage must be in there somewhere. Yousef found the window of time he was looking for. Then, they sat and watched. And watched. And watched. After twenty minutes, they realized it was a lost cause.

“Maybe they took another road,” Mikael offered.

“No,” Yousef shook his head. They wouldn’t have. “It’s got to be here somewhere.”

“Maybe they called before they came in?” Vilde said, from her spot off to the side. Everyone looked at her. The call sounded like that’s where they ended, but if the abruptness of the call’s end was somehow unrelated….

Yousef slid the time bar forward on the video slowly, watching as the frame went by. “There!” Adam yelled as he did, pin pointing the spot they were looking for. There was Mahdi’s car driving past.

“Zoom in,” Mutta said. Yousef did as he was told. That’s when they saw something no one was expecting. The face that popped up on the screen was blurry, but everyone knew it wasn’t Isak or Jonas. Someone else was in the car with their friends. And that someone knew where Isak and Jonas were. “Who’s that in the driver’s seat?”

***

The drive home was much livelier than the ride back. Everyone was on edge, minds racing. Elias was holding a flash drive in his lap with the only bit of hope they had found since their worlds were turned upside down. He checked his phone for the first time since he had got to Vilde’s house. He had a bunch of missed messages from Sana. He needed to tell someone about what had happened, and Sana seemed like the person to tell. He called her.

“Now you call me! What the hell, Elias?” Sana asked.

“Hey, Sana, before you get mad, I really gotta tell you something,” Elias said quickly, trying to get it all out before she stopped him. Yousef took his eyes off the road for a moment, almost cautioning him about what he was about to say. Elias decided to start with the news about Vilde, “I think we just saw your friend.”

“What friend?”

“The ex-one. You know, Vilde.”

“Wait,” Sana asked. “I’m going to put you around speakerphone. Okay, what did you say?”

“We saw Vilde,” Elias repeated. “But that’s not even the biggest thing we found. God, I don’t know how we’re going to tell Even but—”

“Tell me what?” Elias heard a male say on the other end.

“Even?” Elias asked.

“Yeah, I’m here.” Even answered.

Elias moved the phone away from his face. He mouthed to his friends “It’s Even.”

“Don’t tell him,” Mikael replied quickly, leaning forward in his seat.

“No tell him,” Adam argued, pushing Mikael back against his seat. “He needs to know.”

Yousef took his eyes off of the road, turning to Elias, opening his mouth to weigh in on the debate. As he did this, he missed the light at the intersection turning from yellow to red. Elias never got to hear what Yousef was going to say. What happened after was all a blur. Mutta was yelling at Yousef to look out. Yousef jerked the steering wheel to avoid the inevitable impact from the truck speeding towards them from the cross lane. Then, their car spun out into the embankment below. The vehicle rolled once as it descended. It all happened so quick that Elias didn’t have time to process what was happening before the airbags engulfed him. Then, everything went black.

[tiernanmck-blog]

Digital Video Production

Week 10

This week I did more editing, now that I had re-shoots and more footage I now had roughly 3 quarters of the footage I needed to finish the video or at least get all the clips I needed together. Below you can see most of my clips, they are edited down and cropped to the actual footage I needed because at times I had a lot of unnecessary footage and many times I just let the camera roll even if a mistake happened in hopes some of the footage as salvageable. 

Fig 33

The next step was for me to get some music to play alongside my video, i should have got music sooner as it plays a huge role in how the video would turn out, it can essentially make or break a video. I went onto YouTube to search for royalty free music, I had an idea that I wanted something relatively fast paced the resembled rock music or maybe country and with that I began searching. I listed to many tracks until I came across one called 1973 it was in the rock category so I gave it a listen and immediately I knew this was the song I wanted to use for my video.  

Fig 34

Now that I had my music track downloaded it and placed it into my promotional project. I played the video a couple times with what I had and quickly realised the pacing of my clips was all wrong, it didn't match the music at all, the clips still felt a little slow even after I cropped them down. So I had to edit the speed of all the clips to match, it didn't take long, most clips worked at a speed of 200% however the shorter clips only needed sped up till about 150% with this I was now ready to get the final few clips I needed to finish the video.

Fig 35

[kaiowut99]

“Victim Sanctuary - Be the Star Engulfing Destruction! Stardust Dragon” | “Duel of the Dragons (Part 2)”

Everybody listen! Got this one all nice and redone! In case this is the first you’re hearing about my mini-project here, let’s get you up to speed:

So, the official Spanish YGO channel on YouTube flubbed a few uploads of the 5D’s dub such that they ended up uploading a few episodes of the English dub instead of the Latin American dub (21-29)–but with none of 4Kids’s background music! Which meant that I could swoop in and re-insert the original Japanese soundtrack (which I did by matching each track to how it was looped in the episode), but I wanted to do more by also tweaking the dub itself so that not only was it matching the original footage, but the dialogue was more in line with the original dialogue timing-wise (since I couldn’t salvage much of what they changed).  Hence, the “dubbed uncut” gimmick here.

Check out the masterpost of episodes I’ve done here!

Check out this episode’s WIP videos! REDO WIP #1     OLD WIP #1     REDO WIP #2     OLD WIP #2     REDO WIP #3

Check out Version 1 of this episode for comparison’s sake!

Really enjoying how this one came out, even though the script wasn’t as accurate as last episode--requiring me to do what I did with 22 and make use of subs where 4Kids deviated far from the Japanese script that I couldn’t restore the original context--this will only be for this hardsub, as I’ll be offering softsubs on NAC alongside it.  Full breakdown below the cut, as it got kinda long, lol.

Enjoy, folks! With this out of the way, I think revising 25 and 26 will be much more of a cinch, as that was when I really hit my stride in terms of editing; adding back some Synchro chants might be all I need to do, but fingers crossed... Meanwhile, I'm slowly getting things ready to start work on finalizing my GX Season 2 subs, so stay tuned there!

Dialogue-wise, I added a gasp I got from some episode 7 audio I isolated vocals from for Yanagi at the beginning (couldn't find good ones for the rest), then recycled Akiza's "It's my turn--I draw" line from 22 to write out her "Well, Yusei?" line; I also mixed Duel Links with her Ivy Shackles activation, then stitched together a proper effect explanation (because nothing's "under the control of Rose Tentacles"), and ended her turn with a "It's your turn" I combined from two different lines in 22 and 23 to replace a trash talk line.  Yusei gets an "It's my move!" recycle to trash "We'll see!", then used part of Yusei's Junk Synchron explanation from 27 to clarify things, and recycled his tuning in 27 over the Synchro Summon for Junk Warrior; when he uses Junk Barrage, I stitched an "I equip it to my Warrior!" to replace his "power boost" talk, and then I used some vocals from episode 87 to help the Junk Barrage explanation (hopefully the shift in acting isn't too jarring).  For Akiza's next turn, I borrowed some audio of her from 61 to explain Copy Plant's and Dark Verdure's effects, then threw in her Black Rose chant from Duel Links, along with her "Black Rose Gale!!" while I added Yusei's Stardust chant in from DL too, then Akiza's backstory scene plays out similarly to Version 1 of this episode.  

Yusei's "Go! Attack!" was from DL while "Cosmic Flare!!" was moved up from the episode, and then I also used some lines from other episodes and DL to correct Akiza's dumb "plant new face-downs" explanation for Magic Planter and "Dark Tuning" name for Wicked Rebirth; because I couldn't figure out the slight reverb effect used while Akiza speaks through her mask (rather than the muffle Aki has), the lines kinda stick out in that way, but I wanted to make things more cohesive.  Yusei also gets his "Victim Sanctuary!!" from DL, and I recycled part of a Phoenixian Seed line to help the explanation; Akiza also gets her "Scatter Flame!!" and "Flame Petal!!" lines from DL for Amaryllis, helping me move her 800-damage explanation to where Yusei's reeling from the effect.  Much of the episode here plays out like in V1, though I also made use of Akiza's "Black Rose Gale!!" and Yusei's "Victim Sanctuary!!" from DL; for the former, I moved her line about BRD's effect activating as she gets angry earlier and sped up a syllable or two to fit it before she swings around, while I just had "Victim Sanctuary!!" replace Yusei's line about sacrificing Stardust and switching to the JP audio after.  I toned Yusei down a bit as he played Cosmic Flare by using a "I play my Trap" mix of lines from Duel Links, and like in V1 of this Dub-Uncut, I moved Akiza's "Thank you, Yusei" from the end of the dub episode to the closeup of her crying. From there, the episode ends much like V1.

Music-wise, nothing too different from V1, though I tweaked the version of "Showdown" used during Akiza's Black Rose-setup turn to be more accurate in pitch, and credit to yugidmx5 on YouTube for their newer version of Hopeless Battle which I used here (see REDO WIP #3), except for looping the beginning section near the end as it sounds similar (there was some residual noise there).   But even with the changed dialogue, it still makes the scene flow really well.

I also added back some SFX that I didn't the first time around for a more complete sound.

[connorrichardsonunit21]

Film Editing: Unit 21

A1 Types and purposes of editing for film and television

One film would be The Miller and the Sweep, this film came out in 1897 in black and white. It was made by G.A. Smith, it was one of the earliest films to show a clear awareness of visual impact when produced. Because the film was in black and white, Smith turned the action into a battle between two opposites. The miller is in white carrying a b of flour while walking from a windmill. The sweep is in black and is carrying a bag of soot, this shows a similarity destructive effect on the opposite person. The film does not include any editing as it is one long continuous shot, this film in a non destructive film. 

Another film would be A TRIP TO THE MOON. This film was one of the first films that involved cuts and dissolves, this shows the difference from 1897 to 1902. D. Georges Melies created a 14 minute ‘masterpiece’ with 30 different shots

In 1903, The Great Train Robbery was produced and edited by Edwin S. Porter. The film consisted of techniques such as composite editing, on-location editing and frequent camera movement. This film was one of the earliest to use the technique of cross cutting, in which two scenes are chow to be occurring simultaneously but in different locations.

In 1908, the first animated cartoon Emile Cohls black and white short film is composed of 700 drawings that he drew on a glass plate. Each drawing is different to the one before it, this allowed Fantasmagorie to have a continuous style.

In 1925,  d. Sergei Eisenstein, this film consists of of a newsreel-like sequences inter-cut with close ups of harrowing details to increase tension. The films was orchestrated with a montage of close ups of faces and objects and long-shots and all rapidly cut together and contrasted as the images built to a conclusion.

In 1961 helical scan recoding is invented by ampex. This would be things such as video tape recorders today.

In 1971, the first linear editing machine was invented, it was the best machine that recorded half resolution black ad white video files onto washing machine size disk packs.

In 1984, EditDroid was a computer that pulled footage stored on LaserDisks. It was created from a George Lucas spin-off

In 1988, the public release of the Avid1- a macintosh bashed non linear editor in 1989. Storage was still and issue and these machines could only edit short music videos and commercials.

Between 1989-2009 Editshare lightworks and lightworks pro, this video NLE was designed by a group of film editors.

In 1999, final cut software was developed, it was a non linear video editing software developed by Macromedia Inc. \the software allows the users to log and transfer video onto a hard drive, where it can be edited, processed and outputted to a wide variety of formats 

In 2003, Adobe Premiere Pro is a timeline-based video editing software application. It includes video editing, graphic design and web development programs.

Continuity editing is the most common style of film editing. The purpose of continuity editing is to create the illusion of smooth continuous action and helps to keep the audiences’ attention to the story. The viewer will not notice the transition between shots.

Non-continuity editing is when shots are mismatched to disrupt the impression of time and space. This draws the audiences’ attention to the process of cutting and disturbs the illusion of ‘reality’. An example is the use of flashbacks.

 Changing Time Frame:

 Timeframes change because it is rare that a film represents real time. One television show called 24 has represented real time by making one episode represent an hour of the day. Situations like 24 don’t happen often so the changing timeframe would be essential to carry out the narrative. A typical film would have to squeeze a couple years into at least 2 hours. 

Changing time frame can also mean that time is extended, we can add this to the bomb under the table example, you can extend time (make it a bit slower) to increase tension.

Time could also be sped up, for example, a fight scene could be shot in 22 frames per second, it is then sped up to 24 (standard framerate in films) so that the fight looks more exciting. 

 In my opinion, changing the time frame is important because depending on the genre certain films may change the time frame depending on the scene. For example, if someone is in a car chase scene maybe sped up to make it look faster and more dramatic. Slow motion will change the time frame. 

  Flashback, flash forward:

The time frame of a film is often important as it is where the focus of the film is set, the film revolves around its time frame as it establishes where the film is set. The time frame is also important as it establishes conventions and expectations, as if a film is set within a certain era then we expect to see certain items. For example, if a film is set in the early 1900s, then that resembles the area ideas of the era. It helps to immerse the audience into the expectations of this world and what living life in a time like this would be like.

The changing of time frame is also equally important when it comes to the process of film editing. This is because it established the movement of time, this movement of time is important as it establishes more conventions and how something may have changed over this period of time. This allows the audience to further expand the conventions and ideas that occur behind this time frame as if they get this idea they are able to further understand the codes and conventions that are expected within the specified time frame 

Controlling rhythm and pace of the production:

Setting the pace of an edit is vital to the storytelling aspect, and for establishing the general stylistic feel of a film. This rhythm is created by a series of beats, and cannot be determined by one or two consecutive cuts alone. It works very similarly to a music composition. The tempo of a piece of music is defined by the beats per minute of the underlying track. It determines the speed, or the pace of a tune. Without it, different instruments cannot come to play in unison or to create a cohesive sound. Just as a conductor sets the tempo for an entire orchestra, or a DJ mixes various songs together by beat-matching, it is up to the editor to determine an appropriate pace within each scene itself, as well as collectively for the entire film. Using rapid pacing suggests the intensity and excitement of the film or show. Slower pacing would be make it seem more relaxed and thoughtful, such as if someone is driving then there would be a slow pace because not much is going on. When it comes to rhythm it is used by using straight cuts to abrupt transitions from one shot to another to convey the immediacy, Jump cuts may also occur when the visual information between shots hasn't really changed much. Dissolves may also be included in a rhythm.

In my opinion, controlling rhythm and pace is important depending on the genre of the film. It helps the audience understand the way the film is going, for example in a horror film the music might get louder and faster showing that the monster or something might happen because it increases the climax and then something happens. The pace of the film will help with the flow of the storytelling and helps the audience to laugh or gasp. 

Creating narrative:

Creating motivation to further the narrative (motivated editing)

Something off frame and then cut to the unknown.

An example would be in a horror film, a  person spins round and sees nothing and they turn round again and the monster is behind. 

It is one of the least jarring forms of transition that could be part of continuity editing.

 Motivated editing is a way of helping to build tension and suspense for the audience disbelief when watching a production. Motivated editing is where shots are carefully chosen to push the story along and make the audience believe what they are seeing. 

For instance if there is a shot of someone walking into a room and looking around, it is best to then cut to a shot of that actors point of view. This way the audience gets to see exactly what that actor sees and it engrosses them in the story even more. Motivated editing is a good way to get an audience deeply involved in what they are watching and makes them less likely to notice all the different cuts and the fact that what they are actually watching is just different video shots put together. Instead it makes them fully believe in the story.

Create continuity between shots

Continuity editing is Editing that creates tension through shots. This builds up action within the film but also within the audience making them question what will happen to each of the individual characters. This creates smooth continuous action shots, keeping the audience interested. Jump cuts can be used to follow the action by jumping between several scenes all following the action. Continuity editing is where everything has to be the same throughout the film, without any changes. For example, if someone picks a cup up with their right hand, and then later on the cup is in their left hand, they have broken continuity. The audience will be able to notice transitions between shots, it also keeps a smooth continuous action, helping the audience keep interest. Following action is usually done through several points of view, this was first done with Life of an American Fireman in 1903. This film shows a fireman rescuing a woman from a burning building. 

This technique has developed over the years as multiple camera action has been introduced; it is commonly used in most genre of films but especially action, adventure and crime films. This is because a convention of those films is a fight scene and in order for the audience to fully view the fight the camera must follow and have different shots of the action taking place. They would film the same scene several times from many angles and then cut them all together. I believe without the development of this technique it would lengthen the filmmaking process as well as increase the budget of the film due to the fact that it is popular with many films to use explosions and weapons, but if only one camera is able to achieve the shot the shot would have to be perfect to enable the audience to believe it. 

Create audience reaction and engage the viewer:

Suspense can be created by controlling the rhythm of the scene. A good example of creating suspense is from the film Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock. Editing shots so that they are   longer can create more suspense, this could also synchronise with the non-diegetic music. Here is a diagram of the edit of the scene. Notice that the longest shot is just before the attack, you can think this shot as ‘the calm before the storm’.

-Lens choices can also create suspense, the depth of field is important since the director has also built up suspense with the environment. Changes from a wide lense to a closer lens can show the details of the reaction of the character. 

Creating meaning:

Juxtaposing elements within editing:

Lev Kuleshov was among the first to dissect the effects of juxtaposition. Through his experiments and research, Kuleshov discovered that depending on how shots are assembled the audience will attach a specific meaning or emotion to it. Juxtaposition is a key element used in film, it’s created by placing two images/ideas/characters/scenes together to create a meaning.It can make the audience think different things and ideas when the two things are placed next to each other. I watched a clip from ‘Strike’ by Eisenstein (1925)  which displayed strong images of juxtaposition with the slaughtering  of animals placed alongside shots of armies marching to display the link of slaughtering animals and slaughtering people. Juxtaposition in music can be used to create irony, exaggerate what's on-screen, or evoke an array of emotions such as shock.

Creating empathy with a character  

When the character is displaying a valued trait, such as loyalty or love. 

When a character is particularly good something, we want to see them use this to benefit their life.

When the character is treated unjustly, in our human nature to feel a way when someone is treated unfairly.

When the character wants to achieve something what people want in the time of watching, this could relate to the character wanting to end world hunger.

When the character focuses on caring for another, especially when it is at the cost of himself, he could help someone down the stairs and as a result miss his bus.

When the character tries to overcome  fear or make a change. When the character tries to overcome fear or make a change

Creating bias in fiction or documentary editing.

This is when you edit a film/ tv series to make you dislike a character, you are able to create a bias in film editing by editing the film in a certain way, for example, in Matilda the character ‘Mrs Trunchbull’ is edited in such a way to make her seem evil this is because she is shown throwing children, locking children in a coffin, etc

[yoags]

Why we play games

Where Paragon is going wrong

The original ‘legacy’ map was open and expansive.

Around April 2016 Epic Games started releasing promotional videos to Youtube and IGN regarding a new third-person MOBA called Paragon. It looked sensational. Amazing graphics, beautiful open world, interesting strategic interactions. I had never played a MOBA before and was not really sure what it meant, but Paragon looked too good to pass up. I paid for Early Access and entered a wonderful world with which I was enamoured for over a year, up until recently. However, much has changed in the development of the game. The entire map/world changed and the speed and pace of everything changed, the itemisation changed, and finally my feelings towards the game changed. I am writing this essay because I am not sure exactly why my feelings have changed so much, and to try to get to the bottom of why we play games at all; what was so addictive about Paragon; and if they are anything more than a pastime.

In Paragon I experienced what I think was my first real addiction. You could say I am addicted to carbohydrates, caffeine or sugar, but taking them away from me would not affect me the way Paragon did. I would go to work angry after a loss and the whole day would be ruined because I played too long and left ten minutes too late, losing in the process. I stayed up late in games lasting 75 minutes or more getting a bad night’s sleep and annoying my girlfriend in the process. She hates this game, with a passion. She has threatened to leave me because she does not like to see the person I am when playing it. But I could not stop. I played almost every day and every day that I did not seemed like an eternity. On the train I would read about it, listen to podcasts about it, and wake up and play a game every day if I had time. But that stopped in early October 2017.

It's hard to say what exactly made the difference in the end, because so many things have changed with the game. We must not forget that when I first played on the ‘Legacy’ map of Agora, everything was novel and exciting. The big open spaces, the blue sky, the old gnarled tree looming over the big crystal towers, the canopy covering the jungle, the black minimal game menus, the minimal electronic music brooding and ominous. Entering a match of paragon felt big and cool and like nothing else on the market.

The jungle of Monolith: dark, plain and cramped.

The new Agora map ‘Monolith’ is much smaller (30% smaller) and feels much more compressed. The scale alone brought the impression of the game down dramatically. The jungle before was a real jungle covered by foliage so you could not see into it. It was exciting to dive into the jungle and with some heroes you could leap out of it and make a play. That was gone and the card system was also changed. Though I think the new card system is more interesting than the older system and also simpler for new players, everything else that has changed has been negative for me. The pace of the game has sped up dramatically. Paragon was slow and methodical on Legacy and it was like moving chess pieces on a board; you could see what was happening and you knew that you had been outplayed and that there was nothing you could do except prepare for the next move, or make a counter move. But Epic decided it was not action-packed enough so they made the map smaller, increased movement speed while removing the sprint function (basically a net increase in map traversal), decreased cooldowns across the board, decreased relative mana costs, and turned Paragon into an action-MOBA.

Many passionate Paragon fans on reddit or the forums will tell you that Steve Superville leaving the project was when things changed, and this seemed to correlate but there are many people behind the wheel of Paragon and for whatever reason Paragon changed so much that it is not the same product that many people bought into. Since the Monolith change my enjoyment of the game has progressively decreased and recently I have seen little point in playing. I have been playing a completely different game instead. I do not think I am just bored with Paragon as I sometimes try to play a game and see if it is fun, but it is not. Elite: Dangerous, without being “action packed”, is so much more enjoyable a game than Paragon is, but for the same reasons Paragon is not. I will explain why.

As the pace of paragon increased, the fun factor decreased. Yes, there is more happening at any one time. Yes, it looks good (since the recent visual update). Yes, there are many heroes and build variety is probably better than it was before the card rework (but there are always optimal builds that the top players go for). However, the faster pace has brought about many bugs. I played a game with countess the other day, a burst caster who relies on being able to execute a string of ability, in the right order, in quick succession. It was impossible; I died a lot. Every ability I used caused lag, I used my ultimate on one player and he appeared five metres away and just completely ignored the damage and root of my ability. But this is not just one hero or just one game. Whenever you are in a grouped-up situation, a team fight situation, or something, there is so much going on the game cannot handle it and neither can players.

The game works now that you farm and get strong and try to win a few decisive fights to get ahead. The once ahead you group as four or five and you take objectives. Nothing can stop you at the point; if you have a decent composition and more numbers then you will kill the other team just by spamming abilities. That is all that happens now. Towers offer no protection, the map is too small for you to get away and there are too many abilities or cards to slow you or root you and stop you from getting away, and so you chase down enemies as a group and you kill them wherever that may be. If you have numbers you usually win, and then you take objectives. There is nothing that a defending team can do except retreat and try not to die. The problem with this is the pace.

Everything happens too fast to react. There are cards and abilities to use to save you. Serath, for example, an attack damage carry, has a short immunity ability that stops her movement but timed correctly can save you. Before the card rework and further ability pace changes, I could use this ability very effectively to dodge attacks and heal myself back up with lifesteal; it was amazingly powerful and satisfying to use it properly. Since the changes I do not remember once seeing an enemy prepare an ability and using this ability to dodge it. That does not happen anymore. It is too fast. When Epic moved to Monolith, abilities became more valuable, and you could effectively escape if you wanted to with movement abilities, or immunity abilities. Now you need cat-like reactions, or you have to have magically predicted that the enemy team was about to jump on you from stealth and unload all of their hard crowd-control and damage abilities on you at once. In this case, if you did not see it coming (by map awareness or warding) then you are dead; there is nothing you can do to prevent it. That, there, is it. That is frustrating. That is unpleasant. That is unenjoyable. Team fights should be fun tactical affairs with play-making and counter-play. But it all happens too fast. You have no control. If you cannot control your game, it leads to frustration, and that is why my entire friends list that used to all play paragon have all but quit, myself included.

Teamfights on Monolith.

The second major general change that Epic Games have slowly implemented is to raise the skill floor and lower the skill ceiling. Most of the changes have been justified as removing confusing mechanics (harvesters > amber link > nothing) or making things fit better on the new smaller map. In other words, making it easier. This has become the subject of intense debate on the reddit and forums recently because of several changes made to the game that have brought higher skill cap heroes, like Kwang, down by making their skills easier to hit and easier to use. Most recently, Epic thought it would be a good idea to make last hitting minions (the mainstay of MOBAs since forever) significantly easier with an execute mechanic that kills minions on any last hit below 20% health. They have explained that these changes are to benefit new players and claim that it does not change the game for people are the higher level. However, it has created uproar and some high profile competitive players of the game have come out against it.

Why is this significant? Surely making the game accessible to more people is a good thing, right? Well, accessible - yes, but easy - no. A tutorial would make the game more accessible but it would not raise the success rate of bad players, thus making good players feel better. Furthermore, if Epic thinks that player retention is low because of a high barrier to entry then they should consider the popularity of other MOBAs like League of Legends and DOTA, which have players in the millions and at this stage a much more complex game with more heroes, more items and abilities and years of development that has created a deep and interesting interacting system.

Another aspect about making the game easier overall is longevity. Without a high skill cap, a game like this will always suffer, as it relies on people making it a part of their life and playing every day for years in order to get to an extremely high level of competency. Without a high skill ceiling too many players will lose interest and there will be no competitive scene. Epic set out to make the best competitive MOBA in the world, and now they are lowering their ambitions. Their statements have changed and their updates are all going in one direction.

Why is this important for games theory? What do I want from a game? What does it have to do with Elite: Dangerous? Well, basically, it’s the same for longevity. Paragon is reducing its longevity, giving long time players less reason to continue, and giving new players a leg up so that the older players will soon be playing with the new ones. And, significantly, reducing the amount of time it takes to reach a high level of skill. Raising the skill floor and lowering the skill ceiling only compresses the skills into a tight group and makes progression seem small. People play games because they give them the feeling of progression. Players of this kind of game want to be progressively challenged and when that stops they will get bored. But this goes deeper: the feeling of progression is essential to gaming. Some may say games are just about fun, but this is not true. Look at Tetris, Mario, Half-Life, and every other successful series that ever existed. The thing they have in common is that they get harder. Mastery of skills is the single most important factor in gaming. As the game gets harder you get better and you learn that you can do things that you could not before, that certain mechanics interact and that you enjoy the feeling of satisfaction when you complete a task that was difficult.

The Milky Way galaxy and the paths of players’ travels on the game. Some even deliberately making patterns that would show up on this map.

This is what Elite: Dangerous does very well. The difference being that it’s got a low skill floor and a high skill ceiling. That skill floor starts when you try to land for the first time in a space station and you crash your ship all over the place, perhaps get a fine for dangerous driving, or worse your ship could be destroyed by the station security just for loitering. This is quite a high level of difficult and for the first month of my play time landing was a challenge each and every time. I still make mistakes. I still know I can land better. And that’s just landing, one of the fundamentals of the game. Flying around fighting requires much more skill with the lateral/horizontal boosters as well as the propulsion throttle, power management of the variable pips into your different systems: systems, engine, weapons. Management of all of these things at the same time is difficult. But there are tutorials, and it is fun to learn. There is much to learn in this vast game. You can look at guides on the internet or you can figure it out yourself by trying it in solo play, or just play and never mind the huge costs when you destroy your ship. I recently started tinkering with flight assist off. The whole game I was thinking it was difficult to fly, but there are some people who never use the default flight assist. You drift like you truly would in zero gravity and your ship does not move in the way that you expect; it’s hard. But there is a very high skill cap. When will I stop playing? When I have every ship and I have explored everything the game has to offer. At present, I am a long way away from mastery. And the journey is enjoyable. The sounds and little actions that you perform in everything require a bit of technique and thought and it’s never unfair. Unlike Paragon, which is frustrating and buggy and still does not have anywhere for me to go without simply playing heroes I don’t enjoy. One small map that I know like the back of my hand, or the entire Milky Way galaxy to explore.

As we can see, reducing the skill gap is a bad idea from the games development perspective. Taking away agency and satisfaction in execution from the player makes a game frustrating and unenjoyable. Perhaps data shows that accessibility brings in more players and that those players stay on average longer than if it is difficult. Perhaps this is just another test in the long beta of Paragon. It could be that I am wrong, and that I do not speak for the general player base. Maybe I speak for hardcore gamers. But, I will tell you why Sony is winning this console generation so consummately. It is because they do not let the sales of their games completely dictate their policy. Uncharted does not sell as well as Call of Duty. They give money to small indie studios who create amazing games that not everyone will play. They also create masterpieces that may not be popular but go down in people’s memory as something of a very high quality. Companies in the games industry in this day and age are forgetting about quality. They are forgetting that people remember, and have opinions, that people talk and that word of mouth exists. Data points and statistical analysis is killing a section of the industry. If you want to create a Call of Duty which everyone plays and enjoys but has absolutely no effect on the gaming press or critics, that is never remembered except by some children who play it because their friends do and do not know any better, then do that. But if you want to create a competitive eSport MOBA, then you have to stick to a singular vision and you have to design it based on that objective. MOBAs will never be for everyone; why try to cater for people who might never play this game anyway?

[emilymooremedia]

Music Video Analysis: Slide Away - Miley Cyrus 

Camera

Close ups and medium close ups are the most common shots used in this music video, and in them the artist is often using direct address. A connection is felt by the audience with the singer as a result of this, leaving us wanting to continue watching. The close ups/ medium close ups are used to show her costume and makeup to create an impression of the artist. At the beginning of the video there are many close up shots of items in water as the camera moves slowly, and at points out of focus, to reveal the scene. This acts as a set up for the rest of the music video, allowing the audience to understand the location and guess at the situation (the morning after a pool party?) rather than starting with action right from the start. I think that the opening sequence, which is slow and soft, suits the style and vibe of the song. Throughout the video we see shots of the artist, with the camera often half in/ half out of the water (for example at 0:25), moving slowly as if floating, which further emphasises the fact that she is in the pool; this could therefore make the music video amplification because of the reference to water in the lyrics, like "Back to the ocean" and the mention of "harbour lights". During the parts of the music video which show the party scene, tunnel focus is used on the artist; the background and the people in it are blurred and appear to be in high speed. This, again, suits the tone of the song and the lyrics as it is about  how she feels she no longer wants the life she is leading at the moment - "Don't want the whiskey and pills" - and the focus is key in presenting this, making her appear more alone and 'done' with that lifestyle. All through the music video a straight angle is used when filming the artist (despite a couple times when a high angle is used above her when she is floating in the water), perhaps trying to reinforce the audience's connection with her which was mentioned at the start of this paragraph.

Editing

At the beginning of the music video a split screen is used with a thick black border around both screens; different parts of the same scene are shown here along with titles, e.g. the name of the song and the director. I think this technique is a very effective way to establish the scene and vibe of the video as it does so in a short space of time while using some visually pleasing and 'vital' to the scene/ narrative shots. This split screen is also used further in the video at 1:31 to show that the scene has changed and time has passed. Cuts on the beat are used throughout, although not often at all so that they are subtle and do not appear repetitive (for example at 0:13 and 0:25). Slow cuts are used in this video so to match the tone of the song; slow fades between shots also add to this tone (at 2:30). During the party scene, the main focus is on the artist, with the background sped up, making it appear blurred. This again emphasises the meaning behind the song; she doesn't suit that fast-paced 'party' lifestyle anymore (represented by the high speed of the people in the background), she is now more calm and slow (represented by her being at a normal speed in the foreground, appearing more steady); this idea is shown in the lyrics "I'll go back" and "Don't want the whisky and pills".

Mise-en-scene

The two colours used at the start of this music video - during the split screen mentioned in previous paragraphs - are red and blue, and these hues are used throughout the video. They may have been used to reflect the mood of the separate scenes; this would be most obvious during the parts of the video where the artist is in the pool and it is light and blue, contrasting later on where she is seen walking through the corridors of the house and there is a red, darker light used. However, blue and red is present throughout the whole video and often used together (e.g. at 0:33, 1:52 and 2:27); perhaps these two contradicting colours could've been used to represent the who conflicting sides of the artists personality - the party side of her and the more grounded side, which is shown in the lyrics "Back to the ocean, I'll go back to the city lights".

The gold used for the artist's costume and makeup is cohesive with the glamourous background and location of the music video; it gives the impression of the artist's elegance and sophistication when compared with the other people in the music video who are not in much costume at all - this again reinforces the idea from the lyrics that she has outgrown the party lifestyle. All the props in this video, especially at the beginning, are successful in introducing the situation and location (narrative) of the video, which, in turn, also add to the overall tone of the video; for example, the empty bottle, disco ball at the bottom of the pool and the deflated pool float; this again reflects the lyrics of "Don't want the whiskey and pills" - she has disregarded the more 'chaotic' and 'loud' lifestyle; this lifestyle is again shown through the location of the video which is a 'typical' expensive LA home video (perhaps again a reflection of the lyrics when she sings "I want my house in the hills".

The artist's performance throughout the music video is a confident one, shown mainly through her direct address and body language. However, it is interesting to note that the first time we see here using indirect address is during the party scene, where, instead, she looks off to the side and down at the floor, again showing that she no longer feels comfortable in this 'party' lifestyle. The confident performance of the artist makes her appear more appealing to the audience as it gives the impression that she is sophisticated and in control.

Genre

The genre of this song/ music video is pop and I think that the main signifier of this is that the video is (basically) entirely performative - the artist is seemingly always aware of the cameras presence and is singing along to the song in most shots. While it is mostly performative there is also an element of narrative, although this term could be used loosely as it is mainly used toad to the tone of the video - the narrative is that a party took place at her house the night before and when the video takes place, it is the morning after. I think that another signifier of the pop genre is the artist herself; she is well known for her pop songs and so this genre is just what is expected of her.

Intertextuality

I do not think there are ant intertextual references in this music video. However, a loose connection could be made to one of the artist's previous music videos from 2013 called "We Can't Stop" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrUvu1mlWco), which also takes place at a pool party and shows her living a very hectic, 'party' lifestyle and enjoying it. An certain close up, high angle shot is used in both videos (at 1:12 in 'Slide Away' and at 2:12 in "We Can't Stop")  of the artist as she leans on the edge of the pool and sings to the camera; it could be argued that this means there is a deliberate connection to the two videos, perhaps in an attempt to show the way in which she has grown and changed as a person over the years.

Audience Reception

Using Stuart Halls' Reception Theory, and within it assuming that the audience watched the music video in the position of preferred reading (decoding the messages the producer intended them to), I think that the audience would view the artist in a positive way and so would enjoy the video - I think that she is portrayed in a mature and sophisticated way in this video as she is seen as having grown up out of this party lifestyle into an elegant woman who is more grounded, and we see this through the use of costume (the subtle, golden makeup and dress) along with the direct address which shows her confidence, but also her independence in finding that she doesn't need to live her old lifestyle anymore. I think that this was the message that the producer intended to encode into the music video, that the artist has matured, and I think that they have done this very successfully.

An audience may watch this music video if they are a fan of the artist already or if they have heard the song on the radio, or on an online playlist, and liked it. I think that the audience would enjoy watching this video as it is very aesthetically pleasing to look at, with the prominent colours of blue, red and gold, and the slow camera movements. As the artist has been famous from when she was young, she will have a wide range of viewers on her music video - ones who have watched her grow up and so are interested in her as a person, and others who are now interested in her current music, and even others who just like this one specific song.

Andrew Goodwin's Theory

I think that this music video follows many parts of Andrew Goodwin's theory. This video does demonstrate pop genre characteristics by using a mainly performative video but also a slight narrative, along with the bright colours of the gold and the blue, which attract to the target audience of a music video as they make the artist appear more 'youthful' and 'fun'. Another part of his theory that this video follows is that there is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, even if they are very subtle ones - the fact that she sings "I want a house in the hills" and the location used is very stereotypical of this, along with the lyrics "Don't want the whiskey and pills" and in the party scene she seems to be deliberately ignoring the drink around her by using direct address; I think that that these points would mean that this is an amplification music video. There is also a relationship between music and visuals, however, again, it is rather subtle, as there are only a few cuts on the beat, along with the slow fades between cuts reflecting the slow pace of the song. Another part of Goodwin's theory follows is the idea that the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist - in this video the majority of it is taken up with close ups of the artist using direct address. Although there seems to be no obvious reference to the notion of looking in this video, there is a particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body, with not only the women who are scantily dressed dancing around the singer in the party scene, and the women who are basically naked led in the bed, but also with the artist herself. We see this in the particularly revealing outfit she is wearing, and also the shots of her body that the audience see - for example at 2:09 the camera stays on her chest for a couple songs and in multiple shots shows her walking slowly out of a pool. The video also follows Goodwin's point that there is often intertextuality in music videos; as mentioned preciously this video can be linked to another one of the artist's from years ago that also features a pool party.

Laura Mulvey's Theory

I think that Laura Mulvey's theory of the Male Gaze can be applied to this music video, although not in every aspect. I agree that, for this video, the audience do seem to be watching it through the eyes of a heterosexual male, as the camera does linger on the artists body often. However, I do not think that this music video can be applied to her virgin/ whore dichotomy as the whole idea of this video is that she has left the 'party lifestyle behind and so is presented in a more mature, innocent way - although not as an entirely 'virginal, innocent' character as she still has lots of flesh on display and the camera lingers on certain parts of her body that give the opposite impression.

Levi Strauss' Theory

In this music video, I think that there is implied examples of Binary Opposites. For example, we see them in the party scene, where the artist is in main focus and yet other people carrying on dancing around her, showing the two different types of people through their actions and costume; the people around her are sped up and dancing whereas she is calm and still, dressed in an elegant gold whereas the other people are not wearing as much and do not look as glamorous. The whole premise of the song is based on the opposite lifestyles the singer has led and is now choosing to lead and so this is another example of Levi Strauss' Binary Opposites - the 'chaotic, party' lifestyle vs. the 'mature, calm' lifestyle the artist has chosen.