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Holy crap I just realized how long that post is. Non-Assignment Tumblr Post

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M o r e   A t t a c k   o n   T i t a n  .

I just want to take a minute to recognize the Scouting Legion vs Anti-Personnel Squad fight from Season 3.

You can watch the entire thing here: https://www.crunchyroll.com/attack-on-titan/episode-44-wish-776029

The whole thing is tactically genius, musically pleasing, and has actual importance to the story. Actually, that’s every fight in Attack on Titan. Nevermind, I take that last one back.

But seriously, if you don’t mind some blood here and there you should definitely watch the Blade v Bullet battle, as it was animated EXTREMELY well. God bless.

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Steamrollin’ Attack on Titan oh wow

Hello welcome back. This post is about sound. Those wacky pressure waves that go bwOoOoOom and make you hear noises like you whispering this sentence to yourself. Specifically, certain sounds made by instruments called “instruments” that play music to our ears. Literally. This post is about music and, since Attack on Titan is literally in the post’s title, anime OST. THIS POST REVOLVES AROUND ATTACK ON TITAN SEASON 3 EPISODE 55 AND EPISODE 52 A LOT, PLEASE WATCH THEM IF YOU HAVEN’T https://www.crunchyroll.com/attack-on-titan/episode-55-midnight-sun-783662 https://www.crunchyroll.com/attack-on-titan/episode-52-descent-783659

There’s always a good time to do something. There’s a good time to wash the dishes, there’s a good time to read a certain book, and there’s a good time to blast Cardi B (That time is never). Questionable music aside, Attack on Titan has some really great OST from Season 2 onwards. But there’s always a good time to use it. Especially that one scene from Season 4. Like, MAPPA, I get why you used 2Volt but honestly Apple Seed or YOUSEEBIGGIRL would’ve worked so much better...

A common theme among Attack on Titan is actually a common theme amongst most other series and movies. Low tempo and low volume = Generic background music High tempo and low volume = Comedic or happy scene. (The only exception I can think of is Discipline Area from the AOT game.) Godly music and very audible = You’re about to see an impactful scene (Ex. Bertholdt shift in episode 52.) No music = Depends on scene This is so consistent but so worth it to rewatch old clips of Reiner and Bertholdt doing their thing. (SEASON 2 SPOILER: https://youtu.be/5fEzYVf00PA)

But where the “no music” really shines is Episode 55. The whole next paragraph is going to be on that.

In Episode 55, our lord and savior Levi Ackerman is faced with a choice. Does he save an old childhood friend who’s a tactical mastermind, or his branch commander who could benefit from the extra power granted by the syringe of you-know-what. But what the studio did instead of playing melancholy or dramatic music, the entire episode is almost entirely just noises and people talking. This, at least to me, really nails the point that the “you better not screw this up” feeling is extremely present throughout the ENTIRE episode. It’s extremely well done and the mood is set perfectly with this complete silence.

Okay, maybe not complete silence with Eren screaming in the corner, but you get the point.

And I pretty much feel like the choice of OST and choice of when the OST is played in episode 52 is practically immeasurable. The sudden start of Apple Seed when Mikasa attacks Bertholdt, the clear vocals once Bertholdt makes his decision, the silence during the negotiation all portray the feelings of the characters and the mood of the viewer. Especially the shift, that literally gave me chills down my spine when I saw it for the first time. It even did as I was rewatching it to write this post. The entire episode’s OST feels like it was boarded by an entirely different team of staff.

Oh wait...

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I have the sudden urge to talk about Attack on Titan again.

SEASON 4 EPISODE 5 SPOILERS AHEAD READ AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION

ALSO SEASON 2 SPOILERS Alright, you good? You sure? Mk, let’s go. Season 4 Episode 5 came out, and it wasn’t god’s grace on this world nor a subpar episode. It fit my expectations. The OST for the actual shift scene could have been better than 2Volt (probably Apple Seed, like check this out https://youtu.be/wjNBqpt198o) but it fit the main point of the episode nonetheless. And that main point being Willy’s unholy amazing declaration of war.

Being completely honest with you and myself here, the speech was flawlessly executed with the technology that the Marleyans had available to them. But that’s just me being a history geek. What’s really offsetting is the fact that Willy referenced one of the first few episodes of the anime with the sentence “Because I was born into this world.” I’m pretty sure that’s knowing a bit too much, but to be honest nobody caught onto that. Okay time for the actual fun part. The “haha boom pow crack bzzt now im a GIANT” part of the episode. Another thing literally nobody notices is how Reiner made the exact same face Eren made on that day. You know, the top 10 animal betrayals day. Yeah. I get it though. When that large of a threat to humanity is sitting right in front of you, ready to explode and wreak havoc, I’d probably also need a change of pants. Another thing that probably contributed to Reiner and Falco’s fear is, uh... Remember when Pieck and Pock got trapped in the pit, they refused to turn into titans due to the other being squished to death? Yeah, Eren shifted in front of Reiner and Falco.

In an enclosed room.

At point blank range.

And the energy of said shift was enough to blow the doors of the room out.

I’m not saying they’re dead, but.. Alright cya. Tumblr Post #6

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Attack on Titan’s final season set my standards too high...

The final season of Attack on Titan set my standards a bit too high for other animes. I’ve been watching Attack on Titan since release, and needless to say it started to get to where it is from the second season. The animation shows what it needs to, the dialogue gives off the emotion it needs to, and the characters have personalities and motives that make sense. The final season really explains why the antagonists act the way they do, as it focuses on their point of view. That’s what AoT has been doing since the second season. It’s not an anime that stays on one cast of characters for 60 episodes straight, it branches off and focuses on other stories to broaden the world and make sure everything makes sense while still trying it’s best to keep the actual main characters in the show. This time is different as we see the point of view of the enemy nation called “Marley,” seemily a reference to Nazi Germany with how they treat a certain race of humans called “Elidians.” They’ve literally nicknamed them “Island Devils,” so that’s a hint to how they see the race. Those that follow the manga already know the camera is going to shift focus from the 4th seasons main character Colt to the original main character Eren Yeager, an “Island Devil” who has the power to turn INTO a titan called the Attack Titan-- a reference to the shows name. The animation and story are still sinfully amazing as expected, but the technology jump makes everything seem like it could actually happen. The Mid-East Marley war, the Tybur family, G I A N T   M A N - E A T I N G   H U M A N S, etc. all make this seem like it’s a possibility. This post went on for a bit longer than I expected, but I just LOVE THE FINAL SEASON. I won’t use up any more of your time though, have a nice rest of your day/night/evening/afternoon. Tumblr Post #4

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the 5 Ws

when did you get here? where are you? i cant see you anywhere theres a bunch of other people here, thats why i cant find you what? yeah sorry the networks bad here whos this fellow? oh hey, yeah im this guys other friend so how are you? Tumblr Post #3

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The Things I Carry

    I feel like I carry with me nothing special. I carry what everyone else does. Personally, I think if everyone carries the same special thing, that’s now normal to everyone. But the things that I do carry are the good prayers of my family. That’s the most important thing that I carry, even if it is the heaviest. I feel its always good to keep a bit of faith when taking a challenge, and it goes a long way too. I don’t need 4 years of prayer for 4 years of school, I can manage with a week of belief. Tumblr Post #1

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VFX review #1 - CHAPPiE

‘Ello, first time actually talking about VFX so just correct me if I’m wrong about anything.      Chappie is kind of a work of art, at least in terms of it’s VFX. The movie itself might feel like a remaster of iRobot, but it’s VFX is on point. Thing is, why does Chappie himself look like he’s actually there? Did Neill Blomkamp build actual robots? Not exactly. While Neill had did have model Chappies on set,  Chappie is a 3D model rendered better than our own eyes.      Cameras-- digital or real-- have a concept called f-stops, you can just google what they are because I don’t have the energy to explain them here. A normal run-off-the-mill camera has a dynamic range of about 11 f-stops, and higher end cameras have roughly 12-13 f-stops. These cameras can’t compare to the human eye, which has 20 f-stops. This is about as high as it gets coming to physical cameras.      What about digital cameras? How many of these f-stops do they have? A generic 3D animation software, like Blender, has about 5 f-stops. If we try to push more exposure onto it, the result will be extremely contrasted and everything that’s not getting hit by direct sunlight will turn to the dark side. This can be seen through this over-exposed screenshot of The Incredibles. (https://gyazo.com/9c3c92b7a0fdd64d886965f89348d2b6)      In order to make sure everything is seen correctly, they were reducing the power of the sun drastically. This obviously didn’t produce very good results, so film makers thought it was a good idea to switch to the ACES color encoding system. This made movies like the LEGO movie look far more realistic with up to 30 f-stops. The results of this can be seen here. (https://gyazo.com/e7d85166610ccfe5c93ac0d2a9c03388)      This solution also fixed CGI that didn’t look real. So what’s this got to do with our boy Chappie? The bot was rendered using the ACES program, that’s why. The other reason it looks so good is that the entire thing was meticulously hand-tracked, since I guess the VFX artists thought the auto-tracking feature was unreliable. Needless to say though, they did a great job.      Sure does suck the movie only got 10.2k against a 49k budget

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