You were... / BALLAD information and covers [VII]

[GRACE]

Originally Posted by Delirium-Zer0

I gotta agree with you on that one, strobe... o_O Plus the trees don't look cheap fake, they look good/deliberate/probably spent alot of money on wood & the right color paint fake. It's obviously done on purpose, those trees don't even KINDA look real. It looks to me like the paper cut-out look was exactly what they were trying to go for.

I think so too, the way the camera looked with the sorta circle image made me think she was supposed to be in a snow globe :3

[Kikaru]

^I thought she looked like a glowing Christmas tree =P

(and I spent time wondering if her dress actually glowed in the dark because of the jewels they put on it or because it has those attached holiday lights)

Originally Posted by Delirium-Zer0

I gotta agree with you on that one,
strobe... o_O Plus the trees don't look cheap fake, they look good/deliberate/probably spent alot of money on wood & the right color paint fake. It's obviously done on purpose, those trees don't even KINDA look real. It looks to me like the paper cut-out look was exactly what they were trying to go for.

My thoughts exactly. They reminded me of paper cutouts more than the cheap christmas trees you see in craft stores and such.

It could be me listening to too much Tchaikovsky and the Nutcracker music at this point, but am I the only one who is reminded of the ghost of the Christmas past (...which is totally not the plot of the Nutcracker *facepalm*) in this PV?

[Lady_Eowyn]

I think i already posted here... and...

^ no to be honest didn't remind me of the nutcracker. When i think of that ballet the first thing that comes to my head is the christmas tree with gifts lol


but i wanted to post something longer

I'm really satisfied with this new video. I had a feeling something good was sorta coming but i honestly thought the new single would be awful and generic again (in the line of s/s). My favourite videos from ayu are the darkest/complex ones (ladie's night, alterna, ourselves, etc) so this is definitely an amazing change from the average (and boring) storyline vids. I think the features on the video have basically an artistic purpose , like a painter who's playing with colors and shapes, and the result is abstract and gorgeous. like i said before, the little bear is adorable and that's a plus.


who cares about the trees? Those trees make me think of fairytales, and may be that was the idea behind the decoration

[ストロボ・EdGE]

Originally Posted by Delirium-Zer0

I gotta agree with you on that one, strobe... o_O Plus the trees don't look cheap fake, they look good/deliberate/probably spent alot of money on wood & the right color paint fake. It's obviously done on purpose, those trees don't even KINDA look real. It looks to me like the paper cut-out look was exactly what they were trying to go for.

That's probably true (about the trees) but the part that I'm mainly thinking of now is the actual set, or the background I mean. You could so obviously tell there was just a black wall behind. Imo not as pad as Part of me's background but//

[waterballoon]

Well if Ayu did something extravagant, we would get complains that she's being a "diva" anyway...

I don't see anything "cheap" or bad about this PV. It could use some improvements definitely, but it's been really long since she had an in-depth and symbolic PV like this, so I'm REALLY happy.

[Picaflor 7/4]

I like the cheap look of the scenery. is that right? not sure how to say it. the trees were indeed intentionally 2D lookingI like that the set looked like a set. I felt like at any moment white ballerinas were gonna come out on stage and perform swan lake. I thought it looked very nice. This isn't the first time she's wowed me with a set that purposely looks fake (reminisces of part of Me)

[Kazeyomi]

^
^
it's kinda like 'OMG IT IS NOT FULL OF DIAMONDS? CHEEAP'
I don't get why people still think that srsly. Maybe the black background looks like a 'book', and purposely looks simple.
I mean, ok you don't like it but say that's cheap? LOL NO.

[hpg23]

Originally Posted by Crystal_Ageha

It was low budget, but obviously they meant for it to be. It's not like avex can't afford it, and it's not like they would hide away money from Ayumi Hamasaki, still a top-selling artist, just for the hell of it. They were going for a very different, artistic feel, and that's what happened. The fact that a low budget set worked best for that feel was probably a huge bonus for them, lol. And I, for one, am very glad there was no Tinkerbell, hah!! That would have automatically ruined it for me.

The idea of Ayu fairy flying, or (worse!! D: ) being surrounded by Tinkerbell and her too-much-on-crack fairy friends just sends evil shivers down my spine

I loved the hair mask at one point, with its hand exploding into fire, it was so good! And did any of you notice that at one certain point, there's one of these robots or androids under a huge fireball (it looks like the sun from upclose), and the fire is almost falling/touching him, and at the same time, ayu sings something like "my memories were falling over me...". Maybe the explosions are like memories, or feelings? I think the robots suffering/scaping are being chased by memories from the past that make them unable to rest?

[Keiichi_JPU]

It's not just the trees or the set that looks cheap.. I dunno it's just the way it's done :S Her dress isn't glowing nicely, you can see the exact spot where they put light bulbs in it. I dunno they could've added some sort of.. blur or glow or something? To make the dress look more even and not like a home-decorated christmas tree.

I don't know how to explain but it just look like the director thought "Okay lets not edit this PV since we're out of budget byeee!"

[But the song TOTALLY makes up for it, god I love this song so much and the covers are brilliant as well!! If I like the BALLAD PV as much as the covers, all is forgiven. lol]

[Picaflor 7/4]

Originally Posted by koshka

I don't get why people still think that srsly. Maybe the black background looks like a 'book', and purposely looks simple.

That's what it was. a popup book. I couldn't think of it. That's what I think they were going for. I used to own a popup book of the 12 days of christmas, makes me think exactly of that.

[joshohhhhh]

lol people really thought the trees were supposed to look real?

[Delirium-Zer0]

I think they think that the trees were intended to look real in original plans, maybe, but they didn't have the budget so they went fake.

I think the original plan all along was for her to be on a set that looks like a pop-up book (as mentioned before) or a stage play. The concept works way too well.

[Crystal_Ageha]

C'mon, why does fake have to be bad..? :\ Just because the trees are fake, and even if they were cheap, that doesn't mean it didn't take them a good deal of time to create them and make them look great for fake! How many here have ever been involved in any school or local drama? I'm sure at least half of you who have has had to help with the set... Now, I have done this before as well, and it can get very tedious to make a set by hand, especially if you want it to look good! Those of you who have been involved with this know what I'm talking about...... And this is the same case as Ayumi's PV. Those trees obviously aren't real, but they're also obviously an actual part of the set. That means somebody had to take the time to cut them out of cardboard - or maybe even actual wood, which kinda looks more like it - and then paint them, with a few different colours. And not just slapping paint on, either.... I really appreciate the storybook-like atmosphere of the video. ^_^

[Ayumiko]

I think it would of been easier if they went and bought plastic christmas trees or something for the 3D look but instead purposely made 2D cut outs....and I love the cut out trees...and it fits the pv.

[nanakopy87]

i don't think their budget is tight.i believe it was done by purpose.and i love the settings alot,although the whole pv is not as impressing as her other pvs.
i love the way they edit and the effects.and its not CHEAP at all.

[waterballoon]

for one the director definitely didn't come at "I'm your friend" discount price.

[KarenPang]

well I personally feel You were ...'s PV is not cheap . I seen a lot more PVs that're not there when comes to the budget department & those are indie PVs

avex's an indie label but it's 1 if not the biggest indie record labels in the world so I'm sure that they're not that stupid to give ayumi a tiny budget for a PV , that will be just wrong

[Tony G]

As I said in the thread in the general forum, how is having a real tree make the PV seem less cheap? All they had to do was go outside and film her near a bunch of trees and a path in a park or something. If anything, they spent more money making that set up, which was clearly intentional.

[freedreamer]

Well...in any case, Ayu's PVs are special when compared to other jpop artiste who really just stand there and sing...at least this has colour, tone, significance. the closest PV Ayu had of being generic was probably Sunrise imo LOl..

Im so hooked to this song garhhh..The verses are like Days..simple and mellow and the chorus just screams emotions like Together When... awesome mesh

[DeepRiver]

BALLAD ... this Song is so amazing. Can't wait to see the PV ...