Green PV Discussion

[kuri♥ayu]

Originally Posted by Uemarasan

Personally, I think the overacting by Ayu in both the MW and Green videos is intentional. Watching both MVs, they have a theme in common. They are both about identity as performance.

In MW, Ayu is a spy, a person for whom identity is always reinvented and constructed, hence it is "performed". In Green, Ayu is a performer for the Chinese stage. For an actor, identity is also a performance. The homosexual undertones in Green is about how gender is a performance as well. I think the director is trying to connect the act of performing to the way one expresses one's sexuality. Midoring as a man, and the two men dancing together. Remember that back in the era that the music video is set, it was still common to have men perform the roles of women on stage.

So when Ayu overacts, she is drawing attention to her performance in the music video. The contrast between Ayu walking down the street in the beginning and in the end show this as well. At the start of the video, Ayu is very unnatural in her movements, she is situated in the middle of the view of the camera, and the colors are warm. In the ending, the camera zooms away from an Ayu walking away. Her expressions and movements are more natural, and the colors are cold and harsh. In the beginning, the performance is simply beginning. In the end, the performance comes to a close.

i know this was posted wayyyy back but still, i totally agree with everything. for me also, the overacting is intentional and i do not find it bad. the PV fits the lyrics and it has a message. to me it was executed fine ^______^

[bluegie]

Originally Posted by perfectodub

if you don't like her video, JUST LEAVE IT...if you like it..LOVE HER
THIS IS AYU, THE SUPREME QUEEN OF J-POP, LIKE IT OR NOT.
little opinions not going to change anything

Loving her doesn't mean we can't criticize her work. Parents love their children, yet they scold and punish their kids sometimes. Why? Because the kids probly do something wrong.

I agree that little opinions is not going to change anything at all. But if you define that we don't love her because we don't love a particular video, I have nothing else to say then.

Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer

Ok, since we don't have too many Japanese perspectives in here, I thought I'd post this.

My boyfriend (who is a native Japanese) watched the PV with me tonight. He is neither an Ayu fan or an Ayu hater, he's in between. Honestly, he laughed through the entire thing.

Some of his choice comments that I remember were "Why must she be touching her neck all the time?", "the $*#& is this? Asian Chicago?", "What a homosexual comedy this is."

So, it's safe to say he didn't like it. When it was over I said, "I don't think it's terrible, but it could have been better" to which he replied, "If this isn't terrible, then everything else in this world must be extremely good."

He kept laughing at the PV and I kept laughing at his blunt outbursts of hatred for the PV.

This is interesting. Of course one Japanese doesn't represent the whole country. However with your bf's comment and someone pointed out how the people from Japanese bbs think about this video, we can say this video could be a failure.

@ Delirium: And ahhhmm... I don't mean to find whose fault it is in the end (I believe both have). After all it doesn't matter who should be blamed, as this crappy pv has been produced already...

[nikku76]

Originally Posted by Connected

I am REALLY surprised that so few people got the point (or plot) of the PV. With Ayu & Midoring, Gomi and Shuya dancing, and the dancers looking depressed backstage stands in stark contrast with the bright and glamorous onstage performance etc. is it still not obvious that this PV is about homosexuality, or more generally, people repressing their true feelings?

Do you need thought bubbles coming out of Ayu's head to understand that the dance with Midoring is a dream sequence?

I guess not many people appreciate subtlety around here...You probably like your "hidden" messages to be as clear as in the "Endless sorrow" or "alterna" PVs.

I was waiting for someone to get that. To me, it was obvious after the first watch. And as for Ayu's over-acting, I think she is also trying to fit the flamboyant behavior and mannerisms of a popular performer in that day. Over-exaggerated movements, very chirpy but somewhat haughty. It reminds me of the starlettes of many of those old movies. The way she acted backstage was quite different, same for her dancers. I think the setting was appropriate too, considering that in that time, the theater was one of the few refuges for homosexuals. Very sad video. Ayu's own little Brokeback Mountain in a way.

That said tho, I didn't actually LIKE the video. This director sucks. He's got a serious case of ADD, the scenes very rarely synch with the music in an emotionally impacting way and the colors are just... If the same story was told in a different way, less jerky and glitzy, I would have enjoyed it a whole lot more. Or perhaps even more with a different song. This guy's style wasn't THAT out of place with MW because that songs is musically strange on it's own, with a very jerky pace. This one though required something more even. Am I the only one would could see Ayu spinning in a large dress around a massive bonfire, doing some traditional dance?

[panda♥]

Originally Posted by bluegie

Loving her doesn't mean we can't criticize her work. Parents love their children, yet they scold and punish their kids sometimes. Why? Because the kids probly do something wrong.

I agree that little opinions is not going to change anything at all. But if you define that we don't love her because we don't love a particular video, I have nothing else to say then.

I agree about the opinions thing. Everyone has their own opinions and you don't have to like everything Ayu releases, it just seems like alot of people who don't like it are overreacting about it. We don't know whose idea it was for Ayu to dramatically touch her face and neck while walking down the street, or whose idea it was to throw in the show girl scene, or the guys dancing, or whose idea it was to paint the dancers' nails black. You get my point.

We can't blame Ayu, or Kazuyoshi or anyone for a PVs flaws. It's already produced and been aired, it can't be changed. I'm almost positive Ayu wouldn't release something that she wasn't happy with. If she's happy with it than I think we should be happy that she even gave us a PV. We should be happy for her as fans, right?

[bluegie]

And that's why I have to bear with it and wait for my next favourite pv from ayu... And I believe arguments begin again LOL. Probly I like it, then someone hates it.. It's a cycle. Not a single pv will be loved by every single member.

I'm actually shocked that I've thrown lots of hatre on this pv... Usually I would just forget a bad pv after I watched it once. Wonder why...

[Kaiouforever]

I enjoyed this PV a lot. I'm glad it wasn't too upbeat - it wouldn't flow with the song in that case. And the story was great, wasn't too explicit, but not too subtle - just right.

[k21sh3n]

Originally Posted by ayuready

i may not be an expert in china's history, but i'm surprised that no one has related the concept of the pv to the era the pv was set in.

now, if i am not wrong (and we could be talking about another era altogether), there were alot of male performers taking on female roles(especially for chinese opera, since women weren't generally allowed on stage), and such scenarios often led to boy-boy love.

i think there was a chinese movie based on such a theme. i think it's called "ruan ling yu", starring the late leslie cheung. maybe chinese fans here can clarify.

perhaps then, ayu (or the director) was drawing influence from these for the pv? in any case, after seeing the pv and reading between the lines for the song, the theme becomes more obvious.

i don't want to use the homosexuality word because it takes away the romanticsm from the pv. i think it is really more about not letting love be restricted by race, age and sexuality and following what your heart tells you to.

slight revision from me, leslie cheung didn't appear on "ruan ling yu", it's maggie cheung, and ruan ling yu has no gay theme on it, it's about biography of Ruan Ling Yu, a very very famous actress back then, who chose to end her own life because of love. The one with leslie cheung and gay theme.. I think I've watched it.. forget the name though..

about the PV.. after watching it several times.. I think it's ok.. really luv the first half minute.. only problem from me: Ayu's overacting and that white dress.. that's all

[chocopockymaster]

I cannot believe I just read all 19 pages of this thread...@__@ Augh, my eyes!

Though people have mentioned it a lot already, I felt like I had to throw my 2 cents in and say that I was seriously disappointed. I had a bad feeling as soon as she started walking through the crowd repeatedly touching her chest, and it was just...awful. I will never like this video.

[jeffycue]

GREEN sucks... i dont like it at all.. its like part of Me all over again. meehh.

boredom.

[bluegie]

part of Me pv is way better than this one. Probly consider to be one boring pv (tho I don't think it is, and I really enjoy it), but it is beautifully executed with scenes that are not random.

[ArchangelLegend]

Originally Posted by bluegie

You really think the director did a nice job on GREEN?? Bad editing, bad directing. If he's a good director, he should have told ayu to sing and ACT naturally when she walked down the street. There must be other ways of acts that can show she's a DIVA in the beginning.

It's not we are not trying to find errors in the pv. But if the error is TOO obvious that distracting us, you can't blame many of us point out those unforgivable mistakes. And how can we watch the pv while keep being distracted??

Yes, I really think the director did a nice job, even with its execution. I don't see any bad editing or bad directing, I could see better, but not bad. I could see bad if the video was swapped with the PV for Poker Face, might as well since it has a green tree and even the song has a similar theme. A lot of her old PVs were to me bad because they don't have that much substance as with her later ones.


Singing on a crowded street rushing to a destination is not natural in the first place. As I mentioned before, Ayu was never a good actress, I don't see why people expect good acting when she never done so before, ever, not in any of her PVs, movies, or TV shows. Also this is a music video, not a full length actual movie, no one should expect any sort of good acting in music videos especially when they are bounded by the song. Music videos are about the music, the singing, maybe dancing, some theme, etc. No good acting is required here, and some don't even have acting. Even in musicals (or even broadway shows), when someone sings, they are almost always overreacting, and I don't see that as a bad thing for its purposes. I'd view it as unrealistically appealing in music videos as oppose to realistically boring.

These "errors" and "unforgiveable mistakes" are really some people's criticisms, which also makes them not "too obvious". Why? Because there are people who like this PV and don't see these as errors, but as appealing. Of coarse, on the same token, other people may find it distracting. "One man's music is another man's noise", "beauty is in the eye of the beholder", "whatever floats your boat", "to each their own", etc. etc. (you mentioned you like the PV for Appears, I never liked it). Many of these "errors" pointed out here in this topic are to me mute points or shouldn't even be called errors in the first place, just a simple preference. But I do have to say that an error I do see is the high budget, which was unnecessary, there will be a point when placing more money into a production of a PV will not add to its quality.

I understand why a lot of people are disappointed due to the high expectations. But this PV has its own unique style and creativity and that's what I care about. Ayu has several PVs that are lacking in these. Even tho I'm personally not fond of the director's style and creativity, I'm not disappointed. If it's different and has meaning to it, I'll approve of it.

[freedreamer]

Originally Posted by nanaho88

I found this from a chinese ayu forum...

It's an interesting intepretation of Green PV by a member name 千间尚
However it's in mandarin. So those who knows mandarin pls kindly translate it into english~

片头，伴着清脆的高跟鞋声，一段漫步弄堂的剪影
奠定了全片旧上海的基调
偏深蓝的色调 有一种淡淡的孤独与忧郁
随后画面一转
出现了灯牌式样的标题
全片开始

The opening video sequence, depicts a scene of walking through the alleys of old Shanghai with distinct walking sounds with high heels..
The blue tone of scene brings out a pale and melancholic feel
Then the neon lights are lit up, and the video begins

第一次听GREEN时，就发现了它前奏的特别
在PV中，这种感觉更加强烈
俯拍，一段旧上海的街道
本以为会是RAINYDAY般的色调，意外的
是和AYU新造型很合称的棕色色调
少了些许忧郁，多了一些明朗
从而也有了一种老照片的效果
舞狮的部分和前奏配合起来
给人一种大气凛然的感觉
对之后的内容有了更多的期待
中间穿插了路人街景
并强调了AYU的广告牌
为AYU的出场做铺垫

The first time hearing GREEN, I found that it has a very unique rhythm
In the PV, this feel was even stronger..
A street scene of Old Shanghai
I thought it would have RAINY DAY's colour tone but it was actually brownish
This lessens the melancholic feel and makes it more bright and happy
And it also brought out the "old"/nostalgic feel
The lion dance and the accompaniment of the music brings out a very Grand feel
And the crowd and hustle and bustle scenes were intercepted with Ayu's 'poster'
and all these leads in to the Ayu appearing

AYU出场的一段走步，是大家印象深刻的
这一段多是近拍
如果用四个字来概括，我第一想到的就是：顾盼生姿
AYU似乎在寻觅着什么
和身后人们脸上的茫然相比
她的神情更多的是淡定和自信

AYU's walking steps may seem familiar
it was taken close-up
A word I would use to describe it was: poise and elegance (couldn't really translate this)
AYU seems to be looking for something as compared to the other "dancers" facial expressions behind, which seemed rather frantic
AYU's expression had more confidence

男舞者们的打扮也是跟着旧上海的感觉
第一个镜头就是标志性地抹发鬓
继而是看手表的，把玩戒指的
镜头拉远，门前几位舞者
随着间奏跳起舞来
随后一组对切
通过低机位镜头和拍摄女舞者的影子
表现后台的准备
这一段我还是比较喜欢的

The male dancers' dressing were following the Old Shanghai feel
The first scene was the iconic suave hairstyle
Then the watch and playing with the ring
The camera pulls out and the guys dance together
Then you see a low shot of the female dancers going backstage and their shadows
to prepare for their performance
I quite like this

歌曲的高潮部分 层层扇子之后AYU歌女造型华丽出场
白色羽毛装饰的造型和众多舞者形成鲜明对比
微笑歌唱的神情令人沉醉
和台下某男（虽然那是反串的，我还是尊重角色了）的对视
意味深长
某男和身旁女子相视而笑的镜头
似乎昭示着故事发展并不会那么顺利
（我对舞蹈编排没有研究，在此就不详说了）
扇子再次合拼，散开后
是我最喜欢的一组镜头
穿着红色旗袍的AYU扇着孔雀羽毛扇出现
特写她的微笑更加自信美丽
仿佛一切尽在掌握之中

The climax of the song
With fans uncovering AYU who has a "songstress" look
The white feathers costume is in contrast with the dancers
She, singing and smiling, is just so gorgeous.
Her exchanged looks with the 'guy' down stage was very meaningful
I personally loved the scene when AYU emerged from the fans with a red cheongsam
It showcased her confidence and grace
as if everything was in her control

画面滑入后台
抽烟者，化妆者，跳舞者
显得有些颓废，麻木
AYU神情有些落寞

The scene then switches backstage
Smokers, People doing make-up, Dancers
All seem tired and indifferent
AYU's experssion seemed down as well

AYU和某男共舞
究竟是幻想还是真实
已经不清楚了
我觉得 这是一种：爱恋，思念，与渴望厮守的交织
大概，每个人都有渴望与爱人共舞的时刻
但我们对爱情的渴望与希翼是否真的存在于现实中？
舞台可以表演人生
但那毕竟不是人生的全部

AYU's dance with the 'guy'
Is it fantasy or reak
That's hard to say
I think, this is a kind of Love (i think its more of having a crush), Longing
Everyone longs to have a dance moment with their loved ones
But is this longing for love to become reality?
The stage is a place where we can act out our lives
but it is not everything
(i LOVE that intepretation!)

当AYU出门时
那人已乘车离去
他们发生了什么，或者他们除了演出与观看之外什么都没有发生过
我们不得而知
我们所看到的
只是演出后繁华不再的后台
AYU一个人站在清冷的街上
淡然微笑
独自离去

When AYU walks out the door,
the 'guy' has left
What happened to them? Is there something more than just a performer and an audience?
We don't know for sure
All we saw was the lifeless and solemn backstage atmosphere, as compared to the grand, lively, brilliantly lit up stage
AYU is alone on the empty street
Smiling faintly
Leaving alone

耳边，是那熟悉的
高跟鞋声
清脆依然

We then hear a very familiar walking sound of the high heels
Still loud and clear...

FOr the above comment, TRANSLATIONS are IN the QUOTE BOX
I think, im starting to understand whats the PV about!!!
tWO DIFFERENT WORLDS. - The stage and wads back of it...
It's probably saying "WHAT YOU REALLY SEE, IS NOT HOW IT REALLY IS"
(the PV actually spoke for itself!)

the shadow part of the female dancers were symbolic in this way..
as well as the bird cages...

AND ALSO, she is probably saying...
As an artiste, I may appear ALL THAT on stage, but I, too, have a personal life behind all that...
and...AYU IS LONGING FOR LOVE!!! (seems tat way from this intepretation)

It's cool! now that i see it...this guy is brilliant...It really makes sense

Originally Posted by ren0210989

i think A LOT people are asking for too much, and will never end their complaining, but i don't care anymore so i only read a few posts on the firts page and the last one.

overall i really LOVE it, and hope the rest of you can enjoy it without trying to look for mistakes, but simply enjoying what is so great and beautifull in it!

Yea, maybe sometimes, we should just appreciate something for itself...it's beauty...maybe it's better that way...there are always two sides of a coin...nothing is totally bad, and nothing is totally gd..

Originally Posted by pop909

This video is a serious disappointment for me. Her hair in the HD quality looks like they used gel made of like liquid wood. Its so greasy and NOT healthy shiny :\

I hope days is better. The concept for it seems better anways.

My biggest dissappointment for this PV is the purple background with the Jedi circles matched with the 10 ear old wooden boards.

You'd think she would build a new stage....

The hair and stage were essentially the typical Old Shanghai culture so it HAS to be there...
I think Ayu actually did a wonderful job (or at least the director) for having such settings because, who in this era would actually go back in time to film such period MVs..???

Yes, people like Christina Aguilera also went back to retro..but i think its really cool to merge past and present

[reixminako]

I never thought of this song being about homosexuality, but now that I think about it, it really does seem like it is. Especially the chorus, which sort of implies that you can't help who you love. This homosexuality theory really makes the song a lot more interesting for me.

I almost rolled my eyes when Ayu started walking down the street trying to be fierce but failing pretty bad. The cuts in that scene were really ****ing obnoxious, because they were so blatantly obvious and happened so frequently! Any good director could've made better cuts.

Yes, the PV seems a little jumbled and crammed, but it's undoubtedly beautiful. I feel that Mirrorcle World flowed a lot more easily than this one did. The scene changes in MW fit pretty well with the music and the cuts weren't that bad, but the scene changes and cuts in GREEN are just awful. Everything good about this PV has nothing to do with the director, as a few of you have already mentioned.

I think the scenes backstage and Ayu's dance with Midoring were all so sweet. I almost started tearing up, especially because I think this song is beautiful. To realize that it could be about the repressed feelings homosexuals have to live with really makes me appreciate this song a lot more.

[ImpactBreaker]

Thanks for the translation freedreamer. It's really an interesting interpretation! And I can't help but agree with a lot of what ArchangelLegend said there.

[elepop]

I highly doubt that Ayu's overreacting was intentional. I think that she's just a bad actress.

I thought that I would have loved the GREEN PV. In the end, it was actually kinda boring. Not to mention that Ayu's acting is pretty horrible. The way she walked was just too much. And it looked kinda like MW's scene. The hand and arm gestures were the same also. The stage and street were great, but I think the PV overall was not good at all.

[Raleigh]

^ Nah I wouldn't call Ayu a bad actress. She's done several stuff where her acting is spot on. I blame it more on the director who is more like making a photoshoot rather than a promotional video.

[GRACE]

Originally Posted by ImpactBreaker

She's a singer. You can't compare recording a song/album to acting on a scene, tbh. Plus, we have no proof whether that happened, or whether he talked her into doing it or not. If ayu has so much say in what she does, I'm sure she saw the final thing and approved of it, so she's to blame as well (for those who didn't like it). After all she's the main feature of the video.

Not that I disagree with you, but she did start her career out as an actress, so she should have some idea as to how to act.

I personally don't think that she's THAT bad an actress, sure there are better, but at least she can somewhat do it.

Originally Posted by ImpactBreaker

Really? Didn't she watch the final thing? If she's so perfectionist, she would see it and say: this is flawed. Let's do it again, or just screw it. Done.

Exactly, if she wasn't happy with how it came out she would have had it done over. Which would mean, she was happy with the version we got.

[SunshineSlayer]

Originally Posted by GRACE

Exactly, if she wasn't happy with how it came out she would have had it done over. Which would mean, she was happy with the version we got.

Which is kind of scary frankly. It means we can look forward to more PVs like this in the future.

[Kikaru]

Overall: great concept, bad director

The PV got some great ideas behind it, and I don't really mind the overacting. I rather like the broadway/musical vibe that it gives off, and those tend to have overacting too. OTOH, the scene where Ayu walks down the street, I think I get the intention, but it's bad editing on the director's part. That scene would have worked better IMO had the camera not followed Ayu.

Overall, the ideas behind the PV was fantastic. I used to not really care about the directors and such, but I felt that this PV (and to some extent, MW) shows the difference between directors really makes a difference. Because for this PV the ideas behind it was wonderful IMO, but the editing was choppy (like you can tell that the scenes were obviously filmed apart and edited together). While in MW the tempo of the song was at least fast enough that it went with some of the choppy editing, in a slower-tempo song it really show. I think had it been the hand of Wataru Takeishi or Tetsuo Inuoe, it would have been a great PV.

The song however? still remains awesome.

[JinHamasaki]

Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer

Which is kind of scary frankly. It means we can look forward to more PVs like this in the future.

I think because it was shot overseas, maybe she wasn't fully able to review it until returning to Japan...and it was too late.

She may have just chosen the "best of the worst" scenes and called it a day.

Anyways, too late to change anything now! I think she wanted to look rushed.