Main Round 1: Team Tachibana Makoto/Yamazaki Sousuke

[capsoumako]

TITLE: "Liminal Spaces"
SERIES: Free!
SHIP: Tachibana Makoto/Yamazaki Sousuke
RATING: T
CHARACTERS: Makoto Tachibana, Sousuke Yamazaki, Innkeeper (brief, OC), Children (brief, OC)
SIDE PAIRINGS: NONE.
MAJOR TAGS: Minor Original Character Death (implied), Flashes (image and text, mild)
ADDITIONAL TAGS: Angst/Hurt, Injury (minor, very brief), Alternate Universe, Parallel Timeline, Space and Time, Post-Apocalypse, Dystopia, Rot and Decay (of buildings and nature), Media: Fan Video

SUMMARY: Sousuke, a lone vagabond, traverses across his dying world with only a picture and re-occuring visions as his leads. Faced with the harsh environment of what his world has now become, he pushes on as he feels a magnetic pull toward an unknown location.

WORK COUNT: Running Time - 2 mins, 40 secs (2:40)
SCRIPT: [script] and [image list]
NOTES:
• Definition: liminal (n.) - threshold; the place of transition; “in-between” spaces

1. Sousuke and Makoto start off in two different worlds (one that was wrecked by a calamity, while the other avoided it), yet a space exists in which the two planes intersect (hence where the title comes from).

2. Makoto is "ahead" of Sousuke in the timeline because Sousuke's dreams are a re-cap of Makoto's journey and where he has been. Sousuke uses that as his lead.

3. The polaroid picture of the safe house solidifies Sousuke's hunches that there's more to his dreams than he thought as he has a physical proof that something bigger is in the works.

4. Makoto's journey begins when he dreams of a world similar to his, but a catastrophe hit. The dreams, more like nightmares or an ominous prophecy, became too frequent that it disrupted his daily life and he set off to look for answers.

5. We wanted to construct this piece by looking at duality not only contrasting characterstics, but how their entire worlds are different, how social construct and situation shaped their personalities and experiences with society and environment (one is nurturing, the other is hostile).

"「SASO2016」ʟɪᴍɪɴᴀʟ sᴘᴀᴄᴇs (Team SouMako: MR1 Entry)" (Watch on YouTube)

Mirror Link #1: [Google Drive]
Mirror Link #2: [Vimeo]

Comments

[winterstuck]

holy shit i love the idea behind liminal spaces and i seriously got chills watching this, esp at the 2 min mark where it transitions and ahhhhhhhhhhh it is so good you guys did such an incredible job *___*

the music really sets the tone of the entire video and the art is also really nice, i especially love the contrast b/t the two worlds, how dull and monotone sousuke's is, which was a great contrast to when makoto's color one showed up it was such a nice shift esp w/ the swelling of the music it was just, such a good moment

also i'm super curious what video editing program you guys used, and do you plan on making this work remixable b/c i kind of want to play in this au sandbox you guys have made ;v;

[talking_to_angels]

oh my god this was amazing guys! the art and the editing was A++! i loved the concept, it's extremely cool. this was just excellent work all around.

GOSH !!!

[teshimeme]

oh my gosh y'all !!!!!!! you can tell just how hard each of you worked on this, and the music choice was absolutely excellent.
the theme 'duality' was used Incredibly Well here !!! ;w;

[spicybun]

the transition part between makoto's world and sousuke's world at the two minute mark was really really well done. i want to know so much more about this universe y'all have created, which i think is a great indicator of the quality of the work your team has produced. good job!!

[karahashi]

ahahaha ha HA HA HA AH YOU GUYS HAVE NO IDEA HOW MANY TIMES I'VE REPLAYED THIS VIDEO

It's obvious how much work has gone into this entry - it was really nice to read your notes on the video and it definitely helped fill in the story that was being told. There are a lot of things paired together here that bring this round's theme to the forefront and I REALLY REALLY LIKED THEM OKAY THIS IS AN INCREDIBLY PRETTY ENTRY WITH AN INCREDIBLY RICH STORY TO IT and I am invested.

I adore the song chosen and how you've timed the video in accordance to it - the slow buildup and how it steps into different segments with 'where are you now' and 'faded'...the piano evolving into strings and dying down again, only to pick up again later on. The contrast between the slower verses and that chorus works really well with the concept of two worlds converging - it added to the stillness in Sousuke's parts and then picked up in the sections where they were travelling, which was just. SO ATMOSPHERIC. The interplay between the lyrics and the words on-screen was handled nicely too - it could have been confusing but instead it was super easy to draw out parts of each as necessary, and the words add to one another instead? Like, 'you fade away / i want to disappear' was powerful, and so was 'wanna see you / looking for any signs of life' *o* And precisely because of that, the moment when everything steps up and the words converge at 'where are you now' has this incredible impact, just. HJKHKFKJAL

Stylistically, I loved the typography throughout as well *o* The words are always clear, but they move in this amazing way - 'no reply' in JP quotation marks, 'humanity has faded' splashing in across the back when Sousuke walks. The movement in this video is amazing, just in general - I love the pan effect with the buildings and the grass moving in opposite directions around Sousuke, and the rising/setting sun/moon behind the pictures is a great concept!

AND OKAY. THE GREYSCALE/COLOUR THING IS SO SO GREAT I LOVE IT SO MUCH. I absolutely adore how at first there are only brief moments where Sousuke's world is tinted with colour, and only in specific sections - how he's living in this world that has 'faded' - but the blood on his bandages is ever so slightly tinted, and he's still human, and then there's the sky at the building, and as he travels all these snapshots of his world begin to fill in with colour. THAT MOMENT WHERE HE WAKES AND HIS EYES OPEN IS SO GOOD HIS EXPRESSION IS AMAZING

THE PICTURES ON THE WALL ARE THE GREATEST THING HONESTLY THE TRANSITION INTO THAT MAP IN COLOUR AND MAKOTO'S SECTION - IT WAS SO POWERFUL I LOVED IT. The text says 'a world so different' and it is, so clear and bright and colourful, (and YOUR TEAM'S BACKGROUND ART IS REALLY IMPRESSIVE FAR OUT) and Makoto's journey compared to Sousuke's is so warm and vivid IT MAKES THE COMPARISONS STAND OUT SO WELL. All the people surrounding him, compared to Sousuke's isolation fdjhalf
(also Makoto with his jumper tied around his waist asking people for directionsdjm falsghflkajh GOOD PICTURE VERY GOOD PICTURE)

and okay. I HAVE BEEN HOLDING OFF SAYING ANYTHING ABOUT THIS NEXT PART BECAUSE IT KILLED ME BUT THIS. THIS WAS WHERE I COMPLETELY AND IRREVOCABLY FELL IN LOVE --
The sky and its reflection, the TWO WORLDS APART text intersecting both, just how that whole picture is framed, THE WAY THE MUSIC SWELLS, AND THE SWITCH TO NIGHT FROM LOOKING DOWN TO LOOKING UP, TO THAT BEAUTIFUL BEAUTIFUL STARRY SKY I --

and the sequence after that just closing in on the house was planned so well - I love how it zooms in on the open door, like we're approaching it as Sousuke does, and him walking through those hallways, AND THE FLASH OF LIGHT. THE OPEN DOOR. THE MEETING. COLOUR AND MONOCHROME.

That last quote - 'and in this space we found us' - hkfaljkdfhlsjkja; it's so beautiful, and then the final end card, formatted so beautifully, the transmitter and how it brings to mind not only the static of the dreams but also this infinite space and the stars and HOW THEY MET IN THAT SPACE UNDER THE SKY SHJKDLAKSD ALKALJKJD:

This entry is fantastic and every time I go back to it I fall more in love <3 All the best with the voting!

[mypolyshippingass]

liminal spaces are one of my favorite concepts.
i love the way you guys managed to apply it to the theme of duality.
and soumako is such a good ship!

[catlarks]

This is such, such an ambitious AU to fit into the space of a SASO main round entry in ANY work format, so kudos to you guys for shooting for the stars. Other people have said a lot of the things I'm thinking — the video editing is lovely and the contrast between the washed-out colors of Sousuke's world versus the far more vibrant color scheme for Makoto's is so good. There's so much going on and ngl I feel like it's almost too much for my brain to take in and process, but the presentation does make me want to take it and chew on it.

The thing I like best is definitely how you handled tone with the pacing, transitions, and musical choice for the video, the mood of your entry is so palpable and it hit home for me especially hard with the wall of photographs and the light playing across it, just the combination of the imagery with the music worked really, really well. I super admire this sort of multimedia storytelling because it's weaving so many pieces, so many kinds of input, together and when it works well it's incredibly impressive to see.

[alder_knight]

What a cinematic entry. This is really nicely animated and a very creative AU!

[intricacies]

THIS WAS SUCH AN AMBITIOUS AU LIKE LIRA SAID, AND YOU ALL SOMEHOW MANAGED TO PULL IT OFF? HOW??

I have to say that I agree that the transition at 2:00 was so good. I actually teared up. I just wanted to point that out before i forgot about it in the rest of my comment. "And in this space, we found us" made me SO GODDAMN EMOTIONAL OH MY GOD. I HAVE ACTUAL TEARS IN MY EYES. SOMETHING ABOUT THAT SENTENCE JUST HIT ME SO HARD, LIKE AFTER ALL THE SEARCHING SOUSUKE HAS DONE, HE HAS FINALLY FOUND THE ONE HE'S SUPPOSED TO BE WITH.

Okay, wow. Wow. I am so floored. We can all tell how much work was put into this and all the pieces put together create such a beautiful story? The music was perfect and set the tone right off the bat. The art was also really really nice and contributed to the atmosphere. I LOVED the minimal use of but also very well-timed text and the font of the text. The writing was so impactful, the most minimal of words that still made me ache in all the right places. The transitions, ESPECIALLY THE ONE AT 2:00 WHERE THE TWO WORLDS AND CHARACTERS FLIPPED TO OVERLAYING TEXT, fit so well into the video and seamlessly tied everything together.

The duality of the two worlds and thus Sousuke and Makoto were so palpable and tangible. The lack of color in the devastated world versus the color in the living one, the way Sousuke lives his life versus Makoto's THEN WHEN THEY MERGE, with Sousuke getting color once he found the memories. I loved that the ending shot was Makoto looking up to Sousuke, but we could all still tell what Sousuke was feeling because his monochrome world had burst into color.

Even the entire concept of "liminal spaces" I'm in love with. Dabs my eyes with tissues and sniffles. Amazing job, Team SouMako.