AMV - Nostromo - Light Years (Schiller - Lichtjahre)

Premiered: 2024-05-31 Footage: Genshin Impact Schiller live performance (2010~2021) Music: Schiller & Giorgio Moroder - Lichtjahre @schillermusik2040 DDL: The speakers blasted an ambient composition laced with ethereal melodies weaving a tapestry of sound that seemed to lift the very air. The audience entranced, drawn into the ebb and flow of tunes that hinted at distant lands and limitless possibilities. A radiant glow illuminated the stage, casting waves of shimmering light across the audience in hues of purple and blue, witness of a moment unlike any other as the travelers emerged from the gateway. The music resonating with their elemental essences, merging with the electronic beats, a bridge between two worlds light years apart, the harmonious convergence. They felt the melodies speaking a universal language—one of harmony and wonder, an enduring power transcending boundaries. The enthralling soundscape was for that brief interlude capable of blending realms together. ======================================= Has it really been 8 years since the last AMV? That’s crazy. Well I haven’t been totally inactive during this time since I still managed to create some stuff and a lot of other things have happened also. Have I still got my flow? This is probably not what you were expecting, nothing really fancy or ground breaking but this project contains a lot of moving parts and is technically several levels above my previous productions even though most of the required micro adjustments are mostly invisible in the final product. I won’t bore you with the details. I really haven’t been keeping in touch with the new generation of AMV people so it’s hard for me to tell if this is still considered triple A production but in my own world this is a significant achievement. And yes I’m calling it AMV, sue me. Anyway, I got the idea for this one after new year 2023 while on the shuttle to Stockholm airport listening to some random electro-pop compilation. Suddenly, this song pops up. I ended up listening to it in loop during the entire journey without noticing that it was from Schiller, one of my favourite electronic music band from when I was a teenager. I pictured a recreation of a live performance enhancing the synth melody and blended with some anime. The original plan was to make something quick and easy but I ended up making something a bit more sophisticated and special in celebration of 20 years since my first AMV was released on the 31th of May 2004. I was beginning to get serious about AI tools and started experimenting with rotoscoping tools and Genshin Impact trailers. The direct output was less than ideal but served as good basic draft to confirm the compositing and timing. It then required lengthy and laborious manual adjustments both in positive and negative masks, at 60 fps of course. It probably was overkill but I wanted to see how far I could push it. I’m really not sure that the AI rotoscoping ended up saving me a lot of time as the character and costume design in Genshin is so intricate with overloaded backgrounds making the AI very confused at times. Some sequences required up to 10 hours of work to get things right, a sort of brain-dead job that I could focus on while listening to podcasts or re-watching old series, a great escape from real life problems actually. The title “Light Years“ is the English translation of Lichtjahre which also reflects my idea of 2 worlds separated by space and time. Unfortunately I couldn’t find any official music video or live performance for this specific song so I decided to go through live performance from Schiller between 2010 and 2021 looking for sequences that would match. This is the reason why you will notice that Mr Schiller keeps changing shirt and setup during the video. Some of you music nerds might complain that the wrong buttons are pressed on the piano, sure, but it’s good enough for me. The highlight regarding editing was trying to mimic the excellent transitions found in Genshin Impact trailers. Some transitions required 2 or 3 evenings to get perfect but I was pleased to occasionally get this special feeling when I throw something on the timeline and see it magically work. I took every new idea as a challenge of some sort and it ended up working better that expected almost every time. I have been playing Genshin since day one and I still try to get back into it once or twice a week. I really don’t care much for the never ending story, I just like exploring and killing things that move. In the end it took me over a year to complete this project however I wasn’t able to work on it every week. Sure, the quality has increased but It’s interesting that even though I never had this much free time before in my life, it still takes this long to complete a video. See you guys in 2032 for the next Nostromo AMV.