Full-length LotR Parody Movies

[Huinesoron]

And another video:

Galadriel's Lament: Remastered Edition

Complete to the present, and I've extended a couple of the opening slides to reserve the spaces for the other backdrops (I anticipate at least two: the outside of Tol Sirion, and a Valinorean interior).

I also have Sauron drawn, and I think I did most of the animations for the Duel, so might be able to finalise that one tonight as well. Then I'll need to draw... either Beren and the Faithful, or Amarie, depending.

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

Oooohh! That makes sense!

I thought about Tirion, but discarded it as a possibility just cause I don't normally imagine it in Feanorian colours. The tower does look very elegant, so I thought it can't really be the fortress-like Formenos, or Himring or any other ME Feanorian structures. But I was fixated on the colours. And it does look a bit scary. Though, I suppose, being robbed of other forms of lighting except for angry torches, Mindon would unintentionally acquire the red and black, and the scariness too. Which is again even more fitting than I realized initially when I thought it was just a Feanor-themed tower.

Yeah, I figure it's a white tower under a Shadow, lit only by burning torches (including some inside). But it also works as a generic Hey, These Guys Aren't Nice backdrop.

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

Absolutely! Will do, erm, for sure before the weekend is out, and hopefully earlier. I will need to catch a good voice day, is all. Maybe we can keep some of your recordings in whichever voice too, so that there is a deeper voice as well. Whatever you think sounds better. I'll send you 5 anyways to choose from.

I probably will (so you can stop at three if you want); I've deliberately kept them separate so I can choose which to remove.

hS

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Huinesoron

And another video:

Galadriel's Lament: Remastered Edition

Complete to the present, and I've extended a couple of the opening slides to reserve the spaces for the other backdrops (I anticipate at least two: the outside of Tol Sirion, and a Valinorean interior).

Cool! I've updated the video link. I'll watch it in full when I get home.

Is the Valinorean interior for Heart?

Originally Posted by Hui

I also have Sauron drawn, and I think I did most of the animations for the Duel, so might be able to finalise that one tonight as well. Then I'll need to draw... either Beren and the Faithful, or Amarie, depending.

Yeah, speaking of Beren and the Faithful... the singers are both still up to doing it, but no clear timeline on when, it keeps being pushed back.

Originally Posted by Hui

Yeah, I figure it's a white tower under a Shadow, lit only by burning torches (including some inside). But it also works as a generic Hey, These Guys Aren't Nice backdrop.

Also, I sense a colour-scheme based revolt cross-over story.

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

Is the Valinorean interior for Heart?

That's the plan. It may also appear in the Ballad to Amarie, since I designed it as a set of arches similar to the Nargothrond ones.

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

Yeah, speaking of Beren and the Faithful... the singers are both still up to doing it, but no clear timeline on when, it keeps being pushed back.

We'll get there, fear not. Plenty of time.

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

Also, I sense a colour-scheme based revolt cross-over story.

[FEANOR:]
It is time for you all to decide who you serve
Will you stay in this cage, or will you summon the nerve
To come follow your king to the lands oversea?
Hunt the Enemy down, reclaim my jewels three?

The colours of my shield
Are yours now - follow me!

[MAEDHROS:]
Red!
The blood the Morgoth spilled!
[CARANTHIR:]
Black!
A heart consumed with hate!
[AMROD:]
Red!
The cup of strength we've filled!
[CURUFIN:]
Black!
The shadow of our fate!

[FINARFIN:]
If we stay here toNight, then the Valar will come
Clear the skies, clear the air, restore light to the boughs of the Trees!
If we follow the Foe, then the Foe will have won
Will have dragged us to doom, will have broken our peace

Aman is still our home
So listen to my pleas!

[FINROD:]
Red!
The vicious fire of rage!
[AREDHEL:]
Black!
The thought of staying chained!
[TURGON:]
Red!
This cursed and bloodstained age!
[GALADRIEL:]
Black!
The ancient night reclaimed!

[FINGOLFIN:]
Finarfin, you're no longer a child
You're grown too old for make-believe
The Valar can't avert this fate.
I promised once, and this I vow
I stand beside my brother now
Let Eldar march to iron gate!

[AMRAS:]
Red!
The blood the Morgoth spilled!
[CELEGORM:]
Black!
A heart consumed with hate!
[MAGLOR:]
Red!
The cup of strength we've filled!
[THE SEVEN:]
Black!
The shadow of our fate!


... was that about what you were thinking?

Coming back onto topic... yes, I've got another video completed!

The Duel of Song

(I'm tweaking the titles a little as I go; I think 'The Duel of Song' is better than the bland 'of Finrod and Sauron', dunno 'bout you.)

I also have Amarie drawn, but haven't started sorting Wind in the new video style. We'll see how long that takes.

hS

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Huinesoron

... was that about what you were thinking?

...It's better than an opera!

And it's totally going into the appendices. ^.^

Originally Posted by Hui

Coming back onto topic... yes, I've got another video completed!

The Duel of Song

(I'm tweaking the titles a little as I go; I think 'The Duel of Song' is better than the bland 'of Finrod and Sauron', dunno 'bout you.)

Sauron is magnificent!!!

Did you change the background picture for Valinor? It looks different somehow. Or is it just that there is more of it visible now?

I've updated both video links now, and changed the title to Duel of Song. I agree that it is more poetic. My nicknames for titles tend to be in the Not Poetic direction - like Bloodzoning or Tonguelashing. I don't think we'll use those. But in all fairness, I agree that some songs can use more poetic names rather than the somewhat austere and literal titles they are given in the Russian libretto.

In somewhat related news, I was thinking about what to tackle next, and decided that certain songs have prerequisites.

• Hate - I would prefer to do both Bloodzoning and Aria first, so it flows better
• Aria - in turn, would be following Quarrel, and to make the transition smoother they would ideally be written chronologically too
• Showdown - I'd rather do the gentler version in Dream first before it gets all Song of Power again
• Epilogue - I don't want to touch that one until all the themes it uses are actually in play. I want the songs to influence Epilogue, not the other way around.

I've been sketching a couple songs, but don't have any completed sketches, so nothing I'm set on. If we still want to do a Luthien song, I would prefer to take a small break from the Bros, and then come back to them with renewed energy and angst. That leaves Meeting and Dream. I have ideas for both of them. BUT. Meeting is missing like half the chords - what it does have isn't something I can really work with. So it will be a nightmare to sketch, and will consequently take longer (also I think it's a longer piece just by length). Dream, at first glance, looks easier, and I would be finished quicker. So the only determining factor here is the timeline we are aiming for. If you are expecting more free time, I would probably go with something quicker on my end to match that (either Dream or any number of other songs, if Luthien is not to be involved - basically anything except for the "prerequisite songs"). My preference would be either the Luthien songs or any of the Nargothrond-set songs.

[Huinesoron]

The Meeting: it's missing chords? I know nothing, so I just glanced at it and went 'yep, chords on every line' and stopped there. There's also that comment at the end (Проигрыш - мелодия Лютиен из ее «Поединка»), which I'm not even sure which track it goes to!

Sauron: do you think the raised arm/wing works? I did a lot of tweaking to that, and I'm still not positive I shouldn't just remove it.

Valinor: No changes to the picture, but yeah, you can see a lot more, and the transition is different now.

Next song: totally up to you! I'm jumping around in who I'm drawing, and need to have most of them done to fix up the songs we've done already. The only video I expect to be complicated is Truth, though now doubt I'll come up with some brilliant stroke of stupid for one of the others.

hS

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Huinesoron

The Meeting: it's missing chords? I know nothing, so I just glanced at it and went 'yep, chords on every line' and stopped there. There's also that comment at the end (Проигрыш - мелодия Лютиен из ее «Поединка»), which I'm not even sure which track it goes to!

It has a good part of the chords written in the number code thing. I assume that the numbers stand for the finger position on guitar strings, with each number meaning one step=half-tone up on the string. But if it's a standard E-A-D-G-B-E guitar, 90% of these chords don't make any sense to me. They look like gibberish, and they don't sound right. In the past I have largely ignored them and written whatever made sense / sounded right instead, but in previous songs these chords were a rare occurrence, not the norm. So far I've only tried to map Beren's part of Meeting, and I am still missing a good chunk of the chords and melody. I'll have to listen to the different versions and try to reconcile them with the notes that come up with the number chords, see if I can make headway with that approach.

Unless you have another idea for how to interpret the numbers? If you know how to decode them, that will speed things up significantly.

The last line is actually easier to deal with. It says "musical refrain - Luthien's melody from her Duel", which is what they do in V2 anyways at the end of Meeting. I haven't actually looked at the chords for that part, but I don't expect that to be a stump.

Originally Posted by Hui

Sauron: do you think the raised arm/wing works? I did a lot of tweaking to that, and I'm still not positive I shouldn't just remove it.

I think the "upswing" of the cloak definitely works. If you are on the fence about it, I would argue against removing it completely, because it's pretty cool. If you feel that it needs changing, maybe only at the tip, where it bends towards Sauron rather than swishing away as a swung cloak would. I would definitely argue against redoing all of Sauron: his face and head are right on - intense, arrogant, slightly amused/pleased, contemptuous. Beauty.

Originally Posted by Hui

Next song: totally up to you! I'm jumping around in who I'm drawing, and need to have most of them done to fix up the songs we've done already. The only video I expect to be complicated is Truth, though now doubt I'll come up with some brilliant stroke of stupid for one of the others.

Lol. I'll spin the lottery wheel tomorrow then and let you know where it lands. Not today because I won't actually be able to start it until tomorrow anyways.

[Galadriel55]

Okay... just sent you several options for Swear to this Oath. Not sure which ones are actually necessary though. Do whatever you want with them.

I think I will try to keep chipping away at Meeting. Luthien should come out into the light, and I'll have to do it sooner or later anyways. If I get too frustrated though I might just escape to Nargothrond for a bit before coming back to these darkened woods.

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

Unless you have another idea for how to interpret the numbers? If you know how to decode them, that will speed things up significantly.

One!
And another One makes
Two!
And another One makes
Three (that's me!)
Five-four-three-two-one
Numberjacks!

Er, anyway...

The very first chord of the Meeting is given as Am(V-555775) . Searching around produces this page, which provides the same description (Am (V) - 555775), and also includes a picture of what "Am (V)" looks like:



Now, I didn't even know fifth chords existed until now (only sevenths), but luckily they also give some saner chords. Like D! D is cool. They give D as 232000.

Wikipedia has an article on this, which also provides D... as 000232.

...

Do they make more sense if you read them backwards?

Yep! Here's Am as 577555 from an English-language source. Apparently Russians just write their chords backwards from the English-speaking world.

Poking around the internet a bit, this means Beren's lines:

I had to flee the shadow that fell
The last out

Would be chorded Gdim - Gdim7 -//- Dsus - Dm.

I don't know what suspended or diminished chords are either, but G,G / D,D looks pretty sensible to me. ^_^

For further corroboration: that odd '7 10 9977' (or 7799 10 7 in English) is apparently Gsus, of which a random website says:

There's a bunch o' ways [you can play it]. you could do 320013 or 355533, just to name a few... I guess you could also do 7799107, but that's kinda stretchin' it...

So there it is. A real chord, but played weirdly.

Originally Posted by G55

I think the "upswing" of the cloak definitely works. If you are on the fence about it, I would argue against removing it completely, because it's pretty cool. If you feel that it needs changing, maybe only at the tip, where it bends towards Sauron rather than swishing away as a swung cloak would.

Oh, that's how you're seeing it? Hmm. I can work with that version... maybe. We'll see.

Art updates: I have Beren and Amarie drawn, and Captivity all ready to go when I get round to drawing the Faithful. I've also re-recorded my parts for it, so it'll actually sound good and all. ^_^ I tried adding Finrod to the choir, but it didn't work too well, so I've left him out for now.

Next up, my nemesis: wind-blown leaves.

hS