Well... I went ahead and finished the video. Rendering now. It's kind of crazy.

Hey Marke & HitRECord team,

I got some questions about the length of this music video. Toss has stated that she'll be away from an unknown period. I started to try to finalize the video but I don't know which direction the audio track to use will be. I really won't be able to make something worth while for the original length being over 4 minutes long. Currently we stand at 2:15 as of this second with some additional animation I've made since Toss's departure. I noticed that there has been some master edits for a radio version, should I take it upon myself to select a version that works for an ending I'm shooting for? Or plan the other way around.

As a reminder of direction the ending will probably be--it's gone into this strange sci-fi thing where our hero has transformed into something beyond a girl in heels.

I agree that having a director may help things move along more smoothly. But I also think that Marke gave some really solid direction in the request. In addition the artwork created by MukeiRoyalty is phenomenal, and a great starting point. And it seems like all involved parties are enthusiastic about creating something awesome. I think to move forward we need to take a step back and look at the original request. It sounded to me like focus should be the Key Frames and the stunning "Woman in the red scarf" created by MukeiRoyalty. I would love to see more with that character.

To LoFidelity, I Think the clean flat look of the original artwork has become a bit lost in your more recent results. Just my opinion, any critique I offer is intended to be constructive.

This is the first collaboration I've participated in so I'm new to this. But based on Marke's request my initial thought was a clean, bright and colourful piece that features heavily the character and design of the original art.

Kubi,
i completely agree with you, it's very difficult for one person to animate the whole thing. and what you suggest is totally more efficient. imagine how many people could be involved if we used this scheme! and how quick it could be.
i don't know what the final video would be, but as for me - Marke's original idea is brilliant, i can picture it so well and i want to do it so much! i'll try to make some night city animation anyway even if this collaboration doesn't need it)
as for the dancing girl - i want to recommend LoFidelity to use file by burnsius instead of this dancing video of Lizzie. you should check the AE file, i asked him to upload it for remixing and it is the result for this record. i thinks it fits much better. may be can expand it or remix somehow.

@Kubi, it's appreciated. I don't have any harsh feelings. Currently reworking my ideas. The dancing may have to go, but even I can't say for sure yet. Sometimes things just pop up once inspired.

Mate I don't think people feel bad about this at all, apologies if I gave you that impression. I'm just sorry I don't have the time to help you out properly with some animation. But I think everyone's really excited to see you go full steam ahead and try and get it over the finish line. I know it's not easy... A friend of mine just did a clip for Gotye - 'Easy Way Out' which took him around 9 months to complete, and the song is only half as long as Electric Loss!!

Anyway, my comment was meant to be more about how directing a music vid on HR could potentially be handled in the future.

@Kubi, I'm sorry if I'm making everyone feel bad about this collaboration. It's not my motive show off and make everyone else's work irrelevant or make it seem like I don't have to follow the rules.

I know that right now theres a high probablity that a lot of people are seeing me as a sore thumb because I might not be following the rules. My only 2 cents is that in Marke's briefing he asks us to explore different ideas including the 5 key pieces of art. Ideas such as the typography, but also night time city driving, shapes morphing and some neon lights. Most of his ideas I was hoping to touch upon. I'm just not there yet.

I don't disagree with your statements about if or how HitRECord may or should do things. Ultimately I don't really have a say in it.

Jared, I might sound like a bit of a dick here, but if you don’t mind me butting in for a moment…

Because Hit Rec is in this case the ‘client’ as well as the production company, it would have been great if the first thing that was requested was for someone to put up their hands to direct (or maybe co-direct). Then that director takes over and provides a written treatment detailing the style, direction, and what happens in the clip, ie, breakdown the action that happens during each verse and chorus. Once HR is happy with that, a storyboard should be created. Then it’s just a matter of asking who wants to contribute and handing out sections to different animators to complete.

A lot of people on here, myself included, sometimes can’t help jumping ahead and trying to complete something cool on their own. It’s fun! But when multiple people are doing it on the one major project, it can get messy, as you guys know.

In regards to this video, from what I can tell, Toss has probably stuck a bit closer to Marke’s original brief, but LoFidelity’s ability to create a huge amount of animation in a very short amount of time is invaluable, especially when there’s no budget.

LoFidelity, you’ve done some amazing work here, for what it’s worth, I would say the rotoscoping and live action bits tend to clash with the ultra flat 2D animation. Perhaps someone else could take those moments of the girl dancing and make them much flatter and stylized? And if you’re looking for gaps to fill in, remember one of Marke’s original thoughts – create some ‘Enter The Void’ style fonts to flash up on screen. Maybe every time we hear Meta sing the words “electric loss” you cut to those words flashing up in a really cool enter the void sort of way?