when one has a lot of things to do, one often ends up doing nothing from
the to-do list, but something completely irrelevant. so here it is, the
result of my 'whatever but not preparing for the exam'
as always, I use videos with my favourite one and only Top Combi, this time pairing them with a wonderful song which is 33 years old already, but still sounds fresh and unique - 'Dansing Starshine' by Momoe Yamaguchi. I used to love this song until I made a video with it love this song because of its 80s mood (composed in 1980 exactly), vividness and brightness and warmness of the melody, and of course, the wonderful voice of ms Yamaguchi. the lyrics with translation will follow very soon in a separate post, but I can say now that I believe the words and the song title itself suit the two perfectly. they were are like starshine on the stage
TMV. well, there are AMV and MMV. obviously a Takarazuka fanvid would be called TMV. agree?
this idea has been bothering me for a year. yes, exactly one year. last May after hearing 'tamashii no refrain' in 'Misty Station' I decided to download the whole discography of Takahashi Youko and this is how I discovered a song called 'TRAIN'. it belongs to the album 'Sore wa Toki ni Anata o Hagemashi, Toki ni wa Sasae to Naru Mono'. if you translate this title you will read something like this - 'sometimes it will encourage you, sometimes it will become your support'. and this was very timely to me, who was somewhat depressed after the Great Moon Troupe Retirement
well, after watching Misty Station, a Revue themed 'journey' and moreover with train used as the main symbol, 'tis only natural that I immediately associated the song called 'TRAIN' with it. moreover, the lyrics are very special here. the translation will be provided in a separate post
so, here is the result. at 3 o'clock in the night, huh?
after I made a video using this song it was only natural that I should provide lyrics and translation but I just didn't feel like doing it. what's different today is my mood. suddenly I understood how much I love this song, despite the fact that I've listened to it dozens of times while making the vid, and what wonderful lyrics Tamura wrote for the song (the fact that I consider the melody wonderful as well is already obvious, I believe). I am not sure songs like this are even popular nowadays but I cannot sit straight when I hear such stories. Tamura sings stories, that's why I love her so much. all of my favourites - 'ano hi no futari wa mou' and 'key of gold' for example, and many others - are songs-stories as well
well... lyrics are as I wrote them down listening to the song. used http://www.xianlai.com/thread-430036-1-1.html for reference
Japanese lyrics
写真の中 無邪気に笑う二人
噂になる前に引き裂かれた
禁じられた恋だったから the end
思い出も涙も閉じ込めた
眠れぬ夜に抱きしめていた
押さえ切れない気持ちを
Naked love 壊れたオルゴールのようなキス
繰り返し奏でた哀しいメロディー
あなたしか見えなくて
突然の再会はこの街で
見違えたよとあなたは微笑む
泣かない私でいることが
細やかな抵抗
Naked love 切れない愛を教えてください
切ないほど愛し合った日々が
心に甦る
言えない このまま引き返せない
見ないで今の私を
その腕を捕まえたい
けれど
Naked love 壊れたオルゴールのようなキス
繰り返し奏でた哀しいメロディー
あなたしか見えなくて
Naked love 切れない愛を教えてください
切ないほど愛し合った日々が
心に甦る
心に甦る
English translation
The two on the photo are smiling innocently –
They were torn apart before even becoming a gossip
Our love was forbidden, so this was the end
I shut both my memories and my tears inside
In a sleepless night I was holding
Feelings that I could not suppress
Naked love, a kiss that is like a broken music box –
A sad melody playing repeatedly
Only you are before my eyes…
We suddenly meet again in this neighbourhood
You smile and say you didn't recognize me at once
The fact that I am not crying though
Is my feeble resistance
Naked love, show me endless love
The days when we loved each other to the extent it was painful
Are revived in my heart
If the words are not spoken, we cannot turn back
Don’t look at me now
I want to seize your arms
But…
Naked love, a kiss that is like a broken music box –
A sad melody playing repeatedly
Only you are before my eyes…
Naked love, show me endless love
The days when we loved each other to the extent that it was painful
Are revived in my heart
I wanted to make a 'story' this time, actually this is not a story, but since I included scenes from musicals mostly (not revue dance scenes) I decided to call it as such
the song is gorgeous and one of my favourites among Tamura-sama's works and among all songs I've ever heard in my life. it's called 'Naked love'
musicals used are 'Algiers no Otoko', 'Gypsy Baron' and the intro dance from it, 'My love lies over the mountains', 'Scarlet Pimpernel' and 'STUDIO54'. 'Yukariko' is yet to be watched so I didn't include it
I am not really sure I did the right thing. it took me only one evening to make this vid, and though the idea came much earlier, I had no clear image in my head of what to put inside. I didn't adjust the vid to the lyrics, and I cannot promise the timing is perfect... but I wanted to make something special to celebrate this day - the 4th of August. one year since my Zuka obsession started...
since Takarazuka directors and choreographers often use Latina elements in performances, I often imagine how Takarasiennes dance to this or that song that has a Latina touch, even a slightest one, with their bright smiles, in their colourful clothes. otokoyaku sharpness, musumeyaku smoothness, all-troupe energy, Moon energy which is yellow, orange, gold, warm - these are the things I wanted to underline. hope I didn't fail
it took me 3 days to make this masterpiece. how did I manage to finish it so fast? I am a magicia~n!
well, actually it took me 3 days to complete the technical part. the first day was dedicated to exploring capacities of Sony Vegas Pro 11.06-something. the second day was dedicated to making the vid itself. and the third day was dedicated to adjusting, and adjusting, and adjusting again
first, there were problems with Vegas-san decoding my avis. therefore, I had already made the whole video but then I had to REmake it because most parts had 'white' frames, which I thought to be simply mistakes of displaying the preview. then I had to RErender the vid because the first version consisted of Takarasquares. erm, I mean, the quality of the vid itself was poor. then I had to RErender it again because I had forgotten to increase the volume of the music. and finally, I discovered that the timing of the vid in Vegas-san was NOT the same as in the resulting vid
finally!
however, creating the vid itself is not a hard thing to do if you have a proper image of it in your head. and I did
it happened on the 25th of April. in the morning I put on my favourite shirt, opened my new lipstick, (the colour of which I chose so that it would be close to that of Kiriya-sama on the cover of the 2012 calendar!) and attached to my neck my lucky (as it turned out) Kiriya-sama pendant. during the first half of my way to the university I already listened to 'all you need is love' and other gorgeous songs from the album 'Grace' by Tamura Naomi-sama. when I got on the bus, 'kirai ni naretara ii' started. while listening to the first half of the song, I simply enjoyed it (well, not simply - I enjoyed it a lot!) - but then I realized WHAT some parts of the song resemble so much... Top Combi duet dance! namely, 'Dance Romanesque' and 'Misty Station' ones, when the stage was covered with artificial mist
therefore, my work was simply to match the vids with the song. well, of course I did not imagine the whole song, and the part of this creation was impromptu...
another point is that, though I usually criticize vids where the visual component has nothing to do with the song and the lyrics, this time I did not make an entirely matching video. the reason is simple - this is not a song that creates a story (like 'ano hi no futari wa mou inai' by Tamura-sama, or See-Saw's 'seijaku...'). this song does not even describe what is going on in the vid. instead, it describes what is going on in the author's soul - and my soul, too - realizing that the person he or she loves so much has been a little estranged, and perhaps is going away, but still he/she loves him/her and while wishing to be able to hate him/her, cannot do this. this is a song that I could sing, not the characters of my vid
but still
my favourite moments - including both moments I did as I wanted and moments I made unintentionally good - are
0-20 - when Aono-sama turns around. I inserted this part because here she appears and approaches Kiriya-sama, but then I noticed how her movements suit 'suki naraba' melody
0-44 - on DE of 'kienaide' is just a lucky moment, but
0-46 - is the best of the best of the best. this moment was perhaps the one I had the first, when I thought like 'oh, this part reminds me of Top Combi dance so much' - so smooth, silent, in a slight darkness and with mist on the floor
1-18, 2-23 and 2-33 - well, when Tamura-sama sings such a 'stringy' note, I could not help inserting something like this
1-24 and 1-31 - are one of the few moments adjusted to the lyrics
3-00 - is simply a moment I adore! and it popped up exactly when I needed something like this. the same goes for
3-05 and 3-17 - somehow, a collection of near-romantic moments? I did not make it intentionally, but the lyrics of those moments are 'suki naraba' and 'itoshisha ni' respectively...
3-27 - the same turning round, which I think to be quite suitable again
3-38 - well, here the drums seemed to be good when Kiriya-sama steps on the floor
3-43 - is simply one of my favourite moments of all the KiriMari duet dances
from 4-14 starts the series of lifts. and lifts are my favourite phenomena in Top Combi duet dances. just. so. IDK... magnificent... beautiful... and just @$!#)*_)!*$#$!!!
well. meseems, I am speaking too much about this humble attempt to make a nice vid. hope fans will enjoy
