Watch it here. This video was made for AwesomeCore 2025, an online contest encouraging experimental videos. It was also submitted to ConnectiCon 2025 in the experimental category, but was not a finalist.
After watching La Jetée I was inspired to create something in a similar vein. I wanted some sort of historical work, comprised mostly of still shots with a brief interlude of clear motion, matching a lot of what the film does. The connection between film and AMV should be even more obvious given I used a song straight from the film.
To put it simply, I wanted to convey how an early fascination with planes for Jiro Horikoshi, led to the creation of the Zero, a personal triumph for him, which ultimately contributed to the destruction of his own country. Kind of a lot to do in four minutes, but I claim I have done it.
Director’s Commentary
00:03 : It may be hard to see unless you are looking for it, but all the still shots have a gate weave effect applied. I wanted this so that each still shot has a little motion and it is not just a slideshow. I also added some film grain and turned down the color so that the scene with all the motion in the middle could have a little more contrast.
00:30 : I am using the fades here to show passage of time.
00:34 – 00:37 : One of my favorite bits of this AMV is the rapid shot changes to indicate the ferocity of the earthquake.
02:33 – 02:56 : I used real audio from Zeros at an airshow here. I wanted to convey, by way stopping the music and turning off the effects, that this was a very special moment for Jiro and was a core memory for him. This is also very similar to a scene in La Jetée.