Introducing ELEGY - a visual poem of The Long Dark

[JAFO]

On 03/08/2017 at 4:36 AM, Mroz4k said:

An elderly narrator was an amazing choice!

A very famous and talented "elderly narrator" at that!

[Mroz4k]

I have to admit I have seen Elegy at least two - three times every day ever since I saw it the first time on this post. 

And I bet I am not the only one.

I am going to the cinema for this movie once it comes out. Probably repeatedly, with all my friends. It is the first forum post I click once I get on the site, to watch or just listen to it.

Edited August 6, 2017 by Mroz4k

[Kyopaxa]

Question: Does he say "A ghost in the machine, a Trojan Horse" or "A ghost in the machine, a treasured force" ?
I'll have to change subtitle translation accordingly... Thanks.

[JAFO]

2 hours ago, Kyopaxa said:

Question: Does he say "A ghost in the machine, a Trojan Horse" or "A ghost in the machine, a treasured force" ?

The captions in the youtube video say "treasured force", but they're wrong.  He definitely says "Trojan horse". Here's how I know that.

The sound of the torch igniting unfortunately all but drowns out the vocals at the critical point. To deal with that, first of all I converted the video to MP3 and trimmed out everything except those two words using an audio editor. (Audacity, for anyone who's curious.)  Although the frequencies of the torch overlap those of the vocals, it's still possible to remove much of the noise of the torch. To do just that, I next used a 48dB high-pass filter set to 600 Hz, which cut out much of the low-frequency noise, and a 48dB low-pass filter set to 1000Hz removed most of the high-frequency noise. That left (mostly) just the vocals I was after, with a bit of residual noise from the torch.

I then amplified it by 3dB, to compensate for all the volume the filtering process had removed, and played the soundbite on a loop a few times.

He definitely says 'Trojan'.. the sound is too short to be 'treasured' and you can hear a distinct 'o' sound, and the 'horse' is pretty clearly not 'force'. The first consonant is too forceful/hard to be an 'f' sound, which is softer.

I've uploaded the processed soundbite (it's just one second long) to my dropbox account, so anyone who wants to hear it for themselves can do so. I recommend putting your player on loop, so you don't have to click the play button every second.

Download link.

Edited August 8, 2017 by JAFO

[Djllans]

One thing you can say whether you love the game or not... Hinterland makes it beautifully!  True artists!

[Fuarian]

On 7/31/2017 at 2:05 PM, Ruruwawa said:

Pushed play.  Hit pause to get the headphones, 'cause  whoever is narrating is the real deal.  Rewind.  Watched (and wept)... powerful stuff.  Got to the credits...

  Hide contents

Christopher Plummer... seriously!?  He's still got it.  And he gets it too, the Long Dark 'it'.  Must be a Canadian thing.

And the writing... hats off to @Raphael van Lierop.  Wow.  I can't get it out of my head, both the message and the writing itself.  This part I replayed several times:

 

Fantastic!

See it's funny. I was talking to someone on the subreddit they said that Raph is a bad writer. I showed them this and they still said it was bad. At least on the forums we have people that get it.

[Fuarian]

On 8/6/2017 at 0:47 PM, Mroz4k said:

I have to admit I have seen Elegy at least two - three times every day ever since I saw it the first time on this post. 

And I bet I am not the only one.

I am going to the cinema for this movie once it comes out. Probably repeatedly, with all my friends. It is the first forum post I click once I get on the site, to watch or just listen to it.

You're not alone.

[Fuarian]

On 8/3/2017 at 10:58 PM, JAFO said:

A very famous and talented "elderly narrator" at that!

Damn I live close to him. I gotta go pay this man a visit!

[Fuarian]

On 8/2/2017 at 1:04 PM, tortuosit said:

Wonderful I must say. All those ingame things we see. The woman on the stairs! I hope you tell a good story. Make it a demanding one! Wow how did you get Mr. Plummer...? Now I'm dreaming of a TV show on.. HBO etc...

Btw, same name and topic.

An ELEGY is a type of visual poem.

[Ruruwawa]

23 hours ago, Fuarian said:

See it's funny. I was talking to someone on the subreddit they said that Raph is a bad writer. I showed them this and they still said it was bad. At least on the forums we have people that get it.

I understand a little of what they are saying, much of that quote is far from original.  But pretty powerful in this specific context, and great acting certainly sells it.

"A ghost in the machine" is a 60+ yo psychology concept, from long before the internet, about where the body ends and the mind begins.  This quote made me pause to think about the psychology of projecting ourselves as avatars into the internet.  As we're doing right now on this forum-- not movie-style virtual reality, but with a certain emotional reality nonetheless.  Ruruwawa is me, even though I'm just typing words at a keyboard in my home to be read by someone else on his phone in another country.  Then more thinking, in the context of TLD.  What happens to that emotional avatar when it's machine -- technology -- is no more?  What happens to me when my avatars are amputated?

I think it's good writing, particularly for the mainstream movie genre.

Edited August 18, 2017 by Ruruwawa
typo

[CitrinePeridot]

Emotional. Gripping. Stunning. Poignant even. I've watched this several times, and it all just fits together seamlessly. I am looking forward to this. Unfortunately, I have come late in the game & only have the original sandbox version that one could download free.  I have played it, and it is everything I have looked for in this genre without those things which I consider "silly nonsense" that I've found in others. It's pure & at the core of surviving without all these "outs" others provide. The graphics...are perfect. I've actually gone up into one of the look outs on more than one occasion just to experience a sunset/sunrise. LOL Who does that in a game? Yet, this game draws you in ways other survival games left out & never thought of. Ever watch the trees sway or hear the owl hoot? So, I connected to so much of what was being said in this narrative & not just in relation to the surviving aspect. It's complete. Obviously, this means I will be budgeting in this release post haste. *grin* Yet, I will be holding on to that first one. Well, ...just because. 

[private duksworth]

yeah love this film if this is great i can't wait till the movie is coming out

[JAFO]

On 8/18/2017 at 8:18 AM, Fuarian said:

An ELEGY is a type of visual poem.

Sorry, but nope.. there doesn't have to be anything "visual" about it. Here's the definition.

elegy:
_noun

1. (in modern literature) a poem of serious reflection, typically a lament for the dead.
   synonyms:    funeral poem/song, burial hymn, lament, dirge, plaint, requiem, keening
2. (in Greek and Latin verse) a poem written in elegiac couplets, as notably by Catullus and Propertius.

[Thrasador]

7 hours ago, JAFO said:

Sorry, but nope.. there doesn't have to be anything "visual" about it. Here's the definition.

elegy:
_noun

1. (in modern literature) a poem of serious reflection, typically a lament for the dead.
   synonyms:    funeral poem/song, burial hymn, lament, dirge, plaint, requiem, keening
2. (in Greek and Latin verse) a poem written in elegiac couplets, as notably by Catullus and Propertius.

Oh, I love you @JAFO, lol....

[Raphael van Lierop]

On 2017-08-18 at 2:34 PM, Ruruwawa said:

I understand a little of what they are saying, much of that quote is far from original.  But pretty powerful in this specific context, and great acting certainly sells it.

What writing is entirely original?

I won't claim to be a great writer. Never have. All I will say is that Elegy came from the heart. Just as with the game, I'm less concerned about whether people think I'm a good writer, and more concerned with if I feel the writing reflects my own creative values and inner voice. Just like the game's art style, gameplay, sound, music, etc. are all expressions of my creative values and inner voice. That's what it means to direct something.

Anyone is free to take their own shot and writing a short film, designing and writing a game, running a studio, etc. if they think they can do better. There's no shortage of experts on the internet! But it takes very little to write a comment online, and a lot more to actually create something...

[MindFog2287]

As long as we're all committed to improving, that's all anyone can ask of us. I started a podcast a couple years ago where I got a nice little following, and I'm terrified I'm going to look back a year or two from now and be horrified. I kind of already am. The first few episodes I did, I'm tempted to go back and re-do them. But it's about moving forward - learning, growing, and like Raphael said - reflecting your own inner voice. 

That's what drew people to this game. 

[Raphael van Lierop]

1 minute ago, MindFog2287 said:

As long as we're all committed to improving, that's all anyone can ask of us. I started a podcast a couple years ago where I got a nice little following, and I'm terrified I'm going to look back a year or two from now and be horrified. I kind of already am. The first few episodes I did, I'm tempted to go back and re-do them. But it's about moving forward - learning, growing, and like Raphael said - reflecting your own inner voice. 

That's what drew people to this game. 

I watch this more than I care to admit:

 

[MindFog2287]

OMG, that was incredible. I get so disappointed in my work, my episodes have stretched to once every couple months. I need to recommit to deadlines. Thank you for that. Bookmarking.

Edited August 29, 2017 by MindFog2287

[Thrasador]

I never said I didn't like the "visual poem." It is pretty badass! Hopefully someday there will be a movie!

Also, I always considered Christopher Plummer to be a "good" actor,  but many of his roles are somewhat villainous....so I often want to punch him in the face.

Even when he's not going for full on villain....and he's playing like your typical jerk boss, I still want to punch him in the face...

His role in the movie " Wolf" with Jack Nicholson, Michelle Pfeiffer, and James Spader comes to mind....

Edited August 29, 2017 by Thrasador

[UpUrBeaver]

@Raphael van Lierop It's hard to actually define a "good" writer, or a "good" creative, I would base it on application; A good romance novelist isn't going to write the best thriller. You write with vision and passion, creating something that is both beautiful and disheartening, like a lonely apocalypse should be. 
The visual poem, for me, captures the long dark in every essence. The sorrow, the pain, the panic, the longing, the loneliness, the trustworthy and the lack of trust.

So for that, good sir, I deem you a fine writer, director and overall creative.
Thank you for your vision of the long dark. I can't wait for the future episodes.

[Ruruwawa]

8 hours ago, Raphael van Lierop said:

What writing is entirely original?

I won't claim to be a great writer. Never have. All I will say is that Elegy came from the heart. Just as with the game, I'm less concerned about whether people think I'm a good writer, and more concerned with if I feel the writing reflects my own creative values and inner voice. Just like the game's art style, gameplay, sound, music, etc. are all expressions of my creative values and inner voice. That's what it means to direct something.

Anyone is free to take their own shot and writing a short film, designing and writing a game, running a studio, etc. if they think they can do better. There's no shortage of experts on the internet! But it takes very little to write a comment online, and a lot more to actually create something...

I agree with you 100%.  I love both the short film and the game itself and I'm pretty sure I have your creative expression to credit for that.  Sorry it didn't come through in my comments. 

Edited August 29, 2017 by Ruruwawa

[Raphael van Lierop]

1 hour ago, Ruruwawa said:

I agree with you 100%.  I love both the short film and the game itself and I'm pretty sure I have your creative expression to credit for that.  Sorry it didn't come through in my comments. 

No apologies necessary! I'm only sharing my POV. 

Ultimately everyone is going to feel the way they're going to feel about the game, the story, the film, etc. It's a tough lesson to learn, but I can't feel responsible for that. I can only produce work that feels honest and true, to me. Some people will like it, others won't. And somehow, that has to be ok.

I'm glad you like it. But it's also ok if you don't. 

[Stormwolf1O1]

@Raphael van Lierop I had chills the whole way through! Such a powerful video - and whoever that narrator was, ooh boy! Makes me feel like I need to put on a sweater lol. 

[JAFO]

1 minute ago, Stormwolf1O1 said:

and whoever that narrator was, ooh boy!

Errrmmm.. you've never heard of Christopher Plummer?

[Stormwolf1O1]

Just now, JAFO said:

Errrmmm.. you've never heard of Christopher Plummer?

I haven't to be honest! Until now. Miraculous that I haven't, seeing all the works he's been in.