The Karma of Evil Fanmade PV - BTS -

KARMA BTS - 12 COMPOSITING / Maria Moonlit

Finally, the reason Queen of the Glass hasn't had its fan-made PV , the lack of an official design for the queen. As of the PV's release and this blog post, Maria still doesn't have an official design that lets us know what she looks like; Madam Merry Go Round is already her own character, so I couldn't use her. So I broke my rule of sticking to canon again, using one of my headcanons about her.

In my mind, all the queens of Levianta wear the same dress that Irina is shown wearing in 'Ma' Survival. It would be something like a uniform for them, or official attire designed for queens, similar to how Popes wear similar garments. This would also add weight to the idea that, upon becoming queens, the candidates lose part of their identity: in addition to changing their name to Alice, they also have to change their way of dressing.

The Magic Kingdom of Levianta is supposed to be inspired by the Roman Empire, so I added similar columns for the temple and also stayed true to the novels by portraying Alice in a wheelchair.

Well, that's all from me. I think this PV fulfilled my goal of experimenting to see if I'd be comfortable doing simple illustrations, and it also helped me practice frame-by-frame animation a bit. After its release, the PV managed to climb to the top of the channel, knocking Gift and Muzzle out of their spots, something no other PV had managed to do. Thanks to everyone who made that possible with their views.

If you'd like to know anything about the instrumental and the cover, I could talk to Ryu and Yootna about getting a behind-the-scenes look at their work with the audio.

I might start a blog for Grim the End, but I'll see about that later. Thanks for the support. ______________________

Para finalizar, la razón por la que Queen of the Glass no ha tenido su fanmade PV, la falta de un diseño oficial para la reina. A la fecha de publicación del PV y de esta entrada de blog, Maria aún no tiene un diseño oficial que nos permita saber cómo es su apariencia; Madam Merry Go Round es ya su propio personaje, así que no podía usarla a ella. Entonces volví a romper mi regla de apegarme al canon usando uno de mis headcanons sobre ella.

En mi cabeza, todas las reinas de Levianta usan el mismo vestido con el que se muestra a Irina en ‘Ma’ Survival. Sería algo así como un uniforme para ellas, o una vestimenta oficial pensada para las reinas, similar a como los Papas usan prendas parecidas. Esto también agregaría peso a la idea de que, al convertirse en reinas, las candidatas pierden parte de su identidad: además de cambiar su nombre a Alice, también tienen que cambiar su forma de vestir.

El Reino Mágico Levianta se supone que toma inspiración del Imperio Romano, así que agregué columnas similares para el templo y también me mantuve fiel a las novelas al retratar a Alice en una silla de ruedas.

Bueno, eso sería todo de mi parte. Creo que este PV cumplió con mi objetivo de experimentar para ver si estaría cómodo haciendo ilustraciones sencillas, y también me ayudó a practicar un poco la animación por cuadros. Luego de su publicación, el PV logró colarse en el top del canal, sacando a Gift y Muzzle de sus puestos, algo que no había conseguido ningún otro PV. Gracias a quienes, con sus vistas, hicieron eso posible.

Si les gustaría saber algo respecto al instrumental y al cover, podría hablar con Ryu y Yootna para que les muestren algo del detrás de escenas de su trabajo con el audio.

KARMA BTS - 11 COMPOSITING / Regret and Gammon

Returning to the topic of the Moonlits having too much prominence in the early versions of the PV, a few days after its release on YouTube, several ideas came to mind that, had I considered them during the video's production process, would surely have been included.

During Gammon's final appearance (where the butterfly is perched on his finger), I realized there was enough time to include two flashbacks related to him.

The flashbacks in the PV serve not only to embellish the video but also to show the regrets and actions that led the characters to become trapped in the loop. This is precisely what led me to consider adding the scene of Gammon inviting Nemesis to the Tasan Party after Nyoze's death. The second flashback would show Nemesis in her position as dictator.

KARMA BTS - 10 COMPOSITING / Re_draws

Continuing with the idea of connecting the Karma of Evil PV with other past events, when Ichika clarified the terms and conditions regarding the use of her illustrations, I had to look for alternatives for what to do with the flashback scenes I wanted to include in the new video, since all of them used edited and colorized illustrations from the novels and official PVs.

In the end, I decided to redraw them. Although it meant extra work, thanks to that I came up with Gammon’s transition, where he shifts from Heavenly to Karma. The flashback in the clocktower also had to be redrawn, but everything turned out well in the end. _________________

Siguiendo con la idea de conectar el PV de Karma of Evil con otros eventos pasados, cuando Ichika aclaró los términos y condiciones sobre el uso de sus ilustraciones tuve que buscar opciones sobre qué hacer con las escenas de flashback que quería incluir en el nuevo video, ya que todas utilizaban ilustraciones editadas y coloreadas de las novelas y PV oficiales.

KARMA BTS - 09 COMPOSITING / Tha Babies

Although I appreciate when people say my videos help explain the series, the truth is that most of them weren’t made with that purpose in mind. I usually include so much information in my PVs that someone without prior knowledge of the lore and characters would probably end up more confused than if they had just watched the original video. Most of my PVs are intended for fans who have already read the novels or are more familiar with the series, since they can understand the references I leave in the scenes; for example, the Duel of Merrigod Plateau in the Pierrot PV, the inclusion of Nemesis and Levia at the beginning of Bloodstained Switch, or the Doll saving Ma in Master of the Hellish Yard.

Now, with this particular song, I did want to try to give an explanation of what the lyrics are telling. The long instrumental sections helped me include scenes that add some context for the viewer. My interpretation is that the vision of the future that Eve has in Crimen, where she speaks with Adam Irregular, takes place during the events of Heavenly Yard. By including these scenes, I could not only visually connect this PV with the Heavenly one, but also link it to an earlier video where I had shown a brief glimpse of the twins in the tower of the flying theater (Heartbeat Clocktower).

In the novel, the entire conversation takes place in front of the window, but I felt it would be repetitive to keep returning to the same location every time the twins appeared on screen. So I decided the conversation would start at the window to stay faithful to the novel, and then have the twins move through the theater until they reach the tower.

As a final note, while illustrating these Irregular scenes I debated whether I should draw them by imitating Ichika’s style so they would match the Heavenly video, or keep my own style so they wouldn’t feel out of place with the rest of the PV. In the end, I chose the latter, but used a rendering style similar to the one in Heavenly to maintain some visual consistency. ____________________

Aunque aprecio cuando las personas dicen que mis videos ayudan a explicar la serie, la realidad es que la mayoría no los hice con ese propósito en mente. Suelo incluir tanta información en los PV que alguien sin conocimiento previo del lore y los personajes probablemente terminaría más confundido que viendo el video original. La mayoría de mis PV están pensados para fans que ya leyeron las novelas o que conocen más la serie, porque ellos pueden entender las referencias que dejo en las escenas; por ejemplo, el Duelo de la Meseta Merrigod en el PV de Pierrot, la inclusión de Nemesis y Levia al inicio de Bloodstained Switch, o la Muñeca salvando a Ma en Master of the Hellish Yard.

Ahora, con esta canción en particular sí quise intentar dar una explicación de lo que cuenta la letra. Los largos momentos instrumentales me ayudaron a incluir escenas que aportaran algo de contexto al espectador. Mi interpretación es que la visión del futuro que tiene Eve en Crimen, donde habla con Adam Irregular, ocurre durante los eventos de Heavenly Yard. Al incluir estas escenas no solo podía unir visualmente este PV con el de Heavenly, sino también con otro video anterior donde había mostrado un pequeño vistazo de los gemelos en la torre del teatro volador (Heartbeat Clocktower).

En la novela, toda la conversación ocurre frente a la ventana, pero me pareció algo repetitivo regresar siempre a la misma locación cada vez que los gemelos aparecían en pantalla. Por eso decidí que la conversación iniciara en la ventana para respetar la novela y luego se fueran moviendo por el teatro hasta llegar a la torre.

KARMA BTS - 08 COMPOSITING / Irina Clockworker

At this point, I was already tired of drawing so much, lol, and I still had to do the animation for the scene where all of Irina's different identities are mentioned. In my head, I had planned to do something elaborate like in my PV for "The Song I Heard Somewhere," where Irina is shown with the contractors, but that would take a lot of work. Thinking about solutions, it occurred to me that I could relate the PV for "Karma" to that of "Master of the Court" and use flat illustrations like in the final chorus where the different lives of Eve and Irina are shown as a mural. It should be clarified that this illustration style where the characters' skin is like a shadow wasn't my original idea; several Evillious materials show characters this way, sometimes with a smile added. I got the idea for the MOTC mural specifically from an illustration of Allen and Riliane that Ichika included in her artbook, Cocoon. I think I mentioned it before, but the idea of ​​showing Irina's flashbacks came about after I realized the PV was very focused on the Moonlit. Taking inspiration from the song's lyrics, I decided to use Irina's perspective and show the hatred she feels towards Elluka and Levia for taking away what she cherished most in her life: her brother, her human body, Lemy, and Gallerian.

Considering there isn't an official design for Alice, I had to exclude her from the stained glass and use her as a connection to the beginning of the story loop. My headcanon is that the dress Irina wears in "'Ma' Survival" is the outfit all the queens wear, similar to how popes wear similar clothes despite being different people. The PV's color scheme changes to black and white, except for Eve and Adam, to reference my "Project 'Ma'" PVs, which only show the main characters in color.

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En este punto ya estaba cansado de dibujar tanto, lol y aun debía hacer la animación para la escena donde se mencionan todas las diferentes identidades de Irina. En mi cabeza tenía planeado hacer lago elaborado como en mi PV de “The Song I Heard Somewhere”, donde se muestra a Irina junto a los contratistas, pero eso llevaría mucho trabajo; pensando en soluciones se me ocurrió que podría relacionar el PV de “Karma” con el de “Master of the Court” y usar ilustraciones planas como en el coro final donde las diferentes vidas de Eve e Irina se muestran como un mural. Cabe aclarar que ese estilo de ilustración donde la piel de los personajes es como una sombre no fue una idea original mía, en varios materiales de Evillious se muestran a personajes de esta manera, pero a veces agregando una sonrisa. La idea para el mural de MOTC la tomé específicamente de una ilustración de Allen y Riliane que Ichika incluyó en su artbook Cocoon. Creo que lo mencione antes, pero la idea de mostrar los flashbacks de Irina surgió luego de que me diera cuenta de que el PV estaba muy enfocado en los Moonlit. Tomando como inspiración la letra de la canción se me ocurrió tomar la perspectiva de Irina y  mostrar el odio que siente hacia Elluka y Levia por arrebatarle lo que mas apreciaba de su vida, su hermano, su cuerpo humano, Lemy y Gallerian.

KARMA BTS - 07 COMPOSITING / The Flashbacks

Something I came up with to fill out the PV was to show several of the events that led the characters to the Court Ending and also the end of the world, things like Irina killing Elluka, which then leads to the Levianta Catastrophe and later the release of the Seven Deadly Sins; Adam manipulating and breaking Eve, which would lead her to take on the role of a demon and have several incarnations throughout the story.

Originally, many of the flashbacks focused on the Moonlit, so I had to add scenes of Irina to balance it out. Days after posting the PV, I came up with ideas for additional scenes to include Gammon and the decisions he made that led him to be there, but I'll discuss that in another post.

Now, regarding the render, these illustrations are a bit more detailed to distinguish them from the characters inside Madam's lair, which would be, in a way, "the present," while all the flashbacks are "the past." __________________

Algo que se me ocurrió para rellenar el PV fue mostrar varios de los acontecimientos que llevaron a los personajes al Final de la Corte y también el fin del mundo, cosas como Irina matando a Elluka y luego esto lleva a la Catástrofe de Levianta, la liberación de los Pecados Capitales; Adam manipulando y quebrando a Eve lo que la llevaría a tomar el papel de un demonio y tener varias encarnaciones en la historia.

Originalmente muchos de los flashbacks estaban enfocados en los Moonlit así que tuve que agregar escenas de Irina para balancearlo, días después de publicar el PV me vinieron ideas de escenas adicionales para incluir a Gammon y su toma de decisiones que lo llevaron a estar aquí, pero eso lo discutiré en otra publicación.

KARMA BTS - 06 COMPOSITING / Madam Merry-Go-Round & Gammon It's a shame that due to the song's timing, Madam's entire dress couldn't be seen. I also had to illustrate a scene from Master of the Heavenly Yard to transition to Madam's lair.

In my interpretation of the events, all the characters who were trapped passed through Madam's lair before being sent into the loop, similar to how Nyoze saw the carousel before meeting Gammon and witnessing the events of the Original Sin.

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Es una lastima que por los tiempos de la canción no se pudo apreciar todo el vestido de Madam, también tuve que ilustrar una escena de Master of the Heavenly Yard para poder hacer la transición a la guarida de Madam.

KARMA BTS - 04 MADAM MERRY-GO-ROUND'S LAIR

To build Madam's lair, where the entire PV would take place, I used several free 3D models and the color palette from the Madam Merry-Go-Round PV: orange and a stone-like color. The horses are an amalgamation of 3D models to which I added the names of the events that would be shown in the PV. At one point, I considered having the characters chained to the horses, but I discarded the idea. I preferred to follow the canon and use the carousel to represent the loop, with each horse representing a significant moment in the story. Since there were so many, I only chose to include the important events. Creating so many horses would have been very laborious, which is why there's never a full shot of the location, to maintain the illusion that there are multiple horses.

Luckily for me, during my time studying at university I managed to get flat textures to put on the models so that they look like cell-like shading. Additionally, I added a lineart so that it would show up in the renders and so that the models would give the illusion that they are 2D and not clash with the style of the character illustrations. _________

Para armar la guarida de Madam donde todo el PV tomaría lugar use varios modelos 3D gratis y la paleta de color del PV de Madam Merry-Go-Round, naranja y un color parecido a piedra.

Los caballos son una amalgama de modelos 3D a los cuales agregué los nombres de los eventos que se mostrarían en el PV,  en algún momento pensé en tener a los personajes encadenados a los caballos pero deseche la idea, preferí seguir el canon y usar el carrusel como representación del loop y cada caballo es un momento significativo de la historia, al ser tantos solo elegí colocar los eventos importantes, hacer tantos caballos sería muy laborioso, por eso es que nunca hay una toma completa del lugar, para mantener la ilusión de que son múltiples caballos.

KARMA BTS - 03 FINDING A STYLE

Since this PV didn't have much prior content, and I didn't want to stray too far from the canon, I had to find ways to keep the video from feeling empty. I was going to use flashbacks and the location where the story would take place: Madam's carousel, which is mentioned in the Original Sin novel. Additionally, I wanted to incorporate some frame-by-frame animation to compensate for the lack of content. Taking this into account, I decided to go with a flat color and line art illustration style to simplify the workflow and allow for as much animation as possible. I based my approach heavily on how Royal Scandal's videos are produced. Since the PV would include flashbacks, I decided to render them more prominently to differentiate them from the characters singing the song. Similarly, I had to find a way for the space where the characters would be located to also fit with the illustration style.

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KARMA BTS - 02 STORYBOARD I usually create storyboards for my music videos when I have no idea what I'm going to do. When I have clear ideas, the song tells a story, or I'm remaking something already done—for example, the Venomania music video—then I don't use a storyboard because I create the video as I go. Since this music video is for a more abstract song and there wasn't much material to work with, I had to organize my ideas so that the story I wanted to tell would make sense. My videos end up being the result of my own ideas, as well as content I've consumed before or during their production. The Master of the Hellish Yard music video is based on the opening of the second season of BEASTARS, I added references to Danganronpa to Cappriccio, and Waltz of the Departed has elements from the Once Upon a December sequence in Anastasia, hence the more elaborate musical arrangement.

So this music video is no exception. In the storyboard, you'll see how various ideas were applied based on references, and also how others evolved or were discarded. I should also mention that storyboards usually have timestamps to indicate how long the scenes last, but in my case I don't do that. I find it easier to use the song lyrics and then during execution I see if the idea works or needs to be changed to fit the song's timing. _____________

Los storyboards para mis PV los hago usualmente cuando no tengo idea de que haré para el PV, cuando tengo las ideas claras, la canción cuenta una historia o estoy haciendo un remake de algo ya hecho, por ejemplo, el PV de Venomania, entonces no utilizo un storyboard, porque hago el PV en la marcha. Este PV al ser para una canción más abstracta y donde no hay mucho material con el cual trabajar, tuve que ordenar ideas para que la historia que quería contar tuviera sentido. Mis videos terminan siendo el resultado de ideas propias, así como de contenido que he consumido antes o durante la elaboración de estos, el PV de Master of the Hellish Yard está basado en el opening de la segunda temporada de BEASTARS, a Cappriccio le agregué referencias de Danganronpa, Waltz of the Departed tiene elementos de la secuencia de Once Upon a December de Anastasia, por eso el arreglo musical más elaborado.

Así que este PV no sería la excepción, en el storyboard podrán ver como fueron aplicadas varias ideas en base a referencias y también como otras evolucionaron o fueron descartadas.