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SHARPENING TUTORIAL — requested by anon

do we think Quantum of Solace is actually about revenge? Cuz I'm watching/rewatching this video essay, and it's okay so far (I got as far as the point where the guy was explaining the short story), but it's veeery much predicated on the assumption that Quantum of Solace IS a "revenge plot" for Bond. Like, I don't disagree that the movie is structured as a "revenge plot" movie. But. ....I dunno, I do still feel like that for Bond at least. he... doesn't? seem like? he's on a warpath for revenge? at least not for me?

like. he very much is being framed as being on one. (literally within the movie too -- Quantum keeps framing Bond for a bunch of deaths he didn't cause lmao). And it's based on these deaths that M - and also the British gov't dudes - think or assume or come to the conclusion that he's on a revenge path/gone rogue.

But ultimately... having seen the movie... I think I DO in fact still find this video essay's argument more compelling:

which is that actually, Bond isn't the one on a revenge arc, Camille is. And Bond is like. hm. okay honestly lmao, joking not joking, I think Camille is the protagonist and Bond is the Bond girl here. He's her femme fatale. But also. I think it's interesting cuz imo. imo!! Bond almost acts as a sort of... frame story? for Camille's story. Like they're foils & very strong parallels (including some absolutely insane ones lmao... Camille's confession of sexpionage and she's like, does this offend you? and he's like no, not at all. and then. Dominic Greene. calling BOTH of them "damaged goods"? fuckin wild, dude. Ur Alpha Male Fantasy just got slut-shamed, bros!! Bond had a woman die for him but she wasn't fridged and also along with the 'she wasn't fridged' she wasn't just a backstory blip either, she was the story! and ALSO she's held against him? oh he's not just a Stoic Tragic Backstory Action Man, he's """"damaged goods""""? wild, okay. love that for us but, wild for the dudebros.) and also there's a kind of allegory in there for Bond, but also like........ do we really think Bond was on a revenge quest? or a fact-finding quest. a need-to-understand quest.

that first video essay argues sth like "we know he's on a revenge quest cuz he found time to grab the photo of the boyfriend" or whatever he said, and then sth about "it becomes pretty early on that we're not supposed to view Bond's pursuit in a positive light--" but we're also literally shown that M & MI-6 are being fed false info, they're being led to believe Bond is killing all of these people that he isn't?

And even when that first video essay was talking abt the director's words abt the movie... he literally quotes this!!!

this guy argues that the film pointedly juxtaposes Bond's stated objectivity and "increasingly aggressive actions--" but. does he though?? He literally kills a guy out of the gate - the guy he stabbed with the scissors - but the rest are?? deaths framed on him??

the ONE time I think he really gets worked up - when he jumps down on that car & is like "we had a friend in common" or whatever the exact phrasing it was -- this was for Mathis, right? who literally died in his arms?

anyway. I dunno. I just feel like. this video essay... misses the point? And buys too much into the supposed message - which is actually Camille's story and not Bonds - and makes the faulty assumption that Bond IS on a revenge quest.

Like. I guess an argument could be made that he didn't kill uhh Yusuf(?) cuz Camille had her moment of getting revenge and it leaving her hollow. But like....... I dunno. to be honest. I have a hard time believing Bond would have killed Yusuf even if he hadn't alternate-self/parallel-universe parallel-play/lived Camille's life. Nothing in how he ACTUALLY acted leading up to this moment. makes me think he would have killed Yusuf?? Like why would he. He would be shooting the guy in cold blood. It wouldn't be the supposed hot-headed passionate revenge shooting that this video essay seems to make Bond's arc out to be.

I DO find the argument that whether or not Vesper actually loved him or if she was ONLY using him - and him learning that yes she actually did - was a point of solace & closure for him, compelling.

But I'm NOT at all convinced that this truly was a revenge drive for Bond.

gonna make another post about this but Bond has this veeeryy interesting thing where he's like. so brutally practical that once someone is dead, they're dead. he's able to like. lock on excise sentimentality for brutal practicality (dumping Mathis' body in the dumpster and grabbing his cash). like he's not without feeling - jumping onto the car - but also it's soooo interesting that he's like. so sentimental in like, he can & does feel intensely (and falls in love easily/falls at least a bit in love with the ppl who have an impact on him). but not sentimental in, like, the more maudlin kind of sense. It's soo fascinating, but. this post is already so long & let's keep it focused.

One of the things I love about the Craig era movies is how much they reference back to both older movies AND Fleming's original works. It's clear the people writing the scripts really know Bond. Which is why I think it is really important to consider where the title for Quantum of Solace comes from. On the surface, the movie has nothing at all to do with Fleming's short story.

So if you haven't read the story, the basic premise is this - after a boring dinner party at the residence of the Governor of Nassau, the Governor takes Bond aside for drinks and tells him a sad story about the marriage and divorce of his employee, Phillip Masters, and an air hostess named Rhoda Llewellyn. Bond's take away was that all his adventures pale in reality to real-life drama. But MORE important to me was that the story made Bond reconsider the judgement he passed on Rhoda, who was one of the guests at the party. The Governor says at one point -

"I’ve seen flagrant infidelities patched up, I’ve seen crimes and even murder forgiven by the other party... But never the death of common humanity in one of the partners. I have called it the Law of the Quantum of Solace."

from "Quantum of Solace" by Ian Fleming

And THAT to me was actually a central theme in the movie. It would be easy after Casino Royale to actually trust no one, to not care, but Bond actually does not do that. He puts his trust in Felix, in Fields. He reconciles with Mathis, which is HUGE for him. And while Bond's loss of Vesper is still awful, he's faced with a woman who lost her entire family at a young age - really puts things into perspective a bit for him.

So no, I don't actually think Quantum of Solace is a revenge movie. I think it rather cleverly uses the revenge framework. I think the message is actually much more nuanced and is about not forgetting your humanity, not being untrusting and unforgiving, because that will actually kill you.

"I think the message is actually much more nuanced and is about not forgetting your humanity, not being untrusting and unforgiving, because that will actually kill you." -- that's beautiful and works MUCH better with the fuckin. Quote from the director the goddamn video essayist himself showed lmao.

Anyway I decided I needed to properly examine FilmSpeak's take and compare it to what you presented so I (rip) went and transcribed his QoS section lmao:

The film shares the short story's thematic core-- the self-destructive nature of vengeance.

^ so yeah this is this guy's thesis on drawing the film & short story connection. Where I was already like. okay you've already shown that you either have a biased viewing of the movie, or we somehow watched entirely different movies, cuz you already established you assume Bond is on a revenge warpath, and we're "shown" that he's not right -- except. again. we're shown that he was framed?? for the actions that supposedly prove he's on a revenge path?? tf?

The Quantum of Solace of a relationship, which he defines as the minimum amount of compassion and human decency a human can have for another human being. He argues that once the qos is gone, the relationship becomes toxic and must be abandoned lest it destroy both parties. when the qos drops to zero, humanity and consideration for one human for another is gone, and the relationship is finished. although Philip found some satisfaction in his petty act of cruelty, he killed something inside of him. He lived the rest of his days alone, a shell of his former self, and this the governor argues, is the law of the qos.

I think where his (I assume) summation of the qos theory lost me, vs yours is the presence/emphasis on it specifically being the minimum amt of compassion/human decency you can have etc, but specifically in a relationship. I'm sure the relationship element may have been there in the orig. but he's sooo focused on it being a relationship thing that I was like. hrm? Seeing your explanation/take, I can see the shade of yours now in his "he killed something inside himself." but again he frames it sooo much in terms of relationships.... cuz he goes on to make, imo, the most. inane and bizarre "did we watch different movies...." argument.... --

Revenge is a parasite that eventually destroys its host. "It should be obvious that the arc of Bond & Vesper's relationship reflects that of Philip and Rhoda." CR ends with the scorned 007 having lost any and all regard for his former lover - denying her very humanity and consoling himself with spite. His quantum of solace for Vesper is at zero. Per the gov's theory, the film theory of QoS picks up with Bond charting a similar course to Philip. Out of revenge and on the road to self-destruction, and just like Philip, Bond is faced with the choice. …but Philip, so consumed by resentment, rebuffs her, and doubles down. In the end, it is this decision - not Rhoda's betrayal - that destroys him. The film places Bond at this very crossroads. Vesper may be gone, but throughout the film he is confronted with the choice to either make peace with what has happened to forgive Vesper for her betrayal, or continue down the path of revenge despite it, until eventually, it destroys him.

You see? absolutely bizarre take. and completely lost me on what the short story connection was. "charting a similar course to Philip"?? how? "out of (sic?) revenge and on the road to self-destruction, Bond is faced with the choice...to either make peace with what has happened to forgive Vesper for her betrayal, or continue down the path of revenge despite it..." -- except. wait. what the fuck? You SAID that Philip destroys himself because he pursued revenge... against Rhoda.?? IF this is a "revenge movie." Then Bond is. in fact. wracked with grief and rage over Vesper. But he's tracking down the people who got Vesper killed??? NOT in pursuing supposed revenge against the deceased Vesper???

Call me crazy- QoS is a film about finding the minimum amount of humanity in the people who hurt us in order to break free of their power over us. The question lingering over Bond over the course of the film isn't whether he can get the bad guys- it's whether he will realize this in time to save his soul. In this way, the real villain of the film is Bond himself. Rather than confronting his grief, Bond bottles it up and buries himself in his work. Avoidance is already a pretty unhealthy way to deal with trauma, but its downright dangerous when your work is that of an international assassin. Bond's work is less of a distraction and more an outlet to pursue the revenge he craves. On assignment, he can channel his raw, unbridled fury into hunting down the organization that controlled Vesper, known as Quantum, all the while maintaining the facade of objectivity. After all, that was the mission, right? Bond's insistence that he is purely driven by duty is almost immediately betrayed by his emotional volatility, which manifests itself in escalating outbursts of violence, and the film makes a point to highlight this - the juxtaposition between Bond's stated objectivity and his increasingly aggressive actions is where the film finds a lot of its nuance.

So yeah, this is where I'm like. yeah I AM calling you crazy. because what the FUCK are you talking about. You did NOT connect the two dots, you did NOT draw a successful parallel here... and you ignored many key pieces of evidence Presented To Our Face that defy your very premise. Like. again. this is more Camille's story than Bond's? Cuz for Bond. the triggering event was someone tried to kill M? So he's tracking down that org?? And it leads to the people who controlled Vesper, sure. But that's part of the mission? He's not. hunting down Vesper...? I mean ig if you assume part of it is "oh Vesper betrayed me - she worked with them willingly"-- but he doesn't make this argument, he acknowledges that Vesper was manipulated. Which I do think Bond finds out/realizes, esp after Mathis directly tells him this...?

Like. Bond's "revenge" quest isn't revenge, it's like. avenge. Vengeance. which is different than Revenge. But Camille is the one on a revenge quest where the person who hurt her is huntable. But I mean even then it's like. this guy's argument doesn't apply to Camille, cuz the argument of "the message is about not forgetting your humanity," to me, still applies more. Camille gets her revenge and it leaves her hollow and she's ready to give it all up in the fire, paralleling her original trauma. But she trusted Bond, and Bond is there with her, and he chooses to save her, etc etc reminding her of her humanity and whatever, if I wanted to create some kind of argument here.

Also. "escalating outbursts of violence" - lmfao. you are weak like child. the levels of violence in this film are literally canon-typical depictions of violence. Have you forgotten. that our boy. literally drove a fucking. bulldozer through a fence. in the very beginning. like cmon dude. he doesn't kill anyone besides the assassin masquerading as Slate(?) and that was, like, a kill or be killed moment. the rest of the deaths, he was framed. for. god.

okay anyway. yes I think I need to actually read that short story and come to some opinion myself maybe. thank you for your take. and for sitting here listening to me rant about how much FilmSpeak sucks and his take is rancid and dumb and bizarre and mindboggling.

and also I do agree, I think QoS is like. very unpolished. and the shaky cam is. seasickness-inducing. but there IS something very compelling in the story there. If only people would see it 8)

as a palate cleaners, gonna leave you all with Ellardent's video essay thesis: Quantum of Solace isn't a revenge movie at all, not in the 'Liam Neeson is gonna kill his way thorugh everyone sense.' Quantum is a movie about a man MISTAKEN for being out for revenge. Hitchcock would have had a blast with the idea. ... Bond pockets the picture then dismisses the Vesper story as unimportant compared to the mission in hand: Mr. White and his organization ... This is really important-- Bond starts the movie tucking away his pain, his need for revenge, and gets on with the job. It's denial, it's telegraphed as denial, and crucially, M notices that's what's going on. But he's NOT on a vengeance path.

What follows is a movie where you're invited to examine the deaths Bond 'causes', but for the most part, they're all clear strategic choices. [... Mr. Slate (assassin) ... bodyguard (framed for it) ... set up for the death of Rene Mathis ...] As we've seen, Bond is following a trail. He kills when he has to to survive, and those kills are often presented as unfortunate. His license to kill is on trial here - those deaths create waves and complications. ... [Fields] And Bond may be culpable, but he's not the cause. Fields took the right side against Greene out of choice, and there was a horrible cost to that. ...

And here's where M realizes Bond isn't on some vengeance kick. She trusts him the moment she sees his face. Look at how she takes his word immediately when asking about Camille. But, under pressure from her superiors, she sticks to the plan she came here to execute ...until Bond disarms her agents and comes back to her. This is crucial - he doesn't run off into the night, fleeing his captors to return to his revenge. He comes back to M, pays respect to Agent Fields, and insists he's on the path to something important, something professional. And M, of course, believes him. She knew this was his nature from the previous movie. ... So M realizes the rogue Bond she imagined isn't the man in front of her, and she puts resources into backing that play. Far from being a rogue agent revenge story, Bond goes from officially rogue, to back under M's purview in less than 90 seconds. (M: "Find out where he's going. He's on to something" / Tanner: "Ma'am, the CIA is insisting--" / M: "I don't give a shit about the CIA or their trumped up evidence. He's my agent. And I trust him."

Now, don't get me wrong. Revenge has a significant role to play in this movie. it's not a story OF revenge, but it's a story ABOUT it. For a start, you can't help but consider what would have happened if Bond had got a hold of Vesper's boyfriend Yusuf Kabira earlier in the movie. [LITERALLY I WONDERED THIS LMAO!!]

The franchise's main writers Neil Purvis and Robert Wade, wrote early drafts where Bond is indeed pursuing vengeance, and there he got ahold of Kabira and tortured him. Which sometimes feels like the movie this gets mistaken for. IN fact, the whole film goes almost like a reaction AGAINST that idea. It's not that the film isn't also asking your opinion here - do you think Bond is killing too quickly? Are these deaths the misplaced outcomes of buried pain? But Bond's not seeking revenge in any way that's driving the plot. Camille, however, is.

/// and so, yeah. Here is the argument I find more compelling, and also much better supported by the text. That Bond isn't on a revenge plot - he's not even playing one on TV -- people just. think he is, for some reason. But he's playing out his investigations. again, precipitated by Mr. White and the attempt on M's life and supposedly his org having people literally everywhere - which turns out to be true!!! But Camille is the one living out the Liam Neeson revenge movie, and Bond is Bond-girl'ing for Camille. But Camille's story is also a deconstruction of the revenge movie. Cuz as we're shown. She gets vengeance. and it's a culmination. and to some degree, a relief. but not a full one. and it's markedly NOT a triumph. the vengeance didn't heal all of her wounds and make her capable of finding resolution and moving on; she's literally about to die in a way paralleling her original trauma. But for Bond. who acts here as, like. the embodiment of the message of the quantum of solace - don't forget your humanity, don't forget trust and forgiveness; THAT'S what's going to allow you to heal and move on. Not vengeance itself.

Swear On It by Dirkygoodness- Rated E Oneshot, takes place in the field on an active battle campaign.

Satellite Mind by @intermundia and Septemberist- Rated E 19k. 5 +1 Obi-Wan can hear Anakin's thoughts, a decent portion of this takes place out in the field when they are deployed.

Across the Stars by Unfortunate17- Rated E About 15k. Time Traveler's Wife AU, there's a good handful of it that takes place during the Clone Wars and plays out during deployment.

CT-Skywalker by Selcier- Rated M About 40k. Mulan AU, Anakin discusses himself as a murdered Clone Trooper and joins Obi-Wan's ranks to fight in the Clone Wars.

I encourage you to check out a lot of Intermundia's stuff in general, Will tends to have the Clone Wars as the background for a lot of his fics, even if it isn't the focal point of the story.

I do the same for a ton of my fics since the Clone Wars is precisely my area of interest, but I have a wip specifically I think is the direction you're looking for. As the stars are known to the Night Rated E WIP The team embark on the worst campaign of the war and entrench on a poison welled planet.

Who Decides That - Page 20

https://www.tumblr.com/billysjoel/776944203704975360/scrubs-jd-elliot-turk-pscentral-event-36?source=share

would you mind doing a tutorial on how you made the colouring and colour isolation and text effects on the second gif? 

hi, thank you so much!! this is the post and i'd be more than happy to make a tutorial for you!

so, i'll start with the coloring:

step 1: as with almost every single coloring/psd i make, i start with a blank brightness/contrast layer set to screen. this is especially helpful with really dark scenes! in this case, i left it at 100% opacity, but sometimes i'll decrease it if it blows out the scene.

GIFMAKING FOR BEGINNERS 

as requested! this is a super super detailed tutorial for the a-z of gifmaking basics, starting from getting photoshop & downloading hq movies/videos alll the way to tagging & scheduling your gifsets on tumblr for max interaction. if you’ve wanted to get into gifmaking but feel intimidated or you don’t know where to start, this is the tutorial for you!!! making gifs might seem overwhelming at first, but with practice, it’s quite easy to get the basics down. for reference, this post is up to date as of nov. 2020. please rb if this helps!

TUTORIAL UNDER THE CUT:

software needed

how to download hq movies/videos

screencapping

importing to photoshop

cropping & resizing

animation

gif speed

actions

sharpening

coloring

text

exporting the gif

fixing gif speed

captioning gifsets

how to tag gifsets on tumblr

when to post gifsets on tumblr

other helpful tutorials/resources! 

Before we started with this unexpectedly long ass guide,

WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF GIF MAKING 👏🎉🎊 TAKE THIS CROWN 👑 I HOPE YOUR DAY IS SUPER AWESOME TOO

Disclaimer: this is the process of how I usually make gifsets, very general instruction. Every gif maker has their own preferred method, esp coloring [!!!], and tools. You just keep doing trial & error and mix & matching various methods from different gifmakers until you find your own preference.

For more detailed tutorial from beginner to advance gif making tricks, you can always rely on @usergif and @studiocarat. I also add some links for more detailed tutorial in each step.

Beginning with, your question. "Is it ok to just use a laptop?" surprise, im typing this on my old ass laptop, struggling from the weight of premiere pro, illustrator, photoshop, figma, and gigabytes of videos and project files. the bios function is screwed and it wont last for 15min without the adapter being plugged in. so, yes. you still can absolutely slay without PC 👍

p.s. the last paragraph down there is pretty important

— Penny For Your Thoughts (Masterlist)

[series - complete] | [ao3] | [playlists - his | hers]

Rated E | TB!Alfred Pennyworth x F!Reader

Tags: age difference, oral sex (f & m receiving), light daddy kink, praise kink, multiple orgasms, dirty talk, PiV, creampie, fluff and smut (angst later on), Alfred is a service dom and a gentleman. Later chapters follow the plot of The Batman (2022).

You’ve been wondering about the Wayne family, but it’s not Bruce you’ve had your eye on… it’s someone else entirely.

i. rendezvous | 5.2k

until we meet again (alfred pov + mini-prequel) | 5.3k

ii. reunion | 6.2k

iii. routine (part i) | 4.2k / (part ii) | 4.8k

iv. rescue | 5.8k

v. rift | 3.3k

vi. reconcile (part i) | 6.8k / (part ii) | 7k

vii. revelation (part i) | 8.2k / (part ii) | 4.8k

viii. ruin (part i) | 7.2k / (part ii) | 7.2k

ix. resilient (part i) | 8.6k / (part ii) | 6.9k

x. ruminate | 3.6k

— In For A Penny, In For A Pound

Drabbles that are set in the same universe

i. - opening act

ii. - beck and call

iii. - eaten up

iv. - something new

v. - like the movies

— Other

psd pack #1 by perotovar

i saw @heroeddiemunson show the difference between their gifs edited vs unedited and it made me wanna do the same! i have a few psds that i cycle through depending on the scene and figured i'd share them with anyone that was interested!

if enough people are interested, i might do a second batch of some fancier/more experimental coloring 👀

they're pretty basic for this first batch, but they can be decently customized for a lot of things. i obviously can't make a universal psd but i can certainly try to cover the basics lol

psd links under the cut! please like or reblog if you use!

HOW TO: Do a Motion Blur Transition Using Timeline or Frame Animation

Hi! Someone asked me for a tutorial on the transition effect in the second gif of this set (also featured in this set and the text on this set). So, here it is! This is one of the easiest and least tedious of the gif transition effects in my opinion — and I’m going to go over how to do it both in Timeline and Frame Animation (using the screencap method). Disclaimer: This tutorial assumes you have a basic understanding of gif-making in Photoshop.

some of my friends in pscentral and an anon recently asked me on how i did the glitch effect in this gifset. i know how tricky it appears to achieve, and hopefully you’ll feel a little more confident after this tutorial <3 this tutorial will assume that you know your way around photoshop

please like/reblog if this helps, tutorial under the cut!

i’ve gotten a lot of requests recently asking me to make a tutorial for my ‘colorporn’ gifsets, and i think i’ve finally gotten over the traumatic incident 3 years ago, when i spent all day writing out a coloring tutorial only to accidentally hit backspace causing the entire thing to be wiped. so, here it is, buckle up folks! it’s going to be a long ride but here’s hoping it’ll be helpful.

so we’ll be going from left side (no coloring) to right (coloring & color porn):

tutorial under the cut!

This quick tutorial will go over how to make gradients, from simple gradients to multicolor ones.

give this tutorial a like/reblog if it helped you out

end result & tutorial under the cut

if questions should arise, feel free to send a message!

divine passion, oc. 2021