EPTBy synchronicity I'm referring to an apparent alignment between an album and a movie. Most people have heard of the Dark Side of the Rainbow, with The Dark Side of the Moon and The Wizard of Oz, but there are others which work to varying degrees. One of my favorites is something I read in an online magazine many years ago, with The Princess Bride and Abbey Road. The article described starting them at the same time, but in my attempts I shifted the start time to line up a drum break with the princesses entrance. This means you start Abbey Road when the Grandfather says Buttercup.
Here are some of the alignments that result.
So in putting all of this together I learned a bit about video encoding and such. I began by using a Dazzle capture device and doing everything pretty manually. I was frustrated by lack of input mixing control in Windows and moved to ripping sources to my hard drive instead. I was using VirtualDub and huge slow files to piece things together. Later I found out about frame-serving with Avisynth.
Avisynth is a program that allows you to apply various filters to video without the need for temp files. It takes the form of a text .avs file which many programs can read as if it were a .avi file. So after indexing the DVD vobs the data can be manipulated by the .avs and passed on to an encoder.
This is the .avs I used to make the youtube clip.
+ Show Spoiler +
LoadPlugin("C:\Program Files (x86)\dgmpgdec158\DGDecode.dll")
MPEG2Source("The Princess Bride.d2v")
DoubleWeave()
Pulldown(0,2)
crop(0,6,0,-10)
pb_v=last
WAVSource("The Princess Bride.wav")
ConvertToMono
pb_a=last
WAVSource("Abbey Road.wav")
DelayAudio(9)
ConvertToMono
amplify(.5)
ar_a=last
AudioDub(pb_v,MergeChannels(pb_a,ar_a))
blankclip(last,10) ++\
trim(34,581).subtitle(
\"Start Abbey Road when the Grandfather says Buttercup",
\align=8,size=30,last_frame=210) ++\
trim(2754,2883) ++\
trim(6262,6751) ++\
trim(15281,15795) ++\
trim(18413,18602) ++\
trim(20535,20666) ++\
trim(27188,27506) ++\
trim(28266,28524) ++\
trim(37511,37727) ++\
trim(42995,43536) ++\
trim(45902,46165) ++\
trim(48097,48647) ++\
trim(52358,52651) ++\
trim(54424,54658) ++\
trim(57031,57434) ++\
trim(62176,62452) ++\
trim(66655,67361) ++\
trim(68249,68397)
/*
#reference, because avisynth doesn't like comments in the middle of \ continues
trim(34,581) #"buttercup" - flattop
trim(2754,2883) #hold it - hold you / sick kid - disease
trim(6262,6751) #princess walking in - something in the way she moves
trim(15281,15795) #shrieking eels - silver hammer
trim(18413,18602) #I'm carrying three people - I'll never make it alone
trim(20535,20666) #you keep using that word - du-duhh
trim(27188,27506) #... and say - I want you
trim(28266,28524) #begin
trim(37511,37727) #dream of large women - little darling
trim(42995,43536) #because iocane comes from australia - because the wind is blue
trim(45902,46165) #break down - and in the middle of investigation
trim(48097,48647) #I have loved - one sweet dream
trim(52358,52651) #as you wish - everybodys laughing
trim(54424,54658) #ah no, no please - mean old man
trim(57031,57434) #that was an adventure - she came in through the bathroom window
trim(62176,62452) #carry that weight
trim(66655,67361) #surrender - in the end
trim(68249,68397) #some day I'm gonna make her mine
*/
MPEG2Source("The Princess Bride.d2v")
DoubleWeave()
Pulldown(0,2)
crop(0,6,0,-10)
pb_v=last
WAVSource("The Princess Bride.wav")
ConvertToMono
pb_a=last
WAVSource("Abbey Road.wav")
DelayAudio(9)
ConvertToMono
amplify(.5)
ar_a=last
AudioDub(pb_v,MergeChannels(pb_a,ar_a))
blankclip(last,10) ++\
trim(34,581).subtitle(
\"Start Abbey Road when the Grandfather says Buttercup",
\align=8,size=30,last_frame=210) ++\
trim(2754,2883) ++\
trim(6262,6751) ++\
trim(15281,15795) ++\
trim(18413,18602) ++\
trim(20535,20666) ++\
trim(27188,27506) ++\
trim(28266,28524) ++\
trim(37511,37727) ++\
trim(42995,43536) ++\
trim(45902,46165) ++\
trim(48097,48647) ++\
trim(52358,52651) ++\
trim(54424,54658) ++\
trim(57031,57434) ++\
trim(62176,62452) ++\
trim(66655,67361) ++\
trim(68249,68397)
/*
#reference, because avisynth doesn't like comments in the middle of \ continues
trim(34,581) #"buttercup" - flattop
trim(2754,2883) #hold it - hold you / sick kid - disease
trim(6262,6751) #princess walking in - something in the way she moves
trim(15281,15795) #shrieking eels - silver hammer
trim(18413,18602) #I'm carrying three people - I'll never make it alone
trim(20535,20666) #you keep using that word - du-duhh
trim(27188,27506) #... and say - I want you
trim(28266,28524) #begin
trim(37511,37727) #dream of large women - little darling
trim(42995,43536) #because iocane comes from australia - because the wind is blue
trim(45902,46165) #break down - and in the middle of investigation
trim(48097,48647) #I have loved - one sweet dream
trim(52358,52651) #as you wish - everybodys laughing
trim(54424,54658) #ah no, no please - mean old man
trim(57031,57434) #that was an adventure - she came in through the bathroom window
trim(62176,62452) #carry that weight
trim(66655,67361) #surrender - in the end
trim(68249,68397) #some day I'm gonna make her mine
*/
There is a lot of stuff that I haven't found an organized way to explain, but if you have any questions feel free to ask.
