Elfen Lied: An Abridged Series on Hiatus.

Elfen Lied: An Abridged Series is on a hiatus. This is due to two major main reasons-

1. I have been unhappy with the quality of Episodes 1 and 2. I can't fault my voice actress, she has been brilliant and not to mention very, very patient. All delays have been completely my doing. It is my own voice acting performance and editing that I am unhappy with, to the point where if I had the time I would re-edit both episodes completely. This series is something I have wanted to do since I saw the anime which is now coming up to 7 years ago and I want to do it right. I know a lot of you are only on this page because you believe I'm going to creating an actual second season of the anime, this abridged series is the closest I'm going to be able to come to giving anyone that, as such I want it to be done right so fans can enjoy it. I don't want to half-arse another three or four episodes just to butcher the original idea I had to make this series. I'd rather do one episode a year if it meant that people could really enjoy that episode.

2. In a few words; my personal life. I'm at a time in my life where I need to divide my time between working towards a career, thinking about my future and maintaining and managing the relationships in my life. Of course everybody goes through this but position is something of somewhat desperation. Even now as I write this at 2.35am on a Tuesday morning I have to ask myself; what is even going on in my life right now? I don't have any kind of mental illness or anything like that, I'm just someone who is taking a little logner to work out exactly what it is that I want to do with my life; working it out as well as maintaining and balancing life is completely exhausting, and it comes back to my first point of not wanting to half-arse more videos.

So when will the series come back? I don't know is the honest answer. The videos will start coming again when I am in a place where I can make them and be proud of them. I have some idea written down and I'd like to put them to good use I just don't know when yet.

But I would like to take just a bit space to thank Mina Rose, my voice actress for her infinite amount of patience. She's a really cool person and there is no delay between when I've given her scripts and she has sent me back the voice recordings. I couldn't recommend her more as a person to work with.

Thanks for reading.

Stay beautiful.

- Gnash

Huge Delays between content posted.. Why?

It's something I have spoke about a lot since the beginning. Motivation, or lack of it, is the sword that slays creative progress. As you all know it is one of my biggest hindrances in most of what I do, not just Project AELAS which has worked as a creative outlet.

But that isn't really a reason. I am at a point in my life where I need to decide what it is that I am going to do with it. I work in care and in a few weeks will be started my first full time job within care. Don't get me wrong when i say this, I love care and the work i do, but it isn't something I want to be doing for the rest of my life. I'm sure a great number of you can relate, sometimes we take jobs because we have to, because being alive costs money, and if we do like the job great. I'm fortunate enough to be in that position, but also with an insight of what I would love to be doing.

The next couple of months are going to be a bit of struggle, to adopt to change, while also setting in motion things that will help me to reach the place I want to be at. I love AELAS and working on it, but lately with all the changes that have been going on, i've taken solace in more mind-numbing activities. like gaming and watching TV series (which by the way there is nothing wrong with, but it is so easy to sink a whole day into it.)

I guess what I'm trying to say is that, for me, life is happening, or rather there are things I need to do to make life happen, and unfortunately AELAS takes a back seat to that. That is not to say I have given up on AELAS. as long as at least one person enjoys it I will finish the series, it's at this point i want to, from the bottom of my heart, thank my voice actress for having the patience to still be a part of this project, without her I would likely not bother.

I also want to say that I appreciate any feedback. If you hate AELAS, tell me what makes you hate it and how I can improve it. This idea started as a dream to do with something that I was passionate about, I don't really watch anime anymore, but when I watched it, Elfen Lied spoke to me. I wanted to give something back to a community who had accepted me with open arms. It was supposed to be for the fans, by the fans. So at the same time, if you love it let me know!

I haven't got a time-frame in mind for when the next episode will be out, at the moment it isn't my number one priority, but once I am settled in my new job and have a better routine I will be able to devote time to scripting and editing once again.

Thank you all for your patience and support.


Much love as always.

Gnasha

Episode II is incoming!

As promised, over the course of the next two weeks episode 2 will be completely finished and put out! I really hope you like the intro it made me giggle (Cost me the price of a license for a programme, but a useful programme to have!)

I am also looking to complete scripts for the next two episodes (3 and 4) also over the Easter break (break for the kids that is, we still got to work though!). When those scripts are written, I will release more information on the competition I mentioned before.

Until then, hope you all had a good Easter weekend, whether or not you celebrate!

Episode 2 Progress, New Intro and Competition??

So I have started production of the second episode of AELAS, sticking to what was said before, I am working on a skeleton of the episode, putting clips and sound effects in place, ready for the voices to bring it to life.

I also have a new intro that will be at the start of the all of the episodes from this point onwards, nothing too fancy, but I have been doing a bit of self-tutoring (with the help of you tube guides) on how to make better use of Sony Vegas.

Not too much more to report at this point, except that I'm hoping to finalise the script and get it to Mina by the end of this week, so I can straight to editing. I know the wait is going to suck, but I really do appreciate your patience and support in this project.

If you have any feedback at all regarding the episode that is already out, please do let us know. I want to make this series as fun to watch as it is to write and voice act for. If you really hated it, let us know why and I'll do my best to make sure the next one is better.

And as a final note, watch this space! I have a load of ideas for upcoming episodes and some of these may include minor character roles. I won't give to much of the game away just yet, but lets just say I will be reaching out to you guys in the very near future.

As all ways, thanks for reading! And please do look forward to the next episode!

If you have any queries or just wanna chat Elfen Lied, drop the page a message. And also please drop a like on the Project AELAS facebook page-

https://www.facebook.com/Project-AELAS-1664378877139877/


Thanks for reading-

Gnash

What we learnt from the Pilot

The Pilot Episode of AELAS took a long time to come out, through a combination of my own procrastination, work and issues in my personal life the creation process was a lot longer than I would have liked. But that was Episode 1. Now that is episode is out, I wanted to just do a post about what I learnt from making the first episode and how I can take that to make sure that the second improves on the first.

One of the most time consuming parts, which takes up nearly all of the production time is making the scripted lines I've written to the actual scene in the anime on which they are based. Namely; lip syncing. Before I began this abridging project I spoke with one of the people who inspired me to give it a go, xthedarkone (co-creator of Yugioh GX the Abridged Series) and he warned me that 90% of time would be spent lip-syncing lines to the anime. And he wasn't wrong. I didn't bare this in mind when scripting the first episode, rather writing the episode with approximations of what character speaks and when. It was almost as though the scripting and actual creation of the episode were two totally separate projects, which could be in part due to the fact that there was such a large time between when the script was written, when it was voice acted and then when it was all edited together. I have a rough script for the second episode, however this will undergo a heavy editing process to have more fluidity when putting voice acting to clips from the anime.

I've also learnt that voice acting when you have a cold is not the best idea in the world! I was very self-critical of my own voice acting, however Mina assured me it was fine. Her voice acting on the other hand was fantastic. I couldn't have asked for better. When I approached Mina to voice act in this project, I was very open about what the voices should sound like. The voices she came up with were all on her own, and I couldn't be happier with them. The only issue I had with her voice acting was not anything to do with her, but the dynamic between when one of her characters spoke and when one of mine did. This was due to the differences in our microphones. This is something I should be able to fix in the editing process for the next episode, just to make the scenes feel a little more natural.

Other than those things my own issue is a personal one. I am a huge procrastinator. Like. George R.R. Martin zorbing instead of writing the next book in his series procrastinating. But this is a project that is very close to my heart, Elfen Lied being one of the first animes I watched and the one that made me feel the most. As an update on the progress of episode 2, I have drafted a script and am In the process of going back, re-writing parts, cutting and adding, and making sure the lines sync well with the anime.

Thank you as always for your support and patience in this project, and I hope you enjoy the episodes we put out!

P.s

I also have a few fun little side projects to do with AELAS planned, but watch this space!

What is Project: AELAS?

Project: AELAS is a fan-made project. Written and edited by myself, voiced by myself and the very talented Mina (https://www.facebook.com/missmicosplay/?pnref=lhc), the vision is a series that gives fans something else to do with Elfen Lied. It is a parody, but none the less gives the audience who is hungry for more Elfen Lied, just a little bit more content, a reminder of the story, or perhaps a reason to go back and watch the anime again.

AELAS stands for: "An Elfen Lied Abridged Series". An Abridged series rather than The Abridged series because this is not the first time a project like this had been undertaken, only my attempt at it. My way to give something back to the community who love this anime. If I could I would give the masses a full singing and dancing second season, but I can't. So an Abridged series is, in my mind, the next best thing.

 I work as a youth worker for children with disabilities, so the editing is by no means professional, but with each episode I hope to take feedback in order to improve the next. , I will be posting development notes on this blog, as well as sharing links to the uploaded episodes.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you will enjoy the episodes as they come out!