That new audio...

[Elder_Haman]

If you haven't seen/heard, the official Twitter account posted this:

 

https://youtu.be/w4kXctFkleI

 

So....

What do y'all think?

[Borderlander]

I was more interested in the visual graphic than the audio. I have a lingering concern that the way they depict Weaving on the show is going to look... uninspired. I still have a bad taste in my mouth from the plasmic light-sabers in Harry Potter. I remember seeing Harry duel Voldemort for the first time and thinking, 'Huh? Did I miss something in the books? Wand-magic looks like... volcanic plasma? Is it dripping?' And everyone else is  shooting photon-blasts at each other from their wands... and that's supposed to be magic? Not good.

 

So, I have been worried that the Weaving is going to be similarly 'oversimplified.' If anyone has a Playstation, and you know what that ethereal ribbon of shifting, flowing colors looks like on the Home screen... I can imagine them just going with something like that. Which is not exactly unattractive, or incorrect, but I would find it kind of bland. I am really hoping they do some serious visual-research into all different types of sewing/stitching/crocheting techniques (of which there are hundreds, many of which are incredibly complicated and eye-bending), add in a healthy dose of Cat's Cradle and Spirograph-like interconnected, ever-changing loops and plaits and threads cinching and braiding together... you get the picture. Kind of like how the Transformers or Iron Man's suit all piece together, but with dozens or hundreds or even thousands (later in the series) of magical, glowing threads all looming themselves into a coherent whole. Which takes research, imagination, trial & error, time, money... and I was doubtful it would look as cool as it could.

 

But! Seeing that little black and white ying-yang symbol swirl around in a circle, which admittedly looks nothing like Weaving, yet nonetheless has a very unique look about it, and I can't quite say I've ever seen a CGI effect that looks precisely like that. Which makes me think/hope/cross my fingers that their visual artists may be up to the task, after all!

 

Like I said, I never doubted them for a minute! ?

[Elder_Haman]

3 minutes ago, Borderlander said:

But! Seeing that little black and white ying-yang symbol swirl around in a circle, which admittedly looks nothing like Weaving, yet nonetheless has a very unique look about it, and I can't quite say I've ever seen a CGI effect that looks precisely like that. Which makes me think/hope/cross my fingers that their visual artists may be up to the task, after all!

 

It's pretty amazing looking. I'm wondering if that's what channeling water looks like?

[SinisterDeath]

... I never took that to be any kind of indication of what "weaving" was going to look like in the show. 

 

I just saw it as an old-school audio-wave image (in the form of liquid/water) that coalesces into the iconic wheel symbol.

[Elder_Haman]

1 minute ago, SinisterDeath said:

... I never took that to be any kind of indication of what "weaving" was going to look like in the show. 

 

I just saw it as an old-school audio-wave image (in the form of liquid/water) that coalesces into the iconic wheel symbol.

 

That's how I initially saw it too.

On the other hand, Borderlander's post made me wonder. While this particular video looks more like the powers are "unweaving", could they be planning to use this type of "liquid" look for weaves made of water? Could they be intending to represent saidin in black and saidar in white?

 

I know that Rafe has talked in the past about wanting to be able to visually differentiate the 5 powers. 

 

I guess it's a long, wordy way of saying it has me intrigued. If that is what they are doing, I think it looks great and definitely has some potential to avoid the weaknesses Borderlander referred to in his post. (I largely share the opinion of the Harry Potter wand battles). If you combine those visuals with some similarly arresting depictions of air, earth, fire and spirit and then have them weaving together using actual weaving techniques (again like Borderlander suggested) you have the makings for something really, really cool.

[Borderlander]

I might have a been a little unclear: I don't think this particular graphic is what Weaving will look like. I mean, it might, but I doubt it. My thought was more that, since they put this much creativity into a small promotional graphic, they are hopefully putting a lot more creativity into the Weaving CGI, which I would expect to be markedly different in appearance.

 

If anything, though, like Elder_Haman just sort of alluded to, this could be a precursor/proof-of-concept type of demonstration for how Saidin looks/feels in Rand's mind, which I seem to recall was often described as an oil-slick in pure, clean water.

[SinisterDeath]

1 hour ago, Elder_Haman said:

 

That's how I initially saw it too.

On the other hand, Borderlander's post made me wonder. While this particular video looks more like the powers are "unweaving", could they be planning to use this type of "liquid" look for weaves made of water? Could they be intending to represent saidin in black and saidar in white?

 

I know that Rafe has talked in the past about wanting to be able to visually differentiate the 5 powers. 

 

I guess it's a long, wordy way of saying it has me intrigued. If that is what they are doing, I think it looks great and definitely has some potential to avoid the weaknesses Borderlander referred to in his post. (I largely share the opinion of the Harry Potter wand battles). If you combine those visuals with some similarly arresting depictions of air, earth, fire and spirit and then have them weaving together using actual weaving techniques (again like Borderlander suggested) you have the makings for something really, really cool.

The only "description" in the book that I can think of off the top of my head, that resembles "water", and has some kind of connection to the borderlands... is the Eye of the World.

Edited October 29, 2020 by SinisterDeath

[Elder_Haman]

11 minutes ago, SinisterDeath said:

The only "description" in the book that I can think of off the top of my head, that resembles "water", and has some kind of connection to the borderlands... is the Eye of the World.

 

I don't follow.

[SinisterDeath]

3 hours ago, Elder_Haman said:

 

I don't follow.

Rand and company travel through Fal Dara (Borderlands) before going to the blight to find the eye... which is a pool of pure Saidin.

 

Up to that point in the books, we never got a good description of the male half of the OP, only Moiraine & Egwene's descriptions.

 

On an aside, I'm just now realizing the other poster here is named borderlander, something that didn't register when I initially replied. ? 

 

Still something to consider when considering the Audio, the recent pictures that leaked this week (Fal Dara), and the connection to "water".

Edited October 30, 2020 by SinisterDeath

[Elder_Haman]

In the Patreon chat, Sarah Nakamura mentioned that she vetoed October's WoT Wednesday release because the thing they were going to release - while cool - wasn't sufficiently connected to the Lore. She said she didn't want to just do a release that said essentially, "Hey look at this cool thing we did", she wanted it to be more connected to the story.

 

I'm wondering if the visual here is what she was referencing. The more I've thought about it, the more I'm convinced that these visuals are connected in some way to how the show intends to depict channeling. Imagine the same image, only instead of little water droplets, you have small tongues of flame, or small clusters of rock, or eddying currents of air. 

 

As for the audio:

 

The dialogue makes me think of Egwene and Perrin jumping into the river as they escape from Shadar Logoth. (Which ties into water, but not channeling) But I suspect that's too obvious and the audio doesn't fit.

 

My guess on the audio is that it's something to do with Beltine. I think Episode 1 will take place on Beltine with both Fain and Moiraine's arrival being justified by the festival. And the dialogue has to do with some sort of game or contest.

 

[SinisterDeath]

18 minutes ago, Elder_Haman said:

As for the audio:

 

The dialogue makes me think of Egwene and Perrin jumping into the river as they escape from Shadar Logoth. (Which ties into water, but not channeling) But I suspect that's too obvious and the audio doesn't fit.

 

My guess on the audio is that it's something to do with Beltine. I think Episode 1 will take place on Beltine with both Fain and Moiraine's arrival being justified by the festival. And the dialogue has to do with some sort of game or contest.

 

If it wasn't for sounds of swords clanging, women screaming (in fear), and what sounds like fireballs being thrown, it's possible that Egwene to Perrin could be the Bel'Tine dance with the giant pole & ribbon.

 

Jumping the river doesn't make sense as that's background screaming/battling.

Bel'Tine, winter night makes sense as we didn't get a POV of that fight.

 

White Cloaks don't make sense, because there aren't other women in the camp.

But there are other women in the Tinker Camp. Now, they could have changed things up with the Tinkers getting Attacked by White Cloaks, and that would make sense as to why Perrin & Egwene. Egwene could be using her crappy skills to light a fire, and Perrin run in with his axe swinging.

[Elder_Haman]

5 minutes ago, SinisterDeath said:

If it wasn't for sounds of swords clanging, women screaming (in fear), and what sounds like fireballs being thrown, it's possible that Egwene to Perrin could be the Bel'Tine dance with the giant pole & ribbon.

 

I'm not sure that's swords clanging. After listening many times, it sounds too rhythmic. More like a blacksmith. Also, the screams don't necessarily sound frightened to me - animated, yes - but not necessarily frightened. The screaming could be consistent with a woman (or women) being chased around (playfully) during the festivities. (I think the audio might also be looped)

[SinisterDeath]

1 hour ago, Elder_Haman said:

 

I'm not sure that's swords clanging. After listening many times, it sounds too rhythmic. More like a blacksmith. Also, the screams don't necessarily sound frightened to me - animated, yes - but not necessarily frightened. The screaming could be consistent with a woman (or women) being chased around (playfully) during the festivities. (I think the audio might also be looped)

Yea, I don't get anything playful about that audio. There's clearly angry shouting in the background, not something that sounds like a festival that's a last harvest/winter festival involving people dancing with their perspective dates.

 

 

 

1 hour ago, Elder_Haman said:

(I think the audio might also be looped)

There's definitely some looping. The screams & clanking sound identical. If it's Bel Tine/Winter Night, the only one in town with a Sword would really be Lan.

I still hear "fire whooshing" like Moiraine blowing up trollocs.

 

Edited October 30, 2020 by SinisterDeath

[Borderlander]

The more I think about it, with the apparent audio-looping, I think this is probably not finalized audio pulled from a finished scene. Possibly a mash-up of sound effect snippets they intend to use for a specific scene, but not a final cut. It just seems too jumbled; the background voices are too wild/panicky to be Bel Tine, yet not fearful enough to be Winternight. When the show premiers, and we hear Egwene and Perrin deliver these actual words—which may well be finalized versions—the background track could be drastically different. 

[Elder_Haman]

1 hour ago, Borderlander said:

The more I think about it, with the apparent audio-looping, I think this is probably not finalized audio pulled from a finished scene. Possibly a mash-up of sound effect snippets they intend to use for a specific scene, but not a final cut. It just seems too jumbled; the background voices are too wild/panicky to be Bel Tine, yet not fearful enough to be Winternight. When the show premiers, and we hear Egwene and Perrin deliver these actual words—which may well be finalized versions—the background track could be drastically different. 

Or the tracks could be layered on top of one another. 

[Fano'Lan Redux]

Thanks for posting that link, I love this stuff.  My sound production knowledge/skills haven't been digitally enhanced so apologies in advance if I flub in that regard.  Thoughts swirling in my head, no particular order (eta kind of in order):

 

- the whooshing sound does not relate to the dialogue nor the additional background noise but is connected to the visual symbol as it forms and coalesces ...... maybe it's how the production team envisions the chapter heading symbology?

 

- the clanging and raised voices sound like a "bustling Inn with dance floor" clip looped back to back, maybe some overlap ... knives and forks on plates, laughing/squealing serving women/guests and men cavorting and feasting

 

- Egwene and Perrin sound breathless and anxious not threatened with imminent peril

 

- I'm under the impression Winternight was not incorporated into the show based on Rafe's earlier comments

 

- the books related the reel dance scene in Baerleon, but I do not recall an aside where Perrin/Egwene chat about re-joining the festivities ... have to check the books later

 

 

Maybe I'm out in left field, but that's the initial feeling for me

 

 

Edited November 4, 2020 by Fano'Lan Redux

[Elder_Haman]

1 hour ago, Fano'Lan Redux said:

Thanks for posting that link, I love this stuff.  My sound production knowledge/skills haven't been digitally enhanced so apologies in advance if I flub in that regard.  Thoughts swirling in my head, no particular order (eta kind of in order):

 

- the whooshing sound does not relate to the dialogue nor the additional background noise but is connected to the visual symbol as it forms and coalesces ...... maybe it's how the production team envisions the chapter heading symbology?

 

- the clanging and raised voices sound like a "bustling Inn with dance floor" clip looped back to back, maybe some overlap ... knives and forks on plates, laughing/squealing serving women/guests and men cavorting and feasting

 

- Egwene and Perrin sound breathless and anxious not threatened with imminent peril

 

- I'm under the impression Winternight was not incorporated into the show based on Rafe's earlier comments

 

- the books related the reel dance scene in Baerleon, but I do not recall an aside where Perrin/Egwene chat about re-joining the festivities ... have to check the books later

 

 

Maybe I'm out in left field, but that's the initial feeling for me

 

 

 

That's brilliant. I don't know that there is an explicit scene of Egwene talking to Perrin at that point either. But it fits - they just probably removed (or haven't yet added) the music to the clip, which would give the thing an entirely different flavor.

[mistborn82]

If is Bearlon they probably added and Egwene/Perrin snippet and possibly others as we really only see Rand or who he talks too in the books.