SUMMARY
In
the future, a war is brewing. The two sides of this impending conflict
are the Earth Government and Mars Colony. On Mars, a mysterious leader
is amassing weapons of mass destruction to use against the Earth.
OEarth soldier Han has been assigned to convince the leader of the
Mars rebellion not to start his war. Unfortunately, time is running
out for both of them. A group of armored soldiers have arrive at the
rebel base, and they are not in the mood to talk.
Can Han stop both
the terrorist leader and the soldiers in time?
DVD VISION TEST
VIDEO:
The DVD
quality is excellent. There are absolutely 0 defects or artifacts; no
pixels, digital bleeds, or rainbows. This is a clean digital transfer.
We were totally caught unaware.
AUDIO:Quite amazing. Perhaps, the best sound I have ever herd on a US
anime Dolby 2.0 audio track. The music is crystal clear, as is the dialogue,
and all are blended perfectly. There are some great surround sound elements
in both the dialogue segments and action parts.
EDITS:
None that we know of.
EXTRAS:Chaos: From Dream To Reality is a 50 minute feature created entirely
in house by Studio ArtFx. If you want to know how it was done, this special
covers it all.
WIDESCREEN REVIEW
STORY: For a short film, it has a remarkably well developed story. Terrence
Walker has written a hard core sci-fi tale. Watching this movie felt
like watching a short story from Analogue Magazine, brought to life.
ACTING: Terrence Walker does a pretty good job of carrying this film.
His Han is the right mixture of intensity and youth. His Japanese
is technically perfect. The only part that he comes a little short
on is the leader of the Rebellion. It was a little on the flat side
and he over enunciated.
Another shock
for us was when we found out that the voice of the Japanese speaking controller
was none other than Terrence Walker himself. It is amazing what some voice
modulation can do.
FAN SERVICE: None. We hope that
Shadowskin, their next film has some.
CONCLUSION
Understanding Chaos is the "Steamboat Willie" for the digital age. Like
Walt Disney did with traditional animation, Studio ArtFX has done with
digital animation. It is a shame that Liquid Television is no longer on
the air. Chaos would have made a great addition.
Understanding Chaos is a well written, great sounding, fantastic looking
US anime. Terrence Walker has done an amazing job. Handling the writing,
design, music, acting, and animating chores himself is an testament to
his drive and his abilities. He has given us a superb story on an outstanding
DVD, despite the lack of extras.
The making of video is very informative. You amateur animators or digital
enthusiast can get an idea of how many different elements were used, and
how much work was put into this film.
The only real
downside is that the movie is only 10 minutes long. While we were expecting
more, we still marvel at what Terrence Walker has done.
DVD Vision Japan
was also proud to bring Understanding Chaos to Otakon 2002. The response
to this film was generally well received. Thanks to Eric Murray at Video
Ops for helping us bring "Chaos" to Otakon 2002.
I
hope that the rest of the story mentioned in the making of segment
gets made. I am dying to find out what happens next. I (and the rest
of the DVD Vision Japan crew) are looking forward to Shadowskin. From
what we have seen of the trailer, this looks like it will surpass
Understanding Chaos. That will be a tough chore for Studio ArtFX.
Overall, if you love animation, or you want to own a part of history,
make sure you get your hands on a copy. Then, you too will understand
what Chaos is.
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