The video for Mio/Homura EXTEND is being edited as we speak, and a rough cut should be ready this coming week. However, the actual video would not be finished for two or three weeks. So in the interim, I thought I'd share some thoughts on the entire process, how it's been and how it got so suddenly transformed.

Related posts:

• Original Mio/Homura
• Current Mio/Homura
• Post NGADM 2012 post where I had to grovel and beg for an experimentation which wasn't my fault
• All the emotions I suffered prior to the new release of Mio/Homura EXTEND
• Mio/Homura EXTEND Release
• Area Scouting
• Makeup Test
• Anticipatory week
• The photos from the recording of the footage of Mio/Homura

Since its release, I had the crazy idea of turning Mio/Homura EXTEND into a music video and shared it with the people of Soundskills, the people now behind said video. ^_^ I don't know why. Maybe it was a means for me to test out my aesthetic. Maybe it was time I engaged in a bigger video than just a studio one. Whatever the motivation for it was, it turned the huge negativity on Newgrounds about this piece... on its head.

If I mentioned Mio/Homura a year ago, I'd have mentioned it in hushed whispers and tears, or angry screams and tears, due to what people had done to me as a result of that piece.

Now, I think of Mio/Homura now as something very positive, a great act of bringing to birth. It is no longer my Achilles' heel. It is no longer a failure, but one of my greatest achievements yet. There, I see my aesthetic, I see my true self. I hear my true self. The entire act of recording on Thursday, I offered it up as a prayer.

When we went to the woods off Fernyhalgh to record the video on Thursday the 20th, I was not afraid of the creatures, including the bugs. I was not afraid of the nettles, I was not afraid of the soggy ground. I was one with all of it. There were Seán, myself and five friends from Soundskills, and together we formed a team of seven. I was among those people who loved me. I was with Seán, the man whom I truly love, whom I want to give my entire life to.

I did feel particularly vulnerable beating the drum and dancing on camera. These are things I truly yearn to do, but because of my passion for drums and dancing, I feel vulnerable doing it in front of others. Anyone passionate about any particular thing is bound to feel vulnerable when filmed or ogled by several pairs of eyes. But, we have to start somewhere. That vulnerability will likely decrease, but it's always going to be there. It has to be there, if I am to be well-grounded and humble in what I do. It's sobering, thinking about it.

Prep for Mio/Homura made me and my friends more willing to undertake things that we'd never done before. I mentioned the vulnerability playing and dancing on camera, especially since it was my first time doing so on a major video, but for others, there were many firsts as well. Seán made his first flower crown, and it actually turned out beautifully. Another friend of mine did facial makeup for the first time, and another had his first go at petal confetti -- the "money shot" of Mio/Homura according to the crew. And I enjoyed it too!

We spent some four hours or so recording, time which went swiftly by because we were having fun.

As a side note, I actually approached the unnamed judge who unleashed fury onto me five years ago -- I didn't expect to run into them -- and gave them the new Mio/Homura. They were touched by the harmonies, the emotions of the piece. I'd reconciled with them, and they with me!

This is the work I want to do with my music. The work of good. The work of immense positivity -- encouragement, uplifiting, reconcilliation, joy, love, daring to believe, daring to think upon heavenly things. The process behind Mio/Homura EXTEND, especially after its release, has been all of these things. I am truly touched by it all. Long may it continue, and may it spread far and wide.

Now, updates:

I have released a cinematic medieval-inspired piece, the second in the Dark Adventures series. This one is called Dragonslayer, and has been featured in the second Dark Adventures episode -- who would have thought there'd have been a second one?

I'm aware that the animation is rather rough-looking but I remember that the first Dark Adventures actually got Daily 2nd Place, a rather staggeringly good milestone for what it was. It looks almost like a moving sketch on parchment. Well, a rather rough one, but still. ^_^ So yeah, give the film a look-see, give the music a look-see, and lemme know what you think!

Calling to attention @EDM364 @Mich @RealFaction @Asandir @Akuaitance to start.

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