Long story. So today was supposed to be the release of the latest Universal Geographic Landmark video and the topic was going to be the Eve Gate. Little did I know when I made those plans that the Eve Gate no longer exists, for me. I went all the way down to New Eden, which is about 37 jumps, and discovered that the famous entrance gate had vanished. Gone. Poof. No longer there.
Of course I reported this incident. And filed a bug report. But it is gone. All I have left is the 10 second clip I used two years ago in the Beauty of Eve video. So what to do?
I could have chosen another topic. Or released a different video. But oh no, not me. I decided to forge ahead and try something different. And that's when I thought about telling a different side of this story. To be honest the Eve Gate itself isn't all that exciting of a video topic. So how do I make it something else? If you go back far enough - someone had to be first.
Eleven years ago I made an Eve video called "Greatness" which used a Carl Sagan quote and some clips to build a very ironic story about how humans would evolve past violence... which worked really well against the backdrop of Eve Online wars. But in the opening of this video you can see colony ships coming to the Eve gate from the other side. But who was first?
So that is the premise of DAY ZERO. Does it work? I dunno. I had some technical issues that had to be overcome and limitations due to footage not being available, but overall I think it works as an art-piece. A dramatic radio presentation of audio built around a background of earnest animation. Of course I am a perfectionist. I had to do some things in this video that I've never tried before. And that always creates a demon.
I'll leave it to others to judge. I like it. It ain't perfect. But so few things are.
One thing is for sure - no one else is doing anything like it.