The Genius of Arcane's Storytelling
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- Опубликовано: 25 июл 2024
- What makes Arcane so special? Join me in this video essay as I explore how Arcane uses visual storytelling to elevate its narrative from good to great.
🎵 MUSIC:
'Tipple Skip' by Jobii
www.epidemicsound.com/track/t...
'Enemy (Epic Orchestral Version)' by @samuelkimmusic
'Rainy Day' by @LAKEYINSPIRED
'Fast Lane' by @LAKEYINSPIRED
'Covert Affairs' by Christoffer Moe Ditlevsen
www.epidemicsound.com/track/q...
'No Parking Friday' by Jobii
www.epidemicsound.com/track/s...
📘 CHAPTERS:
00:00 - Introduction
04:00 - Part I: Production Design
12:40 - Part II - Characters in Action
18:05 - THE DEEP DIVE
25:05 - Part III: Cinematography
32:43 - Part IV: Random Final Thoughts 
Игры
my jaw DROPPED when u explained the jayce/heimerdinger shot transition, that’s INSANE. i effing love this show
This is such an incredibly well planned and produced essay and I genuinely cannot fathom how its THIS criminally underrated. Massive kudos to you!
Excellent analysis. And all done without having to get into any League of Legends spoilers. The way Jinx ultimately shoots the boxing machine with her gun at the end of that scene says a lot, too.
Watching your video I realized that the close-up shot of Vi where an iron fence divides her face, shows her indecision between going after her sister or take care of Caitlyn. How a shot can tell what the character feels, as you said.
I really like this type of analysis, subtext analysis. Unfortunately, I watched a lot of Arcane review videos which just tell too obvious stuff. I prefer a deeper analysis like yours :)
Thank you! I'm really glad you liked the video. And I had the same thought about that shot! I didn't have time to talk about it in the script sadly, but I wanted to at least show it because it was too good to leave out. I'm glad someone caught it :)
Really amazing video. I liked how you explained the Jayce and Heimer shot. It’s such a great detail that I never would have noticed!
Thank you! And it's honestly something I only noticed because I rewatched the show like a hawk in order to write this haha
@@lets-mosey I can tell! Keep up the excellent work!
this analysis is amazing. you pointed out things ive never seen anyone mention, especially the shift of focus from heimerdinger to jace when he's having him voted out. this is incredible attention to detail!
I know very little about cinematography, but what I do know is that this show was tremendously effective on me in ways that don't seem to entirely add up with everything else. I don't know whose comment this was. I must have forgotten to copy their name into it when I saved it, but it made me think about the matter in much the same way this video did:
"TLDR: to call this show a 'masterpiece' is a gross understatement, had this show been live action the director, cinematographer and editor would hands down win Oscars, and you cannot understand exactly how good it is on the first watch.
Now please indulge me if you are inclined as I indulge myself: I cannot rate this show on a scale of 1-10 because there's nothing really to compare it to. Saying 10/10 does it a disservice as it implies its the same as other great 10/10 things I've watched. If Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, and the first four seasons of Game of Throwns are S tier Arcane is S+ tier. You can rightly find layman and experts raving about the animation, the pacing, the sound design, the voice acting,… all, every bit of it just two hand chef's kiss. And the writing is so next level from dialog that at times is Shakespearean to 'telling not showing' to a rich narrative that is so deeply complex and efficient.
Those things are obviously hallmarks of a Masterpiece. But they are not the most amazing things about Arcane. I want to talk about a couple cinema things that are less talked about so I'm going to write a little essay here about how this show isn't simply amazing animation but rather amazing cinema. Bear with me as I totally geek on this. My two passions are cinema, and story telling through the scifi-fantasy medium. I read text books and watch documentaries about this shit. Half of what makes this show so good is its cinema aspects, half of what makes it so emotional and gripping isn't what's 'filmed' but HOW it's filmed. From a cinematography and editing standpoint had a great live action director like the Coen Brothers, Stanley Kubrick, Kurosawa, David Fincher, et al filmed this live action it would be considered their magnum opus. You don't realize while watching but cinematography and editing are half of what a film makes you feel and half of world and character building. Film language is a language we understand without knowing we speak it, or rather that it is speaking to us because it is so ingrained in our viewing experience from childhood. In Arcane the use of things whole film school classes teach; negative space, color and shadow, cuts, transitions, framing… are just next level.
Let me give examples; In the Viktor runs scene notice how when Viktor starts he's slight off-centre right framed as the camera starts to move with his movement, then when he stumbles he falls behind the camera's pace, then upon recovering how he catches the camera then slightly overshoots it. That adds so much emotional weight to the scene. It also is an example of parallels when child Viktor can't catch his boat but running Viktor passes the boats in a brilliant example of using negative space to tell a story.
Another is the scene when Jayce tells Mel Viktor is dying. Notice how it does not show their facial reaction, only a closeup of Mel's hand, painter's trowel, and the canvice. Mel inner journey from mad to listening to sympathy with a close up of her painting trowel strokes. Her painting strokes communicate her inner workings better than any other framing of the scene could have because visually in character she's hiding how much it affected her in her voice and by extension assumed body language. She sounds miffed then understanding but the painting strokes say she's angry and hurt then 'oh you weren't ditching me' then to caring sympathy.
Notice how you are set up for the animation change for the Ekko-Jinx fight with the cold open for the Firelights using the same art style so it isn't so jarring it takes you out of the immersion when that different art style clicks in at that pivotal moment. I mean that whole fight is set up so well with visual story telling on top earlier of dialog, Powder's picture being on the wall of lost loved ones for one. And I mean Ekko's entrance first with him not being there between Vi and Cait then a cut to black and boom there he is full on, I got no words for just how perfectly that was done.
Notice that in Jayce's cold open the mage's opening his hand reaching out to reveal the light of the Hextech crystal matches perfectly with Jayce reaching up and symbolically grasping the same light from the Hextech Gate later in the show. You could run them as a single sequence opening and closing of a hand around the magic and all the symbolism of it. Cuts all have reasons for their placement. Notice first that they don't just cut on movement but also on beat. Tap your foot to the sound track and notice cuts happen in rhythm on tempo. Notice how scene cuts tell you instantly where you are. There are match cuts the likes of which great directors are thought genus for, every episode of Arcane has two or more on the level of Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey match cut from thrown bone club to space craft, or David Lean's struck match to desert sun in Lawrence of Arabia.
Jinx shooting the spinning plate on the punching machine match cuts to the sign for the Last Drop as an example. Or Vi going down a tube match cut to a bullet entering a chamber setting up the bridge blockade in ep 7. Oh and the Vi to bullet chamber match cut was also a wipe cut; a frigg'n wipe match cut, the only one in the whole show. Why? Because it was the perfect cut thematically there but not elsewhere. Plus the double down on it cutting back to Cait following Vi down the tube, which was again match cut but slightly different in that it pulls back to a wider shot of a gun being chambered, right on point. The cut explains itself in the narrative and the narrative explains the cut. As someone who studies this it was a WTF moment; not flashy just stylish and oh so F'n good when we've been taught it shouldn't work, I guess no told them they couldn't do it. And, in fairness it probably would not have worked live action, but still how do you think of something like that and then execute it so flawlessly?
I could go on and on but in short this should be THE primer for all film schools. Editing and framing is the reason you feel every muscle when Vi parkours, why the punches have 'impact' to them, why you can feel the rain. That feeling of impact, weight, and texture are manufactured by shot composition, framing, and editing. And am really about to wax awestruck on camera effects like lens flares and focal lengths, lens choice and focus shifts in an animated show? I could but I'll save you. Haven't even touched on the brilliant use of shadows or color that rival the greatest film noir and neo-noir. The reason you can pause this on any frame at random literally, print screen and stick it on your wall isn't just the painstaking drawing but the composition and framing of that picture. This isn't a great beautifully rendered cartoon, this is an unbelievable display of capital C Cinema.
Like I said I'm a total geek for this cinema stuff and while I've seen bits and pieces this good in some of the greatest films of all time I do not think I've ever seen its equal in total across a single piece of cinema. Arcane could not have this dense, rich, and powerful a narrative, or have this level of tight pacing, world and character building without this level of genus visual story telling. Even if you don't think this is the 'best thing' you've ever scene the cinema aspects of it are the best this cinephile has ever seen. And this was accomplished not by a Hollywood Legend or renowned auteur but a couple dudes at Riot Games and a small start up indi animation studio with an epic passion for the story they were telling. Perhaps only people who don't know what's actually possible can pull off the impossible. If you have taken the time read my ramblings to the end thank you for indulgence. For now I've just run out adjective. So how do I rate this show as an avid passionate cinephile? I for one cannot compare Arcane to anything else I've watched or analyzed, but I will compare everything else I watch to Arcane. Rating I guess is 'peerless- equal not found'. "
Wow, thanks for sharing! That's a really insightful comment, and it pointed out some examples I hadn't even considered before (I'll def have to go back to catch the thing with Jayce and the crystal!). Hope whoever wrote it stumbles upon my video one day! And like you said, even if you don't formally know much about cinematography, I think it's one of those things that can still have an effect in how much you connect with a work. Glad you enjoyed the video!
I took the boxing machine as Jinx taking her measure. "You were twice the person at half the age" and now Jinx's anger and frustration after clearly giving her all still does not measure up. At the same time I shows Jinx's wild lash out nature by intermixing Vi's clean precise punches with Jinx's wild lashings. So many scenes in Arcane do more than one thing, some do multiple layers piled on.
One thing a lot of people miss is how powerful the transitions are in telling the story. Take Mel's flashback ending in the necklace in a pool of blood (matched to Marcus' coin in Grayson's blood) that shifts into the same image in one of Mel's paintings with Mel popping up from a nightmare against that background. What woke her was the explosion Jinx set off on the bridge. Not only were the writers and artists great writers and artists they were fantastic weavers.
There are details you don't notice consciously unless you look for them, even on rewatch. For example, when Powder tackles Silco at the end of episode 3 notice the knife he was holding behind his back flies away and clangs to the ground. He has been disarmed literally right before we're shown he's disarmed metaphorically. Or, Vi's story to Kate about her and Powder's monster games as children with the poison oozing slug and razer crab; when Kate and Vi are down in the fissures at their childhood home on the wall drawn in sort of crayon looking child drawing are a poison slug and razor crab. You don't notice it consciously but later when Vi tells Kate the story subconsciously it checks out.
Writers and cinematographers of the World IF a picture says 1,000 words then why are you using 1,000?
Critically underrated video, it's been a while since I've actually gotten to the end of a video essay and you really knocked it out of the park with this one.
I’m a big fan of arcane and I’ve scoured all of youtube for arcane related media; this is one of the best, well researched video essay Ive seen. It’s criminal that it only has 5k views.
Thank you, I appreciate that. It was definitely a labor of love. There's a lot of good video essays on Arcane out there, but I didn't see many that did a deep dive into the technical aspects of the show's filmmaking, so I wanted to fill that void. Glad you liked it!
Another great example I noticed is one during the fight against the chemtanks in episode 8, the part when Jayce, enraged, uses his hammer as a blaster to kill the remaining forces. If you look closely as he's doing this, each time he fires a blast his eyes briefly flash blue, the same blue emitted from the hextech.
That's an awesome observation that I totally missed--I am definitely going to rewatch that scene now. I love that even over a year later there are still details to discover in this show. Thanks for sharing!
Cannot believe you are this underrated. That introduction alone with the music seeping in is worth hundreds of thousands of subscribers. I know you're going to go far!
Awesome video. The whole section on framing starting around 00:28:25 was fascinating.
The quality of this video and the analysis it makes is exactly what I’ve been saying to others when I recommend this show. Arcane is a master class is storytelling and the fact this video essay is done in such a well crafted and beautiful way, kudos to you.
I’d love to see more video essays from you in the future. I wish you and this channel great success!
Excellent exploration of Arcane. I hope you do more.
I do have a little detail that you didn't cover. I suppose, not visual storytelling... but essential dialogue, and I think, the real crux of the series. Christain Linke's own question from Bridging the gap, paraphrased - about the bonds of family, about how far they can be pushed, how far can one fall before it's too far?
In the tea party scene at the end, when Jinx says to Vi "He didn't make Jinx.... you did".
After many (many) rewatches, I changed my mind about what was going on here. I used to think it it was an accusation - I was probably prompted by Vi's own reaction... but I don't think it was an accusation - it was an aknowledgement - perhaps even gratitude. What Jinx says before and after, I think, confirms this.
Just before:
"Wanna know a secret? Silco thinks he made Jinx, with all his rants and his hard-won lessons..."
This isn't accusatory, it's more like she's not letting Silco take the credit.
Just after:
"You never left. I always heard you. Shadows in the streets, prickles on the back of my neck. Your voice. Pushing me. Picking me up when all the colors were black. You're the reason I'm still alive."
This clinches it for me.
Then, I think, the core of the show - and handled in a way no other lines are:
Fade to black. No music.
"Are we still sisters?"
"Nothing is ever going to change that."
And.. yes, I agree. THANK YOU to the myraid artists who poured their creativity into this show. They made a masterpeice.
That's a great point. Vi's role in creating Jinx definitely shouldn't be understated. Jinx is the product of Vi's influence just as much as Silco's. The dialogue does a great job of showing that in that final scene.
If we're talking visuals, I think the most obvious reference to Vi's part in creating Jinx is the show's use of color. Vi and Silco are heavily associated with reds. Powder is very much blue. Jinx is the product of all three, so we constantly see her surrounded by reds, blues, and purples. Wish I could have fit that in the video somewhere but I wasn't sure where to put it haha this show honestly has too many details to cover!
DUDE WTF I thought youd have like thousand of subscribers until you mentioned that this was your first video... this video is so well constructed and edited and not to mention your superb analysis i swear i would absolutely love to hear more of your thoughts on different shows or other media that interests you
Thanks a lot for all the meticulousness and thought you put into making this video! I’m an odd one, not being in awe with Arcane after my first watch and I was torn between it not being my thing and me missing something crucial. Now I’m more inclined to believe it’s the latter, so I’ll give it another go.
Great video! I loved the cinematography section
If you haven’t already, i think you’d love taking a look at the character placement/camera work during Jayce and VI’s first conversation!
Amazing video! I'm not joking when I say I'm genuinely blown away. The quality of the editing and the analysis are all top-notch. I'm actually impressed you don't have hundreds of thousands of subscribers, because man... you truly deserve it!
I love "Arcane" so much and this video made me more aware of the significance of this show. Thank you!
Underrated AF Analysis video. Very well curated.
I’m absolutely shocked how small of a channel you have, the editing for this is extremely high quality! I don’t normally see film/show analysis talk about the things you did in such detail, and I love how knowledgeable you are about the topics you discussed. Amazing work!!
Thank you! really appreciate the kind words. Hoping to have more videos out sometime soon
Great first video! It's beimg shared around in some Arcane forums I frequent
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it. And stoked to hear that people are sharing it!
Very well done! I look forward to whatever other stories you dissect next.
What a thorough, well researched and developed analysis. You brought up many storytelling points I haven't heard others talk about, and I genuinely feel like I learned a lot. Great video man
I've always been a fan of Arcane but you really put its quality in a new light for me. Looking forward to future videos.
Great video! I loved the different categories and examples you gave. Really good stuff. Looking forward to anything else you release in the future
Thanks, that's a quite good analysis. Brought up lots of things I've missed - a testament that the show holds up to scrutiny darn well. I've gotten a bit obsessed by Arcane and watched more video essays on it than I care to admit, and this is one of the best. (Not a very original comment I'm afraid, but well, still credit where credit is due.)
Can't wait to see more videos from you!
You must have spent hours researching and gathering the bits for this video. Very informative and wonderfully delivered. I really enjoyed it.
Glad you enjoyed it! It definitely took a large chunk of time to make, but thankfully it was a lot of fun too.
Great analysis which, frustratingly, I discovered so late. It's unfortunate that such gems aren't getting blessed by the RUclips algorithm. I am excited about your future work.
For a first video on you're channel this is very fucken impressive! Keep it up, really don't give up. I have seen a lot of video essays, especially about writing and you stand out!
Thank you! I really appreciate that. I'm working on more stuff so stay tuned!
Thanks for watching! Let me know your thoughts on Arcane and if you have any favorite little details that I didn't cover!
Also, just realized I accidentally uploaded a 1080p video as 4k...so just watch it in 4k for the full quality lol
Hi! I tried sending you an email complimenting this excellent video but also a request to read an FF7 article I wrote via your contact but gmail says the email is inactive?
@@jayberan Hey, thanks for the kind words. Sorry about the email, apparently it got disabled by Gmail for some reason, so I'll remove it from my profile while I get that fixed. You can always reply with the link to your article and I'll be happy to read it.
Amazing analysis of perhaps my fav show, well earned sub mate :D
I hope to see more videos from you! This was an excellent essay
Dude, this was an amazing analysis!! Loved your editing, clear and thoughtful observations, and obvious care you put into this. I've loved Arcane since it first started coming out and you still pointed out new details I hadnt noticed before. I loved how you broke down the composition section. A lot of that was subconscious but it was cool to see all the concrete examples.
New sub from me, wish you the best!
🍕
Thank you, it was definitely a long project for me since I was mostly doing it in my spare time, but it was a labor of love. I have wanted to share my thoughts on this show for such a long time haha
Hope your essay blows up :D made me appreciate the series once more in a new light
Such a surprise and great video! Hope it gets to more people! Thanks for sharing it !
AAAAAA, so beautiful video, i love it every single detail of de script and edition.
Really good video, looking forward to seeing more from you!
🍕
Home run for a first time!
Incredible quality of video. Sadly not a lot of people understand importance of visual storytelling . I personally love it A LOT . And arcane execute it just right . Like it does in other aspects
Couldn't agree more!
crazy well made
Your video is a labor of love to Arcane.
Thank you, super excited for Season 2!!
Great video!
Really great video! Surprised it only has around a hundred likes right now, you definitely deserve more attention!
It's insane that this analysis isn't much more known. This was an instant subscribe for me. Keep doing this because this is easily one of my favorite videoessays EVER. You gave thanks to the creators of Arcane, now I want to say thanks to YOU. Now more than ever we need to protect these type of content creation. Much love and appreciation for your work.
Thank you, that really means a lot. Hopefully when Arcane S2 releases this video might get a little more love with the RUclips algorithm. In the meantime rest assured I am working on a new video...it's just a slow process for me lol
@@lets-mosey take all the time you need, ill be waiting 💜 I cannot express my appreciation for your work enough. I was almost crying and I was literally clapping while watching this with some friends who recommended the video to me (i both love arcane and visual storytelling so this was an easy sell) and fr when I tell you i lost it in some of the details you noticed I’m not exaggerating. Also I had similar interpretations as you that i’ve been telling to my friends over the years and when you mentioned it too I was so happy! (Like the Silco-Marcus scene is one of my favorite scenes on the show and you analyzed it so well graphically/ with the editing that i had goosebumps in several parts)
Anyways I’m sorry if I come off as intense I really just loved the video with my whole heart. If you ever need anything my DMs are open.
PD: I would love to hear your opinion on the Netflix’s (questionable) adaptation of Avatar 😬
@@michiyal Thank you! Don't worry, you don't come off as intense (or at least I don't notice it because I can relate to being really passionate about this show😂)
Honestly the whole reason I made this video in the first place is because the more I watched and re-watched Arcane the more I noticed new little details and I wasn't finding many videos really analyzing them in-depth (also I think my friends were getting tired of me gushing about the show, so I needed an outlet for my thoughts lol) In any case, it makes me super happy to hear the video is being spread through word-of-mouth!
As far as the Netflix Avatar...oh boy, don't get me started! haha. I have a LOT of thoughts about it and I have even been debating putting the video I'm currently working on on hold so that I can do a review/analysis of it. To give a very brief summary of my opinion: I think they misunderstood the characters and themes from the original, and I think they made some unnecessary changes that really hurt the arcs of the main cast. Oh and also (somewhat relevant to this video) there's a LOT of exposition! Overall, I don't think it's as bad as the Shyamalan movie, and it has a couple of enjoyable moments, but I think it still really misses a lot of the charm and nuance of the original.
Anyways, I love talking to people who appreciate this kind of stuff, so happy to connect via discord or email if you want (I don't have a whole lot of social media accounts for this channel yet lol I should probably work on that)
BTW I saw your channel and I was really impressed by the quality of your videos and thumbnails--crazy to me that you don't have more subs! Also I'm from Peru, so nice to meet another South American! 🎉⚽🦙
@@lets-mosey omg eres de Perú??? Yo soy de Venezuela!!!!! Qué increíble ahora estoy más feliz todavía jajajajaja
Por supuesto que podemos hablar por discord. Mi user es tal cuál mi nombre de RUclips!
Con respecto a Avatar 100% opino lo mismo. Justamente te preguntaba porque como mencionas el diálogo expositivo en este video (y usas la peli de Avatar como ejemplo de exposition entonces sabía que eras fan de la animación por rebote) sabía que ibas a opinar parecido a mí 😂 yo tengo casi que una vendetta personal con Netflix por lo que le hicieron a Katara y a Suki.
Y muchas gracias por pasarte por mi canal 💜 tengo ya algunas ideas nuevas cocinándose pero no he tenido chance. Siempre he querido hacer algo sobre Arcane pero como que tengo que realmente sentarme a escribirlo y siempre me intimida jajajajaja pero algún día lo haré y 100% voy a referenciar este video.
Me avisas si me escribes por discord! Cualquier cosa mi correo público es michiyaaal@gmail.com.
Un abrazo!!!
Great video, great points for a great show!
Glad you enjoyed it!
I have watched many reviews of Arcane. The detail in the facial expressions in the characters, I think, was what really hooked me on the show (emotionally).
Something I noticed recently: In the brothel, there is so much art Deco detail in the background. A lot of intricate care for animation and story telling artistry. But, also, the brothel is also not quite as fresh looking (dingy in the corners, some things are a little tattered) as perhaps it used to be.Once again, so much care for story telling.
Underrated video
I'm surprised you did not mention the art and crafts jinx made for Silco
Haha true! In my defense I did briefly mention the clutter on Silco's desk and how it shows daughterly affection, but you're right that I largely skipped a longer discussion on it (mostly because It's a detail that I've seen covered in other videos and reddit/twitter threads and I was wary of just rehashing something other people had already done.)
@@lets-mosey I assume that was the reasoning since it was a hotly discussed topic
13:38 Where'd you find the screenplay? I've been searching for them forever.
Unfortunately, as far as I know the entire screenplay is still unavailable (I've been looking too!). But the particular excerpts I used were shared by writer Amanda Overton on her Twitter account.
Make More Videos!!
ARCANE IS UNDENIABLY PERFECT
JUST LIKE JINX IS PERFECT !!!!!!!
It's laziness shown on screen by those who don't know a shit about Film or what art is....... Only real artist know the passion and dedication and sincerity Art Work requires. That's why most of the nonsense out there can be considered as boring dogshit not film.......
Good stuff dude, but I can't help but notice you have a stereotypical RUclips voice. Lol
Lmao that's fair, I'll try to see if I can sound more natural for the next one XD
Thanks for watching!
its been 7 months, working on anything?
i hope its not a one and done
Thanks for asking! I'm working on a Final Fantasy 16 critique/video essay atm. Also have a couple of other anime/video game/movie essays I've begun writing.
Tbh the latter half of 2023 got real busy for me as I was settling into a new job, which left me little time for writing/video editing. But now that things have settled down a bit I have been able to spend more time finishing up some scripts and hope to have some videos out soon. Ideally I want to get to a point where I can put out a video every 1-2 months (since I'm aiming for longer form stuff).
In any case, rest assured, I have no intention of letting this channel just be a one and done :)
Underrated video
Thank you, appreciate it