User:Shadowtracer88/That Lost Kiss

Like many viewers I felt somewhat let down by the ending of the final episode of GLTAS with Aya fading from existence (in this universe anyway) as Razer appeared totally devastated. Even Hal Jordan looked extremely saddened. I guess that ensured we were all going to remember it! One thing that marks this series out in my opinion is the sensitive portrayal of characters where a fleeting smile or glance says volumes, it is all beautifully observed. For example look at the emotions flickering across Aya’s face as Razer says “Wait Aya” before she turns towards him and smiles warmly at his declaration of being a different man now. It is one of the most affecting moments in any TV, animated or otherwise.

Now it occurred to me that when Razer is about to kiss Aya the discrepancy in their heights would make lip contact somewhat difficult, I think is why we shifted in to a close-up view, so I set about seeing how much Razer could bend over and Aya could look up. The images did not work out until I figured that I had to move Aya inwards a short distance and let Razer drop down a little as well as bend over, otherwise Aya’s neck was looking like that of a snapping turtle! I created a number of versions, but after a week or so I could see some flaws in them and in rapid succession they went in the trash and I started on yet another version using a flick comparator to see if they looked believable.

Once it looked right I created a “Lost Kiss” video of that missing moment, splicing in the “missing” image frames, but I doubt that the video can be posted here. I had to do something or it was going to gnaw at me every time I watched the series. So somewhat therapeutic I guess, but maybe it may have the same effect for others. The first time Aya was blown to pieces by a blast from the Anti-Monitor she said she had one regret, but never got to finish that sentence as she ceased to exist, even though much later we realized she had uploaded to a derelict Manhunter. We had the same regret too, so I wanted to fix that as another GLTAS series looks out of the question after all this time and we do finally get to see that kiss.in SECOND CHANCE (YouTube MPEG VIDEO).

☀https://youtu.be/z-yyO8be6Bs

Hope you like it as creating the missing frames was like unpicking a mosaic.presented by the existing images.

https://youtu.be/n1XCUkuEbm0   How it was done wrt background as "seen at a distance" image was constructed using layers and image masks to fill in spatial gaps between the characters.