Add Violence Back Cover...ARG?

[Mike]

I'm with @ninjaw. I don't think it's another ARG. If only because merely rehashing a ten-year old concept would go completely against the way Trent operates as an artist.

There's little doubt we're back in the Year Zero world, though, but it seems there's more of a meta thing going on. I'm looking forward to hearing if the Bakersfield concert offers any clues about what's going to happen.

Trent knows we ate that shit up.

[dvp]

Has anyone speculated as to what the Broken LP description in the NIN store means when it says "secrets included"? I am also curious what will be on the B Side of the NTAE LP and they haven't announced if the AV LP will be one sided as well. Just a few shower thoughts from this morning.

[xolotl]

Has anyone speculated as to what the Broken LP description in the NIN store means when it says "secrets included"?

Prior to all this ARG stuff, the predominant thought was that it may be coming with a bonus 7" containing the bonus tracks.

[LiquidEngineer]

Yeah! It's the official NIN tour bus now.

Oh god. Please no.

[Haysey_Draws]

Just like to reassure you all even though i suspiciously joined the day NTAE's came out, i am not here to lead you all on in the ARG


...or am i?

[izo]

Just like to reassure you all even though i suspiciously joined the day NTAE's came out, i am not here to lead you all on in the ARG

...or am i?

Gonna swing by and pick up @Toadflax in the van

[Shipley]

While not related to the Back Cover, I figured posting in this thread would be the right thing to do.
After all the ARG-talking I started looking at the NTAE physical component and since those 3 EPs are meant to be one body of work I guess this could mean there's already some arg content there (that BurningBright video is surely hiding something).
After unpacking and cleaning the pages I found something weird happening with the foil-sheet and some of the paper-pages.
I made a short youtube video to show the artifacts.
It's hard to see due to my lights but it easy to reproduce. You should see a grid getting bigger and smaller when rotating the foil.
It's working with only some of the pages ("dear world" and "the idea of you") so that might be a sign that this is intended and not an coincidence. I didn't get any codes or secrets with it yet, but I guess this is to be used with future parts we might get with the other components maybe.

Call me crazy, but I thought the artifacts that begin to appear in your video were similar to those in the Burning Bright video. I really think there has to be something with that video that we're all missing.

[patj825]

I completely forgot about my PC for NTAE that i still haven't opened (i was waiting to get a vacuum cleaner for the mess) Might open it tonight, see if there's anything extra

Typical though an ARG starts up and i'm the busiest i've been in months at work

It's not so bad. Just spread some newspaper on your table and wash your hands after.

[Xvostya]

Uhm.
About "Burning Bright"...

Tried to split video frame in pieces horizontally/vertically and combine pieces in one (did it with 2/3 parts, since visually patterns in that parts more or less repeating); tried skipping frames (there's some repeating pattern too), changing framerate, deinterlace, color replace, mux reversed video with original and done everything mentioned above with overlay/blending/transparency/alpha/color bleeding.
Even additionally tried to feed the video as spectrogram - got just only weird noise.
So far - no luck.

Any ideas what to try next with that static?

[2020k]

Uhm.
About "Burning Bright"...
Even additionally tried to feed the video as spectrogram - got just only weird noise.

What kind of weird noise? Can you upload a .WAV? We had a lot of weird noises in Year Zero that turned into something. Audio engineer here...waiting to hear if it's just a weird noise or if it's something else.

[izo]

Call me crazy, but I thought the artifacts that begin to appear in your video were similar to those in the Burning Bright video. I really think there has to be something with that video that we're all missing.

I'm reluctant to go through the Burning Bright video frame by frame because of the time it would take and high chance of pareidolia leading me down a false path
Then again, it is a very slow day over here: http://www.watchframebyframe.com/watch/yt/cvyywDE67tY

Maybe holding up the transparent sheet against certain frames of the video will reveal more information?
Are there any numbers on the back-cover device that could be read as a time code?

[i3arracuda]

I cross-posted this in the NTAE thread, as well.

I believe I may have found a hidden message in the Burning Bright music video. I watched it again today on a computer monitor, 27", 1080P, and sitting about 10-12" away from the screen. I turned the sound off. Let your eyes de-focus, look at the center of the screen and imagine the dark areas of the video are coming out of the screen, as if it were a 3D effect. It might even be helpful to imagine you are watching the VR portions of the 'Less Than' video. You'll notice that the dark areas form letters flashing and scrolling across the screen. If you can now see the letters, imagine that they are scrolling from right to left across your screen and you will see the phrase 'NOT THE ACTUAL EVENTS' repeated over and over, and the NIN logo appears randomly on the screen. Someone earlier mentioned the poem "The Tyger" and I believe that may be key to seeing the message:

Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

The Burning Bright music video is bisected vertically. [EDIT: actually I think this bisecting line is an optical illusion. You can make it move by blocking portions of the screen].

Not sure if there's anything else in there, or anything that relates to Add Violence. Also, I have a headache now.

[Toadflax]

Uhm.
About "Burning Bright"...

Tried to split video frame in pieces horizontally/vertically and combine pieces in one (did it with 2/3 parts, since visually patterns in that parts more or less repeating); tried skipping frames (there's some repeating pattern too), changing framerate, deinterlace, color replace, mux reversed video with original and done everything mentioned above with overlay/blending/transparency/alpha/color bleeding.
Even additionally tried to feed the video as spectrogram - got just only weird noise.
So far - no luck.

Any ideas what to try next with that static?

Just capture every frame of the video as a separate image, print each one out, and spread it out on your floor to see if they combine to make some huge pointilized image. Report back in twenty minutes.

[LiquidEngineer]

I have this strange desire to watch these videos on my occulus.

[Xvostya]

What kind of weird noise? Can you upload a .WAV? We had a lot of weird noises in Year Zero that turned into something. Audio engineer here...waiting to hear if it's just a weird noise or if it's something else.

Audioengineer here... just weird noise, flat freqs with some whirling highs, nothing really interesting. Haven't saved any wavs, but you can try it yourself with any frame/sequence from video thru good old coagula

And yes, we had a lot of weird noises, yes we had...

[2020k]

Someone a page or two mentioned that Broken may have "secrets" because of the description on the NIN store & the fact that we have Pinion written on the back Add Violence cover.

Is it possible that we should be searching Welcome Oblivion for clues too, considering its glitchiness and that it's been referenced twice (Once in the Less Than video and once on the back cover of Add Violence)?

At that rate, I'm adding in TDS because of "Self-Destruct"

[Graceless]

I have this strange desire to watch these videos on my occulus.

This is a thing that can be done!?

[define]

Just capture every frame of the video as a separate image, print each one out, and spread it out on your floor to see if they combine to make some huge pointilized image. Report back in twenty minutes.

Hey! That's a scene from the episode of the X files or... Psi Factor or some else stupid tv show. There was a kid, he was drawing the static noise from tv and then he placed it on the floor and from above the main protagonists saw the image of... a face (?).

[Xvostya]

I have this strange desire to watch these videos on my occulus.

Did it with cardboard yesterday, heh.
Well... revelations aren't there. At least for me. Will you try?

[Malashaan]

It stands out to me that the transparent sheet from the physical component (with the photo of AR and TR) has a clear band or window above their heads, and it seems to line up with various things on the the other sheets. I don't have a copy of the materials to hand, but could someone take and upload a picture of each sheet with the transparency over it?

[Mike]

Uhm.
About "Burning Bright"...

Tried to split video frame in pieces horizontally/vertically and combine pieces in one (did it with 2/3 parts, since visually patterns in that parts more or less repeating); tried skipping frames (there's some repeating pattern too), changing framerate, deinterlace, color replace, mux reversed video with original and done everything mentioned above with overlay/blending/transparency/alpha/color bleeding.
Even additionally tried to feed the video as spectrogram - got just only weird noise.
So far - no luck.

Any ideas what to try next with that static?

To me, it looks like its zoomed in very far on something, not necessarily static or scrambled.

[Mike]

I cross-posted this in the NTAE thread, as well.

I believe I may have found a hidden message in the Burning Bright music video. I watched it again today on a computer monitor, 27", 1080P, and sitting about 10-12" away from the screen. I turned the sound off. Let your eyes de-focus, look at the center of the screen and imagine the dark areas of the video are coming out of the screen, as if it were a 3D effect. It might even be helpful to imagine you are watching the VR portions of the 'Less Than' video. You'll notice that the dark areas form letters flashing and scrolling across the screen. If you can now see the letters, imagine that they are scrolling from right to left across your screen and you will see the phrase 'NOT THE ACTUAL EVENTS' repeated over and over, and the NIN logo appears randomly on the screen. Someone earlier mentioned the poem "The Tyger" and I believe that may be key to seeing the message:

Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

The Burning Bright music video is bisected vertically.

Not sure if there's anything else in there, or anything that relates to Add Violence. Also, I have a headache now.

I thought I was seeing zoomed in lettering going across as well, but could not make anything out of it.

[Malashaan]

I thought I was seeing zoomed in lettering going across as well, but could not make anything out of it.

I've seen lettering going past as well. I just tried watching it at quarter speed and trying to defocus my eyes (like the old magic eye picture) and there is definitely lettering passing left to right, but there is also a face of faces behind the lettering. It almost looks like there is lettering on a transparent sheet moving left to right with someone stood behind it. I always sucked at magic eye pictures - someone who is better at them might be able to make out more detail.

[fuchal]

Seen a lot of questions about "what is the endgame?"
Pretty simple: Trent clearly has been hanging around a lot of Hollywood types.
He was just in David Lynch's Twin Peaks, who directed Came Back Haunted.
Showtime clearly has found out TV viewers want something unusual that'll push boundaries.
What if the endgame is the TV show?

While I don't think it's going to happen, Apple Music has been very vocal about pushing original video content in the fall/next year.

[Mike]

I've seen lettering going past as well. I just tried watching it at quarter speed and trying to defocus my eyes (like the old magic eye picture) and there is definitely lettering passing left to right, but there is also a face of faces behind the lettering. It almost looks like there is lettering on a transparent sheet moving left to right with someone stood behind it. I always sucked at magic eye pictures - someone who is better at them might be able to make out more detail.

It seemed easier to me if I made the video really small and far away from me to make things out better, having it all big and blown up seemed to obscure it more.

[i3arracuda]

I thought I was seeing zoomed in lettering going across as well, but could not make anything out of it.

I can't not see it now. I can even see the same phrase in negative space scrolling slowing across the screen from right to left now, too.

I think this effect is achieved through transparent layers against the white background. At least two layers, maybe more. One layer is scrolling horizontally (which forms the phrase) and another layer scrolling vertically (to simulate a refresh rate?). I believe there is a vertical message as well, but it might end up being just the same thing.

[izo]

I thought I was seeing zoomed in lettering going across as well, but could not make anything out of it.

I cross-posted this in the NTAE thread, as well.

I believe I may have found a hidden message in the Burning Bright music video. I watched it again today on a computer monitor, 27", 1080P, and sitting about 10-12" away from the screen. I turned the sound off. Let your eyes de-focus, look at the center of the screen and imagine the dark areas of the video are coming out of the screen, as if it were a 3D effect. It might even be helpful to imagine you are watching the VR portions of the 'Less Than' video. You'll notice that the dark areas form letters flashing and scrolling across the screen. If you can now see the letters, imagine that they are scrolling from right to left across your screen and you will see the phrase 'NOT THE ACTUAL EVENTS' repeated over and over, and the NIN logo appears randomly on the screen. Someone earlier mentioned the poem "The Tyger" and I believe that may be key to seeing the message:

Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

The Burning Bright music video is bisected vertically.

Not sure if there's anything else in there, or anything that relates to Add Violence. Also, I have a headache now.

I can sort of see what you are referencing. I see letters, possibly numbers, that flash on the screen...but who knows...could be seeing things that aren't there.

[Xvostya]

To me, it looks like its zoomed in very far on something, not necessarily static or scrambled.

Already zoomed, flipped, resized, reversed, overlayed and also descrambled with at least 3 algorithms with LOADS of different settings

Puzzle's just not solving, but feeling like we're walking close, hha.

And yeah, as @i3arracuda wrote above - i see there some repeating shapes in that static too, which reminds some letters/text.
Actually, that was the main thing why i started doing all that.


But remembering redhorsevector static... looks like we're hallucinating again. I NEED MY WATER NOW!!1


(Btw, @Toadflax - reporting - pictures on the floor not moving, but walls... OH!!)

[djbuffnstuff]

24.24.2.780 checking in to say how excited I am! I was in undergrad during YZ and dedicated lots of time to following along. Now that I'm adulting with not as much time on my hands I'll probably be mostly lurking here for this one. I wrote papers in college and did presentations about the YZ ARG so I was pumped to see 42 Entertainment involved again.

It'll be interesting to see if this one is as full blown as YZ and how new technology will be used. I'm guessing there will be something with VR but also how social media has expanded since 2007 too. Either way, it'll be a fun ride and I'm looking forward to what the community comes up with. Happy hunting to anyone going to the show tonight.

[Malashaan]

The video frames have definite columns. You can really see them clearly if you turn your screen sideways to watch the video (making them horizontal). I wonder if only displaying every Nth frame would clear it up? I would tae a wild guess that n=8 just because of the octal division of the dials on the simulation machine. I also wonder if viewing it through an active shuttered 3D system would reveal anything (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_shutter_3D_system) - anyone have a pair of these?

Also wondering about glasses free 3D tech such as this (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4269274/). In short, the screen is divided into columns and set up so your left and right eyes only see every other column. Given the apparent column divisions here, that might reveal something.