Dominoes vs. Machines: Round VII (w/

Dominoes vs. Machines is back for the 7th consecutive year, so yet again, it's time to go head to head with one of my favorite domino builders in the community. This year, ‪@GranTheMan‬ and I battle it out in a war of chain reaction art. It's an exciting matchup, but hopefully you agree that his dominoes are no match for my machines!

VOTE for the winner of Round VII! https://forms.gle/7nVgov4CgXjmaqZy8

Support me on Patreon!   / jackofallspades98  

LINKS:
GranTheMan:    / @grantheman  
Watch Rounds I - VI!    • Dominoes vs. Machines  
Behind the Scenes (Twitter thread):   / 1324446978714062849  

CLIP STATS:
Most fails: Pitagora Suichi Tribute (41)— Unless you count the 57 fails that Gear Tracks Timing Trick had AFTER I got the working take on Test #3. I thought I could get a better working take but stopped trying after realizing the working take I had was already as good as it could possibly get haha)
Fewest fails: Gear Tracks Timing Trick (2)— Then it failed 57 more times blah blah blah just see above
Most frustrating: Gear Rolls Along Chain (not for fail-related reasons; this was the last clip I made, I was under a time crunch, and I had no ideas left)
Most fun: Pitagora Suichi Tribute
Favorite: Flexing Linkage System
Longest Build Time: Pitagora Suichi Tribute (9 days)
Quickest Build Time: Double Pendulum Cascade & Motor Walks Across Gears (2 days)

Making the clips for this video sure was an unusual experience. I moved into a new apartment in early September (new building area, as you can tell!) and it seemed like the annoying little things that I had to take care of were always stealing away my building time. The first clip was finished on September 20th, and by the end of the first month, I had only build 3 of the 9 clips. I strongly considered only making 6 clips this year, but over time decided against it. I still didn't pick up the pace much in the first half of October, on account of spending over a week on the Pitagora Suichi tribute. With less than 10 days left to build, I still had 4 clips I had to make, and somehow, I managed to pull it off, completing the final clip on the night of November 1st!
The Pitagora Suichi tribute is in honor of a research project I did this spring, where I attempted to answer all my questions about the show that inspired me so much, Pitagora Suichi. Among other things, I wanted to research the history of the show and what made it especially influential on the western chain reaction community. I hoped that in the process I would unearth more footage of the machines from the show, and/or get in contact with someone who worked on building the machines. Incredibly, I was able to find about 75 Pitagora Suichi machines likely never before seen by the chain reaction community outside of Japan, and I was able to talk with one of the visual artists who has helped build the machines since the show began. Ultimately, my research culminated in an essay which you can find here, along with all the new Pitagora Suichi machine footage I found: https://drive.google.com/drive/folder...
As for the machine itself, I wanted to pay tribute to all my research, and I figured there's no better way than to try to emulate their style as closely as possible. I tried to get absolutely everything right, the everyday objects, the elevation changes, the special wooden tracks, the pacing, the decoration, the lighting, the background, the filming style, the music, the hand that reaches in to start it, EVERYTHING. I'm very proud of the result, and I learned a lot about the Pitagora Suichi style while building it. I don't think I'm fooling anyone into thinking my machine is really from the show, but hopefully it captures the essence! Special thanks to Joseph Herscher, who came over to my apartment and lent me his steadicam rig to help film the machine! Joseph is also the one who pushes the red ball, in case you were wondering whose hand that was! ;)

#DominoesVsMachines

MUSIC:
Schtiffles - Ghost House
   • Geometry Dash Music - Schtiffles - Gh...  
Follow Schtiffles:
Twitter:   / schtiffles  
YouTube:    / @schtiffles  
Newgrounds: https://schtiffles.newgrounds.com/

Want to hang out with other chain reaction artists and enthusiasts? Join the official Domino & Machine Community Discord server!   / discord  

I am also interested in commissioned work, such as live events, commercials, or product placements. Contact me via e-mail at [email protected] if you have any questions.