REINE and Editing Maturity

Voluox's REINE, released almost four months ago, essentially shows a change of approach, a change of methodology of V (Voluox)'s expression. Obviously, the style is different, but that is not actually the important thing going on there. Yes, the edit is slower than usual and there's less jump cuts, and someone could describe it as being more "moody" than V's other edits, but...

That description depends solely on the vagueness of the word moody, because its meaning here actually points to a differentiation in feel from past Voluox edits, which are all obviously already distinctly atmospheric (the atmosphere here being very blue). The point is the differentiation is not on the stylistic plane - it's on the plane of approach.

There is nothing innately special about Homeoffice, Dao, System, or even the amazing Wake Up (although you could make a point about Dao being special considering the context of the time when it was released, but that's not the point). 

REINE is special in that it represents a graduation of sorts. It's a step in the direction of maturity and individual expression for Voluox. The cinematics are now in an elevated focus, enjoying a new tolerance for longer screentime and more pronounced meaningfulness than they did before (in Dao, System, or the others...), where they were perfomatively extensions or slaves to the flow. The focus is put, and let stay, on the exageratted movements of the camera. These exageratted movements are effectively superflous in the normal-edit-perspective, where a cinematic is an extension (or interface) of the edit's flow first, a medium of expression second. This change of perspective about the role of the shot is not (yet!) as pronounced on the POV, although if one looks hard enough, in the intro (in fact the most memorable part of the edit apart from the cinematics and the overlays), one can see the same change in approach, with the POV footage overextending its usual screentime stay, and being very sublty synced, not to the flow of the edit but to the meaning of its own rebellic expression. This becomes very obvious when contrasted to Voluox's past work, wherein the intros are always in medias res, always acting as subordinates to the jump-starting of Flow.

It is important to note, at this point, this does not indicate a lack of past artistic expression in V's edits. His edits are, obviously, not just flow incarante. This is why the point is hard to make - because of Voluox's immense talent all his edits are near absolute perfection (this is also, for clarity's sake, obviously not a statement about him being the best editor, or anything like that). The implication here is not about a never-before-seen thing appearing, it's of a hierarchical upset. In Homeoffice, the distinct back-and-forwards time-remapping/velocity was throughout flawless. It never overstayed its welcome, and never took you out of the edit. The effects that sell the semi-lofi feel never dared step outside their boundaries and exist as a standalone thing, they were always just as pronounced as the Form (the integral of Flow) let them be. Same goes for the coloristic expression in Wake up, same goes for the then new-wavey glitch effects in Dao.

This is the essence of the change of approach. The hierarchy is being upset. REINE's exaggerated focus on the expression of movement, along with other stylistic changes, like the lack of Voluox's distinct glitchy effects, and the slow embrace of warmer colors in the form of red light flashes and overlays, the red sunset in the skybox (especially in the mp_crash scene), and the mellow red roses symbollize a moving on.

...A moving on from the clutches of flow-focused, perfection seeking editing, into a more expiremental, personal, artistic expression. The REINE is a transitional edit, marking the change from one perspective into another. And it becomes painfully obvious when you take into account that this edit is his first that starts with a new logo. This is the reason why, even though Voluox has always been bad at finishing his movies, this one especially feels like it ends abruptly, like the edit was just about to start for real once the ending cinematic starts fading out. It's because after the REINE, the new Voluox starts.