The Making of "Two Words" -- Vid Process Commentary

[sisabet]

All this talk about Two Words is just making me so very happy. I was getting ready to discuss yhlee's commentary
and Flo reminded me that I haven't really done that here -- she asked for a "Making of Two Words" and since I have a moment right now...here it is.




About the song:

Most importantly - the online lyrics are wrong.

"Two Words" is on Kanye West's 2004 debut album "The College Dropout." IMO, it was one of the finest albums released last year and also? One of the best of this decade. West walks a fine line welding searingly honest lyrics with catchy hooks and plays on many gangsta cliches. He doesn't set himself up as this ultra-dangerous pimp/thug and he doesn't front about violence as a matter of fact reaction, (although it is a fact of life). He worked at the Gap. He tried to go to school. It didn't work out.

The song "Two Words" is actually a very different track than the rest of the album. On this song, West is joined at the mic by Mos Def (and if you do not know *who* Mos Def is - please just, I don't know, google him or something) and Freeway. Freeway is a Rocafella Records rapper who is pretty much insane and it is only on Freeway's part of the song that the lyrics take a dive into typical posturing. Well, actually - not typical as he is Freeway and most rappers do not call themselves "slightly retarded" and he still has a few points to make but - heck by that point in the song there is just so much going on that Freeway is just a part of the whole. Also, I edited out some of his part just because it didn't fit. The choir in question here is the Harlem Boys Choir.

All of the violins in the song were written, performed and arranged by Miri Ben-Ari (she is known as the "token white girl" in the class yearbook in the CD Booklet and I feel an affinity for her as we had the same High School Hair). The samples in the song come from songs by Mandrill: "Peace and Love(Amani Na Mapenzi)" and "Movement III (Time)" and the Wilson brothers who wrote these sampled songs are also given writing credits for "Two Words" as well as Dante Smith (Mos Def) and Leslie Prigden (Freeway).



Why I picked this song:

I didn't mean to. I never once picked up this album and said "Wow, I should vid something from this." In fact, I bitched to Lum about how fantastic this album was but how I could never vid "We Don't Care" and why isn't there *something* out there in media fandom that would allow me to play with "All Falls Down" and then we'd get sidetracked talking about Lauryn Hill's "Mystery of Inequity" - and just stuff.

I admit it - early on - I got stuck on the earlier tracks because this album is just that good. I could only go two songs at a time. One night, I think it was April, I was driving home from Dawn's house and I remember I was stuck on "School Spirit" and wondering if I could do a "School Daze" vid to it and for some reason I decided to skip over the album skits and if I had heard "Two Words" before that night - I don't remember.

But I remember sitting at the stop light at Chevy Chase and just hoping it stayed red a bit longer because this song... this was a vid song in the finest traditions of all vid songs. Everything about it just screamed to me visually and the choir hadn't even started singing yet.

I knew the song was probably about Angel just because of the line "Nowhere to go" and so I drove around Tates Creek that night and up to Man-o-War and I eventually made myself go home so I could rip this song and bug Luminosity. I totally pounced on her online, sent her the song, and begged her to make a vid to it. She listened, pointed out that of course I liked the song, there was a choir, and reminded me that she was vidding. I - was not vidding. I was putting off remastering all my other vids and had hit a technical wall with the DVDs.

But she listened to me blather about how I really felt that this song is capturing the Angel-verse and it isn't just about Angel - it is about the world and she encouraged me to continue thinking about this even though... well, it was kinda nuts. But so is Lum, so these things work out.

So, this got pushed to the side because Angel ended and I was devastated and I had an auction vid and I had to finish my Farscape vid and Angel was over and I finished my Last Stand remaster for Slayage and Angel was over and really, did I mention that Angel was over? And that I took that news really, really hard? Cause in case you are just now joining the program, I was a wreck. So was Lum. We were all wrecked together and how grateful am I that eventually it was May and I was driving down to Slayage to do the vid-thing with Lum and we could Just. Wallow.

So, I am driving to Nashville from Lexington and I listened to "Two Words" the entire time on repeat. By the time I got to Nashville, I knew exactly what it was about -- I had the vid divided into sections determined by the song and it was completely alive in my head.

I then proceeded to talk Lum's ear off about this idea and the Wes-Is-Donnie-Darko idea. She was, as always, supportive of both and I made her listen to the song on repeat more than is recommended by doctors. She should qualify for sainthood, but she also knows that when I get really upset, I tend to hyperfocus and miss stuff and go manic. And we were both really upset.

When I eventually started vidding "Two Words" it took less than two weeks (which is great cause it was right up on the Premiere deadline) and the only bit that gave me any pause at all was just the fact that in order to vid the ending I had to watch Wes die. I complained and cried about that for a couple of days. There were some tech issues with Premiere, but I've never just vidded like that -- in this strange grim place where I am flying through the timeline and putting up clips that are all *working* and my mouth is just tense and my shoulders are tense and I was not that nice to people who interupted me. I didn't realize that I was furious until Lum pointed it out, much much later. Thankfully, she just let me rant when I was involved in this and cry when I wasn't. Really, if she hadn't talked me down from the Wes Ledge, I would have abandoned this project.


So, the vid came together and there were very few changes from the first to the final draft and I was angry. The vid is angry. The vid is also full of love because I dearly loved this show and I wanted to just... I wanted to *show* that this is *my* show and why it was my show and I wanted to highlight all the wonder and pain that makes this MY SHOW.


About the Vid:

So, if you look at the song -- there are these distinct parts that are separated from other parts of the song by the music and the lyrics. This is common in a rap song where you have more than one lead performing -- the verses are written by the person who spits them so they will not be consistent. The only consistent thing in the song will be the hook - the chorus.

Also - the song frames itself. It opens on the same note it closes on and as a vidder? I love framing. I do. I knew that this opening note that would be repeated and sustained at the end -- the entire vid is about this note. It was a no brainer to put the stroke of Angel's sword there because I wanted to signify that the entire vid, the entire show, all of the events -- it all was happening in the stroke of his sword.

So that was the first clip.

Then we get to the first part of the song - these quiet chords that are plucked out into this void and they build up this kind of tension right before Mos Def steps up and raps:

We in the streets playin getcha mail
There's only two places you go, either dead or in jail
Nowhere to go

How much do I love this part?

This part is different from the rest of the entire song - it doesn't match to a chorus or a verse it just... it is the intro. It is setting the scene for the guys to step up and talk about Urban Hopelessness and struggle.

It therefore follows that the vid needs to set a stage - set a scene. I chose shots for the opening chords that I have always wanted to use in a vid - the carosel. The little girl on the beach. The skateboarder. I chose daytime shots of safety and things that make me feel warm. This is life. This is a place. This is what we know.

Then I felt it was really really important to show the sun going down because what we just saw there? That was an illusion. That is not what you really need to pay attention to. That is a distraction from the real city.

When Mos Def starts - that is the real city. Here it is - this is life and death and you have No. Where. To. Go. And it was important that I not show Angel. This is the city without Angel, after all. This is what it really is - and I also knew that I had to have the girl from "City of..." - the doomed girl played by Tracey Middendorf that Angel could not save and I had to have her saying "I want to go home" in this part even I was the only person who knew what she was saying. I get chills when I see her mouth the word "home" in this vid and so I made the right choice - it affects me tremendously. I overidentify and everything and YAY!

So the Nowhere to go part ends with a steady drumbeat and I show Angel's back walking away -- walking into his city. This ends the song's intro and moves us into what I considered the first verse - Mos Def's part of the song.

I knew this part of "Two Words" -- the POV was going to be universal. Mos Def is going to basically - teach us about what is important in the Angel-verse and he is gonna do it almost chronologically by way of pointing out The Big Huge Honking Changes at each repetition of the line "Everybody MOVE"

See - the set up of this part of the song is this:

lyric, lyric, lyric, lyric, lyric
EVERYBODY MOVE
lyric, lyric, lyric, lyric, lyric
EVERYBODY MOVE
lyric, lyric, lyric, lyric, lyric
EVERYBODY MOVE
lyric, lyric, lyric, lyric, lyric
EVERYBODY MOVE

See - doesn't that look like 4 seasons to you? Well - not even that because of course the first big change was Doyle dying. It was important to me that you didn't see Angel's face full on (he is there in profile in another shot and just his back in the previous ones) until the line "K West" cause I wanted to make certain I was establishing him as Kanye early on. It was also important that I use Wes as Mos Def and .... well, that was just personal. I decided to use the two biggest ostentatious Big Brooding Hero shots of both men as well, cause that is something that only I might notice and will just crack me up with exasperated love for both of them forever and day.

But - so anyway -- everybody move was defined a Big Things. The building blowing up, Connor's birth, Cordelia losing it --- these are all things that changed the landscape of the universe forever. These were chemical changes to the formula.

I also knew that I only had to get through four seasons here, because Angel still has his part to tell me and the rest of the crew can chime in for Season 5 later. So then it just became playing with the source and finding out what each line meant and where it collided with things that I had to have happen - like introing Fred and Lorne and just - making certain that it all worked and again, showed the viewer *why* I love this show.


Then we get to the chorus. This will be repeated, differently but still -- three times. I knew the first chorus was capping off Season 4 and the manipulation of Connor by TPTB (and also a chance to pretty much wrap up Cordy)-- I just... watching him so desperately reaching out and Knowing that he was doomed from the start (bloody hands on Darla's pregnant stomach meant to juxtapose with Connor's bloody hand on Cordelia's belly after he is lost) and the final intercut shot of Connor walking into the church over Angel walking down the alley in "City of..." was an accident.

I have been complimented on that shot more than anything else I have ever done. People *love* it and it happened by total and complete accident. I meant to have Angel walking away at the end of both sections -- the intro and now this other section just to signify a change in the goal of the song.

I was hoping that the audience would see him walking way and hear the drums and just subconsciously cue into the fact that now... now we are changing the rules of the narrative again.

Somehow - Connor in that clip got laid over Angel walking as I was editing the chorus and I was scrubbing thru the timeline and saw it and I was just struck by...well it was neat. So I razored it to see, just for fun, and then I IMed Lum that Connor was just like his Old Man and she IMed back something that was basically "Duh" but far more erudite. I didn't even think I would keep it but it was so pretty that I decided to just live with it for awhile. Then I got attatched.

But this brings us to the third part of the song -- Kanye West's part and I had no doubt in my mind that this part was Angel first person POV. From the very beginning, Angel was always Kanye.

"One neck two chains/One waist, two gats"

Okay the lyric is about posturing and excess - he has two gold chains on his neck and you are like - fine, okay. He has two belts around his waist -- what? No, that is ridiculous. But it is about having to have these things -- these proofs of who and what you are. These material riches that signify you are You (Kanye addresses this need for rampant materialism in the song All Falls Down - I rec that to you now).

For Angel it isn't about that - it is about people. And the only people he has - the core of his family and the things that Tie Him. That ground him. That make him live in this world are Cordelia and Wes. They are all he has (consistently) and they are also his strength and liability and they Make Him Who He Is. They know and love him. That is powerful stuff and they had to be his two chains. I could go with the excess on the belts, but the chains are needed.

I also went with some real obvious Keanu-literalisms in the middle of all of this because 1. I could. and 2. it was funny and B. I could.

Also - the vid needed something to be light in tone, if even for just a teeny bit because otherwise it would just be Pain, Death, Destruction, oh Apocolypse, More Pain and Death, Death, Death. I wanted just a bit of cake, y'know? Even if it wasn't good cake - storebought sheetcake will do in a pinch.

So - this entire section is different from the one that preceeded it because it is All About Angel. This is no longer a universe being explained -- it is one man showing you his journey and what drives him and how he got there. "Dues Paid, gimmee that" is about the promise of the shansu and how messed up it is that - if Angel wants his "reward" it only comes with an apocolypse. Does this mean he wants the end of the world? (this was also something that bothered me when I had to be around Pre-Trib Rapture-Lovin' Christians. Dude, you want the world to burn with people still on it. That ain't right). He was promised something and gets it in Connor -- only to lose Connor -- and he knows he is to blame and he will be blamed and yet...He still has this city to hold down and he's from the bottom so the top's (W&H) the only place to go now.

Illyria for racially profile and Spike and Lindsey for pimped up and ho'd down were just me loving my show so very very much. Also? Lindsey *looked* fabulous in the chorus so I needed him here and I had to work Spike in just a bit more before the Season 5 section of the song, cause after that he is in the vid just as much as anyone else. Also, Lindsey is very very pretty. And he strips to fight Angel. This is my thank you to him, for that gesture. Thank You Lindsey. Thank you very very much.


The chorus after the Kanye/Angel first person POV part served the purpose of throwing us into Season 5. We see the death of Fred and the substitution of Illyria and the glamour put over the office and Angel realizing with a start that something has to be done and if anyone wants me to break down the exact images and why I used them, just ask. But my favorite visual moment of the vid is when Illyria is breaking down and we fly away into the offices (and under all of this is Lindsey being sucked up into another dimension) and suddenly Wes is shooting and then Gunn is being brain washed and now --- we have no time for anything.

This is Freeway's part and Freeway is here to tell you about Season five from a multiperson universe POV and just pay attention. Shit (sorry Ellen, cursing is needed here) is hitting the fan. Everything in the vid is leading to this -- Wes and Gunn and Spike and Angel are making sacrifices and Mistakes. Fred's were in the chorus.

Becausse this part has to build to the final chorus. We have to get *everyone* to the point that they will hold their hand up and volunteer to make this final move.

Vidding this last part was both... well I didn't enjoy it and I can't stress how hard it was to actually place some of these clips, but I wanted to bring in Connor and I wanted to show Gunn making a connection and I wanted to show Lindsey die and I had to show Wes die and it was just so hard. The final shot of this section where Illyria puts her fist through whatshisface's skull? I told Lum at the time that this was exactly how I felt. She told me that I wasn't alone.

Then I had to get them all into the alley over the violins and show the horde approaching and line up my guys (and if you notice - the show makes Spike first in raising his hand and first in the alley and it is not that I don't appreciate it -- I do. I like Spike -- but in my vid he is not first because that just would not be right). And then we hit the final chord and Angel swings his sword and ....


I decided to go back thru the show and pick moments that I loved. Moments that told me, this is Cordy, this is Wesley, look at Gunn, Look at Fred... this is my show and this is Angel's family and it is all happening in the span of his sword. And then the note ends as does the stroke.

Comments

[rydra_wong]

*shrieks with joy*

*settles down to study*

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

Thank you for this. I love love love experiencing another vidder's process so personally, especially when it's about a vid I just adore.

I might finally be able to understand *why* this vid gets me so much, now. I feel like I turn into you while I'm watching it.

[sdwolfpup.livejournal.com]

I love this vid so much, so reading this was a real treat.

I had to have her saying "I want to go home"

Oh my word. All this time I was convinced she was saying "nowhere to go" and I thought it was genius that you showed that clip (and her saying that) just after it's been sung in the song, instead of on the lyric in the song. Hee.

Moments that told me, this is Cordy, this is Wesley, look at Gunn, Look at Fred... this is my show and this is Angel's family and it is all happening in the span of his sword.

In a vid filled with wonderful moments, this is my favorite, because of all the work you did to build up to here. This is the part that makes me choke up without fail.

[sweetestdrain]

And then the note ends as does the stroke.

God - the end of your Making Of makes me want to cry like the end of the actual vid does. (Actually, my reaction right now is more "Gee, I think I'm actually kinda teary" rather than, y'know, continuous hysterical sobs, so maybe not exactly like the end of the actual vid.)

Very interesting to read. Thanks for posting this, but even moreso thanks for vidding Two Words. It's a genius creation, and one of my favorite vids.

[imation23.livejournal.com]

MY SHOW.

I have to watch this again. I actually found this vid pretty hard to watch right after the show ended, because it really hits you right in the gut. Now I know why.

[rydra_wong]

All this time I was convinced she was saying "nowhere to go"

Me too!

Which is actually quite cool, in that "it works that way too" sense - just as it works if people hear "Dues paid" as "Doomsday", as I think quite a few people have mentioned.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Yeah and the online lyrics say it is "dudes say" -- so you know -- all of these things *work*

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Oh, sorry - I am sometimes careless with the keyboard - edited now.

And you - you just did "Evil Angel"!!! You RAWK!

[f1renze.livejournal.com]

Remember when I made you describe the making of this vid in just a few words? You said “Primal Scream,” and what a perfect description that was.

Thank you so much for doing this. I know I can’t ask you to do a commentary on every vid, but I’m so glad you did *this* one.

I loved hearing about how you picked the song. It seems so raw and adds to why this vid feels the way it does.

I also adored hearing about the vidding context *you* were in --

So, this got pushed to the side because Angel ended and I was devastated and I had an auction vid and I had to finish my Farscape vid and Angel was over and I finished my Last Stand remaster for Slayage and Angel was over and really, did I mention that Angel was over?

-- cause it matters so much.


There were some tech issues with Premiere, but I've never just vidded like that -- in this strange grim place where I am flying through the timeline and putting up clips that are all *working* and my mouth is just tense and my shoulders are tense and I was not that nice to people who interupted me. I didn't realize that I was furious until Lum pointed it out, much much later.

Oh God, I can't even imagine. I just want to hug you right now.


Hee - like a few other people, I thought that that doomed girl was actually saying “nowhere to go” too, until I watched that episode again after the vid and whoa - you totally made that scene yours.


They are all he has (consistently) and they are also his strength and liability and they Make Him Who He Is. They know and love him. That is powerful stuff and they had to be his two chains.

Thank you for highlighting that his connection to Wes and Cordy was already so strong early on. And that he is big enough to rely on them.


I also went with some real obvious Keanu-literalisms in the middle of all of this because 1. I could. and 2. it was funny and B. I could.

Rock on. I just love how you approach this.



my favorite visual moment of the vid is when Illyria is breaking down and we fly away into the offices

Becausse this part has to build to the final chorus. We have to get *everyone* to the point that they will hold their hand up and volunteer to make this final move.

The Illyria/office visuals stood out to me too and yes, just -- yes.



I am attached to every single thing in this vid, but thanks especially for doing those final moments the way you did. The freeze frames – how you catch them right in action and make that moment linger? – is too brilliant for words.

[wolfling]

I really really dislike most rap songs -- really -- but there was always something that kept me coming back to this vid in spite of that. I get something more out of it every time I watch it, and it gives me goose bumps and makes me tear up every time I watch because it's Angel. My show. The climax, the last chorus, with the choir and they're all raising their hands, that gets me every time, but the more I watch the vid, the more bits get added to the "makes Wolfling tear up" list. I figure if I watch it a few more times, I'll be bawling all the way through. ;)

It really is a complex, layered and wonderful tribute to the show and the characters and it's fascinating to read your thought processes and choices for structure and clips and see how much I "got" watching on my own. :)

[fourleftxaviers.livejournal.com]

In a vid filled with wonderful moments, this is my favorite, because of all the work you did to build up to here. This is the part that makes me choke up without fail.

Word.

Two Words is very beautiful, and it was quite interesting reading this making-of. Personally I was more brokenhearted than angry about the end of Angel, but I can see how a lot of rage went into the production of this one.

TW is my all-time favorite vid. Which...I've seen a lot of vids.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Well, I don't know if this is so much something to study - there isn't like a vidding text. This is just how I approached the project.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Aww, thank you. I didn't really think much about the structure of the vid when I was making it - it was just one of those intrinsic things, y'know? But I realized at VVC and since that the structure is very specific and if you don't have familiarity with the song, it could be lost.

I want to one day be a vidder for whom -- everything is just *there* - like, it doesn't matter if the song is unfamilar or the set-up has to veer between verses, but the audience can just make the leap and follow into that without really having to deconstruct the entire thing. I want to make a vid that is perfectly clear but not simple.

::has goals::

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's beautiful. I adore this vid so very much. The first time I saw it, I said -- "That's Angel, that's just how the show made me feel, how could she capture it so perfectly?"

Two Words still makes me cry when I watch it, sometimes.

[darlulu.livejournal.com]

This vid is one of my all-time faves and I just love that I get to know what you were thinking as the process was unfolding.

Also:

and I had to have her saying "I want to go home" in this part even I was the only person who knew what she was saying. I get chills when I see her mouth the word "home" in this vid and so I made the right choice - it affects me tremendously. I overidentify and everything and YAY!

Yeah, I saw the pilot the day after I sent my feedback to you and was all damn! because I totally thought she was mouthing the words 'no hope' which was just as chilling as her wanting to go home. :(

*saves commentary to memories*

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

Clear but not simple. Yes. That's my goal as well. You wouldn't think it would be so hard, would you?

I do know what you mean about not thinking about the vid's structure at the time. It's great when the vid just grabs you by the scruff of the neck and drags you along with it. I always think my best vids are the ones I make when "in the zone" like that.

[rydra_wong]

Sorry, I study everything; it's my default approach to life. I'll just be over here with the binoculars; try not to be self-conscious *g*.

Seriously, I'm finding so much to learn in accounts like this of how individual vidders approached different projects, the different creative processes. And it's just fascinating anyway.

[heresluck]

Thank you for this. Just... thank you. For the vid, and for this account of your process. I'm going to re-read this tomorrow when my head's not quite so spinny.

[snoopypez.livejournal.com]

This is one of my favourite videos of ALL TIME. However, I can't bring myself to watch it as much as I want to, because it BREAKS me into a THOUSAND PIECES. :P

[nerdanel.livejournal.com]

YES. I don't know how many times I've asked Flo, "Isn't there a 'Making Of' for this vid yet?" It's so awesome to see how this came together. I guess the funniest thing for me is that your Angel/Connor walking away thing wasn't originally intended - I've watched many times and thought of possible meanings you could have intended. Other than that, I was really excited to read through this and see that I'd understood a lot of your intended meanings from watching the vid (and rewatching, and rewatching, and so on). I was really intrigued by your explanation of how you framed the vid, though - I hadn't grasped all of that.

Very fascinating read. This vid was the main way I was able to get through the shock of the NFA ending, because yes, even though I had read the script before watching (I *had* to know) - it was still a horrendous shock. Thanks.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Well okay. Just don't *tell* me that you are studying me cause I study everyone else. We can be study-buddies.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Vid Farr all the way man.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Vids are powerful fun and just... I can sit and read a story for hours. I can sit and watch a good vid for hours and in the end, I am getting different things from each, but one is no more mentally stimulating than the other. In fact, vids make me work harder to cipher.

[yourlibrarian]

Just wanted to tell you I enjoyed both the video and your discussion of what your process was. It was really interesting, and I'll have to look at it again in light of what you were planning.

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

God, this was fascinating and actually made me tear up just thinking about how you put it together and what the show meant and... This vid makes me incoherent, even in the abstract, apparently. I love it - and our show - so very, very much.

[bofoddity.livejournal.com]

I come to this very, very late, but God, I'm grateful that I did. I've been re-watching Angel lately, so I'm glad that I stumbled onto this now that I'm getting in Angel-high again, because it sums up everything that I loved about the show. The song used here is so perfect that I can't find words for it. I will be shaken over this for a long time.