New Vid!! Due South!!!

[sisabet]

So first of all - big huge beta thanks to renenet for going well and above the call of duty here. I am sorry I was such an unmitigated bitch last night. I blame After-Effects.

Massive thanks for additional beta duties to pipsqueaky (who remained firm even in the face of a very vid-disgruntled Liz), f1renze who freaking can pick up on ONE SINGLE FRAME MISSTIMED! (and also dealt with a bear of a me),absolutedestiny who sent me a key filter and then rued the day (muahahahaha), sweetestdrain and just_eunice for being so supportive, tzikeh for making sure I didn't watch "Victoria's Secret" alone, sockkpuppett for making sure I continued working even when it was hard and who had terrific ideas to tie things together, and laurashapiro and katallison cause they helped me figure out how to end the damned thing.

Whew. Also? None of the above made fun of me when they figured out what I was doing - although there were a lot of OMGWTFPOLARBEARVID. Mostly from me.

It really does take the Village People.

This is my first due South vid - no spoilers post season one.

Icebound Stream
Song by: Laura Veirs
I can hold a thunderhead in my heart


ETA: 8-19-09, this vid is now available again as a download:

Xvid version (28) Mbs available here


Additional source:

Inuit singers and footage taken from the documentary "Great North"
Additional footage from "Antarctica: An Adventure of a Different Nature" (I know, okay - I just needed snow), "The Blue Planet: Frozen Seas," "Alaska: Spirit of the Wild," "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom: Mammals of North America" and some educational film about glaciers that I can't find right now.

Also? infinitemonkeys for making this icon which reminded me of this idea everytime I posted.

ETA2: Oh yeah - that thing we do where I post something and you tell me what you thought about it? I *love* that thing! All feedback welcomed.

ETA3: Notes, interactive beta moments and my nervous breakdown during the making of the vid is discussed at length here.

Comments

[skipthedemon.livejournal.com]

Oh wow. That was exquisitely timed and mixed. You make me want Due South DVD's more then ever.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Cool, thank you. Are you in the States? Best Buy has the DVDs in-store for $20.

[killabeez.livejournal.com]

I know not from due South, but that is just really, really pretty. :-) And a fascinating concept. And did I mention pretty?

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Thank you - when you say something is pretty I get all swelled up with pride!

[castalianspring.livejournal.com]

...oh my god. That was just exquisite, to quote Ray. He wasn't even in the vid but I'm still feeling every bit of emotional impact that would have been there if he was. As it is, there's enough emotional impact to choke a polar bear. I love the polar bears, and the breaking ice and the plunging and the awesome, awesome timing. I never would have associated the song with DS, but boy, does it ever work.

One of my favorite bits of timing is at :55 when Fraser slams the door and then you cut to him opening it later on, then move to the revolving glass doors. Lovely.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank you. I am so glad the emotional impact carried through.

One of my favorite bits of timing is at :55 when Fraser slams the door and then you cut to him opening it later on, then move to the revolving glass doors.

Doors were a big thing for me in this vid - doors and glass and containers and spheres.

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

Very beautiful! I'd never heard the song and I'm barely familiar with the source material (having seen two DS vids before this one, and one episode of the show) and it still really worked for me. I believed that I understood the story you were telling (hey, I could completely misunderstand and have created my own illusion of reality, but to me it's more important that I didn't feel clueless than whether or not I was "right" in the story I saw.) I really liked the song and I LOVED the fact that you added the non-DS footage -- my favorite shots were the ones where the polar bear had blood all over its (his?) face.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Laura Veirs can be almost off-putting at first listen, but her songs are almost all just...different and haunting, I guess.

I am so glad the vid worked for you even if you are unfamiliar with the source! Bloody-faced polar bear worked out amazingly well. I was so happy when I was putting him/her in the timeline and I remembered the movement in subsequent clip.

[quinn222.livejournal.com]

This is fantiastic, it packs a monster emotional punch.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

You Made My Head Explode!

[vagabondage.livejournal.com]

OMFG!!! You are so damn smart! Every single aspect of this vid is absolutely DEAD ON. POLAR BEARS!!! So. Fucking. Smart. You gave me goosebumps, and at the end... all alone.. I teared up. AND THEN MY HEAD EXPLODED!!!

Love you sooooooo much for doing this. It is absolutely AMAZING!!!

Re: You Made My Head Explode!

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

YAY! You liked it! You really liked it!

[malnpudl.livejournal.com]

WOW! That was stunning... and immensely powerful.

I'm absolutely blown away... need to watch it half a dozen more times.

Again: Wow!

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much - this means a lot.

[cesperanza.livejournal.com]

Okay, it just gets better every time i watch it (I"m on time six now.) Favorite parallelisms with Fraser/Victoria and the bears include: the first shot of the bloody muzzle bear cutting into Victoria walking away along the same axis, Fraser and his bear at the zoo, with the bear almost banging desperately at the glass (nose to the window! omg, with Fraser at the window later! the man behind glass!) and the Victoria bear with a bloody belly cutting to shots of Victoria wearing Fraser's red jammies. I'm just astounded, seriously. The cutting is so good, the rhythm, the way you just nail the primitivism of both of them--this relationship is Wild Kingdom, a conflict in the animal world, and it's sad but almost inevitable the way you present it; the brutality of sex and being alive. Holy Jesus Lord. I bow down!

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Your comment makes me flail about happily!

he first shot of the bloody muzzle bear cutting into Victoria walking away along the same axis

I remember clipping that bear and just being so happy and excited with what I could do with it.

nose to the window! omg, with Fraser at the window later! the man behind glass!

Yes! Glass and doors and circles and spheres and containers and water and air! And escape and freedom and breaking and falling and stuff!

The cutting is so good, the rhythm, the way you just nail the primitivism of both of them--this relationship is Wild Kingdom, a conflict in the animal world, and it's sad but almost inevitable the way you present it; the brutality of sex and being alive.

Again with the silly happy dance - but I just... I don't think the relationship with Victoria was onesided and I do think there absolutely was this incredible connection to her that Fraser felt (across a thousand lifetimes). They share something.

And as my dad would say: what are morals to a polar bear? Well, actually what he would say is "what's time to a dog?" but that is really only useful when you are discussing vampires and/or Immortals.

[kiki-miserychic.livejournal.com]

Having never watched due South, I think this is breathtakingly beautiful. I don't completely understand what's going on, but I get the gist of it, and that goes a long way. It's the kind of vid that I don't need to know the whole backstory to appreciate.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Wow, thank you so much. I'm glad it works for you.

[boniblithe.livejournal.com]

The best feedback I can give you is that this is the only Due South vid I have ever watched that has actually made me interested in seeing the show!

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

You know that the DVDs are just $20 at Best Buy.

::cough::

Thank you soooo much Boni!!!

[c-regalis.livejournal.com]

Wow! This was beautiful. I'm blown away. Thank you!

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

No! Thank *you* for letting me know you liked it!

[mlyn.livejournal.com]

Awesome work, hon! I love the visual rhythms you've captured and woven together, the metaphors, the effects, the focus on what an amazing story Victoria's Secret is. It definitely wasn't what I expected, since it's so quickly paced and there are so many (cute!) polar bears and awesome far north footage, but it all works wonderfully. Great job.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Since I know how you feel about Victoria's Secret I am pleased as punch. Thank you so much!

[nicole-anell.livejournal.com]

I don't know a single thing about "Due South" and... wow. Wow. I wish I had something smart to say about this. It's just flawless and beautiful and now I need to go watch it again.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank you so much!! DS is a really great show and you get the DVDs really cheap now at Best Buy and there is like this incredibly active fandom and ....

HEE! I swear I won't pimp anymore at you.

[anoel.livejournal.com]

Wow, this video is just absolutely amazing. I have limited dS knowledge (some vids and katallison's fic) so I couldn't grasp as much as I wanted to but it blew me away with what I did come up with. The nature shots were interwoven beautifully throughout it, I love the parallelism with the polar bears (super cool when the polar bear was actually on the screen with them) and how it fits Fraser, dS and the song perfectly. I really liked the cold, snowy theme in contrast to the fire, showing their passionate relationship.

Technically it was just suberb. Your cuts were spot on and I loved how well they matched the music. It was so cool the way there was movement on the exact moments the song showed similar moment (hard to describe but for example at 0:16/17). I really liked how things would hit on the strong beats, it made it more powerful. I liked the color transitions like on 1:39 between the clip and nature and the color/movement of the clip on 2:14 (with the blue/red) stuck out as being particularly vibrant. The movement from 2:24-2:26 was just extremely cool and right after that with the trees and earth was a nice similarity, both being circular and reminded me of the snow globe.

There were some great emotional shots in it and I loved how you built up to the end. The snow globe breaking was a great image, just a perfect visual. The last images at the end, with them struggling, pulling back and forth were just incredibly significant and pulled it all together for a huge finish. I love the last image with the polar bear, it's the perfect finishing touch.

Also, I love the opening credits. Reflected the video really well. Overall, I just loooved it! Thanks so much for making it and I'm glad you had sufficient help to finish.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

I am thrilled you got so much out of this, especially considering your limited knowledge of the source. That is best feedback in the world!

he movement from 2:24-2:26 was just extremely cool and right after that with the trees and earth was a nice similarity, both being circular and reminded me of the snow globe.

I am so glad that carried through and was apparent. I had already broken the globe and really needed to carry that metaphor on through without the enclosure and so to hear that people are picking up on it is immensely satisfying.

I love the last image with the polar bear, it's the perfect finishing touch.

My poor betas had to deal with several tantrums before I dealt with proper placement of that particular bear. Along with an in depth analysis of the emotional states of various polar bears in (and now out - damn happy bears had to go) the vid.

[ruuger]

Absolutely wonderful. It's been years since I've watched S1 of Due South, and I have no idea who the woman in the vid was, but it didn't matter because the vid was just so beautiful and emotional and just... Gah! Great job.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much!

[norah.livejournal.com]

Oh, that was just wonderful. Thank you!

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

YAY! Thank you!

[corinna-5.livejournal.com]

Here via Cesperanza's rec -- it's everything she said it was, and even more gorgeous than I expected. It makes me want to rewatch the episodes, and since you know how heartbreaking that would be, that's quite the compliment!

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

It *is* a compliment (OMG, Fraser don't cry)! Thank you so much!

[mondschein1.livejournal.com]

Oh. My. God. That was utterly, utterly brilliant. *rewatches twenty times*

I think this is even better than the ep itself. Excluding, of course, the fact that none of it would make sense to someone who hasn't seen the ep. So, so beautiful, and appopriately heart-wrenching.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Wow - thank you so much.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Oh, this is *gorgeous*. Oh, Fraser.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

I *know* - poor Fraser. He just...with his...and his face!

Thank you so much.

[xtrustno1x.livejournal.com]

Here by way of pipsqueaky...and...I'm speechless. Beautifully done and perfectly intuned to the music. I especially like the added footage. omgwtfpolarbear, indeed!

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much!

[thepouncer.livejournal.com]

That was magnificent. I need to rewatch, because the imagery was so rich and complex. Normally, I don't have emotional reactions to vids, but this one made me breathe fast and get teary eyed toward the end. I did was dS back in the day on CBS, and Victoria's Secret (and Letting Go) were the only episodes I had on tape for years, so I don't know how many times I've seen the episode. The message from this vid, though, seems even greater than familiarity with the source text would indicate. I really love it.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Is it wrong that I read about your teary-eyedness with glee? Cause thank you so much for telling me. I am thrilled it worked so well for you.

[elz.livejournal.com]

WHEE! And I just finished watching the show about a week ago. It does take a moment of... mental rearrangement to stop thinking of polar bears as inherently humorous animals, which obviously, they're not, when they're not randomly appearing on tropical islands. The visuals are really enthralling - I keep trying to listen to the lyrics, but it's hard to pull my attention back even that far. I love the rhythm it all has, and the way everything flows together with the image of the snow globe and the shots at the zoo. (I don't know if there was a spherical filter on some of the scenic clips, but it did feel like: ooh, it's the inside of the snow globe! it's the inside of his head! Poor Fraser!. Umm, yes.) I especially loved the way you captured the push and pull between Fraser and Victoria, and the transition from the diamonds spilling out to the birds taking off, right before Fraser makes his attempt at escape.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

mental rearrangement to stop thinking of polar bears as inherently humorous animals

::me intones from a thousand nature documentaries watched recently::

The polar bear is the largest land predator and...

Hee, damn Coca Cola and the cuddlefying of the polar bear!

(I don't know if there was a spherical filter on some of the scenic clips, but it did feel like: ooh, it's the inside of the snow globe! it's the inside of his head! Poor Fraser!. Umm, yes.)

YES! I am so thrilled you got that! AND

pilling out to the birds taking off, right before Fraser makes his attempt at escape

That as well. Seriously - I am on the fricking moon that people are catching so much with this vid.

[dualbunny.livejournal.com]

Oh *wow*...

You are an inspiration. Seriously.

That's the most coherent thing I can say about this right now. :]

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Oh wow! Thank you so freaking much.

[linzeestyle.livejournal.com]

I have absolutely no knowledge of Due South outside of my flist's talk of Mounties and the burned copy of S1 sitting on my dresser that I'll never get around to, but this was very, very pretty. I loved the colors: the warm greens and yellows and cold blues and whites. And I adored how all of the clips flowed together -- particularly from 1:25 onwards it felt like all of the scenes were meant to flow together. Even the ones that (apparently) were not from the actual show. I would not have known you'd gotten source elsewhere if you had not pointed it out.

In conclusion: omgpolarbearyay!

Linzee

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Aww thank you so much!!

::very pointedly does not tell you to watch show as this will only insure you *don't* watch show::

[barkley.livejournal.com]

That was very beautiful. I think I'm in love with the rhythm and movement of the vid.

(And just this morning I started listening to "Live at the World Cafe" podcast featuring a Laura Viers interview and she was talking about people living off the grid somewhere up north.)

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank you!

Laura Veirs is an extremely interesting artist. I already have plans to try to vid "Fire Snakes" as a Serenity/Buffy crossover.