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

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Hee! I told you I'd get you a version of the vid! I just had no idea I'd actually buckle down and finish the damn thing.

Thank you so much - the girl is Victoria, who gets mentioned *a lot* in the fic. Cause she is totally important.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

I GOT YOUR FEEDBACK AND OMG!!! Happy dance!

And you did capslock! For me! With an exclamation point!

::is so happy::

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

::flails::

Thank you so much! YAY! I am quite pleased with your reaction.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

There is a polar bear in Lost?

[heresluck]

I'm so happy you're so happy! *g*

And hey -- I use capslock and exclamation points. For important stuff. Like YOUR VID OMG!

[lizamanynames.livejournal.com]

*jawdrops*

Okay, this is beyond gorgeous, beyond an amazing fanwork into the realm of being an amazing work of ART.

I mean, granted, Victoria's Secret itself has some amazing and layered imagry in it, but you took it to the nth level and...

Gah. Words are insufficient. I am speachless here, and will just watch it again and again and...

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! I do view vidding as a form of artistic expression so your comment means a lot to me.

Victoria's Secret is an absolutely incredible episode when you break down just the repeating symbolic visual elements - combined with the structure of the narrative and just how layered *everything* was - I had a great basis to work with.

[anoel.livejournal.com]

There are polar bears on Lost. There's a whole storyline with Walt and them and they shot one in part II of the pilot.

[batwrangler.livejournal.com]

You are so cool and your vid is amazing. I love the transitions between scenes and that you grabbed all that "stuff from other sources that is so perfect".

[renenet.livejournal.com]

It is, in fact, the origin (via somebody's recaps/episode commentaries, I think) of OMGWTFPOLARBEAR!

[claudia79ad.livejournal.com]

Awesome!

[vienna-waits.livejournal.com]

I'm also here via Cesperanza's rec, and wow. Seriously, wow. One detail in particular that still takes my breath away after four viewings is the diamonds-to-glacier-to-birds sequence near the end. Wow. I wish I could be more coherent.

[mercuriosity.livejournal.com]

Here via cesperanza's rec.

That was utterly gorgeous. I don't know a lot about the technical aspects of vidding, but I can tell that you've done some amazing, amazing things here. I, too, loved the diamonds-glacier-birds sequence--I actually gasped out loud when I saw that. I also love the way you used the extra footage, especially how you showed their meetings/interactions juxtaposed with those of the polar bears--because, yes, so right.

Another visual detail I don't see mentioned as much in the comments--but which I just cannot get over--is the image of them lying in bed, the bedsheets, transitioning into the image of the mountains. Stunning.

VS absolutely wrecked me, and this vid is just beautiful and so fitting.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Another visual detail I don't see mentioned as much in the comments--but which I just cannot get over--is the image of them lying in bed, the bedsheets, transitioning into the image of the mountains. Stunning.

OH THANK GOD SOMEONE NOTICED!!! Hee! Seriously - you have no idea how long it took me to get those freaking sheets right. Not hours - days and toward the end I would just sit in chat and grumble about the ^*#$ sheets.

I am so glad you liked this vid and took the time to tell me, thank you.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much!

[lierdumoa.livejournal.com]

Oh My God.

::flails::

This is *beautiful* and I don't even know where to start, so this is going to be a little incoherent.

So I first watched this fashes last night, who said that this song is like the undercurrent of the Fraser/Victoria relationship, than again with adrienne2.

The polar bears were just the utterly perfect choice. They're these beautiful white, pristine looking animals, but they are *carnivores* and even more than that, as adrienne2 pointed out, they are the type of carnivores that can't live in packs. As other people mentioned, that image of the bear loping, muzzle covered in blood is incredibly startling and effective, because we *forget.*

Victoria is that kind of carnivore, and in a way so is Fraser, that he could love her the way he loved her because they are the same *kind* the same *breed* but, of course, Fraser is the polar bear behind the glass at 1:19. You show that even earlier at 0:29 with Faser looking out from inside the revolving glass doors and then the reveal of Victoria on the other side of the revolving glass doors and then the polar bear eating , outside of the building.

I love all of the images of Fraser as restrained, first at the beginning, lying on a hospital gurney with a neck brace, then the repeated images of him behind the glass doors, and 1:48 at the confessional, behind the lattice window, the snow globe, Fraser's very closed in *life* that you illustrate with the snow falling over him as he lies on his bed that Victoria just shatters just because she *can.* I liked the ice floes crashing put next to the snow globe shattering, this relationship that is so animal, such a force of nature.

There's 2:04, when he is reaching out as if to touch her and then pulling back, later with his own finger near his mouth and she still has a hold over him as strong as those walls he put up around himself, made him want to be the kind of carnivore she is, but there's too much humanity in him for that.

I love how you use parallel and continuous motions, like matching up the grace of the bear swimming with the slow kiss at 1:27. The way they approach each other. The playful bounce at 1:45 with the bear covered in fresh blood and Victoria's just *playing* with him. The turn of Victoria's head at 2:24 to match the polar bear standing upright. The polar bear advancing on the other and Victoria shoving Fraser a 2:54 and the way they are with each other. At 0:24 when Victoria crashes over him to the bed and 1:21 when she is lying on top of him and 1:52 when Victoria is grabbing him and pushing him. The fighting bears near the end and the lunging in for a kiss, just the way they *move* -- people don't normally interact like that, on that utterly primitive level.

I love how you stop the vid when Fraser is about to run after her, after you show her shooting him, and he *know* what she is and he's running after her anyway because it is just in his nature, because he has to try, to think that there could be some humanity in her like there is in him, but there *isn't* and she lopes away, beautiful and pristine and a killer.

[permetaform]

heh, I'm not so sure that I'd been able to help with it anyway. It's awesome and all sorts of shiny. =D

[lorem_ipsum]

omg! theirloveissopolar!

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

OMG YOU WIN AT COMMENTS!

[lorem_ipsum]

*giggle*

But-- but-- seriously-- the snowglobe! and the polar bear from the zoo scenes! and f/v are so-- and the fingersucking porn!

And I'm going to be thinking about this vid next time I watch VS, and even though I've only watched Icebound Stream a couple of times and *know* I don't really get it yet (I'm still in the remedial class, Understanding Vids 91), I also *know* that the ep is going to have extra meaning for me.

Because polar bears!

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

The polar bears were just the utterly perfect choice. They're these beautiful white, pristine looking animals, but they are *carnivores* and even more than that, as adrienne2 pointed out, they are the type of carnivores that can't live in packs. As other people mentioned, that image of the bear loping, muzzle covered in blood is incredibly startling and effective, because we *forget.*

Yes and the polar bear is the largest land predator on the planet and is the only bear known to hunt man for food (has watched *a lot* of documentaries). My earliest memory of a polar bear is when I was small and we were at the zoo and there were all these warnings not to lean near the polar bear enclosure because a woman had recently and had lost her arm. At the time I understood it to be that particular zoo and looked upon the biggest bear there with respect and awe (looking back it was probably just an urban legend, but I was five) because if I was stuck in a pen with a pool and people pointing at me all day - I'd want to swipe some arms off as well. So - yeah. They are beautiful, but you don't fuck with them.


lierdumoa
2005-11-15 04:38 am UTC (link) Select
Oh My God.

::flails::

This is *beautiful* and I don't even know where to start, so this is going to be a little incoherent.

So I first watched this fashes last night, who said that this song is like the undercurrent of the Fraser/Victoria relationship, than again with adrienne2.

The polar bears were just the utterly perfect choice. They're these beautiful white, pristine looking animals, but they are *carnivores* and even more than that, as adrienne2 pointed out, they are the type of carnivores that can't live in packs. As other people mentioned, that image of the bear loping, muzzle covered in blood is incredibly startling and effective, because we *forget.*

Victoria is that kind of carnivore, and in a way so is Fraser, that he could love her the way he loved her because they are the same *kind* the same *breed* but, of course, Fraser is the polar bear behind the glass at 1:19. You show that even earlier at 0:29 with Faser looking out from inside the revolving glass doors and then the reveal of Victoria on the other side of the revolving glass doors and then the polar bear eating , outside of the building.

I love all of the images of Fraser as restrained, first at the beginning, lying on a hospital gurney with a neck brace, then the repeated images of him behind the glass doors, and 1:48 at the confessional, behind the lattice window, the snow globe, Fraser's very closed in *life*

And I do the giddy dance of you getting it! YAY!

The playful bounce at 1:45 with the bear covered in fresh blood and Victoria's just *playing* with him.

Actually? That bear bounce? That is a female bear hunting ringed seal pups. She is trying to break through the ice into the pup's den. Which - I don't know, the intent and the read are both so very interesting cause both apply equally.

I am so thrilled you read so deeply into this and that you took the time to tell me - thank you.

[exeterlinden.livejournal.com]

Hey, I must have watched your vid the first twenty times over the last two days. It's beautiful.

It's also weirdly hypnotic, something about the song (which is amazing and perfect) and the intercuts (if that is a word in English) between DS footage and the other stuff. It creates this magical atmosphere that seems threatening, as if it's Fraser's fevered dreams after he's shot (which it might very well be).

In the beginning I thought the cutting was very fast, but it fits so well with the fractured feel of the song, and the footage, how you've contrasted between extremes: Fire/ice, close-ups/desolate landscapes, kissing/fighting.

The shots with the polar bears also makes me think of both Fraser and Victoria as these lonely creatures that aren't meant to live together, and when they do come together, their love is as just as much a fight as it is love making. And we know who wins that fight.

Thank you so much for sharing.

[lalejandra.livejournal.com]

This is really beautiful.