New Vid!! Resident Evil!!!

[sisabet]

So, this is my last vid that premiered at VVC last weekend. This one was made for the Fuck You Challenge and as such, should probably speak for itself.


Get Low
Song by Lil John and the Eastside Boys

No, really. Fuck you.



I embedded this one at Vimeo due to content (nudity, language, sexual violence, but NO EYE PLUCKING. Which is kinda sad).

The password is: alice

If you have a vimeo account you can also download from there.



ETA: disregard the above.


Download Here


Mega-huge thanks to sockkpuppettfor keeping this secret tight and under wraps for months and months and months and helping me through my own post- Women's Work blockage by embracing the sheer visceral nature of this project. It was gleeful, y'all. Also, thanks to caphricacorn who cannot keep secrets* at all BUT DIDN'T BREATHE A WORD OF THIS all throughout Vividcon, even though it was killing her.

Finally, major kudos to absolutedestiny for watching an early draft and not only getting it, but embracing and encouraging. This vid is for you. I feel so UNDERSTOOD! You get me. Sniff.


*she really can't. One year for Christmas, she was so excited when she saw me that she blurted out "I got you a present! It's a surprise, but it smells nice and you can burn it!"



Okay, so I keep debating how much I am gonna say about this project. I mean - it is out there, and I am one of these people who don't really give two shits about authorial intent, you know? When I watch/read/consume something, what matters to me is what I get out of it. So, this vid exists and what matters now, is what you, the viewer, take away from it.

That being said - last year there was a lesbian desire reading of Women's Work that kinda made me go, "huh" and also "ooh, I'd like to have made/seen that vid" and years ago I was filled with a certain sadness when I read a rec on a TWOP board for "Closer" that said it wasn't a slash vid (really? I tried to be extra-special explicit there) -so sometimes I do feel all "WTF" about certain readings, but, for the most part, I enjoy it more than pie. It is a part of this entire wonderful process: sharing what you've made and seeing what people take away from it.

I do... I do want to say something about this song choice, give it a little bit of context: "Get Low" is a hugely popular song that is about five years old (I think?? It's been out for a long time). It still gets tremendous airplay and even years later, it is still a club favorite (for a while there, you could not GO ANYWHERE without hearing this song). Hell, Cappy says they played it at her prom.

I love it. I mean, I love it with reservations, but don't you know, I love almost everything with reservations (it is the only way for me to be this involved with pop-culture/media and still be sane). This is one great, amazing song with a killer hook. "To the windows, to the walls" has been co-opted as short-hand for rap/crunk for years now and with good reason. People all over the world now know what "skeet, skeet, skeet" means and thank you so much, Dave Chapelle.

It is also tremendously problematic. It is a seduction and also a seduction using intimidation ("you scared, you scared") which is even argued later in the song as part of the *attraction*. I'm not even gonna bother posting the lyrics, because I think they are pretty apparent in the song and also? I kind of butchered it in cutting it down from over five minutes. If you need the lyrics, they are very easily googled. If there is something in the song you still don't get, please ask if you think it will help your interpretation of the vid/song. I don't mind at all.

It's just... well, last year there was a lot of discussion post-VVC about Kanye West and potentially misogynistic lyrics and I just kind of boggled. I mean, seriously, Kanye is pretty much a dog about some things, but he is a gentlemanly sort of quaint compared to everything else (and I do NOT mean Progressive Hip Hop - I mean your everyday, basic, Popular Music. Except for Chris Brown. He is love. Unqualified love).

So, um. Enjoy.
 

Comments

[sweetestdrain]

That dead chick is hot.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Fuck you!!!

Also, CKR is hot. Discuss.

[sweetestdrain]

I can think of only one other three-initialed person who could compare.

[ralob.livejournal.com]

Badass video. My favorite portion was the stop and wiggle with it portion. Perfect.

And I totally have a crush on Mila.

[renenet.livejournal.com]

Oh. My. GOD! OMFG! You make me so happy!

[luminosity]

You SUCK!
But not today. And Get Low *totally* doesn't suck.

:)

[danegen.livejournal.com]

Completely awesome. Amazing shift from Alice as victim to kicking ass, and I love the reinterpretation of the lyrics near the end--the "bend over and touch your toes."

Also, I'd been dying to see the big fight scene in RE3 vidded to something danceable, and I could not be happier. Because dammnn!

[winterevanesce.livejournal.com]

That was different in an awesome way! I loved the way you did this. Great clip usage. I agree with Danegan about how you first showed Alice as a victim to kicking some butt, that was fun! Great video! Very entertaining!

[bathsweaver.livejournal.com]

Oh, very nice. Thank you!

[ficbyzee.livejournal.com]

Duuuude. Dude! I have hearts in my eyes for you right now. I've never seen Resident Evil, I had no idea there was a female character kicking ass in it--now I sort of want to see the movie, but only if someone had a Good Bits version with all of the ass-kicking and none of the victim-hood. Uh, anyway, yeah, this is excellent, and I love how many different places that 'fuck you' can be directed at with it.

[counteragent.livejournal.com]

This was one of my favorite vids at the con. Totally masterful work.

[siegeofangels.livejournal.com]

Haven't seen the movie but I love this vid to pieces; as far as the song choice goes, I'm reading it as a sort of reclamation/repurposing of the song, going from all of the passive/victim imagery at the beginning to taking back the night.

With big-ass knives.

[counteragent.livejournal.com]

Oooh, hey. That's what I meant when I said that this vid was a critique of its own song (and possibly the rap genre as a whole). Except siegeofangels said it better than I did in vid review.

Alice fights like a girl

[cereta.livejournal.com]

That? Was well and truly awesome.

[beerbad.livejournal.com]

I LOVE THIS VIDDDDDDDDD.

[alchemise]

That is an immensely satisfying vid. Alice is awesome. :D

[inlovewithnight.livejournal.com]

This is just amazing. Wow.

[inathunderstorm.livejournal.com]

That was incredible. WOW. Just amazing!!!

[crickets.livejournal.com]

I really, really, enjoyed this vid! I'm not sure I read too deeply into it, except maybe "I am really pissed and damn tired of this shit you put me through all the time, feel my wrath."

So that's what I got out of it. Haha. It was VERY fun to watch.

[chasarumba.livejournal.com]

I thought the Challenge show was exceptionally strong and this was a standout for me! I loved the shift in lyric application when Alice stops dancing to their music and makes them dance to HERS...like the repeating spurt o' blood at 2:06 that makes me just a wee bit gleeful (not sure if I should admit to the glee, but whatevs, I'm doing it ;)).

[resolute.livejournal.com]

This is forty-three kinds of awesome.

http://resolute.livejournal.com/532936.html

[bitter-crimson.livejournal.com]

Wowwww, I adored this. A friend of mine got me the VividCon DVDs, so I was scanning through them last night and thought to myself, "LOL, really, someone made a vid to Get Low?" (For the record, I also love that song, also with reservations, heh.) And then I watched it and it was just perfect. Your clipping and editing stunned me, and I loved Alice's progression from victimization to kicking ass, set against that song. So, yes, although I already have it on DVD, I totally had to hunt it down so I could download it. :D

Also, you inspired me to finally watch RE:Extinction last night. XD

[shati.livejournal.com]

I kind of love this. My stomach doesn't love it, but I do.

I don't know what you meant to do, but what I take away from it is, um, lyrics. And changing what they mean by putting clips of a woman killing people in the face with them, vs. putting clips of a naked woman being penetrated to death in the chest (...for example) with them. I don't know. But I always see iPod ads plastered on the subway and they can look like dancing (as they are meant to and there is textual support for) or they can look like people fighting gracefully, and when I'm bored I pretend it's the second one, and sometimes with lyrics like these I pretend it's ass-kicking they're talking about, not ass-shaking. So that is totally what stop and wiggle with it means in my heart.

[longroadgrafix.livejournal.com]

My friend just pointed me to this, that was pretty nifty!

[danniisupernova.livejournal.com]

OMG OMG OMG OMG
That video is SO much love!!! Fuck yeah!

[netweight]

I downloaded this when you first posted it and never got around to comment. My first reaction when I saw it posted was "OMG SISABET VIDDED RESIDENT EVIL OMG OMG OMG!". And then there was the shock value of the lyrics themselves, which took some time to get used to but it was obvious from the start what the objective was and the choice of lyrics really is brilliant. The whole vid is. (Your clip choices so that the movement is always in sync with the bit is freaking jaw-dropping.)

I understand what you're saying about authorial intent but I would like to remark on something though. I don't think we can de-contextualize from the fact that this vid comes on the heels of "Women's Work". It seems to me, in fact, that this vid functions as *the* B-side to that. A call to arms, so to speak. The vid is powerful in its own right, yes. But taking that fact into consideration... it just makes it that much more forceful. Revolution, motherfuckers.

[obsessive24.livejournal.com]

I finally got around to commenting on disc 3, nearly four months after the fact! It would be much fail except for the fact that I console myself with, that four months is still better than no feedback at all. :P

This was one of my absolute favourites at the con. I don't think I managed to find you and tell you as much and I'm sorry to have missed the chance to tell you in person. I just loved this vid SO much - the message, the execution, the delicious "fuck you" - and was so impressed with it. And when you revealed yourself to be the vidder it just felt like such an "of course" moment.

I'm not sure what I took away is down the path of what you intended, but reading your notes it seems like you would probably like to hear my interpretation whether or not it fits in with your view of the vid, so here goes.

From the start with the scientist looking at his creation onscreen, to the men sliding a knife down her thigh, to her lying hopeless on the operating table, the whole first half is such a succinct exploration of the male gaze. While there's not a lot of overt violence, there is a lot of blood and images that are reminiscent of domestic violence and other aspects of men in authority exercising their dominance.

Second half - Alice gets her shit together and brings the violence back to the men. To me, this is both a proud vengeful moemnt but also a sad one because she seems to have been driven to this; she does it because she has to, and even while we're watching this in a feminist interpretation we are still mindful of the original films' intention, which presents the female protagonist's violence primarily for the enjoyment of male viewers. Sure enough, we get the payoff at 2:40, where the man is *still* watching her onscreen.

I didn't get around to seeing the third instalment in the trilogy, so I'm not exactly sure of what happened plot-wise in the ending. The sentiment, however, was clear: she may have won the battle, but she hasn't won the war.

My favourite thing about this vid is that it runs through a narrative (weak woman becomes empowered) but then a meta-narrative on top of that (but men are also watching that progress and gleaning their enjoyment out of that) and, just. Wow. I love the sophistication of what is being said and, as usual, your editing is simply faultless. I find with respected vidders lately that I jump straight into commenting on their concepts with the expectation that they'll automatically understand that I think their editing is top, but of course that sort of thing should never be not-said just because you think it'll be mutually understood. Here's how it is: your concept hits exactly the sweet spot, and the execution is so good that it manages to carry off the concept perfectly, render the vid immensely musical and watchable, but never shove it in the viewer's face so far as to become the main focus point.

This is a brilliant vid, and definitely one of my top picks out of the entire con. Lots of love!

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

I am full of suck because due to personal issues all last year, I JUST NOW saw your fantastic comment when I clicked here to update the links to this vid.

Thank you so much - especially for the editing part. I am feeling waaaaay insecure about that of late and it always does help to hear it. I am also gratified that you got so much out of Get Low - I was aiming towards an overall meta-narrative and so, yeah, I am relieved when people get that.

[livrelibre.livejournal.com]

I figured it was about time I let you know how much I love this vid. As I said to a friend and in a rec: "This always makes me cry-first from horror, then from awesome."

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

wow.

[f1renze.livejournal.com]

OMG WOW. I haven't seen the source but HOLY SHIT THIS VID IS AMAZING. It also made me realize how much I have missed your work. I am so glad I will see it BIG this year. <33333

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

ILU Flobee

[spankulert.livejournal.com]

I've had this vid downloaded for a while, and gosh I love it. I really really do. The narrative structure in this is flawless, how you flip things around half-way through is simply masterful. Had to drop this off on my external drive eventually, because I just kept rewatching it! So a very belated thanks, but thanks none the less ♥

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Wow. That was awesome. Disturbing and kick-ass wrapped up in a pretty, actiony package. I am stuck between GO MILLA and OMG MILLA. Had no idea there was that much body horror and assault in the movies! Also sexy-creepy dude from Game of Thrones! Uh, oddly neither of those detracts from my wanting to see the series.