I Crossed Over to the Dark Side...

[sisabet]

Or How I learned to download the wildfeed and watch it early. I was supposed to go to bed, but the episode beckoned. No spoilers - not from me... but we are finally in hiatus and now I can finish Closer. Funny that hiatus is a relief for me. I think I just need time to process everything... AtS, BtVS, oh my. It is just too much.

Speaking of finished vids - cool new crop coming up. Cappy vidded Spike/Dawn to White Wedding and it is up on the video page at Headtilt. Dawn is fairly skeeved by the pairing - I think this vid is kinda sweet. From what I gather, Spike knows that Dawn has this hero-worship crush on him, but he doesn't pay her much notice. Things happen and he goes away and now Dawn is angry and moving past him and her childish crush. Spike comes back and is hurt when Dawn no longer cares about him. Then he realizes she has grown up and it is too late for him so he turns to alcohol. At this point I sorta lose the narrative flow of the vid - and Cappy hasn't explained it to me yet.

heres_luck made an incredible Faith/Buffy vid, Come On, it is at paper cup -- Go forth and reap the Faithy goodness. Also - it is deep. I promise. Check out the fight scenes - check out the flow - see how she does that? Buffy swings in one episode and Faith ducks in the next frame but it is a different fight, different season - Did you catch that? Cause that is freakin' cool. She makes all of the fights one big fight and it ties in thematically with the vid (you'll see). Told you it was deep. I didn't even touch the hand imagery. I leave that for you to decipher.

myrtleneunice have finished their second season 2 vid. This will really, really depress you - but in that good cathartic way. Go and download Fragile at Myrtle & Eunice Productions. And then cry. When you are ready we can discuss the larger import - the presence that hangs over the vid, and is yet unseen. Very, very effective technique - you see the wrecked lives and the fallout from the unending pain of season 2 BtVS. Ah, pain...how I love thee...

Comments

[boniblithe.livejournal.com]

I'm ready! Let's discuss! All the windows, and circles, and circular windows. Whee!

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

I totally missed the circular imagery! Cool. Layers...

[just-eunice.livejournal.com]

...I didn't see it either, until I rewatched it after it had been pointed out. And this is why Myrtle is vision girl who picks the vast majority of the clips, and I am edit girl who tries to make them flow right. It's the whole English major thing, I think, and then because of the whole brain sharing thing it bleeds into my part of the work because part of me does know what she's doing, so when I have to replace clips or shuffle them around or otherwise modify them I do it within The Vision subconsciously. That or I'm just a moron with idiot-savant capabilities in Premiere.

[boniblithe.livejournal.com]

How could you miss the round windows and the repeated image of the orb ... clearly myrtle & eunice are making a major existential commentary here on the circle of life or the circular nature of the vid, even - starting and ending with buffy - coming full circle. Sigh - I love layers!

[just-eunice.livejournal.com]

Well, Myrtle was anyway. I musta subconsciously got what she was doing because of some of the clips I wound up shuffling around and manipulating in the editing process and stuff...but this morning I was all "Did we do that on purpose?"...and she was all "Well, yeah...duh". So it appears the idiot-savant theory is the correct one.

[boniblithe.livejournal.com]

My only critical feedback would be that I would have started and ended with Buffy/Joyce for symmetry, to make the first and last scene of the vid showing them coming "full circle" - from fighting to loving ... and I was waiting for that last circle reference at the end that never came. I was positive that you were going to do something at the end like fade out Buffy's face through a circular window, and was really surprised when you didn't, you left me hanging, with Buffy looking out the window and her face reflected on the bus window (which is pretty close to the same effect, maybe).

I love the vid. It was really moving and GREAT job with finding meaningful yet underused clips!

Now we start the countdown to when the first rip-off vid shows up with those window scenes. Tick, tock, tick tock. Don't worry - we'll pounce them for you! Darn ripper-offers! They will feel my BNF WRATH!

LOL

[just-eunice.livejournal.com]

So... I see what you're saying with the Joyce/Buffy thing. But my overall theme arc was Angel/Angelus and the damage done by him. I think what I wanted was the opening concept of the orb and Buffy, what it means to her, how it gives her hope and fails her in the end. So I wanted to start with the image of Buffy and end with Buffy after she thinks she's lost everything.

Does that make any sense??? Good lord. I can't even express what I was doing properly.

But thank you for seeing what we were going for!!

[boniblithe.livejournal.com]

*stares*

*blinks*

It was?

Oh honey - I totally didn't get that AT ALL from the vid.

What I got from it was the ensemble cast and their sufferings through the season, as being tied around Buffy, her being the common thread - not Angelus. I mean, what does Cordelia's locket and Xander's initial failure with her have to do with Angelus? Those are tied up in the Scoobies trying to have their own lives but Buffy's shadow hanging over them ... The fight with Joyce has to do (in my mental association, anyway) with Buffy's slayer-duty and her conflicting loyalties. Sure Angelus is the baddie she's got to stop, but he's only the surface issue of the season (as with everything Joss does). Buffy herself, and her pain, and the pain of her friends around her, is what I read between the lines.

It really is like poetry, isn't it! It's like we're sitting in English class discussing a poem and trying to pick out what the author meant LOL.

In a way, it's tied in around Angelus, because he's the anti-Buffy for the season, but that's a really shaky association. But you're hitting rock solid with me on Buffy being the underlying link.

[just-eunice.livejournal.com]

Eunice here, and I'm going to try to be all literary and stuff...so be very afraid.

I don't think there is a conflict between what either bonibaru or Myrtle is saying. The way I see this vid (except for the circular imagery which I missed, because I'm a dunce), and have through the whole process...both interpretations are correct, and in fact rely on each other.

It is Buffy and her shadow that is the common tie between the pain of all the Scoobies. All the relationships that started, ended, or never got a chance to begin in the first place can be directly related to her. The angst and pain, both physical and emotional, of the season that each of these characters go through is an inadvertent result of loving Buffy, of championing her cause. That wasn't a slam against Buffy, by the way, it's not exactly like she has a choice in the matter.

And what is uppermost in overshadowing Buffy's life in season 2...is Angel/Angelus. Her pain, her confusion, her decisions...all of which are the pebble in the pond that ripples out to everyone around her. Jenny/Giles, Willow/Xander, Xander/Cordelia, Willow/Oz...and all of them seperately are tied through the common thread of the gathering storm of Buffy's life that year. We deliberately chose not to show Angel's face in the vid (leading to the three hour clip manipulation to obscure him in one shot)...just a hand, a profile, a glimpse, and to elude to him through the orb and the fallout of certain scenes. The reason for this was to try and create the invisible presence, the "elephant in the room". Buffy ties the Scoobies together...but what caused her such immense pain that it would conflict her loyalties and destroy them...even inadvertantly.

So I get what you're saying bonibaru...and I agree with what you saw. And I also see what we saw. And I'm done now. I'll go back to staring at shiny things and waiting for other people to be brilliant.

Re:

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

I'm all tired and dumb tonight but I love it when we talk vids. I love it that there are vids that we can discuss. Sigh.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Now we start the countdown to when the first rip-off vid shows up with those window scenes. Tick, tock, tick tock. Don't worry - we'll pounce them for you! Darn ripper-offers!

I'm kinda excited about this. I've got a torch all at the ready. Y'know...being part of an angry mob of vidders is fun! And educational.


They will feel my BNF WRATH!

Really?! You're a BNF, too? A Big Nelly Freak ? - **bounces off singing** It's getting hot in here, so take off all your clothes

[boniblithe.livejournal.com]

I like your BNF :) But, dig my icon!

[luminosity]

huh. My notes (a sort of shorthand. Do y'all do this?) from watching it earlier today--

Ooh, ensemble! Buffy/Angel. Angelus destruction. Opening circle on the most gorgeous Buffy shot I've ever seen. Circles, spheres, even the hand movements are in the round throughout the vid. The weapons move in arcs. Love the clip of Giles swinging at Angelus. Sad close up of Xander. Wow. Circles. Library floor. Circles on the wall at the Bronze. Moon/necklace/dark, looking through library door.

LOL

This is a great illustration of what our subconscious minds do when we are vidding. Circles are symbolic of life, rebirth, reincarnation, completion, and I think this vid covers that. And it shows the utter humanity of all of the characters.

I thought it was a little long, but that's just me, and I couldn't see any place where it could be cut and maintain the swirling feeling of the song with the vid. So. Long, but good.

I saw a couple of tech things in this otherwise stunning vid. We can talk about it if I remember it later. LOL Otherwise, I've seen E&M's other vids, and this one also is indicative of what I see in vidders who keep at it--a shift somehow. A shift to tighter ideas, better clip choices, and technical know-how. Sometimes it all comes together at once, and it's GREAT when that happens.

I really liked this vid--the idea, the imagery and the execution. I was left with a sense of bittersweet melancholy, and I always love the BIG EMOTION.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Yep, why go for the kill when you can go for the pain... Man I love some pain.

[just-eunice.livejournal.com]

I saw a couple of tech things in this otherwise stunning vid. We can talk about it if I remember it later.

Eunice here. Oh, please, please, pretty please with the naked fiction character of your choice on top!! I keep chickening out of emailing you, even though Myrtle and sisabet both say you're very nice and won't laugh at me, because I am in absolute awe of the technical genius in your vids. Awe, I tell you. I'm pretty good at figuring out programs like Premiere...it's that idiot-savant thing, but I know there are definite technical weaknesses in all our vids that I could improve if I only knew how.

It's the fades, right? I screwed up the fades?

Re:

[luminosity]

There were no SCREWUPS! None. The vid is spectacular.

And actually? I'm a creampuff, underneath this gruff bitch exterior which is hidden by an overlay of Southern Charm patina. heee

After work today? I'll buzz you. :)

[just-eunice.livejournal.com]

Wouldja really? That would be great. Mmmmmm....creampuffs. I suppose it would be bad manners to start licking?