Escapade vidshow review
This *was* going to be a full con report, but having finished the vidshow review, my brain's shutting down, and so I'll save the rest for later. *g*
Personally, I was pretty much blown away, and I was surprised when I got back and caught up on lj to find so much general discussion about it negative in tone, just because the response at the con felt overwhelmingly positive, and to see the "where are the slash vids" complaint resurfacing. But killabeez pretty much summed up my feelings in her post here, though, so I'll just leave it at saying that at least for me, the experience was overwhelmingly positive, and get to the specific vids instead, because hey, more fun. :)
West Hollywood Lifestyle by Lum & Sisabet, to Angel.
Summary: Angel is very, very gay.
Yeah, brilliant concept, amazing comic timing, yadda yadda, whatever. ;-) My personal favorite bit is the air quotes and the expressions on Wesley's face. Lum and Sisabet do a particularly great job of adjusting clip speed to really get the maximum funny from clips that could have worked without the tweaking, but are hysterical with. I don't know that this entirely obeys the rule that comedy should build, but that's because the whole thing is just rotflmao-funny from start to finish.
I Love Everybody by Barkley, to Stargate.
Summary: Jack loves everybody. And I mean *everybody*.
This one was very cute, but doesn't quite get beyond that to make me laugh out loud when I watch it alone. I think Barkley did a great job with the specific clip choices, particularly the reaction shots, but the monotony of the song is kind of a downer and drags down the comedy -- even when it picks up and the additional voices come in, it still feels very flat. However, I think it worked really well in the con setting.
It's Probably Me by Jill and Kathy, to L.A. Confidential.
Summary: Bud is Ed's best friend, and wow, doesn't that suck. (Stolen from cereta.)
I hadn't seen L.A. Confidential in years, and then only once; this vid made me get all wildly fannish about it. Unfortunately, the flashes were a lot brighter and harder to take in the vidshow, off the projector, than on a TV at home; they had much more of a disruptive effect instead of the old-fashioned-camera-flashbulb effect that I experienced watching it at home.
But technical issues aside, I adore this vid. The choice of this particular version of the song, with the snapping, was inspired, and the lyrics fit the two characters and their love-hate relationship perfectly.
I also really like what Jill and Kathy did in terms of the cutting throughout the vid -- sometimes to the beat, sometimes just offset a little, varying the types of transitions, some snap to white, some fade to black, some snap to black, etc. It's disruptive and keeps the viewer off-balance, which I feel works well to add energy to limited source and counterbalance the low steady voice of the song. I might have liked more of the freeze-frames and jump cuts earlier on in the vid; they feel different enough to be distracting when they come in, but if used throughout, I don't think they'd have had that same effect.
Roll To Me by mamoru, to The O.C.
Summary: Hey, cute blond guy, let's hook up!
I don't know the OC at all, not even their names, but just going from the vid itself, this seems like a really good song choice for the pairing -- upbeat, earnest, young. This is what I'd call a classic slash vid -- picks the right song, sets up a pairing, then illustrates it with slashy clips from the show. However, I also think that makes it the kind of vid where I feel the fandom is an impassable barrier; if I cared about these guys, I'd probably be psyched to have a visual slash reading of the show, but as it is, I don't particularly feel moved. I think this is one of mamoru's first vids (this was her first time submitting to the show, at least), and she's clearly got a lot of the bases down; looking forward to seeing more of her stuff in future.
Momentary Digression
You know, just looking at these last two vids together for a second, both are slash, both are first-person songs where the POV character reflects on the other guy, both focus on the two guys and their relationship, both have chosen a song with mood and lyrics appropriate to the source. And despite that, there's a totally different *feel* to the two of them, that I think might get to some of the complaining about "lack of slash vids". It's Probably Me is clearly (IMO) slash, but it also has a more complex narrative and a challenging style. Roll To Me is much more on the surface, much easier to 'read'. I wonder if, when people are complaining about the absence of slash, what they're really trying to say is that they can't read the more complex vids and extract the slashy buzz.
Which I can understand, if you're watching in a con setting, seeing the vid for the first time, and also not particularly a fan of vids, and therefore not used to doing the visual reading involved. Just speaking for myself, I tend almost always to prefer the more complex vids because I generally find them more interesting, particularly to rewatch, so while I get it, I personally wouldn't like to see anything change. *g*
Come Together by Laura Shapiro, to Farscape.
Summary: Scorpius fucks with John's head.
I don't know anything about Farscape except what I've gathered from fannish osmosis, but I have a general sense of the Scorpius-fucking-with-John idea, and if I didn't, I'd have gotten it from this. I didn't at all get a slashy vibe off this, but that's only because Scorpius is just too freaky looking for me *g*. Love this version of the song, and I'll be interested to compare this vid with sockkpuppett's Buffy vid to the original Beatles song when she releases her Scooby Road project.
The use of color is just great; the show has a gorgeous palette, and the unnaturally bright colors are used to good effect to highlight the feeling of madness; the choice of the shots with weird camera angles or camera movement are great for this as well. I really like the intercutting of Scorpius into John's position, so we see Aeryn reaching up to John, or about to kiss John, and then it's Scorpius. The 'shoom shoom shoom' part at the opening of the vid is my favorite part.
One Of God's Better People by P.R.Zed, to LOTR
Summary: Boromir wistfully admires Aragorn and Faramir, unable to see himself as equally worthy.
The first time I started watched this vid, I assumed it was a straightforward Boromir/Aragorn to a song that IMO doesn't match the tone of the movies, and went 'eh,' only to be pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be much more complex and interesting. I'm not sure I even think of this as a slash vid; someone who's into B/A certainly could, but for me, it's all about Boromir, and specifically the late movie version of Boromir, unexpectedly struggling with introspection under the influence of the Ring and Galadriel's power, and self-loathing after he falls; I read this (whether or not that was the vidder's intention) as taking place as he's dying, with the final verse Aragorn and Faramir's perspective on him after he's gone.
The song choice is a big hurdle, though, and while I can appreciate what the vid's doing despite it, I can't quite get past it to really fall in love. I think PR Zed does a good job of making this song more interesting than it really is -- the POV and subject of the song itself never change, and there's a lot of repetition. All the interesting changes that occur are her work, but it feels like she's fighting an uphill battle to me.
Freakout by Rob 1, to Smallville
Summary: Smallville's full of freaks, and Lex and Clark are just the two biggest ones. Let's dance!
I was really psyched to see the reaction to this vid at the con, and I wasn't disappointed. *g* So want this in Club Vivid at this year's VVC. The spinny disks do go on just a *little* too long for my taste, but other than that, I'm on board for every single special effect from start to finish, and the cutting together of the Lex and Clark club scenes at the end is just genius. One of the few SV vids I remember seeing that makes use of the giant piles of Krypto-mutant-of-the-week footage, and very successfully.
Invisible Sun by Carol S, to Fight Club
Summary: Wow, this is the most fucked-up guy ever.
As I told Carol afterwards, seeing her vid has given me everything I needed to make the informed choice never to see this movie. *g* The opening setup of the vid, with the counting, is my favorite part -- we have more color than later on in the vid, and the intercutting of the extreme closeups with the phone call is just terrific. Then we get to a very institutional-green and dark palette, with a lot of extreme violence that actually hits my gag reflex in places. Overall, this feels like a summary of the movie, and I don't get that much more out of it, though I knew the spoiler.
5 1/2 Minute Hallway by Janis Cortese, to Hornblower.
Summary: Archie can never have Horatio.
The main problem with this vid for me is that though I *like* the song, the pop drumbeat and Poe's voice just don't work with the source and POV character for me. Having gone through hell trying to find a song that I thought worked for M&C, I understand the temptation to use a modern song, but the "typical" feel of a pop song works so hard against the historical/epic setting that I just can't go there. I didn't hate it, but it didn't do a whole lot for me.
I did like the "only so far I can go" sequence, a series of scenes of Horation backing away into a dark room, someone approaching, Archie advancing. I heard from HH fans afterwards that the context of those clips is pretty far opposite, and since the rest of the vid is using clips contextually, that's going to be an issue for fans of the show. Because I've never actually seen the series and don't have much context, I interpreted this as a constructed reality sex scene, and it's got a nice seductive feel to it.
Until It Sleeps by P.R. Zed, to Professionals.
Summary: Not really sure -- one of the guys is losing it and crossing the line, and as a result gets taken down? But that's just a guess.
This is one of those vids where I get the feeling that there's a clear narrative in there, but without knowing the context I can't quite get a handle on it. On a shallow note, though, it was really nice to see such crisp pretty source for Pros; I'm so used to seeing these guys in sixth-generation VHS versions with tracking lines across the screen. So my first reaction was, "Hey! They shot this show in color!" *g* The song seems to work well with the source period-wise, though it wasn't something I loved.
I Am By Your Side by Dementia, Ink, to LOTR (Frodo/Sam).
Summary: Sam will always be there for Frodo.
This was another case where the song just didn't work for me, and the poor quality of the source was a problem for me. I'm a visual quality snob to begin with, but LOTR in particular is something I'm not used to seeing except in really beautiful, crisp quality, so seeing it in a badly degraded format was especially an issue.
melina123 and I spent some time after the con talking about what quality makes songs work for epic/historical sources, and the key for me is pretty much two words: not typical. The kind of song you hear on the radio, wandering around in stores, in the cab, etc -- that's too grounded in the modern day to work. As Melina said, for something grandiose and epic, you need a song with scope. And this also brings me back to something I've heard laurashapiro mention before, namely that lyrics should be secondary to tone, for vidding appropriateness. The sound and feel of a song are much more immediate and powerful in terms of getting to the listener than the lyrics, which you have to mentally process.
This song had lyrics that were completely appropriate for the Frodo/Sam relationship, if cliche, but a generic pop feel to the music and the singer's voice and phrasing; the feel dominated and overwhelmed the lyrics. The content is fairly straightforward, another 'classic slash vid', and didn't do anything interesting enough to capture me despite the song choice, unlike One of God's Better People.
Inside by Killa, to Jeremiah.
Summary: Kurdy's life and his struggle to love despite the violence and despair of the world he lives in.
Not a Jeremiah fan, don't know anything about the series except by fannish osmosis, no context. Makes no difference: this vid is still intensely thrilling and powerful to watch. Killa does a particularly terrific job of using scale in this piece, going from the close-up to the wide-angle shot, to paint a picture of the post-apocalyptic world from inside Kurdy's head. Also this is what I would call a perfect vidding song -- the pace and scope of it vary and build, providing the foundation for a varied pace of cutting. I also like the occasional hand-held camera shots a lot.
I can see people not thinking of this as a slash vid; to me it's much more of a character study. But damn, who cares? *g*
All Soul's Night by Destina, to Gladiator.
Summary: Maximus's journey to the afterworld.
Another vid that made me start writing fanfic. *g* I got to beta this, so I'm not unbiased, but overall if I had to pick one, this was my favorite of the show. On the shallow level, it's just gorgeous; the palette of this movie is a feast for the eyes, all deep and rich colors. And, er, Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix don't hurt. ;)
The narrative is all right there, even though I've (still) never seen Gladiator: Maximus's journey from general to gladiator, the loss of his family, his struggle with Commodus are all completely clear. The metaphors are also crystal clear -- the lights in the distance for the approaching afterworld, dancing for battle. The vid mostly follows the course of the movie, but it avoids the pitfall of feeling like a recap of the movie that movie vids often fall into, by coming back to the images of the afterworld throughout.
Destina also makes terrific use of the song's powerful drumbeats before each chorus -- the quick fast cuts that punctuate the verses are a great contrast to the overall longer clips and the slower dissolves. My favorite part of the vid is the last one of these, the "wind is full of haunted(?) voices that pass by the bridge and me."
Also, I love the little robin flying away. :)
Too Bad by Gwyneth, to Keen Eddie
Summary: Screwup Yank detective gets sent to England on the trail of some criminals who are doing something very strange with Big Ben tourist tchotchkes. Everyone in England just wants him to go home. Hijinks ensue.
A perfect recruiter vid. I didn't know anything at all about the fandom coming in, and the vid lays it all out for me. The song is great, very energetic, and works really well with the intro, which sets the tone right away, and is funny enough on its own not to get old. The quick pace and the hard cuts between most of the clips matches the song, and the jump cuts are well chosen and very funny. Plus, slashy bits for added fun, and both guys are very cute. Also, the dog is comedy gold.
I think that maybe it would've been good to cut a verse or two out of the song, just to tighten it up a little? But it's still holding me after multiple rewatchings, so maybe not.
Without You I'm Nothing by Sisabet, to Smallville.
Summary: Lex's life, shattering into pieces.
This vid really uses its special effects well -- I'm only noticing now, as I look for it specifically, how the transitions are a lot more complex than simple dissolves or dip-to-white -- saturation increased, I think? I'd love to hear more technical details on how Sisabet did this one. This one, like Freakout, also makes terrific use of Smallville's primary-colors palette, but this time to creepy and twisted effect. Sisabet also does a good job of keeping all the heavily used clips fresh by keeping them short, putting effects on them, coming in and out of them at incongruous moments.
In the vid review panel, Lum and Killa talked about the freeze-frame on the raven and the power of using that symbol; that's still one of my favorite shots. The "tick-tock" section is particularly brilliant, and the increased use of special effects, repeated clips, faster cutting at the end works with the ramp-up in the song to really pay everything off, and closing on that creepy ambiguous smile of Lex's intercut with him in the white suit is fantastic.
We'll Meet Again by Carol S, to Stargate.
Summary: Happy trails, Apophis.
The song for Teal'c/Apophis would've been funny alone, but the aged-film effect really makes it pay off, and I think helps sustain it beyond the first opening. Overall, I think this is a gimmick vid that works on more than that level by building all the way up to that last clip. Someone called this Teal'c's late-night post-monster-movie nightmare, and it so is.
l've Had It All by Melina, to Highlander.
Summary: Duncan's regrets and nostalgia for the past, from season six.
The song choice here is just more interesting the more I rewatch the vid -- the tone and voice seem upbeat, the individual lines are mostly happy and positive, and yet the key is that it's all past-tense. Overall the effect is wistful, nostalgic, and Melina does a great job of matching that unusual feel, using past-season clips to illustrate all the happy moments, and the season-six clips for the "not lately" and present moments. The effect is to put the vid firmly into that period in time.. Just rewatching the vid now, I find myself thinking of it as the lead up to To Be/Not To Be (the series finale), where Duncan's basically ready to die. *sniffle*
And I love all of Duncan's loves, friends, family all being part of this vid. This is another vid that isn't a traditional slash vid, and which shows plenty of het relationships, but still, to me, fully supports a slashy reading.
What Really Happened (You Give Love A Bad Name) by Smutcutter, to Once Upon A Time in Mexico.
Summary: Antonio Banderas and Johnny Depp are either fighting or trying to find one another, and a lot of unlucky people get in their way.
I was telling someone that I find this vid oddly difficult to watch on the computer -- something about the more intimate range makes the violence a lot harder for me to tolerate. So mostly I'm speaking based on my memory from the con, where it worked really well -- the gore and violence were distanced more, and the warm gold-orange-red palette was actually really nice when I wasn't going all, "Gah! Severed limb! Gouged-out-eyes!"
Anyway, so at the con, I did enjoy the vid a lot despite not knowing anything about the source. I felt the song immediately telegraphed to me that this wasn't meant seriously -- that it was about the movement, the color, the energy, and I think Smutcutter succeeded really well in all those areas. Also, the guitar playing with the electric guitar sections in the song was great; it's like a twisted and gory music video.
What Have I Done by Allaire & mamoru, to Hornblower.
Summary: Hornblower loses regrets the loss of the people who have helped him along the way.
Another song choice issue for me here, although in this case it's more that I just dislike the song itself so much I can't get past it to make an objective assessment of the vid, and so I don't feel like I can really talk about it. Sorry!
Fragile by Xanthe, to West Wing.
Summary: Jed reflects on the fragility of life.
Xanthe's WW vid to Wind Beneath My Wings last year was like What Have I Done this year -- I just couldn't get beyond the song. I like this song a lot better, and I think it works well for WW and for Jed in particular. The quality of the source was an issue for me, though watching it on computer, in some places the increased saturation and the blurring of the flashes of light actually work really well for me; at various points I have the sense of watching it through a rain-streaked pane of glass.
Duende by me, to M&C
Am I bitter that there was a gorgeous dvd-rip version of the source out just as soon as I got home from the con? No, not at all. *offers local bridge around*
Prophecy by Luminosity, to Angel.
Summary: Wes puts it all together, and wow, is Angel in trouble.
I had to watch Prophecy about five times on my computer when sockkpuppett first released it before I felt I got the narrative, and then it turned out I was way out in left field when I finally talked to her about it. *g* I can't even remember the really twisted AU idea I was reading out of it originally, but it totally worked, too, damn. But the complexity doesn't keep the emotional meaning from coming through.
The 'light on high ... find yourself home again' section just hits me where I live every time I watch it; the difference in pace, in palette, in the characters' expressions, all of that just works perfectly with the change in the music to push the angst buttons.
Flying Home by Morgan Dawn, to Due South.
Summary: Fraser's near-death experience on the train platform in Victoria's Secret.
Morgan did a fabulous job of selecting and editing the music and matching that to the great sweeping movement of the clips. The energy and movement of the characters blending out to movement through the scenes of wide-open vistas, and then back down to smaller, intimate scenes, the warmth of the faces. My one quibble with this is honestly, the frame -- I love it as the starting point, but somehow coming back to it feels like being drawn back into a sad and bleak moment, when we've just been lifted into this exhilarating sweep.
Small note
I'm getting kind of wiped-out by this point, but I'm highly dubious of my actually posting a second part if I let myself off the hook, so I'm going to just go ahead and finish; sorry for the abbreviated comments on these last few ones. Hopefully I'll have a chance to come back to them and comment in more detail.
Hothead by Orbis, to Godzilla.
Summary: Evolution is a bitch.
I hated the movie, but I still find this vid a lot of fun; it's almost like a dance vid, I think. The one issue I have is the use of the posterization effect, which washes out a lot of the detail and makes my eyes tired; I wouldn't have minded a little, but the extent was too much for me. In the show, a lot of the news report-style voice-overs in the audio got drowned out somehow, and lost a lot of the vid's cute, which is a shame.
No More Sad Songs by Destina, to Stargate.
Summary: All Jack's regrets, and the one person he lost that came back.
The narrative of this vid is very clear, and it's a nice wistful study of Jack after Daniel's loss, and then his happiness when Daniel returns. I've got issues with the metaphor of Jack as the dad and the rest of the team as his kids, which works against the slash for me in a big way, but the ending where Daniel comes back just makes me all happy, so I forgive it. :-)
Little Brother by Killa, to QAF: UK.
Summary: Stuart and Vince need to get together already.
This vid worked on me as a recruiter vid because I kept wondering which is which, and what the POV and the whole backstory is. But cesperanza just comforted me by telling me that I'm not crazy to be thinking that the POV changes midway, which makes me happy. :-) Also, that scene where they're getting undressed together is very sweet and hot. I particularly love the slowdown on the bridge and then the shot to them running when the beat picks up.
Wipeout by Rache & Sandy, to Stargate & Farscape.
Summary: They really are the same show.
It's just a single joke, but somehow it doesn't get old, probably because of the quick pace; just a lot of fun and energy.
Okay, I'm done. *falls over*
Personally, I was pretty much blown away, and I was surprised when I got back and caught up on lj to find so much general discussion about it negative in tone, just because the response at the con felt overwhelmingly positive, and to see the "where are the slash vids" complaint resurfacing. But killabeez pretty much summed up my feelings in her post here, though, so I'll just leave it at saying that at least for me, the experience was overwhelmingly positive, and get to the specific vids instead, because hey, more fun. :)
West Hollywood Lifestyle by Lum & Sisabet, to Angel.
Summary: Angel is very, very gay.
Yeah, brilliant concept, amazing comic timing, yadda yadda, whatever. ;-) My personal favorite bit is the air quotes and the expressions on Wesley's face. Lum and Sisabet do a particularly great job of adjusting clip speed to really get the maximum funny from clips that could have worked without the tweaking, but are hysterical with. I don't know that this entirely obeys the rule that comedy should build, but that's because the whole thing is just rotflmao-funny from start to finish.
I Love Everybody by Barkley, to Stargate.
Summary: Jack loves everybody. And I mean *everybody*.
This one was very cute, but doesn't quite get beyond that to make me laugh out loud when I watch it alone. I think Barkley did a great job with the specific clip choices, particularly the reaction shots, but the monotony of the song is kind of a downer and drags down the comedy -- even when it picks up and the additional voices come in, it still feels very flat. However, I think it worked really well in the con setting.
It's Probably Me by Jill and Kathy, to L.A. Confidential.
Summary: Bud is Ed's best friend, and wow, doesn't that suck. (Stolen from cereta.)
I hadn't seen L.A. Confidential in years, and then only once; this vid made me get all wildly fannish about it. Unfortunately, the flashes were a lot brighter and harder to take in the vidshow, off the projector, than on a TV at home; they had much more of a disruptive effect instead of the old-fashioned-camera-flashbulb effect that I experienced watching it at home.
But technical issues aside, I adore this vid. The choice of this particular version of the song, with the snapping, was inspired, and the lyrics fit the two characters and their love-hate relationship perfectly.
I also really like what Jill and Kathy did in terms of the cutting throughout the vid -- sometimes to the beat, sometimes just offset a little, varying the types of transitions, some snap to white, some fade to black, some snap to black, etc. It's disruptive and keeps the viewer off-balance, which I feel works well to add energy to limited source and counterbalance the low steady voice of the song. I might have liked more of the freeze-frames and jump cuts earlier on in the vid; they feel different enough to be distracting when they come in, but if used throughout, I don't think they'd have had that same effect.
Roll To Me by mamoru, to The O.C.
Summary: Hey, cute blond guy, let's hook up!
I don't know the OC at all, not even their names, but just going from the vid itself, this seems like a really good song choice for the pairing -- upbeat, earnest, young. This is what I'd call a classic slash vid -- picks the right song, sets up a pairing, then illustrates it with slashy clips from the show. However, I also think that makes it the kind of vid where I feel the fandom is an impassable barrier; if I cared about these guys, I'd probably be psyched to have a visual slash reading of the show, but as it is, I don't particularly feel moved. I think this is one of mamoru's first vids (this was her first time submitting to the show, at least), and she's clearly got a lot of the bases down; looking forward to seeing more of her stuff in future.
Momentary Digression
You know, just looking at these last two vids together for a second, both are slash, both are first-person songs where the POV character reflects on the other guy, both focus on the two guys and their relationship, both have chosen a song with mood and lyrics appropriate to the source. And despite that, there's a totally different *feel* to the two of them, that I think might get to some of the complaining about "lack of slash vids". It's Probably Me is clearly (IMO) slash, but it also has a more complex narrative and a challenging style. Roll To Me is much more on the surface, much easier to 'read'. I wonder if, when people are complaining about the absence of slash, what they're really trying to say is that they can't read the more complex vids and extract the slashy buzz.
Which I can understand, if you're watching in a con setting, seeing the vid for the first time, and also not particularly a fan of vids, and therefore not used to doing the visual reading involved. Just speaking for myself, I tend almost always to prefer the more complex vids because I generally find them more interesting, particularly to rewatch, so while I get it, I personally wouldn't like to see anything change. *g*
Come Together by Laura Shapiro, to Farscape.
Summary: Scorpius fucks with John's head.
I don't know anything about Farscape except what I've gathered from fannish osmosis, but I have a general sense of the Scorpius-fucking-with-John idea, and if I didn't, I'd have gotten it from this. I didn't at all get a slashy vibe off this, but that's only because Scorpius is just too freaky looking for me *g*. Love this version of the song, and I'll be interested to compare this vid with sockkpuppett's Buffy vid to the original Beatles song when she releases her Scooby Road project.
The use of color is just great; the show has a gorgeous palette, and the unnaturally bright colors are used to good effect to highlight the feeling of madness; the choice of the shots with weird camera angles or camera movement are great for this as well. I really like the intercutting of Scorpius into John's position, so we see Aeryn reaching up to John, or about to kiss John, and then it's Scorpius. The 'shoom shoom shoom' part at the opening of the vid is my favorite part.
One Of God's Better People by P.R.Zed, to LOTR
Summary: Boromir wistfully admires Aragorn and Faramir, unable to see himself as equally worthy.
The first time I started watched this vid, I assumed it was a straightforward Boromir/Aragorn to a song that IMO doesn't match the tone of the movies, and went 'eh,' only to be pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be much more complex and interesting. I'm not sure I even think of this as a slash vid; someone who's into B/A certainly could, but for me, it's all about Boromir, and specifically the late movie version of Boromir, unexpectedly struggling with introspection under the influence of the Ring and Galadriel's power, and self-loathing after he falls; I read this (whether or not that was the vidder's intention) as taking place as he's dying, with the final verse Aragorn and Faramir's perspective on him after he's gone.
The song choice is a big hurdle, though, and while I can appreciate what the vid's doing despite it, I can't quite get past it to really fall in love. I think PR Zed does a good job of making this song more interesting than it really is -- the POV and subject of the song itself never change, and there's a lot of repetition. All the interesting changes that occur are her work, but it feels like she's fighting an uphill battle to me.
Freakout by Rob 1, to Smallville
Summary: Smallville's full of freaks, and Lex and Clark are just the two biggest ones. Let's dance!
I was really psyched to see the reaction to this vid at the con, and I wasn't disappointed. *g* So want this in Club Vivid at this year's VVC. The spinny disks do go on just a *little* too long for my taste, but other than that, I'm on board for every single special effect from start to finish, and the cutting together of the Lex and Clark club scenes at the end is just genius. One of the few SV vids I remember seeing that makes use of the giant piles of Krypto-mutant-of-the-week footage, and very successfully.
Invisible Sun by Carol S, to Fight Club
Summary: Wow, this is the most fucked-up guy ever.
As I told Carol afterwards, seeing her vid has given me everything I needed to make the informed choice never to see this movie. *g* The opening setup of the vid, with the counting, is my favorite part -- we have more color than later on in the vid, and the intercutting of the extreme closeups with the phone call is just terrific. Then we get to a very institutional-green and dark palette, with a lot of extreme violence that actually hits my gag reflex in places. Overall, this feels like a summary of the movie, and I don't get that much more out of it, though I knew the spoiler.
5 1/2 Minute Hallway by Janis Cortese, to Hornblower.
Summary: Archie can never have Horatio.
The main problem with this vid for me is that though I *like* the song, the pop drumbeat and Poe's voice just don't work with the source and POV character for me. Having gone through hell trying to find a song that I thought worked for M&C, I understand the temptation to use a modern song, but the "typical" feel of a pop song works so hard against the historical/epic setting that I just can't go there. I didn't hate it, but it didn't do a whole lot for me.
I did like the "only so far I can go" sequence, a series of scenes of Horation backing away into a dark room, someone approaching, Archie advancing. I heard from HH fans afterwards that the context of those clips is pretty far opposite, and since the rest of the vid is using clips contextually, that's going to be an issue for fans of the show. Because I've never actually seen the series and don't have much context, I interpreted this as a constructed reality sex scene, and it's got a nice seductive feel to it.
Until It Sleeps by P.R. Zed, to Professionals.
Summary: Not really sure -- one of the guys is losing it and crossing the line, and as a result gets taken down? But that's just a guess.
This is one of those vids where I get the feeling that there's a clear narrative in there, but without knowing the context I can't quite get a handle on it. On a shallow note, though, it was really nice to see such crisp pretty source for Pros; I'm so used to seeing these guys in sixth-generation VHS versions with tracking lines across the screen. So my first reaction was, "Hey! They shot this show in color!" *g* The song seems to work well with the source period-wise, though it wasn't something I loved.
I Am By Your Side by Dementia, Ink, to LOTR (Frodo/Sam).
Summary: Sam will always be there for Frodo.
This was another case where the song just didn't work for me, and the poor quality of the source was a problem for me. I'm a visual quality snob to begin with, but LOTR in particular is something I'm not used to seeing except in really beautiful, crisp quality, so seeing it in a badly degraded format was especially an issue.
melina123 and I spent some time after the con talking about what quality makes songs work for epic/historical sources, and the key for me is pretty much two words: not typical. The kind of song you hear on the radio, wandering around in stores, in the cab, etc -- that's too grounded in the modern day to work. As Melina said, for something grandiose and epic, you need a song with scope. And this also brings me back to something I've heard laurashapiro mention before, namely that lyrics should be secondary to tone, for vidding appropriateness. The sound and feel of a song are much more immediate and powerful in terms of getting to the listener than the lyrics, which you have to mentally process.
This song had lyrics that were completely appropriate for the Frodo/Sam relationship, if cliche, but a generic pop feel to the music and the singer's voice and phrasing; the feel dominated and overwhelmed the lyrics. The content is fairly straightforward, another 'classic slash vid', and didn't do anything interesting enough to capture me despite the song choice, unlike One of God's Better People.
Inside by Killa, to Jeremiah.
Summary: Kurdy's life and his struggle to love despite the violence and despair of the world he lives in.
Not a Jeremiah fan, don't know anything about the series except by fannish osmosis, no context. Makes no difference: this vid is still intensely thrilling and powerful to watch. Killa does a particularly terrific job of using scale in this piece, going from the close-up to the wide-angle shot, to paint a picture of the post-apocalyptic world from inside Kurdy's head. Also this is what I would call a perfect vidding song -- the pace and scope of it vary and build, providing the foundation for a varied pace of cutting. I also like the occasional hand-held camera shots a lot.
I can see people not thinking of this as a slash vid; to me it's much more of a character study. But damn, who cares? *g*
All Soul's Night by Destina, to Gladiator.
Summary: Maximus's journey to the afterworld.
Another vid that made me start writing fanfic. *g* I got to beta this, so I'm not unbiased, but overall if I had to pick one, this was my favorite of the show. On the shallow level, it's just gorgeous; the palette of this movie is a feast for the eyes, all deep and rich colors. And, er, Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix don't hurt. ;)
The narrative is all right there, even though I've (still) never seen Gladiator: Maximus's journey from general to gladiator, the loss of his family, his struggle with Commodus are all completely clear. The metaphors are also crystal clear -- the lights in the distance for the approaching afterworld, dancing for battle. The vid mostly follows the course of the movie, but it avoids the pitfall of feeling like a recap of the movie that movie vids often fall into, by coming back to the images of the afterworld throughout.
Destina also makes terrific use of the song's powerful drumbeats before each chorus -- the quick fast cuts that punctuate the verses are a great contrast to the overall longer clips and the slower dissolves. My favorite part of the vid is the last one of these, the "wind is full of haunted(?) voices that pass by the bridge and me."
Also, I love the little robin flying away. :)
Too Bad by Gwyneth, to Keen Eddie
Summary: Screwup Yank detective gets sent to England on the trail of some criminals who are doing something very strange with Big Ben tourist tchotchkes. Everyone in England just wants him to go home. Hijinks ensue.
A perfect recruiter vid. I didn't know anything at all about the fandom coming in, and the vid lays it all out for me. The song is great, very energetic, and works really well with the intro, which sets the tone right away, and is funny enough on its own not to get old. The quick pace and the hard cuts between most of the clips matches the song, and the jump cuts are well chosen and very funny. Plus, slashy bits for added fun, and both guys are very cute. Also, the dog is comedy gold.
I think that maybe it would've been good to cut a verse or two out of the song, just to tighten it up a little? But it's still holding me after multiple rewatchings, so maybe not.
Without You I'm Nothing by Sisabet, to Smallville.
Summary: Lex's life, shattering into pieces.
This vid really uses its special effects well -- I'm only noticing now, as I look for it specifically, how the transitions are a lot more complex than simple dissolves or dip-to-white -- saturation increased, I think? I'd love to hear more technical details on how Sisabet did this one. This one, like Freakout, also makes terrific use of Smallville's primary-colors palette, but this time to creepy and twisted effect. Sisabet also does a good job of keeping all the heavily used clips fresh by keeping them short, putting effects on them, coming in and out of them at incongruous moments.
In the vid review panel, Lum and Killa talked about the freeze-frame on the raven and the power of using that symbol; that's still one of my favorite shots. The "tick-tock" section is particularly brilliant, and the increased use of special effects, repeated clips, faster cutting at the end works with the ramp-up in the song to really pay everything off, and closing on that creepy ambiguous smile of Lex's intercut with him in the white suit is fantastic.
We'll Meet Again by Carol S, to Stargate.
Summary: Happy trails, Apophis.
The song for Teal'c/Apophis would've been funny alone, but the aged-film effect really makes it pay off, and I think helps sustain it beyond the first opening. Overall, I think this is a gimmick vid that works on more than that level by building all the way up to that last clip. Someone called this Teal'c's late-night post-monster-movie nightmare, and it so is.
l've Had It All by Melina, to Highlander.
Summary: Duncan's regrets and nostalgia for the past, from season six.
The song choice here is just more interesting the more I rewatch the vid -- the tone and voice seem upbeat, the individual lines are mostly happy and positive, and yet the key is that it's all past-tense. Overall the effect is wistful, nostalgic, and Melina does a great job of matching that unusual feel, using past-season clips to illustrate all the happy moments, and the season-six clips for the "not lately" and present moments. The effect is to put the vid firmly into that period in time.. Just rewatching the vid now, I find myself thinking of it as the lead up to To Be/Not To Be (the series finale), where Duncan's basically ready to die. *sniffle*
And I love all of Duncan's loves, friends, family all being part of this vid. This is another vid that isn't a traditional slash vid, and which shows plenty of het relationships, but still, to me, fully supports a slashy reading.
What Really Happened (You Give Love A Bad Name) by Smutcutter, to Once Upon A Time in Mexico.
Summary: Antonio Banderas and Johnny Depp are either fighting or trying to find one another, and a lot of unlucky people get in their way.
I was telling someone that I find this vid oddly difficult to watch on the computer -- something about the more intimate range makes the violence a lot harder for me to tolerate. So mostly I'm speaking based on my memory from the con, where it worked really well -- the gore and violence were distanced more, and the warm gold-orange-red palette was actually really nice when I wasn't going all, "Gah! Severed limb! Gouged-out-eyes!"
Anyway, so at the con, I did enjoy the vid a lot despite not knowing anything about the source. I felt the song immediately telegraphed to me that this wasn't meant seriously -- that it was about the movement, the color, the energy, and I think Smutcutter succeeded really well in all those areas. Also, the guitar playing with the electric guitar sections in the song was great; it's like a twisted and gory music video.
What Have I Done by Allaire & mamoru, to Hornblower.
Summary: Hornblower loses regrets the loss of the people who have helped him along the way.
Another song choice issue for me here, although in this case it's more that I just dislike the song itself so much I can't get past it to make an objective assessment of the vid, and so I don't feel like I can really talk about it. Sorry!
Fragile by Xanthe, to West Wing.
Summary: Jed reflects on the fragility of life.
Xanthe's WW vid to Wind Beneath My Wings last year was like What Have I Done this year -- I just couldn't get beyond the song. I like this song a lot better, and I think it works well for WW and for Jed in particular. The quality of the source was an issue for me, though watching it on computer, in some places the increased saturation and the blurring of the flashes of light actually work really well for me; at various points I have the sense of watching it through a rain-streaked pane of glass.
Duende by me, to M&C
Am I bitter that there was a gorgeous dvd-rip version of the source out just as soon as I got home from the con? No, not at all. *offers local bridge around*
Prophecy by Luminosity, to Angel.
Summary: Wes puts it all together, and wow, is Angel in trouble.
I had to watch Prophecy about five times on my computer when sockkpuppett first released it before I felt I got the narrative, and then it turned out I was way out in left field when I finally talked to her about it. *g* I can't even remember the really twisted AU idea I was reading out of it originally, but it totally worked, too, damn. But the complexity doesn't keep the emotional meaning from coming through.
The 'light on high ... find yourself home again' section just hits me where I live every time I watch it; the difference in pace, in palette, in the characters' expressions, all of that just works perfectly with the change in the music to push the angst buttons.
Flying Home by Morgan Dawn, to Due South.
Summary: Fraser's near-death experience on the train platform in Victoria's Secret.
Morgan did a fabulous job of selecting and editing the music and matching that to the great sweeping movement of the clips. The energy and movement of the characters blending out to movement through the scenes of wide-open vistas, and then back down to smaller, intimate scenes, the warmth of the faces. My one quibble with this is honestly, the frame -- I love it as the starting point, but somehow coming back to it feels like being drawn back into a sad and bleak moment, when we've just been lifted into this exhilarating sweep.
Small note
I'm getting kind of wiped-out by this point, but I'm highly dubious of my actually posting a second part if I let myself off the hook, so I'm going to just go ahead and finish; sorry for the abbreviated comments on these last few ones. Hopefully I'll have a chance to come back to them and comment in more detail.
Hothead by Orbis, to Godzilla.
Summary: Evolution is a bitch.
I hated the movie, but I still find this vid a lot of fun; it's almost like a dance vid, I think. The one issue I have is the use of the posterization effect, which washes out a lot of the detail and makes my eyes tired; I wouldn't have minded a little, but the extent was too much for me. In the show, a lot of the news report-style voice-overs in the audio got drowned out somehow, and lost a lot of the vid's cute, which is a shame.
No More Sad Songs by Destina, to Stargate.
Summary: All Jack's regrets, and the one person he lost that came back.
The narrative of this vid is very clear, and it's a nice wistful study of Jack after Daniel's loss, and then his happiness when Daniel returns. I've got issues with the metaphor of Jack as the dad and the rest of the team as his kids, which works against the slash for me in a big way, but the ending where Daniel comes back just makes me all happy, so I forgive it. :-)
Little Brother by Killa, to QAF: UK.
Summary: Stuart and Vince need to get together already.
This vid worked on me as a recruiter vid because I kept wondering which is which, and what the POV and the whole backstory is. But cesperanza just comforted me by telling me that I'm not crazy to be thinking that the POV changes midway, which makes me happy. :-) Also, that scene where they're getting undressed together is very sweet and hot. I particularly love the slowdown on the bridge and then the shot to them running when the beat picks up.
Wipeout by Rache & Sandy, to Stargate & Farscape.
Summary: They really are the same show.
It's just a single joke, but somehow it doesn't get old, probably because of the quick pace; just a lot of fun and energy.
Okay, I'm done. *falls over*