White Collar vid: Hymn for the Missing
(Any kind of feedback, including constructive criticism, is very much appreciated. Anonymous comments are, as always, also enabled.)
Summary: Post 5x13. Peter agonizes over Neal's disappearance and wonders if he'll ever see his friend again. He remembers all the times when Neal didn't run, but chose to stay for Peter, as well as the times when Neal was taken from him by external forces. Featuring kidnapped!Neal and worried!protective!Peter.
Hymn for the Missing
Apparently, the ghost scene and me talking about interpretation devices intrigued some (well, a couple) people who asked about more details of my work process. So here's a little “meta” post about the vid, deconstructing it so to speak.
The very first clip sets the framework plot: Peter is unable to sleep at night, and when he's finally falling asleep, he's dreaming (having nightmares) about what happened.
The very beginning is already kind of ambiguous (a theme that is recurring in the vid: dreams mixing with reality; "a dream within a dream" as I already said in my vidding notes), because it can be read as Peter asleep only dreaming about Neal's abduction, or Peter lying awake at night thinking about the nightmare he just woke up from (only to realize that it wasn't a nightmare at all, but reality).
The kidnapper morphing into Peter morphing into Neal is on a very obvious level one of the elements that makes a dream a dream, which is why it's important to show that early on in the vid (the background in those clips also plays an additional role to set the plot in “dream world” or at least in Peter's mind).
On a not-so-obvious level, the kidnapper morphing into Peter alludes to that part of the relationship between Neal and Peter that can be described as that between kidnapper and Stockholm Syndrome victim (obviously, that's only a very tiny part of their relationship, one puzzle piece of many others that makes “Peter and Neal” “Peter and Neal”.) And while this signifies some sort of parallel, it also calls attention to the differences (the kidnapper as the bad guy versus our gentle and caring Peter, saying “If anything were to happen to him … I don't think I could live with it” in that gentle tone of voice).
The transition from black&white to color and vice versa is, as you may have noticed, a tool I generally like to use in my vids. It's (mostly; as in this case) supposed to symbolize the merging of past and present (in this regard, it's also always important which way it goes: from black and white to color, or the other way around). This is particularly important in the dream context because Peter is thinking about what happened to Neal in the past and what he might be going through right now.
The part where I make Neal vanish with the lyrics “I thought you were beside me, but I reached and you were gone” is rather obvious. I chose the clip of Peter watching Neal standing in front of the elevator because it was after the emotional hug scene and one of the last times Peter saw Neal before he vanished. I thought about using the scene when Peter actually does see Neal last, but the elevator scene worked better. Partly because it just looked better than the alternative. Partly because Neal storms off angrily in the other scene and I wanted something more gentle to paint a better contrast between “this is when we were happy and thought everything was gonna be fine” to “and now you're gone and I don't know where you are”.
One thing regarding the audio: Obviously, I choose the voiceovers very carefully and every single one of them is important to the vid as a whole. But I don't want to talk about every one I chose and why I chose it. I just wanted to mention that the echo and repeating of words (Diana's “gone” at the beginning and Neal's “you” at about 1.15) is once again a tool to make the viewer aware of the fact that it's in Peter's head. Neal says “you” (at 1.12) to Peter while Peter thinks back to that moment in time, and then we jump to Peter sitting alone in Neal's empty apartment, still deep in thought, hearing Neal say “you” again. (Once again merging past and present.)
The “Will I find you again?” part (1.24) is also quite straight forward: Peter comes looking for Neal in his apartment, but doesn't find him there. Instead, there's just “ghost Neal” -- just a memory of him remains and Peter can't find him.
Well, then there's the mirror scene that I already explained in my vidding notes (and that kind of prompted this meta post). So I won't repeat myself there.
I'm not going to explain most of the clips I used because every clip I use in a vid is there for a reason and I would sit here all day explaining why I used which clip where. But the one at 1.53 I would like to point out (Peter walking towards Neal and Neal holding out his hand to stop him to “Will I see you again?”). This symbolizes Peter's fear that Neal might not want to be found at all. But of course, then the hug scene follows (it's all about fears and hopes, and one flows into the other and vice versa. Fear into hope in this case).
The scene at 2.37 when Neal walks by the kidnapper and then it goes to black and white and he walks backwards again before it switches to the scene when the kidnapper says “I'm about to become the last person on Earth who knows where you are” is reversed because I wanted to “blur the lines” once again. Past and present are so separate yet flowing into one. (That makes more sense in my head than it does on paper right now …) Neal gets kidnapped in the scene “last person … who knows where you are” and the “ABOUT to become the last person on Earth” part is said as a voiceover while the clip is reversed -- so that shows the scene when everything was still fine, but about to go to hell (the danger is already present, but was not present before Neal walked by).
About 2.52 (“Why did you go, I had to stay, will I see you again”) is obviously again a memory (season 1 scenes dominate here). I was actually close to including writing here, because it's about Neal always coming back to Peter if he has a choice (out of all the places he could have run -- he runs right to Peter).
Yeah … there's lots more I could say about it, but this is already getting long, so I'll just leave it at that and hope that it's a satisfying answer to those who wanted to know.
If there's also interest in meta for "Safe In My Arms" or "Safe and Sound" or any other recent vid I made, feel free to PM me and I'll see if I can make another meta post.
Summary: Post 5x13. Peter agonizes over Neal's disappearance and wonders if he'll ever see his friend again. He remembers all the times when Neal didn't run, but chose to stay for Peter, as well as the times when Neal was taken from him by external forces. Featuring kidnapped!Neal and worried!protective!Peter.
Hymn for the Missing
Apparently, the ghost scene and me talking about interpretation devices intrigued some (well, a couple) people who asked about more details of my work process. So here's a little “meta” post about the vid, deconstructing it so to speak.
The very first clip sets the framework plot: Peter is unable to sleep at night, and when he's finally falling asleep, he's dreaming (having nightmares) about what happened.
The very beginning is already kind of ambiguous (a theme that is recurring in the vid: dreams mixing with reality; "a dream within a dream" as I already said in my vidding notes), because it can be read as Peter asleep only dreaming about Neal's abduction, or Peter lying awake at night thinking about the nightmare he just woke up from (only to realize that it wasn't a nightmare at all, but reality).
The kidnapper morphing into Peter morphing into Neal is on a very obvious level one of the elements that makes a dream a dream, which is why it's important to show that early on in the vid (the background in those clips also plays an additional role to set the plot in “dream world” or at least in Peter's mind).
On a not-so-obvious level, the kidnapper morphing into Peter alludes to that part of the relationship between Neal and Peter that can be described as that between kidnapper and Stockholm Syndrome victim (obviously, that's only a very tiny part of their relationship, one puzzle piece of many others that makes “Peter and Neal” “Peter and Neal”.) And while this signifies some sort of parallel, it also calls attention to the differences (the kidnapper as the bad guy versus our gentle and caring Peter, saying “If anything were to happen to him … I don't think I could live with it” in that gentle tone of voice).
The transition from black&white to color and vice versa is, as you may have noticed, a tool I generally like to use in my vids. It's (mostly; as in this case) supposed to symbolize the merging of past and present (in this regard, it's also always important which way it goes: from black and white to color, or the other way around). This is particularly important in the dream context because Peter is thinking about what happened to Neal in the past and what he might be going through right now.
The part where I make Neal vanish with the lyrics “I thought you were beside me, but I reached and you were gone” is rather obvious. I chose the clip of Peter watching Neal standing in front of the elevator because it was after the emotional hug scene and one of the last times Peter saw Neal before he vanished. I thought about using the scene when Peter actually does see Neal last, but the elevator scene worked better. Partly because it just looked better than the alternative. Partly because Neal storms off angrily in the other scene and I wanted something more gentle to paint a better contrast between “this is when we were happy and thought everything was gonna be fine” to “and now you're gone and I don't know where you are”.
One thing regarding the audio: Obviously, I choose the voiceovers very carefully and every single one of them is important to the vid as a whole. But I don't want to talk about every one I chose and why I chose it. I just wanted to mention that the echo and repeating of words (Diana's “gone” at the beginning and Neal's “you” at about 1.15) is once again a tool to make the viewer aware of the fact that it's in Peter's head. Neal says “you” (at 1.12) to Peter while Peter thinks back to that moment in time, and then we jump to Peter sitting alone in Neal's empty apartment, still deep in thought, hearing Neal say “you” again. (Once again merging past and present.)
The “Will I find you again?” part (1.24) is also quite straight forward: Peter comes looking for Neal in his apartment, but doesn't find him there. Instead, there's just “ghost Neal” -- just a memory of him remains and Peter can't find him.
Well, then there's the mirror scene that I already explained in my vidding notes (and that kind of prompted this meta post). So I won't repeat myself there.
I'm not going to explain most of the clips I used because every clip I use in a vid is there for a reason and I would sit here all day explaining why I used which clip where. But the one at 1.53 I would like to point out (Peter walking towards Neal and Neal holding out his hand to stop him to “Will I see you again?”). This symbolizes Peter's fear that Neal might not want to be found at all. But of course, then the hug scene follows (it's all about fears and hopes, and one flows into the other and vice versa. Fear into hope in this case).
The scene at 2.37 when Neal walks by the kidnapper and then it goes to black and white and he walks backwards again before it switches to the scene when the kidnapper says “I'm about to become the last person on Earth who knows where you are” is reversed because I wanted to “blur the lines” once again. Past and present are so separate yet flowing into one. (That makes more sense in my head than it does on paper right now …) Neal gets kidnapped in the scene “last person … who knows where you are” and the “ABOUT to become the last person on Earth” part is said as a voiceover while the clip is reversed -- so that shows the scene when everything was still fine, but about to go to hell (the danger is already present, but was not present before Neal walked by).
About 2.52 (“Why did you go, I had to stay, will I see you again”) is obviously again a memory (season 1 scenes dominate here). I was actually close to including writing here, because it's about Neal always coming back to Peter if he has a choice (out of all the places he could have run -- he runs right to Peter).
Yeah … there's lots more I could say about it, but this is already getting long, so I'll just leave it at that and hope that it's a satisfying answer to those who wanted to know.
If there's also interest in meta for "Safe In My Arms" or "Safe and Sound" or any other recent vid I made, feel free to PM me and I'll see if I can make another meta post.