new vid - "Somewhere a Clock is Ticking" - The Hollow Crown

[obsessive24]

Somewhere a Clock is Ticking
Fandom: The Hollow Crown
Song/Artist: Somewhere a Clock is Ticking by Snow Patrol
Duration: 3:38 minutes

Summary: Let's talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs. Write sorrow on the bosom of the earth. Let us sit upon the ground and tell sad stories of the deaths of kings. A festivids treat for condnsdmlk.
Spoilers: All

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Password: Agincourt




I've got this feeling that there's something that I missed, don’t you breathe
(I could do most anything to you)
Something happened that I never understood, you can't leave
Every second, dripping off my fingertips, wage your war
Another soldier says he's not afraid to die, well I am scared
In slow motion, the blast is beautiful, doors slam shut
A clock is ticking, but it's hidden far away, safe and sound


Shakespeare often feels to me like the antithesis of “show don’t tell”, especially the histories. Characters come and go and do important things offstage and often disappear at the oddest times, never to return. It can make the vid’s narrative impenetrable, so I also wanted to approach it from a more theme-based perspective. condnsdmlk requested a Hal vid, so that’s mainly what it is, but I also wanted to incorporate Richard II, as it was my favourite of the series.

Also, I just felt it was so important to view this tetralogy as a whole. (How grand it would have been if they followed it immediately with 3 parts of Henry VI and then Richard III, but the BBC is not made of money, alas.) Even though the focus is on Hal, he was so much a product of prior events, and I just can’t get over this idea of time passing in a general sense - especially in the epilogue of Henry V where you see the young boy grow into an old man in the blink of an eye. (Although it was hard not to get a mental image of the Merlin slash dragon of destiny every time John Hurt opened his mouth.) I wanted to touch on Henry IV’s persistent guilt because of this notion of having violated the holy right of kings, and the audience's knowledge that this act did eventually lead to the War of the Roses. I was also really affected by the profound sadness of Henry V dying in his prime. And, and, the mirroring of Hal and Hotspur. And the Lancaster father/son line from John of Gaunt all the way to Henry VI. And Simon Russell Beale’s glorious Falstaff! And slashy Hal/Poins (who was eyelinered Byron from Secret Diary of a Call Girl)! And Lady Mary of Downton as Mrs Hotspur! And Ben Whishaw and Rory Kinnear being both here and in the new Bond! I was so enamoured with Shrewsbury that I think I gave Agincourt short thrift in the structure of the vid, although the way it was filmed didn’t help. There’s just so much ground to cover and not everything gets equal billing, but hopefully the amount of love and flailing comes through.

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ETA: I wrote and posted the following paragraph in the private post about a month before the news broke about Kate falling pregnant with Windsorsaurus Rex, future king of England. ;)

I also had an awesome thought. If William and Kate do not produce an heir, then Prince Harry could be King one day. What with NazicostumeGate and NakedgirlhugGate, he’s exactly like a modern day Hal, right? Right? He’s even called Harry! Now I desperately want this to happen and for Henry IX to attack France. :D

***

I loved the following short chapter from Robert Nye's "memoirs" of Falstaff (or Sir John Fastolf, as he informs us). It's not at all relevant to the direction or POV of the vid, but I thought I'd reproduce the text here because it's sad and beautiful and unexpected, and when am I gonna bring up the subject again otherwise.

***

Why did I follow Hal? Why did I go to the wars again?

Two questions, Worcester. Three answers.

First, I followed Hal because I was his education.

I do not say I was his tutor. No dry nurse, I. No proctor or praclector. No abecedarian. Nor of course was I anything in the way of an example to the young Prince, a model for his imitation.

No, John Fastolf was Hal's university. I was his teaching, not his teacher. In me, with me, by me, through me he was prepared for the throne of England and of France. The battle of Agincourt was won on the playing fields of Gadshill.

Harry Monmouth, you see, was essentially an actor. Without a role, he was nothing. What some have since chosen to speak of as his misspent youth in my company was really his rehearsal in a variety of parts. I led him on. I let him play. I provided his preparation and his training ground.

Consider. A King is a man who plays a King. In the court of my company, Hal was always acting. I let him play at thieves. I let him play at putting thieves to rout. I let him play at roaring boy and whorer. I let him play at drunkard - and never let on that I noticed his weak head and iron will, the emptying of the tankards in the flower-pots when he thought no one was watching, the drinking of the one glass only to my two, or three, or four, or seven. I let him play at being his own father, admonishing me, his son, his prodigal. I let him play at potboys and Peeping Toms. I let him play at being himself.

(And that not just when I was cast in the role of his father.)

I come now to the hardest thing to say. It is even possible that I let him play at having feelings. God knows now what ever passed through Harry Monmouth's heart, and if there was ever in that strange cold organ a movement, a stirring of affection, a feeling of true friendship for me. If there was, then I salute you, Hal. And not as an Emperor, either. If there was not, then I salute you only as an Emperor, a King who learnt to play at making friends by his play-acting friendship for his fat court fool.

I followed Hal because I was his shadow.

Shadows at sunset, madam, as at dawn, are longer than what casts them. Only at noon is your shadow underfoot. At Agincourt was Harry's noon.

- Robert Nye, Falstaff