There are more vids in heaven and earth, Horatio
Er, so on a WILDLY DIFFERENT emotional note to my previous entry . . . I made a vid for Hamlet (2009), aka David Tennant's Hamlet :D :D :D I started it last year, making it the fifth (5th) vid featuring David Tennant that I made in the Year Of Our Lord 2019, because apparently one decade on from the Tenth Doctor's regeneration and NOTHING IN MY BRAIN HAS CHANGED. I did not expect this to be my life, this time last year, but here we are.
At one point in the vidding process (er, about two hours before the submission deadline when I still very much had gaps on the timeline), I was texting
such_heights gloomily about how vidding is a STUPID HOBBY. As is traditional, we had kept our assignments a secret from each other. 'Take a break' she immediately texted back, 'with this stupid face!' and attached a link to....a David Tennant interview XD It took a great deal of self-control not to reply with 'AMY I HAVE BEEN LOOKING AT THAT STUPID FACE NON-STOP SINCE THE FIRST OF JUNE'. (so I texted
cosmic_llin instead.) (Who, as it turns out, was making a treat for ME.)
SO - this play! This version of this play! I was unbelievably lucky enough to get to see David Tennant perform this on stage at Stratford back in 2008. It was my introduction to Hamlet, a play I have since come to love deeply (and wrote multiple essays on in my final year at uni, one of which was titled, I kid you not, 'Geek Tragedy' - all about why Hamlet is such a delightfully rubbish hero). My boyfriend at the time loved the play, so I took him to see it for his birthday, in what we both acknowledged was as much a gift for me as it was for him :P It was...incandescent. The entire cast is extraordinary - Patrick Stewart has such subtlety and gravitas that my beta actually warned me against using too many shots of his face in this vid, because he stole the focus :) Penny Downie is wonderful. And it is my GREAT regret that this vid doesn't have more Horatio in it, because Peter de Jersey is glorious, and his relationship with Tennant's Hamlet is so lovely (and so, so gay, you guys). I did contemplate making an extra treat vidlet about Hamlet/Horatio, but couldn't think of a song, and was also working on this one right up to the wire. If anyone has any suggestions though, I'm all ears. ("What's a good song," I texted
cosmic_llin "to express 'How Do I Stop My Idiot Boyfriend From Doing Idiot Things??'" She suggested 'You Told The Drunks I Knew Karate', which I considered, genuinely forgetting that I have, in fact, already vidded it.)
Grounds for Divorce, incidentally, has been linked to this play in my head for *years*. I encountered it around the same time, thanks to, er, the same ex, who was a big fan of Elbow, and the two have always been connected. I think it's the phrase 'of late' - 'there's a hole in my neighbourhood down which of late I cannot help but fall'. It's just always made me think of that honest, painful moment in the play, 'I have of late, but wherefore I know not, lost all my mirth...' Is that weird? IDK.
One of the things I love about this particular production (aside from David Tennant's stupid face) is how beautiful it is. Hamlet is an infamously wordy play - the title role is the longest in Shakespeare - and a very cerebral one, about a hero who (v relatably) would rather find endless ways to procrastinate than actually take a crack at the one task on his To Do List. But here we have a wildly physical version Hamlet, the use of all kinds of interesting visual tricks (like the security cameras), gorgeous sets and lighting and costumes (love Hamlet's Hercules shirt) and so it was surprisingly easy to find visually interesting clips. It was putting them in the right order that was hard.
And for that, I have to thank my amazingly incredible beta,
rydra_wong <333 We didn't know each other, but she wrote some wonderfully insightful comments on one of my Good Omens vids, which led me to discover her passion for Shakespeare, so I figured I would ask her if she'd like to work with me on this :D WHAT A GOOD DECISION. I think it was ultimately not quite the intellectual collaboration we hoped it might be, because for various reasons my brain has felt full of cotton wool for much of the past few weeks, so a lot of our emails consisted of her thoughtful and interesting comments and me replying with '!!!!!' rather than anything actually insightful. But she was amazing, full of thoughts and ideas about ways to think about Hamlet, and clips to use, and important character moments, and ways I could interpret the sections of the song I was struggling to pin a meaning on. If anyone ever wants to talk to someone about Shakespeare, I recommend her <3 She rewatched the play for me! And listened to the audio commentary! And sent feedback on about sixty thousand unfinished versions of the vid! Truly dedicated.
I am also hugely grateful to
elisi, who unexpectedly became a cheerleader for this vid towards the end, as a sidequest from...cheerleading someone else's vid (thank you,
promethia_tenk, sorry I still haven't watched Dracula) She was full of encouragement and enthusiasm when I was being particularly grumpy about it, and also made a brilliant comment about Hamlet's breaking the 4th wall, which helped me to figure out a section I had not been happy with with right up until about two days before GoLive.
I love what a collaborative experience vidding can be. I've done quite a bit of beta-ing lately (god I really want to say 'of late'), some of it also for people I really don't know well, and it makes me happy that I can contribute to someone else's art even a tiny fraction of what other people contribute to mine. So thank you
rydra_wong and
elisi, you are both great <3 Here's a vid:
Grounds For Divorce
edited by
purplefringe
fandom: Hamlet (2009)
music: Grounds for Divorce by Elbow
summary: there's a hole in my neighbourhood / down which of late I cannot help but fall
content notes: lots of rapid cuts/jump cuts. Some static. Quick shot of a cut on someone's hand. Spoilers for a 421 y/o play.
Also on tumblr and the AO3
stream:
Lyrics
At one point in the vidding process (er, about two hours before the submission deadline when I still very much had gaps on the timeline), I was texting
such_heights gloomily about how vidding is a STUPID HOBBY. As is traditional, we had kept our assignments a secret from each other. 'Take a break' she immediately texted back, 'with this stupid face!' and attached a link to....a David Tennant interview XD It took a great deal of self-control not to reply with 'AMY I HAVE BEEN LOOKING AT THAT STUPID FACE NON-STOP SINCE THE FIRST OF JUNE'. (so I texted
cosmic_llin instead.) (Who, as it turns out, was making a treat for ME.)
SO - this play! This version of this play! I was unbelievably lucky enough to get to see David Tennant perform this on stage at Stratford back in 2008. It was my introduction to Hamlet, a play I have since come to love deeply (and wrote multiple essays on in my final year at uni, one of which was titled, I kid you not, 'Geek Tragedy' - all about why Hamlet is such a delightfully rubbish hero). My boyfriend at the time loved the play, so I took him to see it for his birthday, in what we both acknowledged was as much a gift for me as it was for him :P It was...incandescent. The entire cast is extraordinary - Patrick Stewart has such subtlety and gravitas that my beta actually warned me against using too many shots of his face in this vid, because he stole the focus :) Penny Downie is wonderful. And it is my GREAT regret that this vid doesn't have more Horatio in it, because Peter de Jersey is glorious, and his relationship with Tennant's Hamlet is so lovely (and so, so gay, you guys). I did contemplate making an extra treat vidlet about Hamlet/Horatio, but couldn't think of a song, and was also working on this one right up to the wire. If anyone has any suggestions though, I'm all ears. ("What's a good song," I texted
cosmic_llin "to express 'How Do I Stop My Idiot Boyfriend From Doing Idiot Things??'" She suggested 'You Told The Drunks I Knew Karate', which I considered, genuinely forgetting that I have, in fact, already vidded it.)
Grounds for Divorce, incidentally, has been linked to this play in my head for *years*. I encountered it around the same time, thanks to, er, the same ex, who was a big fan of Elbow, and the two have always been connected. I think it's the phrase 'of late' - 'there's a hole in my neighbourhood down which of late I cannot help but fall'. It's just always made me think of that honest, painful moment in the play, 'I have of late, but wherefore I know not, lost all my mirth...' Is that weird? IDK.
One of the things I love about this particular production (aside from David Tennant's stupid face) is how beautiful it is. Hamlet is an infamously wordy play - the title role is the longest in Shakespeare - and a very cerebral one, about a hero who (v relatably) would rather find endless ways to procrastinate than actually take a crack at the one task on his To Do List. But here we have a wildly physical version Hamlet, the use of all kinds of interesting visual tricks (like the security cameras), gorgeous sets and lighting and costumes (love Hamlet's Hercules shirt) and so it was surprisingly easy to find visually interesting clips. It was putting them in the right order that was hard.
And for that, I have to thank my amazingly incredible beta,
rydra_wong <333 We didn't know each other, but she wrote some wonderfully insightful comments on one of my Good Omens vids, which led me to discover her passion for Shakespeare, so I figured I would ask her if she'd like to work with me on this :D WHAT A GOOD DECISION. I think it was ultimately not quite the intellectual collaboration we hoped it might be, because for various reasons my brain has felt full of cotton wool for much of the past few weeks, so a lot of our emails consisted of her thoughtful and interesting comments and me replying with '!!!!!' rather than anything actually insightful. But she was amazing, full of thoughts and ideas about ways to think about Hamlet, and clips to use, and important character moments, and ways I could interpret the sections of the song I was struggling to pin a meaning on. If anyone ever wants to talk to someone about Shakespeare, I recommend her <3 She rewatched the play for me! And listened to the audio commentary! And sent feedback on about sixty thousand unfinished versions of the vid! Truly dedicated.
I am also hugely grateful to
elisi, who unexpectedly became a cheerleader for this vid towards the end, as a sidequest from...cheerleading someone else's vid (thank you,
promethia_tenk, sorry I still haven't watched Dracula) She was full of encouragement and enthusiasm when I was being particularly grumpy about it, and also made a brilliant comment about Hamlet's breaking the 4th wall, which helped me to figure out a section I had not been happy with with right up until about two days before GoLive.
I love what a collaborative experience vidding can be. I've done quite a bit of beta-ing lately (god I really want to say 'of late'), some of it also for people I really don't know well, and it makes me happy that I can contribute to someone else's art even a tiny fraction of what other people contribute to mine. So thank you
rydra_wong and
elisi, you are both great <3 Here's a vid:
Grounds For Divorce
edited by
purplefringe
fandom: Hamlet (2009)
music: Grounds for Divorce by Elbow
summary: there's a hole in my neighbourhood / down which of late I cannot help but fall
content notes: lots of rapid cuts/jump cuts. Some static. Quick shot of a cut on someone's hand. Spoilers for a 421 y/o play.
Also on tumblr and the AO3
stream:
Click to viewLyrics