IJVP - Day 2! "Brighter Than Sunshine" (Firefly/Serenity)
Welcome to Day 2 of the IJVP!
The second vidlet was suggested by effulgent_girl, it's a Jayne/River (from Firefly and Serenity - so spoilers for the movie) vid to Aqualung's, "Brighter Than Sunshine."
For those of you who are just here for the vids - please right-click and 'Save Target As.'
Brighter Than Sunshine (18 MB DivX AVI)
Please let me know if you're unable to play the vidlet.
Lyrics
I never understood before
I never knew what love was for
My heart was broke, my head was sore
What a feeling
Tied up in ancient history,
I didn't believe in destiny,
I look up you're standing next to me,
what a feeling
I didn't have the strength to fight,
But suddenly, yeah, it seemed so right,
Me and you, what a feeling.
What a feeling in my soul
What a feeling in my soul
Love burns brighter than sunshine
it's brighter than sunshine
and it’s brighter than sunshine
My Thoughts; What Works; What Doesn't
This vid was difficult for me because I don't really see the Jayne/River relationship too much, but I really wanted to search deeper and see what I could find in the source to really try to sell the audience (and myself to a degree) on them. I had to do a lot of thinking about them and the way they interact and what their points of connection could be, and I settled on the shared ability to fight as something I could work with. I also tried to use the song to focus more on Jayne himself in the beginning, so I could clump all of my good Jayne/River moments nearer the end. I have a tendency to use my best clips first, when I really should be saving them for the end so people remember those strong moments and they don't get lost in the middle.
I think I managed that pretty well this time, although that last clip of Jayne smirking/smiling really is not as good as I thought when I first laid it. Heh. That's my least favorite part of the vid, but it prefaces my very favorite part of the vid so I'm more likely to be lenient. I think the last two clips are good, especially ending with Jayne's face being lit by River (an effect I put in there). I originally had River last but it was actually ridiculous looking and I despaired of fixing it until I decided to just switch them; Adam Baldwin has managed a nicely serious look at that point and I think it keeps the vid from being silly. I hope so, at least, since that really wasn't my intention.
I like the washed out clips of Jayne and the way that he comes into full color only after River throws the guy at him (their first moment of connection in the vid). I also like the various lighting effects, although some of the color changing didn't work as well as I wanted. I think the clip of River on "destiny" is pretty awesome.
What I Learned
How to make the song work for me, rather than against me. A lesson I seem to have to learn and then learn again periodically. I also learned that it's ok to inject some extra spice into the song; in this case, the first "what a feeling in my soul" in the last stanza is from the beginning of the song, but I really liked the atmosphere it added to that section (plus it gave the vid more of a climax musically).
I played a lot with the Color Wheel again, the HSL settings, and keyframing of the General Convolution settings (I think that's what it called; I already closed down my program tonight). I tried to use the lighting and the colors with specific emotive and narrative purposes in mind, which is really the lesson I took from this vid.
On a very general thought, I'm happy that my lessons (so far) from this year's IVP are tending towards the bigger issues like cutting and application of effects with purpose, rather than the minutiae of how to use a specific effect. It's what I really wanted to get out of this year's project.
The second vidlet was suggested by effulgent_girl, it's a Jayne/River (from Firefly and Serenity - so spoilers for the movie) vid to Aqualung's, "Brighter Than Sunshine."
For those of you who are just here for the vids - please right-click and 'Save Target As.'
Brighter Than Sunshine (18 MB DivX AVI)
Please let me know if you're unable to play the vidlet.
Lyrics
I never understood before
I never knew what love was for
My heart was broke, my head was sore
What a feeling
Tied up in ancient history,
I didn't believe in destiny,
I look up you're standing next to me,
what a feeling
I didn't have the strength to fight,
But suddenly, yeah, it seemed so right,
Me and you, what a feeling.
What a feeling in my soul
What a feeling in my soul
Love burns brighter than sunshine
it's brighter than sunshine
and it’s brighter than sunshine
My Thoughts; What Works; What Doesn't
This vid was difficult for me because I don't really see the Jayne/River relationship too much, but I really wanted to search deeper and see what I could find in the source to really try to sell the audience (and myself to a degree) on them. I had to do a lot of thinking about them and the way they interact and what their points of connection could be, and I settled on the shared ability to fight as something I could work with. I also tried to use the song to focus more on Jayne himself in the beginning, so I could clump all of my good Jayne/River moments nearer the end. I have a tendency to use my best clips first, when I really should be saving them for the end so people remember those strong moments and they don't get lost in the middle.
I think I managed that pretty well this time, although that last clip of Jayne smirking/smiling really is not as good as I thought when I first laid it. Heh. That's my least favorite part of the vid, but it prefaces my very favorite part of the vid so I'm more likely to be lenient. I think the last two clips are good, especially ending with Jayne's face being lit by River (an effect I put in there). I originally had River last but it was actually ridiculous looking and I despaired of fixing it until I decided to just switch them; Adam Baldwin has managed a nicely serious look at that point and I think it keeps the vid from being silly. I hope so, at least, since that really wasn't my intention.
I like the washed out clips of Jayne and the way that he comes into full color only after River throws the guy at him (their first moment of connection in the vid). I also like the various lighting effects, although some of the color changing didn't work as well as I wanted. I think the clip of River on "destiny" is pretty awesome.
What I Learned
How to make the song work for me, rather than against me. A lesson I seem to have to learn and then learn again periodically. I also learned that it's ok to inject some extra spice into the song; in this case, the first "what a feeling in my soul" in the last stanza is from the beginning of the song, but I really liked the atmosphere it added to that section (plus it gave the vid more of a climax musically).
I played a lot with the Color Wheel again, the HSL settings, and keyframing of the General Convolution settings (I think that's what it called; I already closed down my program tonight). I tried to use the lighting and the colors with specific emotive and narrative purposes in mind, which is really the lesson I took from this vid.
On a very general thought, I'm happy that my lessons (so far) from this year's IVP are tending towards the bigger issues like cutting and application of effects with purpose, rather than the minutiae of how to use a specific effect. It's what I really wanted to get out of this year's project.