New vid: "Burn the Mazes"
28 June 2012 09:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
frayadjacentFandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (S1-S6)
Characters: Willow & Warren
Song: Virgin State of Mind
Artist: K's Choice
Download: 45 mb mp4
Password: burn
A Willow character vid that also emphasizes similarities between her and Warren. As in the series, I'm using Warren as a foil for Willow, not really as a character in his own right.
It occurs to me that this vid comes off as pretty anti-Willow. I have mixed feelings about her character. My first time watching the series I had SO MUCH LOVE for this girl. When Tara came into the picture (and I realized their relationship wasn't going to just be a short-term, subtexty ratings boost) I about died of happiness. Then Willow started acting in all sorts of appalling ways, and her characterization was so well-done, and it all flowed so naturally from what came before, that I started re-interpreting everything I'd loved or sympathized with about her before. Suddenly her cuteness became just another way for her to hide her insecurity. And that insecurity itself was colored by the ways she would come to manipulate people instead of just dealing with her problems. Even the excitement of watching her grow into a powerful character was diminished by knowing how she'd use that power against her loved ones, and by reflecting on what exactly motivates her to become powerful in the first place. I've come back around and have made peace with Willow -- there's still a lot to love -- but I'll never again adore her quite like I did at first.
While I was excited about this vid when I started, it quickly became a side project I worked on alongside "Deeds That Have Made Me" and "Under Stars". I'm OK with how the vid makes its point, but there is something a little, I dunno, lackluster? about it. It comes down to song choice. Intellectually this song is great for the point I'm trying to make, both in lyrics and music. Whedon chose it for "Doppelgangland" for a reason. But musically this song just doesn't push my bottons like other vid-music I've chosen, and that makes me less enthusiastic about vidding it. I'd like to vid songs according to how well they fit the vid, not according to my personal taste, but at the same time I might have learned something about my vidding process from this experience. I can't just intellectually know that "this song screams Willow, and not just cause Joss already said so!" I have to feel it, too.
By the way, when I was almost finished with this vid I read some comments on vidpub that implied it was some kind of vidding no-no to use a song that's actually used in the fandom you're vidding. I don't really get that, but I likely won't be doing this again anyway, so it doesn't matter too much.
Lyrics:
There's a chair in my head on which I used to sit
Took a pencil and I wrote the following on it
Now there's a key where my wonderful mouth used to be
Dig it up, throw it at me
Dig it up, throw it at me
Where can I run to, where can I hide
Who will I turn to now I'm in a virgin state of mind
Got a knife to disengage the voids that I can't bear
To cut out words I've got written on my chair
Like do you think I'm sexy
Do you think I really care
Can I burn the mazes I grow
Can I, I don't think so
Can I burn the mazes I grow
Can I, I don't think so
Where can I run to, where can I hide
Who will I turn to now I'm in a virgin state of mind
Virgin state of mind
Virgin state of mind
Virgin state of mind
Characters: Willow & Warren
Song: Virgin State of Mind
Artist: K's Choice
Download: 45 mb mp4
Password: burn
A Willow character vid that also emphasizes similarities between her and Warren. As in the series, I'm using Warren as a foil for Willow, not really as a character in his own right.
It occurs to me that this vid comes off as pretty anti-Willow. I have mixed feelings about her character. My first time watching the series I had SO MUCH LOVE for this girl. When Tara came into the picture (and I realized their relationship wasn't going to just be a short-term, subtexty ratings boost) I about died of happiness. Then Willow started acting in all sorts of appalling ways, and her characterization was so well-done, and it all flowed so naturally from what came before, that I started re-interpreting everything I'd loved or sympathized with about her before. Suddenly her cuteness became just another way for her to hide her insecurity. And that insecurity itself was colored by the ways she would come to manipulate people instead of just dealing with her problems. Even the excitement of watching her grow into a powerful character was diminished by knowing how she'd use that power against her loved ones, and by reflecting on what exactly motivates her to become powerful in the first place. I've come back around and have made peace with Willow -- there's still a lot to love -- but I'll never again adore her quite like I did at first.
While I was excited about this vid when I started, it quickly became a side project I worked on alongside "Deeds That Have Made Me" and "Under Stars". I'm OK with how the vid makes its point, but there is something a little, I dunno, lackluster? about it. It comes down to song choice. Intellectually this song is great for the point I'm trying to make, both in lyrics and music. Whedon chose it for "Doppelgangland" for a reason. But musically this song just doesn't push my bottons like other vid-music I've chosen, and that makes me less enthusiastic about vidding it. I'd like to vid songs according to how well they fit the vid, not according to my personal taste, but at the same time I might have learned something about my vidding process from this experience. I can't just intellectually know that "this song screams Willow, and not just cause Joss already said so!" I have to feel it, too.
By the way, when I was almost finished with this vid I read some comments on vidpub that implied it was some kind of vidding no-no to use a song that's actually used in the fandom you're vidding. I don't really get that, but I likely won't be doing this again anyway, so it doesn't matter too much.
Lyrics:
There's a chair in my head on which I used to sit
Took a pencil and I wrote the following on it
Now there's a key where my wonderful mouth used to be
Dig it up, throw it at me
Dig it up, throw it at me
Where can I run to, where can I hide
Who will I turn to now I'm in a virgin state of mind
Got a knife to disengage the voids that I can't bear
To cut out words I've got written on my chair
Like do you think I'm sexy
Do you think I really care
Can I burn the mazes I grow
Can I, I don't think so
Can I burn the mazes I grow
Can I, I don't think so
Where can I run to, where can I hide
Who will I turn to now I'm in a virgin state of mind
Virgin state of mind
Virgin state of mind
Virgin state of mind
Re: Late comment is late thanks to your link here
on 13/10/13 05:24 pm (UTC)YES PLEASE. I don't watch a lot of vids in proportion to the number of fanfics I read - I get very bored very quickly if a vid doesn't grab me, isn't saying something new, isn't technically good, etc etc. There's tons of songs but only so many images to work from as you know. There's only so many Spuffy vids that can be made.
I think there is a lot of room for non-shippy vids, though. Or vids that really explore 'ships in a really subversive way. Has anyone done a really good Xander/Anya vid? Or exploring the patterns of attraction and abuse re: Xander and the women in his life (Buffy, Cordy, Anya), and/or the influence of his father?
I think the same is true of fic - there is a lot of material and themes that have been under-examined/under-explored.
Though I do love the visual parallel between him with the orb-thing in his hand, putting Katrina into a trance, and Willow with the Lethe's Bramble in her hand, messing with Tara's memories.
YES! That was one of my favorite parts of the vid as a matter of fact.
Did you happen to include any shots from S5's I Was Made to Love You where we first meet Warren and Katrina btw? I suppose you could say their argument could be visually paralleled to the one Willow and Tara have in Tough Love S5, or S6's All The Way.
I've actually thought now and again ok how could this be improved? and realize I need to let it go *lol*
Re: Late comment is late thanks to your link here
on 14/10/13 01:52 am (UTC)These are excellent ideas and I hope someone makes them. :D
Did you happen to include any shots from S5's I Was Made to Love You where we first meet Warren and Katrina btw? I suppose you could say their argument could be visually paralleled to the one Willow and Tara have in Tough Love S5, or S6's All The Way.
Yeah, I actually did have just that at one point. I discarded it, though, I don't remember why. It wasn't working for me.
Heh, yes, I'm definitely not going to remake this vid. But it's useful to think about how it could be improved. :D
Re: Late comment is late thanks to your link here
on 17/10/13 04:45 pm (UTC)*hint hint*
http://clockwork-hart1.livejournal.com/11852.html?thread=80972
Actually, the video "Bachelorette" does have shots from Hell's Bell's so Xander and Anya are part of the mix - maybe I need to search and see if anyone has done a video on that subject. When I get a thousand or so other things out of the way.
But it's useful to think about how it could be improved. :D
Yeah, the thing about that video is it's very good overall - the visuals, the editing rhythms are amazing. There's just this one flaw, and if the video was mediocre or had lots of flaws, I wouldn't notice. Sort of like a flaw in a diamond rather than another crushed can in the junk pile. (And there's your weird metaphor of the day. You're welcome.)
I think your two Buffy videos are amazing so you've clearly learned something, and of course love for the character (and LOTS of source material) helps. That last bit is really important I should imagine -the makers of the video "Origins" (the fetishization of Nikki's coat as a prize for Spike and the emphasis on the stories of the male perpetrators over that of the female victims in the 'verse) spoke of that in their own meta; they wanted to tell a particular story but there was a lack of material - very few visuals of Nikki and other Slayers to work with. So if I didn't know what the creators were trying to say, I might have misinterpreted their intentions entirely.
Re: Late comment is late thanks to your link here
on 19/10/13 08:08 am (UTC)