New vid: Never Look Away (BtVS)

[frayadjacent]

Title: Never Look Away
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Song: Never Look Away by Vienna Teng
Summary: "you are made of nebulas and novas and night sky" (AKA a love letter to Buffy Summers by fray-adjacent, age 33 2/3)
Premiered at VidUKon 2015

Content Notes: Fast cuts and flashing lights, speed changes. Depression and vague references to suicide. Show-typical violence. Feel free to ask specific questions about content.

Download | AO3 post

Subtitles are available in the youtube streaming versions.

youtube | tumblr | archive of our own

Watch on YouTube

Comments

[calvinahobbes]

Okay but this is such a well-structured argument??? I mean, providing I'm reading it right... I mean it's about what makes Buffy Buffy, right? How she is so much more than a Slayer, and that's why we love her? And the most important part of that is her connections to this world, the Scoobies, Dawn, the other Slayers. Her Slayer heritage is what makes her such a cold killing machine (~1:00). What saves her is that she has people who support her. But she has to CHOOSE them as well; what makes her strong is each time she re-commits to them, reconciles with them. That's her connection to the whole world, that's how we can go from Scoobie moments to Graduation to all the Slayers. Buffy is Buffy because she has friends and family to witness her, something besides slaying that she can commit to. In conclusion: FEEELS!!!

[lynnenne]

+1

[selenak]

What a beautiful vid! And oh, I share the Buffy love. Must download!

[frayadjacent]

Thank you! And thanks for the rec a while back. :D

[grimorie]

Thank you for this love letter to Buffy, and I love that her greatest strength has always been reaching out and connecting to people, its not just being a slayer.

[frayadjacent]

Yay, thanks for the comment! <3

[lynnenne]

This is so beautiful. Lovely work.

[frayadjacent]

Thank you!

[blueswan]

Buffy! <3<3<3 Fabulous vid!

[frayadjacent]

Thank you!! :D

[kouredios]

I have hardly any words for how gorgeous this is and how much I love it. Except for this: the way the vid centers Buffy yet frames her with all the other Slayers? Yes.

[frayadjacent]

Thank you so much! Having the other slayers was important to me.

Love the icon!

[such_heights]

SOB. Cried watching this at the con, having full body shivers rewatching now. So beautiful. Such an intense, emotional look at how hard Buffy fights, how much she's suffered, and how much love she has in her heart. AUGHHH SO MANY FEELINGS AUGH.

[frayadjacent]

Aw, thanks so much for the lovely comment, I'm so happy/sorry I made you cry. :D

Yes, Buffy has *so much love* in her heart. If I had to choose just one thing I love about her (god please don't make me choose though!) that would be it.

[yohjideranged]

Great song for this really! Awesome transitions. Good vid! :)

[frayadjacent]

Thank you!!

[goodbyebird]

Goosebumps. Extreme case of goosebumps.

You've done such a stunning job on the footage here, and how it all blends together. Amazing motion! Will be watching this one over and over.

[frayadjacent]

Yay, thanks so much!!

OMG your icon. Good thing I have more spaces, I could easily fill them all just with Buffy's face.

[silverhare]

Aaaaaaaaah. I started bawling about two minutes in, and couldn't stop. What a fantastic love letter to Buffy. <3

[frayadjacent]

Thank you so much for your kind comment! Buffy is so great. :D

[gwyn]

Oh, this gave me goosebumps! This is all the things about Buffy I love wrapped up in a gorgeously edited vid package. Thank you so much!

[frayadjacent]

Thank you so much! Heh, "all the things about Buffy I love" is pretty much exactly what I was going for. :D

[endeni]

OMG, that was terrific! Have to watch it again! ;)

[frayadjacent]

Yay, thank you! Also, OMG, your icon. So good.

[tigerlily]

I love that you started with the other Slayers. I don't know how to start picking it apart to say what else I love about each bit. How you edited the fight scenes in the instrumental part between "continental divides" and "I want to uncover the silver in your dark hair" stanza with Kendra and Buffy crashing. The scenes you set to 'look away,' first with Buffy's swan dive and the end montage. I'm teary and rejuvenated, like my heart broke and healed simultaneously. This is fulfilling.

Also. You have set my most beloved character to my most beloved song. Which wouldn't be enough if you weren't as good as you are (and I knew that already, having been a silent watcher of your videos for some time), but!

[frayadjacent]

Thank you so much for your comment, and your recs!

I'm teary and rejuvenated, like my heart broke and healed simultaneously.

Wow, that is so kind to say, and a really great summary of how Buffy's arc makes me feel.

I hope you had a great birthday!

[tigerlily]

P.S. Can I rec it on Tumblr? As a link in a text post? I see you have one but you haven't posted it and I'm not sure what your policy is on that.

[frayadjacent]

Oh! I made a Tumblr post just now, and it didn't occur to me until you commented to include a link to it on my DW post. Thanks! And here's the link to the Tumblr post. <3

http://frayadjacent12.tumblr.com/post/121714700172/title-never-look-away-fandom-buffy-the-vampire

[psocoptera]

A love letter to Buffy indeed. Full of feels now. What a great song for her.

[frayadjacent]

Thank you! <3

[chaila]

I am missing a lot of context, but this is really beautiful and moving anyway! The editing of the motion is so smooth and visually engaging and the importance of all her connections to other people, to allowing them to help and support her, is so clear. Your Buffy feelings are brimming over, and it's lovely. :)

[frayadjacent]

Thank you so much!

Your Buffy feelings are brimming over

Hee, that's basically what I was going for. :D

[beccatoria]

This vid is so wonderful. It captures like...the epic chosen nature of her existence at the same time as it so firmly sets her in the context of a wider world of interpersonal connection and choice. Like all the ways being the chosen one affects her as Buffy rather than the more traditional narrative of how the person in question approaches their role as a chosen hero. The end result is just gorgeous - I don't think you can watch this vid and not feel so much for her.

I was just so thrilled when I got a chance to see it before the show and I'm so grateful you agreed to let it air as part of the Superheroes show.

[frayadjacent]

Thank you so much for your comment, and for including it in the show! <3

I don't think you can watch this vid and not feel so much for her.

Yay!

[deird1]

I can't stop watching this...

[frayadjacent]

Yay! Thank you. :D

[switterbeet]

Lovely!

[frayadjacent]

Thank you!

[yourlibrarian]

I liked those scene juxtapositions around 2 minutes in and the way you closed with the scenes where she empowers others. I really love that idea of it being her legacy.

[frayadjacent]

Thank you! And yes, I agree RE: Buffy's legacy. It's such a perfect closure to the series and her dilemma.

(Um, that sounded like a diss on the comics, which I suppose it could be, but it was not intended as such.)

[metonymy]

Oh, this is spectacular. She can't look away from the past, from the legacy she carries - but she can't look away from the friendships and relationships and the family and love she shares, either. Wonderful wonderful job.

[frayadjacent]

Thank you so much!

[laurashapiro]

Oh my god, the FEELS. Buffy! She is my one true character for sure, and this vid perfectly sums up why. ::hugs her:: ::hugs you::

[frayadjacent]

::hugs you back::

thank you! oh, man, she is my OTC as well. Oh my heart.

[cosmic_llin]

Oh my god, I love this so much, I love how you emphasise Buffy's connection with the history of the other slayers but also show that she's more than just the slayer, and how hard she works and fights to have this other side to her life even if that's not how it's supposed to work. And also how important her friendships are to her being the slayer, how much that support network makes her better at what she does, how much they give her their strength and she gives them hers as well, and how you can't separate slayer!Buffy and regular!Buffy because it's all mixed up in who she is. FEELS, basically.

[frayadjacent]

YES! Oh Buffy. ALL THE BUFFY FEELS.

Thank you for the comment!

[tardis_stowaway]

I've got chills from watching this amazing vid. You really capture Buffy, with her Slayer destiny and individual power but also the connections to friends and family that are so vital to who she is and how she can achieve so much. The editing is so well done. Also, I just adore this song.

In summary, ♥

[frayadjacent]

I'm so glad you liked the vid, and thank you for commenting!

[lokifan]

This is so so gorgeous and amazing. I love the stuff about her Slayer heritage (and its continuation in the Potentials) and her friends/family connections.

[frayadjacent]

Yay, thank you!