New BtVS vid

[hazelk]

Title: Just
Artist: Radiohead
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (and not a little Angel)
Characters/Pairings: Faith
Format: DivX
Size: 49.5MB
Summary: Back to the start

Download here (Right/control click and save target as/download linked file)

Extreme thanks to bradcpu for betaing (it’s a Faith vid – who you gonna call)?

Feedback really hurts (but in a good way)


I can't really remember when I got the idea that “Just” was a Faith song. I know that at first it was more about the music than the lyrics, it had that mixture of inchoate self-directed rage with moments of extreme stillness in the aftermath that seemed very Faith. But a vid needs something a little more specific than that, and this came initially via an outtake from the VVC vid yet to premiere. I’d put together a sequence of falling glass/falling knife that I really liked but in the end had to admit didn’t fit anywhere. Not being able to let it go I had the idea of matching it to “Hanging out the 15th floor” in the second verse of “Just.”

That was a start, still a vid is more than one lyric/image match so I starting thinking around the song for more and got a little stuck on the first line “Can’t get the stink off.” Which is such a direct match for the 'out dammed spot scene' from Consequences that it seemed too obvious and with an AtS season one sequence in the next verse I kind of felt that if I started that way what I’d end up with would be just a summary of the story rather than a vid. The real breakthrough came with the idea of matching that first line not to Consequences in S3 but to the shower scene in Release and from that the whole idea of telling the story in reverse, funneling it down to Finch’s killing rather than branching up from that point.





Can't get the stink off
He's been hanging round for days
Comes like a comet
Suckered you but not your friends
One day he'll get to you
And teach you how to be a holy cow

You do it to yourself, you do
and that's what really hurts
You do it to yourself, just you
you and no-one else
You do it to yourself
You do it to yourself

Don't get my sympathy
Hanging out the 15th floor
changed the locks three times
He still comes reeling through the door
one day I'll get to you
And teach you how to get to purest hell

You do it to yourself, you do
and that's what really hurts
You do it to yourself, just you
you and no-one else
You do it to yourself
You do it to yourself

You do it to yourself, you do
and that's what really hurts is
You do it to yourself, just you
you and no-one else
You do it to yourself
You do it to yourself, yourself, yourself.

Comments

[balistik94.livejournal.com]

Excellent character study. I really enjoyed it.

[bradcpu.livejournal.com]

My favorite thing about this vid is that it's saying something very insightful, but it manages to come across as a very direct, straightforward statement that's impossible to misread. That's *incredibly* hard to do.

Faith is such an enigma, and I really feel like you've cut through to the heart of her with this.

Also, wow! That final (S3) segment just knocks me out every time. All of the events of S3 look so different in the context of your statement here.

[kuwdora.livejournal.com]

Holy crap. You think you see one Faith vid and you've seen them all, but holy crap, it feels completely brand new.

and I freaking absolutely positively adore the movement in this vid. Oh my god. Amazing amazing, times infinity.

Just

[yourlibrarian]

Yes, I like how that funneling worked, all moving back to this key point (at least one we know about in canon), all these different moments linked and repeated. And at least within the vid, a cycle Faith can't break out of.

[frogfarm]

(One of the fun things about fanvids is the way they make me like songs I never would have otherwise listened to.)

Beautifully executed flow of imagery. Like others have said, it's nothing we haven't seen before yet it all comes together fresh, on fire.

I love this character, and your vid did right by her *and* did her right.

[littleheaven70.livejournal.com]

Wow, that was fantastic. Here by way of Brad's rec. Loved the sharp, fast editing, and the strong theme. A really good look at Faith's psyche.

[leviathan101.livejournal.com]

That was really awesome. Very cool fragmented editing and it's the perfect song for Faith. Loved the flashes. Awesome job!

[countessmary.livejournal.com]

The way this played out with the song is just indescribable. Your juxtaposition of the scenes as time went by and then looped in on itself was absolutely stunning. I just loved it.

[boom-queen.livejournal.com]

Wow, that was really intense. I love the reversed timeline, because its still just as linear and packs as much of a punch seeing where it led to before seeing where it started. Great character meta for Faith and gorgeous editing/beat-work throughout.

I'm always truly impressed when people vid Radiohead WELL because their song structure is so unique and fluid sometimes--pulling off a cohesive visual narrative from a song like that is doubly impressive.

*applauds*

[buffyann.livejournal.com]

That was *so* cool !
you've used the song so well, and it's a song I love, and you've used the energy of it for the fight and violent shots, it was just great. I haven't seen so many Faith vids, but I really liked the angle you approached her character from here. You really captured her and used all of her scenes in a way it's built such a coherent character study.
Awesome !

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

That was brilliant - and it doesn't hurt that it's set to one of my all-time favourite songs (and the lyrics fit perfectly). Fantastic intercutting of scenes too - the ME crowd always liked using lots of recurring visual cues for characters, and you used Faiths' (knives, bloody hands, dancing, violence, anger, outsider vulnerability) extremely well here.

Gonna watch it again now.

Divine awards

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divine_chick

[elisi]

Gorgeous vid! Both in its execution (because it's very accomplished technically), and in its storytelling. Must re-watch a lot!

(Don't have a Faith icon - shame on me - so this one will have to do.)

[shati.livejournal.com]

I really like the decision to set things going backwards -- it makes the footage look fresh again, and Faith may just be the character I've seen the most overvidded. Nice job. :)

[heyiya.livejournal.com]

This is just beautiful, perfectly cut and timed. You always vid to music that I love and know well -- I was surprised when I saw you'd chosen this song but you've convinced me it was made for Faith.

I especially loved the way you moved backward in time, it really made the footage feel new and all Faith's angst and injustice more painful. Faith has always been one of my favourite characters in the Buffyverse; the movement and feeling in this vid really reminded me of why. I appreciated the way you wove in secondary characters too, and especially enjoyed seeing Wesley's character arc in reverse.

Fabulous.

[chasarumba.livejournal.com]

As others have already said, the reverse narrative works SO well and puts a fresh spin on this topic. I also love the use of movement -- you've taken Faith's physical violence and made it musical!

Just

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

Oh, very nice! This is a really fresh perspective on Faith's story -- I'm impressed with how many clips you used that I haven't seen in other vids, and how you made the more often seen clips feel new with careful, quick cutting and of course the reverse chronological order. I love how Buffy is the axis around whom it all spins.

Excellent stuff.

[goodbyebird]

You've got it all covered here. Very well done! *memmed*

[sol-se.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, I LOVE this so much!!! Just brilliant.

[thingswithwings.livejournal.com]

really gorgeous - I've seen a lot of faith character study vids, but I think you've got something new to offer here. I love the way it works backwards from season 4 angel back to season 3 buffy, from faith's supposed redemption after she escapes from prison back to her supposed tainting when she kills Finch, the way that those two stories are paralleled. Like I said, there are a lot of Faith vids out there, but you managed to find footage that I haven't seen vidded much before, and used it to tell a much fresher story - the shot of the mayor with the snake at the dream-picnic was really inspired, I think. Overall, it's a lovely piece; I'm glad to finally have a vid that compares those two "out out damned spot" scenes. :)

[cibby.livejournal.com]

Came here via a rec from chasarumba. Love the video. I like the way you worked the time line. It made the material seem new and different. I enjoyed all the cuts and emotional flow of the video, too. Awesome job.

[danegen.livejournal.com]

I gasped at that last image--at how wonderfully you built the argument, working backward to that defining moment. Amazing job with both story and editing!

[dualbunny.livejournal.com]

This is wonderful! :) Going backwards made each layer that was uncovered feel particularly insightful. I think you added an amazing amount of weight to your narrative with that choice.

And musically speaking, when the bodyswitching section hit I swear I got goosebumps. :D Loved those red flashes as well!