[SGA vid] Welcome Home

[permetaform]

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Welcome Home | .wmv (624x346, 36.1mb) | .avi (624x346, 43.9mb) | mirror here (thank you paranoidangel_!)
_{Source: Stargate Atlantis (Spoilers up to The Siege III)
Song: "The Blood of Cu Chulainn", by Mychael and Jeff Danna
Summary: Her, city}

Thanks: Much love and thanks to aurora_84, nel_ani, and sisabet for the feedback and advice, and also to lierdumoa and absolut3destiny for audiencing! =D

"Let us resolve that she shall dream dreams deeper than the sea and higher than the clouds of heaven, that she shall come forth crowned and transfigured with her statesmen and wizards and saints and sages about her, with magic behind her and miracle before her."

_{-Vachel Lindsay}

Notes: It's been awhile since I've let myself cut loose on the cutting, partially because I've been experimenting in style and effect and partially 'cause I was testing my threshold of pain/irritation with not molesting every beat. This vid felt like a sigh of relief after all that, what with the massive beat-whoring, finally getting the RAM able to handle the type of vid I've been wanting to make, and finding SGA. Which, just...::waves vaguely at old meta posts:: yeah.

Oh, and there's like huge numbers of things I tried to say about Elizabeth and Atlantis in the vid, all mixed up together, so there are a very many equally valid interpretations of the vid. Hell, I'm not even sure of all the things I put in there, but I'm very curious as to what themes or stories or impressions that those watching the vid might get, so don't be afraid to tell me what you think!

(I would recommend using VLC Player to play the vid, it's free, or you can look at this guide. Also, apparently there's a compatibility problem with playing the vid in Quicktime.)

Notes part 2: The wierd and uncomfortable feeling that occurs before the music starts? That's on purpose; it was my goal that Atlantis is creepy and uncomfortable and wrong...until the expedition came, woke it up, and let it breathe.

Notes part 3: Wow!



::bounces and glomps everyone::

Thanks to everyone who'd nominated and voted for me at the Stargate Fan Awards, it won for Weir's catagory!

Comments

[wistful-fever.livejournal.com]

[cont.]


2:49 - The wraith dart exploding here was excellently timed, and at 2:51 the grenade going off was also great timing. What I like best is that you use the drum beat for the explosion, where your internal motion of soft things, like the movement of lights on censor scenes or the galaxy changing colors, are done on softer beats.

2:57 – I like how the second ship appeared on the second drum beat here.

3:02 -> 3:35ish - Elizabeth covering up Atlantis, protecting her, but at the same time taking a risk, and as she’s doing that, spilling the ashes, and her people hurting, the self-destruct code being entered... just wonderful parallels being drawn here. And then the shield coming up, seemingly under the palm of her hand, and the city being protected, fought for... You know, I liked Elizabeth before this video, but she always left me vaguely dissatisfied, as if there was more to her character we weren’t allowed to see, but now I feel like I have seen it.

3:37 -> end - I like the slowing of the clips, the softer quality of them, calm after the storm, and the movement of Elizabeth hugging John on the beat as the city is again shielded and beautiful, like she’s putting her arms of protection around him. And that slow pull out from her, set in light as the previous clip of the towers had been set in light, all by herself in the city, with the slow transition to the city from far away, as if she IS the city.

This entire video was just stunning. And yes, definitely epic.

[permetaform]

with the lights turning on. It was just a nice touch, especially followed by the repeated opening of Elizabeth’s eye

=D Thank you! and that was one of the sequences that prompted me to actually sit down and vid this thing!


argh, I can’t think of the name, but he’s always on television, tap-dancing with a line of other people, moving only his legs

Lord of the Dance? ::grins:: it put me to mind of a chorus line, personally.


Really moves the video from first wonder, to ‘Oh shit!’ I also liked that you continued on with the possible alternatives

w00t! One of the brilliant things about instrumental vidding I've discovered is that you're unbound by the constraints of the lyrics, HOWEVER mood becomes waaaay more important, and once I'd realize *that* the vid's narrative structure became way easier to figure out.


how Atlantis bursts gloriously from the water

Personal fave clip of the vid. It still gives me shivers...


This really draws a connection between Elizabeth and Atlantis that I’d never made before.

::dances::


the burst of the entity through the halls and then the outward movement from a blindfolded Elizabeth. The city goes dark, its energy eaten, and she’s bound, unable to see.

::GLOMPS YOU::


I didn’t pick that one up on my first viewing, not until my third actually, because it’s so smoothly done.

ROCK. ::does shimmy::


What I like best is that you use the drum beat for the explosion, where your internal motion of soft things, like the movement of lights on censor scenes or the galaxy changing colors, are done on softer beats.

=) If anything, that was done subconsciously...I didn't actually plan that out, but thank you!


I like how the second ship appeared on the second drum beat here.

That was a happy accident. It was originally a place holder clip, and then I was like, "...!" So even though it's sooooorta out of context I kept it.


Elizabeth covering up Atlantis, protecting her, but at the same time taking a risk, and as she’s doing that, spilling the ashes, and her people hurting, the self-destruct code being entered... just wonderful parallels being drawn here. And then the shield coming up, seemingly under the palm of her hand, and the city being protected, fought for... You know, I liked Elizabeth before this video, but she always left me vaguely dissatisfied, as if there was more to her character we weren’t allowed to see, but now I feel like I have seen it.

=D Yay! I'm glad that I represented her well to you then!

I actually was stumped for this part because I had to transition from the "memorial" sequence to the "welcome" sequence at the very end with sorta no clue how to bridge it. I'd worked out that the strident point in between the two sequences I'd already vidded needed something "active" so I had wraith destruction. But then there was vidder angst 'cause none of that was directly caused by Elizabeth and I needed to show *her* being active in some way...so I took a clip of her pushing the city-wide broadcast crystal, 'cause her role is to basically connect people together, and hope really really hard that people wouldn't ding me on the fact she isn't directly causing the wraith to go boom. ::covers eyes::


Elizabeth hugging John on the beat as the city is again shielded and beautiful, like she’s putting her arms of protection around him

YES!


all by herself in the city, with the slow transition to the city from far away, as if she IS the city.

::GLOMPS YOU::


God, thank you so much for your truly awesome comments and feedback! This was a *fantastic* x-mas present! ::hugs again::