[Equilibrium vid] Words of the Dead

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Words of the Dead | .avi (720x480, 29.9mb)
_{Source: Equilibrium
Song: "The Chemicals Between Us", by Bush
Summary: Preston's dead haunts him still (always).}

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Thanks: Much love to morgandawn, lierdumoa, and laurashapiro, for betas and audiencing and encouragement.


Chemicals Between Us by Bush

I want you to remember
A love so full
it could send us all ways

I want you to surrender
All my feelings rose today

And I want you to remain
The power of children can amaze
I'll try not to complain

I know that's a pisser baby

The chemicals between us
The walls that lie between us
Lying in this bed

The chemicals displaced
There is no lonelier state
Than lying in this bed

I want you to remember
Everything you said
Every driven word

Like a hammer
Held to my head

The chemicals between us
The walls that lie between us
Lying in this bed

The chemicals displaced
There is no lonelier face
Than lying in this bed

The chemicals between us
The chemicals between us
Lying in this bed

We're of the hollow men
We are the naked ones
We never meant you harm
Never meant you wrong

And I'd like to thank
All of my
lovers
lovers
lovers
lovers
lovers
lovers

The chemicals between us
The army of achievers
Lying in this bed

The chemicals displaced
There is no lonelier state
Than lying in this bed

The chemicals between us
The chemicals between us
Chemicals

The chemicals between us


Notes: This vid took both forever and 2 months. Or rather, 2 months stretched over the course of a year. I...gah, I give up. This really should've been done in Adobe After Effects, but I was crazy and stubborn and in the end too lazy to redo my work elsewhere.

My computer had it's revenge tho, in massive export problems. Fun times.

One of the most interesting problems was attempting to make the lyrics more audible with certain cuts. Dunno if the solutions succeeded, but it was an entertaining experiment in any case. Other interesting problems include trying to include massive amounts of relationships in only 4 min., the solution as near as I could make it is to basically have an intro section the length of an entire verse and chorus (PLUS the intro). Usually I'd only story intro during the song's intro, but the world I was trying to include was too big.

I...really really don't want to imagine attempting to remaster this sucker. ::facepalm:: Or at least, not before the next evolution of whatever programs' gonna replace After Effects. Because honestly: way. too. tedious.

I think...this is actually the first vid I posted this year. Wow, I'm lagging. ::wryyyyy::

_{[main vid index]}

Comments

[geekturnedvamp.livejournal.com]

I can't wait to watch this as soon as I get home... seriously, I have been excited about it ever since you said you were making an Equilibrium vid!

[lea-ysaye.livejournal.com]

I think after this the only sensible option is to pack up and leave vidding to those who really can do it (like you). One word: Brilliance!

[marquesate.livejournal.com]

Oh. My. Effing. Goodness. I just watched it, about 5 times in a row. I cannot find the words for how speechles I am (contradiction in terms, eh?) This is so utterly profesisonal, so perfect, so sleek and brilliant, I am gobsmacked.

You have true talent, skills and determination. You should be a professional, this video is breathaking.

[jb_slasher]

Oh, wow. *jaw drop* Dude. The gun shot. And all. Perfect. Timing. WOW. Awesome video! :)

[bionic.livejournal.com]

Oh wow! This is an amazing video! It's so tight, so professional... I loved it! Seriously, you are THE BEST. Completely blew me away.

[myniamh.livejournal.com]

Wow. Awesome. Lots of big impressed words! =D
I've been looking forward to this after you posted about the exporting disaster. Very good job getting it done.

WOW!!

[askye.livejournal.com]

I love your vids, in fact I was introducting my future SIL to vids and showed her Gravity as an example (and she loved it).

This is a fantastic vid! I've only seen Equilibrium once, I saw a bunch of vids first and it was one of those movies where I was told the vids are better than the source. I think that's true but knowing the canon just makes vids like yours so much more powerful. As soon as Survivor is over I'm going to watch this some more.

Love the effect with Sean Bean, love. Also the relationship bewteen father and son (like when Christian Bale dropps the vials and his son flips the ceral over the bowl). love love love this vid!

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Wow. Umm, wow...I'm rather partial to the movie anyway (total badassedry and triple prettiness gets me anytime) but this...it's not subtext, it's not even slashy, you made it into a love story. Gorgeous.

[ranalore.livejournal.com]

PIMPED. So pimped. And I am still just as stunned and overwhelmed and transported as I was when you showed us the rough. You are really just fantastic at this.

I use ghost!Qui as being my most appropriate icon for the content.

[przed.livejournal.com]

Holy cow. What a wonderful vid. The timing, the structure, the effects, all utterly perfect. (I especially love the ghosting effect you've got around the Bean and I shudder to think of the work it took to achieve it.)

Brava!

[chikkiboo.livejournal.com]

I... wow.

I'm not even familiar with your source material here, but your sense of timing has fucking FLOORED me. I'm AMAZED. It's like every single thing in the entire video is perfectly timed to the music. The shooting + snowglobe bit? AMAZING. And when he's in white and shooting people all bang bang bang, a bit later - did you mess with THAT so that the shooting is in time, too? Because it looked like it to me. And I mean those are just the two things that stood out the most, I was going "wow!" at your timing like constantly. I'm so impressed.

[dualbunny.livejournal.com]

This is *fantastic*. The intercutting, the effects and timing, the repeated images, and the connections between everyone--just, really really wonderful. Worth the year you spent on it without question. :D

[elfiepike.livejournal.com]

this is amazing. i love that i can tell that there's a story. i'm usually pretty bad about recognizing stories in music videos--of the fan made variety, anyway. but this is great, this is like--the ultimate collage, with no ragged edges and just--ghosts, everwhere (which were so excellently done). what a great way to recontext the movie into a fanfic of sorts.

[glitterdemon.livejournal.com]

i don't know the source (though god only knows why - i love the actors in the movie), but this is absolutely gorgeous. thank you for sharing it.

[nightengale.livejournal.com]

YOU KICK SO MUCH ASS.

will download later :3

[obsessive24.livejournal.com]

Oh my god. I'm just speechless. This is amazing. I've been looking forward to what new vid you're coming up with, but this just blew me away beyond measure. Spectacular ghost effects aside, the pace of it, the way you use speed changes to maintain such an incredible sense of dynamic and drive, and all the colours, repeated images and symbols - it's so potent and incredible. Equilibrium is visually striking and it's easy to make a good vid out of the footage that you've got, but what you've done here has gone so much beyond that - you've constructed such an intricate journey, full of parallels and connections and such amazing emotion. It's just... wow. Absolutely fantastic.

[charmax.livejournal.com]

Excellent, excellent vid!

[mranderson71.livejournal.com]

*cut n pasted from my reply in Vidding*

That was a truly refreshing take on Equilibrium - I thorughly enjoyed watching that!

The ghosting effect was inspired & served your story telling aspect of the vid extremely well. Quality for the file size is impressive too...I see in the properties its Xvid but I didn't think it was possible to get a 3.50 song @ 720x480 in at 30 meg with that quality.

You could have probably shaved a meg or 2 by cropping the black & the top & bottom too, but still...Im in awe of the quality of this vid.

Nice job!

[little-sparks.livejournal.com]

Absolutly stunning, wonderful work.

[fireflykiwi.livejournal.com]

Stopped by because it was recommended, and all I can say is WOW. I am truly amazed.

[bradcpu.livejournal.com]

Here via obsessive24's rec. That was stunning! I've seen several Equilibrium vids but never the movie itself, and even *I* got chills seeing Sean Bean walk out beside Christian Bale for the big fight scene near the end. Beautiful symbolism there. Even setting aside the effects, the overall style of clean, sharp motion and flow was just mesmerizing. Love detail shots, the closeups on the hands, and so forth - they give the piece a very intimate feel.

Wonderful work.

You're a God

[jade-kadir.livejournal.com]

I saw a rec by obsessive24 who's got a good eye for good vids, and I have to say that this one is the best vid I've seen ... ever ... hands down. The vid was crisp and I loved the effects used, like the ghosting and the time dialation. It ws also highly emotional for me. The song was an inspired choice given the plot of the film, which may be something that people who haven't seen the movie are missing out on, but it was an excellent choice. Overall, watching this was a sublime experience and I too shall pimp your vid to my friends as it should be required viewing for all people everywhere. Thank you so very much for making it and I look forward to more quality vids in the future.

[astolat]

AAAaaA GODDAMN YOUUUU NOW I FINALLY HAVE TO WATCH THIS MOVIE. rarr.

Spectacular. I so want to know how you did the effects -- did you actually hand-edit frame by frame to insert Sean Bean into those scenes? I have already gathered some sense of the movie via fannish osmosis, and the song choice is perfect; the intercutting of the snowglobe and the book of poetry (even while I'm probably missing some significance) leading up to the gunshot is just fantastic. Also, I love that one shot of the martial arts practice -- something about that is just perfect, and the one shot where Bale is on his knees crying out on "lovers" before the final fight sequence with Sean Bean's ghost at his side.

(PS: I just rewatched Welcome Home also after seeing this several times, and that vid still makes me get all teary every single time.)

[bionic.livejournal.com]

ok so I commented already but MY GOD, I can't stop watching your vid. The clips, the song, EVERYTHING is PERFECT. I'm in love. So in love. YOU ARE THE GREATES EVAR.