Vid: Calling the Moon (BtVS; Willow, Willow/Tara)

[butterfly]

Calling the Moon
by Dar Williams

Summary:
Love, magic, and a moment of grace.
(spoilers up to Buffy the Vampire Slayer 7x22 -- Chosen)

(divx file 42.6 MB; zipped
smaller zipped wmv file available here)

Many thanks to paraviondeux for lending space and to jic for support and advice. Feedback is always appreciated.

I know what it's worth
to tug at the seas
and illumine the earth.

Comments

[monanotlisa.livejournal.com]

Snagging! You know I love all your character insights, so I have no doubt this one will make me understand Willow in a new light.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Let me know how you like it!

[xenacryst.livejournal.com]

Oh, *sigh*. You are fast becoming one of my favorite vidders, you know that? Another gorgeous vid to one of my favorite singers with probably my favorite people in the Buffyverse. There's really not much else to say besides "wow!"

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

You are fast becoming one of my favorite vidders, you know that?

That is such an amazing compliment -- thank you.

Another gorgeous vid to one of my favorite singers with probably my favorite people in the Buffyverse. There's really not much else to say besides "wow!"

Willow and Tara are my BuffyverseCanonOTP. I love them. And Dar Williams has such a gorgeous, rich voice.

[spiletta42.livejournal.com]

WOW! You're brilliant. I just loved it. This is definitely a vid I will save forever. As always with your vids, it evoked a strong emotional response. Congratulations on yet another wonderful creation.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm thrilled that the vid touched you emotionally. Such a great thing to read!

[obsessive24.livejournal.com]

The emotional connection in this vid is so deep and wonderful. I loved the way you drew the W/T love into what she did at the end of Chosen, a broader expression of that love. The moment where the scythe gets all glowy is so shiver-inducing. Tech-wise I really liked what you did with the added external motion, a lot of small pushes that stop halfway into the clip, it looks fresh stylistically and enforces the emotions. Lovely work!

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

The emotional connection in this vid is so deep and wonderful. I loved the way you drew the W/T love into what she did at the end of Chosen, a broader expression of that love. The moment where the scythe gets all glowy is so shiver-inducing.

*nods*

I've always... when I first watched that scene, I remember thinking, "Willow finally understands what Tara was trying to tell her -- this is what magic is for." Not for putting up party favors or stealing memories, but sharing grace and empowering others.

Tech-wise I really liked what you did with the added external motion, a lot of small pushes that stop halfway into the clip, it looks fresh stylistically and enforces the emotions. Lovely work!

Thanks! What happened there is that I finally figured out how to use keyframes. It's amazing how much easier that makes some things. With every single vid, I think that I figure out another of the little tricks that Premiere has up its sleeve.

[sol-se.livejournal.com]

I loved that so much. You did an amazing job with POV, structure, imagery...everything was perfect. Tara's the moon. You just made me cry. I loved the whole thing, but I have to say that the ending really blew me away with Willow in "Chosen" gathering strength from Tara and giving it out. I always love your videos, but I really just absolutely adored this.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

You did an amazing job with POV, structure, imagery...everything was perfect. Tara's the moon.

She is. She really is. I love her.

You just made me cry. I loved the whole thing, but I have to say that the ending really blew me away with Willow in "Chosen" gathering strength from Tara and giving it out. I always love your videos, but I really just absolutely adored this.

Aw, thank you. That is such a wonderful and sweet thing to read.

[dualbunny.livejournal.com]

That was incredibly beautiful. I especially loved what you did with the season 7 scenes. It felt so right for Tara to regain a strong prescence in them, even without being visible. The structure you created was perfect for pulling that off in a wonderfully light-handed way.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

That was incredibly beautiful. I especially loved what you did with the season 7 scenes. It felt so right for Tara to regain a strong prescence in them, even without being visible. The structure you created was perfect for pulling that off in a wonderfully light-handed way.

I'm so glad that that worked for you. That was the section that I started out with, and I kept returning to it as I worked on the rest of the vid, changing little details to try to make it have Tara's light there even though she was gone.

[trepkos.livejournal.com]

That was fabulous - you made me cry.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Thank you -- though I always feel a little odd, thanking people for making them cry.

I'm glad that the vid touched you.

[bell]

It took me a while to formulate a response to this.

I haven't watched many music videos, and the ones I have been mostly of a humorous nature. So I think my... inexperience with this media format has influenced my reaction, because I'm not used to 'reading' them. For example-- am I supposed to make an immidiate link between the words of the song and the images? How much of the video's source material should I take into consideration when watching? And so forth.

The reasons I downloaded this video was, in order, because: a) you'd made it and I know how much effort you put into your creative endeavors; b) CALLING THE MOON; c) Willow/Tara!

Let me be honest. The changes you made to the song for the purposes of your video threw me off. I honestly can't say if the changes weren't perceptible to anyone who can't recite the lyrics off the top of their head because to me the modifications were extraordinarily jarring. Each time, with every viewing, it takes me out of the video for a few seconds.

I was also wryly amused that you introduced Oz (the werewolf!) into the video, given that you associated the moon image most strongly with Tara (with Willow following in her footsteps after her death?). Especially because you included a clip of Willow, while with Oz, looking up at the moon-- reminding the viewer of Oz's werewolfness! Or was that more of a, Willow is looking for Tara (the moon) even when with Oz? I don't know.

I also thought it was interesting that for the lyrics "I can see so much from this cold height" you chose to use clips from Restless. The scenes where Willow walks throw the sea of curtains always felt like a moment of confusion on her part, so the linking of the two was mildly ironic for me.

That aside, you have done a beautiful job putting these images of Willow and Tara while doing justice (or at least so I felt!) to one of my favorite songs of all time. The three times I've watched this, tears did not fail to spring to my eyes at the transition of the warm oranges to Willow in black, "don't make sense of me, night." Willow's grief comes across so clearly... and I think I liked the changes in coloration that you did with the segments of Tara after she died (to highlight the fact that she's gone)-- it certainly made me feel all the sadder.

I also like how you put Willow's spell in Chosen in the context of her love for Tara. This not being text the reasons for that aren't entirely clear to me... perhaps she was able to do that spell because of what Tara had taught them during their time together-- because Tara had transfered her moon-ness to Willow? Perhaps she was able to "illuminate the earth" because she had overcome her grief (though the clips of her screaming & crying before the glowing-hatchet don't indicate that) and embrace her memories of Tara? Like I sai, I don't know.

I'd be interested in hearing why you made the choices that you did for this video! :D

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the detailed response (you're really good at those!).

The changes you made to the song for the purposes of your video threw me off. I honestly can't say if the changes weren't perceptible to anyone who can't recite the lyrics off the top of their head because to me the modifications were extraordinarily jarring. Each time, with every viewing, it takes me out of the video for a few seconds.

I know how you feel. There's an extremely good vidder who picked one of my favorite songs to use with a character that I love... and they switched around two of the verses and it throws me out every time that I see the vids, at least for a little while. Because I know how the song should go. What I do with my vids is play around with the audio editing until it sounds all right to my roommate, who is my General Audience.

That aside, you have done a beautiful job putting these images of Willow and Tara while doing justice (or at least so I felt!) to one of my favorite songs of all time. The three times I've watched this, tears did not fail to spring to my eyes at the transition of the warm oranges to Willow in black, "don't make sense of me, night." Willow's grief comes across so clearly... and I think I liked the changes in coloration that you did with the segments of Tara after she died (to highlight the fact that she's gone)-- it certainly made me feel all the sadder.

Thank you! I actually cried a bit while I was collecting the footage, which impressed me, as I was doing it with no sound. Willow's grief for Tara just aches.

I'd be interested in hearing why you made the choices that you did for this video! :D

I hope to write some notes up on it (and the other vids that are note-less) at some point. It's definitely on my to-do list (sadly, my to-do list is very overpopulated -- I need to stop liking things!).

Thank you again for pointing out everything you liked and all the things that threw or confused you. It's all very helpful. Thanks!

[bell]

Thanks for the detailed response (you're really good at those!).

Entertainment isn't fun until I've analyzed every square inch of it. :D

I'll look forward to the notes~.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Entertainment isn't fun until I've analyzed every square inch of it. :D

It can make things much more enjoyable!

[aycheb.livejournal.com]

I love the way this vid slowly builds Tara to be the moon of the song and Willow’s guiding light even after her death. It works especially well in the context of the goddess clips from Chosen, imbuing that whole sequence with extra meaning. I hadn’t thought of things that way before. Thank you for showing it to me.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

I love the way this vid slowly builds Tara to be the moon of the song and Willow’s guiding light even after her death. It works especially well in the context of the goddess clips from Chosen, imbuing that whole sequence with extra meaning. I hadn’t thought of things that way before.

That's so great to read. I've always kinda viewed that moment as the moment that Willow finally and truly realized what magic is for, what Tara had been trying to tell her all along.

Thank you for showing it to me.

You're welcome. I'm glad that you liked it.

[kitkatbyte.livejournal.com]

Aww! Willow's emotional journey... that was so moving! It looks like you modified the saturation to enhance the mood of different parts of it... very nice!

[incidental_fire]

What a beautiful and heartbreaking vid. As I was watching, I kept hoping you weren't going to include Tara's death, that it would just be Willow and Tara happy together. And yet. Including that made the ending and the resolution much more powerful, and the connection between Tara and what Willow was able to do at the end of Chosen made me a little bit more at peace with her death.