VVC Premiere Vid: Anna Begins (House MD; House, Wilson/Amber)

[butterfly]

Anna Begins
by Counting Crows

Summary:
House isn't ready for this sort of change.
(spoilers through House M.D. 4x16 -- "Wilson's Heart")

(divx file 38.9 MB; zipped
smaller wmv file available here)

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

Maybe I should snap her up in a butterfly net
and pin her down on a photograph album.

If you can't see the embed, the link is here.

Comments

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

Oh, I loved this SO MUCH. You got a lot of really awesome Meaningful Look footage in there.

(Can I ask if you edited the song itself? It seemed to me there was, like, maybe one full line and a little part of a line missing. If you did edit it and don't mind sharing, I'd love to hear more about that -- why you did it, etc. Otherwise, I am crazy and you should ignore this paragraph, LOL!)

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

I'm so thrilled that it worked for you. Yay!

Can I ask if you edited the song itself?

I did. Mostly because I wanted to delay the introduction of the word 'Anna' into the narrative, but also to unbalance the song the way that House is being unbalanced.

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

Mostly I'm just glad I wasn't imagining things, LOL! That totally makes sense. I've tried to play around with song editing on a few occasions but was never satisfied with the results -- I think yours worked REALLY well and I suspect most people wouldn't even notice (I just love that song and have listened to it many hundreds of times). Wonderful vid!

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Song editing is really fun and really tricky. The people who know the songs very well will always catch that it's different (And I'm glad that you felt like the edit worked!), as I've experienced myself with watching a vid with a song that I knew really well and they'd switched around some of the verses! It worked for the vid, but I definitely had that moment of "wait, what just happened?"

every word is nonsense but I understand it

[kiki-miserychic.livejournal.com]

I like the use of the lyrics and the structure. The effects are great too. Lovely ending.

Re: every word is nonsense but I understand it

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm so thrilled that the vid worked for you. It was a pretty effects-heavy vid, so I'm really glad that those looked good.

[monanotlisa.livejournal.com]

Rock! I'm snagging this.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Yay! I'm glad that you liked it.

[starryeyedmagic.livejournal.com]

Wow! This was absolutely stunning!

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[faith-girl222.livejournal.com]

this was really beautiful. i especially liked your effect of cutting out the background and overlaying other footage in sequence where amber gets house to wake up. the timing was also really nice.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm so glad that the effects in the vid worked for you.

[thelibraniniquity]

Absolutely stunning. Great use of effects and overlays. And very nice editing of the song; end result was a lot of goosebumps and little shivers, and I am so snagging the larger download.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm so glad that the vid worked so well for you.

[kitacarlsen.livejournal.com]

Wow. I loved how the song, the editing, the emotion all seemed to build and build and build toward the climax -- and then just cut out, all together, at that perfect moment when she "disappears." Freaking amazing.

...Also, I'm interested that you put so much House/Amber interaction in this vid. Do you see those bits (esp the red suit scene) as selfish narcissistic love, or real fucked-up romantic interaction, or (the way I read it) House coming to terms with himself: his possessive (in a romantic or nonromantic sense, whatever) feelings for Wilson, and just his own emotional self in general?

Again, really amazing vid!

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

Wow. I loved how the song, the editing, the emotion all seemed to build and build and build toward the climax -- and then just cut out, all together, at that perfect moment when she "disappears." Freaking amazing.

I'm so thrilled that the build and drop work so well for you. That was part of why this song seemed so perfect to me.

Also, I'm interested that you put so much House/Amber interaction in this vid. Do you see those bits (esp the red suit scene) as selfish narcissistic love, or real fucked-up romantic interaction, or (the way I read it) House coming to terms with himself: his possessive (in a romantic or nonromantic sense, whatever) feelings for Wilson, and just his own emotional self in general?

One of the things that I find fascinating about Amber in House's head is how sensually powerful she is without being objectified (the way that Cuddy gets objectified by the stripper scene). He doesn't take off her clothes -- he gives her a red power suit instead (which, naturally, does connect back to the red scarf, but it's his head that extends that to the rest of her).

For me, I see Amber achieving everything that House wishes he didn't want -- if that makes sense. She's tough and abrasive and pushy, like House, but once she makes the choice to pick the relationship where she can be respected and loved over just being respected, she's also happy and deeply self-confident. She's also openly a good person and isn't afraid that being seen as one will lose her respect. And she's this state of conflict for him, because she comes out of nowhere and steals a place in Wilson's heart, showing both him and Wilson that a House-eske personality is not only something that Wilson is attracted to but that it would actually be a much healthier relationship for him than his normal ones.

Then, just as he's gotten used to her, both as herself and as this odd emotional guidepost between him and Wilson, she dies. And he's going to need to remake the path between himself and Wilson now, in the absence of her.

Wow... that was really long and rambling.

[kitacarlsen.livejournal.com]

No, that totally worked! And that is really how I see her, as an "odd emotional guidepost between him and Wilson." I really think there's enough in the fourth season to support a reading of him becoming aware of romantic/sexual feelings for Wilson, beyond just friendship, and Amber is a big (giant, huge) part of that.

Anyway, I should just add that I have watched this vid some seven or eight times between yesterday and today. Again, great job!

[chasarumba.livejournal.com]

I really liked how you worked with this song...both song and vid really withhold gratification, if that makes sense. So, there's this sense of something that builds and builds before the "Anna begins" chorus at 3:12ish.

[bell]

Wanted to drop by and say that after much contemplation, I really like this vid. It hurts me a lot, but I think that shows how effective it is-- I hurt for Wilson, I hurt for Amber, and most of all, I hurt for House. It seemed to me that no one there wanted to hurt anyone else, but everyone ended up damaged by the end.

I was affected enough by the vid to have to write a commentary, but it's up to you if you read it. It's me trying to work out my feelings towards the vid (I struggle with that a lot, with vids! It takes me multiple viewings before I start to "get" things), and as such, has some criticism as well. But whether or not you read it, know that I'm very impressed with "Anna Begins", and it's going into my permanent vid collection. :3

[cinderlily.livejournal.com]

So I am about to recommend this video on my flist and I made a promise to myself that I would only recommend if I actually comment and I just. I can't really put it into words how much I love this video. I love the song, I love Counting Crows in general but this is by far my favorite song of theirs and has a lot of personal meaning to me... I love the way you portray Amber and Wilson's relationship as real not idealized but keep the underlying Wilson and House and House and CTB (Sorry, for him she isn't really Amber) there too. (This might be the shipper in me, though, so I apologize if I read too far into it.) I love that you give Amber such a beautiful send off and that it is so gutteral and emotionally real that I hurt for it. I just. I really truly love it.