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Sci-Fi Friday: one thing
Sep. 10th, 2005 12:03 amBattlestar Galactica made me so incredibly happy tonight. All of Sci-Fi Friday was glorious, but BSG blew my mind.
Simply wonderful.
Sep. 10th, 2005
Vidding: Thoughts on Song Choice
Sep. 10th, 2005 03:45 amSo far I have seen two vids to Hallelujah and heard of others. But all of them seem to be to the Rufus Wainwright version. Thus far, I appear to be the only person who has vidded a different version of the song.
The reason that this interests me is because I heard the song via a vid. I listened to the lyrics and said -- wow, this song is almost what I want. And then I looked up all the other versions of the song that I could get my hands on and ended up choosing the Jeff Buckley version.
The differences between the two versions are actually fairly extensive -- Jeff's version is slower and thus longer (I ended up editing out an entire verse, plus some of the ending, and the vid is still over five minutes long), his voice much smoother, and he pronounces 'hallelujah' differently. All of these things made his version of the song feel vastly more suited to the character of Wesley than the Rufus Wainwright version.
Thinking about this makes me think about song choice in general -- oftentimes, I will watch a vid and be overawed at how completely perfect it is, other times, there is interest found in just how the music conflicts with the source, thus drawing out a completely new side of it.
Two examples:
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gwyn_r's Buffy vid to Polaroid Millenium really made me go -- that's my girl. That's my Buffy, right there. Brave and determined and scared and loving. Even the voice of the singer is Buffy, the hesitant young part of Buffy, no louder than the music surrounding her but yet still distinctive.
Flip-side, I never would have imagined a Kill Bill vid to a song like Ring them Bells. The song is low-toned and reverently emotional. Butsisabet used the music to show an unexplored area of Kill Bill, illustrating the moments of stillness and of depth. Utterly stunning.
Part of what made me think of all of this was watching rewatching some of the VividCon dvds before Sci-Fi friday. I just really adore vids in general, even stripped of context. Vidding has definitely become a fandom of mine, just one that overlaps most of the others.
ETA: Because renewed interest has been expressed, here (right-click and save) is the 56.3 MB mpg version of my Wes vid, and here is a yousenditlink to a 13.9 MB wmv version.
The reason that this interests me is because I heard the song via a vid. I listened to the lyrics and said -- wow, this song is almost what I want. And then I looked up all the other versions of the song that I could get my hands on and ended up choosing the Jeff Buckley version.
The differences between the two versions are actually fairly extensive -- Jeff's version is slower and thus longer (I ended up editing out an entire verse, plus some of the ending, and the vid is still over five minutes long), his voice much smoother, and he pronounces 'hallelujah' differently. All of these things made his version of the song feel vastly more suited to the character of Wesley than the Rufus Wainwright version.
Thinking about this makes me think about song choice in general -- oftentimes, I will watch a vid and be overawed at how completely perfect it is, other times, there is interest found in just how the music conflicts with the source, thus drawing out a completely new side of it.
Two examples:
gwyn_r's Buffy vid to Polaroid Millenium really made me go -- that's my girl. That's my Buffy, right there. Brave and determined and scared and loving. Even the voice of the singer is Buffy, the hesitant young part of Buffy, no louder than the music surrounding her but yet still distinctive.Flip-side, I never would have imagined a Kill Bill vid to a song like Ring them Bells. The song is low-toned and reverently emotional. But
sisabet used the music to show an unexplored area of Kill Bill, illustrating the moments of stillness and of depth. Utterly stunning.Part of what made me think of all of this was watching rewatching some of the VividCon dvds before Sci-Fi friday. I just really adore vids in general, even stripped of context. Vidding has definitely become a fandom of mine, just one that overlaps most of the others.
ETA: Because renewed interest has been expressed, here (right-click and save) is the 56.3 MB mpg version of my Wes vid, and here is a yousenditlink to a 13.9 MB wmv version.
Writing: Thoughts on Method
Sep. 10th, 2005 01:28 pmI get the impression, from glancing around lj, that my particular writing method is not the most common (it may just not be the most commonly talked about, of course).
1. When I write, I start with one thing. This one thing is the center of the work, making it rather like an essay disguised as fiction. Now, usually, this has led to writing rather short emotional vignettes, but over the past couple of fandoms (starting with due South), this has begun to change. Some ideas are bigger than others, or at least, they take up more room. Also, I've really been working on the ability to extend an idea into a plot, which bodes well for my unfinished works in progress. Once I've finished White Rabbits, at least.
2. I am incapable of writing with music on in the background. I've seen many fics where authors say, "and I wrote this while listening to this song" and I go, "how?". If there's music on, I get distracted. If there's sound of any kind, I'm apt to get distracted. I need to be able to completely concentrate on the issue at hand.
3. The majority of the time, I do not use a beta reader. In fact, so far, the number of finished stories of mine that have been beta-read is... one. My huge SG-1 AU is being beta read, but since I've been stalled on the story since I picked up the Star Wars obsession, this is rather on hold. My reasoning is actually fairly simple -- I'm a vastly impatient person. Once I've written something, I want it to exist and to breathe on its own. This is something that I've been loath to say in public on lj, for fear of coming across as an Anne Rice, puffed up and arrogant, but yes, there it is.
1. When I write, I start with one thing. This one thing is the center of the work, making it rather like an essay disguised as fiction. Now, usually, this has led to writing rather short emotional vignettes, but over the past couple of fandoms (starting with due South), this has begun to change. Some ideas are bigger than others, or at least, they take up more room. Also, I've really been working on the ability to extend an idea into a plot, which bodes well for my unfinished works in progress. Once I've finished White Rabbits, at least.
2. I am incapable of writing with music on in the background. I've seen many fics where authors say, "and I wrote this while listening to this song" and I go, "how?". If there's music on, I get distracted. If there's sound of any kind, I'm apt to get distracted. I need to be able to completely concentrate on the issue at hand.
3. The majority of the time, I do not use a beta reader. In fact, so far, the number of finished stories of mine that have been beta-read is... one. My huge SG-1 AU is being beta read, but since I've been stalled on the story since I picked up the Star Wars obsession, this is rather on hold. My reasoning is actually fairly simple -- I'm a vastly impatient person. Once I've written something, I want it to exist and to breathe on its own. This is something that I've been loath to say in public on lj, for fear of coming across as an Anne Rice, puffed up and arrogant, but yes, there it is.