oh my god this beyond absolutely amazingg. I just woke up and saw the vid, and I'm kind of sleep for time squee kind of feedback

but oh my god, this is beautiful, phenomonal--creepy--ethereal.

wow.

wowo.

Good morning... or afternoon, whatever it is for you. :)

Thank you.

Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo excited!!!

End, work! End!

*roots for sunset*

EHehheeh. Work sucks.

That was awesome! I've only seen one episode of Firefly but I've seen tons of vids, so I know how shiny the footage can be and was excited for what you would do with it. I love the color shift at 0:51; it's quite foreboding and is the perfect way to acknowledge the shift in music and tone. The segment immediately following that contains an absolutely stunning use of overlays and crossfades. I went back and rewatched it a few times because a) there was so much packed in there and b) it looked damn cool.

The narrative was extremely well-constructed, making it both coherent and emotionally impactful even for someone with very little source knowledge like myself. 1:55 onwards is just mind-blowingly awesome. It's hard to pick out favorite moments because the whole thing just flows together so well with such wonderful musicality, but I will say the camera movement over the audio cue at 2:03 was particularly inspired. Amazing work! This will probably go down as one of my favorites from you.

The source is so shiny I clipped far more than I needed because it was all so pretty.

I love the color shift at 0:51; it's quite foreboding and is the perfect way to acknowledge the shift in music and tone.
I'm glad that worked because I was worried I got the coloring wrong and it would be icky.

The segment immediately following that contains an absolutely stunning use of overlays and crossfades.
My eleven layers were a bit extensive...

Thank you so much. When I edited the different scores together I tried to make them all flow and I was worried it wouldn't all flow and be choppy.

I will say the camera movement over the audio cue at 2:03 was particularly inspired. Amazing work!
I have a sick love of that shot.

This will probably go down as one of my favorites from you.
Yay!

Oooh, this was so cool!!

Thanks. Love the icon.

This... I wish I had better words, but WOW. that was amazing, and layered and heartbreaking and amazing... and um, amazing... I thought there would come a point where I would be over seeing River vids because there's so little source but this felt so fresh and new. I really loved the overall vision and story of this. And wow, reading above, 11 layers?? I can barely get myself to use two for fear that I will cover something up and create a big murky mess that no one can see or understand but this, this was done so well. I really need to watch this several more times before I can even get a handle on my thoughts on it all. Great job!

I was hesitant to do a River vid because there are so many out there, but then I figured why not. The world can never have too many. :)

A few of those 11 layers were color gradients, so it's not all clips.

Thank you.

That was utterly cool. It was like a weird fever-dream.

Fantastic music choice.

Did you make the art here? Or is that from a comic or something?

Thanks.

I've loved Michael Andrews score since Donnie Darko and I couldn't pick just one piece to use. :)

The header image comes from the comic, not me. :)

Haha, At first I thought the music came from Edward Scissorhands for some reason. Then "Oh it's from Donnie Darko!" - Love that movie!

Really awesome video! My eyes were so glued to the screen while watching that I almost got tears in my eyes from staring. I loved all the overlays! Truly a cool video! Gosh, I really need to check out Firefly one of these days. I've seen so many vids to the show and I really like this one the best! Awesome job!

The music could fit for Edward Scissorhands too. Donnie Darko's one of my favorite movies and favorite scores.

Yay, my 11 layers made your eyes water. :)

Thank you. Firefly is extremely awesome and it's not even a full series, so it's very short with a half a season and a movie.

This is really amazing. I love the concept and the execution.

Edited at 2008-01-04 12:05 pm (UTC)

Thanks for commenting. :)

I would love to see this vid, but I am having a lot of trouble getting hold of it. In order to watch the Stage6 version, I think I have to download something from Stage6 (a special version of the divx codec?) and I don't want to do that. Tried downloading the WMV version and I got a message saying it had been compressed using an unsupported codec. I am perplexed because I've never had trouble watching either Divx or WMV before. Do you have any advice?

I'm not very up with the technical stuff, but I think it's because I made it with the newest divx codec. I'm uploading to imeem, so when it goes through I'll update you.

Well then. I have two things to say. No, wait, three things.

1. Yays! You did it! \o/

2. I literally paused this and ran to tell my roommate about this vid because you're using the music from Donnie Darko, and I just recently rewatched that film and literally went, "I love that music. There should be a vid to it." So yay! And it worked so wonderfully here. Honestly, the concept is magnificent and it's executed spectacularly of course. You are a little genius.

3. I probably couldn't do this vid with two hands, so I expect a commentary.

1. One-handed vidding is hard, yo. :)

2. I love that movie and the score and the actors and the everything about it. I've wanted to do this vid for quite a long time and I was finally able to do what I wanted effects-wise.

3. Hehehhe, the commentary would consist of, "I have eleven layers here of eleventy thousand things, like an octopus and a doll, none of which are very visible." :)

Wow. This was brilliant. Excellent use of music, which was powerful, yet understated. What a gorgeous vid.

Thank you. :)

Whoaahhh *is speechless*
That was awesome dude!
The overlays were absolutely stunning, and the movement and music just gave it this awesome trippy, dreamy sort of feel that is so perfectly River.
Loved this - wonderful vid! :)

Wow, thank you. This is kind of a River vid with extra crazy pills. :)

Ah, Donnie Darko music. How I love thee.

I think your mind is the closest we ever get to River. And I do say that in the best, most admire-y way. The concepts tangle together and provide this insanely rich experience; add to that your amazing sense of musicality best expressed through like ten thousand layers at once - it's just astounding. I'm glad you've reverted to a fandom I know! :P I feel so guilty not understanding a thing with most of your recent vids.

I can't get enough of really good score. There's a rather large lack of it.

Yay, my brain is like swiss cheese, but in a good way. I actually do take my brain being like River's in an admire-y way because that means I can kill you with my brain. Wee! Not that I would.

My feelings would be best expressed through these eventythousand layers of puppies, kitties, and rainbows. What you do not know is that the bottom ten layers are Barbies with their heads ripped off and visual expressions of childhood trama. It's best that you only see the puppy, kitty, and rainbow layers. :)

No many people are familiar with the fandoms I've recently vidded. It's pretty much me and 5 dudes in their basement.

It took a little while to recognise the music was from Donnie Darko and it was like a light coming on sending all the cockroaches scuttling.

I love the combinations of music and colour you’ve used, starting out in sepia to the single piano and bringing in those oversaturated reds with the voice. River’s dancing feet are so beautifully timed to the music and later using the red to overlay the blue of her fighting makes that combination of scenes fresh all over again. Blue always looks more real, which is sad. The ‘don’t look now effect’ of the rapid motion so viscerally conveys the state of being River it scares me.

Thank you. A have a litle map I doodled of where I wanted to go and what I wanted attached to the sounds.

Some parts were came from Simon's quote of "They stripped her limbic system... You know how... You get scared. Or worried, or nervous. And you don't want to be scared or worried or nervous, so you push it to the back of your mind. You try not to think about it. The limbic system is what lets you do that -- it's like a filter in your brain that keeps your feelings in check. They took that filter out of River. She feels everything. She can't not."

Edited at 2008-01-06 12:04 am (UTC)

I loved watching this. It's very beautiful. Thank you.

Wow. You're welcome and thank you as well. I admire you vidding style, so that means a lot.

I really enjoyed how you handled mood in this. From the beautiful sense of rich diversity between sections to the way you transitioned from one feeling to the next. So very evocative of her character.

Some favorites from all over:

--The saturation on the dancing shots and how the color leaves on a such a perfect moment.
--The creepy flashes of the following section. In particular the octopus eyes at 0:56 which look amazing there. :0
--1:41 where she sinks down over and over again and then the graceful images of her feet follow. Really lovely.
--The static/electric cloud over the sequence of her darker potential being realized.
--The twirling and spinning in every way imaginable in the last sequence. It's choreographed and chaotic at the same time in such a lyrical way.

Thank you. :)

There's so many different parts to River and I wanted to address them all to be a complete picture of her as a girl and and a weapon and everything in between.

I wanted to octopus to be more creepy and less funny.

Unlike Joss, I hate feet, so that section was challenging for me.

I always thought the ion cloud thingy looked like synapses in the brain.

This is distinctive and ... very creepy, actually! All of the coloring is really effective, and the oversatured red is a nice touch especially. That and the music made the dance scene feel more ominous than I've ever seen it. And the vid as a whole is gorgeous!

Thank you for commenting. I loved doing the coloring and psuedo-choreography.

This is beautiful and stunningly eloquent. Thanks a lot.

:) Thank you as well.

Here via rec from hollywoodgrrl and...I really don't know what to say. Wow. Your editing on this was absolutely amazing, especially a lot of the overlaying images. The part where you time to those pulses in the music, for example.

Thank you. :) Wee, I love being rec-ed.

I came via hollywoodgrrl's rec. This is really beautifully vidded and executed. The editing is amazing. I love the dancing in the beginning with the vibrant color and it abruptly becoming muted. River is an astounding character and you've definitely done her justice here. Awesome job!

Thank you. River is a character close to my heart. :)

Is she the girl or the weapon? In the end it doesn't matter, because Simon will always love her and save her, and she will always love and save him, and oh the Tams are absolutely my weak spot. I love them to a ridiculous degree.

It's hard for me to get into Firefly/Serenity vids now (especially Tam vids!) because I know all the source so damn well and have seen it vidded in practically every way imaginable. However, you brought a unique and spellbinding approach to the table, and combining that with the haunting beauty of the music had me entranced. Beautiful, beautiful job.

Exactly. Thanks for commenting. :)

It's weird to go back and watch Firefly and Serenity again. I love it so much and miss it, so it was odd to vid it after so long.

That was so amazingly gorgeous. Just beautiful editing and cuts. I knew Summer made use of her dancing background, but I guess I never realized it was to such an extent. I felt like I was watching a ballet or something. I loved this so much, thanks for sharing it.

Thank you. It's amazing how well all the fighting and dancing came together. :)

this is a magnificent experimental vid! I love the unusual instrumental score and the virtuosity of River's story told in colors, movement, and impressions. and I thought your psychedelic style suggested one rendering of the synthetic and mind-bending way River herself perceives the world.

Thank you. I adore Michael Andrews' score and wanted to use my favorite pieces. It matched River's state of mind and being so well. I wanted to try and capture what I could of how River sees and interacts with the world around her.

Hey, I recently lost all my files and I'm trying to re-collect all my fav. fanvids I had saved. Do you happen to have a bigger version of this for download since the stage 6 link is dead now? If not I'll happily take the smaller one but I just wanted to check first. :)

Totally: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=TA14D0B2

Hey, I just discovered this vid via a long and somewhat circuitous route. I love the way this vid takes place almost entirely in River's head, the way nothing is one single thing for her, the way everything is shifting and unreliable, and the thing barriers between her mind and her reality.

(The stage 6 download link is dead, do you have any plans to re-upload it somewhere else? I'd like a higher resolution vid, if you were willing.)

Whoops, just saw your reply to the comment directly above mine. Literacy, not just for smut!