Grace (Harry Potter vid)
| Vid | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Grace |
| Creator: | whereistheluv |
| Date: | September 23, 2007 |
| Format: | wmv; divx |
| Length: | 37MB wmv; 60MB divx |
| Music: | "Grace" by Kate Havnevik |
| Genre: | character study |
| Fandom: | Harry Potter |
| Footage: | spoilers for Order of the Phoenix |
| URL: | offline (vid announcement) |
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Grace is a Harry Potter vid by whereistheluv.
Vidder's summary: "Nothing comes easily."
- I've been really stuck on my Sweet Charity vid, and just vidding in general. I really hate my "style". I get too caught up in the narrative and being linear. I thought I would try something to see if I could evoke a feeling rather than tell a literal story that moves people. So this is my attempt. My goal was to not think too hard about the linear structure and instead focus on movement, flow and the emotion I was trying to get across. Also I gave myself a time limit. No more than a week, so I couldn't get all bogged down in the tiny little decisions.
- So the vid! It's a sorta combination character study/overview of Harry's life. Harry Potter just wrecks me. Especially when I think about all he's lost and how no matter how many people in his life might love him he's destined to ultimately fight his battle alone and risk losing them all. So that's what this vid is about. And also, I wanted it to be really pretty. I got a pretty decent download of OotP so there are a few clips in there.
- As always, I'm a feedback junkie!
This vid was reviewed at the reel vidding community by Milly on January 2, 2008:
Overall impression: A beautiful mood piece that uses the beauty and emotions of the source to their maximum.
Titles: None at the beginning, which might have been a good thing as the vid starts right away. Personally, on my player, that usually means I'm losing a few seconds and have to go back again - so a few seconds of black screen, with titles or not, could have worked well here. I really liked the ones at the end though.
Music choice: I loved the song choice here, both for the song itself, but also for how well it fits the HP universe. It was dreamy, and therefore gave that vid this great tone that lasted throughout and was only accentuated by the clip choice.
Narration, Tone and Movement: What I love about the narration here is that it's not a streamlined story, it's broken up in pieces throughout the years, making links with everything. That's quite hard to accomplish without making it look messy and nonsensical. The tone of this vid, as I've mentionned before, is really what made it stand out so much for me. It's dream-like and just visually gorgeous. The motion and movement was used so well here, especially in the scenery shots, where the internal motion was just great. The motion, combined with the music, truly drove the narrative.
Cuts, Transitions, Effects & Colouring/Coloring: Some of the cuts felt slightly rough, mostly because we went from a very dark shot to a very light one, or vice versa, which can be uneasy on the eyes, but in general the cuts truly worked with the music without feeling like it had to highlight every punch and every beat. Effects were minimal (other than perhaps a soft glow?) which is a good thing because it's a soft vid and the only issue worth mentionning with the coloring would be to be careful with cutting with sources with different colorings (or lighting), because it can break the flow. Other than that, I really liked the whole softness of the video, it all look glossy and that truly worked well with the music.
Specific vid & music notes: 0:21: The flower dying followed by Harry reaching for his parents in the Mirror of Erised was really touching, just for the metaphor of his parents (and Cedrick) being faded flowers. 1:09 The internal zooming motion followed by the same thing as Harry walks through the Great Hall was beautiful 1:30 The sea creatures all around him fading into the dementors, which when spinning around, then an overshot of the dancers spinning at the Yule Ball worked really really well visually. 2:00-2:10 That section was so emotional and worked so well. It's truly the core of the vid, in my opinion.
Final notes: When you finish a vid and the first thing you think is that it was too short, or that you want to watch it again, then you know you've found a gem. And this truly is one, besides minimal issues with some cuts and coloring. I adored it.