Left Behind
| Vid | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Left Behind |
| Creator: | Amothea |
| Date: | August 1, 2005 |
| Format: | |
| Length: | 17MB, 40MB |
| Music: | "Captain Nemo" by Sarah Brightman |
| Genre: | |
| Fandom: | Stargate Atlantis |
| Footage: | Season 1, Spoilers up to Siege III |
| URL: | Vid links at Vidder's LiveJournal |
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"Left Behind" is a Stargate Atlantis vid by Amothea. It was posted on August 1, 2005.
Reactions/Reviews
This vid was reviewed by Saeva at the reel vidding community on January 20, 2006:
"Overall impression: If I had to use one word to describe this video it would be 'pretty.' Everything about it, from the music, to the editing, to the clip choice, is one large succession of prettiness that exemplifies exactly why I love the directing and CGI team of 'Stargate: Atlantis' so very much.
Beyond that some of the clip choice was very unusual and used to great effect but, in the end, I had trouble getting over a problem with the narrative. But I'll get to that in a minute.
Titles: These titles were nicely complete. Nothing particularly special about them but they included a date and an e-mail address, which is ever so helpful.
Music: I really enjoy Sarah Brightman in general so I wasn't surprised that I liked the song. More than that, beyond the obvious oceanic theme of both the song and the show, it fit the feeling of the clips chosen. It's a somber, but well-defined sounding song. However, I couldn't quite get past two things with it:
1) It took a few repeated listenings to it before I could reasonably make out the lyrics. The vocals don't sound on the right balance with the music, which may be an effect of the format used in the vid (as the lyrics are stronger in the actual song).
2) I couldn't shake the feeling the song didn't fit the source material, partially because it's a very much narrative song about loss and being left. The vid itself doesn't have the feeling of a strong narrator and thus the lyrics jar at points. I think if this had been an instrumental vid, or primarily instrumental, it would fit perfectly. As is...
Narration, tone, and movement:
Narration - The music issue is very much a narrative issue for me. Watching vids you get used to seeing different interpretations and uses of a song, some of which can be very jarring from your own view. This wasn't so much jarring as confusing. As of typing this sentence I've likely watched this vid a good twenty times and I'm still uncertain as to who the narrator is or what the narrative thread to connect everything is supposed to be.
The song itself is in first person, speaking of another person, but from what I can tell the video itself has three main characters --John Sheppard, Elizabeth Weir, and the city of Atlantis -- with appearances from McKay, Chaya, Janus/Aiyala, and the Genii and an odd Sheppard/Weir undertone. Because of that there feels like there's two narrative threads in this video; the first is that of John and Elizabeth's relationship to others and with each other (with a focus on John) and the second is the journey/trials of Atlantis. Overall, it just doesn't work for me narratively.
Tone and Movement -- The tone and the movement, on the other hand, are really fitting. They work with the clips without dragging or creating a flat feeling to the video itself (in spite of the 5+ min length of the vid) and allow for a showcasing of some of the great directing/special effects used in the show.
Cuts, Transitions, Effects & Colouring/Coloring:
The cutting is clean and well on beat/change in the song. Nothing drags in really odd ways or creates a jarring visual reaction. Amothea lets the effects in the show work for her here and they're appropriately impressive at the right points. The choice clip spans at least six episodes that I counted and the cutting between the episodes, which is done out of chronological order, works well here.
I especially like how she used the colours of the show, which can be jarring in general, to her advantage here, contrasting the green/blue of the Wraith and the blue/red of the Atlanteans/Atlantis expedition.
Specific notes:
- 0:13,:18 ; I really like the shot choice here.
- 1:47, 1:48 ; This, however, seem like a really odd choice to me given the other clips available.
- 1:58 ; This was a great segue cut.
- 2:53,3:12 ; This is a great sequence of shots over the bridge of the song. Very well chosen.
- 3:13; From here the video picks up some and I think it's done really well for the most part, with an appropriate change in the feeling of the clips.
- 3:39,3:41 ; Again, the clip choice here seems a little weird, more like you were looking for filler than it being chosen for its place in the sequence or relation to the lyrics.
- 4:01 ; I like the way these clips go together, though I think the first and second explosion clip could be switched around so as not to be so visually jarring.
- 4:11 ; The waves in connection to the rise of the music is a nice touch.
- 4:51 ; I like the final choice of clip and how you let the clip run long as it draws out. A very nice touch.
Final notes: Overall, I think that what this vid needs most is to tighten up the narrative. It seems to wander in places, both in focus and in purpose. That might be a function of how long the song is that a single thread -- like Sheppard's journey -- wouldn't garner enough clips to make a video, but without a sort of focus the vid becomes a little confusing. It occurs to me now, rewatching once again, that you might have been trying a focus on the leadership of Atlantis rather than a connection between Sheppard-Weir, but if so then I think McKay’s presence needs to be stronger throughout the vid and not just in patches.
Mostly, I had trouble figuring out what you, as the vidder, were trying to say with this. Otherwise, I like the flow of the video in parallel to the soft sounds of the song and the matching of the strength of the music to the energy of the clips."