Schizophrenia
| Vid | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Schizophrenia |
| Creator: | Allison Snow |
| Date: | 2006 |
| Format: | |
| Length: | 04:08 |
| Music: | "Schizophrenia" by Blue October |
| Genre: | |
| Fandom: | Lost |
| Footage: | original source material; spoilers through first and second season |
| URL: | YouTube |
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"Schizophrenia" is a Lost vid by Allison Snow. It is a character study of Charlie Pace.
Reactions/Reviews
This vid was reviewed by Sol Se at the reel vidding community on December 31, 2006:
Overall impression:An excellent look at Charlie's spiral of self-destructive behavior. It had a few minor technical issues, but on the whole I look forward to seeing more from this vidder in the future.
Titles: Credits appear at the end as scrolling white text over a scene of Charlie sitting by the fire.
Music choice: I have to say, I really loved this song choice for Charlie. It has a good mix of self-deprecation, despair, and playful whimsy that really embodies his character. I particularly loved this verse: "A Silver plated numbing gum / And Jesus resting on my thumb / A hard to reach malaria / I've got the mood that seems to scare ya / I'm paranoid, self destroyed / Believe me, Lord, I'm sorry"
The quality of the audio is somewhat fuzzy, but I don't know if that has to do with the audio file that was used in the video itself or with YouTube.
Narration, Tone and Movement: This vidder has a great sense of Charlie as a character and a great eye for narrative structure. I love the emotional tone of desperation that runs throughout. I also loved the use of religious imagery. Religion is a big part of Charlie's psyche, but I feel like that it is often ignored in most Charlie-centric videos. One part of the well thought-out structure is the type of sequence that occurs three times in the video. The video opens with Charlie staring into a fire cut with various scenes. This type of stationary/continuous image cut with short clips of different scenes is great for demonstrating character development and the internal make-up of that character.
Cuts, Transitions, Effects & Colouring/Coloring: Effects were minimal. Ones that I noticed were a few speed changes and a couple color changes (to a sepia tone). Transitions were straightforward fades or fade to blacks.
Specific vid & music notes: 0:00-0:19 – I liked how the video opens. Charlie slowly lifts his hoodie up over his head and stares into the fire (which will be referenced again as the final shot), interspersed with particularly bad moments that has brought him to this point (Eko pushing him against a tree, Ethan, Claire etc.)
0:19 – I liked the quick sped-up collection of images before the first lyric is sung.
0:21 – Good lyric/scene choices here: "silver plated numbing gum" as Charlie picks up the heroin, then Hurley as Jesus.
0:33, 0:37, 3:10 – A few stray clips that I noticed. Nothing glaring or obvious.
1:07 – DivX logo. I don't think there's anything to be done to remove this once a video has been made, but for future reference, the DivX logo can be turned off: Programs --> DivX --> DivX Codec --> Decoder Configuration Utility (or "config") --> Quality Settings --> Disable Logo
1:12 – Repeated clips of the baby doll's head being chopped off. I don't think it was necessary to repeat it so much. Once or twice would have been enough. It just seems awkward and out of place.
1:46 – I love his expression on "a gentle way of calming." Good choice for that word.
1:56 – A close-up of young Charlie fades into present-day Charlie. I thought this was nicely done.
2:01 – The lyric "long" of "long sob story" plays over a camera pan up of Charlie hanging from a tree. I just really liked the placement of the word.
2:06 – Jack hits Charlie until he expels a breath, followed by Ethan being shot and falling to the mud. I thought this sequence worked really well.
2:37 – Charlie's heroin burning in the fire fades into a fire on the beach. This was subtle and wonderfully understated.
3:18 – This sequence may be my favorite part of the video. Charlie is beaten down, lying in the waves after having stolen Claire's baby to "baptize." As he looks at each person watching him with disgust, we see scenes of him with each person who was, is, or will be important to Charlie: Locke, Claire, Hurley, and finally Eko. Then, each turn away from him. I loved the structure of this section. It was very effective.
Final notes:
I really loved this video. The song was a great choice--very appropriate for Charlie (and thankfully not over-used). The video had a really great, well thought-out narrative structure, and was very effective in portraying the motivations and inner-workings of Charlie Pace. There were a few minor technical glitches, such as the DivX logo and a couple stray clips, but nothing overwhelming or so glaring that it took away from the enjoyment of the video. With the exception of the repeated baby head-chopping clip, I thought all the scene choices were excellent. Overall, a really good video. I can't wait to see more from this vidder.