Superstar

Vid
Title:	Superstar
Creator:	here's luck
Date:	May 2003
Format:	digital vid
Length:	3:26 minutes
Music:	"Superstar" by Tegan and Sarah
Genre:
Fandom:	Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Footage:	Buffy & Angel
URL:	Superstar at AO3
screencap of Faith dancing, "hard core Superstar"
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Superstar is a Buffy songvid made by here's luck using the character of Faith as the POV focus. It premiered at Vividcon 2003 and won a Nummy Treat Award for 'Best Faith Vid' that year. It was one of the videos showcased during the 2008 "24/7" DIY Video Summit. It was recently shown at the SinpOzium vid show held in Australia in June 2011. A streaming version can be found at the AO3.

Summary

Vidder's summary:'"'Never gonna be the same again."

One viewer summarized the vid:"I love how this vid tells Faith's story of both her feelings towards Buffy and towards herself. The framing with "What's to come" is eery and lovely, and then building up to the climax with her envy (the green of the grave), with her desire for Buffy and a certain self-image, until it goes too far and she doesn't win Buffy's love... and without Buffy's love she finds there's nothing she wants in the hard core image, it's just Buffy... And then ending with the empty made bed."

"hard core superstar by far you're the ultimate star

do you wanna be a superstar

well that's what you are

you're gonna be a star

do you wanna be a superstar?

clever in what she does competing for the attention

of those people that you know

my whole life revolves around

your absence until I can't remember

what I was or what I am

who I know or what I know or where I go." ~ "Superstar" lyrics

Vidder Commentary

Her commentary can be found here and here.

Also

• vid storyboards: Glorious #1, Come On, Superstar: heresluck, ^{Archived version}
• vid commentary: "Superstar" part 1: structure and thematics: heresluck, ^{Archived version}
• vid commentary: "Superstar" part 2: motion and timing: heresluck, ^{Archived version}
• remastering superstar, or: just shoot me.: heresluck, ^{Archived version}

Reaction

• "Superstar is one of my favourite vids, and an excellent Faith character study as well as being a fascinating look at her relationship with Buffy. And, of course, like so many others on this list, the vid is technically brilliant.
• "I'm still and will always be in love with that Superstar Buffy and Faith video. It was the first time I realized how awesome music vids could be."
• "I love the brashness of the middle couched in the vulnerability and pain of the beginning and ending. I love the parallels you established throughout to show similar and yet contrasting events and emotions. Like at the beginning and end in making the bed with Buffy, the knife and the blood falling on the sheets: the promise of intimacy versus the reality of betrayal. The running in the graveyards. The confident dancing with Buffy for "hardcore superstar" (and the jubilant ransacking of the weapons shop) contrasted with her angry and violent dancing in LA (and her fighting with Buffy). Oh, and all the images surrounding "and I've lost myself again"--so perfect. And the halo-ing effect on Buffy's face for 'angel' from the helicopter lights. Wow."
• "Oh, boy, did this ever blow me away. What a phenomenal start to the show. This was another vid that I had originally seen online and not liked nearly so much in that medium. It's amazing to me how much my experience of a vid can change when I see it on a TV or larger screen. Anyway, this is one finely-tuned, superbly-cut piece of work, making great use of internal movement. But what amazes me about it is the incredible voice it gives to Faith, the twin voices, really -- the dominant lead vocal and the breathy echo, the echo sometimes being Buffy and sometimes being Faith's vulnerable side, her doubts, the self she doesn't let others see. Blow. Me. Away."
• "This vid demonstrates fabulous use of internal movement, but it's actually the use of colour that astonishes me every time I watch it. The predominantly white sections at the beginning and end (especially the way Buffy turning into the search light fades into the dream sequence). The way the red elements keep interrupting both the white sections and the green/blue palette of the rest of the vid. I think its the contrast between the colours that makes the transiton at 1:33 truly extraordinary. Anyway, this is the vid that made me understand that you can do really cool things with colour. (And also internal movement, but I learned about that from so many different vids none of them actually made this list.)"

In my original notes for this vid, written back when I first viewed it in a small RealPlayer box on my computer, I wrote: great song. good use of clips. But after re-viewing it on a big screen television, I really think it's shot into the group of my favorite vids of all time. Possibly my favorite Faith vid ever.

(Note: It's interesting to me how that happens with certain vids. Is it just that they come across better when they're bigger? Or maybe I myself bring something different to the table with each new viewing, so that my reactions and interpretations change over time? A little of both, probably.)

Ultimately there are only so many clips you can use to express a characterization; a vid is limited to the source material in ways fanfic is not. But this one somehow completely re-envisions Faith's arc for me. It's one thing to talk about her sense of alienation, her jealousies, her conflicts, her desire for Buffy and to be Buffy. It's another thing entirely to see it all cut together, to have it condensed and rearranged for maximum potency. Each clip in this vid builds upon the last, playing on the tension and chemistry between the actresses (and Eliza Dushku's chemistry with like, linoleum), linking together chronologically-distant yet thematically-close visuals, and corresponding perfectly with the lyrics.

Most of all, I love where this vid goes, following Faith's tumultuous relationship with Buffy (not, it's important to note, their mutual relationship, but rather how Faith feels about Buffy and consquently, about herself) and where it ends: a vision of acceptance and sharing that, because of the blood spilled between them, will never and can never happen.