What I've Done
| Vid | |
|---|---|
| Title: | What I've Done |
| Creator: | Jagwriter78 |
| Date: | November 8, 2007 |
| Format: | |
| Length: | 39.14MB |
| Music: | "What I've Done" by Linkin Park |
| Genre: | |
| Fandom: | Farscape |
| Footage: | |
| URL: | Download link |
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What I've Done is a Farscape vid by Jagwriter78. It is a character study of John Crichton.
Reactions/Reviews
It was reviewed by Jebbypale (aka DevilWoman, the Thrower of (plot)Bunnies) at the reel vidding community on March 15, 2008:
Overall impression: Strong John Crichton centric vid stylized as a "life flashing before his eyes" rendition of all the morally dark things that Crichton has done since coming to the Uncharted Territories and beyond.
Titles: We start with white letters with the title of the vid/song on black background that then fades into the opening montage of the video. Simple, clean and effective. Another title screen appears at the end with the source info, vidder, and title again.
Music choice: This is a very John song. Very few other characters in the show would actually examine their actions in this tone, but John is very aware of how much he's changed and how unacceptable his actions would be in any other environment. He takes responsibility for even those actions he's forced to.
Narration, Tone and Movement: John is the narrator here, just as he is in the opening credits of the show. As the vid is essentially acknowledgment and confessional of all he's done, the tone is dark and apologetic in many places, but paired with many of the images, a knowledgable fan knows when it errs on the side of defiance. The movement is well paired the tempo of the music and lyrics.
Cuts, Transitions, Effects & Colouring/Coloring: Cuts and coloring would perhaps be the easiest place to start. The opening segment of the vid is perhaps my favorite - desaturated and a repeat of the opening credits with quotes on the screen. Often in the vid, segments will be black and white or desaturated for emphasis. Effects and transition/cut types are almost too numerous to list - overlays occur, straight cuts, fades, all of them are here. Probably even more that I don't know the name for. Oddly enough it works very well mostly because this is John Crichton - his journey through the series is such a choatic and damaged one that this vid works perfectly to put us into his mind at the last moments before it all ends (which is what I interpret this vid to be). Any other vid and all the effects and color changes would be too much, but Jagwriter pulls it off perfectly IMO.
Specific vid & music notes: *loves on all of it* 0:02-0:22 First, this is probably my new favorite intro of a vid. A repeat of the opening credits of the show, but by the vidder's own hand. In a way, this piece introduces the justification for all his later actions. Lovely effects of desaturation, slight overexposure, brown tint/colour correction.
0:40-:50 "In this farewell, there's no blood, no alibi" paired with the image of Aeryn's funeral, John in Handcuffs. Powerful imagery.
0:58-1:05 "Let mercy come and wash away what I've done" The image of John's first death (or one of the John's. Balancing the sacrifice he gives with his prior bad acts.
1:40 "Let mercy come" repeat - Suicide from John Quixote. Repetition that only in death can John rectify all the bad he's done, even if the bad was caused by Scorpius and the wormhole knowledge.
2:58-3:19 "What I've done" showing the devastation of the wormhole weapon and remphasizing that the only way he can balance it is by sacrificing himself to stop it.
Final notes: A quick nod to halcyon_shift for providing my defective brain with the names of many of the effects (she enjoyed it too).
There's precious little to criticize here - incredibly strong vid that makes perfect use of the effects, a real feat. Story-telling wise, I may have suggested moving one of John's death scenes, or even him lying in bed post-wormhole weapon in PKW to the beginning to match with "In this farewell" to emphasize how the vid is really all of John's deeds passing before his eyes. The way Jagwriter does it works though and is poignant in it's own right. And I just have to say again how much I love the opening sequence of the vid, surprisingly given that I've always loathed the opening creds of the series itself as being too cheesy and over the top.
I'm very glad I volunteered to review this vid - I definitely would not wanted to have missed it.