CUB'S BLOG

Cub

New River video
Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Just passing along the latest River vid, which is set to Sia's "Breathe Me." Details:

Duration: 4:42 wmv
Characters: River/all
Episodes: All + movie
Summary: River just wants to be like everybody else, but she can't stop being River.

Three file sizes, all You Send It.

Full-sized - 856x480 (44MB)
http://s44.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=3BE27R39K5H4W2ARW09AXRYD98
http://s39.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0FZB7D7YC3V0725B3F7NB00IE0"

Big w/crappy bitrate (33.7MB): http://s44.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1J0WDINBKWJGA2D8R6FQLTEEP9

Small - 480x240
http://download.yousendit.com/F2F070A14C0ACF30

Sorry about the big files. Effects-heavy plus long equals many megabites. Let me know if any of the links expire and I'll pass along new ones.

The video is meant to show River's desperation, how she's disconnected from the love, friendship, and happiness all around her and doesn't understand why - until the end of the vid.

RinnyPJ requested the song and character, and I decided to do it as a River POV. The idea was to see the series and movie from her perspective; in a warped, cracked sort of chronological order, all mashed up and running together. I always pictured pre-Miranda River as seeing life as a kind of waking dream that never ends, and that's the look I was striving for. I tried a few new editing tricks for that reason.

There's lots of symbolism here - some fairly obvious, some less obvious than I'd like - and rapid-fire visual information that picks up speed as the vid goes on. It might seem confusing or even a little random at first (hopefully not), but there was definitely a purpose behind each image. I tried to build it in layers so that repeat viewings can offer something new each time.

This was my final Firefly character study and my final request. The others can be found . Please share any thoughts, and thanks for watching!

COMMENTS

Saturday, April 22, 2006 11:33 AM

BROWNCOATGAL


wow! that must be one of your best! really amazing.

Did you say that was to be your last?! *tear* My little dreams are crushed...oh well....thanks for them all!!

Thursday, April 20, 2006 4:09 PM

PINGJING


Cub of FIREFLYFANS.NET has sent you the following message:

-------------------------
I see exactly what you mean. That was deliberate - I was trying to show the
world in the way I imagine that River might see it... dreamlike, jumbled, and
somewhat confusing. I knew that might very well confuse the viewer - at least on a first viewing - but I would have preferred to err on the side of overly complex as opposed to overly simple.

That said, I made it to be watched over and over, built in layers that can be unraveled to reveal truth much like River herself.

Thanks again.
______________________________________
How do you respond to people directly? I can't seem to figure out how to do that. Anyway, thanks for the explanation - that makes a lot of sense. And I know that I'll be watching it over and over again.

Thursday, April 20, 2006 1:38 PM

PINGJING


Ok, I finally got another chance to watch this - thanks, Cub! The sequences of images you chose were incredible to watch, the lights at the beginning, the focus on her hand, later the knife, and the overlap of her dancing/fighting... And I agree with windie, the song is beautiful.

One tiny bit of constructive criticism - I got a bit overwhelmed by the amount of images by the middle of the song, especially since most of the video seems to have overlapping images. Maybe you could pick a few points of emphasis in the song where you could focus on just one image, and hold for a second, then move into the flow again. Just a thought...

Julia

Wednesday, April 19, 2006 3:21 PM

ELEKA


Fell in love with this song just before it popped up in Six Feet Under. Heard it on Sia's website and instanly thought of River.

Great job, loverly video!

Wednesday, April 19, 2006 1:21 PM

PINGJING


The links seem to be down...or is it my computer?

Wednesday, April 19, 2006 7:52 AM

WINDIE


Loved it, very succinct in places, The part where the singer says ouch and River then stands on the twig. Just wonderful.

I had not heard of the artist before will be finding more tho it sounded good.

Thank you


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