Video: Suicide Note (REMASTERED)

[charmax]

Video Title: Suicide Note
Song Title/Artist: Suicide Note - Johnette Napolitano
Show: Angel
Summary: A reflective look at Illyria and Wesley's growing relationship and how it has come to mean more than expected.
Length/Format: 5.19, (WMV, Xvid)
Notes: When I originally made this the show had not long finished airing and so the only footage I had to work with had a huge WB logo and was not great quality. I always promised myself that I would remake it when I bought the DVDs and now eventually I have. Aside from the obvious improvement in picture quality I have made some clip changes to hopefully make things flow a bit better. I have also changed the transitions to get rid of the rather unsatisfactory white-outs and replaced them with something not as heavy handed. I have played with the colours this time too. I went for a muted blue/grey tone that hopefully reflects the mood of the video (and I was maybe just a smidge influenced by Supernatural).

Download Xvid (720x416 - 40MB)
Download WMV (480x272 - 19.9MB)
stream at imeem

Feedback is great.

Comments

[martoufmarty.livejournal.com]

Awww... I have tears in my eyes now :(

I loved the original so much, and wow, this was even better.

... I'm going to go cry now...

[bunnythenavia.livejournal.com]

I love this video so much. Excellent. Excellent. How you captured Wesley and how you passed it in the video...
I love it.

z

[zeronephilim.livejournal.com]

Beautiful vid Charmax :)
I love how subdued the whole thing is with the music and the colouring. It just has this great low-tone feel.

The song is perfect for Wes and you did and excellent job with the lyrics. The clips were paced just right with the music to make everything seem really slowed down and more important.

I think this is my fav Wesley vid :)

[obsessive24.livejournal.com]

YES! A vid from you whose fandom I actually know! Sorry for being AWOL from most of your recent vids - I get so self-conscious when I'm only commenting on the mechanics of a vid and blithely flutter over the thematic stuff. But I digress. I haven't seen the original, so I can't compare, but enough prefacing and onto the feedback.

God, if given this song I can't even conceive how to begin. The rhythm is so intense, but the mood is slow, and finding a balance between the two must be hard, but you did it perfectly by having all these movements on the beat to mark out the rhythm section, while never losing the flow of of the overall, sombre narrative. The movement at 0:57 is superb, as is the ensuing fall-into-arms at 0:58. I really liked his little twitch on 2:40; there are so many moments of internal motion but that one, for no apparent reason, just made me smile in appreciation.

The vibrato at 1:08!!! The way Angel flies away at 2:04! I'm just in awe of how you've moved beyond timing dramatic actions on drumbeats (although that's done superbly throughout as well) to timing much more subtle actions to the cadence of the vocals. 3:20 was also a cool moment for me, the way she *walked* to the sound of the music. So subtle and beautiful. And hey - is that little flare on the Window thingy intentional at 0:44? Goodness!

Love the voiceovers to mark narrative development. 2:28 - the connection between the eyes nearly made me cry. 2:38 - "falling to your knees" is such an internal thing, demonstrated only by the weary closing of his eyes, but there's such anguish behind that placid exterior. Loved that. Especially in conjunction with her opening the door again in the next scenes as he literally falls this time.

Really liked the overlay of the contract starting at 3:01, how it never comes into full opacity and how you never cut away from W's expression. Beautiful push-in there, too.

The reversing of clip toward the endgame there is so important. Illyria turning into Fred - shame they didn't have a morph in that scene in Not Fade Away! Vidders really need that. :D

W's development over the seasons has always been very chilling to me, so this was a perfect way to begin what is otherwise a very season 5-centric vid. It's also genius to have it from Illyria's POV. She watches, she doesn't understand, she watches and doesn't understand, and then suddenly she gets it, and that's beautifully portrayed. Overall I think in large part the tremendous success of the narrative depended on it not being W first-person. You're one level removed from the personal tragedy, but it actually makes the angst and terror all the most profound because we're watching with a sense of total inevitability.

Beautifully done! Brava! *claps*

[przed.livejournal.com]

This is quite possibly the most beautiful vid I've ever seen. You've managed to so perfectly capture the dynamic between Wes and Illyria that it's almost physically painful to watch. In a good way.

And wow, I feel like I should just hang up my vidding spurs now.

[charmax.livejournal.com]

Thanks for leaving such detailed feedback Nicky and don't feel obliged to comment on vids where you don't know the source. I always find that really difficult too I always feel that I am missing something vital in terms of context.

The rhythm vs sombre mood was the big challenge with this vid. In the original I opted to largely ignore the "heartbeat" sound and just cut to lyric. Since then I have learnt more about motion and I thought I was at the point where I could visually acknowledge the beat without breaking the mood.

Ah, you found me out! Yep, the Orlon Window has been retouched to make it stand out a bit more. I didn't think anyone would notice, I thought it was subtle enough to pass under the radar. It's not a bad thing that you noticed though, just shows how observant you are. *g*

This is the only vid I've ever done where I used voiceovers to help with the narrative. I know there are plenty of people who think it is a vidding "no-no" but sometimes I think a vid can really call for it. In this case it was to help carry the narrative and I liked the contrast between Wes talking about Fred's death and the visuals of happier times. I think it makes the impact of "She's gone" stronger.

The "falling to your knees" part is one of the bits I reworked. This time I went for comparing those two instance both of which are him falling as Illyria enters the room but as you say one of them is expressed entirely by a small facial expression.

Vidders definitely need to have Illyria morphing to Fred. Quite a lot of the final ep seems to happen off screen which might have been great for the WB's budget but is totally useless for vidding purposes.

I liked the idea of seeing Wes through Illyria's eyes. The song is quite matter of fact and that is just like Illyria.

Thanks again, you are so much better than me at this feedback lark!

[charmax.livejournal.com]

For you to say "quite possibly the most beautiful vid" makes me very happy indeed! *g*

There is no way you can quit cus you will make a lot of people very sad, me included. So there!

[charmax.livejournal.com]

Thanks Adam. I'm glad you liked it.

The song just screamed Wes and Illyria when I first heard it. I am quite pleased with how it turned out (this time) and I think the colouring works well for the vid.

[charmax.livejournal.com]

Cheers, Zohar I'm glad you liked it so much.

[charmax.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Steph. Tears are the best compliment in this case. I'm glad you think it is an improvement on the original.

[thedothatgirl.livejournal.com]

Well quite frankly 8.45 is too early to be sobbing my eyes out at Wesley's tragedy, but there, that didn't stop me.(All in a good way you understand).

Nothing jarred in the original for me (which also made me cry) but the subtlety of the remastered version is exquisite. I loved the new intro (I went and watched the first version on my hard drive afterwards) and the desaturation/colour to the whole vid - to me I felt it symbolised how the vibrancy has disappeared from Wes's life since Fred's death - my intepretation only, of course.

All those small internal movements to the vocals and lyrics, and there is sound on the track as he takes the knife to Gunn - ooh. Beautiful use of audio clips too, you can feel that pain in the 'she's gone'.

[maric23.livejournal.com]

Here by way of a rec. of yhlee.

That vid... blew me away? The match to the song was an excellent choice. Lyrics match, but also the music and tone of the singer fits Wes perfectly, as does the clip choice/timing. I usually tend not to like such, but the voice overs worked beautifully, especially that first opening quote. Painfully and beautifully sums up the final chapter of Wes' psyche. Loved it.

[charmax.livejournal.com]

Hi Andrea, thanks for commenting. I'm glad it made you cry.*g*

You are right about the desaturation. That is why the only parts of the video that are in full colour are the clips of Fred and Wes. When his world was not so bleak.

I wondered about that sound on the audio, it only appears once and seemed a bit odd. I decided to make a feature of it rather than ignore it.

I was going to email you but I might as well tell you now Scamp's picture has just arrived and I am beyond happy!!

[charmax.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the feedback and thanks to yhlee for the rec!

I've never really used voiceovers before. I like them for this vid but I can't imagine that I would do them very often because like you I sometimes find them distracting.

[thedothatgirl.livejournal.com]

Aha! I thought the Fresley clips were full colour, but I saw that on the 3rd viewing after I posted.

That noise in the audio sounds like part of the track and if it is not - then you made it fit perfectly!

I'm pleased it has arrived safely - sorry about the awful packaging - I found the 'lost' new jiffybags this morning,after sending - typical. Hope it looks ok in the original format!

[charmax.livejournal.com]

The noise is part of the track. It worked in my favour in the end.

The packaging did it's job. It arrived safe and not bent or smeared or anything. I had to use the scissors to open the layers carefully instead of tearing my packages apart like I usually do. I'll be getting a nice frame for it in the next couple of weeks.

[messyjessie58.livejournal.com]

i had no idea you vidded this song before! i feel all silly now cause i just spent the last 2 nights vidding it haha wesley from freds pov haha man do i suck :P oh well, thats life lol

*dloads*

oh wow, that was so brilliant though :) i feel like you read my mind, you did the whole idea so much justice, really really good :)

[benmars.livejournal.com]

That's a beautiful video Charmax.

[ryty.livejournal.com]

Fantastic.

[charmax.livejournal.com]

I vidded it about two years ago. It's been offline for a few weeks while I've been remastering it.

I've scrapped a couple of vid ideas lately because the songs have been done just as I'm about to get going on it. I think it is getting harder and harder to find original songs. At least I try. haha

[charmax.livejournal.com]

Beautiful is good Ben. Thanks!

[charmax.livejournal.com]

Cheers.

[messyjessie58.livejournal.com]

haha yeah, its a real bummer when it happens, but im glad it was you because you did a really terrific job with this :)

[haltlos.livejournal.com]

Fantastic, wonderful and heartbreaking! *loves*

I love this song so much and your editing is perfect - for example as she sings "raise your glass to last stand" and Wesleys just nods at Angel so slighty!
Great job!

[kate-simpleruse.livejournal.com]

This was wonderful Charmax. I adored the first version and the second was even better. I also loved the color effects you added it really added that much more to the video.

Great job :)

(This is Katie by the way. I thought maybe the best way to get back in to LJ was to have an LJ since I keep forgetting the password of the other.)