Firefly vid - Candleburn (remastered)

[charmax]

Video Title: Candleburn
Song Title/Artist: Candleburn - Dishwalla
Show: Firefly
Summary: Mal always feels the presence of Inara.
Length/Format: 4.07, (WMV, Xvid)
Notes: The original vid was made October 04. This was part of my remastering project because I still loved the song and concept of the vid but found the transitions I used in the original video were a bit distracting. So the main changes here are softening those transitions to make them less jarring with the tone of the song. As usual with these remasters the picture quality is much improved and the aspect ratio corrected. There are a few minor clip changes which I feel add to the video.

ETA:
Lim asked me to write a breakdown of the transitions I applied in my video “Candleburn” so here we are with some brief explanatory notes.

Firstly there are 3 types of transitions used, one is a soft gradient wipe then there are cross fades and fade to black. I used the gradient wipe to show Inara whispering in and out of Mal’s view. Specific time stamps for those are: 0.49, 0.51, 0.57, 1.33, 2.47-2.50, 2.55, 3.00, 3.07, 3.13 and 3.15. The default gradient mask in Premiere is hard and blocky. I used the gradient wipe in after-effects which allows you to get a much softer effect by using one clip as the mask for the other. On other occasions I have made a soft gradient mask within Photoshop and then applied it within Premiere as a gradient transition to get a similar effect. The key to making Inara appear to be ghostly was in me finding *exactly* the same shot without her in it, even if it was only for a couple of frames. Sometimes I had to slow the scene down by 10%. On one occasion 3.05 where Inara is pointing the gun, the background in the original scene was very plain and blue and so I was able to key it out and fade her in without the background.

The dips to black are fairly self explanatory and were very handy for setting the tone of the introduction. The cross fades were done by manually overlaying one clip and fading it into the next rather than using Premiere Pro’s cross fade transition. By doing this I was able to key frame the cross fade to look as soft and smooth as possible. I often find that the default cross fade transition in Premiere Pro can make the image drop out making the transition look a bit ragged.

The clip of Inara coming through the static 3.19 was done on a separate sequence then applied to the cut-out screen which I made using an alpha mask in Photoshop.

I think that pretty much covers the effects and transitions. There was some colouring done to the dancing clips to make them fit with the inter-cut scenes better but that’s pretty much it.

The idea was to create an ethereal version of Inara that Mal glimpses but cannot quite reach. Although she is a tougher character than this in the show I really wanted the vid to be filled with longing and regret at missed opportunities. Inara’s space is always red and gold and Mal is lost in a world of grey and blue without her.

I think that pretty much sums it up... I hope it's been helpful.

Download Xvid (720x400 - 50MB)
stream at imeem

Feedback is always fantastic.

Comments

[soliloquygirl.livejournal.com]

Well, I could spam this post by babbling about how amazing this video is.

I was sitting in my dorm room trying to read John Milton's Comus, and my roommate makes sure to distract me by saying she had found a new Mal/Inara video. Hoping for the best, I watch. And am blown away.

The clips are all so crisp, and the transitions are flawless. Nothing seemed pieced together. It looked like it had been made that way (the clips from OOG in the beginning in specific).

Then we got to the portion of the vid which had all of the fading in of Inara. I was blown away.

A puddle of fangirl by the end, I was wondering how on earth something so splendid could come along at this exact moment as I was being bored to tears previously.

At last the credits roll, and I see your name. It all becomes clear. I have always been a fan of your work, but always seemed to be a little too late in replying before it was a year later. So, now I am making up for all the praise that I have been storing up.

Thank you so very much for making my night. Continue being so damn loverly. ^^

[charmax.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the feedback. :) I'm not sure I'm prepared to take responsibility for your lack of studying though! lol

It's also nice to hear that you have liked some of my other stuff. Feedback is always good no matter how delayed.

Anyway I'm pleased that you liked the vid.