vid - Between the Bars - Merlin

[kiki_miserychic]

vid title: Between the Bars
music: Chris Garneau
source: Merlin BBC, King Arthur, Mists of Avalon, and Merlin (with additional footage from Blade Runner)
duration: 2:30
notes: Thanks to obsessive24, millylicious, sol_se, and kuwdora for the betas.
summary: The images stuck in his head.

download: 30mb xvid avi


Drink up, baby
Stay up all night
The things you could do
You won't, but you might
The potential you'll be
That you'll never see
The promises you'll only make

Drink up with me now
And forget all about
The pressure of days
Do what I say
And I'll make you okay,
And drive them away
The images stuck in your head

The people you've been before
That you don't want around anymore
Or that push and shove and won't bend to your will
I'll keep them still

Drink up, baby
Look at the stars
I'll kiss you again
Between the bars
Where I'm seeing you there
With your hands in the air
You're waiting to finally be caught

Drink up one more time
And I'll make you mine
I'll keep you apart
Deep in my heart
Separate from the rest
Where I like you the best
And keep the things you forgot

The people you've been before
That you don't want around anymore
Or that push and shove and won't bend to your will
I'll keep them still

I'll keep them still
Oh-oh

Comments

[sweetestdrain]

I somehow managed to overlook your list of sources (save for the "additional footage from Blade Runner" bit), so the moment Sam Neill popped up I went "Holy shit! Merlin and MERLIN!" and you totally had me. Awesome weaving of sources, great song choice, and I am definitely gonna have to rewatch this several times. (Hmm. New favorite Merlin vid? Very possible. New favorite Arthurian legend vid? Heck yeah.)

[kiki-miserychic.livejournal.com]

EHehhe, it's a rather long list. :) Thanks!

[milly.livejournal.com]

And Mists of Avalon? Yes? No?

Also, YAY you posted it!

[kiki-miserychic.livejournal.com]

Oh poop. I forgot that one. Thanks.

:)

[charmax.livejournal.com]

Wow, great blending of source for that full on Arthurian experience. I love the way it all flows into each other moving seamlessly between young Merlin and Arthur and their older selves. I particularly admire the colour work especially on the Excalibur section. The coronations sequence was really well worked and was probably my favourite sequence because they should be joyful, triumphant occasions and yet they are full of foreboding and as a result are kind of heartbreaking.

I can only marvel at your ability to get all the different source to play nicely together to create such a wonderful dreamlike whole.

Great vid, Kiki.

[kiki-miserychic.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I loved making the Excalibur section. It was one of my favorites to edit.

The coloring took forever to get right. My god, I could have murdered it. :)

[wistfuljane.livejournal.com]

I love how you weave various Arthurian sources into one narrative and especially the implications of those scenes, the foreshadowing of Arthur & Merlin's futures. The segues of Merlin dreaming and of Merlin & Arthur waking were really powerful, I thought. Just so very nicely done.

[kiki-miserychic.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I love how slightly different all the sources were.

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

Yay! I feel I'm missing so much because I haven't seen most of the new Merlin series or the Mists of Avalon movie at all, but I did love the visuals and musicality of this. Beautifully edited as always, and seamless use of multiple sources. I did love the "between the bars," kind of...between realities link? If I didn't miss the point because I haven't seen most of the primary series you're using? Because it felt to me like the alternate Merlins and alternate Arthurs from all these possible/probable/impossible futures and pasts were stuck in this Merlin's head as his life and destiny unfolded around him? In a very BSG-type "all of this has happened before and will happen again; the players change - the story remains the same," kind of way?

Anyway, great stuff.

[kiki-miserychic.livejournal.com]

For not getting it... you pretty much got it. :)

Mists of Avalon is pretty awesome.

[giandujakiss.livejournal.com]

OMG that's awesome - it's a fabulous bit of meta!

[kiki-miserychic.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[heyiya.livejournal.com]

This is so beautiful. I love the way you weave time here. I haven't seen any of the source except Merlin, which gives it a feeling of prophesy too--knowing the story but not the exact part that is in question at a given time. I liked beccatoria's comment; all this has happened before, all this has happened again, but perhaps differently this time.

[kiki-miserychic.livejournal.com]

Thanks. A big part of Merlin is that we pretty much know where it's going. Much like Nicky's Red, it's a rather depressing idea.

[snake-easing.livejournal.com]

Really excellent! I love how you weave everything together. Now I want to know how to get my hands on Merlin BBC!

[kiki-miserychic.livejournal.com]

Thanks. There's bunches of torrents of the show up at mininova.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

This was really fascinating. Great use of source from other shows.

[kiki-miserychic.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[cathexys.livejournal.com]

Wow. I'm absolutely speechless. Merlin manages to create these stunning vids and this is all that and then some. The way you weave the different sources, create this larger argument and mythology. Just gorgeous!!!!

[kiki-miserychic.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Sorry about the speechlessness. Merlin vids are so beautiful. It's weird how there's so many serious vids from such a fun and silly show. :)

Arthurian Legend is one of my historical kinks, so it was wonderful to have teh chance to weave them together.

[bradcpu.livejournal.com]

That was *excellent*, Whitney. First of all, I love what you did with the song which is definitely not a song I would have imagined being used for the characters. Your sense of musicality really made it shine, especially with all of the source ext. motion.

Also - WOW, incredible coloring work. Really does a terrific job of blending the sources and making transitions so much smoother, while also adding to mood of different sections and establishing certain colors for certain characters/themes.

[kiki-miserychic.livejournal.com]

Thank you. This song was so perfect. I think I'm getting closer to understanding motion.

The coloring was part of why I wanted to junkpunch this vid so hard.

I blame you for the dream I had last night about grocery shopping with Sam Witwer.

[danegen.livejournal.com]

Oh, that is gorgeous! I love how you use the external source. (But is it really external? Such a complicated fanon!) It's amazing how you changed the tone of the series, making this lovely little cracky show into something unsettling and a bit sinister.

And that sequence of Merlin waking up near the end is awesome. Awesome.

[kiki-miserychic.livejournal.com]

It's not so much external source. More like internal... or lateral... or something.

After watching vids and watching the series, I'm still amazed at how vidders were able to take the series and make something so serious out of it.

Merlin wakes up a lot in the series. I used a clip from each time. And they cheated once by taking a clip from the pilot and making it blue.

[talitha78.livejournal.com]

Heh. I don't know if this is a good thing or not, but you make me want to never watch this show because it will utterly fail to be as cool as this vid. :)

[kiki-miserychic.livejournal.com]

EHheh, it's nowhere near as serious as this vid makes it out to be. It's more of a children's show with cute comedy. The show has 100% less sex.

[ratcreature]

I really liked this. The different sources fit together seamlessly.

[kiki-miserychic.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[not-sally.livejournal.com]

Wow, you totally broke my brain. Amazing vid.

[kiki-miserychic.livejournal.com]

Thank you and sorry for the brain breaking!

[hollywoodgrrl.livejournal.com]

Wow! This is a tremendous thinking piece, which I find myself saying a lot about your vids. It's probably the first Merlin vid I've seen to go as far as utilizing other Merlin source, so props for that. Srsly, that first shot of Sam Neill was like ZOMG! :) Very great "future storytelling" for both Merlin and Arthur.

Now I need to go watch Mists of Avalon cuz it's sitting in my living room, lol. Whee!

[kiki-miserychic.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I makes teh thinky vidz. Mists of Avalon FTW.

[coffeejunkii.livejournal.com]

i've loved this song for years, so it's very exciting to see it put to such beautiful use :). i admire how seamlessly you weave different source texts together.

[kiki-miserychic.livejournal.com]

It's a great song. Thank you for commenting. Love the icon. Very pretty.

[redbrickrose.livejournal.com]

This is gorgeous. I love the weaving of all of the different sources. There are so many layers here, I feel like I need to watch it several more times to really absorb it. Beautifully done.

[kiki-miserychic.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I'm glad it works on more than a surface level. :)

[kuwdora.livejournal.com]

This vid is way smarter than anything else, really. Beautiful and the piano really drives home the fairytaleness of it all so well. Ahh, I adore it; you know this and I love rewatching it and showing my roommate the vid over and over. She adores it, too.

[kiki-miserychic.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I have the roomate approval!

[dawnie-faith.livejournal.com]

This is fantastic! I followed a vid rec on a whim and am definitely glad that I did. Thanks for sharing it!

[kiki-miserychic.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed!

[anoel.livejournal.com]

Wow this is awesome! I love how you blend in other Arthurian sources and your use of colors is so absolutely gorgeous. The dreamlike quality of it is beautiful and I love all the powerful imagery you use. How powerfully they're intertwined comes across so well especially how they both drink and risk their lives for each other. Thanks for making!

[kiki-miserychic.livejournal.com]

:) Thanks. The coloring was a pain, but I loike how it turned out. Glad you picked up on the saving each other's lives.

[cyborganize.livejournal.com]

it's total genius how you blend the different modern versions of the mythology in a projection dream -- "the people you've been before"! beyond that I don't know what's going on, but it's gorgeous.

[kiki-miserychic.livejournal.com]

Thanks. It totally works as a projection too in ways. Nimueh's pool = datastream. heyiya would agree.

[counteragent.livejournal.com]

That was phenomenal! Loved the epic scope and the editing was flawless as always. Especially enjoyed the fall of Arthur with the fall of the sword, and the zooming in and out of Merlin's eyes.

[kiki-miserychic.livejournal.com]

Thanks. The sword is probably my favorite part.

[hope]

This is incredibly - utterly beautiful and very clever. I'm so in awe at how stunningly you've vidded to what must have been a tricky song.

Thanks!

[kiki-miserychic.livejournal.com]

Thanks. It's a wonderful song, despite being tricky. :)

[nixwilliams.livejournal.com]

here via angstslashhope

WOW. this is really beautifully put together... and i also love it because i love the new merlin, but OMG I LOOOOOOOOOOOVE SAM NEIL! :D

[kiki-miserychic.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Sam Neil is pretty cool. :)