In honor of sherrold's b-day

[gwyn]

I suppose that in the pre-Vividcon frenzy and the fact that it's summer and that this is the fastest vid I've ever made (basically, almost all of it in one day), I should not post this vid, but I have. The vid, A Time of Her Own, is for Sharpe, the series of movies starring Sean Bean, and it's 19 MB in the QT Divx codec. The beautiful song is by Oysterband.

I've never made a vid so quickly, but I think that I felt so passionate about it, about the characters and the song and the story, that it just flowed out of me. It helps that it's a very short song, and uses only the first four movies. Usually I do nothing with a vid until feochadn has viewed it and given me a thumbs up or thumbs down, but I felt that this was just how I wanted it, and if she has suggestions for changes, I will make them later. (You know how sometimes you are a lucky vidder and you find that perfect person to critique your vids and tell you what's the what? Jo is that person for me, plus I think we make some pretty damn great vids together as collaborators.)

But. I ended up putting this up so soon because it is the natal day of sherrold, and even though I'm sure she won't see this and she never DLs vids anyway, this is a present for Snady (yes, Snady -- it's a joke from long before I knew her). It's her discs I made this from, because she loaned me her boxed set (in an ammo crate!) and she will probably never see them again, since I take them out regularly because they make me feel better. And Sandy is another person I think I make pretty damn great vids with.

Sandy is the person who taught me to vid, taught me how to appreciate vids and what to look for and how to handle timing and just... everything. Without her, I would never have been making these things. So here is a happy birthday to you (even though it's a sad story, so I guess maybe that's not much of a pressie!), and a thank you.

Once again, I really recommend DLing the VLC media player if you haven't, which is linked at the site. I can't believe the quality difference between QT and VLC -- light years!

If anyone likes the vid and you want to rec it, that would be fantastic -- I'm afraid the quanitity of Sharpe's fans on my list is probably low, and so getting word out to other fans might be helpful. Let's face it, this is a fandom that does not have a lot of vids! Please don't feel obligated to rec; I just want to try to reach people I might not otherwise, but I don't want to guilt anyone into it.

Comments

Absolutely gorgeous

[ixchel55.livejournal.com]

I downloaded the vid last night but I didn't think it had come through because of my stupid, wonky dial-up (which I hope to be upgrading within a week), but when I went to download it again I found that it had simply been stuffed in a strange out-of-the-way place.

But it was certainly worth the wait. Beautiful song and so very fitting.

I know the quality of the original films leaves something to be desired but you certainly made the most of what you had. That kind of soft hazy quality really lent itself to the mood and tempo of the music. And your use of fade-outs really was quite elegant.

Beautiful.

And from a comment earlier in this posting, I agree with you that it's really quite strange that very few people have merged Sharpe with HH. A long time ago I told [Unknown site tag] that a cross over was brewing in my mind and she said it was entirely possible to do and stay within the timelines of both fandoms.

In the books, HH actually is on land in Spain during the time period that Sharpe was campaigning there. Horatio was already a captain and a little older than the movies but the difference wouldn't be that great.

Well damn. Now I have to make myself a Sharpe icon (and probably a HH one, also.) *g*

Re: Absolutely gorgeous

[ixchel55.livejournal.com]

Actually, that 'unknown link' should be khaleesian.

Re: Absolutely gorgeous

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm glad it worked out and that the DL was okay, and that you liked it. I don't know when I've ever been so ... I don't know, maybe worked up, about the perfect tie of a song to a fandom. Loaded Gun, maybe, but I sat on that for a year to wait for other things! It was almost like they wrote it for this series -- the Spanish guitars, the brevity, the whole beautiful package and that it ends sadly just like Sharpe and Teresa... hard not to connect the two.

Yeah, you know, I thought about playing with filters to try to punch up the colors, but in the end, the blurriness and flatness just seemed okay, especially when I punctuated the two first movies with the third and fourth, where the visuals improved a lot. So I think in the end it turned out okay as is, but if Jo says to change it, I might still try to adjust colors.

I think Horatio could easily help Sharpe learn to cope with his loss. ;-)