I wouldn't have been annoyed if you'd sent me a message, but luckily I was catching up on DreamWidth and saw your post on the vidding community.
I feel like the vid starts so strong, with the soft fades between the space battle and the funeral. So evocative of the world Zoe's been living in, and it matches the dreamy music of the song. And putting big explosions/white flashes on the first drum beats of the song is perfect.
I love how Zoe's purposeful stride always seems to match the beat.
"I was an angel" set to Zoe shooting a man sets up a nice self-depreciating tone that feels accurate for Zoe's personality. Either it's using the darker, bloodier definition of "angel" or it's tongue-in-cheek, either which fits.
Opening the door to Serenity to "Garden of evil" is... oddly sweet? They're violent outlaws who've carved out a home on Serenity. They're obstinately the heroes but I can see them lovingly thinking of Serenity as a garden of evil, especially since the Alliance claims to be the good guys.
All those shots of Zoe standing next to Mal, stalwart, really highlight Zoe's loyalty.
Both "fucked up holiday" matches... Simon's birthday and Wash's funeral are great choices. The funeral especially is a gut punch.
"Innocence lost" with Zoe helping Wash out of captivity makes me think that Zoe probably does see Wash as having an innocence that she wants to protect, but ultimately can't.
I like that you didn't go with the obvious choice of clip for "looking to get fucked hard" because Mal flirting with Zoe brings the other definition of "fucked" to mind, that Zoe really could be signing her own death warrant by staying with Mal.
The cut at 2:11 from Zoe shooting the monitor to Zoe welding something, using the sparks as the transition was a really, really cool effect. Also love the dichotomy between Zoe the destroyer and Zoe the builder.
Also, the timing at 3:08 with a drumbeat right as Zoe steps down wit her gun drawn, protect her crew, is wonderful.
Having the child run into Kaylee's arms to "could I be your baby" makes me think that Zoe worries that she's too messed up to relate to non-veterans like Kaylee, but wants to be friends with someone so sweet and optimistic anyway. I like that. I also like having River during the another iteration of "innocence lost"
The ONLY thing that didn't work for me was the footage that played after the song had ended. The scene of Zoe and Mal walking away seemed like such a natural fade-out point that the additional footage felt out of place to me. But I read your reason for including it, and that does make sense. The symbolism is nice. It might have worked better for me if it hadn't ended abruptly with Zoe mid-movement.
Again, I'm so happy to see that you finished this vid! I love Zoe so much and this is such a good tribute to her. She could be so stoic in the show but this vid feels like it's peeking into her mind and showing all her inner turmoil and all the strength she uses to keep on living with the war never-ending in her mind. Just really, really beautiful.
Gosh, I'd forgotten that I had a Zoe & Wash icon! This is the perfect time to use it!
Re: hi
I feel like the vid starts so strong, with the soft fades between the space battle and the funeral. So evocative of the world Zoe's been living in, and it matches the dreamy music of the song. And putting big explosions/white flashes on the first drum beats of the song is perfect.
I love how Zoe's purposeful stride always seems to match the beat.
"I was an angel" set to Zoe shooting a man sets up a nice self-depreciating tone that feels accurate for Zoe's personality. Either it's using the darker, bloodier definition of "angel" or it's tongue-in-cheek, either which fits.
Opening the door to Serenity to "Garden of evil" is... oddly sweet? They're violent outlaws who've carved out a home on Serenity. They're obstinately the heroes but I can see them lovingly thinking of Serenity as a garden of evil, especially since the Alliance claims to be the good guys.
All those shots of Zoe standing next to Mal, stalwart, really highlight Zoe's loyalty.
Both "fucked up holiday" matches... Simon's birthday and Wash's funeral are great choices. The funeral especially is a gut punch.
"Innocence lost" with Zoe helping Wash out of captivity makes me think that Zoe probably does see Wash as having an innocence that she wants to protect, but ultimately can't.
I like that you didn't go with the obvious choice of clip for "looking to get fucked hard" because Mal flirting with Zoe brings the other definition of "fucked" to mind, that Zoe really could be signing her own death warrant by staying with Mal.
The cut at 2:11 from Zoe shooting the monitor to Zoe welding something, using the sparks as the transition was a really, really cool effect. Also love the dichotomy between Zoe the destroyer and Zoe the builder.
Also, the timing at 3:08 with a drumbeat right as Zoe steps down wit her gun drawn, protect her crew, is wonderful.
Having the child run into Kaylee's arms to "could I be your baby" makes me think that Zoe worries that she's too messed up to relate to non-veterans like Kaylee, but wants to be friends with someone so sweet and optimistic anyway. I like that. I also like having River during the another iteration of "innocence lost"
The ONLY thing that didn't work for me was the footage that played after the song had ended. The scene of Zoe and Mal walking away seemed like such a natural fade-out point that the additional footage felt out of place to me. But I read your reason for including it, and that does make sense. The symbolism is nice. It might have worked better for me if it hadn't ended abruptly with Zoe mid-movement.
Again, I'm so happy to see that you finished this vid! I love Zoe so much and this is such a good tribute to her. She could be so stoic in the show but this vid feels like it's peeking into her mind and showing all her inner turmoil and all the strength she uses to keep on living with the war never-ending in her mind. Just really, really beautiful.
Gosh, I'd forgotten that I had a Zoe & Wash icon! This is the perfect time to use it!