all too much or just not enough [MISREAD REVIEW]
My review for Michie misread_’s new SPN video My Time Of Dying.
Overall impression; Wow. It’s a short song, even if is extraordinarily fitting (ridiculously so, I mean, the lyrics. REALLY) and so very much happens in the episode that managing to make a convincing retelling of the tale in 3:13 mins is an achievement in itself. And so you do. This vid is different from your other ones because it reiterates the story in just one episode, and thus follows it in terms of story, mood and characterisation. It’s hard to make that kind of thing seem original, and not just like a ‘trailer’; but so you do. This isn’t surprising, but it sure is kickass. I think a vid like this one, perhaps more than the shipper/theme vids, show off your skill as a vidder simply because this requires a more skilled hand and subtle way of approaching the task.
The intro: I am a fan of layering the audio on top of the music, so long as it gets the job done, and oh, does it ever in this instance. Sam’s anguished cry for his brother also proclaims to us loud and clear what this episode is about; Dean, his struggle with death (Sam’s fear of losing him); his Time Of Dying (excuse the caps, I love when things are this elegant).
The white flare, and the helicopter. There’s perhaps more of this footage than there needs to be, considering what a short timeframe you’re working in, but of course the action has to match up to the arc of the song, and at this point we’re still introing. So okay.
On the ground I lay
Motionless in pain
The style you’re going for here, the short, vivid cuts that focus on evocative expression (which as we all know is Jensen’s star quality in terms of acting), fits both the harsh staccato of the beat and the mood; confusion, transitions, chaotic impressions, strong emotions in vivid flashes.
I can see my life flashing before my eyes
Speaking of flashes. A word on scenography here; I’m slow, but I hadn’t noticed the extreme way in which this particular episode uses it’s scenograhy before you so elegantly condensed it; the EXIT sign in red we’re seeing right at this lyric. The iconic shot of Dean walking down the hospital stairs, perspective shot to hell. The water glass smashed, the water spilled RIGHT before Dean almost gets taken. The coffee, spilled RIGHT before Sam throws himself on John’s lifeless body. The way the basement under the hospital looks like a dungeon or something out of Dante’s Inferno. And the implication here is that all these things are present in the episode, but I hadn’t noticed them; they’d been sliding under the character drama. You bring them out and make use of them to tell the story your way, to give it punch. It’s gorgeous, and it’s so often overlooked in vids in favour of just the acting. Not so here. And the thing
Dead I fall asleep
Is this all a dream
Wake me up, I'm living a nightmare
The money shot of the staircase, him going down (hello symbolism) and the persective is alamost dizzying, such a good match for the lyric, and not an obvious one either.
You chose your shots with such care. Dean staring into space with a lost expression which he wears a lot in this episode, and hardly ever anytime else. Spot on. And the change from that stillness to him angrily striding down the hall, the way it looks like the shot slows itself down in time with the music as he comes into the room - you’ve really the timing down pat in this video - and then the punchline, audio and visual;
I will not die (I will not die)
I will survive
Beautiful cutting here, and beautiful timing. I can only applaud your elegant sense of changing the cutting to match the different tempi in the music, and you do it so well by now that it isn’t even noticeable as a separate factor unless, like me, you’re looking for it (like good makeup - you don’t see it, but it makes the subject shine). We’re very much in Dean’s head as he realises his predicament; the shock painted on his features (♥ Jensen, omfg) contrast to the truly appaling shot of Our Hero helpless on a hospital bed with tubes and machines keeping him clinging to life. The impact of this, and the defiant assertion of the lyric - I don’t know about anyone else, but it sure made me catch my breath.
I will not die, I'll wait here for you
I feel alive, when you're beside me
Cue heartbreak. Short, straight-to-the-heart establishing the brothers in relation to the storyline. Establishing Sam’s anguish and dean’s sentiment - that he clings to life for Sam (I feel alive when you’re beside me) and oh, it just makes it more heartbreaking when we know what’s coming later in the season, re: croatoan.
Extremely well chosen shots, and sam’s shock at seeing Dean like that elegantly echoes Dean’s own which we just saw.
I will not die, I'll wait here for you
In my time of dying
Again with the cutting. You make the lyrics speak to one another; Dean:I will not die and Sam, seeming to look directly at him: I’ll wait here for you
We know, because we all have seen this ep a hundred times, that Dean is saying ‘find some hoodoo priest to lay some mojo on me’ (and we can read his lips, wow jen) - he isn’t giving up, even as the lyrics tell us, as the reaper will reinforce later, that he is dying.
On this bed I lay
Losing everything
I can see my life passing me by
Perfectly matched shots and lyrics. A totally literal reference (on this bed…) is always a strong way to tie the lyrics in with the music, not we aren’t already into it at this point. ‘losing everything’, beautifully comes to encompass both Dean, losing his life and sam, losing Dean. And the way the shot of Sam slides over onto Dean (this is his story, let’s not forget) and the bitter, betrayed look on his face. Realising just then that it’s for real contrast the defiance of the mojo line). And you make all this happen by matching the lyrics and the shots so well.
Was it all too much
Or just not enough
Wake me up, I'm living a nightmare
I love how the ‘all too much’ is Dean’s lifeless body, as if that is the price he is paying, as if life was too much for him, too fucking harsh, and THEN John, the man responsible for Dean’s predicament, the one who didn’t do enough. The nightmare line becomes both Dean, hopeless lost and bewildered and John; a parent’s worst nightmare - sitting vigil over a dying child.
I will not die (I will not die)
I will survive
GORGEOUS. Angry defiance in short contrast to the hopelessness, the monstrous representation of Death, the reaper. But my favourite is the shot of the water spilled, right on top of the ‘survive’ lyric. Oh, heartbreaking. And the way you make what is actually the split second before the ‘fullonswayze’ line look so solemn. He is realising something - a way to reach through (to Sam), a hope.
I will not die, I'll wait here for you
I feel alive, when you're beside me
And this time the ‘waiting’ lyric is given to Dean, sitting down across from Sam to try to reach through. Sam’s expression here kills me. The teary relief, just, everything. You sum up the entire quija board scene in two lines, which ought to be impossible, but instead becomes breathtakingly intense (like the rest of the video - I really heart this cutting style). And the shot of both of them on the ‘beside me’ lyric. Way to sum them up.
Btw, I know I am not critising so much as heaping praise upon you, but that is because there really is nothing I can find to critisize (I would if I could). This is damn good work.
I will not die, I'll wait here for you
In my time of dying
John going down into Hell, or so it seems. Very characterising shots. The lyrics are becoming less literal, but that doesn’t matter because you established so profoundly already what we’re supposed to think. ‘wait here for you’ becomes extremely sinister; we know from Crossroads that if John does so, it will be in Hell.
The bridge/second audio; the setup for the tragedy we all know will happen, and a Hero Shot ™ for John, richly deserved. Excellent way to use the bridge. And the kick in the music when Sam enters Dean’s room, contrast Dean’s soft expression. So many thinsg going on here. ♥
I will not die, I'll wait here for you
Wrenching juxtaposition lyric/visual, even if we know what will happen. It’s so difficult to believe in the sentiment when we see Dean like this. And the soft look at Sam while the lyric enforces their faithfulness to one another. It is as if it says that even if Dean has to wait as a restless spirit linked to a dying body, he will, for Sam.
I feel alive, when you're beside me
I will not die, I'll wait here for you
In my time of dying
The high shot of Sam standing by Dean’s bed and I’ll wait here is tearifying. And the beside me when we see them actually side by side, somehow in unison in spite of the desperate circumstances.
I recognise your stubborn perfectionism in the fact that Tessa enters the vid for the first time on the word dying. Elegant.
I will not die, I'll wait here for you
I feel alive, when you're beside me
I will not die, I'll wait here for you
In my time of dying
Again, I would think it wasn’t possible to condense the Tessa scene into a handful of seconds while staying faithful to it, but I was wrong. Elegant use of shots again - Dean with his back turned to Tessa on ‘will not die’ and her speaking earnestly to him (about time, even) on the ‘wait here for you’. The waiting lyric seems to be given a LOT of punch in this video.
Beautiful cutting of the suspence sequence, the quick shifts back and forth with Dean and Tessa, the ohshit feeling coming through very strongly and then the demon shots and Dean waking on the dying lyric. Perfect. The only way to fly. <3333 And sam’s reaction shot, oh kill me.
The outro - very intense. You’re really using the timing and cutting here to set a hectic pace building towards the end, and the audience, like the boys, aren’t given time to assimilate, to breathe, to be happy that Dean’s okay. The end - oh wow. The ECs of first Sam, looking like a hurt child, and then Dean, looking as if someone stabbed him through the heart. It’s an obvious last shot, but that makes it no less heart-breaking. The harsh cut from hectic music and intensely emotional shots to black silence is breathtaking - The last we see is Dean, then darkness, and the words Dean is hearing at that very moment, the closing of the episode, ‘time of death…’ which is, of course, a coda to the title of the episode, as well as the title of the song, and oh, all the puzzle pieces fit and make my aesthetic little heart light with joy.
Standing applause. You’re good, Michie. You’re damn good.
Overall impression; Wow. It’s a short song, even if is extraordinarily fitting (ridiculously so, I mean, the lyrics. REALLY) and so very much happens in the episode that managing to make a convincing retelling of the tale in 3:13 mins is an achievement in itself. And so you do. This vid is different from your other ones because it reiterates the story in just one episode, and thus follows it in terms of story, mood and characterisation. It’s hard to make that kind of thing seem original, and not just like a ‘trailer’; but so you do. This isn’t surprising, but it sure is kickass. I think a vid like this one, perhaps more than the shipper/theme vids, show off your skill as a vidder simply because this requires a more skilled hand and subtle way of approaching the task.
The intro: I am a fan of layering the audio on top of the music, so long as it gets the job done, and oh, does it ever in this instance. Sam’s anguished cry for his brother also proclaims to us loud and clear what this episode is about; Dean, his struggle with death (Sam’s fear of losing him); his Time Of Dying (excuse the caps, I love when things are this elegant).
The white flare, and the helicopter. There’s perhaps more of this footage than there needs to be, considering what a short timeframe you’re working in, but of course the action has to match up to the arc of the song, and at this point we’re still introing. So okay.
On the ground I lay
Motionless in pain
The style you’re going for here, the short, vivid cuts that focus on evocative expression (which as we all know is Jensen’s star quality in terms of acting), fits both the harsh staccato of the beat and the mood; confusion, transitions, chaotic impressions, strong emotions in vivid flashes.
I can see my life flashing before my eyes
Speaking of flashes. A word on scenography here; I’m slow, but I hadn’t noticed the extreme way in which this particular episode uses it’s scenograhy before you so elegantly condensed it; the EXIT sign in red we’re seeing right at this lyric. The iconic shot of Dean walking down the hospital stairs, perspective shot to hell. The water glass smashed, the water spilled RIGHT before Dean almost gets taken. The coffee, spilled RIGHT before Sam throws himself on John’s lifeless body. The way the basement under the hospital looks like a dungeon or something out of Dante’s Inferno. And the implication here is that all these things are present in the episode, but I hadn’t noticed them; they’d been sliding under the character drama. You bring them out and make use of them to tell the story your way, to give it punch. It’s gorgeous, and it’s so often overlooked in vids in favour of just the acting. Not so here. And the thing
Dead I fall asleep
Is this all a dream
Wake me up, I'm living a nightmare
The money shot of the staircase, him going down (hello symbolism) and the persective is alamost dizzying, such a good match for the lyric, and not an obvious one either.
You chose your shots with such care. Dean staring into space with a lost expression which he wears a lot in this episode, and hardly ever anytime else. Spot on. And the change from that stillness to him angrily striding down the hall, the way it looks like the shot slows itself down in time with the music as he comes into the room - you’ve really the timing down pat in this video - and then the punchline, audio and visual;
I will not die (I will not die)
I will survive
Beautiful cutting here, and beautiful timing. I can only applaud your elegant sense of changing the cutting to match the different tempi in the music, and you do it so well by now that it isn’t even noticeable as a separate factor unless, like me, you’re looking for it (like good makeup - you don’t see it, but it makes the subject shine). We’re very much in Dean’s head as he realises his predicament; the shock painted on his features (♥ Jensen, omfg) contrast to the truly appaling shot of Our Hero helpless on a hospital bed with tubes and machines keeping him clinging to life. The impact of this, and the defiant assertion of the lyric - I don’t know about anyone else, but it sure made me catch my breath.
I will not die, I'll wait here for you
I feel alive, when you're beside me
Cue heartbreak. Short, straight-to-the-heart establishing the brothers in relation to the storyline. Establishing Sam’s anguish and dean’s sentiment - that he clings to life for Sam (I feel alive when you’re beside me) and oh, it just makes it more heartbreaking when we know what’s coming later in the season, re: croatoan.
Extremely well chosen shots, and sam’s shock at seeing Dean like that elegantly echoes Dean’s own which we just saw.
I will not die, I'll wait here for you
In my time of dying
Again with the cutting. You make the lyrics speak to one another; Dean:I will not die and Sam, seeming to look directly at him: I’ll wait here for you
We know, because we all have seen this ep a hundred times, that Dean is saying ‘find some hoodoo priest to lay some mojo on me’ (and we can read his lips, wow jen) - he isn’t giving up, even as the lyrics tell us, as the reaper will reinforce later, that he is dying.
On this bed I lay
Losing everything
I can see my life passing me by
Perfectly matched shots and lyrics. A totally literal reference (on this bed…) is always a strong way to tie the lyrics in with the music, not we aren’t already into it at this point. ‘losing everything’, beautifully comes to encompass both Dean, losing his life and sam, losing Dean. And the way the shot of Sam slides over onto Dean (this is his story, let’s not forget) and the bitter, betrayed look on his face. Realising just then that it’s for real contrast the defiance of the mojo line). And you make all this happen by matching the lyrics and the shots so well.
Was it all too much
Or just not enough
Wake me up, I'm living a nightmare
I love how the ‘all too much’ is Dean’s lifeless body, as if that is the price he is paying, as if life was too much for him, too fucking harsh, and THEN John, the man responsible for Dean’s predicament, the one who didn’t do enough. The nightmare line becomes both Dean, hopeless lost and bewildered and John; a parent’s worst nightmare - sitting vigil over a dying child.
I will not die (I will not die)
I will survive
GORGEOUS. Angry defiance in short contrast to the hopelessness, the monstrous representation of Death, the reaper. But my favourite is the shot of the water spilled, right on top of the ‘survive’ lyric. Oh, heartbreaking. And the way you make what is actually the split second before the ‘fullonswayze’ line look so solemn. He is realising something - a way to reach through (to Sam), a hope.
I will not die, I'll wait here for you
I feel alive, when you're beside me
And this time the ‘waiting’ lyric is given to Dean, sitting down across from Sam to try to reach through. Sam’s expression here kills me. The teary relief, just, everything. You sum up the entire quija board scene in two lines, which ought to be impossible, but instead becomes breathtakingly intense (like the rest of the video - I really heart this cutting style). And the shot of both of them on the ‘beside me’ lyric. Way to sum them up.
Btw, I know I am not critising so much as heaping praise upon you, but that is because there really is nothing I can find to critisize (I would if I could). This is damn good work.
I will not die, I'll wait here for you
In my time of dying
John going down into Hell, or so it seems. Very characterising shots. The lyrics are becoming less literal, but that doesn’t matter because you established so profoundly already what we’re supposed to think. ‘wait here for you’ becomes extremely sinister; we know from Crossroads that if John does so, it will be in Hell.
The bridge/second audio; the setup for the tragedy we all know will happen, and a Hero Shot ™ for John, richly deserved. Excellent way to use the bridge. And the kick in the music when Sam enters Dean’s room, contrast Dean’s soft expression. So many thinsg going on here. ♥
I will not die, I'll wait here for you
Wrenching juxtaposition lyric/visual, even if we know what will happen. It’s so difficult to believe in the sentiment when we see Dean like this. And the soft look at Sam while the lyric enforces their faithfulness to one another. It is as if it says that even if Dean has to wait as a restless spirit linked to a dying body, he will, for Sam.
I feel alive, when you're beside me
I will not die, I'll wait here for you
In my time of dying
The high shot of Sam standing by Dean’s bed and I’ll wait here is tearifying. And the beside me when we see them actually side by side, somehow in unison in spite of the desperate circumstances.
I recognise your stubborn perfectionism in the fact that Tessa enters the vid for the first time on the word dying. Elegant.
I will not die, I'll wait here for you
I feel alive, when you're beside me
I will not die, I'll wait here for you
In my time of dying
Again, I would think it wasn’t possible to condense the Tessa scene into a handful of seconds while staying faithful to it, but I was wrong. Elegant use of shots again - Dean with his back turned to Tessa on ‘will not die’ and her speaking earnestly to him (about time, even) on the ‘wait here for you’. The waiting lyric seems to be given a LOT of punch in this video.
Beautiful cutting of the suspence sequence, the quick shifts back and forth with Dean and Tessa, the ohshit feeling coming through very strongly and then the demon shots and Dean waking on the dying lyric. Perfect. The only way to fly. <3333 And sam’s reaction shot, oh kill me.
The outro - very intense. You’re really using the timing and cutting here to set a hectic pace building towards the end, and the audience, like the boys, aren’t given time to assimilate, to breathe, to be happy that Dean’s okay. The end - oh wow. The ECs of first Sam, looking like a hurt child, and then Dean, looking as if someone stabbed him through the heart. It’s an obvious last shot, but that makes it no less heart-breaking. The harsh cut from hectic music and intensely emotional shots to black silence is breathtaking - The last we see is Dean, then darkness, and the words Dean is hearing at that very moment, the closing of the episode, ‘time of death…’ which is, of course, a coda to the title of the episode, as well as the title of the song, and oh, all the puzzle pieces fit and make my aesthetic little heart light with joy.
Standing applause. You’re good, Michie. You’re damn good.