Review - The Dark Knight - Somebody to Burn
Title: Somebody To Burn
Vidder: Bicklex
Fandom: The Dark Knight
Music & Artist: Blame It On Cain (Elvis Costello)
Download link: http://www.freewebs.com/slbickley/vidding/batnolan.html
Warnings: Spoilers for pretty much the whole film, and some gruesome imagery.
Overall impression: A look at Harvey Dent that makes use of an unusual song choice. Some interesting potential, but overall the vid didn't really work for me.
Titles: Simple white on black vertical scroll at the end. Went by a little fast but the font was easy to read.
Music choice: Probably one of my biggest problems with the vid. The song is upbeat and light-hearted. At first I thought the vid was going to go the same route and be somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but it quickly became apparent that it was going to explore the dark themes of the film in earnest. The clash between the upbeat music and the grave nature of Dent's descent could have been meant to come off as darkly comic, but I didn't get that sense from the vid. Rather, the ensuing dissonance made it difficult to figure out where the vid was going or what the vidder was trying to say.
Narration, Tone and Movement: The vid basically follows Dent's storyline from the film. He starts off as the white knight district attorney, loses what he perceives to be his true love, then turns to the dark side and becomes Two Face. Anyone who has seen the movie will get it, but the narrative is not transparent enough to be readily accessible to viewers who lack context. Rachel and Dent's deaths are particularly hard to pick out. Rachel's flashes by in less than a second while Dent's is represented by the sudden inclusion of a clip of his head lolling to the side without any of the build up that exists in the film.
My thoughts on tone were covered in the music choice section. Movement-wise, the vid occasionally suffered from the inclusion of static clips, made more jarring by the dynamic nature of the song. There are, however, some nice examples of pairing cues in the music with internal motion. I will go into more detail on what did and didn't work in the timestamped portion of the review.
Cuts, Transitions, Effects & Colouring/Coloring: The vidder makes frequent use of what looks like an additive dissolve or some other kind of flash transition. I found it somewhat distracting and did not think it worked very well with the bootleg source footage. Other than that the vidder didn't use any noticeable effects or color shifts, which I think was a good call given the low-quality of the footage. Cutting is fairly clean but there are some quick flash cross-fades that did not work for me. The timing of cuts also seems to be somewhat disconnected from the music.
Specific vid & music notes:
0:01 - This opening clip is, IMO, too long and not dynamic enough for the intro. It also doesn't really establish much in terms of the narrative. Perhaps putting the credits here (still, rather than scrolling) may have been a better choice.
0:17 - An example of what I meant by static clip choice, as Gordon barely moves. It's especially noticeable because a cymbal crash in the background goes unacknowledged.
0:23 - I got a bit of a slashy vibe between Gordon and Dent here. I'm not sure if that was intentional or not but it was interesting. If it was intentional the vidder may want to consider exploring that some more in a future vid. I'm typically very bad at picking up on slash cues, so if I saw that correctly then they had to be doing something right.
0:41 - The turning of the coin works well with the feel of the vocals on "fault."
0:55 - An example of the additive dissolve that IMO didn't work. The combination of that transition, the increased pace in cutting, and the low quality of the footage made it somewhat difficult to see what was going on.
1:03-1:10 - I really like this sequence. The intercutting between Batman on the motorcycle and the bomb timer builds tension while the quick flashes that follow work really well with the vocals. The movement flows nicely from clip to clip. Again, the only issue I have is that it's hard to see that Rachel died. Given that her death is a turning point for Dent, it may have been better to spend a little more time on it.
1:27 - An example of the quick flash cross-fades that I felt were off. I don't hear a cue for them in the music and technically it comes off as somewhat unpolished. I also felt it went on too long, as the vidder had made their point well before the intercutting stopped. Slower hard cuts would have probably worked better.
1:48 - The flash of the Joker goes by very quickly and looks jerky. Perhaps a longer overlay would have worked better.
2:30 - Nice acknowledgment of a musical cue as the coin hits and flips on-beat.
2:32 - Another great pairing of music and motion as the glass breaks on the cymbal. I did, however, wonder about the contextual significance. It seems odd to show the Bat symbol being shattered just as Batman must step into Dent's shoes as Gotham's flagship guardian.
2:46 - "It just seems to be his turn." Crystal clear clip-lyric match and a very appropriate way to end the vid.
Final notes: I did my best not to let the low quality footage affect my review, although it did sometimes make it difficult to see what was going on, especially when it came to facial expressions. Remastering with DVD footage may be worthwhile. While there were some nice moments, on the whole I think the vid could benefit from a more transparent narrative, cleaner editing, and closer attention to the music.
Vidder: Bicklex
Fandom: The Dark Knight
Music & Artist: Blame It On Cain (Elvis Costello)
Download link: http://www.freewebs.com/slbickley/vidding/batnolan.html
Warnings: Spoilers for pretty much the whole film, and some gruesome imagery.
Overall impression: A look at Harvey Dent that makes use of an unusual song choice. Some interesting potential, but overall the vid didn't really work for me.
Titles: Simple white on black vertical scroll at the end. Went by a little fast but the font was easy to read.
Music choice: Probably one of my biggest problems with the vid. The song is upbeat and light-hearted. At first I thought the vid was going to go the same route and be somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but it quickly became apparent that it was going to explore the dark themes of the film in earnest. The clash between the upbeat music and the grave nature of Dent's descent could have been meant to come off as darkly comic, but I didn't get that sense from the vid. Rather, the ensuing dissonance made it difficult to figure out where the vid was going or what the vidder was trying to say.
Narration, Tone and Movement: The vid basically follows Dent's storyline from the film. He starts off as the white knight district attorney, loses what he perceives to be his true love, then turns to the dark side and becomes Two Face. Anyone who has seen the movie will get it, but the narrative is not transparent enough to be readily accessible to viewers who lack context. Rachel and Dent's deaths are particularly hard to pick out. Rachel's flashes by in less than a second while Dent's is represented by the sudden inclusion of a clip of his head lolling to the side without any of the build up that exists in the film.
My thoughts on tone were covered in the music choice section. Movement-wise, the vid occasionally suffered from the inclusion of static clips, made more jarring by the dynamic nature of the song. There are, however, some nice examples of pairing cues in the music with internal motion. I will go into more detail on what did and didn't work in the timestamped portion of the review.
Cuts, Transitions, Effects & Colouring/Coloring: The vidder makes frequent use of what looks like an additive dissolve or some other kind of flash transition. I found it somewhat distracting and did not think it worked very well with the bootleg source footage. Other than that the vidder didn't use any noticeable effects or color shifts, which I think was a good call given the low-quality of the footage. Cutting is fairly clean but there are some quick flash cross-fades that did not work for me. The timing of cuts also seems to be somewhat disconnected from the music.
Specific vid & music notes:
0:01 - This opening clip is, IMO, too long and not dynamic enough for the intro. It also doesn't really establish much in terms of the narrative. Perhaps putting the credits here (still, rather than scrolling) may have been a better choice.
0:17 - An example of what I meant by static clip choice, as Gordon barely moves. It's especially noticeable because a cymbal crash in the background goes unacknowledged.
0:23 - I got a bit of a slashy vibe between Gordon and Dent here. I'm not sure if that was intentional or not but it was interesting. If it was intentional the vidder may want to consider exploring that some more in a future vid. I'm typically very bad at picking up on slash cues, so if I saw that correctly then they had to be doing something right.
0:41 - The turning of the coin works well with the feel of the vocals on "fault."
0:55 - An example of the additive dissolve that IMO didn't work. The combination of that transition, the increased pace in cutting, and the low quality of the footage made it somewhat difficult to see what was going on.
1:03-1:10 - I really like this sequence. The intercutting between Batman on the motorcycle and the bomb timer builds tension while the quick flashes that follow work really well with the vocals. The movement flows nicely from clip to clip. Again, the only issue I have is that it's hard to see that Rachel died. Given that her death is a turning point for Dent, it may have been better to spend a little more time on it.
1:27 - An example of the quick flash cross-fades that I felt were off. I don't hear a cue for them in the music and technically it comes off as somewhat unpolished. I also felt it went on too long, as the vidder had made their point well before the intercutting stopped. Slower hard cuts would have probably worked better.
1:48 - The flash of the Joker goes by very quickly and looks jerky. Perhaps a longer overlay would have worked better.
2:30 - Nice acknowledgment of a musical cue as the coin hits and flips on-beat.
2:32 - Another great pairing of music and motion as the glass breaks on the cymbal. I did, however, wonder about the contextual significance. It seems odd to show the Bat symbol being shattered just as Batman must step into Dent's shoes as Gotham's flagship guardian.
2:46 - "It just seems to be his turn." Crystal clear clip-lyric match and a very appropriate way to end the vid.
Final notes: I did my best not to let the low quality footage affect my review, although it did sometimes make it difficult to see what was going on, especially when it came to facial expressions. Remastering with DVD footage may be worthwhile. While there were some nice moments, on the whole I think the vid could benefit from a more transparent narrative, cleaner editing, and closer attention to the music.