Lightning Field by bradcpu, commentary by such heights
Title: Lightning Field
Vidder: bradcpu
Fandom: Legend of the Seeker
Link: http://bradcpu.livejournal.com/106629.html
Commentary By: such_heights
Lightning Field is a fantastic vid, one that marries beautiful editing with insightful character study. There's an awful lot going on in the vid visually and thematically, and I'm going to try and unpack a little bit of it here, hopefully without taking too many detours into keysmashing over how great Cara is (and how much she loves Kahlan omg OTP, ahem).
Also, please forgive me the lack of pretty screencaps. Now with added screencaps!
introduction (0:00 - 0:30)
At first glance, the intro section of the vid seems to be a relatively standard vidding technique - lots of establishing character and scenery shots, that sort of thing. But there a lot of different elements of the show threaded together seamlessly here, and all of them come into play as the vid unfolds. The opening title card with the use of the roll of thunder gives the vid a dramatic resonance right from the start, and then the vidder takes us on a journey through D'Hara. At first, it's beautiful - birds, nature, sunlight, the magic of Kahlan and her Confessors - but then the music takes a step up and the tone of the vid changes accordingly. We see Cara enter, and with her, conflict.
There's great use of light and colour through the vid - the source lends itself very well to it and bradcpu takes full advantage. Already I'm associating Kahlan with light and Cara with darkness, and that leads on to interesting things later in the vid.
strike me down (0:30 - 1:05)
Who is Cara, then? More than anything this vid is about Cara's character arc through the series, and here is a lyrical reminder of where she started, and what her relationship with Kahlan was like when they first met. We're reminded of important facts like how totally badass she is, and also that she digs the ladies. What strikes me most about how Cara's presented her is how alone she seems - we see her being rejected by her Mord'Sith sisters and confronted first by Kahlan's mistrust and later her rage. This is only emphasised by the shots of her on trial from 'Broken', where she's totally alone but unrepentant.
The first insight we have into the fact that Cara might actually have some feelings beneath the surface comes at 0:55 - the vocals change just a little, becoming a little more heartfelt, and we see Cara close her eyes as flashes of her childhood appear on screen. As the lyrics say, 'should have asked me what went wrong' - there's a reason Cara is the way she is, and it isn't a pretty one.
should have stayed away too long (1:05 - 1:30
This section resolves the first 'act' of the vid, and sets up a more permanent place for Cara as part of Team Seeker. The audience has already seen that Cara deserves our sympathy owing to what happened to her as a child, and in this part we see Kahlan coming to that understanding too.
To talk more about lighting here - the shots of Cara's childhood are almost entirely saturated in golden light, while the lighting for her adult scenes continue to be darker. However, the final shots in this section show Cara and Kahlan moving towards each other in daylight, which leads in nicely to the next section, which will show them fighting and working together side by side.
We see Cara's sister reaching out to touch her, and Kahlan offering her a second chance, and in terms of Cara's arc what it perhaps most important about that is that she is able to accept that to some extent. The shot of her opening her eyes at 1:27 is perhaps my favourite of the vid - it's literally an open-eyed acceptance both of who she has been and who she might go on to be now, shown with the shot of the four of them riding off into the mountains. Gorgeous.
middle instrumental (1:30 - 1:49)
More than anything this is a fantastically-edited fight sequence, which is my catnip. It's also really hot. But I think it's interesting for what it suggests about Kahlan - the vid takes the imagery of Kahlan as a white rose and runs with it. In the original context of the show, the drop of blood on the white rose symbolises danger befalling the line of Confessors, but it takes on a different meaning for me here. If in the previous section Cara was being drawn into the light, here we are reminded that Kahlan herself is not exactly 'pure and innocent' (which would be boring anyway). She has blood on her hands and is a fierce warrior, and that makes her someone Cara is more capable of connecting with.
give me everything you've got (1:49 - 2:23)
So, here we start to delve properly into Cara's relationship with Kahlan. They're sisters in arms, but Kahlan's importance to Cara is more than that. She's the way in which Cara is rediscovering how to feel things, how to make sense of her life, and how to connect to people. That's communicated really effectively here by shots that show Kahlan's warmth and joy - her fact at finding the nightwisps, for instance - and Cara watching her. At the two-minute mark there's a burst of sunshine, and Kahlan reaching out for Cara, extending unexpected friendship and kindness to her. Blooming flowers and happiness abound! Briefly, at least: the reintroduction of the stormy sky from the opening of the vid at 2:08 reminds us that it's not exactly plain sailing.
However, it's pretty clear here exactly how much Kahlan means to Cara (because she looooves her omg ... sorry). The shots of Cara and Denna's confrontation remind me of the awesome dialogue in that scene where Cara defends Kahlan's honour, and then we see that desire to defend and protect her play out physically at 2:22 as she pushes Kahlan out of the path of an arrow.
take it any way you want (2:23 - 2:47)
My English teacher used to like to tell me that, in the end, all stories are about sex and death. Whether that's true or not, that's certainly what this section tackles! By joining the Seeker's quest, Cara has opened herself up to a world of hurt, and not just due to the physical dangers. In between various fights for her life, we also see her having to deal with the whole 'having feelings' business - in the shape of Leo, someone she allowed herself to feel something for only to watch him die, and in the shape of Kahlan, who loves someone else. The sequence at 2:44 with the Richard/Kahaln shots juxtaposed with Cara turning her head away is totally heartbreaking in its simplicity. (CARA! ;_;)
I'm the fate in no one's plan (2:47 - 3:21)
Here, the vidder really begins to show us Cara's emotions unravelling. The shot of her bowing her head at 2:55 reminds me of her line from that point in the episode - "confess me, I deserve it". We see her full of remorse and regrets - being confronted with Kahlan's sister brought back to life and struggling to kill in order to remain alive as a Baneling. Interspersed with shots of her as a frightened child, we see just how vulnerable she is under the tough exterior.
There's a great transition here, from Kahlan's hand on Cara's throat through Kahlan's eye as she confesses someone, out into the last section of the vid.
I'll be everything I'm not (3:21 - 4:18)
Here, all the elements of the come together in a beautiful end, full of fluid motion and gorgeous imagery. We see Kahlan the way Cara does - beautiful and somehow untouchable - and the shot of Kahlan killing her (from one of the show's many AU episodes) rams home just how much this hurts for Cara.
The end few shots are particularly well-executed - the metaphor of Kahlan as a rose comes back, with transitions blurring them together and all of the emotion of the vid being wrapped up in Kahlan's sleeping form while Cara watches on. This emphasises the idea that the content of the vid makes up Cara's own thoughts and feelings, and not just an outsider's perspective. It helps the vid feel more insightful and emotionally affecting.
---
All in all, it's a gorgeous vid and one that makes full use of the femslashy riches that S2 of LotS gave us. I've rewatched it many times and always find a new piece of skilful editing or intelligent character insight to appreciate.
Vidder: bradcpu
Fandom: Legend of the Seeker
Link: http://bradcpu.livejournal.com/106629.html
Commentary By: such_heights
Lightning Field is a fantastic vid, one that marries beautiful editing with insightful character study. There's an awful lot going on in the vid visually and thematically, and I'm going to try and unpack a little bit of it here, hopefully without taking too many detours into keysmashing over how great Cara is (and how much she loves Kahlan omg OTP, ahem).
Also, please forgive me the lack of pretty screencaps. Now with added screencaps!
introduction (0:00 - 0:30)
At first glance, the intro section of the vid seems to be a relatively standard vidding technique - lots of establishing character and scenery shots, that sort of thing. But there a lot of different elements of the show threaded together seamlessly here, and all of them come into play as the vid unfolds. The opening title card with the use of the roll of thunder gives the vid a dramatic resonance right from the start, and then the vidder takes us on a journey through D'Hara. At first, it's beautiful - birds, nature, sunlight, the magic of Kahlan and her Confessors - but then the music takes a step up and the tone of the vid changes accordingly. We see Cara enter, and with her, conflict.
There's great use of light and colour through the vid - the source lends itself very well to it and bradcpu takes full advantage. Already I'm associating Kahlan with light and Cara with darkness, and that leads on to interesting things later in the vid.
strike me down (0:30 - 1:05)
Who is Cara, then? More than anything this vid is about Cara's character arc through the series, and here is a lyrical reminder of where she started, and what her relationship with Kahlan was like when they first met. We're reminded of important facts like how totally badass she is, and also that she digs the ladies. What strikes me most about how Cara's presented her is how alone she seems - we see her being rejected by her Mord'Sith sisters and confronted first by Kahlan's mistrust and later her rage. This is only emphasised by the shots of her on trial from 'Broken', where she's totally alone but unrepentant.
The first insight we have into the fact that Cara might actually have some feelings beneath the surface comes at 0:55 - the vocals change just a little, becoming a little more heartfelt, and we see Cara close her eyes as flashes of her childhood appear on screen. As the lyrics say, 'should have asked me what went wrong' - there's a reason Cara is the way she is, and it isn't a pretty one.
should have stayed away too long (1:05 - 1:30
This section resolves the first 'act' of the vid, and sets up a more permanent place for Cara as part of Team Seeker. The audience has already seen that Cara deserves our sympathy owing to what happened to her as a child, and in this part we see Kahlan coming to that understanding too.
To talk more about lighting here - the shots of Cara's childhood are almost entirely saturated in golden light, while the lighting for her adult scenes continue to be darker. However, the final shots in this section show Cara and Kahlan moving towards each other in daylight, which leads in nicely to the next section, which will show them fighting and working together side by side.
We see Cara's sister reaching out to touch her, and Kahlan offering her a second chance, and in terms of Cara's arc what it perhaps most important about that is that she is able to accept that to some extent. The shot of her opening her eyes at 1:27 is perhaps my favourite of the vid - it's literally an open-eyed acceptance both of who she has been and who she might go on to be now, shown with the shot of the four of them riding off into the mountains. Gorgeous.
middle instrumental (1:30 - 1:49)
More than anything this is a fantastically-edited fight sequence, which is my catnip. It's also really hot. But I think it's interesting for what it suggests about Kahlan - the vid takes the imagery of Kahlan as a white rose and runs with it. In the original context of the show, the drop of blood on the white rose symbolises danger befalling the line of Confessors, but it takes on a different meaning for me here. If in the previous section Cara was being drawn into the light, here we are reminded that Kahlan herself is not exactly 'pure and innocent' (which would be boring anyway). She has blood on her hands and is a fierce warrior, and that makes her someone Cara is more capable of connecting with.
give me everything you've got (1:49 - 2:23)
So, here we start to delve properly into Cara's relationship with Kahlan. They're sisters in arms, but Kahlan's importance to Cara is more than that. She's the way in which Cara is rediscovering how to feel things, how to make sense of her life, and how to connect to people. That's communicated really effectively here by shots that show Kahlan's warmth and joy - her fact at finding the nightwisps, for instance - and Cara watching her. At the two-minute mark there's a burst of sunshine, and Kahlan reaching out for Cara, extending unexpected friendship and kindness to her. Blooming flowers and happiness abound! Briefly, at least: the reintroduction of the stormy sky from the opening of the vid at 2:08 reminds us that it's not exactly plain sailing.
However, it's pretty clear here exactly how much Kahlan means to Cara (because she looooves her omg ... sorry). The shots of Cara and Denna's confrontation remind me of the awesome dialogue in that scene where Cara defends Kahlan's honour, and then we see that desire to defend and protect her play out physically at 2:22 as she pushes Kahlan out of the path of an arrow.
take it any way you want (2:23 - 2:47)
My English teacher used to like to tell me that, in the end, all stories are about sex and death. Whether that's true or not, that's certainly what this section tackles! By joining the Seeker's quest, Cara has opened herself up to a world of hurt, and not just due to the physical dangers. In between various fights for her life, we also see her having to deal with the whole 'having feelings' business - in the shape of Leo, someone she allowed herself to feel something for only to watch him die, and in the shape of Kahlan, who loves someone else. The sequence at 2:44 with the Richard/Kahaln shots juxtaposed with Cara turning her head away is totally heartbreaking in its simplicity. (CARA! ;_;)
I'm the fate in no one's plan (2:47 - 3:21)
Here, the vidder really begins to show us Cara's emotions unravelling. The shot of her bowing her head at 2:55 reminds me of her line from that point in the episode - "confess me, I deserve it". We see her full of remorse and regrets - being confronted with Kahlan's sister brought back to life and struggling to kill in order to remain alive as a Baneling. Interspersed with shots of her as a frightened child, we see just how vulnerable she is under the tough exterior.
There's a great transition here, from Kahlan's hand on Cara's throat through Kahlan's eye as she confesses someone, out into the last section of the vid.
I'll be everything I'm not (3:21 - 4:18)
Here, all the elements of the come together in a beautiful end, full of fluid motion and gorgeous imagery. We see Kahlan the way Cara does - beautiful and somehow untouchable - and the shot of Kahlan killing her (from one of the show's many AU episodes) rams home just how much this hurts for Cara.
The end few shots are particularly well-executed - the metaphor of Kahlan as a rose comes back, with transitions blurring them together and all of the emotion of the vid being wrapped up in Kahlan's sleeping form while Cara watches on. This emphasises the idea that the content of the vid makes up Cara's own thoughts and feelings, and not just an outsider's perspective. It helps the vid feel more insightful and emotionally affecting.
---
All in all, it's a gorgeous vid and one that makes full use of the femslashy riches that S2 of LotS gave us. I've rewatched it many times and always find a new piece of skilful editing or intelligent character insight to appreciate.