Festivid #2 (treat): "4th of July," Independence Day

[bironic]

Title: 4th of July
Fandom: Independence Day
Rating: PG
Music: "4th of July" by Aimee Mann (edited)
Length: 2:11
Summary: "May our children forgive us." Marriage, parenthood, alien attack, and the scarred world left behind.
Contains: Explosions, grief/depression. A bit of static at 1:45.
Dedication: Made as a treat for fan_eunice, for Festivids 2011, and probably not at all what she had in mind. Originally posted here on LJ and here on DW.

A/N: Most depressing vid of a non-depressing movie? I don't know; I couldn't get the idea out of my head of setting ID4 to this song, even if the lyrics don't always apply. I'm glad to have had a chance to give this a try. It's been interesting to see what commenters got out of it - some appreciating the focus on the characters rather than the action, others honing in on the themes of parenthood and what we leave to our children. Others only laughing at it a little. :)

Streaming on Vimeo | Download MP4 (14.5 MB)

Lyrics:

Today's the fourth of July
Another June has gone by
And when they light up our
Town I just think
What a waste of gunpowder and sky

I'm certain I am alone
In harboring thoughts of our home
It's one of my faults that I
Can't quell my past
I ought to have gotten it gone
I ought to have gotten it

Oh, baby
I wonder if when you are older
Someday
You'll wake up
And say My God I should have told her
What would it take
But now here I am
And the world's gotten colder
And she's got the river down which I sold her
Yeah she's got the river down which I sold her

Comments

[obsessive24.livejournal.com]

I really loved this. For both this vid and the 28 Days Later one I was trying so hard to figure out who had this very specific mixture of new-school and old-school editing sensibilities, so I'm absolutely thrilled to find they were both made by the same person! :D

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Oh, cool! I don't know that I can even identify my own editing style, so it's neat to hear this. Thank you so much again.

[obsessive24.livejournal.com]

I was discussing it with a friend, both of us were very keen to find out who made both vids and not having ANY clue, which made the reveal even more exciting. We were mostly talking about the 28 Days Later vid, but I think the same aesthetic notes would apply to this vid as well. We specifically thought that your style is really sensitive to the mood and tone of the music - you go beyond "musicality" in the traditional sense of syncing up music/visuals, and instead really drive at the emotional impact of putting certain visuals to certain tonal moments, and not being afraid to not cut on a musical cue if that meant you could wring more emotion out of it. I felt that particularly intensely in that long shot of [Cillian Murphy] in the car, extending his hand out the window. For the 4th of July, I just loved how you kept it low-key until the first explosion, and it was a real punch to the gut.

Also, guessing miscellany:

1. I thought "Cemeteries of London" would be a fairly appropriate vid title in itself, but the fact that you chose to name the vid something else felt telling, because not everybody would do that. ;)

2. You don't shy away from a bit of talky, which narrowed the field a bit, especially among the "new school" vidders.

3. The 4th of July had really neat titles work and we were trying to decide whether that was something we should rely on as a clue, or whether it was intended to throw us off because titles are easiest to pull fake-outs on. :D

[alpheratz.livejournal.com]

Others only laughing at it a little. :)

/o\ /o\ /o\ I'M SORRY. EXPLOSIONS ARE FUNNY.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

♥

[fan-eunice.livejournal.com]

*downloads SO HARD*

Dude, this vid. The more I watched it (and I watched it a lot) the more impressed I was with what you managed to do here. I just love it so much. And you owe me several boxes of tissues.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

As many tissues as you want! Um, sorry about that. I'm so glad you liked the vid, though, and that you came back for re-watches. \o/

[spankulert.livejournal.com]

Really unexpected song choice but you make it work very well indeed. <3

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm glad to hear it. It was definitely a risk!

[shinealightonme]

This is lovely and sad and perfect.

(I would love to download it and keep it forever, but the link doesn't seem to be working?)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, because Megaupload is no longer providing upload/download service. Let me see about reuploading somewhere else.

I'm glad you enjoyed the vid! Stay tuned for a link.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Hi there - try http://www.mediafire.com/?xf9fe8dd4v75ox1 and let me know if that doesn't work. Thanks again!

[shinealightonme]

Awesome, thanks so much! Quite happy to have this on my harddrive :D

[profshallowness.livejournal.com]

I found this really affecting. The film is so much about immediacy, but the song and the relationships that you focused upon stretched things out to cover yesterdays and tomorrows.