VIDDER'S NOTE:

Apparently I'm not going to get away with "the devil made me do it", "it seemed like a good idea at the time" or sudden amnesia, and actually have to write the notes. To prepare, I listened to commentaries on DVDs. Sadly, they were mostly by embittered directors or Keira Knightly so this may not be your father's vidnotes.

My penchant for outrageous effects in eye bleeding colours was stamped on ruthlessly by Justacat and Aerye, so some kind of thank you card or fruit basket for them might be in order. I managed to retain the greyscale/orange outline at the beginning by guile, trickery and possibly because it actually works there. I prefer to think it was guile and trickery.

That was the nod to the 80s. You have to nod to the 80s, or it mugs you on some dark disco dance floor and takes out your kneecaps.

Instrumental intros are always fun. In the "painful gnawing agony of the mind" sense of the word. They've got to lead into the narrative, give an overall sense of the vid and sell it - visually and audibly. So no pressure then. Happily, I am a genius and the beginning is fantabulous. Keira? Keira is that you?

Ooh, bed bouncy back of Bodie. Thinly veiled excuse for alliteration aside, I was actually pretty pleased with the bounce-timed-to-the-music thing going on there. I live for that stuff. And outrageous effects with eye bleeding colours. But failing that, timing within clips is my happy place.

Lordy, I'm only 13 seconds in. And then suddenly ambushed by 'Cool Runnings'. It's a classic of its genre. Ok, I'm back.

I don't have much to say about the beginning, it's kinda self explanatory. Moving on.

The first verse is focused on the lads at work. For Monday I used the first scene they're seen in the series, it seemed like a nice way to start. I did the same thing on another vid but didn't realise that until later. My originality is without beginning. Tuesday's grey and Wednesday too, I went for a slightly metaphorical interpretation with morally grey rather than literally.

This doesn't happen much in the vid as my metaphors tend to be rather lateral and leave people blinking. Once more, thanks should be made payable to Justacat and Aeyre for gently pointing out the vid, in fact, made no sense. Picky, picky.

Thursday still at work, will this week never end, and then Friday, yay! Something very much lighter with smiling and relaxation and playfulness to really contrast the day out from the others. The reasons for this do not need explaining beyond pointing at the song title, I feel.

And then comes a review of the week that was in a faded flicker of pure 80s cheese. Half meant to invoke the bad reception of the era, half meant to maintain some movement and keep the time theme - in there in a ‘weeks are just made up of moments kind of way’. I said my metaphor was not your earth metaphor.

Another week begins, this time the focus is put more firmly on the lads and the way things - like the previous 'week' - affect them, and that they're always looking out for each other.

The Bodie in the backseat looking sad was more problematic than it looks. I wanted Doyle looking at him but, in that scene, Doyle was in the front seat. No problem, said my overly optimistic voice of vidding (last seen running guns in Brazil), grab a concerned looking Doyle from another scene. Why, overly optimistic voice of vidding, I said, what a fabulous plan. Have a cookie.

There's no prize for spotting the problem. Yep, the scene I chose was one where the car wasn't moving. Moving on the Bodie side, dead still on Doyle's and it just looked ... funny. Now, I could have just kept looking - I'm sure there were hundreds of candidates. But by then I was crazed on nepotistic sugar cookies and, anyway, I couldn't stop - it was bat country. So I cropped and keyed and flipped and made it look like Doyle's side was moving too. For the half a second it's on screen. I can actually see my therapy bill from here.

The next section has little to no meaning whatsoever. There's a cunning sandwich of clips to fool the casual watcher into thinking it's about the guys sitting down and knowing their job sucks, but hey at least they're together. But that was just a happy side-effect to the fact it's fast and the movement works and it's pretty.Come, join the shallow side of the Force.

But then the cold slap of reality. Also the cold slap of a terrorist played by that guy. The one who's in everything. Ever. Monday strikes again. More rushing around, I chose mostly aftermath / premath (I don't care, it's my word and I'm keeping it!) stuff for a bit of confusion. Yes, for once, the confusion was deliberate. My story. Sticking to it.

Ah, more instrumental. Under fire. Saving each other. Pretty. Shallow.

The hair ruffling into the hair touching with bemused expression was a complete accident in the sense I knew I'd seen both and searched with a manic gleam in my eye until I found them. I'm not sure why it was a necessity, but the voice of vidding and its bumper bottle of absinthe may have had something to do with it.

The 'stay in bed' clip-to-lyric was a bit literal for me, despite my best intentions, so I had to have Doyle getting up at the end. It's not like the show is a stranger to sweet, sweet irony.

Now, this Friday clip was a bit different to the others. It was meant to be both Doyle and Bodie moving to get somewhere then ending up together kicking the door in. Yeah, your doubtful look is my doubtful look, but at least there was semi nekkid Doyle and running of Bodie - look on the bright side!

More pretty! More shallow!

The return of the orange and grey, this time reversed. Aside from the fact it was an excuse to use evening dress!lads, I liked the slower start into the sudden action in the next clips. A lot of this vid was playing with timing in various ways, trying to emulate the rushing/slowing drag/push of the music. I know, my technical jargon is a marvel to behold.

A high kick to "shoes" is Justacat's call - I had other, lesser, shoes. The hand over the face around the "frown" line is mine and there was an inappropriate amount of snickering involved. Not as much as there was later, but we'll come to that.

We've come to that! Originally, the Swiss roll eating was longer - with uncomfortable Doyle, smug Bodie and suspicious and pointed looks from Cowley. Now, the three British people I showed this to snickered, at least one like a drain, but it didn't translate so well over the pond. An interesting study in just how far into the gutter the minds representing the two countries are. I am pleased to report the US is a shining paragon of goodness, looking up at the stars, while the UK is a shining paragon of something else entirely, looking up women's skirts. Unfortunately for my dirty, dirty mind the shortened version into the cuteness of the following clip worked far better for the pacing and tone. Dammit.

The next few clips are basically just an excuse to end with the Doyle laugh. I have no shame, but I do have a clip with the Doyle laugh.

In a lulling into a slightly false sense of security, the next 'week' was kept pretty low key. Sort of representing the same old, same old drudgery that is life. And then, just when you’re ready to begin sleep watching, there's a dirty great gun. When Justacat and Aerye asked for the vid to also be sexy and a bit dangerous I admit I was at something of a loss. Sure, the lyrics have their morbid moments but the music is on happy pill. So I went with violence and angst, which is like sexy and dangerous except in the way it isn’t at all. By sheer accident, however, some dangerous and sexy may have snuck in if you squint and tilt your head a little.

So out of the blue the final week is one day, if that. Another shot at time - rather than a week passing like seconds, seconds passing like a week - and showing the ultimate consequences of what they do. The final "I'm in love" with Bodie watching Doyle I wanted to stand out so most of the other in loves were Doyle POV, but clip changes put paid to the clearness of that. Still, it has impact. I hope. Say yes, say yes!

And now we're on the final stretch with the backwards run, rewinding the weeks back to the beginning. In one sense that was sort of representing a general wanting to rewind time that Bodie could have been feeling - I deliberately left off putting in anything showing Doyle in recovery, time stops there, as it were.

In another it was pretty and I'm shallow. I like circular vids - it's a character flaw I celebrate - but in this case I think it worked. Shallow. Pretty.

I made it, I made it!

Uh, in conclusion, $22 million dollars wasn't nearly enough of a budget and the studio is crazy evil people.

Kurt, Kurt is that you?

--August 2005

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