fv_poster | Gift for livrelibre by absternr (RPF

Title of vid: Say Her Name
Recipient: livrelibre
Vidder: absternr
Fandom: RPF - Black Lives Matter movement
Music: Hell You Talmbout (Say Their Names) by Janelle Monae & Wondaland
Summary: (Disclaimer: I am white and therefore not an authority on BLM. I am open to criticism!)
Content notes: References to murder and police brutality
Signed length: 05:15
Signed URL: http://absternr.livejournal.com/1866.html

Crossposts: http://fv-poster.livejournal.com/292971.html

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

laurashapiro

Powerful.

From:

cupidsbow

Perfect song choice - if any song is an anthem for this movement/moment, this one comes close. You've done an admirable job of vidding this too, although I can't say I enjoyed watching it. Which is as it should be, I think, given the subject. Thank you, festividder.

From:

such_heights

Wow. This is such a powerful and well-constructed vid. Thank you for this.

From:

livrelibre

Oh wow Festividder I'm crying here and this is in no way going to be coherent but first of all thank you so much for making this! This is amazing and just what I wanted--a vid focusing on the people protesting and the power of resistance. The song choice was perfect; I love Janelle Monae and this is a march song if there ever was one. I love that you show the determination, anger, grief, solidarity, and joy of the protests; that you included even more names, including those of trans women who've been murdered; that you center people speaking for themselves; and oh man, the tie to the past movement! I'm going to watch this again and again, particularly on the days those hashtags roll across my dash. Thanks again so much for making this!

From:

giandujakiss

Inspiring and enraging. Loved how you worked in the historical footage.

From:

heresluck

Oh wow. This whole vid is immensely powerful and moving -- this song, these images, representing this struggle -- but it was the historical footage on "Emmett Till" that made me actually tear up. So much of our history. Too much. Too much.

Thank you for this.

From:

no_detective

Heartbreaking, infuriating, powerful. Thank you.

From:

no_detective

I can't stop thinking about this vid, so I'm back to ramble a bit. At first I thought it's because of the clips I hadn't seen before, and how effectively you're using the source material, but it's really the structure of the narrative itself that stays with me - how a movement starts with individuals, and then builds in the community, and how individual voices are always there but they get channelled into messages, and how the grief and the anger get expressed through the physical engagement of the march, and how it's a communal experience and also really fucking personal. And how much that narrative differs from a lot of the mainstream media "coverage" - which to me is such a shit word bc "covering" something in the news, unlike in music/art, erases the construction of narrative by the production process. So this vid does its own constructing, and feels like a short documentary work, which is art, but also feels like a closer and more accurate take on the individual experience of protesting, which I feel should be the perspective taken by the media in order to strive for, idk, realism and objectivity (as opposed to bias and objectification, e.g. persistently filming the protesters from a distance or from above).

Anyway. It feels really weird to see the label RPF on this post, because... well, the F is confusing to say the least. I'm guessing it's an issue with limited labeling and hopefully something that can be changed.

From:

nicole_anell

This is a very well constructed vid that's full of palpable anger but also hope and admiration for the Black Lives Matter movement. I really like that the vid's focus was on action and protest, stretching back decades when the song names Emmett Till, reflecting specific signs and rallies but also a united struggle and refusal to be silent. I also appreciate that through the speaking clips and the song choice itself, it's rooted in the voices of those most affected. Kudos for respectfully handling a very tough subject to vid.

From:

bironic

Oh, I was so hoping someone would fill this request, and the result does not disappoint. This is powerful and engaging and enraging and hopeful and relentless and just full of the spilling-over emotion and action that is happening inside us and around us. Name after name after name. As others have said, your decision to scope wider into the past was very effective. Well done.

From:

sabaceanbabe

Powerful and gut-wrenching and painful, but very well done. Even though it wasn't made for me, thank you for this.

From:

sasha_feather

Thank you for making this.

From:

futuransky

This was intense, important, and incredible. You take Janelle Monae's anthem for the movement and amplify it with your vidder's art – after watching this I just want to get on the streets and join a march. The historical footage is like a knife to the gut. I shuddered when I saw the TRUMP sign in the back of the march footage at the beginning, too...

From:

blacksquirrel

So well done!

From:

daybreak

That was . . . I'm literally rendered speechless. The part with Emmett Till really got me. But not just that. I was actually at the Millions March in NYC in 2014 so it was just something to see a fan vid of something you were in. I have to process that for a moment. Like when you're marching, there's no song like this playing, just you, the other people marching, the families and . . . the anger. At least that what there was for me.

I'll be thinking about this vid a long while.

From:

isagel

Crying. This was a really strong vid. Thank you for making it. <3

From:

brigdh

Wow, this is really fantastic. The footage of the marches and interviews is so powerful (and like another commenter, I was in several of these marches, which adds another layer), especially juxtaposed with that early overhead shot from Ferguson of the line of police, and then the black and white footage... wow. An amazing vid. Thank you.