Gift for Sanguinity by aurumcalendula (Strange Empire)

[fv_poster]

Title of vid: Little Wheel Spin and Spin
Recipient: Sanguinity
Vidder: aurumcalendula
Fandom: Strange Empire
Music: Little Wheel Spin and Spin by Buffy Sainte-Marie
Summary: Kat and Janestown.
Content notes: Physical triggers (e.g., epilepsy or migraine: strobe lights, bright lights, "stuttery" cuts between 2-3 stills)
Signed length: 02:04
Signed URL: https://aurumcalendula.dreamwidth.org/8465.html

Lyrics Little wheels spin and spin big wheels turn around and around (4x)

Merry Christmas Jingle Bells
Christ is born and the devil's in hell
Hearts they shrink pockets swell
Everybody know and nobody tell

Little wheels spin and spin big wheels turn around and around (2x)

Oh the sins of Caesar's men
Cry the pious citizens
Who petty thieve the 5 & 10s
And the big wheels turn around and around

Little wheels spin and spin big wheels turn around and around (2x)

[...]

Turn your back on weeds you've hoed
Silly sinful seeds you've sowed
Add your straw to the camel's load
Pray like hell when your world explode

Little wheels spin and spin big wheels turn around and around (2x)

Swing your girl fiddler say
Later on the piper pay
Do see do, swing and sway
Dead will dance on judgement day

Little wheels spin and spin big wheels turn around and around (4x)

Comments

[sanguinity]

omg. omg omg omg. It's a vid of Kat. I could stare at Kat's face all day, and lookit that, lucky lucky me, I get to.

This is such beautiful, clean, strong work. I love your organizing it around Kat's motion, that's an inspired choice, both in emphasizing Buffy's inexorable wheels within wheels of the world, but also because it makes such excellent use of all those dramatic exits of Kat's -- oh, but she judges! -- and all the times she holds the lantern high in wonder or horror or curiosity and reveals the state of the world to us...

And your choices about when to show us faces, and when to not... The first verse all hands and signatures and deeds, and that one moment when you begin to pan up to -- omg I don't even remember who that was, was that Slotter? no it's Ling, but see it doesn't matter who that was as you boldly refuse to show us his face, because it's not about whoever-that-was, it's not about a person as an antagonist, it's about the social machinery, it's about white man's law, a tool as brutal as a sword or gun. And there, in among it all, is Kat wielding that same tool, via Isobelle's marriage license, "everybody know and nobody tell."

And then we get into Kat circling with the other women (oh, that shot with Isobelle and the horses!!), and it's faces, because this is about alliances and negotiations and mutual struggle, who these people are matter, because they must be reckoned with, one by one, met on their own terms, as alliances build and are tested. But then we get into the verse about Caesar's coin, and it's still faces, but the faces now aren't about these individual people (well, mostly not), it's about the greed and avarice on them, about lust for wealth and power and the shrine of the dollar.

Which contrasts to the facelessness again as we get into the sequence about marshall stars, because again, it's a power and tools and structures, not one tiny bit about the individual man wearing that star. And then Kat taking her own oath, "pray like hell while the world explode."

And I'm skipping so much, because there's so much here, but this is such a smart vid, it is such a coherent and bold and strong vid, it's about Kat and colonialism and coalitions, and you did it without giving screentime to the antagonists or showing us images of dead Indians, and I hope you know how brilliant you are and how much I love this vid, because I do.

[ghost_lingering]

This is lovely! I love what you're doing with the turns (spins) throughout -- subtle and effective. (And thank you for -- I think -- changing the streaming site. I wasn't able to load this earlier and I am now! If it's just internet blips on my end then take credit anyway!)

[kiki_miserychic]

OMG KAT. This is a densely packed and finely tuned vid. So, so very well done.

[cupidsbow]

This is so haunting.

[bingeling]

Vidder, you have convinced me I need to watch this show that I've never heard of before. I love your song choice and your use of movement, the result is beautiful.

[heresluck]

Oh wow. This vid captures so much about Kat and her attempts to make a home and protect a community in defiance of the forces arrayed against her, the big wheels that would grind her down. The song choice here is especially inspired -- the sound of it, such a great fit for the show's look; the oblique and allusive lyrics, which bring out the show's themes in a sort of allegorical rather than literal way; and of course the fact that it's Buffy Sainte-Marie! I hope this vid inspires MANY people to watch this odd and compelling little show.

[felis]

I don't know the show at all, so I'm missing a lot of context, but I really like the song choice for the visuals of the source, and the way you start and end the vid. Intriguing.

[aurumcalendula]

Thank you! I’m so glad you like it! (and that it ended up being coherent)

[part of why I made this is I was fretting about the Attack The Block vid]

I got a bit fixated on using Kat’s literal motion in the world (I could definitely stare at Kat’s face all day) and parallels (and the stuff that was still in the back of my mind from making the Attack the Block vid).

If I’m remembering right (I need to keep notes next time) I had the chorus/ footage of Kat turning basically laid out before I really figured out what to do with the verses. The Caesar’s coin verse is one of my favorite parts of this (and iirc, I think the first verse that came together and one thing I noticed when doing the marshall stars bit is that I don’t think Kat actually wears a star as marshall? I’m really glad I was able to make this without giving Slotter screentime or directly showing violence.

[aurumcalendula]

Thank you!

[aurumcalendula]

Thank you!

The streaming site did get changed (apparently my public links were 'temporarily suspended for generating excessive traffic' ...which was something I wasn't aware could happen)

[aurumcalendula]

Thank you!

[aurumcalendula]

Thank you!

[aurumcalendula]

Yay! (I find this one of Buffy Sainte-Marie's particularly haunting songs and I'm glad that translates to the vid itself)

[aurumcalendula]

Thank you! (I had difficulty finding a song that fit until I remembered I had a bunch of Buffy Sainte-Marie songs on my computer and listened to this one)