Vid: Unsteady Ground (Merlin)

[cherry]

Title: Unsteady Ground
Fandom: Merlin
Music: Unsteady Ground - Catherine Feeny
Summary: Morgana can see the shape of things to come. (Morgana, Ensemble)

Links: Download | Stream (YouTube)

"Merlin || Unsteady Ground" (Watch on YouTube)

Unsteady Ground
At night we plant bones
in the dark as you children sleep
you should know by now
there is always something moving
under your feet

Black water runs deep
underneath these titanic plates
where you build your homes
you tie up your safety nets

When these plates meet
it is mountains they make
yeah when these bones shift
there's an earthquake

Watch your step
you should keep your head down
you never know what tomorrow will bring around
hold onto what good fortune you have found
for you are walking on
unsteady ground

We will drill the earth
and you'll ride that slick
when it dirties your hands
it's a dirty trick

But it's like quicksand you know
to distinguish the top from the undertow
it gets harder
as your eyes and your bellies grow

Watch your step
you should keep your head down
you never know what tomorrow will bring around
hold onto what good fortune you have found
for you are walking on

You love God
yes, you love your president
you want them both
but we must keep them separate
the left hand don't know where the right hand is at yet
the children don't know yet that we're bombing Baghdad

Keep your head down
for we are walking on
we are all walking on

Notes: First of all, many thanks are extended to the always fantastic obsessive24 and elynross, for beta. Another round to wildmachinery, for audiencing and keeping me grounded.

As for notes related to the vid itself: When I was younger, despite being a voracious reader, I had trouble with Arthurian legend. I couldn't shake the foreknowledge of the tragedy awaiting everyone involved. Merlin is a fun show -- and as unfaithful as it may be to mythology and history, we as viewers already know how the story will end. It is something I can't shake myself. We have Morgana, who, as a seer, is likely beginning to see the shape of things that are to come. She's untrained, has little real knowledge of magic, and sees fragments of a future that must be horrifying.

This vid is my attempt to bring these characters and portents together, to look at some of the places where the cracks are already forming.

Comments

[obsessive24.livejournal.com]

You posted it! *happy dance* I'm off to rec.

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

Hee! Thank you.

[such_heights]

Oh wow. This is fantastic. I love the clips and parallels and movement of it, I felt like I was seeing bits of the show in an entirely new way. *runs to rewatch*

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

Thank you ever so much. I really wanted to work with a reexamination of the source, so I'm glad it worked for you.

[ender24]

your vid breaks my heart in all places , but in a good way :)

and sorry, I am neither english nor american nor history anything, but anytime I see someone saying this "as unfaithful as it may be to mythology and history", I feel like an smartass pointing out to this meta essay, but somehow, I feel the urge to need to defend at least some honor of the people behind merlin *g*:
Negotiating the Boundaries of Legend, or, yes Merlin pays close attention to Arthurian Legend
http://icarusancalion.livejournal.com/824859.html?format=light

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

Thank you for watching!

Thank you for the link -- it's quite an interesting writeup. I know there are many iterations of Arthurian legend -- to me, however, Merlin feels much like the same sort of early reimaging as Smallville. I really don't mean any insult by that, and I'm sorry if I offended you. As much as anything, I'm amused by the presence of fresh garden-cultivar strawberries and sandwiches. :)

[acari.livejournal.com]

This is stunning work. I will have to watch it a couple more times to figure out all the different threads you are weaving, but that is so not a hardship.

I love it. Thanks for sharing.

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

Thank you ever so much. I honestly feel that a desire to rewatch is one of the highest compliments a vidder can be paid.

[winchesterjo.livejournal.com]

That was a really beautiful video. The transitions between clips was absolutely flawlass, and good song choice for Morgana too ;D

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

Thank you kindly. I was incredibly lucky to find this song to work with.

[tearful-eye.livejournal.com]

oh wow, it's absolutely stunning. so beautiful!

i love this (like i love all of your vids), your editing, the music, everything just seems flows just so naturally... wow.

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank you! I'm so glad you enjoyed it.

[shardsofblu.livejournal.com]

You've definitely captured the inevitable darkness of the Arthurian legend here, and having it from Morgana's POV is just downright perfect. Knowing the future like that is a blessing and a curse all at once.

Again, great job!

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

Thank you kindly. This is the type of story where knowing what is to come must be harder that walking into it blind.

[kathyh]

This was stunningly beautiful. Loved the flow of movement between the clips and the echoes of darkness to come. Gorgeous work.

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

Thank you ever so much.

[bradcpu.livejournal.com]

The use of light and motion in this is just stunning, and the pacing is just brilliant. The emotion of it is very evocative and so consistent. Some incredibly effective use of time toggle and repeated clips throughout, and I absolutely love your sense of musicality.

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow -- thank you ever so much. I'm so glad that it worked for you in all of those ways.

[missyvortexdv.livejournal.com]

Really beautiful vid. Have downloaded for rewatching. :)

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

Thank you for watching. *g*

[rae1013.livejournal.com]

That was beautifully done. ♥

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much.

[bionic.livejournal.com]

that was beautiful!

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

Thank you kindly.

[bytheshoreline.livejournal.com]

I have been waiting for someone to make a vid like this, and you blew my expectations out of the water. Seriously. There are so many levels to what you've made here, connections to be made. The end gave me chills. I am so saving this and putting it on my iPod :)

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

Thank you ever so much. It's a vid I'd been wanting to see for quite a while myself, and when I found this song, I couldn't resist.

[just-shai.livejournal.com]

You always make such pretty things. Where is this show from? Canada? UK?

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

Thank you, hon. :) It's a BBC show.

[amchara.livejournal.com]

Lovely vid- you wove together the hints of the future very well, and oh, it's kind of heartbreaking to see it all laid out like that.

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

Thank you kindly. In all the fun of the show, I find I can sometimes forget exactly where everything is heading -- but it's all in there.

[revolutionaryjo.livejournal.com]

Oh, this is stunning. It gave me goosebumps and makes me all misty eyed. Absolutely the kind of vid I could watch over and over.

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

Thank you ever so much. I really do think that a desire for someone to rewatch is on the of the highest compliments a vidder can be paid.

[devohoneybee.livejournal.com]

Absolutely gorgeous vid. I like the show, am not smitten with it, but AM smitten with your vid and through that, the show, now. Hauntingly beautiful.

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank you ever so much. I, myself, found that it wasn't until around the 8th episode that things really start to click for me. I'm so glad that you liked the vid.

[arefadedaway.livejournal.com]

This is just hauntingly, achingly beautiful, and stunningly put together; your flow is flawless and the evocative imagery you put to use here, like the parallels and the water, is complex and hypnotic. Absolutely the best Merlin vid I've seen to date.

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow. There are a number of gorgeous Merlin vids out there, so that is a high compliment indeed. Thank you kindly.

[hollywoodgrrl.livejournal.com]

I can't begin to describe how delighted I am by this vid. It reminds me of why I really love this show, the sullen sadness, the feeling of foreboding, it's all there when you dig a little beneath the crack. You suddenly find yourself with pangs in your heart, watching these characters you so dearly love slowly destroy themselves as destiny has called. That is this vid. It feels very soft and feminine, like fingertips on flesh. It feels very Morgana and I adore that.

Another thing I can't help but flail about is the way you always manage to cut in some random clip of gorgeous motion, like at :04 and 1:24. And I love how you matched textures with the texture of the music at 2:08-2:18. All your "elemental shots" of grain and water and trees were phenomenal as well. I love it to pieces. Srs bsns Merlin vids are my weakness.

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

Thank you ever so much. You're right that everything is right there -- how close it was to the surface almost surprised me. They're destroying what they'll build before they've even dreamed of it, and it hurts to watch.

I'm so pleased that you like this! It was a much more organic for me to make than most, and I'm grateful to hear that showed through in the texture of the vid.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

This vid was so delicious that I went and downloaded the first episode.

Morgana is unspeakably gorgeous, as a side note.

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

Thank you ever so much.

As for the show -- I found for me, personally, that it was the back half that really clicked. I watched the first bit, walked away from it for a bit, and was convinced to try again. 1x08 is gorgeous, and for me it's where things really kick into gear.

[teabrewing.livejournal.com]

This is a gorgeous, gorgeous vid. I don't quite know what it is about the Merlin fandom that inspires such a bounty of vids in a relatively short time, but I'm glad it does.

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

Thank you kindly. I was almost afraid to release this vid into the said deluge of Merlin pieces, because they've all been fantastic.

[stellastars]

Here on a (well-deserved) rec! Truly lovely work! Absolutely stunning!

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

Thank you ever so much.

[morgandawn.livejournal.com]

are you going to submit any of your vids this year to escapade? there won't be a Bascon convention this year and Escapade is looking for vids.

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

You know, I hadn't thought about it -- I've only ever submitted to VVC before. It might not be a bad idea, though: the worst they can do is not show it, which is a similar result to that achieved by not submitting.

[copracat]

What a beautiful and sad vid.

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

Thank you kindly.

[nutkin]

I actually don't watch Merlin, but I followed a rec here and I have to say that this is just a really beautiful vid. It's not the kind of song I would automatically associate with this source, but it works seamlessly and really creates something moving and powerful. Great work!

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

Thank you ever so much -- it's always gratifying to hear that something is clear enough to work without knowledge of the source. I was initially having a hard time matching the source to a song, but the lyrics and rhythms of this piece won me other.