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

[charmax.livejournal.com]

This is a truly beautiful vid. I am amazed that you managed to wring so much emotion out of the footage. A truly delicate and yet devastating vid. I just can't stop watching it.

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

Thank you ever so much. To be entirely honest, I found the depth of the footage available almost surprising -- but in the most pleasant of ways.

[ficbyzee.livejournal.com]

Oh, this was so beautiful, but it absolutely broke my heart for all of the characters. Maannn.

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

Thank you kindly.

[azdaja-dafema.livejournal.com]

This vid is brilliant. Firstly, lovely song which fits the mood well. The way you summarise the series is wonderful, drawing parallels. One of my favourite transitions is the chalice to Arthur in the wood, rolling smoothly. I love ensemble vids and this is a good example of it working well: mixing the characters as an /ensemble/, not just doing people in turn. *goes off to watch again*

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

Thank you ever so much. I tend to have a great deal of love for ensemble pieces, myself -- in fiction as well as vidding -- so it means a great deal to me to hear this worked for you on that level.

[b-hallward.livejournal.com]

This is so, so amazing. There were passages where I felt like I couldn't breathe.

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

Thank you ever so much for your kind words.

[merelyn.livejournal.com]

Wow. I think I've been waiting for someone to make this vid. Oh, Morgana.

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I rather adore Morgana, and there's all this tragedy simmering beneath the crack and CGI creatures.

[p-zeitgeist.livejournal.com]

I'm here via a rec from b_hallward, and this is so beautiful and devastating and right that I couldn't let a minute go by without thanking you for it. I can't believe what you've accomplished here.

And now I'm going to go watch it again.

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank you ever so much.

[sorrelchestnut.livejournal.com]

That was... amazing. Truly.

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

Thank you kindly.

[coffeejunkii.livejournal.com]

wow. gorgeous composition, awesome song choice, and leaves me contemplative. my favorite kind of vid!

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

Thank you kindly.

[heyiya.livejournal.com]

I am super late with feedback, but I love this vid very much. I love the way it makes everything unsteady--especially (which is probably an odd thing to highlight) Merlin's arm reaching up and faltering at 0:17. You give such a sense of the menace in the unknown that's always there even in the happy shiny (slashy...) moments of which the show gives so many. It leaves me with such a strong sense of how Morgana's prophesy, hidden even from herself, must feel.

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

Sometimes, late feedback is the best kind! It's always a pleasant surprise. Thank you very much for you kind words -- they show is so much fun, but there are so many undercurrents running beneath it all.

[quillori.livejournal.com]

Fascinating and beautiful. I can't thank you enough - this is thought provoking as well as lovely and definitely one of my favourite Merlin vids.

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

Thank you ever so much. There are some lovely Merlin vids out there, so that is high compliment.

[riserva.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow, fantastic. You captured the show beautifully.

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

Thank you kindly.

[heather.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm kind of late seeing this, but good lord, how awesome was that? I'm a little in love with that song, and the way you've edited it, and weaved everyone's stories around each other and through Morgana's eyes, and how much emotion it evokes. This is definitely going into my bookmarks.

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

Hee! Temporally-removed feedback is actually quite lovely, in my eyes.

I'm so glad you liked it. The idea of it was something I fell in love with -- I'm rather a Morgana fan, and given the legend to come, her foresight must seem to be quite a curse.

[lunasky.livejournal.com]

Followed a rec from halfamoon. This is just gorgeous. I love the clips you put together, it really highlights how all the pieces are already in motion. Hertbreaking really, but still gorgeous.

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

Thank you kindly. The show is so much fun that it can be easy to forget that they're already destroying everything they will build.

As a side note, your icon is absolutely gorgeous.

[thenewhope.livejournal.com]

beautiful. just, really beautiful.

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[puckling.livejournal.com]

This was wonderful. I've grabbed a copy, and will definitely be rewatching.

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

Thank you ever so much.

[dualbunny.livejournal.com]

This is beautiful! And the available symbolism and movement throughout it is divine. :D

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

Thank you kindly!

[bendtothesun.livejournal.com]

Oh I just found this (and honestly not sure how I missed it when it first premiered) and it is incredibly stunning. It's also so touching and aching at points because of the sense of inevitability that you brought to it (I'm weird, Merlin is the only show where I can't see the characters breaking free of the legend). I *love* that it's an ensemble piece and I *flail* just yeah.

Thank you so much for sharing this!

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

Thank you ever so much for your kind words. Merlin can be such a fun show you can forget what's to come -- but when you look again, they're already destroying everything they have yet to build.

[briar_pipe]

Oh, I'm so glad people are reccing this! The whole 'past dictates the future' element is so strong in this series, but hardly anyone works with it in vid form. Your music choice is haunting and a little hopeful at the same time, and you've done brilliant work bringing all those moments together in a way that feels fresh and new.

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much. I was pondering making a Merlin vid, but when I found this song, it all just coalesced.

(I had no idea it had been recced! *g*)

[angela-weber.livejournal.com]

Mad late, but I just thought I'd let you know that I adored this. My goodness, is it devastating. And it's got such a beautiful and hypnotic and inevitable quality--I actually found myself with tears in my eyes by the end. Gorgeous!

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

Thank you ever so much. I'm so glad that you enjoyed it.

[woldy]

Gosh, this is pretty and so interesting! I like the focus on the darker undertones because the sense of impending tragedy beneath the sparklyness is precisely what makes the show compelling.

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

Thank you kindly. There's so much bubbling beneath the surface in Merlin that was a pleasure to work with.

[bluemeridian]

I bookmarked this on Delicious and I'm going to cut and paste what I put in the summary there:

"This isn't actually a hopeful vid, but I want to fix Morgana, to change her destiny etched for hundreds of years in Arthurian legend, so I find her fascinating. This doesn't shred that desire into hopelessness, but it still illustrates the maelstrom within her own mind, the madness of what she sees, and it does it all beautifully."

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

Thank you ever so much for watching.

[rivendells.livejournal.com]

Oh, this was utterly fantastic! The imagery was beautiful, and wow - I don't think I could give you enough praise! :D Amazing! ♥

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

Thank you kindly.

[blacksquirrel.livejournal.com]

Wow so fantastic!!

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

Thank you kindly.

[quoth-the-girl.livejournal.com]

Lovely, lovely video. I love Arthurian legend in all of its incarnations, but the tragedy of it is always present, almost like another character all on its own, and you captured that beautifully.

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much. Merlin can be such a fun show, but there's so much tragedy lurking beneath the surface.

[balistik94.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed it the pace was good and the visual connections along with the music use were on point. Well done.

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

Thank you kindly. I'm glad you liked it.