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

[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.