[Fringe] VID: Etheric Messages (Festivid)

[thuviaptarth]

Title: Etheric Messages
Fandom: Fringe
Music: Natacha Atlas, "Etheric Messages"
Length: 2:08
Recipient: charmax for festivids (original post)
Notes: Thank you to counteragent, laurashapiro, and lithiumdoll for beta, and to nestra for assuring me I wasn't missing the beat and A. for providing the initial translation.

Summary: The recruitment of Olivia Dunham.

Note: This has been slightly revised since going up for festivids.

Password: recruit

Watch on Vimeo

[Fringe] Etheric Messages from thuvia ptarth on Vimeo.

Download: AVI 720x480 (69MB) | AVI 640x360 (30MB) | Subtitles (1K)

How to use the subtitles

The subtitles are "soft subs": They'll show up in supported media players, such as VLC, as long as they are downloaded to the same directory as the vid and named the same name as the vid file (ex. - thuviaptarth_fringe_etheric_msgs.srt).

To see subtitles on streaming, click the triangle then "CC" on the YouTube stream.


Lyrics
Ya leel
O Night
Maktub
It is written
Kulli shey maktub
Everything is written
Maktub
It is written
Fil ahlam
Written in dreams

"Maktub" is an Arabic term that means "It is written [in the book of life by God]"; it is sometimes translated as "destiny."


Image

I will spare you all the long boring story of how I was really trying to make a more cheerful Fringe vid for poor Charmax and apparently I am just not very good at happiness. But I really wanted to include one image because of the lyrics, and then it kept moving back and further back on the timeline and eventually it moved off the timeline entirely. So sad! So I will seize this opportunity to show it to you.



See? It's perfect. Except for as how it would not actually fit in the vid.

Comments

[charmax]

I don't care that it wasn't cheerful. It was more full of Olivia's awesomeness than I could have hoped for and that's what counts. I think it's really hypnotic and beautiful and I'm gonna grab the download with both hands so I can continue to watch it all the time.

[thuviaptarth]

:D I am so relieved! I was really excited to vid Olivia but worried that it wasn't upbeat enough.

[kass]

This is really gorgeous. I like the music choice very much (and thank you for the subtitles!) I love the pairing of "Ya leel" with Olivia disappearing into the sensory deprivation tank, and the up-and-down movements of the EKG pair beautifully with the warbling of the vocal line. And the way you play with "maktub," how many things are written, and in what ways: written in DNA code, written in Olivia's destiny (maktub indeed) by Walter and William Bell's actions. Beautiful.

(And on a personal note, can I just squee for a second that when I read the transliteration and translation of the Arabic terms, I realize they're all cognates to words I know in Hebrew? The language geek in me is so happy about that. :-)

[thuviaptarth]

I am fascinated by the tension between the effects of the experiments and Olivia's own independent efforts to write her own involvement (DAVID JONES: Yes, I know, Ms. Dunham. "Before they can be considered soldiers - they must be regarded as recruits, and the expectation must be that they shall be unwilling..." OLIVIA: Mr. Jones, I am willing, I am willing, but I am not able.) Just the levels of Olivia origin story we've gotten amaze me--first, the nine year old who is resolved to protect the people she loves, even if it means killing; next, the three year old whose later resolve may have been shaped by experiments aimed at making her solider; next, the three year old who impressed everyone who saw her, even before the experiments, as "strong, very strong." That's an amazing impression to have of a three year old child, I think.

So far the show has mostly focused its investigations into identity and choice on Walter and Peter and cases of the week, but I love the backstory implications of why Olivia is who she is, who determines her actions, what her choice to be a recruit, a soldier, a protector, a weapon mean, whether she has any free choice in the matter, what it means to freely choose what you have been manipulated and coerced to do.

(Arabic always sounds like a much prettier, more mellifluous version of Hebrew to me. O language of my ancestors, why must you be so gutteral? I was initially attracted to Natacha Atlas' "Dub Yalil," which uses the Muslim call to prayer, because the call to prayer sounds a lot like the melodies of Jewish prayers to me.)

[ancalemon]

Oooooh, I loved this! Very nice work!

[thuviaptarth]

Thank you!

[oracne]

That's REALLY COOL.

[thuviaptarth]

:D

[goodbyebird]

Nicely done!

[thuviaptarth]

Thank you!

Here via hazelk

[aquaeri]

I've never seen Fringe, but the imagery goes very nicely with the music, like kass said.

Re: Here via hazelk

[thuviaptarth]

Thank you!

[nolivingman]

This is gorgeous, wonderful music and visuals.

[thuviaptarth]

Thank you!

[lemomina.livejournal.com]

Beautiful vid =D
I didn't need any subs since Arabic is my native language =P =P

[thuviaptarth.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I am so extra-pleased someone who knows Arabic saw the vid -- I didn't know if that would happen. :)

[greenpear.livejournal.com]

Either there are absolutely no Fringe vids on the web (other than yours) or I'm just looking in the wrong place.

You're right. Not cheerful. But nicely done nevertheless...

[thuviaptarth.livejournal.com]

Someone just posted one to vidding, and beccatoria recs an Olivia vid here (http://beccatoria.livejournal.com/111052.html). I found some Olivia/Peter vids on YouTube, but I didn't bookmark them because they were not what I was looking for and did not convince me to stay anyway.

There should be more Fringe vids! The show's a dream to vid, pretty footage and striking camera angles.

[snowy-sny.livejournal.com]

Wow, it gave me goosebumps! (in the best sense of the word)
Good job!

[thuviaptarth.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[hollywoodgrrl.livejournal.com]

Again I must express my love for this vid. It's true that Fringe vids are unfortunately lacking, not to mention serious ones focused on Dunham. And this one is definitely a keeper.

Reading your notes and finding out the origin of the song I suddenly see a whole new meaning to "The recruitment of Olivia Dunham." Amazing.

[thuviaptarth.livejournal.com]

(I am replying to my LJ comments before the fv_poster ones because there are fewer of them. Shhh. Don't tell.)

Thank you! I am so pleased you liked it.

Ha, I have restrained myself so much on notes! It's a good thing there was so much time between posting and reveal. I had originally intended the subject of the vid to be messages passed between worlds, literally and metaphorically, including messages between the world of the living and the world of the dead, so I could use all the isolation tank footage and end on a relatively hopeful note with the "You're gonna be fine" from Charlie (Charlie-in-Olivia's-head). And I had a lot of the beginning of the timeline filled and was messing with the clips at Charlie's grave for the end, and it was so bad I freaked out and almost ditched the entire thing (http://thuviaptarth.livejournal.com/128910.html) before deciding I could keep some of what I'd done if I just, um, changed half the focus of the vid. And ditched the hopeful ending. Sorry, dead Charlie! I'm sure you'll get to be a helpful dead friend in some other vid.

If it hadn't been too long, I would have used a quote from the ZFT manifesto from "Ability" as the vid's summary: "Many warriors of the inevitable confrontation are among us now -- but before they can be considered soldiers, they must be regarded as recruits. And the expectation must be that they shall be unwilling."

Well, okay. If it hadn't been too long and had sounded less hokey.

[chaila43.livejournal.com]

Still so gorgeous and creepy. This time I fell in love with all the various kinds of texts, on paper, on screens, on boards, on monitors, and all the maps and directions. SO awesome. (Yes I am sometimes slow on initial viewings). I struggle to find words for what I love about this because it's so Olivia in the way she chooses to be drawn further and further in to this creepy world nobody really understands to protect people and to try to find answers. Except that maybe she never really had any choice at all and instead of solving things, she's just in somebody else's maze. This is what the show should always be about.

[thuviaptarth.livejournal.com]

Your comments are so awesome! (Yes, I am still Festivids feedback.)

This time I fell in love with all the various kinds of texts, on paper, on screens, on boards, on monitors, and all the maps and directions.

I was so determined to get in the M&M arrow! One of my betas was unhappy that it pointed in a different direction than Olivia had been moving, but when I tried distorting it, even when I could get it to look realistic it disrupted the flow. I have decided it is telling Olivia she
is looking in the wrong direction and pointing her to a new place on the map. Literally and metaphorically. Right now Olivia's finger on the map is my favorite clip in the vid.

This is what the show should always be about.

I totally agree!

[grimorie]

This is beautiful. I've seen it three times already and I'm still fascinated with the vid its so evocative with the way you use the images, the music and the subtitles.

[thuviaptarth]

Thank you! I'm glad you liked it.

everything is written

[kiki_miserychic]

Wow, I am enthralled with this vid and all it's brillance. The feeling, clip choice, editing, colors, motion, and everything are amazing. It's part of the reason I started watching Fringe.

Re: everything is written

[thuviaptarth]

:D That makes me very happy. Thank you, and thank you for the rec.

[aurora]

(here via kiki_miserychic)


This was amazing and it gave me goose bumps.

[thuviaptarth]

Thank you!

[musesfool]

This is beautifully done.

[thuviaptarth]

Hee. I totally was not doing it just to get more comments!

But thank you.

[noldo]

I'm not quite sure how I was linked here, but I was -- this is utterly beautiful, despite the fact I've never seen the show in question, and my baby Arabic skills are thrilled also (almost as much as my visual cortex is!).

[thuviaptarth]

Thank you! I'm really pleased you liked it. It was hard to find an Arabic translation before I started, to make sure that the lyrics as well as the sound were appropriate to the idea, but definitely worth it. :)

[gorgeousnerd]

This was gorgeous! Excellent vid.

[thuviaptarth]

Thank you!

Etheric Messages, now that I have seen (almost) all of the episodes it uses

[laurashapiro]

I liked this vid a lot when I betaed it, having zero familiarity with the source. Now that I know what (most of) those images are referring to, I really like it. The creepy beauty of it, the deep thinkiness of the concept, Olivia's amazingness holding the whole thing down. Just wow.

Re: Etheric Messages, now that I have seen (almost) all of the episodes it uses

[thuviaptarth]

Hee! I'm glad you still like it.

[monanotlisa]

Oh, this looks fascinating!

Would you mind telling up to which episode you've used footage? (I'm only at the very beginning of S2...)

[thuviaptarth]

2x09 had aired, but I think I ended up only using footage through 2x07.

[aoftheis]

This is absolutely breathtaking. It really captures the chilling, creepy magic of Fringe for me.
♥

[thuviaptarth]

Whoops! Very late, but thank you -- I appreciatte the comment.

[monanotlisa]

Recommended your vid here.

http://monanotlisa.livejournal.com/1144021.html

:)

[teaotter.livejournal.com]

This is lovely and haunting.

[thuviaptarth]

Thank you so much!