Vid: If I Wrote You

[lierdumoa]

Title: If I Wrote You
Artist: Dar Williams
Fandom: Stargate: Atlantis
Summary: Season 1 retrospective. Fear, grief, strength and hope among the members of the Atlantis expedition.
A/N: Thanks to permetaform, tv_elf and z_rayne for the wonderfully thorough beta's. Thanks also to goluxexmachina for cheerleading and to spaggel for listening to me bitch.
Extras: Making Of(coming eventually)

[large version] 624x352|Xvid AVI.zip|28.7 MB
[small version] 320x240|WMV 9.zip|9.55 MB

If you have problems playing either file you may refer to this guide. If you want to recc this vid to someone, please do not hotlink it or upload it to your own server, but refer back to this journal entry.


Lyrics

I never thought you were the letter writing type
So now I see the words you chose the way you write
So I started to write back about the trees in the snow
And I saw a bird, couldn't say what it was but I thought you would know
You always surprised me

And if I wrote You
If I wrote You
You would know me
And you would not write me again

And when the spring came and flooded all the streams
It's like how you got the night you told me all you dreams
And when the barn roof sagged after an icy bout
It's like how you shrugged when you knew the truth was the only way out
But not the only way (oh no)

And if I wrote you
If I wrote you
You would know me
And you would not write me again

We drew our arms around the bastard sons
We never would drink to the chosen ones
Well you know the way I went was not the way I planned
But I thought the world needed love and a steady hand
So I'm steady now

And I'm so happy
I had to tell you
And I love you
And you will not write me again
You will not write me again
You will not write me again

Comments

[maygra.livejournal.com]

Excellent work, hon. I don't even like the show and I loved this. Very, very evocative and a great song choice!

[lierdumoa.livejournal.com]

Thankyou! I'm really glad it turned out the way it did.

[zoerayne]

Yay, you posted!

I still think this is beautiful and evocative and often heartwrenching. It does a wonderful job of encapsulating the characters and their lives in the Pegasus galaxy.

[lierdumoa.livejournal.com]

Yay! And thank you for looking in on it!

[cimness.livejournal.com]

i downloaded the large one. i'd never have chosen dar for this fandom, but i love her and was intrigued by your song choice. i'm glad i watched it! someone was just mentioning the other day that good vids to slow songs are rare, and i was thinking i'd like to see one, and now here is this gorgeous and novel interpretation of a song that i love and a show that i love. the cutting was great, the lingering shots with the slow bittersweet chords of the song. it made me fall in love with both of them all over again. thank you!

[lierdumoa.livejournal.com]

I knew the minute I connected this song with SGA in my head that it would have to be an ensemble. There's so much under the surface of this song that I wouldn't have been able to communicate if I tried to focus it on just one pairing. This vid was all about my love for both the song and the show, so I'm really glad I got to communicate that.

Thanks so much for commenting!

[emungere.livejournal.com]

Beautiful. I don't normally like serious vids, but I think that's because they're not normally done as well as yours are. And I don't think I left you feedback before, but I've now watched your Firefly one to Teeth in the Grass about 17 times. Love it, and this one as well. :)

[lierdumoa.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Angst is my thing, I guess. I'm only just recently experimenting with comedy again.

Aaaaah, Teeth in the Grass. That vid taught me everything I know about color tweaking, and made sure that I would never look at a video clip again without wondering if the colors needed fixing. I'm so glad you liked it! I'd forgotten you were into Firefly.

[spaggel.livejournal.com]

So, you know I never leave you comment feedback, because I squee on the phone to you about it, BUT OMG. I have to leave feedback NOW or something. This, this was AMAZING. When you sent me the rough draft, i could see where it is going, but you EDITED IT and fillercakes is gone now and it's just kind of beautiful. It's very heartfelt and just HITS on the points of the characters that god, I love and I keep thinking about them and atlantis and what they have gone through. Bad decisions and hard times. The excitement of it all and the danger and really, they have NO IDEA what is really going to happen. This vid says it all wonderfully.

[lierdumoa.livejournal.com]

=D

You must call me tonight.

[logovo.livejournal.com]

Great video. The bigger version is wonderful too look at. And yay for Zelenka getting time :)

[lierdumoa.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I did everything I could to avoid quality loss on the big version.

It was either Zelenka or Beckett and Zelenka seemed to tie in better with the Atlantis shots I used. Plus, well, as much as I love Beckett, Zelenka's my favorite.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_bettina_/]

Awesome vid!

[lierdumoa.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Glad you liked it!

[thisisbone.livejournal.com]

You do such beautiful work. This is lyrical and elegant and reaches me in a way the show itself really hasn't.

But I thought the world needed love and a steady hand
So I'm steady now

This, to me, encapsulates the grandeur and honor in what the Atlantis crew is doing, and we're hardly ever reminded of that in canon, so bless you for distilling that point and reinforcing it. They are doing miraculous things, and have given up much for their awe.

[lierdumoa.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I think Atlantis was just this beautiful gift they were given, and they keep trying so hard to hold it together, and it's breaking in their hands, but they keep *trying.* I really love that about the characters.

[aurora]

This is awesome!

I love how you used the lyrics And I'm so happy, I had to tell you, And I love you for some of the saddest parts.

Great job.

[lierdumoa.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

The funny thing about the clips I used for those lyrics is that those *were* happy moments. The first is when Atlantis rises out of the water. The second is the moment after Carson restarts John's heart. But even when things are going well, they still have to be preparing for the next crisis, or the relief is so huge they can't wrap their brains around it to enjoy it properly.

I love my show. :D

Glad you enjoyed it!

[rainer76.livejournal.com]

Okay, this is one of the best vids I've seen in this fandom, beautifully done.

[lierdumoa.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[http://users.livejournal.com/_medley_/]

Whoa. I wish I had something intelligent to say, here, but all I can say is this gave me *goosebumps*. Lyrical and gorgeous. I kept thinking about how very far from home they were, and how brave.

[lierdumoa.livejournal.com]

::WINZ AT LIFE::

That's just the reaction I was hoping for. They are brave little toasters. So glad the vid worked for you!

[askye.livejournal.com]

This is amazing. I'm going to watch it several more times so I can get everything. It's such a beautiful vid, one of the best SGA vids I've seen.

But I love your other vids so that's not surprising at all. It's so beautiful and fluid.

[lierdumoa.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you enjoyed it! I really wanted it to be meaningful for fellow SGA fans.


But I love your other vids so that's not surprising at all.

Awwww. ::blushes::


Thanks for the feedback!

[ship-recs.livejournal.com]

This is excellent. Very beautiful.

[lierdumoa.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I really appreciate the feedback.

:)

[morgandawn.livejournal.com]

You made me cry. The song creeps up on you - it seems deceptively quiet/personal - but by counter-pointing the images (particularly at the end "And I'm so happy/I had to tell you/
And I love you") with sadder images against the lyrics made the struggles the Atlantis team are facing universal and turn the last lines ("You will not write me again") even more poignant. I also loved how you handled the tonal shift in the song - going from small/intimate/personal to an expanding scarier yet exciting/larger universe.

But more importantly - you made me cry.

[lierdumoa.livejournal.com]

Eeeeeeeeee. ::flattered::

I don't know whether to feel bad that I made you cry or ridiculously pleased with myself. And the recc you gave me in your journal! That's just *exactly* what I was trying to get across with this vid and I'm so glad I managed to communicate that. I think the song worked because it was so intimate and personal that it managed to say something about each individual character as well as tying the characters together with their common experiences.

Thank you for your thoughts, and for the reccommendation!

[amalthia]

I really liked this vid. the song was pretty and I loved how it fit what was happening on screen. great job. :)

[lierdumoa.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank you! The song was a bit of a departure from my usual musical choices, so I wasn't really sure how it would be recieved. I'm glad it worked for you!

:)

[lainy122.livejournal.com]

Dude, this was just....wow. I loved the atmosphere you generated with the choice of song, and the synchronisation and the rhythm....just the feel of the whole video was beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing! ^_^

[lierdumoa.livejournal.com]

Yay! It took a lot of tweaking of both the colors and the timing to get it to look and flow right. I'm really glad the end result worked for you. Thankyou for commenting!

[splash-the-cat.livejournal.com]

Oh. I really didn't think I was going to buy the choice of this song, based on the vid summary, but framing it with the letters home totally sold it. Lovely, lovely job.

[lierdumoa.livejournal.com]

The first time I saw "Letters from Pegasus" I knew I *had* to make a vid revolving around that episode and it's themes. Then I was listening to this song and something just clicked.

:)

I'm so glad you liked the vid!

[sol-se.livejournal.com]

This was so beautiful & haunting. I absolutely loved it. I love this song & really wasn't sure how it could work as an ensemble, since it always felt so intimately personal, but you really made it work. Great job! I think I need to go watch it again now. *g*

[lierdumoa.livejournal.com]

The song is very intimately personal. I think I chose it because I didn't want to make an ensemble vid as an outsider looking in. I wanted to be able to say something intimate and personal about each character as well as link them together under their common experiences. I'm really glad that the song choice worked for you! It's exactly the reaction I wanted for the vid.

:)

[jr-moon.livejournal.com]

*Downloading*

awww...great editing! great song! great mood! LOVE it! Thanks!!

[lierdumoa.livejournal.com]

Yay, you're welcome! I'm glad it worked for you. Thanks for the feedback!

[rydra_wong]

I have only minimal knowledge of the canon here, but oh, this is lovely and hopeful and sad, and such a perfect song choice.

[lierdumoa.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm glad to know the vid works if you're not familiar with the source. I <3 my fandom.

Thankyou for the feedback!

[ratcreature]

Wow, great vid. I never know what to say to comment on a vid... I just enjoyed this a lot, and wanted to drop you a note.

[lierdumoa.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Saying you enjoyed it is more than enough. I'm glad you took the time to drop a note.

:)

[the-green-sheep.livejournal.com]

This is beautiful. You chose the clips perfectly. It feels like a lot of caring went into this, both for the characters and the vid itself, and it comes out on this side, too. Wonderful.

[lierdumoa.livejournal.com]

Thank you! This vid is my love letter to SGA. This show pwnz me. I'm so glad that was picked up in the end result.

=D

[ladyamarra.livejournal.com]

Wow, just one word; perfect.

[lierdumoa.livejournal.com]

::blushes and scuffles feet::

Thank you. :)

[kelliem.livejournal.com]

I downloaded this simply because DUDE! You made a vid to Dar Williams! That's AWESOME! /outdated slang

However, I am now going to rec it to everyone I know, because it's really a wonderful vid. It made me tear up, and I think you did a marvelous job of capturing the characters in a tiny amount of space. It really does pack a punch.

[lierdumoa.livejournal.com]

That's outdated slang? ::feels old and decrepit because she uses those words ALL THE TIME::

Yaaaay! Yaaaaay for reccage! I'm so glad you enjoyed it. I'm so glad it meant something for you because I really wanted to pour all my love for the characters into this. Thank you for watching and telling me what you thought!

[turtlespeaks.livejournal.com]

This is really fantastic! I loved it! *squee*thumbs up*

[lierdumoa.livejournal.com]

Yay! I got a thumbs up!

::bounces::