I did my best, it wasn't much

[purplefringe]

guys, I...I made another Good Omens vid? A third one? I don't know what has happened, I don't understand anything any more, apparently Good Omens is my whole life now. (Which is good, I guess, because I have well and truly noped out of engaging with the Real World in quite a serious way, so it's nice to have something else to think about.)

This one has...Feelings in it. Many Feelings, which I absolutely did not know I had. But there we are. It's also to a piece of music about which I (along with approx. half the world) have Many Feelings, although I did know about those, because I once wrote a 2,000 word email-essay containing some of them. (it's NOT Queen, I promise)

I think I had a lot more to say, but it has temporarily escaped the chronicler's mind. Er. Have a vid, I guess.

Thank you to the wonderful soupytwist, such_heights & raven, who are lovely and thoughtful (and patient, and long-suffering) betas. If you haven't already, you should watch the Good Omens vids such_heights and raven have made recently, which are both breathtaking in very different ways.

Hallelujah
edited by purplefringe
fandom: Good Omens
music: Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen, covered by Pentatonix
summary: there's a blaze of light in every word / it doesn't matter which you heard / the holy or the broken hallelujah. On faith, and falling, and freedom.
content notes: a shot of a snake at 00:18; a brief shot of a nail being driven into someone's wrist at 2:08. (I also have a version without the snake, if anyone would like that one)

ETA: I strongly recommend you go and read elisi's extraordinary Good Omens meta - the first section is a wonderful commentary on Aziraphale's journey as presented through this glorious vid by promethia-tenk, and the second section (about two thirds down the page) is about Crowley, and ties into this vid! YAY, INTER-TEXTUAL FANWORKS \o/


download: 169MB @ mediafire

Also on tumblr and the AO3

stream:

"Good Omens | Hallelujah" (Watch on YouTube)

Lyrics

Comments

[happydork]

Oh my goodness, Phbs, this is so beautiful and thoughtful and moving and I can't stand it, it's too good, my face orbs are moist. This is just, it's really grab-your-heart-by-the-throat-and-don't-let-go gorgeous, the depth of feeling you draw out is just, yeah, a lot. It's a lot, and I am emotionally compromised, and I'm mad about it. Each different verse brings so much more, layering on top of each other to tell us so much about their complex, messy, 6000 year old relationship with themselves and each other and heaven and hell and humanity. I am currently typing while clutching a cushion for emotional support. It's all a lot. You are very good at this and I would like to complain to the management.

[purplefringe]

FINALLY REPLYING TO COMMENTS katy i am overwhelm help /o\ I AM SORRY FOR YOUR FACE ORBS AND HAPPY YOU HAVE AN EMOTIONAL SUPPORT CUSHION. The management has noted your complaints and will consider them in future!

[elisi]

So, I am at about Crowley levels of upset about this:



Like, you weren't kidding about the FEELINGS. Need to re-watch it more, what with the five hundred different meanings and layers you give to 'Hallelujah', but will get back to you asap.

(It also amuses me greatly that while you have been creating this exquisite work of beauty and faith, Owls, Promethia (and I, although not as literally) have been creating something... completely, utterly different. And that both are made from the same six hours or so of TV. This show is a freaking miracle.)

ETA: OK, I am back!

- 'Secret chord' = Ineffable Plan?

- 'But you don't care for music' I presume this is noting that Aziraphale does not want to question anything?

- Obvs the 'minor fall'/'major lift' are *inspired*.

- Aziraphale with the dove is just heartbreaking. And that's all you & the music, cause it's fine on the show. (Although 'Baffled king' is perfect.)

- 'You saw her bathing on the roof' - again, exquisite clip matches, and Azira carrying his heart in his hands.

- But then: 'She tied you to the kitchen chair/She broke your throne and she cut your hair/And from your lips, she drew the Hallelujah' And fuck me that's amazing. (This comment will be mostly flailing.) The uncomfortable notes of The Arrangement all laid out, and (something that is often overlooked) but Crowley is very good at his job. (The way he talks Aziraphale into influencing the Antichrist is masterful.)

- Then a whole collection of Aziraphale faces of continual sadness. This vid was made to crush people. :'( ETA: OK, so it's all about Azira's disappointment with, and dismissal by, Heaven, but his FACE.

- Crowley! Crowley in dialogue. Crowley being cynical and harsh because he's been hurt, and I have literally been writing meta on this today, so I am going to go lightly over that verse cause otherwise I'd just write the whole thing out again.

- 'Well, maybe there's a God above/But all I've ever learned from love/Was how to shoot somebody who outdrew ya' THIS. This killed me. This slays me on every view. This is goddamn genius and I have ALL the feelings about Crowley and his relationship with God and re-creating his own Garden and treating the plants the way he was himself (I presume that's the Tumblr meta that inspired it?) and MY HEART.

- Break-up. Ugh, also sad. Especially like Crowley's helpless gesture (on 3.01), which just matches things perfectly. How he is trying to communicate, and it's just not working.

- 'Hallelujah'. Aziraphale going up into the light and Crowley down below in the flames is just a gorgeous, gorgeous juxtaposition, and I haven't seen anything like it elsewhere.

- And then you manage to tell the whole rest of the story with only Hallelujahs and music. Especially loved the parallel between grasping Agnes' prophecy and the apple, although I'd love any further insights into clip choices. (or not, if you're all exhausted... <3)

I think that's it. I'll go away and cry about Aziraphale's face and Crowley's pain.

[maia]

- Aziraphale with the dove is just heartbreaking. And that's all you & the music, cause it's fine on the show. (Although 'Baffled king' is perfect.)

- 'You saw her bathing on the roof' - again, exquisite clip matches, and Azira carrying his heart in his hands.

- But then: 'She tied you to the kitchen chair/She broke your throne and she cut your hair/And from your lips, she drew the Hallelujah' And fuck me that's amazing. (This comment will be mostly flailing.) The uncomfortable notes of The Arrangement all laid out, and (something that is often overlooked) but Crowley is very good at his job. (The way he talks Aziraphale into influencing the Antichrist is masterful.)

Yes.


This is goddamn genius and I have ALL the feelings about Crowley and his relationship with God and re-creating his own Garden and treating the plants the way he was himself (I presume that's the Tumblr meta that inspired it?)

Is there a Tumblr meta about this? Do you have the link?

[felis]

Feelings is right, omg. Lovely. <3

[purplefringe]

Thank you so much!

[laurashapiro]

I am at work and I can't watch this but you have used This Song and you have used the Pentatonix cover and I might cry from the very idea and I haven't even seen it and I am already broken so thank you for that.

[promethia_tenk]

Promethia's reactions to watching this vid, a timeline:

1) AAAHHHHHH, SHE POSTED IT YAY!!!

2) That song? . . . oooooofffff. Risky, risky. But I gotta respect that.

3) You make a vid apparently about struggling with faith and you make it about Aziraphale? Not, not the character I would have chosen, gotta say. But hey, I'm open to it, we're good . . .

4) OH MY GOD IT'S A DIALOGUE. *hyperventillates* WHAT ARE THESE FEELINGS.

5) WHAT DID I EVER DO TO YOU?!?!? ihateyoudon'tgo

(ETA: I loved it, if that wasn't clear!)

[purplefringe]

HAI PROMETHIA, I am so delighted you eventually enjoyed this! :D I need to comment on your DELIGHTFUL second vid too (why is this happening??? we are making SO MANY THINGS???) I am sorry for all the FEELINGS!

I am *fascinated* that you would not have picked Aziraphale for a vid about struggling with faith...for me, that's what his whole journey is about? He spends 6000 years trying to reconcile the warring parts of himself, which love God, and love Heaven, and love Earth, and love Crowley, and how they can't all fit together. He spends 6000 years fretting and trotting out the party line (the sheer NUMBER OF TIMES he says 'I'm an angel' or 'you're a demon', as if that explains everything??? which, if you're eg. Gabriel, I guess it does) and his whole journey is realising that giving away the sword was RIGHT, and that Heaven Doesn't Care and that God is probably Not Listening or at least Not Intervening and that he had faith in entirely the wrong things. Is that not what you see?

[laurashapiro]

Oh holy fuck.

This journey. This is the one I care about. Aziraphale loses his faith and finds freedom, and knowledge, and love. And it's Crowley who breaks his chains.

What a masterwork. This is breathtaking. My heart feels huge and warm and I want to sing and cry and embrace you. Thank you for making this.

[laurashapiro]

Have watched 4 times now and recced on Tw and DW. If you've posted on Tumblr, can you link me so I can rec there?

Heart aching with joy. When Crowley breaks the chains, that moment is everything. This vid is doing so much with metaphor and storytelling and meaning-making and my fucking HEART.

[cathexys]

Wow, I'm not into GO and I didn't think I'd ever want to see another Hallelujah vid and yet you managed to make me care and tear up and have all the feels combining the two! Sheen's facial expressions are so amazing that they must be a vidder's dream, because they tell stories all on their own and you don't need any dialogue...and this cover is perfect for A. in its slightly more poppy [is that a word?] and yet more intimate version. Wow! Thank you for sharing this amazing vid! It's like a master piece and example of what vidding canpull out and interpret and condense and create and accomplish!!!

[purplefringe]

Oh my goodness, thank you so much for this wonderful comment! I just /o\ I'm so delighted that you watched and enjoyed this, despite doubts about the source and the song! Michael Sheen's faces is indeed a GIFT and honestly it's amazing I made this at all, I kept just getting distracted looking at his expressions. Thank you again!

[rydra_wong]

OH MY FUCKING GOD.

I hope to have some kind of more detailed feedback when I stop screaming, maybe in several days, but -- that song was over-used for fanvids when I got into fandom TWENTY YEARS AGO, and you have OWNED it completely, it belongs to you and this canon now and it's amazing and beautiful, and this is so much the Aziraphale vid I've been needing, about his journey of loss of faith, and the love of/for this ridiculous questioning traumatized demon which helps save him.

ETA: Recced here.

SCREAMING WITH TIME-STAMPS

[rydra_wong]

0.04 — Crowley’s slow blink on “chord”, nice

0:10 — this is the moment where I knew this vid was going to be great and I was in safe hands, with Aziraphale bricking up the hole in the wall of Eden. And it also introduces the AMAZING USE you are going to make of Michael Sheen’s AMAZING FACE

0.20 — “the minor fall, the major lift” — I feel like this is your stating your opening case for THIS SONG BELONGS TO “GOOD OMENS” NOW, and it’s a strong one

0.25 — “the baffled king” with Aziraphale resurrecting the dove (and of course he taps its chest exactly on beat) — I LOVE this because it’s a change from the book (where it’s Crowley who resurrects the dove), which annoyed people, and which was apparently done for practical reasons because of blocking issues, and you make such perfect use of it here; here is a being who has divine power to bring the dead back to life, and he is using it on a bird that he accidentally killed by shoving it up his sleeve in order to do pretend magic

0:33 — his radiant face reacting to the food, and I love the idea that that’s holy, because it really is part of his profound love for the world

0:42 — including books (and magic tricks, and wine, and snacks)

0.50 — and his little dum-dum-dum as he hangs up his coat, and into that sequence of gestures, so delightful

1.01 — “you saw her bathing on the roof, her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you” — these are the big money moments that get used in so many vids, but you tell the holy water story so deftly (and the “oooh-ooh-ooh” vocal embellishment as the thermos is handed over, you are SO GOOD at this)

1.12 — “she tied you to the kitchen chair” — all the little facial expressions and glances exchanged, with the coin thrown and caught woven in, as Crowley seduces him into the Arrangement and then into agreeing to godparent the Antichrist

And it’s so perfect with the David-and-Bathsheba/Samson-and-Delilah lyrics, because those stories are traditionally about being tempted/seduced into sin, but the song reframes them in terms of succumbing to vulnerability, to being “human” and flawed and frail in a way which is itself holy

1.133 — and oh, the hallelujahs are getting very harsh and lonely now, his faaaaace I can’t bear it, being judged and rejected by Heaven as a consequence of all the “softening” he’s done

1.39 — this close-up shot of Aziraphale losing his faith in heaven is one of the most impressive bits of acting in the show, and you place it perfectly in the vid and earn the space it holds, beautiful, especially with the cut away to the light in the portal dimming, and him averting his face from God’s light during their awkward conversation about the sword (and again the light dims), then returning to his face again

1.52 — the voice change and the POV change, I SCREAM; this is such a lovely shock for anyone who doesn’t know that this cover of the song has two lead singers, and you give Crowley such a power entrance with that little jump cut, I’m sure he’d appreciate that

2.05 — this is all so perfect for the song and you know it

2.09 — “I’ve seen your flag on the marble arch” — YOU USED THE CRUCIFIXION FOOTAGE YES GO THERE, AND THE ARK

2.12 — “and love is not a victory march”, with the two contrasting wall slams, and there’s a really interesting segue from the kind of performative-but-not-actually-scary violence of Crowley’s wall slam (which is nonetheless throwing “nice” back in Aziraphale’s face) to the real violence of the "bad angels" and the emotional nastiness of Gabriel’s little mock gut-punches

2.22 — all the little eye raises to heaven

2.24 — the softening “hallelujah”, and the chains fall away

2.28 — all the glances, you’re so good with glances, Aziraphale silently flirting his way into “Hamlet” being a hit, the paint being blown away is in every damn vid but again you earn it

2.40 — Az looking up as the bomb comes down, another unused moment, that’s someone watching his world about to come crashing down around them

2.42 — “how to shoot somebody who outdrew you” — all Crowley ever learned of love is rejection and abandonment and taking out your traumas on your houseplants, and yet he manages to love so deeply and so kindly anyway

2.56 —“a cry that you hear at night” — Aziraphale’s FAAAACE as he rejects him

3.12 — the slow beats that you’re cutting on behind the “hallelujah”s, the levitating and the fire, and then into the more subtle moments, the two of them stepping up to flank Adam and argue about whether the great plan is also the ineffable plan, before we’re into “come up with something or I’ll never speak to you again”

3.28 — Aziraphale getting sucked into the globe and then Crowley throwing his arms up to stop time as the music SWELLS, fuck yeah, and into the revelation of their wings

3.44 — Lucifer pounds his fists on the ground perfectly on the beat, Crowley getting yanked to the ground as he emerges is an overlooked moment

3.48 — Aziraphale gets ready to fight with his flaming sword as Adam gets ready to protect Eve with the same sword

3.53 — Aziraphale reaching to grab the scrap of paper with the “choose your faces wisely” prophecy as Eve reaches for the apple, lovely

3.58 — passing the scrap of paper on the bench

4.05 — the slow wing beats as the song settles and the narrative resolves and everything falls into place, the Ritz (and the piano echoing the wing covering) and the final callback to the wing covering on the walls of Eden

[walkthegale]

Ok, so, this is the first Good Omens fanwork I have consumed since finishing the show. At some point I am sure I will stop crying about this vid long enough to leave you a coherent comment. But until that happens, holy shit, friend, this is a work of art. So, so beautiful.

[purplefringe]

<33333333 no coherence is required, friend! I am so delighted and flattered that this is the first thing you watched, and am so happy (/sorry) that it gave you all the feelings. I didn't know *I* had these feelings?! But once I did I HAD TO SHARE THE PAIN.

[lunabee34]

Omg, this is perfection.

[purplefringe]

Thank you so much!

[vass]

Here via rydra_wong's rec, and glad I watched. It's beautiful and deft and painful, and like Rydra said, a bold song choice that paid off.

[purplefringe]

Oh, thank you so much! I'm glad you liked it. I need to go and thank for the rec too!

[oracne]

Beautiful.

[purplefringe]

Thank you!

[kore]

This is PURE AMAZING. Beautiful!

[purplefringe]

Thank you so much!

[tree_and_leaf]

Wow, this is really beautiful. Thank you for making and sharing this!

[purplefringe]

Thank you so much! :)

[kass]

OMG THIS IS AMAZING

This was a risky song choice but you made it work. You had me at "the minor fall" -- oh my God what a perfect clip choice, I cannot even

And the shift to Crowley with the vocal shift absolutely slayed me.

and God, I just. Their faces.

I am incoherent. I love this vid so much.

[purplefringe]

<3! Thank you so much! I'm delighted this worked so well for you. I was pleased with the 'minor fall / major lift' bit! :D Their FACES THOUGH ajl'asdjlahfhafljflasjfsahhhasj

[starlady]

I loved it the first time through, but I realized it was a duet on the second time through and my heart shattered. I need to rewatch it several more times, but this is beautiful and amazing.

[purplefringe]

Aaaaah, thank you so much! <3 This is lovely to hear. Sorry for the shattering.

[alatefeline]

Wow.

...

...

...

Just ... wow.

[purplefringe]

:) Thank you!

[kaydeefalls]

Aw, that was lovely.

[purplefringe]

Thank you! <3

[tabaqui]

That was absolutely lovely.

[purplefringe]

Thank you so much!

[cadenzamuse]

I feel completely wrung out by this. Especially Crowley's miracles as hallelujahs: the chains, the paintball. Also Michael Sheen's faaaaaaaaace. And the Adam and Eve parallels. And just, god, I feel like you made this song mean something again, after a very long time of it not.

[purplefringe]

Oh, thank you so much for this lovely, thoughtful comment! <3 I just...I just had a lot of feelings??! And omg Michael Sheen's FUCKING FACE i cannot /o\

[hokuton_punch]

This is simply gorgeous. ♥

[purplefringe]

Oh, thank you! <3

[amalthia]

Lovely vid. It was moving.

[purplefringe]

Thank you very much!

[maia]

This is superb.

[purplefringe]

Thank you!

[juniperphoenix]

This is tremendous. I will be watching over and over.

[purplefringe]

Oh, thank you <3

[renenet]

OMG, this is so gorgeous!

[purplefringe]

Thank you so much!