Oh, Vienna

[purplefringe]

Only, er, 2 months late, I am delighted to post my effort for silly_cleo's wonderful Aims Vidding Project! (Go and watch them all, they're all fabulous!)

Never Look Away
edited by purplefringe
fandom: Doctor Who
characters: The Doctor, Clara
music: Never Look Away by Vienna Teng
summary: you’re made of memories you bury or live by
content notes: Contains some very fast cutting and flickery lights

I am eternally grateful to the following lovely people:

To silly_cleo, for coming up with this whole beautiful project in the first place, for orchestrating everything, and, um, for being very very patient with me as I dithered and procrastinated and generally failed to deliver my vid even remotely on time. <3
To such_heights, my wonderful vidwife, for letting me use this song in the first place. And then for watching the inevitable fifteen bajillion very slightly different versions and giving helpful beta advice, and for generally being super lovely and encouraging about this vid, even when I was being whiny and indecisive and annoying. <3
And to elisi, lonewytch, janie_aire, deborah_judge, radiolaires and all of the other amazing meta writers, whose thoughts I admire and envy in equal measure, and who have fundamentally changed the way I watch this stupid show. <3


It was hard to make, this vid. Mostly because the lyrics fit too well - I am pretty sure that Vienna Teng is a timetraveler, who traveled to the future, watched this entire season of DW, then skipped back to her Tardis, came home and wrote this song. I just can't imagine it being about anything else. Having lyrics that matched the story *so* perfectly was a little paralyzing, actually. When the lyrics are less obviously relevant, paradoxically I tend to find it easier to choose which clips to use. (This is possibly why Devil's Spoke, my Wash and Zoe vid, was one of the easiest vids I've ever made and one of the very few I feel no desire to tinker with in retrospect - I have absolutely no bloody idea what that song is about or what the lyrics mean, even now, so it was easy to make things fit.) Here, every line is so loaded with meaning that I was spoiled for choice, and found that really hard. Also, almost every line could equally apply to the Doctor's perspective on Clara or Clara's perspective on the Doctor. At first I tried to incorporate both, but the result was a bit of a mess. So eventually (and with much woe at having to cut out some really shiny parallels) I decided to concentrate on Clara's POV - until the second, epic iteration of the chorus, when it becomes about both of them. I do hope that comes across...

ETA: As these notes are mostly for my own benefit - I sometimes find it interesting to go back and see what I was thinking when making a particular vid - I should add what I forgot to say initially: I started making this vid quite a few weeks before the 50th Anniversary aired. I was 99% confident (for reasons of Meta) that Gallifrey was going to return, at least temporarily, and that Clara was going to be instrumental in this. So I already had an inkling of what 'bring you to your birthright' was going to mean in the context of the vid...but I started making it anyway. Then The Day Of The Doctor aired, and it fitted with this song more perfectly than I could have ever imagined, and it undid me a little. Suddenly every line had even more resonance than before, and a lot of sequences I was really proud of had to be ruthlessly deleted from the timeline to fit in the new context. (I am very bad at ruthless. I'm painfully indecisive.) And then....the obsessive in me took over. I couldn't finish this vid until the Christmas ep had aired, and we had ALL of Clara and Eleven's story. It would have bugged me FOREVER if I'd made it without the ending. (dammit, open canon.) And then Christmas came, and the same thing happened! Cue deleting, cue re-interpretation of lyrics, cue much flailing on the sofa and being unable to even.

The vid was also hard to make because of ALL THE META. Seriously, this last season has done terrible things to my brain, to the extent that I almost (almost) wish I didn't care about the Hero's Journey or the World Tree or any of that, because it would be a significantly more relaxing viewing experience. As it is, there was SO MUCH to cram into this vid, I put off making it for a really long time because it was slightly overwhelming. There are already some really fabulous meta vids out there about Clara - the mystery of 'Clara who?' seems to have really inspired them - and I particularly recommend Message and I See The Light by radiolaires, State Of Dreaming by niyalune, The New Age by promethia_tenk and To The Grave by KatrinDepp.

This was a rather daunting backdrop to vid against! (Or it is if you are me, and easily discouraged by everyone else's awesomeness). I wanted to make a vid that summed up the lens through which I watched this last season, and that inevitably meant making some tricky choices - do I go with the pretty, swirly shot, or with the shot that looks slightly less shiny but has more resonance if you are aware of the context? Will most viewers even remember the context? Does it even matter, if the clip is less than half a second long?! Obviously, these are questions that come up when making any vid, but I found them harder than ever this time. It's not just my usual problem of 'which face shot looks cuter?' or 'which shot has more movement?', but more along the lines of 'do I use shot X because it fits more obviously with the lyrics, shot Y because it has layers of meta that about 3 other people will understand, but are really important to how I see the show, or shot Z just because it is so very pretty it seems a shame not to include it?!' (It's really weird, living in my brain). There was no set answer to that one, and some clips kept switching and switching back every time I exported a new draft. (I'm really sorry,such_heights...) I'm still not sure I'm happy with all of them, but I JUST WANT THIS VID TO BE OVER NOW.

Um. Moving on. At the other end of the clip-choices-spectrum, there was the small matter of Clara's face. Have you seen it? I defy you to look at her face and not swoon over how ridiculously adorable it is. SHE IS THE FACIEST. <3 The same goes for her wonderfully tactile relationship with the Doctor - I seriously could have filled an entire vid just with Clara's perfect facial expressions, her swishy hair, and the endless clips of her and the Doctor flailing at each other. I spent quite a lot of time bemoaning this to such_heights, who made soothing noises at me. Though I do blame her a little bit - when I started making this vid, it was All Meta All The Time, and had very little in the way of Feelings. She took one look at it and told me in no uncertain terms that it wouldn't do. And obviously she was right (she usually is). So then faces and cuteness happened and it was a slippery downward spiral into wanting to make a completely different vid all about Clara's radiant smile, and screw the meta entirely.

But, you know. Meta. So I compromised.



download: 56MB @ mediafire

password: rycbar123

stream:

Never Look Away from Phoebe on Vimeo.

Lyrics

detect my sudden existence on your sonar
you feel the echo
electrify the resistance in your broken heart
and burn it up, oh
we’re gonna photosynthesize and drink up the sunrise

so do they ever shut up because you said so or
do you overthink ’em all
somebody ought to corrupt you on the dance floor
and take you home
show you all your daemons and desires and dark sides
all of your colonies and continental divides

let me uncover the silver in your dark hair
the weight of your bones
I want to witness the beauty of your repair
the shape you’ve grown
for you are made of nebulas and novas and night sky
you’re made of memories you bury or live by

so if you’re out there in the cold
I’ll cover you in moonlight
if you’re a stranger to your soul
I’ll bring you to your birthright
I want the storm inside you awoken now
I want your warm bright eyes
to never look away
don’t you ever look away

some nights we open up the flood
and some nights we are lost
and some nights we’re choking on the words
but some we light on fire

if you’re out there in the cold…

I want your warm bright eyes
to come back to me
and hold on to me
you know I won’t lie
I will never look away

Comments

[chaila]

So I know nothing about this part of Doctor Who, but this is beautiful anyway! The editing is really fantastic, and I am a sucker for amazing visual parallels. I've rewatched the long section with the hands starting around 1:20 like five times because it is so great!

[purplefringe]

<3 Thank you so much! I'm really glad you enjoyed this, despite not being aware of the context. I am also a total sucker for parallels :-D (it occurred to me recently that basically ALL my vids have at least one section which is essentially 'look at these characters doing the same thing in different situations!'...yeah.) Also hands. Clara and the Doctor are so very tactile, it's super adorable. That whole part was really fun to make.

Best thing about finishing this? I can now go and watch all the other Aims vids! (I'd been saving them till I'd done this...) \o/

[juniperphoenix]

Oh my god, you weren't kidding about the lyrics being perfect. Wow. I've been listening to Aims on Soundcloud, but I finally broke down and downloaded it just now for the sole purpose of adding this song to my DW playlist.

The vid itself is gorgeous. There's a wonderful motion and flow throughout, and the way you overlapped various bits of footage at the beginning is really impressive. Not to mention it gave me ALL THE FEELS, as they say. :)

[purplefringe]

Hooray! VIENNA TENG FOREVER! I'm really glad you've now downloaded the album. Do you have all her others? Almost all her songs are vidsongs in my head...

Thank you so much for the lovely comment! <3 Aren't the lyrics the most perfect thing *ever*? I'm so happy it gave you ALL THE FEELS, because by the time I'd finished with it I'd watched it so many times I couldn't tell any more if the Feels were really there, or if it was just too meta-y...so thank you :-)

[kass]

asdfjas;dlkfjads;lfkjasd;fkjas;fkjsd

OMFG this is amazing. Amaaaaaaazing!

So gorgeous. Every moment. Every clip. I need to watch it about ten thousand more times before I can say anything coherent about it. Right now I'm just caught between beaming and wanting to cry, which is exactly how this season left me. Holy wow. I can't even. THiS VID!!!

[purplefringe]

:-D Heeeeee! oh my goodness, thank you so so much for that lovely comment! *flails* I...don't even really know how to respond! I'm just really glad it gave you Feelings, and that it echoed your feelings for the season. A lot of people seem to have been decidedly lukewarm towards the latest season, and so it's wonderful to know there are other people out there who also loved it <3

[laurashapiro]

The movement in this is just BREATHTAKING. I can't get over the determined, unceasing pulse of this. The internal motion, the cutting itself is underscoring the vid's theme: Clara's determination to know, understand, help, save the Doctor always. It's like you vidded relentlessness, and you did it relentlessly. I am all agog.

I will now need to watch this about 27 more times to pick up all the subtleties.

[purplefringe]

Clara's determination to know, understand, help, save the Doctor always. It's like you vidded relentlessness, and you did it relentlessly

Omg, best comment ever. Thank youuuu! <3 I'm so glad that you enjoyed this (that always means a lot, but particularly when it comes from someone whose vids I admire so much!) I love what you said about the cutting underscoring the theme...it's absolutely true that this entire season, more than any other, has been propelled forward by an unceasing need to find answers and to uncover truths. On both the Doctor and Clara's side. I'm so happy that comes across here!

[elisi]

I currently have NO WORDS. I need to watch about 500 times more, and then try to make coherent noises at you.

Mind you, I know I need to write Clara-centric meta (so much there) so this might help kick-start something...

[purplefringe]

<333 Thank you! I look forward to any coherent noises, but as I'm usually so incoherent when you post your meta, I understand the lack of words issue. And thank you also for the lovely rec! And thank you most of all for the amazing things you write, which helped to inspire this (can you tell...?) If this vid does kick-start your next meta-essay, that would be rather circular and wonderful...like an ouroboros :-)

[a_phoenixdragon]

Perfection...sheer perfection...

[purplefringe]

:-D Thank you so much! That is very kind.

[usuallyhats]

AAAAAAH YOU FINISHED IT YAY! And it is AMAZING. There's so much going on, I need to watch it many many more times to catch everything. :D The song is so perfect and you use it so brilliantly, especially in terms of pacing and movement. The ending sequence works really well - I found it really movin. <3 I particularly love the clip from "Cold War" at about 2'39.

SO GOOD.

[purplefringe]

I FINISHED IT JENNI I FINISHED IT!! *dances with glee* NOW I CAN GO AND WATCH ALL THE OTHER AIMS VIDS WITH A CLEAR CONSCIENCE!!

<33 Thank you thank you for the lovely comment, I'm so happy you liked it! Also particularly grateful that you enjoyed the ending sequence - I tweaked that bit about a bajillion times (sorry, Amy) and was never sure if it worked or not. Also, that Cold War clip? That was one of the ones that went down really early on, and never moved :-)

[flowsoffire]

Ohhhhhh dear! This is just magical ♥ I'm no great meta-mind so I probably missed a thousand and one things, but never mind that, it's still incredible—great vid and it gave me sooooo many feelings and CLARA GOD I CAN'T WITH HER FACE I KNOW RIGHT and CLARA AND ELEVEN THE LEVEL OF CUTE, and just their connection. *draws hearts* I'm having feelings, lots of them, and throwing love at you. THANK YOU FOR SHARING!

[purplefringe]

CLARA'S FACE HOW IS IT REAL IT IS TOO CUTE AND PERFECT TO EXIST. NO WONDER THE DOCTOR LIKES TO SMOOSH IT SO MUCH.

<3 Thank youuu so much for saying such lovely things! I'm really happy to hear that this works on a purely Feelings-y level, for the vast vast majority of people who do NOT watch DW for the meta! *throws more love back at you*

CLARAFACE.

[thisbluespirit]

Oh, this is really, really beautiful! So well done!

[purplefringe]

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

[cosmic_llin]

I'm not caught up on Who so I'm probably missing beautiful shades of subtlety that you've put in here, but it's so gorgeous anyway! The intro took my breath away and the whole thing has this quality your vids often have of just kind of sweeping you along before you know what's happening? Lovely.

[purplefringe]

<333 Thank youuuu! Argh. *blushes* That's a completely overwhelmingly lovely thing to say. I'm so happy this works for you, even not being up to date with DW. Though the perfection of Clara's little face is something that everybody can and should appreciate. FACE.

And NOW I can go and watch all the other Aims vids and flail and squee and not feel like I'm letting the side down by not having finished mine. HOORAY.

[schneefink]

This is great! I love the song, and you're right, it really fits perfectly. The vid flows very well and it's very pretty :)

[purplefringe]

Thank you so much! This is such a pretty show, it's a joy to vid really.

[honeynoir]

Oh, that's amazing! Every little beat is perfect... and all the Clara things are there. And those lyrics. Cannot get over those lyrics. And Clara and Eleven doing all the facial expression-ing at each other and holding hands and poking each other to those lyrics...

Also loving that "all" the Clara's get screentime, as well as other Doctors. Ultimate Companion, basically. ♥

[purplefringe]

<3 Thank you! Aren't the lyrics amazing?! Vienna Teng is incredible. And almost certainly a time traveler.

I'm so glad you enjoyed this, and the Clara-ness of it all. All the Claras had to be in it, of course! As many versions of her perfect little face as possible.

[ladymercury_10]

This song fits so well, and you have some really great cuts syncing up with it! Very nice.

[purplefringe]

Thank you very much! The song was so perfect, it was just amazing. I'm really happy you enjoyed it.

[aria]

Oh, I went into this going "Well, my Doctor Who feelings are a bit on hold right now, but I like the Aims vid project and I want to be complete about it!" and came out with tears in my eyes going "I JUST LOVE THEM SO MUCH AND I LOVE THEIR FACES YAY HOW PERFECT." What a lovely vid. :D

[purplefringe]

:-D :-D :-D MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!! I am delighted to have re-ignited, however briefly, someone's dormant Doctor Who feels! Thank you so much for the lovely comment <3

[revolutionaryjo]

This gave me more feels than watching the season itself did! Just beautiful. You're so talented!

[purplefringe]

*blushes* eeep. Thank you so much! I'm so glad I you enjoyed it! :-D

[aughoti]

Holy crap... this is fantastic! It's gorgeous just on the surface, but the deeper "shut up I'm rescuing you now" that shifts back and forth between Clara and the Doctor... I -liked- this season, but I didn't really love it. Now I want to rewatch it, with this is mind. (Also want to watch the vid a few dozen more times, right after things stop being so blurry. *sniffles*) Adore how "UNDER MY PROTECTION" applies to both of them.

Totally get what you meant by the lyrics being almost too dead-on:

if you’re a stranger to your soul
I’ll bring you to your birthright
I want the storm inside you awoken now

I love how the whole vid sort of pivots on the first iteration of this. It feels deeper, more resonant at that point. Clips get a bit longer, the parallels get clearer.

Said "gorgeous" already, didn't I? But very very true. And the clips slowing with the song toward the end is amazing; it's the visual equivalent of refusing to let go of someone's hand. Fantastic!

[purplefringe]

<3333 Thank you so, so much! That is such a wonderful, insightful comment to receive - it's such a great feeling when you work really hard on making something, and then other people really get it and take the time to tell you why.

I think a huge part of the reason I enjoyed this season so much is that I was really invested in all the meta-analysis that was going on. The writers I mention in my post all saw amazing things in every episode, and reading their essays helped me to enjoy the season on a whole new level. If you're interested in that kind of thing, you should totally go and check out their posts (warning, they are LONG!) and if you're not then it doesn't matter because I think you've hit the nail on the head with the lyrics you picked out:

if you’re a stranger to your soul
I’ll bring you to your birthright

That's it. That's the season. Also the line about being made of memories.

Thank you again!

[niyalune]

Wow, amazing vid ! During the first viewing I was too focused on the gorgeous visuals and rhythm to really take in the lyrics and all the fantastic ways you used them, so the vid just kept getting better with each rewatch ;D
And congrats on making me feel things about a season I am so ambivalent about !

[purplefringe]

<3 Awwww, thank you so much! I'm so happy you enjoyed it as much as I enjoy your beautiful DW vids! And I'm really glad there's still stuff to enjoy on a rewatch :-D It's a shame this season hasn't been so enjoyable for you - I know it hasn't worked for a lot of people. I hope you enjoy the next season more.

[gratiela]

*awe*
This video is one of the most beautiful things I've seen recently!
All the emotions asffgfhgdshgj!! *incoherent flail*

also also!!! I think I'll look into Vienna Teng- I'm always searching new awesome music!

[purplefringe]

Eeeeeeeeee thank you so much! :-D Incoherent flailing is the most wonderful praise to receive :-) I'm so happy you enjoyed it! And YES YES YES do check out Vienna Teng because she is THE BEST. You should look at the other vids in the Aims Vidding Project, which is a project by a small bunch of vidders to vid all the songs in her latest album. It's nearly done!

[cass404]

Gorgeous.

[purplefringe]

Thanks very much! :-)

[kiki_miserychic]

Wow I really love this because of reasons.

[purplefringe]

:-D Thank you!

[frayadjacent]

Oh wow, this is totally gorgeous. I especially love their eyes locking in the first "don't you ever look away" section -- and after I watch it a few dozen more times to take it all in better I'm sure I'll have a huge list and have to conclude that I especially love all of it.

Like a few other commenters, I didn't love this series a ton, but your vid captures everything I did love and magnifies it and makes it so gorgeous and wonderful. <3 <3 <3

'do I use shot X because it fits more obviously with the lyrics, shot Y because it has layers of meta that about 3 other people will understand, but are really important to how I see the show, or shot Z just because it is so very pretty it seems a shame not to include it?!' (It's really weird, living in my brain).

I had to laugh when I read this, because I've been having the exact same argument with myself all weekend. :D

[purplefringe]

I've been having the exact same argument with myself all weekend

VIDDING IS A STUPID HOBBY. IT IS THE WORST. WHY DO WE DO IT TO OURSELVES?! Oh, right, because it's also really fun and rewarding. Dammit.

Anyway, yay thank you so much! I'm delighted that you enjoyed this, and that it managed to bring out the good things for you in a somewhat divisive season of DW :-) I had a lot of fun (amongst the angst) vidding Clara and the Doctor's adorable faces, and I'm especially pleased that you liked the first 'don't you look away' section, because I spent a while stressing about that one…!

[lokifan]

WOW. There's so much gorgeous editing and great meta (the intro was perfect, all those images of the World Tree, red/blue, circles etc) and also gave me a lot of feelings. <333

[purplefringe]

Thank you so much! Meta + Feelings was the aim, and I'm very glad you felt it delivered! The intro was really fun to make, and there were just SO MANY SYMBOLS I could have put in there...

[promethia_tenk]

OMG CLARRRAAAAAAAAAAA <3 <3 <3

I shall be back with more, but am currently kinda stuck on HER PERFECT FACE <3

The editing is just gorgeous and mesmerizing, though!

[purplefringe]

HER FACE IS SO PERFECT. IT SHOULDN'T REALLY BE ALLOWED.

I'm so glad you liked the vid :-)

Here from laurashapiro's rec

[dorothy1901]

This is beautiful.

Re: Here from laurashapiro's rec

[purplefringe]

Thank you so much! :-)

[radiolaires]

How do you? Whaaaaaa? I cannot compute anything anymore. Nothing. My face is stuck in an expression of wonder and gratitude and amazement and pure joy. This is flawless; the lyrics, the editing -blimey, the pace you set-, the emotions, the sweeping-twirling effect... Everything. I cannot believe how meta and gorgeous this is. There is so much soul and love for those two. Gone is the Doctor abandoning and doubting Clara, gone is Clara trying so damn hard to be a hero -well, not completely, because ALL the meta is in here. There is just those adorable idiots loving and helping each other through each other's journey and it's so good.

The opening was just breathtaking and the superimpositions there! All the meaning! The echo, the umbrella tossed from him to her, across echoes... The 'take you home' and 'show you all your demons' part! The running of the chorus! 'let me uncover the silver in your dark hair[...]the shape you’ve grown': most beautiful piece of editing ever. I want to wake up to it in the morning. Gosh Amy/River parallel. 'I'll cover you in moonlight/if you’re a stranger to your soul': I'm far gone, thank you for asking. And then Clara's ickle face and the second bloody chorus filled with so many gorgeous parallels between Clara and the Doctor, I can't. You've broken me.

I kinda hate you because you achieved what I now consider the best ever Clara & Eleven vid to be edited and I don't think I want to open my editing program ever again.

Oh, and thank you for the fascinating genesis of the project; it's hilarious to read about all those little things that make vid-making so frustrating. It's reassuring to see I'm not the only one with meta vs. pretty shot problems. And thank you for the mention and the dedication! What is my name even doing on this page with this gem, I don't know, but thank you; I am incredibly proud to be even associated with it!

Thank you for editing, persevering, sharing this beauty! *throws flowers*

[purplefringe]

al'kashkfjl'sahi;j'akshijl'asha.

*blushes*

*flails*

*falls over*

I don't even know how to respond to such an incredible comment - this, or the one on LJ. Help! I am not good at dealing with praise! Nyargh.

Um, ok, well first off - I LOVE your vids. As I think you know :-P Your meta trailer for the finale was unlike anything I'd ever seen before, and I can't even begin to count the number of times I have watched your Message vid. I have it on my phone, and watched it every day on my commute for weeks….So you had BETTER open your editing program again, because if you don't make any more vids I will be SUPER MAD AT YOU. You might remember that I flailed incoherently at you when you first made that vid, and I was going to pm you about it but then I just had too many feelings and didn't know where to start and it was overwhelming. So overwhelming in fact, that I found it really hard to make this vid, as I mentioned :-P Because I kind of felt like you'd said it all already. All that meta, all those layers, all that impeccably timed editing - it's all in your vid too! The only difference is that I had the Anniversary ep and the Xmas ep to play with too. I think possibly the moral of this story is that we are both awesome and should stop feeling intimidated by each other, and instead just sit back and enjoy each other's stuff. :-)

Speaking of which, ahahaha, vidding is a STUPID HOBBY. Remind me why we do it again?! Ugh, I have spent SO LONG swapping one clip for another, swapping it back again, swapping back again, deciding to sleep on it, waking up to look at it again, deciding that IT'S ALL TERRIBLE and neither clip works……and then realising that the clip in question is literally a quarter of a second long, and nobody apart from me will even really notice it. *facepalm*. So no, you are definitely not the only one who struggles with that! It's particularly hard with meta vids isn't it? Because you really can't just put things in because they're pretty, even if it just kills you not to….there are so many gorgeous shots I hoarded but ultimately couldn't fit in because meta. I think you understand that :-)

The other reason this was so hard to make - which I forgot to mention in my ramblings above, but should go an add in now so I remember later - is that I actually started making this before the 50th aired. I was pretty confident that Gallifrey was going to come back in the 50th (remember all the theorising about that a year and a bit ago?) so I knew that the whole 'bring you to your birthright' thing was ultimately going to play into that. So I always planned to finish this after the 50th….but then the ep aired, and was more perfect than I had even imagined and I had to undo a load of stuff I had already made to make room for it. And then I decided that I couldn't complete this whilst the story was unfinished, so had to sheepishly ask silly_cleo to let me wait until Christmas….and then that ep was so perfect too that I was just unable to even. As I mentioned above. Vienna Teng, your lyrics, wtf.

Also, Clara's perfect face, wtf. How is it even. I have been enjoying just how much everyone has agreed with me over its perfection, regardless of how much or little they enjoyed this last season :-) I do hope that this vid helps to reconcile to you Clara and Eleventy! I completely agree that Eleven was not always on his best behaviour with her, and he tests her unduly. But I found myself much more engaged in the subtleties of their relationship when I watched the season through for a second and third time, in the course of making this vid. Theirs really is this incredibly tactile friendship - and I do think it's meant affectionately. They're almost magnetically drawn to each other. Besides being super adorable, it's also symbolic of the way they are both trying to discover the 'truth' about the other (as you highlight beautifully) in I See The Light - I guess they touch each other to find out if the other is 'really real', which is an issue that comes up repeatedly this season. That was the main thing I was sad to lose when I decided to focus on Clara's POV - I had a sequence involving the Doctor poking Clara's face, and then his Tardis, and then shutting Clara's blue laptop, and looking inside her 1001 Places book just as she looks inside the History of the Time War book. It was meant to show them both investigating the other, and be a reminder of the popular 'Clara is a Tardis' theory….but in the end I couldn't make it fit, alas.

So…yes. Thank you! Thank you thank you thank you for your lovely words. I have never had a vid described as being like a dance number before. *blushes*. It's particularly delightful to get such an insightful response from you, because as a Whovian and a meta-fan and a vidder you were basically my target audience for this. I'm glad you liked the moment with the umbrella, I was proud of that :-) I do know what you mean about some of the recent youtube-based vids…they are very shiny, but often I feel like the effects and the colouring and sharp cutting is just window-dressing on some fairly arbitrary clips. If you colour something well enough (which, don't get me wrong, is a skill I really admire. I have no idea how to do that) and use dramatic voice overs from the show then you can make things feel deeper and more purposeful than they really are….does that sound mean? I hope not.

Um. That got long. Argh :-)