VID: Glósóli (Doctor Who, by purplefringe & such heights)

[such_heights]

Glósóli
by purplefringe and such_heights
fandom: Doctor Who
characters: Eleven-era ensemble (canon ships)
music: Sigur Rós - Glósóli
content notes: bright lights, audio level changes
summary: "That's a fairytale." "Aren't we all?"
notes: spoilers for all of S6. The lyrics, both in Icelandic and translated into English, can be found here.
download: 40MB zipped .avi

password: stories

Glosoli from such heights on Vimeo.

additional notes:

purplefringe: So, this vid kind of came into existence as a result of such_heights' Feelings about the Ponds and how awesome they are, and my Thoughts, which mostly went along the lines of "omg so much meta!!" Inspired by some particularly beautiful and insightful essays by elisi and goldenmoonrose, we decided to join forces to make a vid about the fairytale adventure that is Doctor Who, a journey of self-discovery down the rabbit hole, through the looking glass, into the wardrobe - a quest for identity throughout all of time and space. We also wanted to incorporate some of the most interesting symbolism from the show. And their faces. All their faces.

Comments

[rhivolution]

Lovely, lovely work and gorgeous glorious juxtaposition of some of the most beautiful shots in the series. Bravo, team Purple Heights!

[such_heights]

Thank you so much! I'm delighted that you liked it.

[purplefringe]

Thank you! :-D Also, 'team Purple Heights' = awesome name, thanks!

[laurashapiro]

I really wanna make out with you right now.

That was AMAZING and it made me teary and gleeful and my heart soared and I now have ALL THE FEELINGS.

Love all the crunchy meta, too -- the visual connections I hadn't realized were there. It's a vid that works on so many levels. Love. It.

[such_heights]

\o/ High praise indeed! Thanks so much, I'm delighted it all worked for you. :D

[laurashapiro]

Why can I not rewatch this vid right now? Whyyyyy?

('cuz I'm at work. Not fair.)

[purplefringe]

Isn't the meta crunchy and delicious?! I love this show. So glad you enjoyed the vid!

[laurashapiro]

I LOVED it.

[(Anonymous)]

That... was beautiful. And Epic. With a captial E. I don't even have the words. Just... wow. I do want to say though I love how you guys didn't use any dialogue clips, just let the images speak for themselves. Very powerful stuff, and WeLL CHOSEN CLIPS. God this show is so beautiful, and you guys really showed that off in this, in the best of ways.

Downloading.

(humansrsuperior from LJ btw!)

[such_heights]

Thanks so much, what a great comment! The visuals really did all the work for us.

[trouble]

It's like I've fallen in love with them all over again. This vid is so amazing.

[such_heights]

Oh hurray, thank you so much!

[purplefringe]

\o/ mission accomplished! Thank you :-)

[ladymercury_10]

This is absolutely beautiful.

[such_heights]

Thanks very much indeed!

[purplefringe]

Thank you! :-)

[raven]

This vid gave me gorgeous whole-body shivers. Thank you.

[such_heights]

eeee, thank you so much! <3

[purplefringe]

Oh wow, thank you!

[promethia_tenk]

Can the world even handle so much beauty? All is EPIC and stories and sparkles and I am slightly afraid to breathe and waft it all away.

[such_heights]

Thank you very much indeed! :DD

[purplefringe]

Don't be afraid! It is here to stay :-D And as elisi so often mentions you in her posts as inspiration for her meta, I think we have also to thank *you*.

[promethia_tenk]

=D Thank you very much indeed! Yeah, we basically pick the show apart together endlessly, so it's hard to tell what's whose . . . She has a more persistent drive to actually post things, though ; )

I am, however, beyond, beyond thrilled to see so many ideas I've spent a lot of time thinking over show up in such a spectacular vid!

[stultiloquentia]

I'm sitting here with my hand clutched to my chest. Gorgeous.

[such_heights]

Thank you so much! I'm delighted you had that reaction.

[purplefringe]

Oh, thank you! I'm so pleased you enjoyed it.

[gorgeousnerd]

I just cried a lot in the best possible way. This, right here, is everything I love about Doctor Who (and fiction in general, really).

[such_heights]

<3333 Thank you so much!

[purplefringe]

Sorry for making you cry! Actually, that's a lie. I'm not sorry. I'm delighted you liked it! Thank you :-)

[sabaceanbabe]

Wow. This is just one big, bold, beautiful build to an amazing crescendo with an ending that's filled with stars. Shivery good. And it left me with such a sense of wonder. \o/

Thank you. ♥

[such_heights]

Thank you so much! That sense of wonder is exactly what we wanted to get at.

[purplefringe]

Thank you :-) As such_heights said, the sense of wonder was more or less our ultimate aim. I'm so glad you got it.

[just_ann_now]

Oh, my, that was GLORIOUS. All those beautiful children, of all ages, and birth and life and death and shining eyes and the stars, the stars. Gorgeous!

[such_heights]

Thank you very much indeed!

[purplefringe]

eeeee thank you! So many stars <3

[zahrawithaz.livejournal.com]

Lovely. Just--oh, so lovely!

I love the way you manage to bring all the different stories of the series together into one, and bring out the connections--you reminded me of so many character that I loved--and I absolutely adore your last shot.

Really glorious work.

[such_heights]

Thanks so much, Zahra! I'm so glad it worked for you. <3

[purplefringe]

:-D Thank you very much! That is a lovely thing to say. There are so many amazing stories in this show, they all deserve to be told more often.

[revolutionaryjo]

Oh, my gosh. My heart. You know, I so often get bogged down under the weight of how this show is executed and written and all that, but this vid is everything I need to keep in mind when I do. It's the look of wonder on everyone's faces and yes yes yes, the fairytale of it at its core that will always keep me coming back.

Thank you so much for making this. I have the feeling I'll be revisiting it frequently.

[such_heights]

What a great comment, thank you! This is absolutely the heart of the show for us to, so I'm glad you felt that.

[purplefringe]

Oh my, thank *you* for such a lovely comment! The wonder and the fairytale at the core, as such_heights said, is precisely what we were trying to find. This show = <3

[sue_chose_this]

Wonder - Full! Loved it :D

[such_heights]

Thanks very much!

[purplefringe]

Thank you! :-)

[theleaveswant]

Beeyooooooooooooooooteafull. *Happy hypnotized face*

[such_heights]

Thank you so much!

[purplefringe]

Thank you! *happy comment-receiving face*

[lovelythings]

How lovely!

[such_heights]

:D Thank you!

[purplefringe]

Thank you very much!

[themadlurker]

Eeeeeeeeee! This vid is so lovely and beautifully made and gives me so many feeeeeelings!! ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥!!!

[such_heights]

Feelings! Yay! I have so many also. :D Thanks very much!

[purplefringe]

Ah, Feelings. This show gives me so many! It is so great. And thank you, I'm so glad you enjoyed the vid!

[giandujakiss]

That is gorgeous! I just loved the progression of the images!

[such_heights]

Thanks so much!

[purplefringe]

:-D Thank you! We were really trying to tell a story, it was important to get the images to play out right. I'm glad you feel it worked.

[fannishnonsense]

This is perfect. Downloading so I can watch it forever.

[such_heights]

Yay, thank you so much!

[purplefringe]

eeeeeee thank you! I hope forever is enjoyable.

[kouredios]

Breathtaking.

[such_heights]

Thanks so much!

[purplefringe]

Thank you! :-)

[juniperphoenix]

This is a beautiful, powerful vid.

I love how seamlessly it moves from the general (the opening images of various children) to the specific (the Ponds). The whole thing feels very inclusive and meta, as though we as fans are included in that roll call of wonder-struck children who go on to discover themselves and become powerful and shape their own amazing stories. I was particularly struck by the alternating Old!Amy and River battle sequences, which highlight the multigenerational nature of the Ponds' story as well as the multigenerational nature of this fandom.

I also love that this vid doesn't separate the Doctor from his companions, but depicts him as being on the same kind of personal journey as everyone else (and wow, you found so many great visual parallels to demonstrate that). I especially love the shot of his cradle — it's that multigenerational theme again, and a great way of showing that people have been going on journeys of self-discovery since time immemorial. The children at the beginning are all of us, and they are the Doctor, too.

Another of my favorite parts is the sequence that culminates in the TARDIS/Pandorica explosion — I love the way it equates the power of personal transformation with the power to renew the universe.

Plus, the whole thing is visually gorgeous, and the song is beautiful.

And now I'm going to have to hunt down those essays that inspired you, because they sound like good reading. :)

[such_heights]

What a wonderful comment, thank you so much! I'm delighted that all of those ideas came across for you, particularly the idea of the Doctor being on a journey too, and the children being us.

[purplefringe]

Oh my goodness, this is amazing. Thank YOU! This comment made my day. Particularly the part about the children being us, and the Tardis explosion. I'm glad the meta came across! If you're interested in this kind of thing, you should definitely read those essays, they are amazing and kind of mind-blowing.

[elisi]

Oh my goodness! I'm not even sure I am capable of writing right now...

This vid was like... EVERYTHING.

River as the Storyteller (of course! &hearts), and all the children, and Amy and then just all the metaphors and fairytales, the boxes and the masks and the magical worlds and the love stories and the stars and the magic (and omg my chess pieces in there I nearly fainted!) and... EVERYTHING.

*waves hands helplessly*

I'm just going to go away and re-watch it over and over and over again and drown in the gorgeousness and the beauty of this show. ♥ ♥ ♥

[such_heights]

eee, thank you very much! I'm so so glad this worked for you. And omg, the chess pieces, we had a lot of fun trying to figure out how to use that one.

[purplefringe]

THE CHESS PIECE. As such_heights will tell you, that particular image caused us much angst, trying to get it right. I'm so pleased you enjoyed it, as your writing helped inspire it!

[rothas-writing.livejournal.com]

So. Unbelievably gorgeous.

[such_heights]

Thank you so much!

[grammarwoman]

Oh, the FEELINGS here! The wonder and joy and love, the closeness of family-you-made and family-by-blood and the weirdness when they intersect, the courage it takes to step out into the unknown and the relief when you come back home.

The music is beyond perfect for this; it just keeps building and building. I felt like I couldn't breathe until the end, there was so much beauty to absorb.

This is amazing. I have happy tears in my eyes from watching this.

[such_heights]

Thank you so much! I'm delighted you had that reaction to that vid.

[purplefringe]

Oh wow, thank you very much. The music is amazing isn't it? We had a lot of fun with it. the courage it takes to step out into the unknown... exactly <3

[independence1776]

This is-- I have no other word to describe it-- magical. So many parallels, so much story. And most of all, so much love.

[such_heights]

Thank you so much! Love, magic and stories are exactly why I love this show so much. :D

[purplefringe]

Thank you! Magic, love, and stories...they are at the heart of this show, and this vid, and life in general. I'm so pleased you enjoyed it :-)