Vid: Hymn to the Hollow [Sleepy Hollow]

[beccatoria]

Title: Hymn to the Hollow
Video: Sleepy Hollow
Audio: Hymn of Acxiom // Vienna Teng
Summary: Nothing is forgotten, unseen, unimportant. [Abbie, Ichabod, Katrina, Jenny]
Warning: Very fast flickering cuts (less than a frame long).
Notes: Part of the Aims Vid Album project heroically organised by silly_cleo!

Direct download available here. 81 megs approx. RightClickSaveAs.

"" (Watch on YouTube)

Cross-posted to vidding, vidding and sleepy_hollow.

Other vids available here.



somebody hears you. you know that. you know that.
somebody hears you. you know that inside.
someone is learning the colors of all your moods, to
(say just the right thing and) show that you’re understood.
here you’re known.

leave your life open. you don’t have. you don’t have.
leave your life open. you don’t have to hide.
someone is gathering every crumb you drop, these
(mindless decisions and) moments you long forgot.
keep them all.

let our formulas find your soul.
we’ll divine your artesian source (in your mind),
marshal feed and force (our machines will)
to design you a perfect love —
or (better still) a perfect lust.
o how glorious, glorious: a brand new need is born.

now we possess you. you’ll own that. you’ll own that.
now we possess you. you’ll own that in time.
now we will build you an endlessly upward world,
(reach in your pocket) embrace you for all you’re worth.

is that wrong?
isn’t this what you want?
amen.

Comments

[rivkat]

I am really looking forward to the end of work so I can see the combination of source and song!

[beccatoria]

Yay! :D I hope it lives up to expectations! :)

[usuallyhats]

I've never watched any Sleepy Hollow but now I really want to - this is so cool and creepy and atmospheric!

[beccatoria]

YAYYYY, then I consider my mission accomplished. For a show that had a premise that made me think it was going to be awful, it turned out to be pretty much my favourite thing on TV right now. It does have cheesiness, to be sure, but it balances it out against a genuine poise to its Colonial American FanFic-ness and a wonderfully diverse cast of strong performers. It's just adorable. And horrifying.

[usuallyhats]

That does sound awesome! *adds to list*

[thelibraniniquity]

That was fantastic.

[beccatoria]

Thank you so much! :)

[alwaystheocean]

Ok so what I take from this is Sleepy Hollow is about two sisters, a guy out of time...and creepy shit.

This is awesome, I'm going to guess (hope) you've kind of emphasized the creepy of the show through your song choice and excellent use of it?

I'm slightly afraid Sleepy Hollow will be too scary for me now, as I am a WUSS but wow I am SO LIKELY to brave it for promised Mills sisters.

This is incredibly well done though. I feel like that's underselling it but you did such a good job with the mood of it I'm still residually a bit creeped out!

ETA: Heroically?! <3 You guys all rule, seriously. <3 I love these vids, and the diversity of fandoms they document. <3

[beccatoria]

Silence, mortal, you gave us the idea and made like, a spreadsheet of dates and things!

You know, your summary is basically 100% accurate. Although unfortunately one of the sisters is only a recurring character not a regular cast member. She's around a fair amount though. Also I feel bad because this vid doesn't feature the fourth regular cast member, Captain Irving, aka Orlando Jones, who you may have heard about vicariously through fandom, on account of how he straight up decided to unironically join fandom.

Anyway, I like Irving a lot, but until very recently he was playing more of a Skinner to the man out of time and the cop lady's Mulder and Scully, and the vid was focused on them and the people they love. Which sadly does not include Irving. YET. But he's getting some cool subplots.

John Cho is another recurring cast member and they just introduced a character who looks pretty important who is a woman of colour who uses a wheelchair in a totally unsensationalised, matter-of-fact way. It's a crazy diverse cast, and while they don't always do it with the grace it could have (not that that's my area of expertise), they absolutely do not erase African American people from the Colonial era when the show flashes back to that.

Like, one of the things I like is that the man out of time - WHO IS ICHABOD CRANE on a SECRET MISSION FROM GEORGE WASHINGTON (it's in the first five minutes of the show, so I feel this is not a huge spoiler?) - you know, you think that it's gonna be about his super secret mission and how he's all chosen to stop the creepy stuff, and he IS, but so is the cop lady, like equally so, and her lineage and destiny and place in prophecy are things the show explores.

Honestly, I am sad to report, I did not emphasize the creepiness. It just is that creepy. I sympathise because I usually hate horror. All I can tell you is that I think this show is okay in ways I don't usually feel okay with horror shows. And sure partly that's because of the Mills sisters - a complicated relationship between sisters! As the core emotionally angsty relationship the female protagonist has! - I think it's also because it's not slasher movie horror. It's full on Biblical Apocalypse Four Riders Snakes Speaking In Tongues Of Men as a Sign of the End Times horror. In many ways it's basically urban fantasy? Also it still has a kind of basic adorable cheesiness and kind of batshit cracktasticness (I mean, the parts in the past are basically historical RPF and no one's even sorry) that makes its creepier parts easier to deal with?

But this has now turned into the EPICEST of posts.

So what I mean is, I'm really glad you enjoyed it, even if you never watch the whole thing.

And yes, yes it is most certainly about a pair of amazing, complicated sisters helping a dude out of time avert the apocalypse. Sometimes his secret witch wife who's stuck in limbo and an actor who attempts to stop het-shipping wars by suggesting they write slash fic about his character get to help.

[alwaystheocean]

I feel bad that I got sick and never replied to this because <3 . Just I'm so glad the project came together but also I totally do want to check out Sleepy Hollow and I'm really glad to have a realistic idea of the creepiness level going in! I think the sisters and everything else might make the creepy worth it.

[such_heights]

This is really beautiful - totally mesmerising even though I only know the source through tumblr for now. And such a great interpretation of the song, I loved the changing meaning of similar lyrics as the vid progressed.

[beccatoria]

Aww, thanks. I really wanted to do the song justice - and that's exactly how I perceived it - mesmerising, slowly shifting until the original has a very different meaning. This is perfect feedback.

It's definitely a show I recommend at least trying. It has an earnestness that really sells the more batshit elements of its premise.

[castalia]

That was beautiful!

[beccatoria]

Thank you so much!

[goodbyebird]

UM. I didn't even know you watched Sleepy Hollow! This is going to be a great treat for me when I get home :D

[beccatoria]

I DO watch Sleepy Hollow! Isn't it horrifying and fun?! I really hope that you enjoy it when you get home! :D

[goodbyebird]

It's this season's charmer for sure! THEIR ADORABLE FACES. Just curious, how spoilery would you say this is? I'm about a month behind atm. Not that it matters much, since I'll be catching up pronto anyways hehe.

AND DON'T THINK I DIDN'T NOTICE YOUR FANCY AND NEWLY UPLOADED ICON MISSY. :D

[someplacetobe]

It's a lovely video (I downloaded it so I could watch it without any interruptions) but I was more drawn to the song due to it being really wonderfully matched to the video (and I like the arist!).

[beccatoria]

Aww, hooray for downloading! The song is absolutely stunning, isn't it? I first heard it and I was really drawn to the idea of vidding it, but not sure what show to use. Because, honestly, Sleepy Hollow was the first one to jump to mind, but at that point, barely any episodes had aired. I'm so glad it ended up working out! And thank you for letting me know you enjoyed it.

[someplacetobe]

It's an absolutely gorgeous song! I can't recall seeing it on any of the albums I'm familiar with but my mind is holiday fogged due to it being December (this month is dedicated to holiday stories and songs for me right now).

Seeing it again (I watched it with a friend), it's really quite a great video that I could watch again and again. Thankfully I'd downloaded it since I could watch it offline with my friend; they really liked it as well.

[cosmic_llin]

Oooooh, I only know the show though Tumblr osmosis but I love the motion in this, the way it builds up slowly, and I love the way you've used fade-to-black, it looks gorgeous and kind of creepy and sad.

[beccatoria]

Oh, tumblr, making it easier to appreciate vids since...2012? :p (Seriously though, it really has, right?)

Thank you for the wonderful feedback - creepy and kind of sad, with a slowly building motion was exactly how I wanted it to be. ♥

[meridian_rose]

This was lovely!

[beccatoria]

Thank you! :D

[chaila]

I am so behind on this show, but this is really beautifully, thoughtfully creepy. The build of this is so affecting, how the symbolism and creepy events escalate with the music, and the relationship complexity does too.

[Oh look, I have an icon! I must've made plans to keep watching :D]

[beccatoria]

♥ I really did end up enjoying this show way more than I thought I would. And similarly, I ended up much happier with this vid than I thought I would about halfway through. A lot of people have mentioned the build of it, and I'm so glad because that was the one part of it I felt I most needed to get right.

[Yes! Catch up! It's...well more of the same really, but historical crackfic and the Mills sisters! Catch up!]

[starlady]

Yanno, I would not have thought a song about mass surveillance would have worked for this show…but it totally did. That was really great! I was really impressed at the subtle buildup to the climax.

[beccatoria]

Thank you! I'm really glad you think the song works for the show. I think the idea appealed to me because the more I thought about it the more mass surveillance - at least the emotional and intimate portait of it in this song - is a really neat and unsettling metaphor for demons and posession and haunting? It has that element of unwanted observation, malignant attention, possession of your soul even, through action and subliminal control. A sense of the world watching you with destructive love (and there's so much destructive love filtered through demonry and the supernatural in this show; Andy and Abbie, the horsemen and Katrina, in the most recent episode, the golem?)

Anyway, super pleased that I managed to convey that! Thank you!

[geckoholic]

This is wonderful!! :)

[beccatoria]

Thank you so much! :D

[valoise]

Sooo, beautiful! You've wrapped all my love for Abbie and Ichabod and Jenny in such a wonderful package.

[beccatoria]

Aww, thank you! Those three are just the best. The creepy, sad best. So glad you enjoyed it.

[sanguinity]

Oh, but that was good. You deserve a better comment than that, but I came out of that with a lot of feelings, and not many words.

[devohoneybee]

breathtakingly gorgeous. i love the resonance of the harmonies and the visuals.

[goodbyebird]

I dl this before leaving home to have a treat for myself, and boy was I treated :D

Been listening to the Aims album non-stop for the past few days, and I was really hoping you'd vid either this or "The Breaking Light", so I'm a very happy camper indeed. You truly showcased the beautiful stuff going on in the show, and what I loved most is you started with family, and you brought it back to family at the end. What I see here is connection. Many many feels ♥

Oh, and am I just imagining things, or have you done something with the color? The source looks super shiny!

[beccatoria]

:D! I'm really glad you like it, and that you approve of the song choice. I really wanted to snag it but was afraid I was being greedy grabbing what I thought was obviously the best one but honestly, dividing up the songs went pretty easily. (I'm sure you know this, but such_heights did The Breaking Light to Pacific Rim, and it's gorgeous).

And yes, I did do some small things to the colour. I can't actually remember exactly what I did. I know that I corrected the whites and blacks for true-white and true-black, but that ended up making the source very dark in general, because there are so many dark tones in it. So I'm pretty sure I then upped the brightness a touch, and increased the saturation so that it didn't look washed out, which also had the nice effect of deepening a lot of the few striking colours the source has. I was lucky it worked out so nicely, sometimes that's kind of a gamble... Especially with so little pixelation!

[purplefringe]

I still haven't watched Sleepy Hollow (it's on the list!) but I'm now working my way through the Aims vids with gleeful abandon, and this is just STUNNING. It's haunting and creepifying and perfectly paced, and sends chills down my spine even though I know I'm missing huge swathes of context and plot. I really love the way you are not afraid to use moments of stillness, and how you somehow handle them so deftly that they don't stall the vid at all, but instead give it this extra intensity. I can't wait to come back and rematch this with new eyes after I've seen the show.

[frayadjacent]

Late comment due to late watching, but damn this is so gorgeous and atmospheric. It does a wonderful job bringing out the emotion of these lovely characters with their beautiful relationships and epic stories.

[amnisias]

2015 Love Meme

This was the very first Sleepy Hollow vids I watched, and it was just such a perfect summary of the first seaon, and why people loved it so much. And the song choice is so wonderful, and well excecuted (because slow songs are a bitch to vid in my experience, it's so easy to keep the viewer engaged if you cut every 4 secs, but with long scenes/slow music you really have to work on your editing and narrative to keep the engagment. And you totally rock it!)