CI5hq at the Cinema (Opening Night!) - Under Pressure (Queen and David Bowie) by Ancasta

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

So, I have 30 pages of pretty dire work still to go, but as I poured myself a G&T (just the one...) I had an idea... *g* Actually it's an idea I had a while ago, and was re-prompted by a suggestion (fiorenza_a's, I think) for occasional Reading Room vid recs, so I crossed the two over and - what do you think?

Friday Night Pros at the Cinema

(aka Pros Fanvid Recs Night)
I've actually been playing my Pros vids quite alot lately, mostly old favourites that I added to my media player list years ago, and it's been so nice seeing them again! I'd forgotten how inspiring they can be, too. So I thought I might see if anyone fancies a regular Friday night thing (and would like to volunteer to join in, of course *g*) - a bit like the Reading Room, where we rec and discuss stories, we could rec and maybe discuss Pros vids on a Friday night, kind of like going to the movies... (and also inspired by crack_van's Friday Night Drive-in Fanvid Recs)? What do you think? We could maybe get into eps or non-Pros shows eventually at the cinema, but there's alot of fab Pros fanvids out there to start with... *g*

As with Reading Room, it can be as little as "I really liked this - here's a link!" or as in-depth an analysis/discussion/squee as you'd like to go. As an example, I thought I'd try the middle ground... *g* I do like this vid alot, and it seemed appropriate - even if you don't feel like commenting (though please do, cos I'll bet the vidder would like to know she's still appreciated!), it's definitely worth watching now that it's here on your flist... *g*

...or download a high-quality version, and read the vidder's introduction at the Circuit Archive (and I suspect via ProsLib, who I know did a fanvid dvd way back when I sent away for it in 2005, but can I find it in the files...? *g*).

ancastar made this vid years ago now, but it's one that still hums in my mind. I love the way she matches the rhythm and beat of the song to her clips, so that there's a tick in the music, and Doyle turns his head, or Bodie looks up, so beautifully timed that you're caught up in the vid all the way, like the very best fanfic. What's it going to tell you next about our lads?

The music and lyrics, I think, have been beautifully chosen - our lads of course are under pressure, and ancastar shows us that pressure in her clips, and adds even more meaning to it by matching them to the lyrics. It's not that she uses a picture of fire when the lyrics say "fire", it's that she shows us how the lyrics are relevant to our lads by matching what the song is saying with their experiences. The lyrics It's the terror of knowing what this world is about really make you think about the lads' absolutely desperate race to the steps to save the girl from Turkoff in Female Factor - it's terror of what the world's about alright, they know he won't hesitate to kill her.

Here are the lyrics, with a description of some clips, or what the clips make me think when I see them for some of the lines.

What do you reckon to this one? *g*

Under Pressure
by Queen & David Bowie

Um boom ba bay
Um boom ba bay
Um Um boom ba bay bay

Pressure pushing down on me
Pressing down on you no man ask for
Under pressure
That burns a building down [the explosion in the restaurant around Bodie, MWaP]
Splits a family in two [Doyle telling Cookie's wife that Cookie has been killed]
Puts people on streets [Bodie and Jimmy in the squat, Takeaway]

Um ba ba bay
Um ba ba bay
Dee day duh
Ee day duh

It's the terror of knowing
What this world is about
Watching some good friends
Scream get me out! [Bodie and Marrika's death]
Tomorrow takes me higher
Pressure on people
People on streets [Benny under the rubbish, Involvement]

Day day day
da da dup bup bup
Okay

Chippin' around
kick my brains round the floor
These are the days
It never rains but it pours [not only Molner's problems, but B/D under fire from the good guys]
Ee do bay bup
Ee do bay ba bup
Ee do bup
Bay bup
People on streets
Dee da dee da day
People on streets
Dee da dee da dee da dee da

It's the terror of knowing
What this world is about
Watching some good friends
Screaming let me out!
Tomorrow takes me high high higher

Turned away from it all
Like the blind man
Sat on a fence but it don't work
Keep coming up with love
But it's so slashed and torn [Death, so much death in Pros...]
Why why why?

(Love, love, love, love) [...but our lads together through it...]

Insanity laughs under pressure we're cracking [Bodie sliding across the car bonnet!]
Can't we give ourselves one more chance? [Susan Fenton]
Why can't we give love that one more chance? [Diana Molner]
Why can't we give love give love give love?
Give love give love give love give love give love give love? [Oh, our Bodie and Doyle!]
Cause love's such an old fashioned word
And love dares you to care [Our lads loving each other...
For the people on the edge of the night [...through all their care for other people]
And love dares you to change our way
Of caring about ourselves
This is our last dance

This is our last dance
This is ourselves [our lads in all their energy and mischief and love of life]
Under Pressure
Under Pressure
Pressure [...together.]

And if you fancy reccing a vid - next week, the one after? *g* - please choose a date and comment below! You can claim a vid now, or just surprise us on the night!


Friday 15th January 2016 - byslantedlight - Under Pressure by Ancasta.
Friday 22nd January 2016 - sc_fossil - International Dateline by Zzebeddy
Friday 29th January 2016 - siskiou
Friday 5th February 2016 - loxleyprince - Sexy Boy by Jaicen
Friday 12th February 2016 - paris7am - Thirty Years of Sunshine by Crimson
Friday 19th February 2016 - miwahni
Friday 26th February 2016 - byslantedlight
Friday 4th March 2016 - phantomas

Comments

[dawnebeth.livejournal.com]

I very much enjoyed that vid. The "pressure" particularly worked well with the explosions and their tense situations--afraid I don't know enough Pros vids to take a night and rec any, though.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

afraid I don't know enough Pros vids to take a night and rec any, though
Oh, you're not keen on them, or...? Might be a nice chance to find some favourites... *g*

[sc-fossil.livejournal.com]

I'd like a date please. Any is fine. Cheers.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Excellent - no one's given dates, so how do you feel about next Friday? *g*

[sc-fossil.livejournal.com]

Great!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[siskiou.livejournal.com]

Great idea! :)

I'll take a date. Doesn't matter which one.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Excellent! No one's given dates, so I don't have to work around any - how about the Friday after next (29th Jan)? *g*

[siskiou.livejournal.com]

That should work! Right on my mom's birthday! :)

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oh, happy your mum's birthday! *g*

I LOVE fan vids !!!!!!!!

[fiorenza-a.livejournal.com]

I have them on my tinsy tablet, on my moby and all over my computer.

I watch them everywhere - and when I can't watch them I just listen to the trax. I'm playing with making one of my own, but this is on a hiatus at the moment due to me rolling forward to Windows 10 and back again. MS didn't lose anything, but for a little while after rolling back it kept jumbling up my folders and some of the contents every time I logged in and I haven't got round to re-editing. It's just a practice piece, but if it comes out all right I shall make some more.

My very first vidding attempt is here, but it's not a fan vid, it's Christmassy - I was just playing with editing software to get the hang of it for a friend who liked the story when it was in the news. It's Toronto Zoo's panda, Da Mao, caught on CCTV playing in the snow. It's fun, but VERY simple.


My ABSOLUTE two fav moments in Pros - from the first second they aired - are the title sequence of a motor going through plate glass - which has to be the bestest EVER mission statement from a programme - and Bodie in flight across the bonnet of a Ford Capri.

Having said all that, I can't play at the moment - but hopefully can think about it in Feb. 'Cos it's a cracking idea.

ETA - was it mine? Wonder what I did with that brain cell...

RE: I LOVE fan vids !!!!!!!!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Well, in this comment about the return of the Reading Room you said (http://ci5hq.livejournal.com/274908.html#comments) "Suggestion:- can we sometimes include vids?" Which isn't quite what I'm doing here, but you said vids please, so have some credit. *g*

Very cute panda - and enjoy learning to vid! Hope you liked Under Pressure too, and that you'll get a chance to join in some time!

[loxleyprince.livejournal.com]

What a brilliant idea! I've just joined this comm so I can participate because there are so many fabulous Pros vids out there, so can I please have a date too?

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

And very glad to accept you in the comm I was - welcome! *g* How about the 5th of February?

[loxleyprince.livejournal.com]

That would be fine, thank you :-)

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Hurrah - thank you! *g*

[loxleyprince.livejournal.com]

If it's ok, I'll do 'Sexy Boy' by jaicen5.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

No need to ask if it's okay, you can rec anything you like (well, as long as it's Pros.. *g*)!

Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, we probably don't need to say what vid it will be up front, cos if people want to discuss it, then it doesn't take long to watch (not like reading a fic before discussion). Shall look forward to this one, though! *g*

[loxleyprince.livejournal.com]

I can delete my post if you like, to preserve the mystique! *g*
(I just didn't want to pick a vid that someone else might have wanted to rec.)

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

That's the only catch I guess, that someone else might jump in and rec a vid someone else is planning on reccing... though probably with so many vids out there and only a few reccers that would be a huge coincidence...

Hmmn, I don't know - up to you I guess! I can list it beside your name if you like?

[loxleyprince.livejournal.com]

Good point. Let's leave things as they are (no vid against my name in the list.)

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Okay - thanks! *g*

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

That's the only catch I guess, that someone else might jump in and rec a vid someone else is planning on reccing... though probably with so many vids out there and only a few reccers that would be a huge coincidence...

Hmmn, I don't know - up to you I guess! I can list it beside your name if you like?

[paris7am.livejournal.com]

A wonderful rec for that vid! Thank you. I would love to participate in this - great idea!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Thank you - it's a nice vid, isn't it! *g* And yeay - does 12th February work for you?

[paris7am.livejournal.com]

Yes, that is fine.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Yeay, thank you! *g*

[snailbones.livejournal.com]

I love the idea, yay! On the other hand, I'm completely useless at remembering where I've seen vids... I may need to be in the chorus line for a bit *g*

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I must admit that the vids I watch regularly are ones that I've downloaded from the various Pros comms (I can never keep track of what's on YouTube). I should post a list of links to the various vid makers, shouldn't I - thanks for the thought! *g* Lots are up at the Circuit Archive vids page (http://www.thecircuitarchive.com/tca/vids.php) for instance... *g*

[sc-fossil.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately a lot of the links are dead. Too bad nobody takes care of that archive! What a waste. Fanlore's page is the most recent I believe. I was listing them but then wandered away! http://fanlore.org/wiki/Category:The_Professionals_Vids

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

At the Circuit? I've never had any problems with the links there - and I tested a few just now and they were downloading just fine. Are there particular ones that aren't working?

But in general, it's a real shame that the Circuit Archive's been abandoned by the archivist, especially as my understanding is that when she took it on she accepted responsibility for Pros circuit stories and zines given to her by the previous archivist, who'd gathered them along with other fans in order to look after them for Pros fandom, not as private possessions...

[sc-fossil.livejournal.com]

None of Ancasta's seem to work When they download it's a plain html file. At least at my end. Are you getting vid files?

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oh no, you're right - they don't! And looking at it, rather than archiving them with Circuit, as she seems to have done for other vids, she's provided off-site links. So I guess since Ancasta's website is gone, the vids there are too... And I can see the same thing with Bistokidsfan's vids (also off-site links). Oh, just gargh! We really have to save everything we like when we see it, don't we, or risk losing it... *sighs*

Looks like the first six vidders on her list were archived to the Circuit itself, so they're all safely there, but the four newer vidders (Ancasta, Josey, Bistokidsfan and Enednoviel) were only archived as links...

[sc-fossil.livejournal.com]

I remember when Enednoviel took all of her vids down (because of the German copyright laws, if I recall correctly...)

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, now you've said that I remember too - they made it difficult for her... I remember looking for Ancasta's site, which I think she shared with someone, a while ago and it was gone. I'd wanted to see her WWII wip again... and the same with Hisluvpet's site, I think... Josey's site is still up, thank goodness! Oh, and Crimson3.7 was another one with a good website (http://crimson.archive.nu/) that's still up, vids and all...

[heliophile-oxon.livejournal.com]

I'm not very clued in about vids (only have a tiny handful saved on my mp4 player) so I think I shall likely have a lot to learn from following this ongoing conversation!

Under Pressure is one of that handful. I love the track, and it works so well for them.

One track I somehow associate strongly with Bodie is Oysterband's The Deserter; I don't think it's been vidded ... maybe some day it will be (hinting hopefully *g*).

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Most of the vids I have saved are relatively "old" ones, downloaded at the time from the various Pros coms when they were first made by the vidders. I should make a list of vid sites to help, shouldn't I... *g*

I don't know The Deserter at all - but new vids all welcome!

[miwahni.livejournal.com]

This is one of my all time favourite Pros vids -the way the tension mounts throughout the vid, it's is brilliantly constructed, I love it. I'd like a date, if I may. I have a few other favourites that I go back to time and again.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

It's a good one, isn't it! *g* The tension just fits with our lads somehow - but so do all the clips that show us how they deal with it - together... *g*

And yeay - does Friday 19th February work for you?

[miwahni.livejournal.com]

19th Feb works fine, I've written it on my calendar and all *g*. I have narrowed down a shortlist of four favourites; if no-one else recs all the ones I've chosen as my favs, I may ask for an additional date later.

[phantomas.livejournal.com]

Brilliant idea :)
I love vids, have been playing with the idea of making one for years - it was so difficult to learn all the coding and ripping and my pc was never powerful enough not to crash. I have access to a better pc now, so perhaps one day...but in the meantime, what I can do, it to go through my old HD and see which ones I have saved. And yes, the only way to save vids is to download them, because for one reason or the other, they can disappear so quickly! And some are absolute gems :D
I wish I was brave enough to dare the rage of fans and upload the ones I have saved to AO3, for safe keeping.

Anyway, can I have a date for March? (times are messy and my plans are all pear-shaped, but I'd love to do this :)

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I used to wonder about making a vid, but I don't think I'm up to it really. I can imagine songs, and sometimes clips, but I don't think I'm graphic-y enough to be able to do all the rest... and then there's all that learning the software, as you say... *g* I shall hope that you manage "one day" though - I suspect you'd make a great vid, if it was anything like your fic!

I must admit I'm not sure I like the idea of other people uploading people's vids and stories to A03. It was one of the things that people at Slash Day III all said would never happen, because they'd respect the rights of individual fans who might not want their work online over the desire of the rest of us to read and watch as much as we could - but that's already been crushed under fannish feet, because I see people uploading "collections" and saying that they can't get hold of specific authors to ask permission - and posting the stories anyway...

But that aside - does the 4th March work for you or would you rather go a bit later in the month? And thank you! *g*

[phantomas.livejournal.com]

It's a wonderful, wonderful video.

I love the song, and that is always a bonus for me - there are vids where even though I could see what the vidder had done, her vision, so to speak, I just could not stand the song. Fair enough, there are vids with songs I never thought I would like, and instead, in the context provided, worked a treat.

This video encompasses all the Lads are and do, with a great beat-based pacing. The lyrics match, not just in terms of images (which is not always necessary, at all) but because the overall sense of the song is existential, on the verge of a precipice, describing a struggle with lots of losses and only a few wins. So there has to be a reason to do it all, and the Lads, every day, go out there and find that reason.
We all know that to them, it's not just a 'job'. Doyle and Bodie's reasons may not be the same, and Doyle most often comes across as the more idealistic of the two, but to see all that they risk (very poignant moment, when Bodie jokingly points his fingers to Doyle's head)...this video puts it all together, with emotions, rhythm, and very dynamic editing.

Love it, stirred all my Pros feels :D

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

It's a great vid, isn't it - many Pros feels, indeed! *g* And as you say, the beat works - and is worked brilliantly too, which really helps for me. I'm like you too - if I can't get on with a song, then I struggle to get through a vid. Pros vids set to country music quite often make me blink, for instance, cos the lads just aren't country, but actually there are a few that work anyway, because they're well done in so many other ways... But Under Pressure is perfect for them!

the overall sense of the song is existential, on the verge of a precipice, describing a struggle with lots of losses and only a few wins
Yes, that's just it - and the clips are beautifully chosen to show this, to bring the song and our memories of the eps and the lads' struggle together...

Late (as ever) to the party...

[fiorenza-a.livejournal.com]

Since I'm 'around' a bit more now - may I have a Friday night please?

I'll pick a vid once I know what everyone else has posted :0)

RE: Late (as ever) to the party...

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry, I thought I'd replied to offer you March 11th, but I clearly just thought about it (or perhaps replied but then didn't actually click "add a comment", which is same thing...)

So... would you like the 11th? (Or actually the 18th, if that would be better, cos someone else has also just requested the 11th, though I suspect she'd be as happy with the 18th - you were in first though, so your choice!)

RE: Late (as ever) to the party...

[fiorenza-a.livejournal.com]

No worries - you've had a lot on and I was late and you've had 'away from computer' days...

I've just added myself for the 18th, but happy to swap for the following week if someone else needs it - but I'm not sure how I'm fixed for April - so that's probably not a good idea :0)