Vividcon Premiere: Barton Hollow (Homeland)

[fan_eunice]

vid warning policy, PLEASE READ

Title: Barton Hollow
Artist: The Civil Wars
Fandom: Homeland

Summary: Can't no preacher man save my soul.

Download (57 MB) -- right click/save as

bartonfinal from fan eunice on Vimeo.

PASSWORD: homeland




Notes: So many thanks to absolutedestiny both for having the perfect song for me and for a kickass beta. Also kudwora and sweetestdrain for adding notes and hand holding the hell out of me when I got terrified of making this vid.

Feedback of all kinds is most welcome, and will not be suspected of terrorism.

Comments

[skaredykat]

Gorgeous vid; great choice of music.

[fan_eunice]

Thank you!

[rhoboat]

In case you didn't already know, I ADORE this vid. Thank you for for making it. *HUGS*

[fan_eunice]

*SMOOSH* thank YOU

Won't do me no good washing in the river

[thuviaptarth]

This is so powerful and yet there's so much delicacy in it, too. Isa as a child and Isa as Brody's lost soul (the light that blinds him in the opening; the clean white linen shroud in the end). The careful handling of Brody's conversion, the prayer rug that won't save his soul, but which is treated as a moment of grace nonetheless. The paralleling of Carrie's meds and Brody's religion.

So much to say about the light, the gentle light around Isa, the harsh light breaking into day, the contrast of the darkness, the camera flashes going off. So much to work out about the voyeurism and observation, surveillance photos, news footage, mirror images. Carrie and Brody, mirrored: She swallows meds in front of the bathroom mirror, he swipes it clear of steam to show his reflection. (Later he checks the fit of his explosive vest.) First Carrie just watches, intently, but like a good listener the good voyeur mimics the subject's postures, arms around knees, startling awake. Then she peers up in the lens of the surveillance camera to disconnect it, and that's the turnaround, that's the switch, where she becomes the object of observation, drawn in to Brody's story, even before she stages a meeting. After this the surveillance photos implicate Carrie, even when she's not in them; she argues with Brody in the driver's seat of his car, photos of Brody in the same position, the same car. In the beginning they're linked as observer and observed; then observer mimics the observed; then Carrie bangs into him, the confrontation and the connection; then even without observation or direct connection they're paralleled, tossed by the same explosions, confused by the same crowds, caught by the same guards.

I keep thinking about rivers. The only literal river, not on the lyric: Brody and Tom's wife sitting by the bank of the Potomac, as Brody lies to her about how her husband dies. The river which in the song means baptism and in the vid means prayer; the river which is the rain falling down on Carrie and Brody's confrontation in the parking lot; the river (Styx) which is washing away Carrie's memories, washing away what she can't control, what she thinks she got wrong.

Back in Barton Hollow, ain't going back to Barton Hollow: the estrangement of coming home. The estrangement of seeing patterns no one else can see, of all the chaos that has to be forced into order, of all the order everyone keeps telling Carrie is a lie. The estrangement of what should be familiar.

Mostly I do not have complete sentences for you; there's a distinct shortage of verbs. Sorry!

I wish there were more Homeland vids, but this makes up for the lack of a whole lot of them.

Re: Won't do me no good washing in the river

[fan_eunice]

Wow, I'm not just lacking verbs but all words ever because this comment is amazing. I'm just...so much of what I was trying to do, the reasons I made the choices I did, and it's terrifying because you don't know if people will see it, except you did and then wrote this out and I am kind of overwhelmed.

*hugs you and this feedback FOREVER*

thank you, thank you, THANK YOU.

[revolutionaryjo]

This vid is absolutely amazing. One of the highlights of the year for me! I love the way you've mirrored Carrie and Brody throughout.

[fan_eunice]

Thank you so much! <3

[jetpack_monkey]

The levels of this vid. OH THE LEVELS. This is such a revelation. I bow before you.

[lannamichaels]

This is excellent :)

[ageorwizardry]

I don't know whether you made this vid with this in mind, but I can tell you that for me at least it functioned as a very effective recruiter vid! I've watched it numerous times, without being at all familiar with Homeland beforehand. My reaction boils down to: "I'm fascinated! WHAT IS GOING ON. Clearly I have to watch this show." (Fortunately, immediately after watching the vid, I discovered that my library has the DVD set of the first season, so I should be able to!)

I mean, I believe I can discern the basic premise of the show just from the vid (he's captive for a really long time before he comes back; she suspects he was turned while he was over there), but the vid is largely composed of all these little details that would obviously carry great meaning for me if I knew the show, but since I don't they are tantalizing and mysterious hints instead. (Those tapping fingers—coded communications?—the significance of the child—the details of the bombing plot—and, like, did she seriously just engineer a meeting with the person she's secretly surveilling by bumping into him? because that seems like a plan with which nothing could possibly go wrong—)

It's a great vid. So I wanted to tell you that, and to thank you for introducing me to the show. I will enjoy exploring it. :-)

[goodbyebird]

That was absolutely amazing. Thanks for sharing <3

[d_generate_girl]

I am very late to this party - both Homeland and the vid itself - but I have to tell you how beautiful this is and how perfect it works. I love what you've done with Issa's death as the bookends, the mirroring (as everyone has mentioned) but especially the explosions (the madrassa bombing and Walker's Georgetown bombing). I also love how the "water" means different things to Brody and Carrie - Brody's Islam, Carrie's pills, the things they do to get by that ultimately will destroy both of them separately and together.

Thank you so much for sharing this!