Deadwood-vid: Alma - Take me home + 10 icons [House of Leaves]

Artist/Song Title: Thea Gilmore – Take me home
Subject: Deadwood, Alma PoV
Summary: ‘I heard there's a warrant out for my arrest - ’ Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.
Format: stream and download at stage6 33 MB, permanent download link 720x400 – 33 MB AVI or watch on imeem

Reasons to vid ‘Take me home’? I love Deadwood fiercely for complex characters and unique relationships, so I didn’t need to search for any specific message for a storyline I wanted to fathom. I just needed a song which sounded right and made me think of a character. ‘Take me home’ had me from the first few notes and instantly Alma came to mind.

Lyrical interpretation: The lyrics are graceful and yet restrained, perfect for Alma on every level. Circumstances and her father pushed her into the position of a spouse and then the dumbness of her husband made her a widow. A beautiful jackdaw - Alma is held down in a time in which she couldn’t be independent and strong on her own without inspiring contempt even in a godless place like Deadwood. She struggled with addiction, overcame her habit with Trixie’s help – still not being able to hold the same power as a man in those pioneer times kept her on her guard. Her need for two marriages of convenience speaks volumes about the limitations of her life as wealthy woman. Again making the best out of circumstances she found in Ellsworth the one of the very few kind and sensible men in Deadwood – okay, maybe the only one. Of course happiness never lasts long – first her miscarriage and then relapse into addiction strained her wedding. She overcame her troubles with Ellsworth’s support and even had the strength to dissent Hearst at first. Alma never wished any harm on her second husband - Deadwood still claimed his life.

The Journey? Again short and exciting. I love vidding with

xandra_ptv pushing me to get shit done. I didn’t even need to restrain myself from using transitions; they just didn’t feel quite right this time around.

Technical notes worth mentioning? I am the first one to admit that Deadwood is beautifully coloured as whole series. But I wanted the final to look very bleach and hard - on the edge of uncomfortable without losing all colour. Not beautiful was the goal, but harsh and unforgiving. So I will make the lack of colour up in the next vid – Hopefully.

Final note: Not a happy vid, so totally up my alley.

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Want? Take, but no hotlinking!

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nice job my dear.

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I know you will so hate the filter... *pets and licks*

*off to sleep now* Love you, babe!

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Lovely! Very stylish and restrained. Don't know the source, but from your description and the vid itself, I'd conclude that the song choice is perfect.

I certainly felt that way about the song – It captured the mood perfectly I wanted to express. The feeling of being caged in a foreign place and yearning for a home, not being able to make it on her own. I’m glad you enjoyed the vid and thank you for the feedback.

I hope you'll take this the way I mean it when I say the tension in this vid is both gorgeous and just awful. Knowing what was going to happen, I kind of felt sick to my stomach, and yet it's so beautifully done and compelling that I couldn't look away. Thank you, as always, for sharing your gifts with us.

*saves for many rewatches*

Thank you so much for this wonderful comment, killabeez and I know what you mean about the tension. I wanted to incorporate as much Ellsworth even from early on as I could fit in to make his assassination in the end even more hauntingly. Especially since they both reached a point in their relationship were it became possible that they could have had a happy marriage in the long haul. The obstacles were slowly removing themselves out of their way. Just another reason to hate Hearst, I guess.

I'm delighted you saved the vid for repeat viewings and thank you again for the feedback.

I'm going to be out all day today, love, but I should be back tomorrow.

Hope you had fun, my love and I can’t wait for your comment.

Back again after watching it a ton more times. I've got so much love for this vid and it really rewards repeat viewing.

The song is just the perfect Alma voice, brittle and yet determined. The brittleness is also reflected in the filter/colouring which makes her look almost like a porcelain doll and even more out of place in the dirty grubby world of Deadwood. The shades of red and green that it pulls out have the feeling of a Victorian parlour and the comfortable world Alma came from juxtaposed with the starkness of Deadwood making her alienation seem even stronger. I think what I mean is best seen at 0.34 where Alma is looking out the window at the "cute little puritans."

I love how Ellesworth is featured from early on, how it's clear that Alma out of self preservation will ensnare and use the most decent man in the town. In securing her own position she practically makes a eunuch out of him and his poor face when he looks at her looking at Bullock really shows the pain of that which he bears with such dignity. Even if you haven't seen the show you just know that things won't end well for Ellesworth. Then Hearst has him killed just when she has begun to see that she could be happy with him, it's so painful.

So yeah love this vid so very, very much, I always loved Ellesworth but this vid really gives me more insight into the dilemma Alma faces and how her precarious position forces her to put a decent man in the firing line.

I forgot to mention, the icons are beautiful. I really like the colouring and how sharp they are. I only have a Trixie one at the moment so I'll have to snag a couple of these for future use.

Gonna get back to you later, love!

Finally coming back to you after a movie marathon with Sandra – I did mention that I added some DVDs to my collection? Because this reply needed a bit more thought than I was previous able to summarize in a hurry.

You got me – Seriously, the emotional reason I was taking this specific colour filter was because Alma looked like a doll. A pretty, ghastly expensive porcelain doll completely out of place without an interested owner or someone to play with, because everybody is too afraid she will break. So she does the damage herself or watches the world move on from her window and this was such effortless and perfect way to show how rich women like Alma were perceived in those times. What was expected from them - dress up and don’t interfere with the power play between men, because the true authority always lay in manly hands and to get freedom as woman you had to be ten times cleverer and still depended on fate and shire luck.

I mean would there been an issue, if the richest man in camp fucked a married woman and got her pregnant? Just pay the husband a fair amount of hush money and the problem would solve itself. This sounds like a ridiculous simple explanation for such an intense colouration, but there.

And the thing is Ellsworth is also afraid to play with her, fearing his dirty hands will get her dress messed up or hairdo undone. She’s not the kind of woman he knows, in a way she is completely out of his league and yet she needs him. She listens to him and she takes him serious enough and that even takes him more by surprise. Bullock and Alma make sense to him, even when it is not morally right and he feels embarrassed that she carries out the affaire in such public display of indiscretion. The two of them figured out a common ground once married in overcoming grief and other troubles thrown their way and I strongly believe that they could have been decently happy, if – If not a man with true power had set his eyes on her claim. It’s in the end always about the gold and how far one is willing to go for it.

I’m so happy you loved the vid and took such a satisfaction from it, knowing full well that simple pleasure looks very differently than this vid. I am also happy you liked the icons, they were an afterthought from me. Needing one for this post and because essentially everybody needs at least one Deadwood icon, so I randomly exported frames from the timeline and used them all, because it seemed like a waste of beautiful pictures otherwise. Heh.

Ooh Deadwood. I love this show. I wanted to try my hand at your last Deadwood vid but my german is almost non-existant. I'll watch this at lunch.

Deadwood just sucks you in – once you get over the first five eps in which everybody looks the same exact shade of dirty. Knowing that I needed half a season to tell the male characters apart, it seems impossible in retrospect, because everybody just has a full character with flaws and strengths and backgrounds and own agendas. I hope you enjoyed the vid, Andrea and I’m glad that I found another fan of the show.

The vid was wonderful Astarte - poor Alma so out o f place there and went through so much, yet she was strong. Deadwood vids are still few and far between but the ones I have seen do credit to the show - yours included.

I think the audio clips at the beginning and end were well chosen, there's Al telling it like it is :) The editing was very fluid, lovely use of crossfades and the song choice was excellent too. I would like to vid it myself but haven't found the right song - It's my husbands favourite show so I guess it would be for him.

I also loved the filter you used - I know the original footage is desaturated anyway but it gave a real sense of bleakness.

I'm still annoyed that they ended the show after S3 - we had heard about a 2-3hr long special to wrap up some loose ends but I don't think it will happen now.

I heard the rumours after discovering the show and looking a bit into it online. I would love to have that special and the upcoming ‘Dead like me’ movie or ‘Serenity’ gives me hope that these promises aren’t just a way to shut up angry fans. It would be a wonderful way to get some closure.

There is really a lack of Deadwood vids, I found five so far and like you I think each of them highlighted an aspect of the show brilliantly. But of course I would be thrilled to add yours to that small collection, so add me to the waiting crowd alongside your husband.

About the source, probably vidding SPN and XF for some time made me appreciate Deadwoods colour scheme very much and has such a rich feel. So I almost felt bad for sucking the colour right out again with that filter.

And I’m delighted that you enjoyed the vid so much and even the audio overlays. Al’s line felt like pure self-gratification and there were probably other statements more appreciate for the mood of the vid, but I simply couldn’t resist. Thank you so much, Andrea, I loved hearing from you, it seems like such a long time.

I've been such a slacker on watching my flist vids and leaving fb - I put it down to being busier doing my awards site. Perhaps a new years resolution.

Anyway with the WGA strike in USA still in full force I think it's time to dust off the deadwood DVD's and enjoy it all again from the beginning - hoping it may prove inspirational for me.

Seems like a perfectly reasonable excuse to do exactly that and maybe even a vid bunny will sneak its way merciless into your head. I sure hope that inspiration strikes like a lightning bolt.

And see, I don’t even have an excuse like an award site, I just scroll through my flist and feel like I have nothing significant to add or drawing blanks when opening the comment box trying to give feedback that doesn’t sound like a shitty remix. But I try to work on this in 2008. In case of emergency with brute violence. Hah.

shitty remix

Heee you kill me!

Yet I think the vidder would take shitty remix each time - even a 'ditto what Bert said' or 'yeah me too'

The sad thing is that I know that and still can’t bring myself to post that. *cringes*

Why do I need to be original even there… It doesn’t make sense.

That was stunning!

Merci beaucoup and also for your fabulous rec.

That was very beautiful! The song was wonderful . I really loved the dynamics between Ellsworth and Alma in the show and I love how you put so much focus on their relationship here. I love especially the transition around 2:46 with Alma being shot at and her jerking around and then Ellsworth getting hit by the bullet and falling down, the movement of both bodies just complements each other. That's a great visual connection for Ellsworth being used to 'hit' Alma. Lovely work! ♥

First of all thank you so much for the huge compliment and second I had entirely Alma/Ellsworth in mind while vidding this project. Like you, I really adored their changing relationship during the show. While Alma certainly didn’t see him as love interest, their growing respect and her valuing his opinions, not only professional but also personal set them soon on equal footing. Plus Ellsworth became such a sweet father figure to Sofia and his death defeat any further defiance Alma had in store for Hearst. I was heartbroken that they killed him and I wanted him to be a focal point for Alma’s journey because he was at her side from the beginning. Even when that meant seeing her first husband being murdered by Dan. Needless to say, I’m very happy to see Jim Beaver as Bobby on SPN.

The recoloring of the source is so harsh and feels so perfect with the song and for Alma. The way she makes the same mistakes because she has to, yet still thinking it's going to be better. Your editing feels so melodic and the fades are beautiful.

Oh Ellsworth.

I felt like walking a tightrope with the colouration, because it was such a change in style for me. Usually I have the goal to make the source prettier and enhancing the mood of a song. This time enhancing it meant making it almost unpleasant in its intensity. I didn’t want to put non vidders in the audience off and yet it felt right.

So I’m very happy you enjoyed the vid and thanks for the wonderful comment.

I think the coloring is perfect. Better doesn't always mean prettier.

So true and once in a while, you can easily get away with some crazy-ass decision.

You can get away with crazy-ass decisions all the time. :)

I’m usually faster than the guys pursuing me in the white jackets. So yeah, I will get away with a lot.

You wouldn't mind, if I friend you? I think we share a lot of fandoms and uhm - vidding!!

The trick is to hide behind potted plants when they chase you. :)

Of course. I've vidgasmed over many of your vids, so I don't know why I haven't friended you already.

Same here, so one explanation could be we are shy and self-aware? Or maybe we were busy hiding in plain sight. Or behind potted plants. Heh.

Hmm... Could be. I do love those potted plants. They have nice leaves for licking. I think I thought I already friended you only to realize you were popping up on my flist via communities. :)

I really really enjoyed this. It's visually gorgeous, and your color treatment plays so well into the feel of the vid and the time period of the source. And even without plot background (as I may have mentioned before, heh) I am captivated by her story as you present it. :)

So glad you were, even when I felt like I left out core points – but isn’t that always the problem with complex shows? - And shifted her focus a bit too easily onto Ellsworth, instead of lingering on the impossible love interest. I’m still undecided, if I will ever like the colourization or I’m just fascinated by the porcelain doll-effect it creates for Alma.

Not sure how I found my way here, but I'm so glad that I did. I love Deadwood and I love Alma, and this vid was an amazing tribute to them both. Both the song and Alma's story are very moody, and the bleak colors add to the glumness, but I thought this was nevertheless beautiful to watch. This made me wish that Deadwood was still on. Wonderful work.

Who doesn’t wish it was still on? I knew heading in that there would be only three seasons and felt nevertheless crushed by the series finale and wanted more. I can’t imagine how it must have felt, hoping for a fourth season and then getting the cancellation news. Damn.

Anyway, thank you so much for the huge compliment. I’m so happy you felt that way about the vid and thought I captured the heart of Alma’s story well. She is just fascinating to watch in the dirty background of Deadwood and how she carries herself through the lawless town and avoids being trapped from anyone except her own demons.

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