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Video By Deslea
LAST EDITED: 21 APRIL 2012 (HAPPY HOME - NARCISSA/SNAPE). Welcome to my video site. This site has existed in various forms since around 1997. Due to the limitations of technology at the time, the old X Files vids are 320x240, and some have pretty poor quality footage. However, I have started vidding again so I have many newer videos in the mix, thanks to a new computer with vidding-friendly specs. And as before, I am honoured to host the fabulous works of a few old friends from X Files, Lone Gunmen, and Once A Thief fandom. This page shows my recent videos only. Use the navbar below to jump to vids by theme, or use the Quick Find index on the right. If you have trouble with large files (50MB+), you may have better luck with my YouTube channel. I try to put smaller-sized versions there out of consideration for those with low bandwidth. Click the player to activate the video. In some browsers, you may need to click again to play. To save your bandwidth (and mine!), videos do not pre-load prior to clicking. If the video stops and starts, pause it and allow it to load for 1-2 minutes. Loading times will vary with the speed of your connection. |
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NEW: Happy Home (2012) Performed by Garbage Theme: Harry Potter's Narcissa Malfoy/Severus Snape My Rating: Three-and-a-half stars. There are lots of parts of this that I like - especially the tortured looks between Snape and Narcissa at the Malfoy house - but I have a nagging feeling it could have been better. I'm not sure if it's just because I've over-thought it (there were three completely different versions of this one made over a couple of months). It might grow on me over time - that's happened to me before. Background: This vid plays with an alt-universe scenario in which Narcissa Malfoy finds a ray of light in the darkness of the war - in her son's saviour, Severus Snape. Geeky Things To Note: Originally, I had a concept for this based on the gorgeous vidding style of MaritaKrycekFiles. Her X Files K/Ma vids use fast shots and careful shadows to merge material from multiple works to very good manipulated effect. However, it didn't seem to fit the vid (particularly the scenes at Malfoy Manor which, to me, were the lynchpin for the whole piece). However, I still used some special effects, including a manipulation where Severus answers the door to Narcissa, and another where she finds his body. There is also one where Narcissa and Draco discuss their plight - seemingly the moment where she decides to ask Severus for help. I also used a lot of distressing to tie things together, and also lens flares to emphasise the light he brings to her life. Programs Used: Adobe Premiere Pro CS5. Sources: Harry Potter 2, 6, 7, 8, Sherlock Holmes, Dr Who, Charles II, Snow Cakes. Download: zipped MP4 (H264, medium quality) (64MB) | |
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NEW: It's All Over But The Crying (2012) Minor Revision Feb 2012 Performed by Garbage Theme: Harry Potter's Malfoy family, Lucius/Narcissa Runner Up, Most Original Vid, Round 49, Driver Picks  My Rating: Five stars. I'm thrilled with this one. There are a couple of places where I haven't gotten an otherwise-successful special effect quite right, and I'm not sure if it's me or Premiere. Background: The Malfoys may have stuck together through thick and thin, but that doesn't mean theiy came out unscathed. This video was inspired, indirectly, by an alt-universe fanfic I wrote called Two of a Kind. It actually paired Lucius and Tonks in a post-war piece centred around the stages of grief, but explored a loving marriage between Lucius and Narcissa prior to her death. Geeky Things To Note: Lots of special effects in this one! I used footage from Legends Of The Fall footage to include young Lucius and Narcissa during the First War, and in some cases added fake Dark Mark tattoos to young Lucius and blonde streaks for young Narcissa. (I didn't do it every time for Narcissa, on the basis that women do change their hair a lot, and, well, it's a lot of work). There's also a faked memory of a horseride outside Malfoy Manor - that needed finer detail than I could give it in two sixteen point mattes, so I wound up distressing it to tie it together. Programs Used: Adobe Premiere Pro CS5. Sources: Harry Potter 2 and 4-8, Legends of the Fall. Download: zipped MP4 (H264, medium quality) (29MB) | |
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NEW: Won't Give In (2011) Performed by The Finn Brothers Theme: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Ensemble, Battle of Hogwarts My Rating: Four stars. I'm pretty happy with this one. I don't know if there's anything I'd change about it. Background: This video started with a single fragment: The scene where the Order steps into the Great Hall, set to the line "Once in a while I return to the fold and the people I call my own." (I actually used it in a different place in the video). Geeky Things To Note: Nothing too special on the geeky side - just some play with heightened colours. This vid is pretty simple, from a technical perspective. There are a couple of deleted scenes and extracts from the Blu Ray Maximum Movie Mode. I did some careful clipping and speeding up for certain sections of the Harry/Ginny kiss, in order to give it greater chemistry than we saw in the film. Programs Used: Adobe Premiere Pro CS5. Sources: Harry Potter DH2. Download: zipped FLV (76MB) | |
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REMASTERED: Mary (2003, 2011) (A COUPLE MORE MINOR EDITS IN DECEMBER 2011) Performed by Patti Griffin Theme: Buffy's Drusilla Nummy Treat Award Nominee Summary: Drusilla self-portrait, playing with the idea that Dru retained some of her innocence despite being transformed by Angelus. My Rating: Five stars. I'm thrilled to bits with this one. Background: This video is inspired equally by Betsy Dodd's Scully video to the same song, and by Linzee's gorgeous Spike/Dru vid, Jaded. (In fact, without Linzee, I would never have gotten hooked on Dru at all). The video is consciously surface-contradictory, pairing a slow-and-gentle song with an eccentric and often demented character; nonetheless, I think it worked out really well. The 'Mary' designation is literally accurate as well as figuratively; women religious in that era traditionally chose new names beginning with Mary (for instance, Sister Mary Cecelia). Geeky Things To Note: There are a few overlays here where I needed to convey a lot in little time. For instance, "You're covered in babies" has overlapping shots of Dru's dolls and Dru talking to them, because there wasn't enough time to cut from one shot to the other, and neither shot conveyed the message on its own. I also strove to avoid, as far as possible, shots of Dru or Spike in vamp form. The first draft contained one close-up of Vamp!Dru, and it badly undermined the theme of the video. So that went on the cutting room floor. Programs Used: Adobe Premiere CS5. Sources: Buffy and Angel. Download:: Zipped FLV (79MB). | |
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REMASTERED: Unwell (2007, 2011) Performed by Matchbox Twenty Theme: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Character Study Winner, Best Character Vid, Special Theme 35, Driver Picks 
My Rating: Five stars. Hits some good emotional and character development notes. Background: I originally made this video in 2007 with a screener tape, and always said I'd remaster when I had better quality source, so here it is. Geeky Things To Note: Not a lot of advanced techniques here - just playing with speeds a bit to make the footage hit the beat, and breakthrough audio of Harry speaking at a key moment. I really noticed, in a good way, the lack of those techniques when remastering - it made the process much easier. Whereas, say, Black Is The Colour would be extremely difficult to re-create after the fact. However, I'm really happy with this one - I think it captures the entire journey of the movie really well. It just goes to show, the special effects aren't always needed. I wasn't tempted to add any this time around. On a technical note, I'm still struggling with making Premiere play nicely with HD source - I've weeded out the jumps everywhere except where there are overlays. I'm still trying to find a solution to that. For now, I've eliminated the jumps by making SD versions of each layer, which does defeat the purpose of HD source, but at least I can reprocess in HD easily later once the underlying issue is resolved. It may be a CPU or GPU issue but I find that difficult to believe as both are very high-spec. Programs Used: Adobe Premiere Pro CS5. Sources: Harry Potter 5. Download: zipped FLV (47MB) | |
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NEW/REMASTERED: Black Is The Colour (2011) (DH2 FOOTAGE SWAPPED OUT FOR HIGHER QUALITY) Performed by The Corrs Theme: Harry Potter, Hermione and Snape (defies description, but let's say schoolgirl romance/hero worship) My Rating: Five stars. I think this one carries itself very well. Background: This vid started with a simple challenge to myself: Was it possible to make a Snape/Hermione video, with the available footage, that wasn't creepy? I've always been quite uncomfortable with the vids that depict Snape as watching his young student with a lustful eye, and to compound matters, while Book-Snape is in his thirties, Movie-Snape is in his fifties. We also don't have the benefit of footage of adult Hermione, whereas that is not a problem for the fanfic world, which frequently situates an adult Hermione as a fellow soldier or professor alongside Snape, followed by a sassy and irreproachable romance. It seemed to me that the only way I could vid this pairing tastefully would be if I used Hermione's point of view - the point of view of a schoolgirl crush. But that's not very interesting - until we consider that Snape went on to save the world, and ultimately became her hero. I think I achieved my goal - the only moment that skirts the edge is the Mirror of Erised sequence, with Hermione seeing her fondest wish, a very innocent and girlish romantic dance with an idealised version of her unattainable authority figure. Geeky Things To Note: Lots of fun manipulations here, including Snape's grave (probably the part I'm least happy with), and Dream-Snape and Hermione dancing in the Mirror of Erised. I used quite a bit of the Sixteen Point Garbage Matte tool for this one. I had a lot of problems with jerky output in this one - I'm working with Blu Ray source now, and Adobe CS5 seems to struggle with it. I've now found a fairly clunky solution by outputting as a very large AVI (700MB or so) with minimal compression to keep processing to a minimum, then converting to web-size with Audials later. The only section I couldn't clean up in this way was Hermione's fantasy of Snape's Patronus watching over her, but I didn't have the heart to take it out. Programs Used: Adobe Premiere Pro CS5. Sources: Harry Potter 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8, In Demand music video, Ballet Shoes. Download: zipped FLV (70MB) Related Story: Vigil | |
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NEW/REMASTERED: Disarm (2011) (DH2 FOOTAGE SWAPPED OUT FOR HIGHER QUALITY) Performed by Smashing Pumpkins Theme: Harry Potter (including footage spoilers for Deathly Hallows 2), Snape/Lily My Rating: Four stars. Geeky Things To Note: Lots of fun here, including two uses of lens flare (once to accentuate Snape's tears, and once to round out a manipulation that uses the Unbreakable Vow handhold with Narcissa, plus overlays, to suggest a betrothal. I also did a version with a decorative frame and an inset of the official music video (which has a weird Hogwart's feel). Programs Used: Adobe Premiere Pro CS5. Sources: Harry Potter 1/3/4/5/6/7/8, In Demand official music video, Disarm official music video. Download: zipped FLV (unframed version) or zipped FLV (framed version) (both 75MB) | |
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Version 1: Standard Widescreen Style Version 2: Decorative matte and inset of the official Smashing Pumpkins music video | |
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NEW: Bed of Lies (2011) Performed by Matchbox Twenty Theme: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (Sarah/Derek) Runner Up, Best Alternative Vid, Round 47, Driver Picks  My Rating: Four stars. An interesting montage of the lies that stand in our favourite dysfunctional couple's way, arising from a manipulated discussion between the two of them at some unknown point in the future (assume Adam Raised A Cain didn't happen). Be sure to watch right to the end. Geeky Things To Note: There's a lot of manipulation here - careful cropping, colour manipulation, masks and mattes are all over the place. The phone with Sarah's name on it is faked, the shot from Impact Point showed Brian Austin Green kissing a blonde before I masked and coloured the actress' hair black, the shot with Sarah in bed is from Imagine Me And You so I had to mask out Lena's tattoo, and more! The faked bookending scene has a number of sub-elements including stock audio of street traffic, while the faked phone call at the end has manipulated mouth positions to match the audio. The faked scenes aren't absolutely perfect, but they're pretty good. Programs Used: Adobe Premiere Pro CS5. Sources: TSCC, Smallville, Impact Point, 300, Imagine Me And You. Download: zipped mp4 (27MB) | |
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Carry You Home (2011) Performed by James Blunt Theme: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (John/Riley) Runner Up, Best Angst Vid, Round 48, Driver Picks  My Rating: Three stars. A nice Riley memorial vid - not a lot that's special in the way of techniques and tricks, but does what it was trying to do well enough. Geeky Things To Note: The storyline to this one is that John is contemplating Riley's death, and what he's figured out about Jesse. That means there's three points in time - the past while Riley was alive (represented by luma curves), the present while viewing Riley's body (represented by heightened blue tones and some grainy noise), and how he intends to handle Jesse (heightened red-browns plus luma curves plus grainy noise). I was annoyed to find that a few random frames kept showing up after processing no matter what I did. Really, you just get used to the quirks of one version of Premiere and then the next one comes out! Programs Used: Adobe Premiere Pro CS5. Sources: TSCC. Download: zipped mp4 (26MB) | |
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Mr Tugboat Hello (2011) Performed by Sophie B Hawkins Theme: Haven (Duke/Audrey) My Rating: Three stars. A sweet romance vid, with a quirky whimsical feel. It doesn't do anything particularly clever with effects or have a deep message - it's just meant to be a bit of a visual feast of Audrey's immersion in the quirkiness of Duke. Programs Used: Adobe Premiere Pro CS5. Sources: Haven. Download: zipped Xvid (30MB) | |
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