darkfaerie145 | ʳᶤᵖᵖˡᵉ ᵗʰʳᵒᵘᵍʰ ᵗᶤᵐᵉ {gmvbbt canon 6} @darkfaerie145 | Uploaded June 2013 | Updated October 2024, 4 hours ago.
Won 2nd Place, thank you!

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Valkyrie;
Aegyl;
Witness;
Restorer;

Request;
Finding;
Time;
Mend;

Forgotten;
Lost;
Broken;
Missed;

Request;
Finding;
Journey;
End.
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What does water represent? Purity, reflection, peace? A multitude of things. I see water clear and quaint, as I thought of this video. The canon I am depicting is the plot of Final Fantasy 13-2 as an inefficacious (unsuccessful) journey. A poem I wrote is accompanied by edited versions of two compositions. The music starts in awe, and then transforms into an acoustic piano echo that is empty and quaint.

Lets talk plot. I could spend two or three paragraphs explaining this, but let's organize this into a list. Here is a list of goals for Final Fantasy 13-2, and their success rate.

̲G̲̲o̲̲a̲̲l̲̲s̲̲ ̲̲i̲̲n̲̲ ̲̲1̲̲3̲̲-̲̲2̲
- Defeat Cauis Ballad; technically accomplished, but inconsequential, since he still achieved his goal of darkness
- Defeat impending chaos; unsuccessful, Cauis tricks Noel into releasing the Manifestation of Etro, enveloping the world in timeless darkness
- Bring Serah to Lightning; unsuccessful, although she encountered Lightning once or twice, Serah died before she could meet her elder sister
- Save Cacoon's future; unsuccessful, just when Hope thinks all is well, the world is enveloped by darkness, although Cacoon is in the air, it's future is dark
- Rewrite Noel's future; unsuccessful, the world is in a stasis without human progression, no one is born or dies
- Save the seeresses Yeul and Serah; unsuccessful, Serah and Yeul are killed because of visions, nothing is able to save them

So, you can see my point. Despite the many goals Noel and Serah had, none of them were accomplished. In reality, their feats only rendered the world worse than it was. Of course, these failures will become motivations for the characters in Lightning Returns, but until then, all we are left with is a bleak empty world.

I expressed this canon of a bleak, fruitless adventure through creating a distinct mood for the video through the poem, music, and perspective. Here is a list of things I did to support this mood.

-The third stanza of the poem uses harsh, real adjectives to describe the main characters as forgotten, lost, broken, and missed. These all have a tone of sorrow and helplessness.
-Repetition is used to make the viewer think the poem will once again end with "mend," but instead it ends with an abrupt "end," to signify the unexpected death of Serah.
-Dark, cloudy coloring is used to make the video bleak and metallic. During the instrumental escapes without the piano melody, selective coloring is used to remove all color save for blue to represent water and chill.
-Clips are cropped to remove eyes. Odd isn't it, how eyes give away so much emotion? Just removing them creates an expressionless, somber, and empty character that perfects the mood. It also changes perspective on common clips and cutscenes.
-Minimal effects are used other than coloring to retain simplicity and calmness of the music and mood.
-Typography is suddle. It's glowing and slightly animated as ripples. In the background are the latin descriptions in Etro script given to each of the main characters.
- The theme of water furthermore expresses simplicity and stasis; clarity; simplicity.

Aren't lists wonderful? If you have any questions about further perspective on the video or the poem, PLEASE ask. I am up for a fruitful discussion any and every day.

Poem: me
Footage: FF13, 13-2, belong to Square Enix
Music: 'Alleluia' composed by Eric Whitacre; 'Harry and Ginny' composed by Alexander Desplat, rights belong to each

Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use