VID: All the Rowboats (The Godfather/The Godfather Part II)

[jetpack_monkey]

Title: All the Rowboats
Song: Regina Spektor - All the Rowboats
Source: Godfather series
Warnings: Gun violence.
Made for: Crowie, Festivids 2012 (assignment)

Summary: "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." - F. Scott Fitzgerald

Update (2013-11-26): Now available in both Youtube and Vimeo streaming varieties.

"" (Watch on YouTube)

Vimeo Password: iknowitwasyou

Watch on Vimeo

Download 59MB MP4 (right/ctrl-click and "Save link as...")

Notes: This vid happened because I have an incredibly literal mind. It is not a particularly literal vid, but it started because I was listening to a Songza playlist and Regina Spektor's "All the Rowboats" came on and I thought, "Rowboats. Rowboats... Fredo. Technically a motorboat? Still..." I listened to the song again. And again. And again. And it was so obviously a song about Michael Corleone. The song/fandom match went down on my list of "Things I want to make." I offered the fandom for Festivids and I was incredibly lucky that crowie specifically asked for the vid that was running circles around my head. 

Regarding the vid itself, I don't have very much to say. The feedback I have received -- in comments and rec posts and privately from the people who I showed the vid ahead of time -- has been above and beyond what I could have anticipated. I am just so pleased that what I put out there has been received and understood (sometimes even beyond the understanding I have of it).

Thank you so much to my betas, bradcpu , absolutedestiny , and thirdblindmouse . Thank you fan_eunice for being my cheerleader. Thank you crowie for requesting this wonderful film series so that I could make a vid that desperately wanted to get made.

Comments

[crowie]

Yay I can download it now to keep on my iphone etc. Im still flying high from the vid. It's just so amazing and was the best thing to click through to on go live :) i love those movies and the vid just distilled all that awesome into 2.5 minutes. Thank you again

[jetpack_monkey]

I am so happy that you loved this. I have never made anything like it before and I was worried that my experimentation would not pan out, because receiving a crappy Festivid probably sucks more than giving one.

[lannamichaels]

I love this vid so much.

[jetpack_monkey]

Thank you! I love that you love it!

[bironic.livejournal.com]

I really liked this. (Should maybe have been more obvious who did it in retrospect, given the Martin Scorsese vid?) Will have to check out those other recs/descriptions you mention so I can better understand what's been done here, since I barely know the movies.

[jetpack-monkey.livejournal.com]

It's funny you should say that, because I'm not so much a gangster movie fan. Goodfellas and The Godfather movies are about it for me.

As for the recs, it's been really weird? Like they'll note something and I'm like, "Really?" I have no idea what a good portion of them are talking about.

[tearful-eye.livejournal.com]

holy crap, this is so amazing i wanna rewatch it forever /flails

sending love

[littlecatk]

I never watched the movies but this vid has such a poetic energy and I love it
great work!

[condnsdmlk]

This is one of my favourite vids ever, one that I rewatch whenever the whim takes me. So let's just say I've watched it a lot! And I think I have never actually left a comment on it, which is shocking (although probably not shocking considering how bad I am at commenting on things).

I rewatched Godfather I & II over the weekend and obviously immediately rewatched your vid thereafter, and wow, it gave me even more of a gut punch with the films fresh in my mind. As you mentioned in your notes, this song is so obviously about Michael Corleone!

Love, love, love this vid – it is so great! <3