Extended Commentary

N.B. Sorry for the reupload; but I wanted it seen in its restored shininess. :)

Coming up with good, original themes is getting real hard. Only the other day I was lamenting how the well is nearly dry. Well, today I managed to drain a little more out of the pool. :)

How to express psychic? I said "original" themes are hard. So, no probing eyes, no Simon, no Operative 'backtracking', nor any of the usual River images. I wanted something unique. I finally went with a 'wall-less' room, of which we just see a floating floor. Because, for a psychic like River, barriers do not exist. The bright white plateau River is standing on, and the 'wall-less' concept, is kinda reminiscent of Prof. Xavier's Cerebro.

The theme is simple: "And you put them in a room with a psychic." River gleans Alliance secrets: in this scene expressed as a vista of a stadium at Miranda opening up to her left. Her particular 'shadow' hints of course to, "Key members of Parliament. Key. The minds behind every military, diplomatic, and covert operation in the galaxy."

Please note that there's no (visible) light-source for River's shadow. I did that on purpose. It would have been easy to add a spot-light or so. But when I experimented with that, I realized it was breaking the illusion. Whatever light-source the 'real' room had, assume it's there: adding it from the outside, through the absent walls, as it were, breaks the idea that those barriers only don't exist to River's mind. External light-source really needs to be not there for this to work properly.

The background image, with the purple lines, is actually a still from the BDM, too.

The blending for River was particularly difficult, because I actually had to construct 1 River out of 2 frames. Both are from the class-room walk (BDM). There was, however, only 1 frame in which River had her feet neatly together. Sadly, her head is entirely overexposed in that scene. So, I took the frame where's walking in from the left, and carefully spliced it together with the 'other' River. I had to do some other reconstructive surgery as well with her jacket; but, in the end, it works out rather well I think. I changed the color of her entire outfit a bit too, as it matches the rest better.

I was struggling not to put in more images. :) But, of late, I'm beginning to go for 'simple, yet effective.' Everything else I added was too much foofaraw. The theme is complete 'as is'. Anything else only distracts, and detracts.

Though it may surprise you, I actually consider this to be one of my better works. It's 'psychic', but not 'psychedelic'. It's futuristic, yet still warm. And impressionistic enough not to be mundane. So, let's be careful with stomping on my fragile ego. :) It's been a long while since I felt this happy about a creation of mine.

I really do River best.

COPIED USER COMMENTS

AdmiralIronwing Thursday, January 17, 2008 - 15:49
Just like the last one, this is so damn awsome. And you are so damn talented. Your better than my classmate, who's an art major. I give you another 10.


Miramel Thursday, January 17, 2008 - 17:22
friggin beautiful, asarian, as usual. i'm in awe.


Platonist Thursday, January 17, 2008 - 18:39
just wow! and inspired


Xeyra Friday, January 18, 2008 - 09:14
WOW.

You make the most amazing pieces. The symbolism, the meaning, the incredibleness of it... it's beautiful!! It gave me shivers.

I talked about it some more, at:

http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=12&t=32329&m=577557

It's awesome. I don't know how else to describe it.

I love this piece.
The Key shadow is wonderful, and puts me in mind of more than just the reference to "key" members of parliment. There's so much locked up in Rivers mind that doesn't belong there.Somewhere, in all the shadows in here head is the key to herself.

I totally love this pic!

Where in the movie did you grab the still for the blurry background image?

I totally love this pic!

Where in the movie did you grab the still for the blurry background image?

The more I look at the pic the more goosebumbs I get... (doesn't sound like prober English... HOpe you know what I mean!) Really awesome!!

Beautiful Asarian, as always

Thanks, folks. :) "goosebumps", "shivers", these are all good things to experience. :) The motion blur of the background, that floaty white plateau, the soft light from her 'vision' with the subtlely lit up door area (to connect it to the white 'floor' and 'key'), yes, this really worked out wonderfully well. It's all so ethereal.

And hehe, Kayna, you're so right: there's a lot more symbolism to the key and River than I initially envisioned. :) The 'key' shadow really is perfect for her, in so many ways.

You know, every time I look at this the key means something else. This time it puts me in mind of the key on a wind up toy which, when you think about it, is exactly what the alliance was trying to make her into. Point her at a target, wind her up, and watch her go.