i wrote about my process under the cut, if you’re curious! <3
okay hi hello! i wanted to explain a bit about my process behind this video, bc i put a lot of thought into the narrative of it (even if it seems a bit convoluted in execution lol) and i thought it might be interesting to someone (?). credentials: i received the ap lit. award from my school.
i first started by reading about the meaning behind the lyrics of bohemian rhapsody. turns out there’s no definitive answer! freddie mercury refused to say what it was about (other than relationships). the main interpretations i took into consideration were 1) it’s an allusion to goethe’s faust, in which faust, dissatisfied with his life, makes a pact with the devil at a crossroads, exchanging his soul for good looks, boundless opportunity, and the ability to do whatever he wants (the faustian idea being that in order to fully develop, we must flirt with danger but hold onto a sense of higher purpose). 2) the most literal interpretation is that the song is about a murder and an execution. the narrator confesses to a murder, is put on trial, and either escapes or gets executed (an allusion to camus’ the stranger). tying interpretations 1 and 2 together, queen explained once that the song is about a young man who has accidentally killed someone and (like faust) sold his soul to the devil. on the night before his execution, he calls for god (“bismillah”), and with the help of angels, gets his soul back. (hellooooo) 3) most simply, some believe the song is mercury’s veiled reference to coming out.
to me, the progression of the narrative is: the narrator has made peace with his life even though it isn’t ideal ➞ [turning point] ➞ narrator commits “the murder” (but he regrets it! if he hadn’t done it, his life would’ve stayed the same. satisfactory.) ➞ he must deal with the consequences of his actions (he dies, leaving his old self behind) ➞ he is reborn (does he want to be? he thinks he deserves to die, but god won’t let him. or something.) to translate this into dean’s narrative, i tried to do the following: dean has made a reluctant sort of peace with his life esp. following john’s death ➞ sam gets killed [the turning point] ➞ dean sells his soul, essentially “killing” himself ➞ he must come to terms with the fact that he is going to die ➞ he dies ➞ cas saves him (at first dean thinks he deserves to stay in hell, but cas teaches him to break free from that narrative, to come to terms with and accept himself). you’ll also notice i alluded to interpretation 3 a lot with dean “lying to himself,” “facing the truth,” etc. (and with lilith saying “you’re still gonna die. you’re still gonna burn,” because the post that says “olive from ant farm did you just call dean a f*g?” lives rent-free in my head). the whole thing’s kinda messy, but consider everything a double entendre. for example, i wanted “you’re lying to these people and to me...” to represent both the fact that he was lying about how he felt about sam’s death and later himself dying in acting so cavalier and also that he was lying about his identity (his sexualityyyy).
i also broke the lyrics down by verse. intro: the narrator is trapped in his reality. he doesn’t want to be pitied. he adopts a passive outlook in his grief. (dean coming to terms with his feelings after john’s death and his general grief) verse 1: the narrator commits the “murder” and feels regret (dean sells his soul but comes to realize he doesn’t want to die) verse 2: the narrator faces the consequences of his actions (dean realizes too late that he doesn’t want to die, and thus goes to hell). i didn’t write any notes on the following verses, just that the next verse marked cas’ introduction, saving dean. with verse 4 (and the line “i don’t deserve to go to hell”), i wanted to convey that cas taught dean to realize his worth and that he didn’t deserve to die/be in hell.
other notes: i stuck specifically to kripke-era footage mainly to keep it visually cohesive and also just to narrow it down for me (read: i was too lazy to color grade and i’m a kripke-era supremacist). if you’re curious about the notes i took, here’s a pic! i copied the lyrics into a google doc, split the lines into how i wanted to split the shots, and printed it out. in an ideal world i meant to map out what shots to use in blue and audio in red but i got bored with it and pretty much only took notes on the lyrics. i don’t usually take notes (i WISH i had the patience, but i always end up just trying to figure out the video during the editing process), but i knew that i wanted to give this one a lot of time and thought.
if anyone read this far i want to kiss you on the mouth
#project hail mary
#the amazing digital circus
#photography
#dallas wings
