First, many, many thanks to elynross & Killa for beta'ing this. It wouldn't have been half as good without them. And thanks also to all the other people who looked at it in-progress and made suggestions. :)

The vid started out as a Luke vid, then evolved into Luke & Leia, framed by Amidala looking forward to the future of her children. It's the story of their maturation -- starting from their desire to accomplish things and participate in the struggle against the Empire (being "on fire"), and then the slow realization that the danger out there is real, that they will be hurt in ways they don't expect and aren't prepared for, which happens in the "secret staircase" verse.

For Luke, that's represented in the shift from the fake battle with Vader in the tree, a scary but not-real situation in the safe context of his training, to the battle with Vader, which he's really not prepared for, and his learning the truth about Vader. For Leia, it's a shift from straightforward battle, something she understands and is ready for, to her love for Han and her inability to save him.

And with that knowledge comes maturity and new strength, the ability to accomplish things, but the flip side of that is how that gets used and what that does to them. The "skipping stones" verse focuses on this with Luke and Leia's rescue of Han and destruction of Jabba. Those of us card-carrying SW addicts who read the ROTJ novelization <g> know that this was planned out in advance -- they deliberately intended to lure Jabba out onto the barge and destroy him there. To me, despite the abundant justification and the need to rescue Han, this is a pretty dark moment for them -- they really get their hands dirty here.

After this, as Stipe comes in on the lyrics, there's a pause for reflection -- for Luke, that's Ben's death; for Leia, the destruction of Alderaan -- which leads into the final sequence, dealing with their new power, how they use it, and the sacrifices they make.

Technical stuff: The song was shortened in CoolEdit. Clip capture was done from pro tapes with a JVC SVHS VCR to a Dazzle Hollywood Bridge analog-to-digital converter, then to a firewire port on a Pentium III 700 MHz system, using the Dazzle software. The vid was assembled in Adobe Premiere 6.0. The captures were done over the course of a day, the vid was done from 3/26/2001 - 4/5/2001 (not full-time, of course ).

I kept the clips mostly chronological, partly because the source is so well-known and so visually different (Leia's hair, Luke's costumes, etc) that I felt jumping around would distract the viewer, and partly because the vid is telling one of the stories that the source tells throughout the trilogy, at least to me, so the chronological sequence worked.

The time jumps, where Amidala shifts to Luke & Leia and back, and before and after the flashback sequence to the ANH clips, are signaled by special wipes (Premiere 6.0 gradient wipes, for those who are curious), while the only other transitions I use are either straight cuts or standard dissolves.

I used a lot of dissolves here, which I felt worked better with the mood of the song than sharp cuts, and saved sharp cuts and fade-to-black moments for transitions between themes. The song has a strong lyric line, a strong guitar line with powerful chords, and a strong beat, so there were lots of choices to match cuts and internal action to, and I tried to take advantage of that. I'm particularly proud of the bit where Luke takes off Vader's hand: the lightsaber slashes are timed to the beats of "what-would-you-give", and I had that bit in mind from the very beginning. :-)

Anyway, that's all -- the lyrics to the edited song (I took out one verse to reduce repetitiveness and because it wasn't necessary to tell the story) are below. Comments and criticism are very welcome at any time to shalott@netspace.org. 

pain from pearls -hey little girl
how much have you grown
pain from pearls - hey little girl
flower for the ones you've known

are you on fire
from the years
what would you give 
for your kid fears

secret staircase, running high
you had a hiding place
secret staircase, running low
but they all know, now you're inside

are you on fire
from the years
what would you give
for your kid fears
your kid fears

skipping stones, we know the price now
and any sin will do
how much further, if you can spin
how much further, if you are smooth

are you on fire
[are you on fire] 
from the years
[from the years?] 
what would you give 
for your kid fears
[what would you give]
 
[what would replace the rent with the stars above] 
(replace the rent with the stars above) 
[replace the need with love] 
(replace the need with love) 
[replace the anger with the tide] 
(replace the anger with the tide) 
[replace the ones, the ones, the ones, that you love] 
(replace the ones, the ones, the ones, that you love) 
ah the ones that you love

(verse cut out)

are you on fire
(replace the rent with the stars above) 
[are you on fire] 
from all the years
(replace the need with love) 
[from the years] 
and what would you give
(replace the anger with the tide) 
for your kid fears
[what would you give] 
(for the ones that you love) 
what would you give
(the ones that you love) 
for you kid fears? 
[what would you give] 
what would you give for your kid fears

your kid fears

hey kids
hold on