Otherman

"Otherman" is a Queer As Folk (US) vid by Paraka. It is a slash involving the characters of Brian Kinney, Justin Taylor, and Ethan Gold. It was posted to YouTube on March 17, 2007. 
Vidder's summary: "This is a vid about the Brian/Justin/Ethan triangle. I don't really think it's either anti-Ethan, nor pro-Ethan, it's told mostly from Ethan's POV, and uses only clips from season 2. One of my first vids."
==Reactions/Reviews==
This vid was reviewed by Anoel at the reel vidding community on May 31, 2007: 
"Overall impression: A unique look at the Brian/Justin/Ethan triangle through the eyes of Ethan that uses very well fitting lyrics to show his beliefs about why he comes between them. The vid is satisfying and enjoyable narratively but there is room for improvement in terms of working better with the music.
Titles: The titles appear at the end of the video with white text over a black background and give the viewer enough time to see the title, song, vidder's name and website. Nothing special but it gets the job done.
Music choice: This is a great song for the subject material as the lyrics reflect the Brian/Justin/Ethan triangle in S2 very well. However the lyrics are very narrative driven and simple and don't give the vidder a lot of room in making more interesting connections. Same with the music which is a catchy pop rock song but with little variation musically. It does have some nice guitar bits and drums but a song with violins would probably would probably have been even more perfect song choice for Ethan.
Narration, Tone and Movement: The vid is unique among many vids exploring this storyline by having the video set from Ethan's point of view. I think this could have been established better in the beginning of the vid which starts with the first major scene that began Justin's move away from Brian and draws it out until the lyrics begin. I would have liked to see more of Ethan's presence such as a juxtaposition between his birthday gift and Brian's to Justin. There are several times throughout the vid where the pronouns seem to fall on the wrong person that distracted me a bit and could have been tightened up more. The narrative basically shows how Ethan works to gain Justin's affections even while he knows Justin has a relationship with Brian because he believes that the relationship will dissolve and he should be able to have his chance. Ethan's violin playing is repeated throughout the video and combined with romantic images and Justin's artist side show reasons why Ethan believes his relationship will work better. The other man concept of the chorus works particularly well in context and in knowing the B/J fan reaction to Ethan which was mostly dislike and rooting against him to put it mildly. I like how the vid doesn't make Ethan the bad guy but rather shows why he tries to break up the relationship through the many different times Brian lets Justin down from the opening birthday clip to Justin's frustration in not hearing the right romantic words or actions. The vid does a good job of showing Brian's perspective as well in that he can't make the effort but still wants to be told of it. The end does a good job of showing the progression of Justin finding out his situation with Brian is not the one he wants until he finally decides to leave with Ethan.
The tone is not very emotional as the song encourages a sense of distance from the situation, partly to get the viewer to not just side with B/J and instead see their relationship in a more objective fashion. There isn't a lot of movement in the vid besides your basic internal motion and some circular shots which do help a bit with interest. More attention to this in the vid could have made the vid more interesting to watch on a visual level.
Cuts, Transitions, Effects & Colouring/Coloring: There are mostly hard cuts which matches the music well. However the cuts could have been matched much better to the music as some major beats are missed as well as more missed oppurtunities to sync the little tones and other musical instuments the song gives. Sometimes the clips linger too long on an image making the pacing a bit slow for the music. A transition could also have been used for some of the music's less strong chords (example: 1:48). There is only one effect I can notice with the first clip appearing out of many diamonds which fits the music quite well. The coloring is your basic Qaf palette although the quality is a little different due to the source.
Specific vid & music notes: (Time marked points of interest)
*0:07 I liked how Brian coming into the frame matched the music
*0:29 The You know beginning on the male prostitute was distracting in terms of pronounm I would have liked it to start on Justin, making Brian's shrug be on "he" and a
*0:38 "He" knows on Justin also was a bit confusing, a Brian shot knowing about Ethan would have been better
*1:05 I like how Ethan going in for the kiss matched the music
*1:11 I think the kissing went on a little too long here. Intercutting to something else especially to illustrate the lyrics better would have made this more interesting to watch
*1:22 There should have been some kind of clip change that *moved* to show the change in the music here
*1:28 I loved Justin's circling on the chair here, how it both matched the music, showed Justin's deliberation and artisic and romantic longing
*1:35 I really liked Ethan keeping his distance with the mask but later there's a bit too much talking heads
*1:43 Great clip choice in showing how Brian accepts what happens but can't do anything to change it
*1:48 Justin jumping into Brian's arms worked perfectly with the music and to show Brian really is a good guy too
*2:10 Too much talking heads here, not really sure what he's saying
*2:23 Loved the clip choice for Brian finding out and how it goes backwards in time fitting the lyrics well with the flashes of light and Brian's head movement matching the music really well
*2:43 I think the Brian pushing Justin against the pole clip should have gone a bit earlier to fit the music better but nice match up there in terms of motion and music
*2:45 Nice cutting on the symbols, it would have been nice to see this continue a little more
*3:09 I don't think this clip fit the other man concept or the lyrics and could be better used somewhere else
*3:17-3:36 I really liked how you showed Ethan's violin playing concentration with Justin artist focus showing how they connect
Final notes: (Place for constructive criticism & suggestions) I don't mean to be too critical as I did enjoy the video as a whole. I think the vid could have used a good beta to make the vid more polished in terms of working better with the music and keeping the pov consistent. If you wanted to take the vid to a level beyond narrative and lyrics, I would focus on using more juxtapositions and parallels to create a stronger argument on why Ethan thought he was a better man for Justin and used motion and possibly effects to make the video more visually interesting."
==References==
Category:Queer As Folk Vids
Category:Slash Vids
Category:2007 Vids