BVC | 60th World Hit Festival | Aronyk, Britonisea [IC]

[Britonisea]

THE WINNER IS REVEALED!

Anders Duran: Right okay... One nation received 11 points whilst the other..............received 23 points in Phase Two!

Priya Thompson: Oh yes! It's going to be a big winner's score! Right. This means its a two-horse race. The nation that received 23 points and took the victory is...

NORMANDY AND PICARDY!

Priya Thompson: Let's make way for the Winner's Reprise!

Full Scoreboard Breakdown

Edit: Adab was given 2 extra points so I changed that. Sorry!

[Normandy and Picardy]

Winner's Reprise
Normandy and Picardy
Marianne Vidal, Anne-Marie Paquet - "On commencera encore le matin"
Language(s): Normand French
Title Translation: We'll start again in the morning
Tune: Emma, Alessandra Amoroso - Pezzo Di Cuore

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Additional Information
Lyrics: Anne-Marie Paquet, Jean Bourdieu
Music: Anne-Marie Paquet, Marianne Vidal, Jean Bourdieu

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Marianne Vidal and Anne-Marie Paquet, who have won the 60th WHF for Normandy and Picardy in Aronyk with «On commencera encore le matin»

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And they have done it! Across Normandy and Picardy, corks were popped, cheers were raised, there were hugs, kisses, jumping around for joy. No one had expected them to go and take it again for the third time in five contests. This wasn't meant to happen, it simply couldn't happen. It had happened. For one pair of Normands, the news simultaneously had hit them like a sledgehammer and had not yet sunk in, and would take a long time to do so. That was Marianne and Anne-Marie, the two friends now turned WHF champions together. They couldn't believe it. Marianne looked simply stunned; never in her wildest dreams had she ever expected this. This, her first song, her first gig, after such a long hiatus. She felt, at last, free, like all the pain had been worth it. There was foreboding too, a sense that now there would be a great expectation on her shoulders. Well, that could wait for the ecstasy to wear off. For now, she just burst into tears and collapsed into Anne-Marie's arms, the arms of the friend who had been alongside her the entire way. For a moment, everything else, the cheering, the music, the camera pointing directly at them to capture their response to the news, it all faded away into insignificance. Anne-Marie turned and held Marianne close, and along came Simone Derrida too, her third win as HoD somehow having been attained; for a woman who claimed to not be trying, she had done very well indeed. She was there to comfort the two of them, but she had already been through all this before and knew what they had to do. The shepherding to the stage. Trophy. Cheers. A "Merci Beaucoup!" or two. More Cheers. And then the reprise. They would have to do it all again, but now as the winners. Yep, it had definitely not sunk in yet...

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Marianne and Anne-Marie had just enough time for one more hug and then they were whisked away once more. As Marianne came up to her spot at the front of the stage once more, towards the cheering crowd that almost seemed to threaten to swallow her up, her heart was absolutely pounding; this would be her first major live performance in several years. It was time, even if it felt like time had stopped. The lights dimmed again. Calming down. More bursts of cheering. The first couple of piano notes. Everything was pitch black except for one light shining across, showing part of Marianne's head, her face disappearing back into the dark just above her eyes, her hair falling back down from the darkness again, and then fading back in, and what you could see was white - indeed, the Normand delegation had discovered the black and white filter again, thought "Oooh, fancy", and decided to run with it. The camera shot, using camera 16 zoomed very close in - this may help give you an idea where Marianne is, though of course that was deliberately obscured for the time being - was such that Marianne appeared to be looking off at a slight angle away from the camera to the left of the shot, although really she was sat facing forward. For the first couple of lines, all that could be seen, as the camera very slowly zoomed out, was Marianne's face and her lips moving as she sung, wobbling at the end of every line as the nerves just threatened to take over, but not, of course, managing to. If she had been able to think at that point, she may have been celebrating getting through the first couple, and indeed everything after that definitely easier now she had taken the plunge, but really she wasn't thinking at all, just letting the words flow out, and flow they did.

As Marianne sang "J'ai compté..", the shot transitioned to a closer one from one of the steadicam operators, looking up to the front pedestal area of the catwalk from the right hand side, which is in fact where Marianne had been (and still was) sat at the top of the (very small) steps. You could now tell where on the stage she was at least, but the shot was still rather dark, with the light being provided from the very back of the stage, a series of different lights of different heights and depths, to help keep the somewhat moody vibe. You could also properly make out her outfit too, which consisted on a long-sleeved and relatively high necked black shirt, a patterned skirt, high-heeled black boots and a thick black coat with fur lining, as can be seen here (on the right). Some of what was to come next was slightly betrayed too, as behind her now the base of a streetlight - a prop borrowed from a certain winning performance, it having been found in an SRNP warehouse and put back into good use, being seen behind her, but for now the focus was on Marianne, now looking up to the camera, and simply singing and emoting, trying to channel everything into the performance.

J'me tiens en comptant les étoiles
Seule au milieu de cette nuit
Chacun comme un tache de rousseur
Et ils sont tres, trop loins aussi
J'ai compté toutes les secondes, toutes les heures pour ce qui me parait à des années
Depuis la dernière fois que je t'ai vue et n'importe quoi avait un air vrai

As the prechorus began, there was a turn upwards and fade transition into a shot of one of the trapezoidal LEDs as it slowly came to life, although life here means for the majority of the others from the four of which could be seen in the perspective of the previous shot as so (the final image here; thank you Brit) changing from showing nothing to showing a general seen of the night sky, which was still in black and white anyway (so naturally it was exaggerated to make it easier to be picked up on). The more important image though was the one that was being shown, namely the moon emerging from behind the clouds and looking down, casting yet another, eerie glow. Transition back to the stage and to the second camera now on the front pedestal bit, with the shot being provided by the other steadicam essentially perched at the edge of the greenroom (the Normand delegation hadn't quite realised the limitations of the stage until they actually got to the arena themselves). The lights that had been coming from the back had flickered away to be replaced by the light from the left hand side, i.e. so that it seemed the light was shining down on the moon. Marianne, who could now be seen be holding a book in one hand, came up to the aforementioned lampost during her travail through the night, as was being described in the lyrics, and slowly, almost listleslly, swung around it, helping add to the general tone, but also meaning she didn't use up too much energy either which she could direct elsewhere. As the verse came to an end, the camera zoomed in, slowly, on the book she held in her hands, on which the lettering, in gold if it were in colour, could just be made out reading "On commencera...", clearly the title of the song itself.

Et c'est pas pareil quand je me promène dans ces rues
Ou je pouvais entendre tes pas comme un bienvenue
Et tes larmes, et ton rire, et tout le reste
Chaque étreinte chaleureuse
Maintenant ils m’étouffent, les ténèbres et le silence
Pendant que j'essaye discuter avec l'obscurité, et
Ca me donne toutes les réponses que je ne voulais pas entendre
Et je continue à marcher
Je dois

The chorus mostly saw some broader shots as the main introduction, helping show just how stark Marianne's position was, especially given the majority of the stage was actually still shrouded in darkness. She truly was alone in the night of the soul, seemingly with nowhere to go and so sign of daylight. Thus, cameras 13-15 were put into surface, but of course not in their usual way to show off the entire stage, but to be interspersed with closer shots from the steadicam, as well as one of the crane cameras that had been brought over to provide an extra angle to play with. Really the point was to show this wider scene but then keep bringing it back to Marianne, to her performance and to her emotions, and by the juxtaposition help bring an added strength. The final shot of the chorus saw the majority of the lights almost dissolve away, as if all hope finally was fading, except for the fact that the lamppost (made to look, for the romantic imagery of it, like an old gas style one, but clearly not if only for health and safety reasons) now actually lit up, and actually lit up in colour, old and warm in tone, as Marianne came to rest beneath it once more, the light and shadow mingling once more of a hazy fade led into the verse.

Combien de temps dois-je marcher?
Jusqu'au lever du soleil?
Mais le soleil se lèvera-t-il pour nous deux un jour?
Pourquoi tu n'es pas là?
Tu ne m’entends pas?
J'suis épuisée, j'suis fatiguée
Je l'envie de laisser me tomber
Mais je sais que tu est en attente ailleurs (en attente ailleurs)
Et qu'on commencera encore le matin, sans encore de pleurs

And at last onto the main stage we go, working now with camera 2. Whilst the lamppost had perhaps promised a turn at last to colour, this was not actually going to be provided at this point. Instead the audiences across the multiverse got a black and white shot beginning pretty close up and focused on Anne-Marie as she stepped into view, but unlike with Marianne, what was going on was a lot clearer, and looked in general a bit more like the opening of Portugal ESC 2021 in how the black and white worked here, although the areas of shadow were still prominent, and a lot of the lighting was coming from behind. Further, rather than a Portuguese jazz band, what we are dealing with a Normand woman walking through assorted boxes, the sort that you would pack up stuff if you were moving house in, tables, old chairs, a painting wrapped in paper and a string nestled up, generally looking like a house in that sort of phase when you're about to leave, that moment of transition where both a deep loss but the hope to come mingle up. A less literal interpretation of the theme of the song, perhaps, but nevertheless. As she sang, Anne-Marie, who was dressed in a black leather skirt, a white thick fleeced jumper, a tweed/patterned blazer, and similar boots, as here (on the left), seemed to look around, to mess with a few of the objects, including an old doll in a box that had stopped spinning, an old family picture from within one of the boxes, and running her hand along one of the tables on which a layer of dust was visible (some of the other cameras were also being used to provide other angles and reach in closer as needed), but with no great intent or purpose, again appearing to have no real purpose as one can feel in the situations the song is evoking, almost an indifference, an attempt to disconnect to hide from the issue, though of course this also means one cannot move forward. Just before the chorus, we come to stage level itself with one of the poor steadicam operators being put hard to work, with a shot that comes from around Anne-Marie as she picked up what appeared to be a book, which now appeared in colour, the only item to do so. It was a dark navy colour, with golden lettering... you can guess where this is going.

Mes pieds sont de plus en plus minces
Le chemin devient plus étroit
Et il n’y a aucun signe de lumière
Et il n'y a aucun signe de toi

J’ai l’impression que je ne vais nulle part
J'ai l'impression de tourner en rond
Je ne vois pas où je dois aller
Je suis seule dans la nuit comme dans l'enfance
Mais je dois continuer

This provided a point of focus for the transition into the chorus again, which began with a shot from camera 3 to really show off the stage, as now the background LED panels were properly put to use. Taking advantage of the broad width of the panels but also the fact that it is panels we're talking about with different sections, certain bits now showed Marianne singing along with Anne-Marie from different angles and perspectives (and one even upside down, the flip image of the section above) and often not full images either - in a way serving almost as fragments, the blurry figments of an old memory, an old face, an old friend - alongside some sections where now the words of the song could be seen emerging and disappearing, in a sort of reverse colour scheme so that the words were black and the background white, and indeed the fading away of the lyrics was almost like ink into another liquid - a quite deliberate choice, given the book. Everything had been overthought enought for something like this, in the classic Normand way. Otherwise, everything would be as you would expect, crane cameras 6 and 7 and the further out camera 3 being used to provide a series of broader shots from further out to capture this, although obviously not too far because Marianne was still on the front stage and not meant to be seen again at this point (well, for the audiences at home anyway, she was very much there for those in the arena, but nvm), interspersed with closer shots with camera 2 (the steadicam operator now being allowed a rest), alongside 6 and 7 to help add shots from the sides and the like to break up the frontal shots, and highlight different aspects of Anne-Marie's movements, posture and general flow as she let herself express the song.

Combien de temps dois-je marcher?
Jusqu'au lever du soleil?
Mais le soleil se lèvera-t-il pour nous deux un jour?
Pourquoi tu n'es pas là?
Tu ne m’entends pas?
J'suis épuisée, j'suis fatiguée
Je l'envie de laisser me tomber
Mais je sais que tu est en attente ailleurs (en attente ailleurs)
Et qu'on commencera encore le matin, sans encore de pleurs

And so we go into the bridge, with one of the crane cameras coming down alongside Anne-Marie as she walked across the stage, looking just off into the distance beyond it and slowly reaching out her hand, slightly bent but trying to push it forward, almost pulsing to the beat of the music, if that makes any sense. Then, cut to another shot, from camera 4, as now we turn to Emma walking up along the catwalk from the front, again not quite looking out to the camera, and going at quite some pace, as if at last she has found her direction, the beacon of hope, the focus that she needs to get through to daylight. Then, we got a shot looking across the catwalk at some remove as the two come closer, closer, agonisingly close...

Et je, et je ne pense pas pouvoir marcher plus loin
Et je, et je pourrais m’allonger un moment enfin
Et esperer que le soleil se lèvera
Comme il l'habitude

And, as they finally came together, holding each other's hands, arms bent at the elbow, a burst of colour spread across the screen, at least in FX land as the black and white filter faded away, well, melted away at last, and the stadium was shown in full colour, the lights now generally a warm, almost golden colour, like the streetlamp earlier but now spread across the entirity of the venue. There were various blue highlights provided by the lighting strips around the roof-borne LED panels and along the floor too, whilst in the background LEDs, which weren't shown all that much, we could now see the two of them, in colour, singing with one another, one in front of a black background, the other white. But of course, that wasn't really shown as the focus was on the two of them on the catwalk, with various shots from all different angles. The cameras were arranged such that a proper 360 degree round shot as in the music video wasn't possible, but nevertheless, around them we went, albeit more broken up, from different depths, etc. The audience around them had been encouraged to turn on their torches on their phones or similar devices for this section, and the further up shots showing Anne-Marie and Marianne singing to each other, soaking in the incredible, unbelievable moment they shared now as two friends who had, as they as they cared at this point, conquered the world, surrounded in a sea of lights helped show the crowd had been obliging. Of course, the shots came in close and closer as the chorus came to a close.

Je continuerai à marcher
Jusqu'au lever du soleil
Parce qu'il y a une chance que le soleil se lève à nouveau
Et que tu reviennes
Et que tu m'etendes
J'suis épuisée, j'suis fatiguée
Mais j'laisserai pas me tomber
Alors, je sais que tu est en attente ailleurs (en attente ailleurs)
Et qu'on commencera encore le matin, un matin un jour

As the performance slowly came to a close, the audience unsurprisingly starting to cheer slightly early before it had actually finished, just like last time, albeit much louder, and even earlier (the few Normands in the crowd had never really stopped). As the final few piano notes were played, Marianne fell into (or, well, onto) Anne-Marie's arms once more, even more exhausted than before, yet feeling more alive than she had in years. She had finally done it, she was back, and she had performed as well as she ever had, and had done so alongside a close friend. But she was also shattered, and needed her support. They managed to sneak in a quick, exasperated "MERCI!" just before the whole spectacle came to an end, and looked up briefly at the dizzying sight all around them. There would definitely be celebrations; whether they would remember them would be a different matter entirely. Somewhere across the arena, a certain Mme. Périault, the Overseer-Elect of the World Hit Festival, couldn't help but break into more than just a smile, and pondered on the fact that the contest would likely be returning to SRNP once more. But where? Well, that would be getting ahead of ourselves...

I stand alone counting the stars
Alone in the dead of that night
Each one reminds me of your freckles
And they're very, too far away as well
I have counted the seconds, counted the hours, for what feels like years
Since the last time that I saw you, the last time anything felt real

And it doesn't feel the same walking along these streets
Where I could hear your steps like a sort of welcome
And your tears, and your laughter, and everything else
Every warm embrace
Now the shadows and the silence are choking me, and
As I try to have a conversation with the darkness
It gives me all the answers I don't want to hear
And I just keep walking
I have to

And how long must I keep walking?
Until morning comes?
But will the sun rise for us two again?
Why aren't you here now?
Can't you hear me?
I feel exhausted, I feel tired
And I want to let myself fall
But I know that somewhere you're waiting
And we'll start again in the morning without anymore tears

My feet are wearing thinner and thinner
The road is tapering off
And there's no sign of light
And there's still no sign of you

I feel like I'm never going anywhere
I feel like I'm going around in circles
I can't see where I should go
I'm alone in the dark as if I were a child
But I have to keep going

And how long must I keep walking?
Until morning comes?
But will the sun rise for us two again?
Why aren't you here now?
Can't you hear me?
I feel exhausted, I feel tired
And I want to let myself fall
But I know that somewhere you're waiting
And we'll start again in the morning without anymore tears

And I, and I don't think I can walk any longer
And I, and I might light down for a moment, at last
And hope that the sun rises
Like it used to do

And I will keep on walking
Until morning comes
Because there's a chance the sun will rise again
And you will be here
And you will hear me
I feel exhausted, I feel tired
But I won't let myself fall
Because I know that somewhere you're waiting
And we'll start again in the morning, one morning, someday

[Britonisea]

WHF60 After Party & Awards Ceremony

[Britonisea]

1st Normandy & Picardy 43
2nd Pemecutan 30
3rd Llalta 28
4th Kalosia 26
5th Alezian Union 23
6th Natanya 18
7th Todlichebujoku 16
8th Achaean Republic 13
9th Estogium 12
10th Antahbrantahstan 12
11th Northern Beepee 12
12th Adab 12
13th Nightom 11
14th Axuva 11
15th Britonisea 10
16th Beepee 8
17th Carrelie 7
18th Monaeroglisseurest Pleindanguilles 7
19th Fromulya 6
20th New Zealand South West St Martin 6
21st Yaakovistan 4

All ties have been broken and so these are the final results.

Congratulations to Normandy & Picardy and thank you all for participating. Until next time, goodbye!