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Post by franzeska on Dec 16, 2011 16:47:39 GMT -5
We've always disagreed on how often to use Title Cards (she felt they were more often than not necessary, I felt that they were part of the editing process - meaning sometimes you'd use them, sometimes you'd not, depending on the effect you're going for.) As I've been asking people about Media West, it has also occurred to me that the format of a vidshow has a big impact. After attending VividCon, I think I probably wouldn't use title cards on most vids intended for the VVC premiers show unless that specific vid really demanded one. The VVC program has unusually clear listings of who did what and where to contact them. The show is also carefully ordered. Unless the title card were an integral part of my vid, I would feel like it was 1. grandstanding and 2. interrupting the flow of the overall show. My understanding so far of how MWC works is that it's a contest. Each group's vids are on one DVD (or multiple DVDs if you're submitting slash and "gen"). The DVDs are shown in a random order throughout the weekend, and people fill out ballots based on whose name they recognize or what fandoms they like, usually without having seen all of the vids. (After seeing this comment four thousand times all over the internet, I'm going to assume it's a pretty accurate assessment of how voting works for MWC, flattering or not.) Most people turn up for either the gen or the slash part of the show but not both, people wander in and out of the room all the time, and nothing ever happens on schedule. In an environment like that, I think it would make a lot of sense to have title cards on every vid because people will often miss the beginning of your DVD, and there may not be a handy way to look up who made what. Plus if you don't happen to have a group of vids that form a logical mini vidshow of their own on your DVD, you may want to break up the flow a little to make the transitions between dissimilar vids less jarring. |
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Post by legoline on Dec 16, 2011 17:14:13 GMT -5
Okay, to ask the stupid question: what do you mean by title cards? What are they?
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Post by winterjasmine on Dec 16, 2011 17:42:14 GMT -5
Okay, to ask the stupid question: what do you mean by title cards? What are they? I'm so glad someone asked for clarification  I'm thinking they are like credits? Title of vid, title of song, vidder...? But that's just my assumption, and as I've already learned this week, assuming I understand a vidding term, is not the same as actually understanding it. See the whole 'cutting on the beat' discussion for evidence of that  Btw, if we *are* talking about credits here, what's the word on sticking these things at the beginning or end of the vid? Again, making an assumption here that if you have them at the beginning they are 'title cards' and at the end 'credits'? Jaz Putting two and two together in vidding, and making thirteen and a half, since 2008 |
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Post by franzeska on Dec 16, 2011 20:56:51 GMT -5
Okay, to ask the stupid question: what do you mean by title cards? What are they? No, it's not stupid at all. It's not like I took that term from a dictionary somewhere. I just used it without thinking about it. Looking it up now, I think it's most commonly used to refer to intertitles like in silent films. I specifically meant not just credits but credits with a non-video background that show before the vid starts, likely before the music starts. As opposed to what I did in my vid Caramelo where it's just the title over the first clip or what Greensilver did in What About Love where the credits are designed to look like movie credits and are over the whole beginning of the vid. I'd call them "credits" anywhere in the vid, Jaz, as long as the text is something like the vidder's name or the song or the fandom or a recipient name, if any. I probably wouldn't put that information smack in the middle of the vid, but there are a lot of possibilities beyond just a static screen all the way at the beginning or end. What Greensilver did is kind of obvious and hammy in a way that's perfect for Heart and for a cheesy sports movie with Rob Lowe but maybe not so good for a somber, serious vid. I think it also sets up an expectation for me that I'm going to watch a strongly narrative vid (since most movies are strongly narrative), so I might avoid that on a vid that's all about motion and color. In the past, I've usually been too lazy to do any kind of text at all. I stuck the title 'Caramelo' on that one vid because the lyrics are in Spanish. I guess I felt like a lot of English speakers would have some guess what the main lyric of the song meant but not like they'd pick it up just from hearing it at a con, in the dark, unable to read their programs. (Also, I really, really like the Miami Vice font in silly colors.) That's why it was at the beginning. I've done a couple of one-episode vids that ended with a freeze frame and then credits because the episodes themselves ended that way. What I was talking about earlier in the thread was having credits text over a solid color as a separate clip before the vid to give the audience a minute to switch gears. I think, for cons, I prefer to see credits before the vid on average so I know what I'm watching. Online or on a DVD or something, I prefer them after on average because it's only after I've seen the vid that I know whether I care. (And also that information is often in the post/youtube info/etc. so sticking it at the beginning is wasting my time.) But either can work and no credits at all can work. |
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Post by obsessive24 on Dec 17, 2011 3:54:21 GMT -5
I don't particularly care whether the credits come before the vid or are incorporated into a vid, but I always like it when, at a con, the vidder doesn't put their name at the start of the vid. I mean, sure you can look it up on the programme, but I often don't, so it's cool to start to watch a vid without having specific expectations knowing who made it. Is that just me?  |
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Post by legoline on Dec 17, 2011 4:11:26 GMT -5
I always like it when, at a con, the vidder doesn't put their name at the start of the vid. I mean, sure you can look it up on the programme, but I often don't, so it's cool to start to watch a vid without having specific expectations knowing who made it. Is that just me? Do you watermark your con vids then? (Just out of curiousity as I've not been to a vidding con) |
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Post by obsessive24 on Dec 17, 2011 5:29:30 GMT -5
That's a good question. No, I don't watermark my con/DVD versions of my vids, it's only for the online distribution versions. I think some people do for their con vids, but to memory, not a lot. (A lot of them don't do it for their online versions either, but that's a separate decision.) |
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Post by legoline on Dec 17, 2011 5:36:57 GMT -5
Ah, thanks Makes sense, I guess. To come back to your question, I guess I'd prefer it to have the credits in the end of the vid. I'm not sure but I guess I'd like an "immediate" start, at least in a vid show. I suppose it'd feel more like the vids are being shown back to back, even though I suppose time-wise it doesn't make all that much difference because you get the credits in the end anyway and the vids aren't actually that back to back but still... |
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Post by katbyrd on Dec 17, 2011 7:39:59 GMT -5
I guess I never thought about 'not' putting my name and email on a vid. It'd be like writing a story without adding a title and author. Plus if somebody steals it, at least they have to take my credits off! As for placement, the music dictates placement of credits to me. Sometimes a song has intro music, so that's there credits go. If the song immediately goes into where I want to place the first clip, the credits go at the end. However, my credits are always simply the song title, artist, my name and email, and the date created. |
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Post by icepixie on Dec 17, 2011 12:14:09 GMT -5
As for placement, the music dictates placement of credits to me. Sometimes a song has intro music, so that's there credits go. If the song immediately goes into where I want to place the first clip, the credits go at the end. Me too. Sometimes there is just nothing that can be done with that damned intro or outro music, and credits can be very handy. If my vid has a title that's different from the song's, I always put that at the front, whether my credits come before or after the vid. In those cases, I usually want the title to plant some kind of expectation in the viewer, like a good summary. |
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Post by dragonchic on Dec 17, 2011 13:00:27 GMT -5
I generally only put the title in the front, if I'm putting any kind of credits at the beginning. Most of my vids just have the standard white on black title card at the end. The one exception is Club Vivid, since the credits *have* to be incorporated over the music, so I usually stick those at the beginning. But I generally don't like putting credits over intros/outtros (just for my vids, I've seen it work fine in others). If the intro is too long I look for a way to cut it down. I didn't know you did that Nicky, that kind of mystery vid-watching sounds fun.  I tend to keep checking the program though, if only out of anxiety for when my vid is coming up.  |
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I tend to keep checking the program though, if only out of anxiety for when my vid is coming up. 