xandra
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Post by xandra on Dec 17, 2011 22:53:49 GMT -5
On this board I’ve seen a lot of topic’s going into in-depth thoughts about the vidding process, anyone who read my 30 days of Vidding Meme on LJ knows that’s not how I work. Most of my answers had something to do with Astarte or that “the lyrics” took me there. The easiest thing for me to say is that my vids just happen. From song to first draft, I’m all about putting things on the timeline and not so much about anything else. Again, it just kind of happens. Don’t get me wrong, those who know me know that I am not one for depth but I can do rules, limitations and sometimes the justifications for breaking them but all in all I don’t think much about that kind of thing until I’m watching the draft. Then sometimes the depth just comes. In my X-File S2 vid Glycerine, when I heard the song and thought about season 2 of the show I could see the breakdown in my head of all Mulder’s relationships that season. And apparently, thank you Astarte, I always drew on Mulder projecting his sister issues onto Scully. Except for a minor “This is too MSR!” mental breakdown an hour in, everything just kinda slotted into place. The relationship trade off happened at the right spots thematically. Even when a video sways away from what I thought it would be, I usually just go with it. I thought my Community vid – No Children would be a lot more bitter and fatalistic, instead it turned into something somewhat sweet and life affirming in its honesty. But again I really wasn’t thinking about that until it was over. So I’m just wondering if there is anyone out there like me?  |
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Post by astarte on Dec 18, 2011 0:26:12 GMT -5
See, what I find astonishing is the way you are all: It just happens and then when I do something that slinks off into the great wide, you are the first to accuse me of 'breaking theme'. And I have to explain in detail, how I could dare to include Merlin/Arthur into the apocalypse even while Camelot is burning in the background.
It's hilarious, because I think you have very strict rules about your narrative, which is closely tied to the actual plot of the shows and what you want to express. What goes on your timeline is considered in a way, I can't grasp. You just don't like to talk about it, instead you are more about actual vidding. I think of you as a storyteller vidder, your knowledge of your sources is amazing. I mean I can throw something like, 'I need a Scully night shot with police lights in background' and you can give me five examples within a minute. The way I process and remember sources is closely tied to the way they made me feel and you are so much more about the actual plot. For example, even when I know what clip I want to use, I still scan the whole scene and compare it to others, because I don't trust my instincts enough to have memorized the best scenes. Plus your college years made you go merciless for the money shot in a way, I still have problems to achieve.
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xandra
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Posts: 49
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Post by xandra on Dec 18, 2011 1:30:09 GMT -5
When it happens when we have a set theme I stick to it. Like pur xfiles and meta. I break them when they are my own rules, Bitch! Don't start a fight you cant win, my love.
Okay, I dont talk while I vid cause i'm too busy translating whats in my head. Plus yes, if im in a fandom i remember scenes with ridculas detail. yet in film class i failed in knowing scenes by complex description.
That part is all about the beat. the placement and capturing the mood. there are at least 20 clips i use over and over again altering them the same way to make them work in the vids i make.
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Post by valika on Dec 18, 2011 14:46:10 GMT -5
Oh yes, me. ;D Vidding just happens to me, too, every time. I totally have no idea about those vidding meta thingies you all are talking about, guys.  |
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Post by astarte on Dec 18, 2011 16:36:37 GMT -5
Hehe, meta, how I love this concept. I feel like I vidded so much meta this year, only because some of my ideas were clearly about meta things I picked up in fandoms that I either wanted to deconstruct or agreed with. It's always good to start out a vid with proving someone wrong on the internet, who will never stumble over this visual argument in the first place.
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xandra
New to the Pub
Posts: 49
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Post by xandra on Dec 19, 2011 0:29:50 GMT -5
Oh yes, me. ;D Vidding just happens to me, too, every time. I totally have no idea about those vidding meta thingies you all are talking about, guys. So I've finally found someone! I can sometimes fake opinions about things but I think I come off sounding like I'm insane. |
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Post by littleheaven on Dec 19, 2011 15:44:17 GMT -5
Oh yes, me. ;D Vidding just happens to me, too, every time. I totally have no idea about those vidding meta thingies you all are talking about, guys. LOL! Me too. Even the definition of meta is so diverse that when I looked it up I was more confused than ever. I'm as shallow as a puddle, you'll never find any meta in my vids. My population of the timeline is very fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants and not much planning goes into it. This probably shows in the finished product.  |
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Post by franzeska on Dec 19, 2011 21:30:40 GMT -5
LOL! Me too. Even the definition of meta is so diverse that when I looked it up I was more confused than ever. I'm as shallow as a puddle, you'll never find any meta in my vids. My population of the timeline is very fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants and not much planning goes into it. This probably shows in the finished product. Oh, I don't know. A lot of meta is about what someone got out of a finished product, and I always overthink my music choices and revisions, but my process for creating rough drafts mostly involves sticking things on the timeline until there aren't any blank spots. I don't think there's a direct link between meta and a polished final look; meta is enjoyable on its own merits regardless of whether it's necessary or good for a particular vid. |
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Post by littleheaven on Dec 20, 2011 3:15:59 GMT -5
Oh, I don't know. A lot of meta is about what someone got out of a finished product, and I always overthink my music choices and revisions, but my process for creating rough drafts mostly involves sticking things on the timeline until there aren't any blank spots. Yay, I'm glad I'm not the only one! That's very much my process too. Except for the overthinking bit, LOL. Underthinking is the problem.  I don't think there's a direct link between meta and a polished final look; meta is enjoyable on its own merits regardless of whether it's necessary or good for a particular vid. Oh, indeed. I am quite certain I can make a polished enough looking vid. But does it say anything? Looking back at my two most commented-on, one says "wow Daniel got whumped a lot" and the other says "wow those doctors dance a lot" which isn't very deep. I guess the question is, does it need to say anything? I know my concern about having some deeper meaning in a vid paralysed me to the point where I couldn't actually vid anymore. Once I accepted the fact that I just needed to embrace my own style of vidding (the "ooo shiny" vid) instead of beating myself up because it wasn't sophisticated enough, vidding happened again. |
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elipie
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Post by elipie on Dec 20, 2011 3:28:20 GMT -5
I guess the question is, does it need to say anything? I know my concern about having some deeper meaning in a vid paralysed me to the point where I couldn't actually vid anymore. Once I accepted the fact that I just needed to embrace my own style of vidding (the "ooo shiny" vid) instead of beating myself up because it wasn't sophisticated enough, vidding happened again. This made me nervous for a long time, and it still kind of does. I'm with you; I probably haven't been vidding long enough to know for sure, but so far it sure seems like my style is vidding fun, cracky things that sometimes involve some sort of plot, and I was always under the impression that the only good vids were supposed to be thinky meta vids. Now I know that's definitely not always the case, and both types of vids are just as lovable as the other, just in different ways. |
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Post by littleheaven on Dec 20, 2011 5:30:49 GMT -5
Now I know that's definitely not always the case, and both types of vids are just as lovable as the other, just in different ways. Yes! I enjoy both, equally, as a watcher, although sometimes my difficulties with meta tend to plague me as a viewer too - I miss the message completely and end up appreciating the vid for other aspects. I'd be fascinated, as a vidder, to know if people found unintentional meta in my work. |
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Post by astarte on Dec 20, 2011 13:34:30 GMT -5
This happened to me too and I hated it. It was such an awful slump to get out of - this two year hiatus of doom. I rotated ten vid projects and couldn't finish a single one, not even a remaster. The voice in the back of my mind going, 'This isn't good enough for me. Why even bother to finish it?' I was so stuck on achieving something of hazy importance, a theoretical concept in my head I couldn't even warp sense around and certainly couldn't live up to. What really pushed me out of the funk I was in, was a pinch hit for festivids and a looming deadline of 48 hours. It was so insane, yet I was sure that I could deliver at least something resembling a vid. I had the source ready, a fitting song and I had vidded the pairing before. After that I never looked back.
If only one person enjoys a vid I made, it's enough to justify the hassle of posting. Vidding became more back to basic for me - about sharing the joy. That what drawn me to it in the first place. Exploring a character, a pairing or just poking fun at a source. I vid for fun now. In the bone-deep knowledge that my newbie vidder-self would be amazed by my vids and the speed in which they took shape. I made 16 vids this year alone and that is for someone, who usually vids slower than a snail a huge accomplishment in itself.
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Post by franzeska on Dec 20, 2011 16:07:58 GMT -5
Oh, indeed. I am quite certain I can make a polished enough looking vid. But does it say anything? Looking back at my two most commented-on, one says "wow Daniel got whumped a lot" and the other says "wow those doctors dance a lot" which isn't very deep. Ha ha ha ha. Yes but. Yes but. You really think that a catalogue of Daniel whump isn't meta? Sure, the execution may have been all by feel, but it came after absorbing years of tv tropes and fanon. There's certainly nothing wrong with a vid that's only pretty without any meaning, but I think you're being insecure over nothing, personally. Anybody who likes intellectually masturbatory meta could write whole essays on that vid and on what whump means to fandom. You don't have to feel deep yourself for people to get more out of your vid than "woo, pretty". And, honestly, when one sets out to make a very specific meta point in a piece of art, the audience still often gets some other meta point out of it, finds your analysis trite and boringly self evident, or misses that there was meta there at all. I think vids-as-meta usually take the form of groping around in the dark, feeling the outline of something interesting: They're a question, not an answer. Or they work on the viewer subconsciously. Or they reveal the subconscious of the vidder. What they don't do is lay out one specific, narrow argument that would be better covered in an essay. (Because, after all, even if that's the intent, one is also trying to make a piece of art that is enjoyable to watch at the same time.) The point of overthinking everything vid-related to me is answering questions like "Why do I feel funny when I watch all those scenes stuck together in that vid instead of spread out over the series?" or "I tried to do a vid that was similar to ___ and I failed spectacularly... Why?" Once you've got a song and you're sticking things on the timeline, there isn't necessarily much point, even if you're rather meta-happy like me. I like meta about vidding and about filmmaking and music and sociology. I came to vidding from watching Miami Vice, but I came to Miami Vice from reading a book of collected academic journal articles on film noir. Obviously, a lot of my output is going to be and endless stream of words about why I made the choices I made. That's one kind of "in-depth thoughts about the vidding process" as xandra puts it above. I love that stuff. I love it for itself. It's the province of anyone who writes too much meta about everything else too, not a fundamental property of vidding. Making vids with an explicit meta message is a totally different kind of "vidding meta" or "meta vidding" or whatever. I've made two of those (once we leave out explicit messages such as "look how hot they are!"). At the risk of tackily demanding everyone watch my stuff, here they are: This one's oldschool godzilla to a metal cover of Holding Out for a Hero: vimeo.com/22372824password = godzilla This one's a one-episode Starsky & Hutch vid to the score to Ascenseur pour l'echafaud. vimeo.com/24337970password = starskyandhutch And then there are the vids of mine that people actually described as meta. The first was made as a gut-level reaction to a moment in canon; all of the structure was dictated by how little time I had to make it, how annoying the song would have been to edit, and how much I was trying to stretch some limited footage full of talkyface to cover that overly-long music. The second was made as... Uh... I don't know. I think I was mainly thinking: "Boobs! 80's fashion!" The music was more consciously chosen, but no one reacted to that at all. This one's a Psych vid to Don't You Forget About Me by Simple Minds: vimeo.com/19593392password = psych This one's a Miami Vice femslash vid to Caramelo by Olga Tañón: vimeo.com/27751893password = miamivice Do the latter two have a message because other people saw one in them? Do the former two not because people didn't (or didn't come tell me they did specifically)? Who knows? Who cares? |
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Post by littleheaven on Dec 20, 2011 16:17:46 GMT -5
Goodness, this has been very illuminating! I'm not even sure I can form a coherent reply (this is the effect of staring at budget spreadsheets for two days) except to say that I've found it all very helpful. Thank you, Astarte, for showing me that even the most established vidders have the same insecurities. Your vid "How Sweet It Is" is the first vid I ever saw, so I kind of credit you for starting my interest in vidding.  Franzeska, thank you for your insightful and encouraging words. This is exactly the sort of boost I needed with my Festivid 3/4 finished and me going "OMG it's not the deep and meaningful vid my recipient wanted, they're going to hate it!" |
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Post by franzeska on Dec 20, 2011 16:30:36 GMT -5
Ha ha. Well, that Psych one above was a Festivids treat (hence the OH NO DEADLINE motivation for most of it). Trust me, if it communicates the message of "Dude, I love this source", your recipient will love it.
I don't think I've seen one single Festivids letter that said anything at all about depth and meaning. (Well, aside from mine, which mainly says that I like meaningless stupidity and the 1980s.) Most of the reaction posts last year were heavy on the: "OH MY GOD IT'S A VID!" I really would not worry.
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