More VVC recs + vidding questions

[bop_radar]

I am hopelessly sniffly at the moment, thanks to a pesky cold that descended on me on the last day of a long weekend. It's been hard to take time off work (I've got some really high maintenance authors at the moment) but today I couldn't string long enough between sneezing fits to actually drive to work, so I've been at home watching 30 Rock, which, may I say, is perfect sick-person TV.

In my efforts to catch up on Vividcon vids I've been kind of OD-ing on great vids to add to the backlog of recs I already had to make. But a few standout favourites I must rec straight up are:

- mranderson71's This Is Matrix Life, a total must-see. It has comedy, slick moves (from vidder as well as in source!) and the perfect marriage of source + song.

- laurashapiro's Shut Up and Drive--the best Martha (of Doctor Who) vid I've seen, and that girl definitely deserves kickass vidding!

- keewick's Sorry is a sequel to last year's 'Sugar', the Lana vid that I loved so much. And I'm delighted she revisited Lana here to explore the later season material. (There's also a snazzy Gossip Girl vid and some SGA goodies I haven't checked out in that post.)

- Not strictly a Vividcon vid, I think, but if you missed it in July's International Day of Femslash, charmax's I'm Your Man showcases an exceptional number of sources, in a documentary of femslash set to music (it really reminded me of 'Celluloid Closet').

All the great vids mean I've got vidding on the brain at the moment (what brain is left behind the cold) so I have a couple of questions for other vidders :
1. Do you find that you vid better when you are unwell or otherwise impaired? It seems to remove my inner critic to some degree and I get way more decisive. Admittedly sometimes the results are a bit sloppy but they can be tidied up later. I have found that I often have 'breakthroughs' when under the weather and 'just vidding' (rather than putting pressure on myself as I normally do for results).
2. Do you ever find songs that you feel would be perfect for your source... but not quite yet. Like a song that you think would be great for a show once it had finished--but it depends on the exact way the show ends up, and you don't know for sure yet whether it will produce the source material you need for the vid? This seems to happen to me A LOT. And it's a weird feeling to (for instance) start hoping some characters get nuked before a finale just so your vid will be awesomesauce. ;)
3. Do you find that the more fannish you are about a show, the better your vids are? I feel like this is true for me but I wonder if other vidders value emotional distance from their source more.

Comments

[brokenmnemonic.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry to hear that you're ill :( Are you trying the patented cold cure, or are you short of ginger and honey?

I'm going to download those vids when I get home, and have a poke around. I wanted to download the Matrix vid when I first heard about it, but I was at work and couldn't find the entry when I got home :P

1. Do you find that you vid better when you are unwell or otherwise impaired?
Hmm. Tough to answer, because I've never really been ill while vidding. I've been drunk while vidding before, and that had some advantages - I cared less about which clips I was putting where so long as I had a clip in place, and when I then went back later, it was easy to tweak or replace clips than stare at gaps in the timeline.

Mood plays a big part in vidding - if I'm feeling upbeat, working on something bouncy is easy. Equally, a certain cynicism or bitterness can work well when dealing with difficult concepts.

2. Do you ever find songs that you feel would be perfect for your source... but not quite yet. Like a song that you think would be great for a show once it had finished--but it depends on the exact way the show ends up, and you don't know for sure yet whether it will produce the source material you need for the vid?
Yes... although it's usually more common for me to find a song that would've been great for a certain source earlier in the show cycle. Songs that would've been good for S1/S2 of BSG for example, but which are now moot because the meta has changed or the character(s) have changed, sometimes in unrecogniseable ways. As an extreme example of that, my very first vid is a vid I couldn't make now because of the way things have changed so much in my own internal headspace as a result of what's gone in canon.

3. Do you find that the more fannish you are about a show, the better your vids are? I feel like this is true for me but I wonder if other vidders value emotional distance from their source more.
Absolutely. That investment works in two ways; it keeps me motivated to vid, and it makes sure that I'm familiar with the source I'm working with. I was more than a little surprised at how difficult I found it vidding Firefly, a show that I'm not that invested in. It made the show feel unfamiliar when I started working at the level of granularity vidding demands.

That said... I think there's a dark side to this, in that the more fannish someone is about a show, the greater the temptation is to make vids that don't quite ring true - not just the kind of vids that involve hammering whatever clips fit in place to a favoured song because the vidder likes both the song and the show, but because one of the aspects of investment is a desire to mentally rearrange, alter or interpret canon in ways that feel less "true" to a viewer who could be considered more objective. Does that make any kind of sense?

[isilweth.livejournal.com]

So sorry you're not feeling well. *hands you box of tissues*

Thanks for the vid recs! *runs off to watch Sorry*

[bradcpu.livejournal.com]

1. I made a vid while incredibly sick one time, and I tried something... funky. With mixed results. But generally I seem to vid better when unimpaired.

2. I mostly vid for shows/movies that have already finished their run, so not really.

3. The more fannish I am about a show, the more I enjoy my own vid... but the less fannish I am, the better the vid seems to go over among people who are not me.

[bloodygoodgirl.livejournal.com]

Hopefully you can kick that cold and start feeling 100% again.

I don't do vids but when I'm doing after effects video for freelance or school I get the best ideas when I'm distracted with something else. Maybe messing around with the program and watching tv when I find what I like most.

[hazyshade.livejournal.com]

Ooh vidder questions (although whether i can still be classed a vidder these days is questionable ;))

1). I can't say I do. But I can definitely see how having that sort of time without work or pressure could be beneficial.
2). Yes, all the time. But if I have a really good idea I'll tend to just forge ahead anyway, regardless of the threat of being jossed in the future. Then there's always the worry that someone else will use that song before you..
3). Hmm, I can really only vid if I'm fannishly obsessed. It gives me the drive and inspiration to get off my arse and do it. There's been a good few TV shows I watch,that I've had some ideas for, but it never seems to lead anywhere. It could be sheer laziness, but I guess I've learnt to just go with the flow where vidding is concerned: I can produce 3 or 4 vids in quick succession when enthused with fannishness and then nothing for a year. *glares pointedly at muse* My brother on the other hand seems to have plans to vid practically every tv show or movie he's ever watched! And I have to say he gets somewhat less...involved...in fandom than I do, so I'm sure the distance helps in his case.

In conclusion: inspiration is a funny thing.

I hope you feel better soon!