I think it's because sometimes "mood vids" seem to have this negative association attached to them, as though the commentator is accusing the vidder of not thinking enough. Really? I didn't know there were negative associations with that term--I'm glad I know, as I've been using it as a compliment. ;) I'm biassed but I love those vids and kind of think of them (falsely no doubt!) as one of the most sophisticated ways of vidding because it seems like one of the hardest things to pull off: how do you hold your audience's attention without a clear 'plot' or argument?!
I think the best mood vids still all say something quite complex about the subject matter, but the way the narrative is carried out is very fluid and thought-association-y Yes, absolutely. It's not that these vids 'say nothing'--they say something very sophisticated, imo, but they really invite the viewer to respond to them at a subconscious as well as a conscious level. To me they often spark the most thoughts of any vid at all, becuase I get hooked into the question 'why does this work? why does it make so much instinctive sense for me?' and then i go all meta geek on it... In some ways I feel those vids are the 'show don't tell' type of vidding--and maybe that's why I think of them as sophisticated: because I'm so conscious of that as a guide to good writing, I also apply it to vidding.
(Aside: as a viewer I think 'Piece of Me' has a powerful associative/mood aspect to it, for all that it is an argument vid--in fact it worked for me so well because it drew me into her world as well as making an argument. The argument felt all the more powerful for being 'inside' that journey. Does that make sense?)
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branchandroot
Re: cont'd
Date: 2008-10-12 02:48 am (UTC)Really? I didn't know there were negative associations with that term--I'm glad I know, as I've been using it as a compliment. ;) I'm biassed but I love those vids and kind of think of them (falsely no doubt!) as one of the most sophisticated ways of vidding because it seems like one of the hardest things to pull off: how do you hold your audience's attention without a clear 'plot' or argument?!
I think the best mood vids still all say something quite complex about the subject matter, but the way the narrative is carried out is very fluid and thought-association-y
Yes, absolutely. It's not that these vids 'say nothing'--they say something very sophisticated, imo, but they really invite the viewer to respond to them at a subconscious as well as a conscious level. To me they often spark the most thoughts of any vid at all, becuase I get hooked into the question 'why does this work? why does it make so much instinctive sense for me?' and then i go all meta geek on it... In some ways I feel those vids are the 'show don't tell' type of vidding--and maybe that's why I think of them as sophisticated: because I'm so conscious of that as a guide to good writing, I also apply it to vidding.
(Aside: as a viewer I think 'Piece of Me' has a powerful associative/mood aspect to it, for all that it is an argument vid--in fact it worked for me so well because it drew me into her world as well as making an argument. The argument felt all the more powerful for being 'inside' that journey. Does that make sense?)