Okay, maybe not always. Maybe not for everybody. But more and more I feel that they get in my way, as both a vidder and a viewer.
As a viewer, I have only to mention the vid that knocked everyone's socks off at VVC this year: obsessive24's Climbing Up the Walls. Ask anybody who was in the Premieres show audience whether they could understand a single word that singer sang. Go ahead, ask. (: I've watched the vid five or six times now and I still can't make out a single syllable. And you know what? IT DOESN'T MATTER. But the first time I saw the vid, I spent fully a third of it straining desperately to hear the words so that I could understand what was going on...until I went "duh, who cares" and relaxed. At that point I actually started to, you know, watch the vid. And be blown away, like everybody else.
Even leaving literalism aside (for the moment), there are so many pitfalls when it comes to lyrics-driven vids. The biggest one, IMO, is when a vidder pays more attention to the words than to the music. Lyrics can do a lot in a vid, particularly given that so many fans tend to be (as makesmewannadie says) text-based lifeforms. But almost all of the raw emotional power of a song is in the music, not in the words. Vidders ignore that at their peril.
Then there's the problem of the basic banality of most lyrics in popular music. I so often see vidders squeeing about how "perfect" X song is for Y relationship, and when I look at the words? They're Generic Pop Love Ballad Mark 1A. Which is not to say you can't vid more interesting songs with more unusual lyrics -- you can (and I snobbily insist that you should!). But most vidders don't.
And to circle back around to the Climbing Up the Walls issue: many, many lyrics can be terribly difficult to make out, especially the first time through a vid. Increasingly I believe that, unless you're vidding a well-known song or a singer who has excellent diction, your audience is going to miss at least half the words. So your vid has to have a lot more going for it than just good lyric matching.
As a vidder, words can be great to lean on when they really clearly apply to your story/character/theme, and when you have the perfect clip to ride along with them. But they can also be damned limiting. I'm not just talking about the "ack, these words don't fit" problem -- you can often edit a song around that (or, as I tend to do, shuck and jive and hope nobody notices). I mean that even when the words are "perfect" -- especially when they're perfect! -- they've almost done your thinking for you. You're trapped. You find yourself structuring the entire vid around what absolutely MUST HAPPEN WHEN THESE WORDS ARE SUNG. That can be hell, especially if things start to want to go a different direction once you're midway through the cutting process. And it can be very awkward if the lyrics are going one way and the music, or your storyline, are going another.
Which is why I've been so happy with instrumentals and foreign language songs lately: there's so much room! I can do what I've always done, base the vid's structure on the music's structure, without any pesky lyrics dragging me where I don't want to go. And increasingly, even when I use a song with lyrics in English, I vid as though I were vidding an instrumental. I start with the music, consult my basic storyline or theme, work with the emotional trajectory -- and then deal with the lyrics as the lowest priority (or when I need a crutch *g*). Never been happier. (:
Lyrics are the enemy.
As a viewer, I have only to mention the vid that knocked everyone's socks off at VVC this year:
Even leaving literalism aside (for the moment), there are so many pitfalls when it comes to lyrics-driven vids. The biggest one, IMO, is when a vidder pays more attention to the words than to the music. Lyrics can do a lot in a vid, particularly given that so many fans tend to be (as
Then there's the problem of the basic banality of most lyrics in popular music. I so often see vidders squeeing about how "perfect" X song is for Y relationship, and when I look at the words? They're Generic Pop Love Ballad Mark 1A. Which is not to say you can't vid more interesting songs with more unusual lyrics -- you can (and I snobbily insist that you should!). But most vidders don't.
And to circle back around to the Climbing Up the Walls issue: many, many lyrics can be terribly difficult to make out, especially the first time through a vid. Increasingly I believe that, unless you're vidding a well-known song or a singer who has excellent diction, your audience is going to miss at least half the words. So your vid has to have a lot more going for it than just good lyric matching.
As a vidder, words can be great to lean on when they really clearly apply to your story/character/theme, and when you have the perfect clip to ride along with them. But they can also be damned limiting. I'm not just talking about the "ack, these words don't fit" problem -- you can often edit a song around that (or, as I tend to do, shuck and jive and hope nobody notices). I mean that even when the words are "perfect" -- especially when they're perfect! -- they've almost done your thinking for you. You're trapped. You find yourself structuring the entire vid around what absolutely MUST HAPPEN WHEN THESE WORDS ARE SUNG. That can be hell, especially if things start to want to go a different direction once you're midway through the cutting process. And it can be very awkward if the lyrics are going one way and the music, or your storyline, are going another.
Which is why I've been so happy with instrumentals and foreign language songs lately: there's so much room! I can do what I've always done, base the vid's structure on the music's structure, without any pesky lyrics dragging me where I don't want to go. And increasingly, even when I use a song with lyrics in English, I vid as though I were vidding an instrumental. I start with the music, consult my basic storyline or theme, work with the emotional trajectory -- and then deal with the lyrics as the lowest priority (or when I need a crutch *g*). Never been happier. (: