thuviaptarth | Vidding meme: Revisiting the past

frayadjacent asked: If you were to revise one of your older vids from start to finish, which would it be and why? and Point to a section from one of your favorite vids you've made and explain why you're proud of it.

Revising an older vid
Ahahaha, this is a terrible question for me. I was horribly tempted by

elipie's Take 2 challenge, because I NEVER LET THINGS GO. So even though I already made some changes when I remastered it, I would pick "Low Red Moon."

I wanted it to show people why I loved Ruby and I wanted the vid to look pretty, and I think it does manage both of those things. But I also saw the whole vid as an argument Ruby is having with Sam: Look, people are dying, and if you don't demon up, more people will die, including your brother. And not only does that not get across, the vid moves over to focus on Sam (instead of Ruby's view of Sam) for long periods of time. Part of the problem is that I carried over POV ideas from text, where my favorite POV is a very tight, immersive third or first from inside the character's head. And just showing you what a character sees doesn't work in visual media; to form an attachment to them and to get their reactions, you need to see their face. I would think of it as Ruby looking at Sam, and all the audience got to see is: lots of Sam.

It's still a problem with my vids, but I'm better at correcting it now.

I also could do a lot better with the pacing now. And I could do a lot more of the color modifications I originally wanted -- I was going to desaturate everything slightly except red. I pumped up the red in a lot of individual clips, but I had trouble making the desaturation work properly. The bridge, with all the sepia and red, is the only part that really lives up to the color scheme in my head. (The rest of the vid wasn't going to be sepia. It's just that the bridge looks the way I wanted the bridge to look, and the rest doesn't look exactly the way I wanted the rest to look.)

I'd also planned to do more with the gender politics of Supernatural and associating Ruby with witches, and how women's magic was always demonic or harmful and men's magic was prayer and good, which came with grand plans to make the verses full of circular imagery and the choruses full of more rigid lines. I dropped the political part because it was way too complicated for me to pull off and I dropped the shapes part because I wanted to use circles everywhere. (I always want to use circles everywhere. I love circles. If there is circular imagery anywhere in the source, I will put it in a vid.) Those parts would have to stay dropped.

But this is ALL IN THE SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD, because I am LETTING IT GO.

A section I'm proud of
So, I actually like all my vids. After posting, I go through a period where I think they're great and then I go through a period where I think they're terrible, and then I settle into liking them while recognizing the many places I could have done better. They were as good as I could get them when I posted them. I try to think of all the errors I see now as signs of how much I've learned rather than signs of how badly I failed. This does not go well for any other part of my life, but I manage it for writing and vidding.

Since I mentioned ~~a small percentage of~~ the things that are wrong with "Low Red Moon", I still really like the bridge (2:41-2:59). It was the first part I put down (the bridge is frequently the first part I put down), and I love putting in all the deals with demons, and all the circles, and all the red.

(I might cut it a little differently now; it's a little overcrowded and I could use the beats to emphasize things as well as just cutting points; but I AM LETTING IT GO.)

I also like the bridge in "Etheric Messages" (0:55-1:09). It uses the rain and thunder sounds well, both visually and thematically, and it is so pretty. As I mentioned in your comments yesterday, I really like dissolves and composites, because creating new images gives me the same feeling as coming up with a good metaphor. I loved putting together all the images of the worlds colliding (the gate, the book; the Twin Towers, the smashing snowglobes, the spilling water).

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After posting, I go through a period where I think they're great and then I go through a period where I think they're terrible, and then I settle into liking them while recognizing the many places I could have done better. They were as good as I could get them when I posted them.

Ack, SO MUCH THIS. I think it took me a long time to get here. Like at first I think I thought they were all great, and then I would go back many months later and watch them and be utterly bereft that they were definitely not as great as I remembered. So I had a period of hating them all and the whole enterprise. But now I think I'm where you are, where I do genuinely like most of them as the best I could have done at the time or, like, capturing most of what I wanted them to say and technically probably the best that I am capable of, which is a totally fine thing to be. Which also coincides with getting better at LETTING THINGS GO, which is nice, since I finally feel no need to remaster *anything in my catalog*.

I do think this is why I revisit canons so often though; I like to have a definitive vid for a character I love, if I make one that doesn't hold up, I will want to do another one that's better that I can hug forever. /all about me

I love your bridges. <3 Etheric Messages is still so gorgeous; I love that vid and I am totally still enamored of the way it uses the thunder sounds, visually. So great! I remember being SO SURE that you made that festivid, though now I cannot for the life of me remember why I was so sure! I'm guessing it was largely the associative imagery and connective visuals or motion. I love this a lot and tend to notice and love vids that do it that well, as yours do.

I do think this is why I revisit canons so often though; I like to have a definitive vid for a character I love, if I make one that doesn't hold up, I will want to do another one that's better that I can hug forever. /all about me

I will revisit a canon one day. It will happen!

Before I started vidding, I thought bridges would be terrifying (NO LYRICS), but I love them. They are just so freeing. They let you be associative and dreamy.

I remember being SO SURE that you made that festivid, though now I cannot for the life of me remember why I was so sure!

You and

sweetestdrain! I was really surprised, because I didn't feel like I'd been vidding long enough to develop a style.

I think it was not that long after Riot Act, which I really loved and watched a lot, and was definitely the sort of thing I wanted to do with vids myself. So I noticed a lot of the visual nuts and bolts of it. And something about Etheric Messages felt that way too, the connective tissue felt similar, despite the very different music? Plus also, idk I just get lucky with festivids guessing. :)

was definitely the sort of thing I wanted to do with vids myself.

It just so totally amazes me whenever anyone says that to me.

I totally third the sentiments about LETTING THINGS GO. Though with my first ~4 vids or so I rarely re-watch, not because they make me cringe with their badness -- they weren't terrible for my first few vids! -- but because on a more objective level they're just not that good and so I'm less inclined to watch them. Which is why I love the idea of re-visiting canon like chaila is talking about. (Speaking of -- I still haven't commented on your latest TSCC vid, chaila, but I am SO GLAD you re-visited that canon because OMG Magnum Opus.) So I hope to re-visit Buffy eventually. It's funny that I got into vidding because of Buffy but now almost all my best vids are in other fandoms. Probably pretty common, now that I think about it.

I have always loved vidding bridges and part of me sometimes wonders if I'm vidding wrong because all these vidders I respect talk about how hard they are! I agree that not having lyrics is so freeing. Lyrics are great for helping me cement an idea but they can be so constraining too. Plus bridges are usually very interesting musically, and they're great for vidding about things changing, which I love.

I haven't watched any of the vids you mentioned! I'm afraid of SPN vids because I saw one once where a lady was on fire and it distressed me greatly, but I will check out the others! :D

There are no ladies on fire, but these *is* a lot of violence against women. Don't feel obligated to watch it!

I would think of it as Ruby looking at Sam, and all the audience got to see is: lots of Sam.

I recognize this. Like, as a vidder who has also believed in the first person of the camera. Although also because I like Low Red Moon and remember Sammier parts.

POV in film is strange.

Edited 2014-09-09 02:50 (UTC)

Music and visuals are second languages to me, although I am more fluent than I used to be.

Text is still my favorite, though.

Edited 2014-09-09 03:10 (UTC)

Yes! It's always such a struggle (for me) to say, "viewer, this is not character B, this is how character A *views* character B". Thuviaptarth, what you wrote is a really good explanation of why that is.

Vidding meme: Revisiting the past

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