thuvia ptarth (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
thuviaptarth) wrote2006-08-20 05:23 pm
thuviaptarth) wrote2006-08-20 05:23 pm
Entry tags:
Premieres/Vid Review: 2
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cesperanza and sockkpuppett
Playlist
Belinda, "Black Mask" (Batman Returns)
Lum called it a great song choice but said that Belinda had lost her part-way through because of the inappropriate use of literalism; the clip of the cowl was just too much. She really liked the bats flying out on the drumroll.astolat said that the cowl should have been the last clip; the vid should have ended with that because it's in the voice of Bruce Wayne before he becomes Batman. Lum or Cesca pointed out that this was Belinda's first vid, which got a round of applause because it's an impressive first effort.
Keerawa, "Big Gun" (Farscape)
This was another overly literal effort;heresluck said that it reduced Aeryn to a one-note character. Lum suggested starting the song on the metaphorical meanings of "big gun" and working around to the literal, but "theshoshanna"> thought it would work better the other way around. cereta was jerked out of the song by the inappropriate use of Aeryn's real mom and dad, who are the opposite of how they're described in the song.
shalott, "Bukowski" (House)
sockkpuppett thought the cutting was a little too fast; laurashapiro also thought there should be more variation in the cutting. vagabondage thought the vid was made by the reaction shots on the first "asshole." This seemed to be a really big crowd-pleaser, and even I could see its charm, as much as I have hardened my heart against Hugh Laurie and his show's dangers for hypochondriacs.
Melina, "Media Vita" (Rome)
Lum mentioned how the visuals and the lyrics parallelled each other--even if you don't know Latin, you know "mortis," dead. She wondered if the anachronism of using Church music bothered anyway. I said that it worked for me, because the Christian resurrection and the story of the vid are both stories of blood sacrifice--Lucius and Caesar are both annointed by priests with bulls' blood, and then themselves are sacrificed (Caesar's bloody robe; Lucius's bloody hands; Titus Pullo in the arena) to the city of Rome, by the city of Rome; blood sacrifices in the story of history.cereta remarked on the cleverness of anchoring the vid around the Caesar story, whose loose outlines are familiar even to people who didn't watch Rome. killabeez praised the use of symbolic objects like the eagle standards and the birds flying across the sky.
Jill, "Crazy" and Absolute Destiny, "There Is Too Much Light in This Bar" (both Life on Mars)
From Vividcon, I have deduced that Life on Mars is a cop show with multiple lighting schemes, about a cop who is extremely confused about something or other and has an intense relationship with his television. Nevertheless, I suspect the cop is not a fan responding to the plot developments in his favorite show.
People had a lot to say about these vids, almost none of which I noted down. Someone approved of the Gnarls Barkley, which took her to a Marvin Gaye/Al Green soul place, even though it's a contemporary song; the vid was like watching a Pros vid, updated.melina123 loved the vid even though she dislikes the show. She may have said, "I've never felt like I was crazy in such a stylin' way," although it sounds more like cesperanza to me. (The problems of notes with insufficient attributions, alas.)
The Life on Mars vids actually reminded me of something a lot of people said about last year's vid show, which is that it was technically excellent but not fannish, or not emotional in a particular way. I'm not ready to conclude that the difference is in the vids, rather than the Not My Fandom problem, but I thought both of these were excellent and enjoyable and "There Is Too Much Light" was hysterically funny, but I don't remember much about them or feel particularly likely to watch the show.minnow1212 mentioned something about wondering now, how much of her emotional reactions were tied to palette choice, and I wonder about that for myself, too.
Destina, "Hurt" (Brokeback Mountain)
A lot of us seemed to have started out really worried about whether the vid could do justice to the song (and to the Johnny Cash video, which is tremendously moving) and to have come out of it relieved that yes, it was working,destina was working it with the depth and empathy it deserved. Shoshanna was reassured that Destina began with the end of the movie, that she wasn't just going to retell the story of the movie (Melina called that the "trap" of movie vids), and particularly noted the parallel clips of Ennis hitting Jack and Jack being beaten to death; the narrative is the narrative of Ennis' guilt. Cesca praised the vid for being "very sparing."
Bunniquila, "Bound" (Coming Up from Behind)
The vid is sepia-filtered, and the version of the song is much slower than the one Killa used; it's a very sexy song that fits the vid's femme fatale aggressiveness.
Andraste, "Ophelia" (Babylon 5)
Fans of the show adored the mix of major and minor female characters. Laura called it the "Anti-Dead-Girlfriend-of-the-Week vid." Cesca liked it even though "I'm actually allergic to Natalie Merchant, I have to take pills for that." The vid breaks the "rules" of "one POV," or it goes for an omniscient POV that makes the audience the omniscient narrator: we're the people who mourn all the women.
Keely, "I Remember When" (Angel/BtVS)
Someone: "Not just another Spike/Angel vid." Laura liked the way the changes in tone matched the changes in musical structure. Zen called it "kickass." It took me until vid review to realize that a possible reading of "I'm better than him" is "I'm better than my previous self"; I'd seen it as more externalized, Spike projecting his self-loathing onto other characters, Angel, Giles, etc.; the vid is the stronger for working both ways.
F1renze, "Ragged Ass Road" (Prison Break)
Lum: "I think y'all are watching the wrong brothers show." Melina praised the "perfect, perfect, perfect song choice" and the use of objects and symbols: the origami swan, the tattoos, the stained glass windows. Shalott loved the crisp, beautiful, vibrant palette and the imagery of the torn scraps of sheet. Laura called it the "perfect con vid"--it sells the show to people who don't watch it and offers even more meaning to those who do.elynross praised it for illustrating the complexity of the show without requiring contextual knowledge.
*cough* As someone who fell for the other brothers show post-VVC--my god, I wish Supernatural looked half that good.
Abby, "Walk the Line" (March of the Penguins)
The general consensus, with which I agree, was that this was adorable but also too long. It would have been more effective if it were shorter. Abby responded that she had made it as a cheer-herself-up vid after a lousy year; she wouldn't want it to be any shorter because she just wanted to enjoy the adorable-ness.
Eunice, "Lullaby" (Dead Poets Society)
sisabet: I could hardly hear the music because I was deafened by the tears in the back row.
Cesca: There is no crying in vid review!
Someone (I think Cesca? or Killa?) remarked on how the vid gave inanimate objects power, citing the return to the leaves, the book of poetry; Killa contrasted it to the use of objects in Destina's Brokeback Mountain vid.
It made me feel weepy even though I have not seen the movie and found the many teen white boys with brownish hair indistinguishable. (heresluck, as offended as if they were her very own students: "They are not indistinguishable!" Me: "I cannot tell any of them apart. That's what 'indistinguishable' means." here's luck: [gives me the evil eye])
Dualbunny & Gerry, "One Day Late" (Firefly/Serenity)
People mostly enjoyed this one, although there was some dispute about the last clip of Mal naked on the rock, which a lot of people felt was inappropriately light after the vid's slowly darkening tone. I liked it because it reminded me of the Grr Argh monster saying, "I need a hug" at the end of the credits for "Becoming II"; Joss always does that unpredictable shift of tone.
I had a hard time on the first viewing because I kept thinking, "But--that rescue's not one day late! It's exactly on time! They are rescued!" What? Sometimes I am strange and overly literal. The problem went away in later viewings because you can see the increasing out-of-whackness and untimeliness of the rescues as the vid goes on: first they're on time, then they're a little late, then they're a little later, then they're ... too late.
cesperanza and sockkpuppettPlaylist
Belinda, "Black Mask" (Batman Returns)
Lum called it a great song choice but said that Belinda had lost her part-way through because of the inappropriate use of literalism; the clip of the cowl was just too much. She really liked the bats flying out on the drumroll.
astolat said that the cowl should have been the last clip; the vid should have ended with that because it's in the voice of Bruce Wayne before he becomes Batman. Lum or Cesca pointed out that this was Belinda's first vid, which got a round of applause because it's an impressive first effort.Keerawa, "Big Gun" (Farscape)
This was another overly literal effort;
heresluck said that it reduced Aeryn to a one-note character. Lum suggested starting the song on the metaphorical meanings of "big gun" and working around to the literal, but "theshoshanna"> thought it would work better the other way around. cereta was jerked out of the song by the inappropriate use of Aeryn's real mom and dad, who are the opposite of how they're described in the song.shalott, "Bukowski" (House)
sockkpuppett thought the cutting was a little too fast; laurashapiro also thought there should be more variation in the cutting. vagabondage thought the vid was made by the reaction shots on the first "asshole." This seemed to be a really big crowd-pleaser, and even I could see its charm, as much as I have hardened my heart against Hugh Laurie and his show's dangers for hypochondriacs.Melina, "Media Vita" (Rome)
Lum mentioned how the visuals and the lyrics parallelled each other--even if you don't know Latin, you know "mortis," dead. She wondered if the anachronism of using Church music bothered anyway. I said that it worked for me, because the Christian resurrection and the story of the vid are both stories of blood sacrifice--Lucius and Caesar are both annointed by priests with bulls' blood, and then themselves are sacrificed (Caesar's bloody robe; Lucius's bloody hands; Titus Pullo in the arena) to the city of Rome, by the city of Rome; blood sacrifices in the story of history.
cereta remarked on the cleverness of anchoring the vid around the Caesar story, whose loose outlines are familiar even to people who didn't watch Rome. killabeez praised the use of symbolic objects like the eagle standards and the birds flying across the sky.Jill, "Crazy" and Absolute Destiny, "There Is Too Much Light in This Bar" (both Life on Mars)
From Vividcon, I have deduced that Life on Mars is a cop show with multiple lighting schemes, about a cop who is extremely confused about something or other and has an intense relationship with his television. Nevertheless, I suspect the cop is not a fan responding to the plot developments in his favorite show.
People had a lot to say about these vids, almost none of which I noted down. Someone approved of the Gnarls Barkley, which took her to a Marvin Gaye/Al Green soul place, even though it's a contemporary song; the vid was like watching a Pros vid, updated.
melina123 loved the vid even though she dislikes the show. She may have said, "I've never felt like I was crazy in such a stylin' way," although it sounds more like cesperanza to me. (The problems of notes with insufficient attributions, alas.)The Life on Mars vids actually reminded me of something a lot of people said about last year's vid show, which is that it was technically excellent but not fannish, or not emotional in a particular way. I'm not ready to conclude that the difference is in the vids, rather than the Not My Fandom problem, but I thought both of these were excellent and enjoyable and "There Is Too Much Light" was hysterically funny, but I don't remember much about them or feel particularly likely to watch the show.
minnow1212 mentioned something about wondering now, how much of her emotional reactions were tied to palette choice, and I wonder about that for myself, too. Destina, "Hurt" (Brokeback Mountain)
A lot of us seemed to have started out really worried about whether the vid could do justice to the song (and to the Johnny Cash video, which is tremendously moving) and to have come out of it relieved that yes, it was working,
destina was working it with the depth and empathy it deserved. Shoshanna was reassured that Destina began with the end of the movie, that she wasn't just going to retell the story of the movie (Melina called that the "trap" of movie vids), and particularly noted the parallel clips of Ennis hitting Jack and Jack being beaten to death; the narrative is the narrative of Ennis' guilt. Cesca praised the vid for being "very sparing."Bunniquila, "Bound" (Coming Up from Behind)
The vid is sepia-filtered, and the version of the song is much slower than the one Killa used; it's a very sexy song that fits the vid's femme fatale aggressiveness.
Andraste, "Ophelia" (Babylon 5)
Fans of the show adored the mix of major and minor female characters. Laura called it the "Anti-Dead-Girlfriend-of-the-Week vid." Cesca liked it even though "I'm actually allergic to Natalie Merchant, I have to take pills for that." The vid breaks the "rules" of "one POV," or it goes for an omniscient POV that makes the audience the omniscient narrator: we're the people who mourn all the women.
Keely, "I Remember When" (Angel/BtVS)
Someone: "Not just another Spike/Angel vid." Laura liked the way the changes in tone matched the changes in musical structure. Zen called it "kickass." It took me until vid review to realize that a possible reading of "I'm better than him" is "I'm better than my previous self"; I'd seen it as more externalized, Spike projecting his self-loathing onto other characters, Angel, Giles, etc.; the vid is the stronger for working both ways.
F1renze, "Ragged Ass Road" (Prison Break)
Lum: "I think y'all are watching the wrong brothers show." Melina praised the "perfect, perfect, perfect song choice" and the use of objects and symbols: the origami swan, the tattoos, the stained glass windows. Shalott loved the crisp, beautiful, vibrant palette and the imagery of the torn scraps of sheet. Laura called it the "perfect con vid"--it sells the show to people who don't watch it and offers even more meaning to those who do.
elynross praised it for illustrating the complexity of the show without requiring contextual knowledge.*cough* As someone who fell for the other brothers show post-VVC--my god, I wish Supernatural looked half that good.
Abby, "Walk the Line" (March of the Penguins)
The general consensus, with which I agree, was that this was adorable but also too long. It would have been more effective if it were shorter. Abby responded that she had made it as a cheer-herself-up vid after a lousy year; she wouldn't want it to be any shorter because she just wanted to enjoy the adorable-ness.
Eunice, "Lullaby" (Dead Poets Society)
sisabet: I could hardly hear the music because I was deafened by the tears in the back row.Cesca: There is no crying in vid review!
Someone (I think Cesca? or Killa?) remarked on how the vid gave inanimate objects power, citing the return to the leaves, the book of poetry; Killa contrasted it to the use of objects in Destina's Brokeback Mountain vid.
It made me feel weepy even though I have not seen the movie and found the many teen white boys with brownish hair indistinguishable. (
heresluck, as offended as if they were her very own students: "They are not indistinguishable!" Me: "I cannot tell any of them apart. That's what 'indistinguishable' means." here's luck: [gives me the evil eye])Dualbunny & Gerry, "One Day Late" (Firefly/Serenity)
People mostly enjoyed this one, although there was some dispute about the last clip of Mal naked on the rock, which a lot of people felt was inappropriately light after the vid's slowly darkening tone. I liked it because it reminded me of the Grr Argh monster saying, "I need a hug" at the end of the credits for "Becoming II"; Joss always does that unpredictable shift of tone.
I had a hard time on the first viewing because I kept thinking, "But--that rescue's not one day late! It's exactly on time! They are rescued!" What? Sometimes I am strange and overly literal. The problem went away in later viewings because you can see the increasing out-of-whackness and untimeliness of the rescues as the vid goes on: first they're on time, then they're a little late, then they're a little later, then they're ... too late.
Re: LKBV
LKBVs are us being dorks and embracing that fact. They are the reason Will Ferrell has a career. They come from that place we all have - the inner cheesiness of a vidder.
I'm not trying to distance or disdain these vids while embracing them and I am actually getting so freaking tired of this argument, you have no idea. Why the label LKBV? Cause it is FUNNY, my god! Can we not be funny at all anymore without having to freaking analyze it? I mean who cares about the larger theoretical implications of Lord King Bad Vid? It is Lord King Bad Vid!! Is anyone out there analyzing the larger theoretical implications of Three's Company and Don Knott's career? I was making these vids that were just me releasing something, they were horrible but I *liked* them (and I am disclaiming them in order to seem cool - there were HORRIBLE but likable) and Zen used the phrase Lord King Bad Vid and there ya have it. A few other people decided that this described something they do or it might be fun to do something like this and we had a good time. Now I find I am using it as a backlash to deal with the academic fen (which I find amusing indeed) or to protect ourselves from not seeming "cool." OMG WE ARE VIDDERS! We have no cool cache AT ALL. ARGGGHHHHH
Re: LKBV
Do you know why you are me and I am you? It's not the birthday thing. It's because the first album I ever bought--on vinyl--was Mr. Mister's Welcome to the Real World. And, um, "Kyrie Eleison" still makes me tear up.
Is anyone out there analyzing the larger theoretical implications of Three's Company and Don Knott's career?
You know you are just tempting me to look up a cultural studies text on Amazon that does exactly that.
Also, one of the truly great things about Supernatural is that the last two episodes of S1 are preceded by professional LKBVs.
Re: LKBV
I know that online communications can be difficult, and it's easy for misunderstandings to proliferate. So I'm going to try and be as clear as I can.
I am not your enemy, nor was I attacking you in any way, personally or as a vidder. I find it incredibly distressing that you felt attacked, as you have long been a vidder whose work I both enjoy and respect and have recommended to others.
In this case, there's little background context that can add clarity to the written word as we don't know each other personally. At best, our interactions have been tangential. We are both on the Vidder list, and have perhaps seen each other's comments in the LJs of other people that we both read. I've read your LJ when you've announced new vids. I sent you positive feedback years ago. That's it for any contact.
I came to read Mely's (someone else that I do not know personally) VVC reports because I saw the links in the VVC LJ. After each VVC, I read as many con reports and vid reviews and vid recs as I can find because I cannot attend VVC, and the reports help me prioritize my download schedule.
Yes, I have an annual post-VVC download schedule. I am a vid fan, and have been for more than a decade. Given the amount of time and energy I expend in tracking down vids, downloading via dial-up, ordering vid tapes and DVDs, hunting OOP vid tapes and DVDs, watching, rewatching, enjoying, analyzing, recommending, and helping others find vids - well, I'd say it's quite fair to call me an obsessive vid fan. I am a fan of vids across a wide spectrum of fandoms, and have enormous respect and admiration for vidding as a fannish endeavor and for many vidders. And a core part of my fannish joy and mode of interaction is analysis: analysis of source and the fanworks that source inspires, whether it is vids or fiction or art. So no, I'm not an uncritically consuming fan, but neither am I someone who views vids in an impersonal light. I find vids - some, clearly not all - have a very powerful emotional resonance for me. Similar to the impact of a great story, a great vid means something to me, and it's something that I revisit. Vids, as much as fiction, are an integral part of my fannish experience.
As a vid watcher who is not a vidder, my experience of vids and vidding fandom is necessarily different from vidders (though I know full well that vidders are also vid watchers). I read Mely's con reports, found them informative and interesting, read the comments, and responded to one point - of many - that resonated with me. There was no hidden agenda, no desire to attack anyone, no interest in upsetting anyone. It was an analytical post because I was responding to an analytical comment; both RivaK's original comment and my response were broad descriptions, necessarily speculative because the LKBV show at VVC is only two years old. It was discussing a trend, not stating an absolute for every vidder or viewer. You and I disagree about LBKV. No problem. But please don't attribute to me things that I did not say.
Re: LKBV
And that, I think, is why vidders have embraced LKBV. Partly as a backlash to vids they perceive as technically well-made but lacking heart, and also as a buffer against being seen as "not cool enough" in their expression of fannish devotion. LKBV comes with an automatic disclaimer: if some fen find it cheesy or OTT or old skool or in any way "not cool" - well, it was meant to be. And if a vidder secretly loves her LBKV in a totally non-ironic way, well she can keep her secret without automatically losing her post-modern audience or jeopardizing her status.
Granted - since this was a passionate subject for me, I should have waited to, well chill. I just really really really dislike the idea that LKBV is a distancing mechanism (as you well know now). I'm also kinda hesitant about discussing LKBVs in this way at all - I didn't even really want to make it a show (side note: this was the first year LKBV was an actual show at VVC. Last year it was an informal room party that just kind of kept...going. I felt making it a show kind of put pressure and deadlines and stuff that is antithetical to the purpose of the LKBV and since it DID become a show, I've had to re-evaluate a lot).