Vidding in 2009 Roundup
Dec. 18th, 2009 05:33 pm![[personal profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
giandujakissHey, I see by my FList it's that time of year again. And thankfully work is letting up a bit (two big things will be finished today and they're almost done, and after that half the office is on vacation, whee!), so I had a chance to do this meme.
January
One War (Dark Angel)
February
Believe (Supernatural)
April
It Depends on What You Pay (Dollhouse)
May
Stuck to You (Star Trek: Reboot)
July
Mr. Wrong (Supernatural)
August
A Charming Man (Supernatural)
October
One Foot Boy (Merlin)
November
Strangelove (The Inside)
Blister in the Sun (Supernatural)
Favorite vid:
Ummm ... I'm going with Believe. Because as I said in the notes to the vid, it goes straight to my Id. Sam/Dean is still my big OTP, and I was trying to vid the things that appeal to me about the pairing. Their need for each other; the way they've boxed themselves into this little self-contained world; the way they don't really have much to look forward to, much of an ending, besides each other; and the way Sam idolizes his big brother. Those dynamics have changed over the course of the series, but I miss the earlier days when they were front and center.
Least Favorite:
I'm actually pretty happy with my vids this year, so I hate to answer this question at all, but if you held a gun to my head, I'd say Blister in the Sun. Not because I dislike it - but simply by process of elimination. It was a quick little thing that I put together on impulse and so I'm a little less emotionally attached to it, and I had some difficulty in choosing clips to get the point across (which is why a new version was reposted after the original went up *blush*). But I do like it a lot and I'm proud of it; it's just that most of the others were literally months in the making.
Most successful:
It Depends on What You Pay. The politics of it, and the, ahem, in-your-face, confrontational style of the message attracted a lot of attention. And, I'm sort of happy and surprised to note, there were only a very few trolls. Once it "escaped" the world of LJ into wider internet-dom, I was afraid of what kind of reaction it would get, but other than two annoying comments by people who came over from Whedonesque, it was fine.
Vid that I think should have gotten more attention:
One Foot Boy. It seems as though it really appealed to a small number of people - for which I am so grateful, thank you! - but it never found a wider audience. Which I suppose isn't surprising; the song choice was a bit baffling and I think I wasn't as effective as I could have been in communicating the idea behind it. So I think a lot of people just couldn't figure out what the vid was supposed to be about.
Most fun to make:
That's a hard question - a lot of them were lots of fun! I'd say Stuck to You but the source was so limited (and of such poor quality) that it was also a bit frustrating; maybe Mr. Wrong, because I got to play with jokes? Or One Foot Boy, because the song was irresistible and a joy to work with, and I got to use all the classic Merlin/Arthur scenes that I didn't get to use in Beverly Hills? Or Blister in the Sun, because I was angry and it was fun to just throw the clips on the timeline?
Hardest to make:
I'm going with One War on this one. It's an auction vid, which means it was the bidder's concept and song choice - so it wasn't something that was instinctive to me, and I had to work to develop a narrative and figure out how to structure it. And it was the closest thing to an instrumental vid I've ever done, which meant I had few lyrics to guide me. And the music itself just suggested layers to me, so I had to work with those, and that's always complicated.
But I'm really glad I got to make a Dark Angel vid because I love the look of the show.
Things I've learned:
It's okay to slow down - see comment below, re: Mr. Wrong.
Things to work on:
Allowing myself to linger on images longer. New vidders tend to use very long clips, and I was no exception. As time wore on, I kind of boomeranged the other way and started doing faster and faster cuts, partly because I like them and I like the energy and I often have a lot to communicate in a short space of time, but also because I often feel like I have to clip really quickly to hold the viewer's attention.
So I want to learn to trust myself and my audience to linger a little longer on each clip and let it sink in. Like, when I watch Little Lion Man, I see that often Killa really gives you time to see the expressions on the boys' faces, and it's powerful stuff. Or in Circus, the song is very fast-paced but the cutting isn't - yet Butterfly has selected such kinetic visuals that it feels like it's moving very quickly.
Ironically, one of my more popular vids this year wasn't quickly-paced at all - it was Mr. Wrong. I'd have liked to cut it faster, but the most important thing there was to match the lyrics well, and if I'd cut it faster I'd have run out of clips :-). Despite that, however, it was very well-received. So, point taken.
And also, as with every year, I want to learn how to use just use my software better - how to do more effects, etc. (This one has become a little like a New Year's vow to quit smoking or to get more exercise.)
And - that's vidding in 2009.
January
One War (Dark Angel)
February
Believe (Supernatural)
April
It Depends on What You Pay (Dollhouse)
May
Stuck to You (Star Trek: Reboot)
July
Mr. Wrong (Supernatural)
August
A Charming Man (Supernatural)
October
One Foot Boy (Merlin)
November
Strangelove (The Inside)
Blister in the Sun (Supernatural)
Favorite vid:
Ummm ... I'm going with Believe. Because as I said in the notes to the vid, it goes straight to my Id. Sam/Dean is still my big OTP, and I was trying to vid the things that appeal to me about the pairing. Their need for each other; the way they've boxed themselves into this little self-contained world; the way they don't really have much to look forward to, much of an ending, besides each other; and the way Sam idolizes his big brother. Those dynamics have changed over the course of the series, but I miss the earlier days when they were front and center.
Least Favorite:
I'm actually pretty happy with my vids this year, so I hate to answer this question at all, but if you held a gun to my head, I'd say Blister in the Sun. Not because I dislike it - but simply by process of elimination. It was a quick little thing that I put together on impulse and so I'm a little less emotionally attached to it, and I had some difficulty in choosing clips to get the point across (which is why a new version was reposted after the original went up *blush*). But I do like it a lot and I'm proud of it; it's just that most of the others were literally months in the making.
Most successful:
It Depends on What You Pay. The politics of it, and the, ahem, in-your-face, confrontational style of the message attracted a lot of attention. And, I'm sort of happy and surprised to note, there were only a very few trolls. Once it "escaped" the world of LJ into wider internet-dom, I was afraid of what kind of reaction it would get, but other than two annoying comments by people who came over from Whedonesque, it was fine.
Vid that I think should have gotten more attention:
One Foot Boy. It seems as though it really appealed to a small number of people - for which I am so grateful, thank you! - but it never found a wider audience. Which I suppose isn't surprising; the song choice was a bit baffling and I think I wasn't as effective as I could have been in communicating the idea behind it. So I think a lot of people just couldn't figure out what the vid was supposed to be about.
Most fun to make:
That's a hard question - a lot of them were lots of fun! I'd say Stuck to You but the source was so limited (and of such poor quality) that it was also a bit frustrating; maybe Mr. Wrong, because I got to play with jokes? Or One Foot Boy, because the song was irresistible and a joy to work with, and I got to use all the classic Merlin/Arthur scenes that I didn't get to use in Beverly Hills? Or Blister in the Sun, because I was angry and it was fun to just throw the clips on the timeline?
Hardest to make:
I'm going with One War on this one. It's an auction vid, which means it was the bidder's concept and song choice - so it wasn't something that was instinctive to me, and I had to work to develop a narrative and figure out how to structure it. And it was the closest thing to an instrumental vid I've ever done, which meant I had few lyrics to guide me. And the music itself just suggested layers to me, so I had to work with those, and that's always complicated.
But I'm really glad I got to make a Dark Angel vid because I love the look of the show.
Things I've learned:
It's okay to slow down - see comment below, re: Mr. Wrong.
Things to work on:
Allowing myself to linger on images longer. New vidders tend to use very long clips, and I was no exception. As time wore on, I kind of boomeranged the other way and started doing faster and faster cuts, partly because I like them and I like the energy and I often have a lot to communicate in a short space of time, but also because I often feel like I have to clip really quickly to hold the viewer's attention.
So I want to learn to trust myself and my audience to linger a little longer on each clip and let it sink in. Like, when I watch Little Lion Man, I see that often Killa really gives you time to see the expressions on the boys' faces, and it's powerful stuff. Or in Circus, the song is very fast-paced but the cutting isn't - yet Butterfly has selected such kinetic visuals that it feels like it's moving very quickly.
Ironically, one of my more popular vids this year wasn't quickly-paced at all - it was Mr. Wrong. I'd have liked to cut it faster, but the most important thing there was to match the lyrics well, and if I'd cut it faster I'd have run out of clips :-). Despite that, however, it was very well-received. So, point taken.
And also, as with every year, I want to learn how to use just use my software better - how to do more effects, etc. (This one has become a little like a New Year's vow to quit smoking or to get more exercise.)
And - that's vidding in 2009.