VVC: Saturday

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[Previous Posts - Initial and Thursday and Friday]
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There's been a messenger meme going around which seems sensible. =) I'm twistedpaper04 on Trillian/AIM and kanzeyori on Y!M, if you see me feel free to talk to me but I don't often appear 'cause I get distracted all easily and once I get on any messenger I have to be prepared to waste 5 hrs. or more, which is difficult to find sometimes.

Meanwhile!


Saturday Morning

So I stumble awake to the realization that I forgot to help with the Club Vivid cleanup like I'd volunteered.

Crap.

After much semi-panicked-half-asleep stumbling around I'd managed to find the setup crew for that morning and lingered around helping them set-up the chairs and the like. Then I'd lingered around the projector and the switchboard, like one does, trying to absorb the running thereof in prep for the BAScon vidshow.

Meanwhile, I (being me) was still mostly asleep still, which if anything helps me retain things oddly enough, though with no clue how I got there. At one point I think I left the room, perhaps, or I might've just stayed there. I think pimped Naruto at silviakundera 'cause I'd realized that it's just like the fanon Harry/Draco interaction, but with no screwing around. At one point the vidshow started and so I stayed; good morning show, man.



Since the action panel discussed the action vids, I'm gonna discuss them simultaneously.

Action Vidshow and Panel
(paired vid-show by Sandy who pulled together an excellent and well-rounded program and gave a great panel)

[If you happen to know of links to the vids below mentioned, I would love to have it pointed out to me! =D]

[From the program: "Action vids can have theme, story, comedy, darkness --anything any other vid can have-- as long as they also relentlessly move forward, imparting energy to the audience as they go."]


Bawitdaba by melina123

This is for most people the quinessential action vid, hard-hitting and driven. What was pointed out during the panel was that the vid was actually cut less fast than you might think it because it was pulled forward by the drive of the song. Also widely agreed on was that this vid made a great match of song to source, the grittiness of the sound quality with the movement of the source's handheld cameras matched each other well. Interestingly, even though this was an action vid, it was also a character vid of a bad guy who works for the good and who couldn't seem to prevent the bad from bleeding into his family life. BraVA for this accomplishment!

Additional personal reactions to the vid: the first couple times I saw it I thought it was just a bit too slowly cut for the song. But the more I watched it, the more I realized that the cutting done just a titch too slowly created this...undertow effect? It dragged the momentum of the vid back juuuuust enough that the CRASH and the internal motion's hard hits just HIT all the harder.

Another example of this 'undertow' effect in a vid that I might point to is that last long clip in A Day in The Life in Premiere's by shalott and speranza that pulls and pulls until that final cord and blackness. However in Bawitdaba, this subjective effect is carried throughout the entire vid, which I think I don't see done in many vids, if at all.


Swordplay by Wild Swan

This is more a straightforward relentlessly action vid, it's multi-fandom and done to Pompeii by E.S.Posthumus which made me love it already (even though I've forever imprinted that song with lithium_doll's Farscape vid) It was pointed out that this had great pacing, which I agree, as well as marvelous use of the quiet bits in both the song and the movie. It makes great use of comedic moments, and was quite fun.


Atom Bomb by gwyn_r

A La Femme Nikita vid that was also a sort of Nikita v. The World character study. VERY well done and very thrumming with energy! Not only that, but it makes great use of eye movement and eye-line matches; for instance, there would be a look to the side and the external movement of the camera in the next clip would continue the motion. Loved this vid lots and it was recieved with loud applause.


Time Is Running Out by Un4Scene

Interesting use of long clips here and there was much discussion in the use of these long clips in music that doesn't seem to support it. There was talk about the context of a series of clips that doesn't seem to hold enough resonance with enough people for the climax of the song, which I agree to. There didn't seem to be enough of a lead-up to the kiss; or rather the groundwork of the kiss wasn't laid out clearly enough for Point A to lead to Point B.

In general this vid seem to have fair control of motion, but I was mostly lost as to what was happening (ironic especially 'cause it's Lost source ;D) and I got the impression that most of the scenes were context dependant.


Friction by Kathy, Kay, & Jill

This was a delightful vid which took me awhile to "get", though the discussion around it help me understand it's internal language. Many people spoke of how very precise the vid was, and I think that impression is carried forward because the vidders barely relied on external motion to drive forward the vid as many of the previous vids did. Also most of the external motion was 'hidden'; the cuts happened 4 or 5 frames before the beat instead of the usual 3 (or 2 or 4) frames, making them 'softer' and thus calling less attention to the external motion. Instead, every bit of internal motion was controlled (instead of external motion) to carry forward the momentum of the vid; it's this precise attention to internal motion that makes this vid 'feel' precise, I think.

This was also a great character study and I think I didn't get how great a character study it was until I recalled SG1; what threw me initially with the vid was the utterly Bland mood of the vid in conjunction with Epic-ness of the scenery. I couldn't make sense of this mood with what the vid was showing, and at first I just thought it was lazy vidding and bad clip choice.

And THEN I realized during the discussion what the point-of-view of the vid was, and that it was a character study, and then I was amused beyond compare because it was a character study of a man who's fairly blase about the End Of The World And Etc. ("Again? Didn't we just save it last week?") Not only that, but the desultory view of the character towards Epic-ness is given to the vid itself.

Which, HEE!

This is delightfully refreshing, having seen alot of vids who are completely serious and utterly effective about The World Ending, and then having a character who's main reaction to DOOM and DESPAIR being, mainly, "Oh just sod off already, you're annoying."

::gigglefit:: See that? That I adore.


Speed Racer by Margie

BobbyHobbes! Umm I don't have many notes for this except for how fun the vid is and how it's about a little man who thinks he's really really big, and, honestly, might not be so far from the truth. Except when it isn't. =D


Are You Gonna Be My Girl by ascian3 and pukajen.

Oh. Oh this. This!! DUDE. This is love. This is the funny and the pain and the joy and the banter and the longing and the love. This is Aeryn through John's eyes, everything of Aeryn through everything of the shifting moods of John's eyes. And done via an action vid! How appropirate is THAT? From what I understand of the discussion, this jumped back and forth in time; for all that though, it was a clear and effective vid for everyone.

This seems a simultaneous character study of Aeryn as well as a relationship study of Aeryn and John and pulls you through the whole spectrum of them as people and as people *together* through various perspectives.

I want this vid, and I want to stalk the vidders. Tell me they're online? ::puppyeyes:: FOUND! w00t!


Cartoon Heroes by Mamoru

Stargate Meta vid! This is just fun and delightful, it's a vid of encapsulated joy, it's a vid of the actors as much as it is about SG1 and SGA and makes great use of the boxy effect.

However there was much discussion about whether it was an effective vid, inasmuch way that some fans would perfer not to know of the actors and of where they fail to live up to the characters themselves and thus break the diegetic world of the story. I, personally, didn't find any trouble with it, but I don't know if that's because I read alot of RPS (::cough::neveryoumindRPAS::cough::) or what. I can see in particular tho, how this vid might be unsettling because it doesn't just use blooper and behind-the-scene footage, but also the original footage as well; thus people might go in expecting a Stargate vid, but instead they got blooper footage.

There was some talk about being disturbed by the prescence of blooper footage in a vid because it's not canon; but in this case where the vid itself is about the actors (rather than the characters), I personally didn't mind the blooper footage at all and thought that the vid was just great.


Sex on Wheels by sockkpuppett

Driving, pounding, thrusting action. ;D Angel as the sexy bastard that he is and all the lovely ass and the brilliant motion that surrounds him. I'm highly ambivalent about the music but sockkpuppett sells it.


The Burden by AJ Johnson

Interesting use of still shots with action shots in an action vid. There were some talk about how several of the face shots of Mary Jane actually seem to have less movement than the still shots (which amused me to no end), and how the vid makes great use of the credits.


I Just Wanna Take You Home by Merry

This! HEE! ::giggles like is 12:: There was mention of how in hindsight it was surprising that this was an action vid, but it is; not only that it's an AU that makes great use of the source does great things with comedy and fast cutting. Fantastic use of the beat with brilliant pacing that allows the cutting to be parse-able by most in the audience it seems. This vid makes me want to coo at it and pet it and delights me to no end whenever it's played.


In The Middle by HappyMe

Ah. ::blinks:: I lost the notes for this one it seems, or we didn't get to it during discussion...could someone link me to this so that I can view it again and make comments?


What Really Happened by Smutcutter

OH! This is a brill comedic character trait study of how Sands and El "give love a bad name". People seemed surprised at how well the song choice worked, and worked it did. The vid itself simultaneously pimped alot of people into the movie and convinced people that they shouldn't watch the movie in the first place; as well as pointing out how amazing hot Johnny Depp is, and will possibly always be no matter what getup he's wearing or how eyeless he becomes. Heh.

This was a highly effective AU vid making great use of the source and of the action scene in conjunction with both comedy and the constructed storyline, marvelous work!



Lunchtime!

So lierdumoa and I peeked around and found f1renze, kitkatbyte, sdwolfpup, pipsqueaky, dualbunny and her boy, and...fuck, I'm blanking on the last two people.

But anyways, we all went to the Bistro in the Holiday Inn next door and god NEVER GO THERE EVER AGAIN. The food took more than 45 minutes to come which is just silly I tell you! (the portabello mushroom was a bit on the charred side too, meh)

The conversation was good though, and the company great, and I only regret missing Vidding History 'cause Gravity was playing, but otherwise it was all good. Just...next time I'll just always go to the House O'Meat or something. ::wry grin::



Vidding History: Discussion
(an interesting panel run by gwyn_r and Melina with some great thoughts)

I'd mostly wanted to attend this discussion to see if there's any feedback for my PotC vid Gravity but Melina had a great theory about vidding historical source that made me stay longer than I would have 'cause I HAD to catch Mitternacht on the big screen in the Horror vidshow (HAD TO).

Anyways, it goes that the further you go forward in time (ie. Master & Commander as compared to L.A. Confidential) or the more meta the source (ie. Lord of The Rings as compared to The Princess Bride) means the more possibility that a more modern sound choice for historical source would be acceptable by a larger portion of the audience.

...In some regards I thank the fact that I've mostly dropped the idea of vidding Hoobastank to LotR. Mostly.

Kinda sorta.

::cough::

_{LKBV maybe?}



I realized that I got so caught up in the discussion that I needed to leave if I was to be able to see Mitternacht at all, luckily I got in and actually at around the time that Avenue Potter came ::waves:: didn't get much chance to talk but I was glad I got to say hi to her.

Horror Vidshow

About Lucky You since I was asked: clipping for this was ::cough:: an interesting experience. I did it with my back to a solid wall, facing the doorway, with my eyes closed half of the time. It was something like, close eyes and slide the cursor, peer through fingers and edit quickly, shudder, rinse, repeat. The only thing that got me through it was Don't Worry Be Happy by .

Incidentally, out of curiosity I put the vid to Don't Worry to see if it works; and it does, surprisingly, hilariously well. You can download it here, if you're curious.

Mitternacht by Pwolf

EEE! The shiny shiny vid was all huge and wonderful! As I've squee'd about this vid many times before, I'll just point ya'll to the download link.



Since absolut3destiny already let me preview the vidshow I went ahead to the Aesthetics: Visual Composition panel, 'cause also! astolat!!

Aesthetics: Visual Composition
(hosted marvelously by astolat)

This panel covered names and methods of visual composition, covering the basics of scene description terms (such as closeup and long shot) as well as some rules/theories of visual composition. These include how objects in the center of a screen appear to not move so much as objects at angles or objects at the edges of a screen and how (if you divide up the screen in vertical and horizontal thirds) the most important points of the screen are at the lines of the third.

(I have a pet theory about this rule in that because we are so used to looking at the eyes of a human face for visual clues, we automatically gear our vision similarly to other objects as well, looking for the 'thirds' in any frame we encounter.)

ummm...I'll post a link to the panel if it appears, I'm sorta blanking out on this one tho I remember it being good, with pictures!, as well as crowded. (tzikeh was sitting at my feet and I gave her a head rub 'cause I promised her one after boggling over the amount of work she had to do for the DVDs ::bowsdown::)



Anime Panel
(wonderfully information packed and well-moderated by absolut3destiny)

There was so much information given at this panel that when I gave props to absolut3destiny afterward he seemed a bit shocked at how much he was able to cram in too.

He started out showing the original amv created by japanese fanboys with handdrawn cells which was just mindblowing considering they created it all by themselves (drawing their own source). They became the people known as Gainax (sp?) and pro after showing their amv at a con.

In that light, amvs are far more about manipulation of source than vids; especially when you consider the base product most amv makers are dealing with. Two clips were shown, soundless, one of the most boring section of Battlestar Galatica and the other of the most emotionally potent moment in an episode of anime...::snickers::

Well. After the wry laughter died down after people realized exactly how still the source was, there was discussion about methods around it, about the base theory of amvs versus live action vids (ie. amv's manipulability of the source versus live action vid's tendancy to focus on the emotion), and about the joys of After Effects with some Q&A afterwards.

(speaking of which, I hope that he posts that Christopher Walken clip, 'cause that was HILARIOUS)


Vividcon 2005 Anime Vidshow - playlist, decisions and reactions (posted comments on the vidshow by absolut3destiny)



Dinner-ish time and pre-/post-Premieres

I peered around the other room and found people setting up for Premieres. I'd helped out with the setup some (still felt abit guilty for missing Club Vivid cleanup) and then lapillus gave me more tips on vidshow running and a closer look at the soundboard and some more advice on what machines to look for.

Towards the end of it I found I totally had to excuse myself 'cause the cramping that started during the Anime panel kinda reared it's ugly head. Unfortunately I didn't have my keycard to go collaspe in my room but a superkind con attendee allowed me into her room to get sick in. Found out it was Becca (don't know her LJ name) who OMG THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. I meant to slip a thank you note under the door later after Premieres were over but then realized I didn't know what room it actually *was*.

Heh, imagine my surprise that (after falling on top of the covers of one of the beds) I blinked and then there was sisabet and sockkpuppett! That was the most surreal thing ever...'cause then they were like, "Premieres!", at which I was afraid for the moment that I'd accidentally missed the whole thing; which would have SUCKED very hard in the not good way. But luckily I didn't miss it and thanked them profusely and followed them down to catch the Premieres show.

Now imagine my usual state of just-waked-ness and trying to process Lum's Esctatic Drum Trip...

Yesh.

In any case it was a good waker-upper and I spent most of the next two hours in a state of awe and squee. (Well, and in a state of abject fear once I saw "Jerusalem" and then realized that "In The Breakdown" was afterwards. o.0 Holy shit but that was scary.)

[A link to my review of Premieres will be added here once that post is done]

Anyhoo, after fangirling at the vidders, someone (Mely? Er..?) pointed out I was horribly late for meeting with heres_luck (thank GOD for her groundedness, I'm probably far too spazzy to run a panel on my own) for prepping for the In Depth Vid Review panel, which I was, and I went to go prep for that.

Ended up finishing rather late and missing the entirety of the Lord King Bad Vid room party but I see that alot of them are getting put up so yay!

(For More On the LKBV party...)

'Sides which, it was all good in the end 'cause I had some great conversation with untrue_accounts about visual composition in X (the anime), which (note to self) I must see sometime soon.


[Sunday: wherein there is vids premiering and panels and I spazz. And also singing!]