Vid Question!

[permetaform]

'kay, color me curious, but what do ya'll consider a 'shipper vid? Or a relationship vid?

Like for instance, I consider 'Why' to be simultaneously a Lex vid and a Clex vid, in the way that 'The Fragile' was a Leeloo vid and a Leeloo/Corbin vid. But would one consider one vid-type more 'shippery than the other? If so why?

The reason I ask is 'cause I'd realized (with help) that Moment Couldn't Break could be considered a non-shipper vid...possibly 'cause we vidded a relationship subtext? (Which amuses me SO MUCH)

Then again I'm wondering if it's more of this consideration that I've posted about before, where one's concept of a relationship would alter whether one sees a relationship in a particular text at all.

...which possibly should disturb me that I'm okay with so much dysfunction in a relationship. ::blinks::

::pokes at the several open Sasuke/Naruto fics on desktop:: heh.

Comments

[linzeestyle.livejournal.com]

To me, a "ship" video is one that specifically focuses on the interaction and relationship between two characters, in a way that implies a sexual or romantic interest or connection between them.

Of course, that's in theory. In practice, I think it's a lot harder to quantify. If you support (or alternately, hold a hatred for) a pairing in the show or source footage, you are probably more likely to pick it up as subtext in a video than someone who does not care either way or simply does not see it at all. This is especially true in videos like your "Why" or, alternately, my FLV, where the ship is not the central focus -- relationships are an aspect, of course, but they're not the main idea of the video. They're not all that the video is saying. In general, I tend to regard "ship" video versus non-"ship" video as having to do with the overall idea of the video. For instance -- if you're vidding a character, a theme or idea, and the relationship is subtext within it...I don't consider that a ship video. For something to actually be a ship video for me, the ship has to be at the foreground -- it has to be the argument you're making.

Linzee

[permetaform]

For something to actually be a ship video for me, the ship has to be at the foreground -- it has to be the argument you're making.

Ahh, okay, that makes sense then! 'Cause I consider Moment Couldn't Break as first a Kurdy vid...though it's a Kurdy vid With Jeremiah As Very Important.

typo

[permetaform]

*Very Important Person

[linzeestyle.livejournal.com]

I think once the "[insert character here] Is Very Important" comes into play, then you have a gray area. For instance, I consider "Wind Up Girl" a Lexana video, but I had people picking up Clex in it -- because in my mind, Clark is *always* going to be Very Important to Lex. He's always going to be a large portion of what motivates Lex, one way or another. And perhaps because most of my flist is Clex-centric, that translated to "ship" in context of the video.

It is interesting though to watch what videos get thought of as "shipper" and what ones don't. I've found, especially once you leave the vidding fandom and go into general fannish communities, things tend to become a lot more skewed in terms of what is and isn't a ship -- namely, *everything* becomes a shipper video. Perhaps this is the result of people wanting to read their own favorites into a vid?

Linzee

[permetaform]

I've found, especially once you leave the vidding fandom and go into general fannish communities, things tend to become a lot more skewed in terms of what is and isn't a ship -- namely, *everything* becomes a shipper video. Perhaps this is the result of people wanting to read their own favorites into a vid?

Maybe I think. I wonder too if it's one of the easiest ways to 'read' a vid? Like, it's harder to portray a mentor relationship vid without it being considered a 'ship vid, I could see might take gwyn_r's vid Polaroid Millenium vid about Buffy and the people that support her as Buffy/Giles.

Which brings up the interesting point of how one might portray an intense platonic relationship via vid for most of the audience...like, is it even possible? Especially considering the main audience for our vids is fandom and is naturally skewed to look in that direction?

[linzeestyle.livejournal.com]

Which brings up the interesting point of how one might portray an intense platonic relationship via vid for most of the audience...like, is it even possible? Especially considering the main audience for our vids is fandom and is naturally skewed to look in that direction?

You know, I've been thinking about this a *lot* in the last month or so. I have a video I want to make this winter that I'm nervous as hell about, because it deals with two characters (one very underage) and I'm worried that the very idea of a two-character-centric video will be automatically translated into "slash" once I get outside of the vidding fandom. Unfortunately, once we as vidders send our vids out into the 'wilds,' there isn't much we can do in terms of insuring that it doesn't get viewed in a certian way. Fandom is extremely skewed, as you mentioned, to "ship" almost automatically. As to why this is, that's probably another question entirely, but it does make it difficult when attempting to capture non-sexual or more nuanced relationships in vidding, which is so very much dependent on how one views the original footage -- a vidder can do everything in their power to capture their own view of the nuances and non-sexual aspects of two (or more!) characters...but ultimately I think it comes down to the interpretation of the person who clicks 'play.'

Linzee

[boniblithe.livejournal.com]

Is MCB a 'shipper vid? I don't watch Jeremiah, so what I got from it was a character vid, strongly - with the main character a bit subtexty with his guy friend, and pining over the pretty girl. I saw both the text and the subtext, but I didn't get that the main focus of the vid was 'shippy, because a) the song isn't what I'd consider a normal 'shippy song and b) I don't have the show context to judge by. I did see the vid as the main focus character and his relationships with other people, therefore = relationship vid, but to me 'shippy means OMG I LOVE U SO MUCH IT HURTS LET'S GO HAVE SEX NOW KTHXBYE

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

"Get around" is a ship vid. Lots and lots of ships, of various sorts, flying everywhere. (possibly too much Millennium Falcon footage) ;)

Oh, wait...


A 'ship vid puts the emphasis on two (or more) characters and constructs or emphasizes their romance.

That's the simple explanation.

A gen vid does not emphasize the relationship. It won't use the same clips. And if it does, it tries (not always successfully) to contextualize them as gen.
"What I did for love" was intended as a gen vid, but a great many people read it as slash, because the end of ST2 shows up in every K/S vid.

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

I didn't think of "Moment Couldn't Break" as a 'shipper vid. To me, it's a character portrait of Kurdy with, as you point out, Jeremiah's relevance to him noted. But the relationship isn't central to the vid.

In my own character studies, there is almost always a relationship involved -- "Ing", for instance, talks a whole lot about Anya's relationship with Xander. But that doesn't make it a 'ship vid. It's still very clearly about Anya primarily, with the relationship being used to show things about Anya herself.

IMO, for a vid to be a 'ship vid, the relationship itself has to be the primary focus.

[wolfling]

I saw Moment Couldn't Break as first and foremost a character vid. It was just one that used the important relationships in Kurdy's life as its canvas. Would I categorise it as a shipper vid? No not really. Any shippy type moments in it were more the medium instead of the message, if that makes any sense?

[lierdumoa.livejournal.com]

Okay, those Naruto fics on your desktop? You need to link me to them. I'm running out of crack.

[permetaform]

It's the Crack That Never Ends...
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1620684/
It goes on and on my frieeeeeend...;D

Oh! And look up someone called sugahlei. Divisions gets better after the first few chapters; White, Surge Red is just hot.

[lierdumoa.livejournal.com]

...more?

It distracted me for a day, and then I went back to SGA crack, but now I've run out again.

[permetaform]

=) I have many tagged in my favorites here:
http://www.fanfiction.net/u/485373/

and on sasuxnaru I think someone recently asked for recs...

[wickedwords.livejournal.com]

I think it's all about focus. I'm going to stick with a ship being short for relationship, which means that the focus of the vid is a story about how two or more people interact, what they mean to each other, and how they view each other. The universe that they interact in takes a back seat to that. The audience takes away from the vid the feeling of connection or estrangement or whatever the emotion is that the vidder presents as binding the two character together (grief, loss, lust, love, hatred, amusement, fondness, frustration, longing, etc.)

So at it's core: a focus on people and the feelings that connect them together.

[crowie.livejournal.com]

For me a shipper vid (and I've made one) has as it main focus: "omg! they're *so* doing it" Squeee implied. It's probably a fairly narrow defination but it's the one Ive used so far.

[dualbunny.livejournal.com]

I also didn't see MCB as shippy. There were obviously ships being show in it, but it was clearly focused on Kurdy and the world through Kurdy.

Shipper vids for me have to specifically focus on the relationship (or subtext there of). Romantic shipper vids anyway. But there is, to me, a difference between showing how a character may be affected by certain relationships, and specifically showing those relationships through the eyes of one or both of the characters.

[elspethdixon.livejournal.com]

Trapped in the hell of dial-up as I am, I haven't seen either of the vids you're talking about here (though I do get that Jack-centric PotC vid of yours out and watch it every couple of weeks), but for me, part of what makes a vid register as "shippy" is the song the vidder choses, and what sort of clips are matched up to which lyrics-a song that's a flat out love song, or that contains a good deal of sexual or romantic subtext, is pretty much guaranteed to produce a shippy vid. However, depending on the way the footage is selected and edited, you could end up conveying anything from a love triangle, to a failed relationship, to happily ever after, depending on the narrative sequence of clips and which characters get the most screen time (and get the most screen time together).

There's an Angel/Spike vid by Sisabet (I think) that will utterly convince you that Spike and Angel were having violent, kinky sex on screen in BtVS, and that it's going to pop up any second now in the video, just through the pacing and the clips she chose.