VVC: Friday

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[Previous post - VVC: Initial and Thursday]

So I'm staring in dismay at my VVC program and trying to figure out how to organize this post because there's really a huge difficulty in separating personal squee from vid squee without my forgetting something. Not that I haven't probably forgotten things already, probably. ::headdesk::

Note To Self for next year, take better notes.

And yup yup yup, I am definatly going again next year, come hell or high water!

Meanwhile: the way I figure, I'll just put cut-tags at every vidshow and panel so that ya'll can just jump to that, yes? =) Onward!


Friday Morning

The VVC planners were exceptionally smart to have the first vidshow happen at noon. (Just sayin'.)

Well, that is, not counting moderator training. So meanwhile I made sure to register, glomping sockkpuppett along the way, 'cause OMG vid-mommy!, and tried to peer around and see who I knew. Talked a bit with Mary (who's a total sweetheart too, and who I'd met during the Nor-Cal summer vid-party, and gah, I'm blanking out on her LJ name! ::grovels::) and met jackiekjono for the first time face to face! (SUCH a sweetheart and very soothing as she talked me down from mild vid-panic over Holy Egoism of Genius). Saw sisabet, and dude, reports of her aura of happiness have NOT been exaggerated!

Meanwhile, if I vaguely recall right, the con suite opened up and we got to pick up the icon stickers that _par_avion made, which was an absolute GODSEND. 'cause me = visual learner, which is good for vidding and possibly reading body language, but not much else.

Also, my brain is like swiss cheese.

I was highly pleased to see dualbunny and her guy there because her vids have stunned me since Olivia and I'm so glad that she was up for auction 'cause she needs to vid more. Like really. (her auction vid *worked* even with it 2 seconds late and how cool is THAT? That, if anything, shows the strength of her visual narrative and I'll babble on that more in the proper section.) I saw and glomped absolut3destiny after that, 'cause my soul is owed after being introduced to avisynth, not that I don't suspect that he has many other souls in jars all in a neat row somewhere. ;D Sometime in all that, I'm sure I'd glomped kitkatbyte and f1renze (they looked just as I'd imagined, but personalities are more brill in person) and untrue_accounts (who is absolutely adorable and utterly sweet) amoung others and it was great seeing morgandawn and laurashapiro again (::highfives fellow bay area vidders::).


Moderator Training

By and by, 11 AM rolled around and after glomping tzikeh (who was awesome and did an alarming amount of vid-watching to prep the VVC DVDs ::kisses said collection::) I followed heres_luck to the Moderator Training wherein we were told how to work the machine and I planned a bit with heres_luck for the In-Depth Vid Review panel and chatted with people.

In general, I was still trying to get over the shock of, "OMG there's astolat!" and "Oh wow, that's killabeez!" and "It's tzikeh! You ROCK." and "OH MY HOLY FUCK I'M AT VVC."

But that's all good in a way 'cause people were awesome and tolerated the spazzy it seemed. =)



Wayback Machine
(as presented by tzikeh who was funny and lively and did a wonderful job)

This was sort of a quick vidding history lesson, which is fantastic 'cause, you know, it's kinda like hearing about how the world was made. =D

It went something like,

"In the beginning, there were clip bits taken from the cutting room floor. An enterprising fan, Kandy Fong, took these and made them into slides that she changed on the beat of simultaneously playing music.

Thus the first vid was made, then the fen looked at 'Both Sides Now' and decided it was Good."

Incidentally Kandy Fong was at VVC and blew out the candles on vidding's 30th birthday cakes. ::beams:: History man, History.

Meanwhile, eventually there were increasing leaps in vidding technology allowing for more precision in VCRs by what is known as 'flying eraser heads' and thus better syncing to the music resulting in the glee that is "Oh Boy" (by California Crew). Better tech also allowed for the appearance of the crossfade, resulting in the Highlander multi-era vid "Scarborough Fair" made by Katherine.

Lastly there were two meta vids, "Pressure" by California Crew and "Failed Experiments in Video Editing" by Big Big Truck; both hilarious and both funny 'cause they're true.



I'd assumed that Vidfan 101 would be mostly going over vocab and/or discussion about vocab, but since I was pretty much still speechless at that point I just stayed to watch the next vidshow:

Character Study: Women
(as presented by laurashapiro who found a wonderful lineup and lent it a masterful ordering)

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


Mi Vida Loca by the California Crew.

Don't really know the source to this, but it was fun and bouncy and a good starter.


Window of Opportunity by heres_luck.

This is a Wonderfalls which I haven't seen but is a marvelous character study, or perhaps even a study of the character via the objects around her, the mediums that she is seen through, and the places that represents her. She seems to be (via the vid) a person moved, rather than a moving person; the vid presents her with a wry and quirky fondness so well, that I can't help but view her with fondness too.


Woman Like A Man by wolfling and Magpie.

This is a Faith vid that throws itself forward intensely; I don't know Faith other than through vids, but this is one of the best vids that I've seen (alongside heres_luck's Superstar) that shows Faith's simultaneous anger and ambivalence; it's rage and fear and fighting and falling.


There's No Way Out of Here by gwyn_r.

This is a simultaneous character study of Scully, Buffy, and Nikita and presents to me a sort of whirling desolation. This is a very context dependant vid and didn't really hit me until I've had bits of the scenes explained to me; however for people who do know the source it seemed to them affect very deeply. This played at a vid-party I was at and caused teary eyes and whimpers; I'm not sure if the teary eyes were also at VVC but I *definately* heard some sighs and whimpers when this ended.


Maid on the Shore by commodorified.

An Elizabeth Swann vid!! Nicely done, and great song choice; it moved well and left me with a satisfied feeling at the end.


New Age Girl by Rocketchick.

See, I entered slash via Joxer/Ares. This means that there's Gabrielle bashing left and right and in some regards I'm ambivalent about her as a charater, still, because of that. This vid made me love her...which, wow. It's her quirkyness and her funny moments and her openness and her energy, all right there splashed across the screen. Fantastic and awesome carry-through of a vid aesthetic that I don't normally play with because I don't quite know how to do so yet. This is similar in aesthetic to marycrawford's Iolaus vid, "Live Till I Die", that I've been struggling to give a vocabulary to for a long time.

What I think this vid is doing is creating a thematic-based study of Gabrielle via a narrative that's not driven by internal events, nor internal emotion, nor a particular character's perspective/POV, BUT INSTEAD by the emotional arc of the viewing audience. In other words, the narrative flow it creates (it's storytelling flow/drive/what-have-you) is drawn by the arc of the audience's reaction to the clips, rather than by anything internal to the clips themselves.

Which is a very very VERY tricky thing to do because unless one can absolutely control the demographics of your audience, a vid in this style has a *huge* chance of flopping unless the vidder has a very unwavering sense of clip choice and either conscious or subconscious knowledge of how to adequatetly lead the audience from one reaction to the next. Mad mad props to this vid, then, for accomplishing this feat to such a wide extent; the applause for this vid was loud and appreciative and made me delighted with a character I normally wouldn't appreciate.


Coming Up From Behind by killabeez.

This is a Witchblade vid that left me breathless. It's relentless stalking in a good way, her as a predator guarding territory. Thrumming and shivery and has fantastic use of the music.


Cherry Lips by Rokax.

This was a fun and good study of Chiana, very nice.


I Saved the World Today by Birgit.

Another Farscape vid, Aeryn's character study, of much of the angst; fantastic use of the chorus.


River by lithium_doll.

A River Tam vid and like most of her work with fantastic use of effects. Uses dialogue in an interesting way as well as interweaving repeated motifs very effectively.


When I Paint My Masterpiece by sisabet.

I generally do not like this type of music but the way sisabet takes advantage of the music here amplifies the beautiful portions of the song; in effect, her editing taught me how to appreciate the music which is a feat in and of itself.

Beyond that, it was a fantastic and well-rounded character piece that relays to me this sort of swaying up-down of motion that seems to speak of her character. It's the wiggling of the fighter plane or the curl of one hand around another or the rise and drop of a smile. It's like as if the vid had a body, and one of its hands held gently at her waist and another holding her hand high as they both swayed to the music. Awesome.


History Repeating by sockkpuppett and killabeez

I must admit that the first time that laurashapiro showed this to me I couldn't find the words to express anything so much as a response to this vid. But now after thinking it over awhile and watching it again I think I sorta know why I like it so much, because it is, in essence, a woman's growl. It's like 'Woman Like A Man', but without the anger and desolation. It's like 'Coming Up from Behind', but without the slight franticness. Amanda is not a woman desperate to protect nor desperate to love nor desperate to succeed; she is not a desperate woman, period. She is herself, in all of her glory, like a matured and aged Gabrielle via "New Age Girl".

This is not only a focused character study, but almost a focused character trait study of the fact that even though the world might change, Amanda will still be there. And not only will Amanda be there, but the world will be pwnzed by her.

Yes. She will. She really really will.

With a P-W-N.

And there's not a doubt in her mind, as shown by the vid, that it could possibly be anything else.

Many vids in the past and during the course of VVC showed "Woman In Transition" or "Woman As Potential" or "Woman As Striving" or "Woman In Collaspe" or "Woman Deteriorating" or "Woman Angry".

It's a very very few vids that solidly shows "Woman, Triumphant".

"History Repeating" is one of them, and a marvelous choice for a show closer for a Woman's Character Study vidshow. ::mad applause to laurashapiro::



After waffling a bit between Genealogy of vidding and the Showcase; mostly because I'd already had a vidshow and I'd thought to reset them eyes 'cause vid-watching's complicated dontcha know. But I was encouraged to stay for my vidding mommy's Showcase and boy am I glad I did.

sockkpuppett's Showcase - Scooby Road

To give some background for this, apparently Lum has been working on vidding the entire Beatles' concept album, Abbey Road, to Buffy. The album itself tells a story in song-form, and it was a project apparently four many years in the making.

(oops, apparently it took less time than 4 years, which only makes me more awed)

My background on Buffy is really only through vids and fic. My background on the Beatles is shakey, though Lum sent me the album it didn't really *ping* until I saw/heard it in it's entirely as Scooby Road. It left me shaken, and I wasn't really even all that knowledgable about either source; it'd left many in tears.

What left me stunned was the amount of audience participation that Lum pulled in through her editing, because she basically vidded around the story and around key scenes. She didn't go for the money shot but the end effect of this restraint was a greater feeling and the tragedy carries and carries and builds and builds until I suddenly realized that I was choked up and I didn't even know how I got there.

Each of the individual vids could stand on it's own, and is worthy of dissection individiually as they individually build via fantastic narrative technique. The super-structure of the entire work as a whole, however, is astonishing; it does the same work on the audience's moods that I'd previously mentioned in relation to "New Age Girl" by Rocketchick and "Live Till I Die" by marycrawford. However, here it's done for a serious and angsty effect on a macro level rather than on a single vid for a cheerful and upbeat effect; which again only inspires awe in me.

This must be seen to be believed, and watched all in a row.

Beg sockkpuppett for a DVD if you have any breath to spare.


sockkpuppett's personal notes on the project

vagabondage's reactions (non-spoilery)
loligo's reactions (SPOILERY)
laurashapiro's reactions (*VERY* SPOILERY)



Next up, after lingering around sockkpuppett abit to give my shell-shocked squee-of-awe and to linger around to possibly hear comments that might help me understand what I just experienced, after all that I just knew I had to go to the Using The Music panel because dude, cannot process more vids. Wargh.

Using The Music
(moderated by laurashapiro and I think killabeez? It was supposed to be with boniblithe but then RL happened...)

What they did for this panel was present three pieces of music individually. Then they took responses about what the music sounded like and what one might vid to it, then showed the vid that was vidded to it.

This had some interesting responses and I think I'll wait for perhaps the panel notes before I make more specific comments; but some of the main points of the panel was that music has many layers and it's up to the vidder to choose to bring out either the ornamentation or the base beats. Also, the way one edits can bring out (make subjectively louder) certain aspects of the music and that the way the music sounds at any given point can help one in figuring out clip placement.

Overall a nicely moderated panel with great examples and good responses from the audience.



After the Using the Music panel I'd decided to dive back into the vidshow because I'd heard that the Nearly New this year could've stood alone as a Premiere's show and I could really only bear to miss one half of it and that only for Using The Music.

However, I'm going to have to post Nearly New in a separate post just like Premiere's 'cause it's going to get insanely long.

(I'll post the link here when I have it up.)



pre-, during-, and post- Club Vivid

After chatting with people over the great vids in Nearly New and figuring out logicstics for the anime pimping party, cofax7, loligo, lierdumoa, and I with some others whose name I'm blanking on went up to our room to get settled and chat. There was some squee about SG1 and SGA and then f1renze and kitkatbyte came with I think pipsqueaky and sdwolfpup to look for people to practice the Joxer Dance with. Luckily I had it on my laptop and we all gave it some practice to the great amusement of the others.

I think we popped down to the con area then for hors d'oevres (which were YUMMY) which I made my dinner 'cause we're going to be dancing anyways and we chatted some with various people, the highlight of which was one with morgandawn, absolut3destiny, and I think Jo wherein we pondered the meaning of Jill, Kathy, and Kay's "Favorite Friend" to the effect that we all came up with different stories for it and that it was basically a rosch test of any particular fan's mind.

It's probably telling that I saw it as a reincarnation story and that the guy wasn't going crazy bcause he was just getting flashes of his past. ::wry grin::

This made me go ahead and search the vidders out, who were as bemused by the varying responses to the vid as we were and ended up going, "The story's whatever you want it to be." Heh. =D

Soon lierdumoa and I realized that we really should go and quickly dress for Club Vivid. We got all shimmered up, then ran down again to squee over people's outfits.

And!

GLOWSTICKS!!! (I like the shiny; but methinks ya'll are not surprised by that...)

Got a whiskey sour into myself and was all dance-ready and the Joxer Dance was fun and hilarious and great and hopefully somebody took pictures of it for me to be much amused by it. They put a projector at each end of the Really Big Room so that in effect you could look at the vids no matter which way you were turned. After a bit of dancing lierdumoa and I realized that absolut3destiny wasn't dancing, which had to be corrected. So we did and hauled him into the dance floor which was just as it should be. =D

We were joined occasionally by ladysorka, who I'd met earlier that day who is also a sweetheart and cheerful, and who I'd wished I had a chance to talk to more during the con. Wah, next year, hopefully.

Towards the end my feet hurt too much though I was up for a part of the last dance then lierdumoa announced the anime pimping party in untrue_account's room.

We went, we saw, we pimped. =D Mely was awesome and explained manga and I drank in her Wild Adapter artbook and we watched dvds of Samurai Champloo, Utena, and FMA and OMG I have to hunt those down now! There was cmshaw who pimped FMA and silviakundera who got pimped Death Note and whoa Utena has some trippy imagery and all was good though I got more tired and very spacy towards the end of it.

lierdumoa and I shuffled back to the room around one-ish and I passed out as soon as I could 'cause I'm not good mornings and there was more VVC to attend!


[Saturday: And Teh Brain Exploded!]

Comments

[absolutedestiny.livejournal.com]

You are like a cute ball of pure happiness. I had so much fun hanging out with you!

[permetaform]

HEE! et tu! I was so glad you were going to VVC and I finally had a chance to meet you! You going again next year?