2009: My Year in Vidding
Dec. 31st, 2009 08:24 am![[personal profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
laurashapiro2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004
Vids I Made This Year (by release date)
August
They Don't Know
Mothership
I Want Candy (collaboration with![[livejournal.com profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
vagabondage
Hard Sun (collaboration withbradcpu
November
God Bless the Child
Ordinarily I would be cross with myself for not having released any vids until August, but considering that "They Don't Know" took me over a year to make, I'm not sweating it too seriously. I have definitely learned, though, that releasing a vid at a con I'm actually attending is by far the most rewarding way for me. Since VVC is the only con I attended last year, I suppose this schedule isn't too surprising.
And I made five vids! That's more than usual.
This was my second (and final) year of fluff. I enjoyed making several vids that were fun to watch and not very deep to think about, but I feel kind of done with that now. It was nice to break up the VVC squee-fest with the more thoughtful tone of "Hard Sun", and "God Bless the Child" felt like returning to my roots as a vidder.
Last year, I wanted "More collaborations, more squee, a mood vid, some constructed reality (I hope I hope), and some scary effects with Motion". I didn't get the constructed reality done, but I'm working on it now. The scary effects weren't done in Motion, but they turned out all right. (:
Last year, I also said "I want to try for a balance between Big Idea vids and Big Emotion vids, a balance between heavy effects and straight cutting, a balance between new fandoms and old. And I hope to continue to make vids about PoC, although given my current to-vid list, I'm not totally optimistic about that. Meanwhile, Wonder of Birds is long overdue for remastering, and I should put out a DVD this year."
All of these were accomplished! Although I can't claim credit for remastering "Wonder of Birds".pharis did that all by herself, and I'm exceedingly grateful.
My favorite video this year (of my own):
Mothership, no question. It was a blast to make, a blast to dance to, and it still makes me grin like a loon. P. says that this vid captures the way I feel when I watch Doctor Who, and while that was never its mission statement, he's absolutely right. ::squee::
My least favorite:
I'm actually happy with all of them, but I'll be the first to admit that "I Want Candy" does not bear close examination.
Most successful video:
"Hard Sun". I don't think either Brad or I were prepared for the giant wave of joy it was greeted with. I think the vid is risky and I know it didn't work for everyone, but I am still happily overwhelmed at its reception. Happy for me, for sure, but mostly happy for Brad, who by rights should be receiving this kind of love all the time.
Video most under appreciated by the universe, in my opinion:
I had hoped that more people would relate to "God Bless the Child," but I'm not crushed or anything. I made the vid for me, and its intended audience was delighted with it. (:
Most fun video to make:
"Mothership", no question. It came together really fast even though I hardly had anything planned in advance, and it needed minimal help from betas. Every time I threw a clip on the timeline I got a giant happy. I do also want to mention the pleasure I had in collaboration with Brad and Zen, who were both wonderful to work with.
Hardest video to make:
"They Don't Know". Did I mention it took more than a year? OMG, ROTO-TOON, HATE HATE HATE. My poor creaky old computer was simply not up to the demands of this vid, and several times I almost gnawed my own leg off in frustration. It took TEN SECONDS to render a SINGLE FRAME of the vid with that rotoscoping filter on it. ::stabbity:: And then Motion couldn't handle realtime playback on aforementioned creaky old computer.
What kept me going? Falling in love with Ten-Rose all over again.
The things I've learned this year
When high-tech fails you, kick it old school. It's perfectly possible to do effects with a pink crayon and some tracing paper.
It is possible to have a thorough intellectual understanding of the underlying technology behind aspect ratios and still fuck them up bigtime.
Context is critical not only for understanding vids and vidding, but for understanding major cultural and political concepts. Lack of context leads not only to lack of understanding, but outrage.
The most fun vids to make are the ones where I am still deeply passionate about the source.
Things to work on in 2010
Crossover AU! Extreme goofiness! Conquer aspect ratios once and for all!
Vids I Made This Year (by release date)
August
They Don't Know
Mothership
I Want Candy (collaboration with
vagabondageHard Sun (collaboration with
bradcpuNovember
God Bless the Child
Ordinarily I would be cross with myself for not having released any vids until August, but considering that "They Don't Know" took me over a year to make, I'm not sweating it too seriously. I have definitely learned, though, that releasing a vid at a con I'm actually attending is by far the most rewarding way for me. Since VVC is the only con I attended last year, I suppose this schedule isn't too surprising.
And I made five vids! That's more than usual.
This was my second (and final) year of fluff. I enjoyed making several vids that were fun to watch and not very deep to think about, but I feel kind of done with that now. It was nice to break up the VVC squee-fest with the more thoughtful tone of "Hard Sun", and "God Bless the Child" felt like returning to my roots as a vidder.
Last year, I wanted "More collaborations, more squee, a mood vid, some constructed reality (I hope I hope), and some scary effects with Motion". I didn't get the constructed reality done, but I'm working on it now. The scary effects weren't done in Motion, but they turned out all right. (:
Last year, I also said "I want to try for a balance between Big Idea vids and Big Emotion vids, a balance between heavy effects and straight cutting, a balance between new fandoms and old. And I hope to continue to make vids about PoC, although given my current to-vid list, I'm not totally optimistic about that. Meanwhile, Wonder of Birds is long overdue for remastering, and I should put out a DVD this year."
All of these were accomplished! Although I can't claim credit for remastering "Wonder of Birds".
pharis did that all by herself, and I'm exceedingly grateful.My favorite video this year (of my own):
Mothership, no question. It was a blast to make, a blast to dance to, and it still makes me grin like a loon. P. says that this vid captures the way I feel when I watch Doctor Who, and while that was never its mission statement, he's absolutely right. ::squee::
My least favorite:
I'm actually happy with all of them, but I'll be the first to admit that "I Want Candy" does not bear close examination.
Most successful video:
"Hard Sun". I don't think either Brad or I were prepared for the giant wave of joy it was greeted with. I think the vid is risky and I know it didn't work for everyone, but I am still happily overwhelmed at its reception. Happy for me, for sure, but mostly happy for Brad, who by rights should be receiving this kind of love all the time.
Video most under appreciated by the universe, in my opinion:
I had hoped that more people would relate to "God Bless the Child," but I'm not crushed or anything. I made the vid for me, and its intended audience was delighted with it. (:
Most fun video to make:
"Mothership", no question. It came together really fast even though I hardly had anything planned in advance, and it needed minimal help from betas. Every time I threw a clip on the timeline I got a giant happy. I do also want to mention the pleasure I had in collaboration with Brad and Zen, who were both wonderful to work with.
Hardest video to make:
"They Don't Know". Did I mention it took more than a year? OMG, ROTO-TOON, HATE HATE HATE. My poor creaky old computer was simply not up to the demands of this vid, and several times I almost gnawed my own leg off in frustration. It took TEN SECONDS to render a SINGLE FRAME of the vid with that rotoscoping filter on it. ::stabbity:: And then Motion couldn't handle realtime playback on aforementioned creaky old computer.
What kept me going? Falling in love with Ten-Rose all over again.
The things I've learned this year
When high-tech fails you, kick it old school. It's perfectly possible to do effects with a pink crayon and some tracing paper.
It is possible to have a thorough intellectual understanding of the underlying technology behind aspect ratios and still fuck them up bigtime.
Context is critical not only for understanding vids and vidding, but for understanding major cultural and political concepts. Lack of context leads not only to lack of understanding, but outrage.
The most fun vids to make are the ones where I am still deeply passionate about the source.
Things to work on in 2010
Crossover AU! Extreme goofiness! Conquer aspect ratios once and for all!
no subject
on 2009-12-31 05:57 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2009-12-31 06:08 pm (UTC)And yes, extreme goofiness is gonna happen, don't worry. Also femslash! Did I mention the AU crossover is femslash? :D
no subject
on 2009-12-31 07:42 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2009-12-31 07:52 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2009-12-31 06:02 pm (UTC):D :D :D :D <3
no subject
on 2009-12-31 06:09 pm (UTC)♥