Talk strategy to me

[bironic]

Question for Festividders (and Yuletiders, if you replace "vid" with "fic" below) or anyone who might have opinions on fandom challenges: What are your sign-up strategies? How do you decide on requesting vs. offering, offering vs. saving for a possible treat, offering or treat-ing vs. just making a rare-fandom vid outside of Festivids (downside: fewer viewers), and offering a source that you don't have a backup idea for? If you've gotten stuck with assignments in past years because of these choices, how did you handle it?

Specifically, I am wrestling with these situations:

• In past years, I've been able to split shows and movies into "I want to make that" (offer) or "I want someone to make that for me" (request) with little overlap, but this year it's causing me more trouble. For instance, I like [movie] and I'd like to ask for an awesome vid of [movie], but I also have a vid idea for [movie], so I'm thinking of offering it and requesting it. The chance of getting matched on the same source in both directions is slim, right? But then, what if we make similar vids? Or, if I request [movie] but don't offer it, and then I go and make a vid of [movie] in the next month or whatever, and it turns out that [movie] is what my vidder got matched on, might they be upset? ...Probably I'm just overthinking this. ETA: Figured this one out; I'm making one and requesting one.


• I like [show], too, but it's one of the more popular ones on the list. At least, it is in RL. Should I offer [show], because I like my backup idea, or should I save it to make as a treat for someone, because then I'll be sure to get matched on something rarer? ETA: Problem solved; the source was disqualified.


• I love [film] and have watched it many times. I don't really have any vid ideas for it. If I offer it and it gets matched, I could most likely do what the requestor wants. But they might not have any specific requests. Do I offer, or just wait and see if anyone puts it on their Dear Festividder lists and maybe make a treat? (Now multiply this by three sources.)

I'm trying not to make decisions based on what I know of specific people's tastes. I'm guessing that if a source got nominated by someone other than me, I'm more likely to get matched on it if I offer it than if I request it, and vice versa. I'm also trying to think about how happy I'd be if [source whatever] were my match and the only vid I was able to make this round. Guesses, guesses. Questions, questions. Festivids!

(Can you tell I've been going through the now-annual tradition of reading the nominations list alongside my music list to come up with an initial brainstorm of vid ideas? Once again, there's a handful of exciting possibilities, plus a few leftovers from last year, and who knows what the actual assignment will bring.)