Watching vids in a con setting

[bop_radar]

To prove that I learnt something at Vividcon, I am finally getting round to posting my notes on watching vids on a large screen with an audience for the first time. While hopefully more widely interesting than my tl;dr social rambles about the con ( part 1 and part 2), these notes are still highly subjective. I am sure other people's relationship

Comments

[kassrachel]

It's amazing how different an experience it is, isn't it? I'm always struck by how different it feels to be watching a vid in a room full of other vid fans -- that hushed silence before the vid starts, the air of anticipation, the moments of laughter or gasping, the applause afterwards.

And then I bring the discs home and I want to show vids to my friends, and sometimes they're a hit in my living room and other times they aren't as exciting, maybe because the people in my living room don't know the show(s) in question, or because...I don't know why. But this is why people used to talk about a distinction between a "con vid" and a "living room vid" -- the assumption was that a living room vid was one you could get on a VHS tape and could watch repeatedly, so it could be subtler, whereas a con vid was something you would only be able to see once and you'd be watching it in a room full of other excited fans.

I'm not so sure the distinction exactly holds anymore -- now we typically come home from cons with dvds, which changes things -- but it's definitely still true (for me) that vids play differently at a con vs. in my living room. :-)

[jarrow]

I just saw this after writing a comment above, and I'm learning that what I had always referred to as con vids vs living room vids has different roots than what I thought. (Learning, yay!) I always thought it referred to where they play best; it never occurred to me the terms originated from where you can actually view them. But then, I've only been coming to VVC when dvds were available. Huh!

[kassrachel]

On reflection, I think the distinction probably originally had to do with both of these things -- a con vid was one which played best to a large audience, but might also be a vid which was only viewable in that setting, since not everyone made tapes for sale. At least, that's my sense; others may be able to correct me! :-)

[the_shoshanna]

FWIW, back in the day I only ever heard the terms "con vid" and "living-room vid" used to describe where the vids played best, what sort of audience they were intended for; IME it had nothing to do with how they were actually seen or distributed. (Except of course that a vidder might well choose to distribute a vid in a way that they hoped would help it reach its best audiences.)

[bop_radar]

Hi hi! *waves* Thanks for popping in and filling in some background! :D Much appreciated!

[the_shoshanna]

Hee, I was surfing around and I'm glad to help (and of course others may have used the terms in other ways, but that's how I heard them).

Also, this post was really interesting, but I am in that kind of hazy glazed exhausted mental state where all I can say is a sort of wide-eyed "ooooh, cool." So, um, cool post. Thanks for writing this up!

[bop_radar]

Ohh good to hear you enjoyed it! I always feel really naive commenting on such things. I think I scribbled the first of the notes for this beside you in the History show if I recall correctly. (In between grinning and squeeing of course!)

[bop_radar]

sometimes they're a hit in my living room and other times they aren't as exciting, maybe because the people in my living room don't know the show(s) in question, or because...I don't know why
I know personally I expect a lot more thought-generation from vids I view at home. I get bored easily by things that are one-note. Generally I have higher tolerance for this if it's upbeat and joyful and I like the song (coz I can dance to it! wheeeee!! *frequently seatdances to vids*) but even so, I tend to demand layers. Thinky layers. Or I want a vid to say something new. And as you mention having the same frames of reference fandom-wise is really really important also. There were vids I was flipping out about at the con that everyone else was 'meh' about purely (I believe) because they did not know the source.

In my experience I still see a very clear difference between vids that are superhits at Vividcon and those that do well with a home viewer audience. Sometimes there are vids that do both, it's true, but I personally have spent five years not really 'getting' the vids that got recced the most after Vividcon. And then unearthing other incredible buried treasures that DID play at the con but which were (to my eyes) far stronger and more layered. It is with great relief that I can now say I was not mad. I just understand both dynamics better now. Neither is a better vid than the other in my mind, and as a vidder it's completely legitimate to aim for one or the other ... or the holy grail of both! ;)