First off, I'm glad that you seem to be approaching this from an attitude of wanting to be able to make your own choices about what to do or not do rather than an attitude of needing to do this in order to be a "proper" vidder. But, screw it, I'm going to spam you anyway. Basically to say stuff like, "your vidding is fine, don't sweat it," and "I didn't learn any of that stuff except by accident anyway and if I'd tried to, I think I'd've hated it and failed..." ;) HERE I GO:
It's probably worth noting that we're all different and so probably care about different things in our end results, but if it's helpful to you, technically I know how to do a fair number of the things you mentioned that you have difficulty with (some colour correction, overlays, some transitions though honestly I think most non-cut or fade transitions look terrible in all but a few contexts and have only ever made one vid doing anything else, external motion (though I dislike it), aspect ratios, etc), and I still mostly choose not to bother doing them. And I think that's okay and I don't think my vids are particularly better or worse for that choice.
So while I appreciate and unquestioningly support your desire to educate yourself and learn to do things you currently feel you can't do but would like to be able to, I don't think you have to be able to do them in order to validly make the decision not to.
Using these observations as a tool in your wider life for understanding more of your attitudes to the world and your interactions with it (your self-declared lack of subtlety! I have empathy: I bleed emotions everywhere too...) then I do think that it's an interesting set of commonalities, and I hope the extra understanding helps you in useful ways.
But don't go feeling it makes your vidding style suddenly solely a function of this new observation, or, more specifically, solely a negative function.
I guess my point is, if learning this stuff is making vidding not fun for you, consider what would make vidding fun for you again. Based on some of the stuff I've seen you post (and again I hope I'm not being presumptuous as I haven't been around on your LJ for all that long), you love vidding for yourself, but a lot of the thoughts in this post seem to be about the audience, or in life terms, the rest of the world. About others' perceptions of you. Certainly, sadly, we don't live in a world where all personality types are equally respected, but in terms of a fannish activity, like vidding, which is essentially a creative gift culture - a hobby (although I do not mean that to sound dismissive) - I think it's more important you're having a good time than your audience.
So again we get back to the idea that if you can do both things - be comfortable yourself and learn techniques you feel will make your vids more accessible or enjoyable to more people - fantastic. But if you can't...prioritise your own fulfillment. Don't lose vidding as a creative outlet just because you don't think you're doing it "right" or developing "enough". <3
I must first apologise for the delay replying! I went away for a few days and have just got back. I read this before I left and I must thank you SO MUCH for taking the time to write it. It means a lot and there is a lot in here that I want to hang on to.
external motion (though I dislike it) Haha, yay! Me too. :) I mean I say that even though I *have* clearly used it in a few instances and sometimes it really has a purpose. But I am not very drawn to it in general.
I don't think you have to be able to do them in order to validly make the decision not to. This is quite the radical idea for me! And yet so obvious. :D
I do think I was constructing things in an overly negative way initially with these insights. They didn't feel useful so much as crushing, even though I was trying to see their use and find a positive spin for them.
a lot of the thoughts in this post seem to be about the audience, or in life terms, the rest of the world. About others' perceptions of you You're right and I'm glad you called that out because it helped me take a step back and think 'wait a moment... I don't really care how big an audience my vid has so why am I so anxious about it?' I know I do fear rejection as a result of this vid but that's a product of my warped psychology more than anything that is actually likely to happen!
Luckily my trip away was to an academic conference on remix cultures of many sorts, including vidding, and it put heaps of things in perspective for me. It was very interesting to see trends across different disciplines and one of the the themes that came out was pleasure, and particularly the idea of the creator as the ideal viewer ... or creating for yourself and for your pleasure in the process. Which is totally what you suggest here too and which I completely subscribe to philosophically and yet seem to keep falling into holes in my own creative practice in regards to it!
I do think I'm on the edge of freeing myself up to be a bit more experimental in terms of style and technique but I was going about it the wrong way--beating myself with a stick instead of saying to myself 'hey why don't you play with this idea and see what happens, and let yourself "fail" if need be, but that has value too'.
It's probably worth noting that we're all different and so probably care about different things in our end results, but if it's helpful to you, technically I know how to do a fair number of the things you mentioned that you have difficulty with (some colour correction, overlays, some transitions though honestly I think most non-cut or fade transitions look terrible in all but a few contexts and have only ever made one vid doing anything else, external motion (though I dislike it), aspect ratios, etc), and I still mostly choose not to bother doing them. And I think that's okay and I don't think my vids are particularly better or worse for that choice.
So while I appreciate and unquestioningly support your desire to educate yourself and learn to do things you currently feel you can't do but would like to be able to, I don't think you have to be able to do them in order to validly make the decision not to.
Using these observations as a tool in your wider life for understanding more of your attitudes to the world and your interactions with it (your self-declared lack of subtlety! I have empathy: I bleed emotions everywhere too...) then I do think that it's an interesting set of commonalities, and I hope the extra understanding helps you in useful ways.
But don't go feeling it makes your vidding style suddenly solely a function of this new observation, or, more specifically, solely a negative function.
I guess my point is, if learning this stuff is making vidding not fun for you, consider what would make vidding fun for you again. Based on some of the stuff I've seen you post (and again I hope I'm not being presumptuous as I haven't been around on your LJ for all that long), you love vidding for yourself, but a lot of the thoughts in this post seem to be about the audience, or in life terms, the rest of the world. About others' perceptions of you. Certainly, sadly, we don't live in a world where all personality types are equally respected, but in terms of a fannish activity, like vidding, which is essentially a creative gift culture - a hobby (although I do not mean that to sound dismissive) - I think it's more important you're having a good time than your audience.
So again we get back to the idea that if you can do both things - be comfortable yourself and learn techniques you feel will make your vids more accessible or enjoyable to more people - fantastic. But if you can't...prioritise your own fulfillment. Don't lose vidding as a creative outlet just because you don't think you're doing it "right" or developing "enough". <3
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external motion (though I dislike it)
Haha, yay! Me too. :) I mean I say that even though I *have* clearly used it in a few instances and sometimes it really has a purpose. But I am not very drawn to it in general.
I don't think you have to be able to do them in order to validly make the decision not to.
This is quite the radical idea for me! And yet so obvious. :D
I do think I was constructing things in an overly negative way initially with these insights. They didn't feel useful so much as crushing, even though I was trying to see their use and find a positive spin for them.
a lot of the thoughts in this post seem to be about the audience, or in life terms, the rest of the world. About others' perceptions of you
You're right and I'm glad you called that out because it helped me take a step back and think 'wait a moment... I don't really care how big an audience my vid has so why am I so anxious about it?' I know I do fear rejection as a result of this vid but that's a product of my warped psychology more than anything that is actually likely to happen!
Luckily my trip away was to an academic conference on remix cultures of many sorts, including vidding, and it put heaps of things in perspective for me. It was very interesting to see trends across different disciplines and one of the the themes that came out was pleasure, and particularly the idea of the creator as the ideal viewer ... or creating for yourself and for your pleasure in the process. Which is totally what you suggest here too and which I completely subscribe to philosophically and yet seem to keep falling into holes in my own creative practice in regards to it!
I do think I'm on the edge of freeing myself up to be a bit more experimental in terms of style and technique but I was going about it the wrong way--beating myself with a stick instead of saying to myself 'hey why don't you play with this idea and see what happens, and let yourself "fail" if need be, but that has value too'.
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