Vidding meme Days 4-7
4 - Do you have a "muse" character or fandom that speaks to you more than others? Who are they, and why did that character/fandom became your muse?
I do... but I also have this awkward thing that the more a character speaks to me, the more anxious I get vidding them because I'm so conscious all the time of the gap between my skill in vidding and the vision in my head of what would do this character I love so much justice. And I can't ever seem to relax and really fully understand that NO one vid will ever do these characters justice.
Top of my list would be Lee Adama (no shocker there), but running a close second, though I've only vidded her once, is Deborah Morgan. These two are a constant. At particular times though I've had strong relationships with other characters, and I've felt like vidding them helped me work through stuff, but by the time I've finished the vid I'm sort of 'done' with them. I absolutely needed to get Lex out of my system with 'Paranoid Android', for instance. Oliver was equally important to me last year. Inner pain in a character makes for some useful muse vidding. :)
5 - If you have ever had a character try to push their way into a vid, what did you do about it?
Oh hell yeah! I've had to tightly control several characters in important pieces. In 'Paranoid Android' (Lex Luthor character study) it was a bitch and a half to control Clark. His presence is incredibly dominating and even though he was crucial to Lex's psychology I had to really hold back where I used him because otherwise his narrative took over. Ditto with 'Hold Me Thrill Me' (Oliver Queen)--Clark had to be used judiciously. 'DlZ' was also a fascinating challenge because there are many strong character plots in the Sarah Connor Chronicles and several times one or other wanted to take over the vid, whereas I was really wanting to keep it firmly a Sarah-centric ensemble. John's own narrative, Cameron, and also Jessie and Derek each jostled for dominance at various times. Ultimately I'm happy about the way I handled all of these situations--I spotted what was happening and took the time to work out whether it was genuinely in the interests of the vid or not. Black Canary really took hold in 'Hold Me Thrill Me' but I was very happy with that because it felt right canonically. Although she's only in one sequence I feel it gives a strong 'destiny' feeling of her being the one to match Oliver--in that case, a character's attempt to push their way in was a positive. It's all about assessing the overall picture and whether it creates coherence or is disruptive and derailing.
6 - When you vid, do you like vidding a certain kind of male or female archetype?
There's also a certain archetype of female characters that nearly always fascinate me, the ones with incredible personal potential and charisma but who are kind of fucked up in one way or another and struggling to overcome a lot of damage and pain. Deb fits in that mould (I'd argue Lee does too though the character is more commonly female and this isn't how most people view Lee), but also Kara, Tyra, Kalinda, Frankie, Alex from Nikita, Faith (if I ever could brave vidding her), and several others I'd love to tackle but kind of tiptoe around for the anxiety reasons mentioned above.
With male characters, inner pain is a good thing, as is ideological conflict--i.e. a struggle to define (or live with) ones own values as distinct from the dominant paradigm. Unrequited love also good!
7 - Have you ever had a vid (of yours) change your opinion of a character?
Gaius Baltar. When I started vidding 'Clint Eastwood' I hated him. I'd hated him from first viewing of the mini to the point where I would scream/complain and throw things at the screen when he was on. And I really didn't mellow much about that. But I thought the vid concept had so much potential I went for it anyway. For me vidding *always* increases my sympathy for a character, even if they have very unlikeable traits. In this case it was his relationship with Six (and the other Cylons by extension) that was really eye-opening to me, and really really fucked up in a way I'd never fully appreciated before (since my view of Gaius previously was pretty much 'misogynistic fucktard who deserves what he gets'). Thus the degree to which he was brain!raped and tortured kind of passed me by until I spent time with it. This doesn't mean I condone his actions or find him less egotistical, but I found him a lot more interesting, could understand him more, and my view of him became a lot less black and white.
On a much more minor level, with the exception of the purely escapist vids (Dynamite, Get Me Away From Here, etc) I learn something new about every character I vid with every vid. It's part of what I love about it so much. It's not usually a full change of opinion, but it can certainly shift my views or give me a different perspective to appreciate.
This entry was originally posted at http://bop-radar.dreamwidth.org/238872.html.
comments Comment here or there, as you will.
I do... but I also have this awkward thing that the more a character speaks to me, the more anxious I get vidding them because I'm so conscious all the time of the gap between my skill in vidding and the vision in my head of what would do this character I love so much justice. And I can't ever seem to relax and really fully understand that NO one vid will ever do these characters justice.
Top of my list would be Lee Adama (no shocker there), but running a close second, though I've only vidded her once, is Deborah Morgan. These two are a constant. At particular times though I've had strong relationships with other characters, and I've felt like vidding them helped me work through stuff, but by the time I've finished the vid I'm sort of 'done' with them. I absolutely needed to get Lex out of my system with 'Paranoid Android', for instance. Oliver was equally important to me last year. Inner pain in a character makes for some useful muse vidding. :)
5 - If you have ever had a character try to push their way into a vid, what did you do about it?
Oh hell yeah! I've had to tightly control several characters in important pieces. In 'Paranoid Android' (Lex Luthor character study) it was a bitch and a half to control Clark. His presence is incredibly dominating and even though he was crucial to Lex's psychology I had to really hold back where I used him because otherwise his narrative took over. Ditto with 'Hold Me Thrill Me' (Oliver Queen)--Clark had to be used judiciously. 'DlZ' was also a fascinating challenge because there are many strong character plots in the Sarah Connor Chronicles and several times one or other wanted to take over the vid, whereas I was really wanting to keep it firmly a Sarah-centric ensemble. John's own narrative, Cameron, and also Jessie and Derek each jostled for dominance at various times. Ultimately I'm happy about the way I handled all of these situations--I spotted what was happening and took the time to work out whether it was genuinely in the interests of the vid or not. Black Canary really took hold in 'Hold Me Thrill Me' but I was very happy with that because it felt right canonically. Although she's only in one sequence I feel it gives a strong 'destiny' feeling of her being the one to match Oliver--in that case, a character's attempt to push their way in was a positive. It's all about assessing the overall picture and whether it creates coherence or is disruptive and derailing.
6 - When you vid, do you like vidding a certain kind of male or female archetype?
There's also a certain archetype of female characters that nearly always fascinate me, the ones with incredible personal potential and charisma but who are kind of fucked up in one way or another and struggling to overcome a lot of damage and pain. Deb fits in that mould (I'd argue Lee does too though the character is more commonly female and this isn't how most people view Lee), but also Kara, Tyra, Kalinda, Frankie, Alex from Nikita, Faith (if I ever could brave vidding her), and several others I'd love to tackle but kind of tiptoe around for the anxiety reasons mentioned above.
With male characters, inner pain is a good thing, as is ideological conflict--i.e. a struggle to define (or live with) ones own values as distinct from the dominant paradigm. Unrequited love also good!
7 - Have you ever had a vid (of yours) change your opinion of a character?
Gaius Baltar. When I started vidding 'Clint Eastwood' I hated him. I'd hated him from first viewing of the mini to the point where I would scream/complain and throw things at the screen when he was on. And I really didn't mellow much about that. But I thought the vid concept had so much potential I went for it anyway. For me vidding *always* increases my sympathy for a character, even if they have very unlikeable traits. In this case it was his relationship with Six (and the other Cylons by extension) that was really eye-opening to me, and really really fucked up in a way I'd never fully appreciated before (since my view of Gaius previously was pretty much 'misogynistic fucktard who deserves what he gets'). Thus the degree to which he was brain!raped and tortured kind of passed me by until I spent time with it. This doesn't mean I condone his actions or find him less egotistical, but I found him a lot more interesting, could understand him more, and my view of him became a lot less black and white.
On a much more minor level, with the exception of the purely escapist vids (Dynamite, Get Me Away From Here, etc) I learn something new about every character I vid with every vid. It's part of what I love about it so much. It's not usually a full change of opinion, but it can certainly shift my views or give me a different perspective to appreciate.
This entry was originally posted at http://bop-radar.dreamwidth.org/238872.html.
comments Comment here or there, as you will.