And it's reveals!
So I made two vids this year, both for my assigned recipient, 
cupidsbow. (Which, seriously. BEST POSSIBLE of the assignments I could have scored, WHAT IS EVEN MY LUCK.) I'd kind of schemed to knock out some further treats in the two weeks between submission deadline and golive, but then vidding fatigue hit before I got past the planning stages on any of them, so, well.
Anyway, my festivids were:
Dance! (Armour of God series), aka Jackie Chan (& Compatriots) Being Awesome and Hilarious.
Summary: A thrilling action adventure! ...with some hiccups.
The tl;dr commentary:
Oh man, "with some hiccups" is right. It's a good thing this was immensely fun to vid, because the whole process was rife with technical issues. Starting with how I'd laid a minute of timeline in my initial burst of inspiration before I noticed that, oops, the two movies were in different aspect ratios (pause for new, cropped copies of the entire movies and reclipping -- thank god I'd been clipping virtually straight in the editor, is all I can say XD;), to Windows Live Movie Maker throwing a tantrum and refusing to export drafts once I'd filled the timeline past the bridge (cue separate, split project files for exports & recombining, and crossing my fingers it wouldn't compromise quality too much /o\), and a veritable cavalcade of complications in the final conversion process. (For serious: it took three hours after project save on my final version before I had a functioning file for site upload, lolsob.)
110% worth all the trouble in the end, though! <3
Really, though. SO MUCH FUN to vid. Beside the plain fact that I kept cracking myself up with it, because HILARIOUS FOOTAGE, my line from after I'd made my first vid about the unseemly fun levels of choreography matching? YES, THAT. (Fight choreography is choreography too, etc etc. :D) The second I was smacked with the sheer perfection of this song for this source and had clipped enough to start work, the first half of the vid just flowed out.
Perk of doing a comedy vid: I could feel free to play as much with shameless, punny literalism as I liked. :D (SO MANY VISUAL PUNS.) It's a bit of a tragedy how many clips I really really a whole really a lot wanted to use I couldn't find a place for, though, because the supporting cast in both movies had seriously the greatest reaction shots/physical comedy chops omg -- I'm honestly tempted to do a random compilation of all those leftovers just to be able to go "ALSO, THERE'S ALL OF THIS BRILLIANT SHIT IN THERE AS WELL", ahahaha. I even had my moments of worry that I wouldn't be able to fit in the travel montage montage, despite it having been the second concrete idea I had for the vid (seriously, if you've seen the films, you know why there had to be an Obligatory Travel Montage :D), but luckily that didn't come to pass, at least.
I tickled myself way too much with the other structural source shoutout I did, too -- the credits are intended as kind of an easter egg for Jackie Chan fans, imitating his classic blooper reel end credits. (Oh man, I used to LOVE those blooper reel end credits!)
Full disclosure: this was in fact not the fandom I matched on, or one I even offered. I had, however, had a serious eye on it and its one request, and basically only didn't offer it because, you know, it was ten years or so since I'd last seen the source, and I didn't have enough time (among the many, many other too-vaguely remembered things I wanted to vet for offers) to dig up and rewatch it before signups closed.
Also, let's just say that saying a thing like "One year I'm going to get a shock when it's actually vidded" in a request for a tiny, tiny fandom I happen to be familiar with: PUREST, PUREST CATNIP.*
Long story short, I pretty much threw cartwheels mentally when I matched to
cupidsbow anyway on a different request, and could cheerfully play around with this source to my heart's content without worrying about it compromising my assignment. \o/ (To reiterate, WHAT IS MY RIDICULOUS LUCK with first-time-participation exchange assignments, srsly.)
Side note: once reviewing, I discovered that SHOCKINGLY, I apparently had never actually seen Operation Condor before. I thought I had! But there was exactly nothing I recognised about it, and I sure as hell would have remembered something that ridiculously awesome. :D (I expect I can only blame it not being released during that Jackie Chan boom here last decade, because I tore through every single thing I could get my grubby little paws on back then.) Yay for having reason to dig up and watch it, in short! \o/
*) see also: all fic prompts ever where I know if I don't write the thing, no one else will, ahaha.
---
No problem so great (The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency), aka The All Tea Drinking All the Time One.*
Summary: Teatime. (Or: "There is no problem so great it cannot be solved by a cup of bush tea.")
*) Seriously, the amount of tea drinking on that show + That One Line sure must have made an impression, because I actually had the idea to center my vid on it long before I even started reviewing for my assignment, when I was first browsing letters. :D
The tl;dr commentary:
In which I clipped enough for three full-length vids and ended up using about 1% of it, ahaha. (I'm going to have to do that more overview-ish vid I also have in my head at some point to justify all that work, honestly. XD;)
I'd originally planned this as my main vid, with the Armour of God one intended as an extra treat if I had enough time for it, buuut as things turned out rather differently, there, I ended up making the more concise vidlet version of this idea. (I figured, I'd already had the song and the general concept in mind for ages, I might as well make use of it when I had time left over after finishing my main vid. :D And hey, it was the fandom I matched on, after all, and the AoG request hadn't been the only reason I'd had an eye on
cupidsbow's letter.)
I honestly surprised myself with how much emotional resonance this came out having, considering how short and simplistic it is -- I mean, I basically put it together in three hours, image editing time on the end credit card included, once I'd finished the clipping. And yet! I'm just glad so many others have seemed as charmed and/or moved by it, because I would have felt kinda weird about my reaction if it had just been me, haha. :D
Small milestone: this was my first time making significant audio edits for a vid (the original track is six minutes long, which obviously wasn't going to fly, heh, plus I rearranged sections for better flow) -- which turned out a LOT easier to pull off than I'd expected, so yay! I'd really thought it'd be way trickier to smooth out the seams, which is why I'd been shying away from trying it up till now. (...yes, I am the same person who once made Seeking Eurydice. Who said anything about logic? *cough*)
Crossposted at http://credoimprobus.dreamwidth.org/740933.html
cupidsbow. (Which, seriously. BEST POSSIBLE of the assignments I could have scored, WHAT IS EVEN MY LUCK.) I'd kind of schemed to knock out some further treats in the two weeks between submission deadline and golive, but then vidding fatigue hit before I got past the planning stages on any of them, so, well.
Anyway, my festivids were:
Dance! (Armour of God series), aka Jackie Chan (& Compatriots) Being Awesome and Hilarious.
Summary: A thrilling action adventure! ...with some hiccups.
The tl;dr commentary:
Oh man, "with some hiccups" is right. It's a good thing this was immensely fun to vid, because the whole process was rife with technical issues. Starting with how I'd laid a minute of timeline in my initial burst of inspiration before I noticed that, oops, the two movies were in different aspect ratios (pause for new, cropped copies of the entire movies and reclipping -- thank god I'd been clipping virtually straight in the editor, is all I can say XD;), to Windows Live Movie Maker throwing a tantrum and refusing to export drafts once I'd filled the timeline past the bridge (cue separate, split project files for exports & recombining, and crossing my fingers it wouldn't compromise quality too much /o\), and a veritable cavalcade of complications in the final conversion process. (For serious: it took three hours after project save on my final version before I had a functioning file for site upload, lolsob.)
110% worth all the trouble in the end, though! <3
Really, though. SO MUCH FUN to vid. Beside the plain fact that I kept cracking myself up with it, because HILARIOUS FOOTAGE, my line from after I'd made my first vid about the unseemly fun levels of choreography matching? YES, THAT. (Fight choreography is choreography too, etc etc. :D) The second I was smacked with the sheer perfection of this song for this source and had clipped enough to start work, the first half of the vid just flowed out.
Perk of doing a comedy vid: I could feel free to play as much with shameless, punny literalism as I liked. :D (SO MANY VISUAL PUNS.) It's a bit of a tragedy how many clips I really really a whole really a lot wanted to use I couldn't find a place for, though, because the supporting cast in both movies had seriously the greatest reaction shots/physical comedy chops omg -- I'm honestly tempted to do a random compilation of all those leftovers just to be able to go "ALSO, THERE'S ALL OF THIS BRILLIANT SHIT IN THERE AS WELL", ahahaha. I even had my moments of worry that I wouldn't be able to fit in the travel montage montage, despite it having been the second concrete idea I had for the vid (seriously, if you've seen the films, you know why there had to be an Obligatory Travel Montage :D), but luckily that didn't come to pass, at least.
I tickled myself way too much with the other structural source shoutout I did, too -- the credits are intended as kind of an easter egg for Jackie Chan fans, imitating his classic blooper reel end credits. (Oh man, I used to LOVE those blooper reel end credits!)
Full disclosure: this was in fact not the fandom I matched on, or one I even offered. I had, however, had a serious eye on it and its one request, and basically only didn't offer it because, you know, it was ten years or so since I'd last seen the source, and I didn't have enough time (among the many, many other too-vaguely remembered things I wanted to vet for offers) to dig up and rewatch it before signups closed.
Also, let's just say that saying a thing like "One year I'm going to get a shock when it's actually vidded" in a request for a tiny, tiny fandom I happen to be familiar with: PUREST, PUREST CATNIP.*
Long story short, I pretty much threw cartwheels mentally when I matched to
cupidsbow anyway on a different request, and could cheerfully play around with this source to my heart's content without worrying about it compromising my assignment. \o/ (To reiterate, WHAT IS MY RIDICULOUS LUCK with first-time-participation exchange assignments, srsly.)
Side note: once reviewing, I discovered that SHOCKINGLY, I apparently had never actually seen Operation Condor before. I thought I had! But there was exactly nothing I recognised about it, and I sure as hell would have remembered something that ridiculously awesome. :D (I expect I can only blame it not being released during that Jackie Chan boom here last decade, because I tore through every single thing I could get my grubby little paws on back then.) Yay for having reason to dig up and watch it, in short! \o/
*) see also: all fic prompts ever where I know if I don't write the thing, no one else will, ahaha.
---
No problem so great (The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency), aka The All Tea Drinking All the Time One.*
Summary: Teatime. (Or: "There is no problem so great it cannot be solved by a cup of bush tea.")
*) Seriously, the amount of tea drinking on that show + That One Line sure must have made an impression, because I actually had the idea to center my vid on it long before I even started reviewing for my assignment, when I was first browsing letters. :D
The tl;dr commentary:
In which I clipped enough for three full-length vids and ended up using about 1% of it, ahaha. (I'm going to have to do that more overview-ish vid I also have in my head at some point to justify all that work, honestly. XD;)
I'd originally planned this as my main vid, with the Armour of God one intended as an extra treat if I had enough time for it, buuut as things turned out rather differently, there, I ended up making the more concise vidlet version of this idea. (I figured, I'd already had the song and the general concept in mind for ages, I might as well make use of it when I had time left over after finishing my main vid. :D And hey, it was the fandom I matched on, after all, and the AoG request hadn't been the only reason I'd had an eye on
cupidsbow's letter.)
I honestly surprised myself with how much emotional resonance this came out having, considering how short and simplistic it is -- I mean, I basically put it together in three hours, image editing time on the end credit card included, once I'd finished the clipping. And yet! I'm just glad so many others have seemed as charmed and/or moved by it, because I would have felt kinda weird about my reaction if it had just been me, haha. :D
Small milestone: this was my first time making significant audio edits for a vid (the original track is six minutes long, which obviously wasn't going to fly, heh, plus I rearranged sections for better flow) -- which turned out a LOT easier to pull off than I'd expected, so yay! I'd really thought it'd be way trickier to smooth out the seams, which is why I'd been shying away from trying it up till now. (...yes, I am the same person who once made Seeking Eurydice. Who said anything about logic? *cough*)
Crossposted at http://credoimprobus.dreamwidth.org/740933.html