Dear Festividder
Hello, most wonderful Festividder!
I am super excited to be participating in Festivids again after two years of noping out due to a combination of technical problems in my laptop and in my brain. But this year I am ON IT and look I've even written my letter before sign-ups closed.
As ever, about half my requests are things I have requested before, and am going to keep on requesting every year until someone makes them for me :P This is probably because I don't actually consume that much *new* media in any given year. I just consume the things I do very intensely.
Anyway, whatever you make the most important thing is that you enjoy making it!
Music
Live your musical dreams! Favourite artists include Vienna Teng, Dessa, Regina Spektor, Sia, Florence & the Machine, Of Monsters & Men, Leonard Cohen (...one of those is really not like the others...) but ALSO I discover new music pretty much exclusively via vids, so I will probably enjoy any music you find to express one of these fandoms.
Queer Eye [TV series]
I nominated this last year, and then didn't end up participating in FV. I somehow thought that there might be QE vids anyway, and was surprised that there wasn't. This show...this show is everything we've needed the past few years. It's just relentlessly, radically kind and funny and life-affirming and at LEAST half the episodes have made me cry. (The one with Jess made me sob continually for almost the whole episode, which was super embarrassing when my flatmate *and her mother* arrived home just as it ended, and I was weeping on the sofa in my pyjamas at 3 in the afternoon. ANYWAY.) I just...I love ALL of the Fab Five (I am here for gentle mockery about Antoni and avocados, etc etc, but I really do love them all) and I love the way they so clearly adore each other, and the heroes they work with. I love the joy and catharsis and transformation, I love the humour and silliness and also the serious emotional moments, and I would just love love love a vid that made me feel all that warmth when I watch it. <3 This show is like a hug.
3 Idiots [Movie] [Safety]
Copied & pasted from last time I did FV, and the time before that, because I request this *every year* and I believe in my heart that ONE DAY someone will make me a vid about these glorious idiots, and their beautiful, life-affirming friendship: What do I love about this film? Well, I love that it's simultaneously heartbreakingly sincere and earnest and COMPLETELY RIDICULOUS. It's a wonderful combination of wacky fun and poignant moments. It's a film about taking risks and the joy of learning, it's about being true to yourself and being kind (there's a theme here) and bringing something to the world and I just love it. It's a film about the joy of having really awesome friends, which is something I am lucky enough to know a great deal about :) Any vid about this film would make me happy.
Lagaan [Movie]
Also copied & pasted from last time and the time before that: I just really appreciate Aamir Khan's face, ok? It's such a good face. As I've said before, this is a gorgeous film packed with wonderful choreography and a fantastic, uplifting underdog story about the power of Community and also about facing down oppressors. I love Bhuvan and Gauri *very* much. I also have happy nostalgic feelings about this film, because I first watched it with a bunch of my friends in the first year of university, and so any vid you make is going to give me a warm glowy feeling. Also I can't believe this film made me care about cricket (!) The only thing I am not so keen on is the love-triangle aspect (ugh, love-triangles, why), so I would prefer that not to be the focus of the vid.
The Hour [TV series]
Copied from a few years ago: This show is just beautiful and captivating. As always, I am more interested in the characters than the unfolding plot, so a character/relationship study would be my preference, over a vid focusing on the intrigue of the various scandals and mysteries. Bel and Freddie. BEL AND FREDDIE OMG. I loved their relationship, in all its nuanced glory - I love them giggling and drunk and dancing and jumping on beds together, I love their lingering stares, their in-jokes, their easy friendship in S1, their more complex longing in S2, their complete inability to admit the thing that is GLARINGLY OBVIOUS between them. (Apparently 'pining idiots' is a favourite trope of mine, which I am delighted to have discovered in this year of our lord 2019) I also love them both as individuals, and am particularly interested in Bel's relationships with all of the other women in the show. I love all the female characters, and think there are some really fascinating dynamics between them - and I especially LOVE LOVE LOVE Lix and omg if you want to make a vid entirely about her (and Randall, who is also wonderful) then GO FOR IT because she DESERVES it. (I'm really not a Hector fan, I'm afraid. I mostly found him too boring to care about, until the very end of S2. Also see above re 'ugh, love triangles')
Pushing Daisies [TV series]
I was super surprised to see this is eligible! In my head, this is not a 'small fandom' but clearly it is. This show is a GIFT and if there were *any justice in the world* it would have got six seasons and a movie. Or at LEAST been allowed to properly finish off its second season. Sigh. Anyway, predictably I adore Ned, one of my most beloved TV Boyfriends. I love Chuck, who I used to want to *be* before I realised that I am way too much of a terrible person. I love Olive and Emerson and Lily and Vivian and basically everyone in this bar. A vid about Ned/Chuck would obviously be perfect. Or a vid about the absurd crimes they all have to solve! The wacky hijinks and beautiful colours of this show are obviously a big draw (inspired, as they are, by Amelie which is one of my favourite films) but I do also love the sadder elements. Is it weird to admit that my favourite episode is the one at the end of S1 where Ned spends a lot of time being sad and anxious in the snow?? Possibly. But see above re: pining idiots. Either way, this is another show about the importance of kindness and human connection and it has my whole heart.
Star Trek: Discovery [TV series]
...and I was REALLY surprised that this is still eligible! But yay, because it is stunning and I love it. The first season was great, but the second season really took my breath away (sorry, Klingon drama, I just didn't care about you all that much). The character of my heart is MICHAEL FUCKING BURNHAM, and her completely *radiant*, mesmerisingly perfect face. I mean, look at it. WTF. How does anyone go through life being that BEAUTIFUL??? Um, I mean, I am also super invested in her plot. Anything about any aspect of her personal journey, or her relationships with the other Disco crew (especially the women on the ship! I am EXTREMELY INTO how many women there are in Disco) or her complicated relationship with Ash, which I felt v guilty about shipping, but shipped anyway. (Though what is with his beard in S2. I do not like it.) Or her relationship with Spock! Other characters I love: Tilly!!!! Stamets! Culber! Saru! Ash! Pike! Georgiou! The whole Bridge Crew! Oh god basically everyone. I am NOT a Lorca fan so don't really want him to be the focus, except as an antagonist. (I love Jason Isaacs and am so pleased he had such a wonderful time on set, and I actually hope he gets to come back to play real!Lorca at some point. But Lorca was TERRIBLE.) And as much as I SUPER enjoy the mirrorverse shenanigans, I'm not particularly interested in a vid about the mirrorverse characters, as I feel like there are some wonderful ones out there already. But anyway in conclusion: if this vid has Michael Burnham's face in it, even for a moment, I will be happy.
I am super excited to be participating in Festivids again after two years of noping out due to a combination of technical problems in my laptop and in my brain. But this year I am ON IT and look I've even written my letter before sign-ups closed.
As ever, about half my requests are things I have requested before, and am going to keep on requesting every year until someone makes them for me :P This is probably because I don't actually consume that much *new* media in any given year. I just consume the things I do very intensely.
Anyway, whatever you make the most important thing is that you enjoy making it!
Music
Live your musical dreams! Favourite artists include Vienna Teng, Dessa, Regina Spektor, Sia, Florence & the Machine, Of Monsters & Men, Leonard Cohen (...one of those is really not like the others...) but ALSO I discover new music pretty much exclusively via vids, so I will probably enjoy any music you find to express one of these fandoms.
Queer Eye [TV series]
I nominated this last year, and then didn't end up participating in FV. I somehow thought that there might be QE vids anyway, and was surprised that there wasn't. This show...this show is everything we've needed the past few years. It's just relentlessly, radically kind and funny and life-affirming and at LEAST half the episodes have made me cry. (The one with Jess made me sob continually for almost the whole episode, which was super embarrassing when my flatmate *and her mother* arrived home just as it ended, and I was weeping on the sofa in my pyjamas at 3 in the afternoon. ANYWAY.) I just...I love ALL of the Fab Five (I am here for gentle mockery about Antoni and avocados, etc etc, but I really do love them all) and I love the way they so clearly adore each other, and the heroes they work with. I love the joy and catharsis and transformation, I love the humour and silliness and also the serious emotional moments, and I would just love love love a vid that made me feel all that warmth when I watch it. <3 This show is like a hug.
3 Idiots [Movie] [Safety]
Copied & pasted from last time I did FV, and the time before that, because I request this *every year* and I believe in my heart that ONE DAY someone will make me a vid about these glorious idiots, and their beautiful, life-affirming friendship: What do I love about this film? Well, I love that it's simultaneously heartbreakingly sincere and earnest and COMPLETELY RIDICULOUS. It's a wonderful combination of wacky fun and poignant moments. It's a film about taking risks and the joy of learning, it's about being true to yourself and being kind (there's a theme here) and bringing something to the world and I just love it. It's a film about the joy of having really awesome friends, which is something I am lucky enough to know a great deal about :) Any vid about this film would make me happy.
Lagaan [Movie]
Also copied & pasted from last time and the time before that: I just really appreciate Aamir Khan's face, ok? It's such a good face. As I've said before, this is a gorgeous film packed with wonderful choreography and a fantastic, uplifting underdog story about the power of Community and also about facing down oppressors. I love Bhuvan and Gauri *very* much. I also have happy nostalgic feelings about this film, because I first watched it with a bunch of my friends in the first year of university, and so any vid you make is going to give me a warm glowy feeling. Also I can't believe this film made me care about cricket (!) The only thing I am not so keen on is the love-triangle aspect (ugh, love-triangles, why), so I would prefer that not to be the focus of the vid.
The Hour [TV series]
Copied from a few years ago: This show is just beautiful and captivating. As always, I am more interested in the characters than the unfolding plot, so a character/relationship study would be my preference, over a vid focusing on the intrigue of the various scandals and mysteries. Bel and Freddie. BEL AND FREDDIE OMG. I loved their relationship, in all its nuanced glory - I love them giggling and drunk and dancing and jumping on beds together, I love their lingering stares, their in-jokes, their easy friendship in S1, their more complex longing in S2, their complete inability to admit the thing that is GLARINGLY OBVIOUS between them. (Apparently 'pining idiots' is a favourite trope of mine, which I am delighted to have discovered in this year of our lord 2019) I also love them both as individuals, and am particularly interested in Bel's relationships with all of the other women in the show. I love all the female characters, and think there are some really fascinating dynamics between them - and I especially LOVE LOVE LOVE Lix and omg if you want to make a vid entirely about her (and Randall, who is also wonderful) then GO FOR IT because she DESERVES it. (I'm really not a Hector fan, I'm afraid. I mostly found him too boring to care about, until the very end of S2. Also see above re 'ugh, love triangles')
Pushing Daisies [TV series]
I was super surprised to see this is eligible! In my head, this is not a 'small fandom' but clearly it is. This show is a GIFT and if there were *any justice in the world* it would have got six seasons and a movie. Or at LEAST been allowed to properly finish off its second season. Sigh. Anyway, predictably I adore Ned, one of my most beloved TV Boyfriends. I love Chuck, who I used to want to *be* before I realised that I am way too much of a terrible person. I love Olive and Emerson and Lily and Vivian and basically everyone in this bar. A vid about Ned/Chuck would obviously be perfect. Or a vid about the absurd crimes they all have to solve! The wacky hijinks and beautiful colours of this show are obviously a big draw (inspired, as they are, by Amelie which is one of my favourite films) but I do also love the sadder elements. Is it weird to admit that my favourite episode is the one at the end of S1 where Ned spends a lot of time being sad and anxious in the snow?? Possibly. But see above re: pining idiots. Either way, this is another show about the importance of kindness and human connection and it has my whole heart.
Star Trek: Discovery [TV series]
...and I was REALLY surprised that this is still eligible! But yay, because it is stunning and I love it. The first season was great, but the second season really took my breath away (sorry, Klingon drama, I just didn't care about you all that much). The character of my heart is MICHAEL FUCKING BURNHAM, and her completely *radiant*, mesmerisingly perfect face. I mean, look at it. WTF. How does anyone go through life being that BEAUTIFUL??? Um, I mean, I am also super invested in her plot. Anything about any aspect of her personal journey, or her relationships with the other Disco crew (especially the women on the ship! I am EXTREMELY INTO how many women there are in Disco) or her complicated relationship with Ash, which I felt v guilty about shipping, but shipped anyway. (Though what is with his beard in S2. I do not like it.) Or her relationship with Spock! Other characters I love: Tilly!!!! Stamets! Culber! Saru! Ash! Pike! Georgiou! The whole Bridge Crew! Oh god basically everyone. I am NOT a Lorca fan so don't really want him to be the focus, except as an antagonist. (I love Jason Isaacs and am so pleased he had such a wonderful time on set, and I actually hope he gets to come back to play real!Lorca at some point. But Lorca was TERRIBLE.) And as much as I SUPER enjoy the mirrorverse shenanigans, I'm not particularly interested in a vid about the mirrorverse characters, as I feel like there are some wonderful ones out there already. But anyway in conclusion: if this vid has Michael Burnham's face in it, even for a moment, I will be happy.