Here's a thing that happened + Vidshow construction talk
I made some Persuaders! icons. Pictures taken from here, with thanks.
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Since I've been thinking about this basically nonstop since the vidshow aired and for many many weeks before that, here is how and why I constructed the Bitchin Party vidshow as I did, going through it vid-by-vid. I had a LOT to say (the first half of the show alone is 7 pages long), so I'm putting it all under an LJ-cut.
(Also caveat caveat caveat: this is just the process I took for this particular vidshow as a way to explain to myself why I felt so protective of it like it was my own work of fannish art as much as any vid I have made.)
General Preparation
The first thing I did was figure out how much time I needed to fill, and as with 2008, it would be two roughly 45 minute halves with a fifteen minute intermission. Thankfully I'd done the math on that in 2008 and still had my spreadsheet, so I knew I'd need roughly 12-15 vids each half, depending on vid length. The next overarching element I figured out was what fandoms were going to be most popular for the con attendees. I think that part of the vidshow preparation is what makes putting a vidshow like this together much easier, because you can specifically tailor it to suit your audience's general interests. I figured a couple of obvious fandoms would need to be represented up front (something comics related, Sherlock, Supernatural, bandom), but wanted to see what kind of panel suggestions people put forth to see what else was interesting them. I also trolled through people's LJs and bounced ideas off of BrynnMcK about what should be included, and developed a long list of potential fandoms. I also waited for Festivids to see which vids there were fairly popular that would work well in a con setting (I actually initially had several other Festivids I was going to use, but as I worked through the fandoms and overall vidshow flow, I realized they wouldn't fit in, and I wanted other vids by those same vidders). Which reminds me, my other self-assigned limiting factors were: one vid per vidder, one vid per band (with one notable exception), and no vids that were shown at previous Pacificons. I also tried to find vids on YouTube/find some less well-known but still excellent vids, tried to include women-focused vids, and tried to include characters of color (I did not do as well on that last one as I had hoped).
So with all of that running through my brain, and a bunch of excellent suggestions from the Bitchin Party con-goers, I started watching vids and making a plan. I put together a table with vids I thought of, as well as vids suggested by others, and even some crack-van vid recs for fandoms I did not know very well (which, frankly, was most of them *g*). My table had the following columns: Vid Name; Vidder; Fandom; Vid Mood; Likelihood (how likely I would actually put it in the show, just as a way to remind myself of vids I LOVED vs vids I just really liked); and Runtime. We actually had a five minute vid in the show (the Doctor Who one), so that was just for overall planning purposes and not necessarily a strike against potential vids. Whenever I decided firmly against a vid, I crossed it out but left it in the table so I could remember I'd at least watched and considered it previously.
Vidshow Part 1
Around the Bend (by Danegen; multifandom, women & vehicles) - This vid was actually added later in the process than you'd think given it opens the show. For awhile I thought I was going to close each half with one of the Headstone's vids (the SPN or Flashpoint ones) and then end with the other one, but then I stumbled on the My Little Pony vid and I knew that HAD to end the first half and so I thought about bookending the entire show with the Headstone's vids after that, but I decided given the extremely varied nature of fandom interest by the attendees that trying to find something multifandom to end with would be better, and so I needed something multifandom to start with, too, because I LOVE bookends. And it had worked well for my show in 2008 when I started half 1 and ended half 2 with OT3 Due South vids.
I chose this vid in particular because I remembered loving it so much at VVC, and I really liked how it was female-focused, PLUS she had incorporated women of color, PLUS it was a really fun, women taking-charge way to start things off and would put people in a good mood right from the get go.
(Goddamit) Bin This Way For Years (by Luminosity; Supernatural) - this was pretty much the first vid I knew I wanted in the show, and I asked Lum for the files before I even knew where the vid was going to go, because I knew I would work it in somehow. I loved this vid when Lum posted it, and it had the bonus of being by a Headstones song, and I knew there was a significant percentage of Headstones-loving folk attending the con that would get a kick out of it. I also had a Sam-centric vid in 2008 and found it personally appropriate to make it Dean-centric this time.
I love the way this vid starts off with Dean and the Impala, connecting us to the cars in the first vid, but then kicking it off in a totally different direction after that. It upped the energy ante as well, and while there was still a lot of fun stuff in it, things were starting to get serious.
Children's Work (by LithiumDoll; Life) - this vid was made for me for Festivids and I COMPLETELY ADORE it, but I wasn't entirely sure it would work in the con setting. One of the con-goers did suggest it, though, and I remember reading the comments to her vid post that had lots of people not familiar with the fandom who really dug it, so I figured it was worth the shot. It also had Damian Lewis, who was in Band of Brothers, which is a fandom a couple of people suggested vids for, and Dani is a character of color (or at least her actress is), so the vid basically just sold itself.
I put it after the Dean vid because I liked countering a male character study with a female character study. I think the contrast of Dessa and the Headstones really works, because the two songs actually hold up really well next to each other. Dessa's song has energy, too, even though a lot of it is much more suspenseful, rather than as in-your-face as Hugh's. This vid got very serious, but I felt it ended on a light enough note to support a move to the next vid.
That's All (by SDWolfpup; due South) - due South clearly had to be in the vidshow somewhere, but I really struggled with what part of dS I wanted to showcase. I didn't want to do either a Vecchio/Fraser or Kowalski/Fraser vid because those two pairings are the most divisive in the fandom. I had considered Keerawa's "Train to Jackson" for a long time, but when I ultimately ended up choosing the Jeffrey Foucault "Band of Brothers" vid (because I chose Lithium's Life vid instead of her BoB vid, so you see how this thing FREQUENTLY became a game of "a butterly flaps its wings in Africa"), I put aside Keera's vid and looked for something else. I ultimately went with my vid because, let's be honest, I wanted to show one of my own vids if I could and this one was well-received, and because I think Vecchio/Kowalski is a nice way to bridge the gap without repeating the OT3-extravaganza of 2008.
This is the start of the All Ships All The Time section, and particularly the Very Depressing Ships subsection, of this half of the vidshow and I liked that it was both angsty AND hopeful, because things were about to get sad (but not as sad as they got in Part 2!). I also really liked how the VDS subsection bookended with constructed reality vids (this and Hurricane), and one was M/M while the other was F/F. Plus, bonus Dante's Cove footage snuck in under cover of this vid. *g* And having due South follow Life was good, too, because it took us from a fandom not many people were likely to know to a fandom many of the attendees were likely to know.
(PS - I really really appreciated the response to the vid. That first excited cheer made my heart swell. Thank you all. &hearts)
The Trouble With Poets (by Anoel; Highlander) - I knew fairly early on that I wanted to include this vid. I did not have as many "older" fandoms in this vidshow as 2008, I think, but I knew there would be some Highlander fans there, and this vid went over really well when it showed at VVC in 2007. PLUS it was to a Peter Mulvey song and y'all know how I feel about HIM, so clearly I was going to make an effort to include it!
This vid takes the kind of goofy-angst of "That's All" and doubles-down on the angst part while still not feeling like it's depressing. I thought it worked great as a bridge between TA and the next vid, while also being a great older fandom vid.
Set Fire To The Rain (by Talitha78; Thor) - I had seen this vid recommended before and I knew Isagel, on my flist, had remastered it and I trust her taste so I figured it had to be a pretty good representation for the fandom! I actually did not watch any Thor vids except this one because I liked it and it slid so perfectly into this part of the vidshow. I still haven't seen Thor and actually know very little about it except Loki is kind of a woobie and Thor is super duper adorable and the women are pretty great.
This vid serves as the last transition to get us to the lowest/saddest point of the first half of the vidshow, which is the next Sherlock vid. SFTTR is a fairly high-energy song but it's still a sad vid, and the combination was perfect to continue the slide down of emotions so that we would not be totally thrown out of things when the next vid started. It also let me get in a comics fandom vid, because I knew I'd want two of those and I wasn't going to put Do What You Have To Do right next to All Shall Fade because I didn't want people to be MISERABLE. Just sad! I needed to be able to bring you back from the abyss!
All Shall Fade (by serenity-s; Sherlock) - Sherlock was the one fandom I knew I wanted two vids from, one in each half. I knew very early on that Murder on the Dance Floor was going to be one of the vids, so I wanted something to balance that emotionally for the other half. I don't recall how I found this vid; I think it was from a rec on crack-van but might've come in from one of the con-goer suggestions. I was actually really pleased that it was by a Tumblr vidder, and it wasn't one I had seen rec'd all over the place previously. I also liked how quiet the vid was - it was a huge contrast between the loud (but beautiful) agony of Adele's voice in the previous vid. And I liked how the vidder used text, which was a visual difference that added some interest/pop in the middle of 45 minutes of vids. People's eyes get tired after watching too long, and I knew the SPN and Life vids were very quickly cut. It was actually also why I threw the dS vid in-between Life and Highlander, because it's a more slowly cut vid (though still not slow), so it lets your brain rest a bet. All Shall Fade is also more slowly cut, which would be important with how quick and flashy the next vid was.
One of my favorite moments of the vidshow, actually, was how quiet everyone got watching this vid. I really appreciated how it let the clarity of the song settle over everything and drive home the sadness. I also liked how it ended with that shot of Sherlock, so that you're drawn back from being entirely upset, because we had reached our lowest point and now I needed to climb you all back up the hill so you would be emotionally prepared for MCR Ponies. That was always the end point in mind for the second half emotional curve: start off happy, take us down to suffering level, and then rise back up to total exuberance. The second half sort of mimics that, but is actually different, energy-wise; I'll get to that when we get there.
Between Two Points (by itsforscience; Bandom (MCR)) - It is DIFFICULT to find good (and good quality) bandom vids, ESPECIALLY good bandom vids not set to the band's songs. I already had my MCR song with the Ponies vid, but I thought MCR was the overarching band of choice for congoers so I was really hoping to include an MCR vid to represent bandom. I looked a very long time to find this one. I actually found it on YouTube initially, and then followed the links to find the vidder's LJ. I did a lot of searches and vid-watching to get this one. I did find a sort of all-inclusive bandom vid I considered using, but it didn't fit into my overall vidshow flow as well and I thought this one was actually a really good vid on its own merits so I went with this instead.
This was the perfect energy transition to take us from the sheer sadness of ASH and somehow get us to the sexiness of Hurricane. The song for BTP is very sexy and I thought the vidder made great use of terrible quality footage. I like that it was almost like you got the ESSENCE of the images rather than the specifics of it, and I felt ze made great use of all the flashes, color-changing, and speed-adjusted footage. Visually it's an interesting vid, and the level of source adjustment kind of opens us up subconsciously for Laura's vid as well.
Hurricane (by Laura Shapiro; BSG/Farscape) - I actually chose this vid fairly late in the process, and a lot of the previous vids had already been set up in their order before I even knew what I wanted here. From Hurricane to Out of Classical Gas was the last part of the vidshow ordering that I finalized. I really struggled with how to get from BTP to Ponies in a coherent way, while including a few vids and fandoms I knew this show could not live without. I had The Frug earlier and later, I had Out of Classical Gas earlier, I had Fly right before Ponies, and I just couldn't get anything to settle until I was looking through Laura's vids for a backup Doctor Who vid and saw this one and the lightbulb went on. Not only does this build on the sexiness of BTP, but it helped me finally build the bridge from the depressing shipper shore to the happy one. These two didn't end up together in the vid, but they were still really pleased with themselves anyway. *g*
This vid is so great, too. Amazing use of eyelines to bring Aeryn and Starbuck together, and all the little self-satisfied smiles and reaction shots were a huge hit at the con. I like how she gives each of the characters' histories in the first part of the vid in such a way that she's both paralleling the characters' lives AND telling the story of the vid itself for why and how they got to the bar to randomly hook up.
The Frug (by Some-stars; Once A Thief) - This vid was suggested by one of the con-goers and I wasn't sure I was going to be able to work it into the overall show, but ultimately once Hurricane fell into place, I knew this was going to work as well. It's not quite at the Total Adorable level as the next vid, and I actually think going from Hurricane to Love At First Sight would have been too jarring. This footage is darker and older than either of the two vids that surround it, but the song is fun and catchy, and the vid goes from angst to OT3 in a really smooth and delightful manner.
Again, I liked including an older and less known fandom, especially since BSG and Farscape are bigger and Glee is a huge fandom. I felt like having these different fandoms butting up against each other actually helped all of them because it's not just Big Fandom Big Fandom Big Fandom (or Little Fandom Little Fandom Little Fandom) all right in a row, which can sometimes be off-putting if you are not in either one. I was most likely to engage the largest percent of the audience by mixing it up, and that individual audience member response feeds into the overall energy of the show, so that as long as someone is always feeling engaged, other people will feed off of that and it will keep the overall engagement of the show at a constant level, even while the emotions of the audience may be going from happy to sad and back.
Love At First Sight (by here's luck; Glee) - I picked this vid up pretty early in the decision-making process. I knew I wanted a Glee vid, but there were SO MANY to choose from that I wasn't even sure where to begin looking, and I don't recall anyone recommending any. I had seen this one when h.l. posted it, so I had it in my backpocket and pulled it out very willingly. It was to a very popular couple in the fandom and would play well, I thought, as a con vid, and I felt it was a good choice without having to spend hours combing through Glee vid after Glee vid.
So our energy is up and we're looking for somewhere to put it, why not throw in a total adorable creampuff shipper vid to round out the shipping section? This song is very dance-y and fun, and the vid is a nice little last jet of steam to get us revved up and ready for what's coming both visually and emotionally. This vid pops without having to be closely watched (not a critique of the vid, btw, because I love this vid and I don't even watch Glee anymore), and your brain needs that at this point in the vidshow. You've seen a lot of vids already, you still have a few more to go; sometimes your brain needs to just gorge on some delicious cotton candy.
Fly (by sisabet; Parks and Recreation) - This is one of those vid choices that you make to satisfy yourself. I have recently gotten VERY INVESTED in Parks and Rec (and I've only seen season 1 and the first third of season 2!), and I knew Brynn loved the show so I wanted to include a P&R vid for sure. I saw this one at Festivids and it made me cry at the end because I was so full of love, and with Leslie winning Fandom March Madness in February, I just HAD to have this particular vid in the show. It was great to have a vid focusing entirely on the awesomeness of a female character while also being about teamwork and show love, because the last two vids of this half are both teamwork/show love vids and it helps smooth the transition from character/ship to a more general focus.
This vid also is really goofy on the surface but a total triumph of spirit, and so it plays off of the previous vid's adorableness while building with this amazing sense of love. Watching this on the big screen actually blew me away emotionally - I was not prepared for the intensity of the feelings that I had seeing Leslie's story as visually big as it is in its soul; I cried much earlier and more than I ever have while watching it on my computer. And I've seen this vid a lot. I shuffled this vid and Out of Classical Gas back and forth a number of times, but finally settled on this order because of how it flows better from the Glee vid than OoCG did and also because I ended part 2 with team-y vids and OoCG is a more team-y vid than Fly so I wanted part 1 to mirror that more as well.
Out of Classical Gas (by Jarrow; Firefly) - I really really wanted to include a Firefly vid in the vidshow, and for quite awhile I thought it was going to be Rodeohead, but I needed AD's Independence Day vid to kick off Part 2 of the show (for reasons I'll go into when I get there), so that left me with an unknown. I wanted an ensemble Firefly vid and I knew Jarrow had made this one and it had gotten great response when he posted it. Plus, you know, I liked it okay myself. *g* This was a pretty easy choice ultimately, it was just finding where it fit best in the show that I wrestled with.
As I said in Fly, I really wanted to make the transition to TEEEEEAM and this vid did that marvelously. I also love that it's an instrumental, because both Fly and the Ponies vid have a lot of lyrics and it's nice to have an aural break in between those two songs in particular. I love the journey the vid takes, and it ends on my absolute favorite moment in the series to boot! (Mal + Serenity = ULTIMATE OTP!)
Bringjoys Make Some Noise (by mmmandarinorange; My Little Pony) - Heh. I happened to see Andeincascade rec this on crack-van and once I did, it immediately went onto my "Potential vids for Bitchin Party" list. It didn't take long until it landed on the "Must Have" list. This vid actually kicked the Smallville Catbaby vid off of the vidshow playlist entirely. Here's the thing: you HAVE to end whatever half Catbaby plays in with Catbaby. It's impossible to follow that vid. I didn't want to end the whole show on Catbaby, so I had it tentatively scheduled for the first half. Then I felt like Catbaby had recently been seen a lot - though it turns out I was mistaken - and I found the Ponies vid and it felt like it actually matched the interests of the overall Pacificon audience better given the song, plus I liked that it was a YouTube vid and so less likely to have been seen by everyone. Given the response, I feel like it was a good choice!
Everyone singing along and laughing to this vid is one of the highlights of the con for me. It was just one of those perfect moments in time that I wish I could bottle and have with me forever. And it's exactly the kind of response I had been hoping for when I put the show together. This vid was the one I was MOST excited to show everyone, and it's what the first half of the vidshow was built around in a lot of ways, or at least building TOWARDS emotionally. I just REALLY REALLY love this vid - how FUN it is, the lyric interpretations, the way the song works SO PERFECTLY with the MLP universe. How, as Brynn put it, that is clearly the video of Gerard's SOUL for that song. The perfect con vid - the perfect Pacificon vid. Nothing but glee from me on this one, and a great way to end the half.
Vidshow Part 2
Doomsday (by AbsoluteDestiny; Independence Day) - Okay so as I said above, I needed this vid to start the second half of the vidshow. I was anticipating that everyone would be buzzing from the Ponies vid in the first half, so this first vid needed to be able to immediately grab people and bring them back to the show and paying attention. I also didn't want to have another funny/cracky vid because this is the half where SHIT GETS REAL (as you'll see, I think it's overall a 'darker' half) and also following up the Ponies vid with something similar would be a misstep and I believe that would have fallen flat. And then AD posted this for Festivids and it BLEW MY MIND, and I all I wanted from life was to see it on a big screen.
This vid and the Doctor Who vid later are the two I was most nervous about whether they would work, and this one has maybe the most heavy lifting to do in terms of audience emotional preparation/manipulation because of where it sits in the playlist. When everybody started cheering when it started up, the last of my nerves disappeared. This vid played GREAT. As Brynn put it: who doesn't love shit blowing up? I think it did exactly what I hoped it would to throw everybody back into the show and kick us off to our next emotional journey.
Lightning Field (by Bradcpu; Legend of the Seeker) - I have loved this vid since Brad first showed it at VVC, and it's one of those vids that just kind of sits with me whenever I think about vidding. I knew I wanted it in the vidshow, again as a small fandom opportunity, and also because it's so damn good that I like being able to show it to captive audiences! I struggled a bit with what vid to follow Doomsday, and I kicked around this one, Mayday, and Lion Man for awhile, trying to pin down the best flow. Once I knew Do What You Have To Do was going to be in this half, I knew Lion Man had to precede it, because it ends on a quiet enough note that the flow from that to DWYHTD feels natural. I felt Doomsday was too big and loud to be followed by Mayday, which is a good vid but still simple for how fast it rolls. Lightning Field felt like it could stand up to the big beast of a vid and still be noticed on its own. Plus the song is great and reminiscent enough of the techno-quality of Doomsday that it serves as a bridge between that and Mayday, getting people's ears ready to hear lyrics again.
Emotionally, this vid is super intense, and I think it pays to show it early when you can still appreciate how intense it is. It's just a super-great vid and keeps that energy collected from Doomsday rolling, siphoning it back down into a more character focus again.
Mayday!!! (by Meddow; Game of Thrones) - I wanted a Game of Thrones vid and I think one of the con-goers either suggested this vid in particular or suggested Meddow for a different fandom and I found this vid, but either way: thanks!
The violins in this give this song such an insistent quality and the vidder makes great use of the way the music changes, pushing and pushing the drama and angst and then giving us space to breathe when the song opens up near the end. It picks up aurally off of the intensity from the previous two vids and yet also makes the intensity a little less sharp, a little more willing to start moving emotionally into these really sad places we're about to go. The end of this vid especially brings a smooth poignancy to what has so far been a primarily edged half (ID4's explosions and the LotS character's tragic past), and leads nicely into LLM.
Little Lion Man (by Hanna; Harry Potter) - I honestly cannot remember how I found this vid, but I suspect it was crack-van. This is the vid I maybe loved best in the show; it's this year's "Windowsill" for me: a stunning character study that just grabs me in the heart and that I've watched a whole lot of times and never get tired of. Fantastic song, fantastic USE of the song, and it makes me adore a character for a fandom to which I am only tangentially connected. I was excited to show this vid to people because I wanted them to have it in their lives, too!
Emotionally I think it plays great as that final shift down from the aggressive intensity of the first three songs to the gentler but much sadder nature of DWYHTD. As you can see, though, the energy of this half is different than the first half: it's much more in your face, IMO, and goes to a much sadder place with the XMFC vid, and doesn't ultimately go back to the same super-crack-happiness of the Ponies vid, but goes to a different place, the one where you've been through something and are still happy and full of joy on the other side, but it's a more tempered joy and holy crap THIS SOUNDS SO PRETENTIOUS I'M SORRY. If you're still even reading by this point! Heh.
Do What You Have To Do (by Greensilver; X-Men First Class) - This vid was almost a different XMFC vid to another Adele song, actually. But when I realized I was going to show Talitha's Thor vid (instead of her Mag7 Festivids vid which hung in as an option for awhile, and actually I asked her for an entirely different vid initially but then found out it had been in Pacificon 2010 so I had to back out of that!), I looked for a different depressing XMFC vid and found this one. I knew this would be sad but I did not expect it to be THAT sad.
This vid is definitely the darkest point, emotionally, of the whole vidshow, and Greensilver just nails your heart to the wall with no remorse! Hee. It's an amazing vid and I still haven't even seen XMFC and have almost no investment in the pairing (though the Patrick Stewart/Ian McKellan stuff totally works for me). Anyway, once I had this vid in there, though, I had to figure out how to get you all to RECOVER from it. That one was tough, but thankfully someone suggested the next vid.
Street Light Halos (by kaydeefalls; Band of Brothers) - This is really the perfect fandom to follow-up a super-depressing shipper vid, because being about war, BOB is immediately imbued with enough solemnity that you don't get emotional whiplash. When I saw this vid was to a Jeffrey Foucault song, I was sold, and then I actually watched it and it was excellent and I had to have it in the show. I knew this vid and the Highlander vid to the PM song would be in different halves because I wanted these two artists (who are great friends) to each get their moment. Being able to put it after DWYHTD was a stroke of luck. The fact that it ends more upbeat than it began works as the perfect segue to getting us back up out of the depths of sadness and into a much more cheerful place!
No Children (by Xandra; Community) - This vid felt like a bit of a risk, too, since it's not a group vid and I know those tend to be the most generally popular of the Community vids. But it's funny while also being serious and in that way is actually a great representation of the show itself. I saw this back when Xandra posted it (or around that time at least) and when I was thinking about which Community vids I knew that I wanted to put in, this was always near the top of that list. I like how dry the vid is, the way the song is a nice step up in energy from the previous without being TOO much of a move up. Really most of the choices I made throughout the vidshow were trying to made graduated movements and keep the flow smooth, trying to prevent people from being so thrown out of a moment that it messed things up.
Too Darn Hot (by Giandujakiss; Hawaii 5-0) - This was the very very last vid added and it came in at the very last second. I had initially had a different H50 vid in mind but due to technical problems that couldn't be overcome, I went with this one. Fortunately, it had always been between this vid and the initial vid so I already had it on my list and Giandujakiss was extremely helpful in getting the files to us quickly! It fills the same role that the first vid did: it's a light-hearted, sexy shipper vid for a fandom I know basically nothing about but the vid still entertained me. It's even only about two seconds longer than the initial vid, so it was very easy to make this choice when the time came.
This vid segues us into the Dancing Section of the vidshow, which is something I really wanted to do in the second half because the dance party was right after and I knew that Murder on the Dance Floor was going to be in the vidshow somewhere so I could build a whole dancing section off of that!
Murder on the Dance Floor (by Astolat; Sherlock) - This was another vid that was on the playlist at an early point and stayed the entire time. I was always also fairly certain it would be in the second half of the vidshow for no other reason than it just felt right to be there. As it turns out, that was a good feeling, but I couldn't have articulated why. I don't have much to say about this vid, or even this string of vids. I wanted us to be having fun again at this point, and this ushers in the actualfax dancing vid in a very confident way - it's a vid made for Club Vivid so it was intended to be dance-y. Following it up with Feel It just felt natural.
Feel It (by Millylicious; So You Think You Can Dance) - Milly made this vid for me for a prior Festivids and I knew there were other SYTYCD fans in the vidshow audience and I LOVE this vid so I abused my power and put it in the show. *g* It fell in really well between Sherlock and the ST:TOS vid, and is visually a great, fun vid that is put together brilliantly. It's a total win putting this in a con vidshow.
Swing (by marycrawford; Star Trek: the Original Series) - This is another one where I went to marycrawford's journal looking for a different vid but came away with this one as the perfect piece for the larger vidshow puzzle. It was to an older but popular fandom, it was focused around a Uhura (a woman of color), it was upbeat but loving, which would be important given what followed it. This last half of the vidshow got very space heavy but I felt okay about that because the rest of the show had very little space-based fandoms and there was the Flashpoint vid later to break things up.
I love love love this vid and thought it would go over pretty well. I was thrilled when it did!
The Adventure (by calapine; Doctor Who) - This was the other vid that was giving me the most nervous fits about whether the show would be any good. It's very near the end of the show, so people are getting worn out, and here comes a five minute lovefest to Doctor Who which could very easily have just brought the whole flow of the show to a screeching halt. I watched the vid a couple of times before I decided to chance it, because I wanted to see if it would stand up to multiple viewings without losing my interest, and when it did, I thought people would be okay sitting through it once. Turns out I had underestimated the amount people really love all versions of the Doctor. This vid needed to move us from the dancing section and start the process of bringing the vidshow to a close. Swing was a good transition vid because while it was dance-y, it also showcased the whole crew, and this built on that sense of a universe/team vid by making it about ALL the Doctors.
The thing I love best about this vid is the end where it gets into the whole "I can't do this without you" part of the lyrics. That makes me teary-eyed and I've only seen the 9th Doctor! One thing I really wanted from the DW vid I would put into the show was something that embraced more than just one doctor, and I actually had gone to this vidder's LJ to look at zir DW vid to the Carbon Leaf song whose name eludes me right now. I watched that one and then went through zir tags to see if there was anything else as well and stumbled on this one. It's such a delightful look at the entire history of the show, and I love how zie used so many different companions and doctors.
Come On (by Gwyn-r; Flashpoint) - I'm pretty sure Brynn requested I show this vid, and it was my pleasure to include it because it's such a kickass vid. Plus I could reverse-mirror the first half where the Headstones song was played second and have another Headstones song played second-to-last. This also let me get another C6D fandom into the show, AND it continued the universe/team themes we had arrived at AND it gave the show a brief space break so that all the space-based vids in a row wouldn't be too overwhelming. It was perfect.
Space Girl (by Charmax; Multifandom, women & space) - The last vid of the show! I honestly don't remember which came first, this one or Danegen's Around the Bend, but once I had one, I knew I had to have the other to bookend with. This vid is SO GOOD and I was so excited to have a place for it in the vidshow. I feel like it's the perfect way to end this particular vidshow for many reasons: the aforementioned bookending; the fact that it's again about women but this time women in SPACE so we've sort of upgraded our ambitions from the first multifandom women vid; how it plays into the overall darker feeling of the second half of the vidshow while still being very kickass and empowering; how many different fandoms are shown in it; and because Charmax is an amazing vidder and I felt safe putting the vidshow in her capable hands. :)
WHEW.
If you read that, you deserve a medal. Hell, you deserve ALL THE MEDALS. The TL;DR version is: up then down then up is the emotional journey of each half of the vidshow and I picked vids to build that emotional journey. TA-DAH. Saved you 6600 words of text. Hee.
This entry was cross-posted at my Dreamwidth account. Please comment here or there. (
comments at DW)
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Since I've been thinking about this basically nonstop since the vidshow aired and for many many weeks before that, here is how and why I constructed the Bitchin Party vidshow as I did, going through it vid-by-vid. I had a LOT to say (the first half of the show alone is 7 pages long), so I'm putting it all under an LJ-cut.
(Also caveat caveat caveat: this is just the process I took for this particular vidshow as a way to explain to myself why I felt so protective of it like it was my own work of fannish art as much as any vid I have made.)
General Preparation
The first thing I did was figure out how much time I needed to fill, and as with 2008, it would be two roughly 45 minute halves with a fifteen minute intermission. Thankfully I'd done the math on that in 2008 and still had my spreadsheet, so I knew I'd need roughly 12-15 vids each half, depending on vid length. The next overarching element I figured out was what fandoms were going to be most popular for the con attendees. I think that part of the vidshow preparation is what makes putting a vidshow like this together much easier, because you can specifically tailor it to suit your audience's general interests. I figured a couple of obvious fandoms would need to be represented up front (something comics related, Sherlock, Supernatural, bandom), but wanted to see what kind of panel suggestions people put forth to see what else was interesting them. I also trolled through people's LJs and bounced ideas off of BrynnMcK about what should be included, and developed a long list of potential fandoms. I also waited for Festivids to see which vids there were fairly popular that would work well in a con setting (I actually initially had several other Festivids I was going to use, but as I worked through the fandoms and overall vidshow flow, I realized they wouldn't fit in, and I wanted other vids by those same vidders). Which reminds me, my other self-assigned limiting factors were: one vid per vidder, one vid per band (with one notable exception), and no vids that were shown at previous Pacificons. I also tried to find vids on YouTube/find some less well-known but still excellent vids, tried to include women-focused vids, and tried to include characters of color (I did not do as well on that last one as I had hoped).
So with all of that running through my brain, and a bunch of excellent suggestions from the Bitchin Party con-goers, I started watching vids and making a plan. I put together a table with vids I thought of, as well as vids suggested by others, and even some crack-van vid recs for fandoms I did not know very well (which, frankly, was most of them *g*). My table had the following columns: Vid Name; Vidder; Fandom; Vid Mood; Likelihood (how likely I would actually put it in the show, just as a way to remind myself of vids I LOVED vs vids I just really liked); and Runtime. We actually had a five minute vid in the show (the Doctor Who one), so that was just for overall planning purposes and not necessarily a strike against potential vids. Whenever I decided firmly against a vid, I crossed it out but left it in the table so I could remember I'd at least watched and considered it previously.
Vidshow Part 1
Around the Bend (by Danegen; multifandom, women & vehicles) - This vid was actually added later in the process than you'd think given it opens the show. For awhile I thought I was going to close each half with one of the Headstone's vids (the SPN or Flashpoint ones) and then end with the other one, but then I stumbled on the My Little Pony vid and I knew that HAD to end the first half and so I thought about bookending the entire show with the Headstone's vids after that, but I decided given the extremely varied nature of fandom interest by the attendees that trying to find something multifandom to end with would be better, and so I needed something multifandom to start with, too, because I LOVE bookends. And it had worked well for my show in 2008 when I started half 1 and ended half 2 with OT3 Due South vids.
I chose this vid in particular because I remembered loving it so much at VVC, and I really liked how it was female-focused, PLUS she had incorporated women of color, PLUS it was a really fun, women taking-charge way to start things off and would put people in a good mood right from the get go.
(Goddamit) Bin This Way For Years (by Luminosity; Supernatural) - this was pretty much the first vid I knew I wanted in the show, and I asked Lum for the files before I even knew where the vid was going to go, because I knew I would work it in somehow. I loved this vid when Lum posted it, and it had the bonus of being by a Headstones song, and I knew there was a significant percentage of Headstones-loving folk attending the con that would get a kick out of it. I also had a Sam-centric vid in 2008 and found it personally appropriate to make it Dean-centric this time.
I love the way this vid starts off with Dean and the Impala, connecting us to the cars in the first vid, but then kicking it off in a totally different direction after that. It upped the energy ante as well, and while there was still a lot of fun stuff in it, things were starting to get serious.
Children's Work (by LithiumDoll; Life) - this vid was made for me for Festivids and I COMPLETELY ADORE it, but I wasn't entirely sure it would work in the con setting. One of the con-goers did suggest it, though, and I remember reading the comments to her vid post that had lots of people not familiar with the fandom who really dug it, so I figured it was worth the shot. It also had Damian Lewis, who was in Band of Brothers, which is a fandom a couple of people suggested vids for, and Dani is a character of color (or at least her actress is), so the vid basically just sold itself.
I put it after the Dean vid because I liked countering a male character study with a female character study. I think the contrast of Dessa and the Headstones really works, because the two songs actually hold up really well next to each other. Dessa's song has energy, too, even though a lot of it is much more suspenseful, rather than as in-your-face as Hugh's. This vid got very serious, but I felt it ended on a light enough note to support a move to the next vid.
That's All (by SDWolfpup; due South) - due South clearly had to be in the vidshow somewhere, but I really struggled with what part of dS I wanted to showcase. I didn't want to do either a Vecchio/Fraser or Kowalski/Fraser vid because those two pairings are the most divisive in the fandom. I had considered Keerawa's "Train to Jackson" for a long time, but when I ultimately ended up choosing the Jeffrey Foucault "Band of Brothers" vid (because I chose Lithium's Life vid instead of her BoB vid, so you see how this thing FREQUENTLY became a game of "a butterly flaps its wings in Africa"), I put aside Keera's vid and looked for something else. I ultimately went with my vid because, let's be honest, I wanted to show one of my own vids if I could and this one was well-received, and because I think Vecchio/Kowalski is a nice way to bridge the gap without repeating the OT3-extravaganza of 2008.
This is the start of the All Ships All The Time section, and particularly the Very Depressing Ships subsection, of this half of the vidshow and I liked that it was both angsty AND hopeful, because things were about to get sad (but not as sad as they got in Part 2!). I also really liked how the VDS subsection bookended with constructed reality vids (this and Hurricane), and one was M/M while the other was F/F. Plus, bonus Dante's Cove footage snuck in under cover of this vid. *g* And having due South follow Life was good, too, because it took us from a fandom not many people were likely to know to a fandom many of the attendees were likely to know.
(PS - I really really appreciated the response to the vid. That first excited cheer made my heart swell. Thank you all. &hearts)
The Trouble With Poets (by Anoel; Highlander) - I knew fairly early on that I wanted to include this vid. I did not have as many "older" fandoms in this vidshow as 2008, I think, but I knew there would be some Highlander fans there, and this vid went over really well when it showed at VVC in 2007. PLUS it was to a Peter Mulvey song and y'all know how I feel about HIM, so clearly I was going to make an effort to include it!
This vid takes the kind of goofy-angst of "That's All" and doubles-down on the angst part while still not feeling like it's depressing. I thought it worked great as a bridge between TA and the next vid, while also being a great older fandom vid.
Set Fire To The Rain (by Talitha78; Thor) - I had seen this vid recommended before and I knew Isagel, on my flist, had remastered it and I trust her taste so I figured it had to be a pretty good representation for the fandom! I actually did not watch any Thor vids except this one because I liked it and it slid so perfectly into this part of the vidshow. I still haven't seen Thor and actually know very little about it except Loki is kind of a woobie and Thor is super duper adorable and the women are pretty great.
This vid serves as the last transition to get us to the lowest/saddest point of the first half of the vidshow, which is the next Sherlock vid. SFTTR is a fairly high-energy song but it's still a sad vid, and the combination was perfect to continue the slide down of emotions so that we would not be totally thrown out of things when the next vid started. It also let me get in a comics fandom vid, because I knew I'd want two of those and I wasn't going to put Do What You Have To Do right next to All Shall Fade because I didn't want people to be MISERABLE. Just sad! I needed to be able to bring you back from the abyss!
All Shall Fade (by serenity-s; Sherlock) - Sherlock was the one fandom I knew I wanted two vids from, one in each half. I knew very early on that Murder on the Dance Floor was going to be one of the vids, so I wanted something to balance that emotionally for the other half. I don't recall how I found this vid; I think it was from a rec on crack-van but might've come in from one of the con-goer suggestions. I was actually really pleased that it was by a Tumblr vidder, and it wasn't one I had seen rec'd all over the place previously. I also liked how quiet the vid was - it was a huge contrast between the loud (but beautiful) agony of Adele's voice in the previous vid. And I liked how the vidder used text, which was a visual difference that added some interest/pop in the middle of 45 minutes of vids. People's eyes get tired after watching too long, and I knew the SPN and Life vids were very quickly cut. It was actually also why I threw the dS vid in-between Life and Highlander, because it's a more slowly cut vid (though still not slow), so it lets your brain rest a bet. All Shall Fade is also more slowly cut, which would be important with how quick and flashy the next vid was.
One of my favorite moments of the vidshow, actually, was how quiet everyone got watching this vid. I really appreciated how it let the clarity of the song settle over everything and drive home the sadness. I also liked how it ended with that shot of Sherlock, so that you're drawn back from being entirely upset, because we had reached our lowest point and now I needed to climb you all back up the hill so you would be emotionally prepared for MCR Ponies. That was always the end point in mind for the second half emotional curve: start off happy, take us down to suffering level, and then rise back up to total exuberance. The second half sort of mimics that, but is actually different, energy-wise; I'll get to that when we get there.
Between Two Points (by itsforscience; Bandom (MCR)) - It is DIFFICULT to find good (and good quality) bandom vids, ESPECIALLY good bandom vids not set to the band's songs. I already had my MCR song with the Ponies vid, but I thought MCR was the overarching band of choice for congoers so I was really hoping to include an MCR vid to represent bandom. I looked a very long time to find this one. I actually found it on YouTube initially, and then followed the links to find the vidder's LJ. I did a lot of searches and vid-watching to get this one. I did find a sort of all-inclusive bandom vid I considered using, but it didn't fit into my overall vidshow flow as well and I thought this one was actually a really good vid on its own merits so I went with this instead.
This was the perfect energy transition to take us from the sheer sadness of ASH and somehow get us to the sexiness of Hurricane. The song for BTP is very sexy and I thought the vidder made great use of terrible quality footage. I like that it was almost like you got the ESSENCE of the images rather than the specifics of it, and I felt ze made great use of all the flashes, color-changing, and speed-adjusted footage. Visually it's an interesting vid, and the level of source adjustment kind of opens us up subconsciously for Laura's vid as well.
Hurricane (by Laura Shapiro; BSG/Farscape) - I actually chose this vid fairly late in the process, and a lot of the previous vids had already been set up in their order before I even knew what I wanted here. From Hurricane to Out of Classical Gas was the last part of the vidshow ordering that I finalized. I really struggled with how to get from BTP to Ponies in a coherent way, while including a few vids and fandoms I knew this show could not live without. I had The Frug earlier and later, I had Out of Classical Gas earlier, I had Fly right before Ponies, and I just couldn't get anything to settle until I was looking through Laura's vids for a backup Doctor Who vid and saw this one and the lightbulb went on. Not only does this build on the sexiness of BTP, but it helped me finally build the bridge from the depressing shipper shore to the happy one. These two didn't end up together in the vid, but they were still really pleased with themselves anyway. *g*
This vid is so great, too. Amazing use of eyelines to bring Aeryn and Starbuck together, and all the little self-satisfied smiles and reaction shots were a huge hit at the con. I like how she gives each of the characters' histories in the first part of the vid in such a way that she's both paralleling the characters' lives AND telling the story of the vid itself for why and how they got to the bar to randomly hook up.
The Frug (by Some-stars; Once A Thief) - This vid was suggested by one of the con-goers and I wasn't sure I was going to be able to work it into the overall show, but ultimately once Hurricane fell into place, I knew this was going to work as well. It's not quite at the Total Adorable level as the next vid, and I actually think going from Hurricane to Love At First Sight would have been too jarring. This footage is darker and older than either of the two vids that surround it, but the song is fun and catchy, and the vid goes from angst to OT3 in a really smooth and delightful manner.
Again, I liked including an older and less known fandom, especially since BSG and Farscape are bigger and Glee is a huge fandom. I felt like having these different fandoms butting up against each other actually helped all of them because it's not just Big Fandom Big Fandom Big Fandom (or Little Fandom Little Fandom Little Fandom) all right in a row, which can sometimes be off-putting if you are not in either one. I was most likely to engage the largest percent of the audience by mixing it up, and that individual audience member response feeds into the overall energy of the show, so that as long as someone is always feeling engaged, other people will feed off of that and it will keep the overall engagement of the show at a constant level, even while the emotions of the audience may be going from happy to sad and back.
Love At First Sight (by here's luck; Glee) - I picked this vid up pretty early in the decision-making process. I knew I wanted a Glee vid, but there were SO MANY to choose from that I wasn't even sure where to begin looking, and I don't recall anyone recommending any. I had seen this one when h.l. posted it, so I had it in my backpocket and pulled it out very willingly. It was to a very popular couple in the fandom and would play well, I thought, as a con vid, and I felt it was a good choice without having to spend hours combing through Glee vid after Glee vid.
So our energy is up and we're looking for somewhere to put it, why not throw in a total adorable creampuff shipper vid to round out the shipping section? This song is very dance-y and fun, and the vid is a nice little last jet of steam to get us revved up and ready for what's coming both visually and emotionally. This vid pops without having to be closely watched (not a critique of the vid, btw, because I love this vid and I don't even watch Glee anymore), and your brain needs that at this point in the vidshow. You've seen a lot of vids already, you still have a few more to go; sometimes your brain needs to just gorge on some delicious cotton candy.
Fly (by sisabet; Parks and Recreation) - This is one of those vid choices that you make to satisfy yourself. I have recently gotten VERY INVESTED in Parks and Rec (and I've only seen season 1 and the first third of season 2!), and I knew Brynn loved the show so I wanted to include a P&R vid for sure. I saw this one at Festivids and it made me cry at the end because I was so full of love, and with Leslie winning Fandom March Madness in February, I just HAD to have this particular vid in the show. It was great to have a vid focusing entirely on the awesomeness of a female character while also being about teamwork and show love, because the last two vids of this half are both teamwork/show love vids and it helps smooth the transition from character/ship to a more general focus.
This vid also is really goofy on the surface but a total triumph of spirit, and so it plays off of the previous vid's adorableness while building with this amazing sense of love. Watching this on the big screen actually blew me away emotionally - I was not prepared for the intensity of the feelings that I had seeing Leslie's story as visually big as it is in its soul; I cried much earlier and more than I ever have while watching it on my computer. And I've seen this vid a lot. I shuffled this vid and Out of Classical Gas back and forth a number of times, but finally settled on this order because of how it flows better from the Glee vid than OoCG did and also because I ended part 2 with team-y vids and OoCG is a more team-y vid than Fly so I wanted part 1 to mirror that more as well.
Out of Classical Gas (by Jarrow; Firefly) - I really really wanted to include a Firefly vid in the vidshow, and for quite awhile I thought it was going to be Rodeohead, but I needed AD's Independence Day vid to kick off Part 2 of the show (for reasons I'll go into when I get there), so that left me with an unknown. I wanted an ensemble Firefly vid and I knew Jarrow had made this one and it had gotten great response when he posted it. Plus, you know, I liked it okay myself. *g* This was a pretty easy choice ultimately, it was just finding where it fit best in the show that I wrestled with.
As I said in Fly, I really wanted to make the transition to TEEEEEAM and this vid did that marvelously. I also love that it's an instrumental, because both Fly and the Ponies vid have a lot of lyrics and it's nice to have an aural break in between those two songs in particular. I love the journey the vid takes, and it ends on my absolute favorite moment in the series to boot! (Mal + Serenity = ULTIMATE OTP!)
Bringjoys Make Some Noise (by mmmandarinorange; My Little Pony) - Heh. I happened to see Andeincascade rec this on crack-van and once I did, it immediately went onto my "Potential vids for Bitchin Party" list. It didn't take long until it landed on the "Must Have" list. This vid actually kicked the Smallville Catbaby vid off of the vidshow playlist entirely. Here's the thing: you HAVE to end whatever half Catbaby plays in with Catbaby. It's impossible to follow that vid. I didn't want to end the whole show on Catbaby, so I had it tentatively scheduled for the first half. Then I felt like Catbaby had recently been seen a lot - though it turns out I was mistaken - and I found the Ponies vid and it felt like it actually matched the interests of the overall Pacificon audience better given the song, plus I liked that it was a YouTube vid and so less likely to have been seen by everyone. Given the response, I feel like it was a good choice!
Everyone singing along and laughing to this vid is one of the highlights of the con for me. It was just one of those perfect moments in time that I wish I could bottle and have with me forever. And it's exactly the kind of response I had been hoping for when I put the show together. This vid was the one I was MOST excited to show everyone, and it's what the first half of the vidshow was built around in a lot of ways, or at least building TOWARDS emotionally. I just REALLY REALLY love this vid - how FUN it is, the lyric interpretations, the way the song works SO PERFECTLY with the MLP universe. How, as Brynn put it, that is clearly the video of Gerard's SOUL for that song. The perfect con vid - the perfect Pacificon vid. Nothing but glee from me on this one, and a great way to end the half.
Vidshow Part 2
Doomsday (by AbsoluteDestiny; Independence Day) - Okay so as I said above, I needed this vid to start the second half of the vidshow. I was anticipating that everyone would be buzzing from the Ponies vid in the first half, so this first vid needed to be able to immediately grab people and bring them back to the show and paying attention. I also didn't want to have another funny/cracky vid because this is the half where SHIT GETS REAL (as you'll see, I think it's overall a 'darker' half) and also following up the Ponies vid with something similar would be a misstep and I believe that would have fallen flat. And then AD posted this for Festivids and it BLEW MY MIND, and I all I wanted from life was to see it on a big screen.
This vid and the Doctor Who vid later are the two I was most nervous about whether they would work, and this one has maybe the most heavy lifting to do in terms of audience emotional preparation/manipulation because of where it sits in the playlist. When everybody started cheering when it started up, the last of my nerves disappeared. This vid played GREAT. As Brynn put it: who doesn't love shit blowing up? I think it did exactly what I hoped it would to throw everybody back into the show and kick us off to our next emotional journey.
Lightning Field (by Bradcpu; Legend of the Seeker) - I have loved this vid since Brad first showed it at VVC, and it's one of those vids that just kind of sits with me whenever I think about vidding. I knew I wanted it in the vidshow, again as a small fandom opportunity, and also because it's so damn good that I like being able to show it to captive audiences! I struggled a bit with what vid to follow Doomsday, and I kicked around this one, Mayday, and Lion Man for awhile, trying to pin down the best flow. Once I knew Do What You Have To Do was going to be in this half, I knew Lion Man had to precede it, because it ends on a quiet enough note that the flow from that to DWYHTD feels natural. I felt Doomsday was too big and loud to be followed by Mayday, which is a good vid but still simple for how fast it rolls. Lightning Field felt like it could stand up to the big beast of a vid and still be noticed on its own. Plus the song is great and reminiscent enough of the techno-quality of Doomsday that it serves as a bridge between that and Mayday, getting people's ears ready to hear lyrics again.
Emotionally, this vid is super intense, and I think it pays to show it early when you can still appreciate how intense it is. It's just a super-great vid and keeps that energy collected from Doomsday rolling, siphoning it back down into a more character focus again.
Mayday!!! (by Meddow; Game of Thrones) - I wanted a Game of Thrones vid and I think one of the con-goers either suggested this vid in particular or suggested Meddow for a different fandom and I found this vid, but either way: thanks!
The violins in this give this song such an insistent quality and the vidder makes great use of the way the music changes, pushing and pushing the drama and angst and then giving us space to breathe when the song opens up near the end. It picks up aurally off of the intensity from the previous two vids and yet also makes the intensity a little less sharp, a little more willing to start moving emotionally into these really sad places we're about to go. The end of this vid especially brings a smooth poignancy to what has so far been a primarily edged half (ID4's explosions and the LotS character's tragic past), and leads nicely into LLM.
Little Lion Man (by Hanna; Harry Potter) - I honestly cannot remember how I found this vid, but I suspect it was crack-van. This is the vid I maybe loved best in the show; it's this year's "Windowsill" for me: a stunning character study that just grabs me in the heart and that I've watched a whole lot of times and never get tired of. Fantastic song, fantastic USE of the song, and it makes me adore a character for a fandom to which I am only tangentially connected. I was excited to show this vid to people because I wanted them to have it in their lives, too!
Emotionally I think it plays great as that final shift down from the aggressive intensity of the first three songs to the gentler but much sadder nature of DWYHTD. As you can see, though, the energy of this half is different than the first half: it's much more in your face, IMO, and goes to a much sadder place with the XMFC vid, and doesn't ultimately go back to the same super-crack-happiness of the Ponies vid, but goes to a different place, the one where you've been through something and are still happy and full of joy on the other side, but it's a more tempered joy and holy crap THIS SOUNDS SO PRETENTIOUS I'M SORRY. If you're still even reading by this point! Heh.
Do What You Have To Do (by Greensilver; X-Men First Class) - This vid was almost a different XMFC vid to another Adele song, actually. But when I realized I was going to show Talitha's Thor vid (instead of her Mag7 Festivids vid which hung in as an option for awhile, and actually I asked her for an entirely different vid initially but then found out it had been in Pacificon 2010 so I had to back out of that!), I looked for a different depressing XMFC vid and found this one. I knew this would be sad but I did not expect it to be THAT sad.
This vid is definitely the darkest point, emotionally, of the whole vidshow, and Greensilver just nails your heart to the wall with no remorse! Hee. It's an amazing vid and I still haven't even seen XMFC and have almost no investment in the pairing (though the Patrick Stewart/Ian McKellan stuff totally works for me). Anyway, once I had this vid in there, though, I had to figure out how to get you all to RECOVER from it. That one was tough, but thankfully someone suggested the next vid.
Street Light Halos (by kaydeefalls; Band of Brothers) - This is really the perfect fandom to follow-up a super-depressing shipper vid, because being about war, BOB is immediately imbued with enough solemnity that you don't get emotional whiplash. When I saw this vid was to a Jeffrey Foucault song, I was sold, and then I actually watched it and it was excellent and I had to have it in the show. I knew this vid and the Highlander vid to the PM song would be in different halves because I wanted these two artists (who are great friends) to each get their moment. Being able to put it after DWYHTD was a stroke of luck. The fact that it ends more upbeat than it began works as the perfect segue to getting us back up out of the depths of sadness and into a much more cheerful place!
No Children (by Xandra; Community) - This vid felt like a bit of a risk, too, since it's not a group vid and I know those tend to be the most generally popular of the Community vids. But it's funny while also being serious and in that way is actually a great representation of the show itself. I saw this back when Xandra posted it (or around that time at least) and when I was thinking about which Community vids I knew that I wanted to put in, this was always near the top of that list. I like how dry the vid is, the way the song is a nice step up in energy from the previous without being TOO much of a move up. Really most of the choices I made throughout the vidshow were trying to made graduated movements and keep the flow smooth, trying to prevent people from being so thrown out of a moment that it messed things up.
Too Darn Hot (by Giandujakiss; Hawaii 5-0) - This was the very very last vid added and it came in at the very last second. I had initially had a different H50 vid in mind but due to technical problems that couldn't be overcome, I went with this one. Fortunately, it had always been between this vid and the initial vid so I already had it on my list and Giandujakiss was extremely helpful in getting the files to us quickly! It fills the same role that the first vid did: it's a light-hearted, sexy shipper vid for a fandom I know basically nothing about but the vid still entertained me. It's even only about two seconds longer than the initial vid, so it was very easy to make this choice when the time came.
This vid segues us into the Dancing Section of the vidshow, which is something I really wanted to do in the second half because the dance party was right after and I knew that Murder on the Dance Floor was going to be in the vidshow somewhere so I could build a whole dancing section off of that!
Murder on the Dance Floor (by Astolat; Sherlock) - This was another vid that was on the playlist at an early point and stayed the entire time. I was always also fairly certain it would be in the second half of the vidshow for no other reason than it just felt right to be there. As it turns out, that was a good feeling, but I couldn't have articulated why. I don't have much to say about this vid, or even this string of vids. I wanted us to be having fun again at this point, and this ushers in the actualfax dancing vid in a very confident way - it's a vid made for Club Vivid so it was intended to be dance-y. Following it up with Feel It just felt natural.
Feel It (by Millylicious; So You Think You Can Dance) - Milly made this vid for me for a prior Festivids and I knew there were other SYTYCD fans in the vidshow audience and I LOVE this vid so I abused my power and put it in the show. *g* It fell in really well between Sherlock and the ST:TOS vid, and is visually a great, fun vid that is put together brilliantly. It's a total win putting this in a con vidshow.
Swing (by marycrawford; Star Trek: the Original Series) - This is another one where I went to marycrawford's journal looking for a different vid but came away with this one as the perfect piece for the larger vidshow puzzle. It was to an older but popular fandom, it was focused around a Uhura (a woman of color), it was upbeat but loving, which would be important given what followed it. This last half of the vidshow got very space heavy but I felt okay about that because the rest of the show had very little space-based fandoms and there was the Flashpoint vid later to break things up.
I love love love this vid and thought it would go over pretty well. I was thrilled when it did!
The Adventure (by calapine; Doctor Who) - This was the other vid that was giving me the most nervous fits about whether the show would be any good. It's very near the end of the show, so people are getting worn out, and here comes a five minute lovefest to Doctor Who which could very easily have just brought the whole flow of the show to a screeching halt. I watched the vid a couple of times before I decided to chance it, because I wanted to see if it would stand up to multiple viewings without losing my interest, and when it did, I thought people would be okay sitting through it once. Turns out I had underestimated the amount people really love all versions of the Doctor. This vid needed to move us from the dancing section and start the process of bringing the vidshow to a close. Swing was a good transition vid because while it was dance-y, it also showcased the whole crew, and this built on that sense of a universe/team vid by making it about ALL the Doctors.
The thing I love best about this vid is the end where it gets into the whole "I can't do this without you" part of the lyrics. That makes me teary-eyed and I've only seen the 9th Doctor! One thing I really wanted from the DW vid I would put into the show was something that embraced more than just one doctor, and I actually had gone to this vidder's LJ to look at zir DW vid to the Carbon Leaf song whose name eludes me right now. I watched that one and then went through zir tags to see if there was anything else as well and stumbled on this one. It's such a delightful look at the entire history of the show, and I love how zie used so many different companions and doctors.
Come On (by Gwyn-r; Flashpoint) - I'm pretty sure Brynn requested I show this vid, and it was my pleasure to include it because it's such a kickass vid. Plus I could reverse-mirror the first half where the Headstones song was played second and have another Headstones song played second-to-last. This also let me get another C6D fandom into the show, AND it continued the universe/team themes we had arrived at AND it gave the show a brief space break so that all the space-based vids in a row wouldn't be too overwhelming. It was perfect.
Space Girl (by Charmax; Multifandom, women & space) - The last vid of the show! I honestly don't remember which came first, this one or Danegen's Around the Bend, but once I had one, I knew I had to have the other to bookend with. This vid is SO GOOD and I was so excited to have a place for it in the vidshow. I feel like it's the perfect way to end this particular vidshow for many reasons: the aforementioned bookending; the fact that it's again about women but this time women in SPACE so we've sort of upgraded our ambitions from the first multifandom women vid; how it plays into the overall darker feeling of the second half of the vidshow while still being very kickass and empowering; how many different fandoms are shown in it; and because Charmax is an amazing vidder and I felt safe putting the vidshow in her capable hands. :)
WHEW.
If you read that, you deserve a medal. Hell, you deserve ALL THE MEDALS. The TL;DR version is: up then down then up is the emotional journey of each half of the vidshow and I picked vids to build that emotional journey. TA-DAH. Saved you 6600 words of text. Hee.
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