Interview Series 2011: Astarte - Part 1

Oct 17, 2011 20:14

Between now and the 25th I'll be posting the results of the Interview Series, with a different vidder featured every second night. All questions posed to the vidders were submitted by you, the members of the community; and though several questions were addressed to all vidders taking part, there are a few specific to each individual vidder as well.

Additional questions, as well as discussion is welcome in the comment section; however, the interviewed vidders are under no obligation to respond, or to respond in a timely manner. Any questions on additional interviews or the Series as a whole can be directed to me at death_is_your_art (at) yahoo (dot) ca.

Special thank you to Astarte for providing all her own screencaps and saving me a ton of work, and to Xandra for helping out with this interview.

Vidding name: Astarte
Vidding since: End of 2001
First vid and source: Runaway for Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel the Series
Most recent vid and source: He lied about death for The X Files
Total number of vids to date: ~76
Link to vids: Vid Masterlist

How did you first become a vidder? How did you find out about vidding and did you start on your own or with a partner/teacher?

I vidded my favorite shows in my head long before I knew what vidding was. When I discovered my first The X Files fanvid my instant reaction was, 'Of course, people are doing this', followed by the thought, 'I want to do that too.' But the technical backlog seemed too daunting for me, so I watched these little 5MB vids that took twenty minutes to download, obsessively. I further investigated this whole vidding thing when I had a flat rate, and a friend pointed me toward Adobe Premiere 6.0. I opened the program took a look around for twenty minutes and then closed it dishearten for months. Although I kept an eye on all vidding guides I found.

When I decided to try again I was in the Angel/Buffy fandom and had some clips on my hard drive. The result was Runaway - It was gloriously bad, but I remember the feeling of accomplishment I had, when I first watched scenes set to music I chose. When the timing of some cuts hit right, I was giddy. The thrill was great; all these possibilities, so when my vid was finished I instantly started the next one. Looking back I'm so happy I started out in the gold rush era; technology was changing constantly. People tried crazy stuff and I didn't feel the need to be perfect, all I had to do was try to be good.





Do different things tend to trigger your desire to make a vid, or does it tend to be something similar each time? What's your main source of inspiration?

The similarity for every vid is the exhilarating thought that, 'This character is so cool - I have to vid him/her/it.' It doesn't matter if it is an arc or couple that sets me off, but a switch is suddenly on and I'm really excited to explore a concept. I love to enhance my perspective and distill it down into vid form. It's an adventure to dive into a vid and to dig out the connections I can feel lurking underneath the surface, sometimes looming large and sometimes hidden deep within.

First thing would be that I want to get the love out of my system. Vidding gives me a clearer insight. It helps me figure out why something works for me, on several levels. Approaching a character from a vidding angle is up close and personal. My viewpoint is grounded in canon, but I aim that it becomes something else - something more. If the vid is good, then it becomes a declaration that can stand on its own.




Second source of inspiration is just talking with xandra-ptv about shows or fics, especially for older fandoms. She often has other favorites in ensemble shows and motivates me to rethink my stance. She gives me insight into characters or issues I didn't reflect about back then [with older shows], because frankly I didn't care. This leads to challenges, because we want to see something we know the other can deliver. And new vids for old fandoms is always a win-win, particularly when I work with concepts I know I wouldn't have thought of back then.




Third, and my favorite kind of inspiration, is a song I stumble over and that immediately takes over my brain. Or listening to music and suddenly a song transforms and is all about character X. Working out why and how is a great experience. It is so much easier if a song inspires a video idea or fits a character arc - my mind instantly flashes through scenes and shots I can use.




Once you have been inspired, what's the first aspect of a vid that comes to you? Is it the visuals of the source? The song edit? The colors? Something else?

The mood - I try to settle for one. The atmosphere I want to create in a vid regularly comes before I have a song. I tend to have a clear idea which scenes I want to incorporate and that includes coloration, if I want to do something elaborate. It's hard to explain to non-vidders, the way my brain arranges the remembered visuals into the first draft of a vid. I really enjoy working out the connection between the song and the character, especially mood swings and how to make audio/viusal into a coherent piece.




How about your preferred editorial process? Is it highly regimented with the same steps taken each time, or more of an organic process?

My prep work for getting the footage ready for Premiere is always the same strict routine. I went through several methods, given that I'm vidding for what feels like forever. Since 2007 I use the one explained in 'A& E guides to all things audio and video (v3)'. Because it solves Premiere's fickle issues with codecs once and for all. Example scripts are here. I don't stray from how I set up the project itself.

On the other hand the editorial process itself feels very organic. I like to keep the first 15 seconds free, or up to the point when the lyrics start, and fill them in while I go. I often edit non-linear, choosing sections to work on that appeal to me on that specific day. Vidding for me has a lot in common with a jigsaw puzzle. The more complex it gets the harder it becomes to keep the big picture in mind. 'Wood and Nails' or 'Clear the area' are vids with a lot of pieces and muted colors, 'Thought that you would be' or 'All Star' are not so intricate, but still fun. The jigsaw analogy especially holds true, when it comes to the end of a project, when everything clicks into place and suddenly I'm part of the audience and no longer in the editing room.




Are there any books, websites, magazines, or other resources that you've used during vidding?

I would strongly recommend reading the AMV guides, but for live action vidding especially 'A& E guides to all things audio and video (v3)'. It is a must read to understand the technical aspect of vidding. There is no way to digest all this information in one sitting, so I kept coming back to it while trying to figure out avisynth. Actually I saved the guide in my vid folder, if I run into some strange footage I run back to it like a helpless child. Same is true for the AMV forums; the search function often saved me from a headache, while trying to solve a problem. I keep an eye on the doom9 forums, especially Avisynth Usage and Development. They often use screencaps as examples to see a filter in action. Avisynth Wiki can also help, if you are totally confused by the basic definition of denoisers or other functions.

What is your planning process like? Do you visualize with storyboard drawings, write out notes, or something else? Do you start with the music/lyrics/concept/atmosphere?

Concept leads to atmosphere then music to lyrics. I don't storyboard or write down notes, since my first year of vidding I kept ignoring them in favor of a more organic approach. Besides, I don't forget why I chose to vid a song in the first place. The key scenes remain in my head, but I'm prone to use them in different places than I first imagined, because the build-up might be more detailed or they are too literal. I have to confess that my planning process is done not in a conscious matter. I rely a lot on instinct, and couldn't explain why one scene looks out of place and needs changing when laid down on the timeline. I just know it does.




What factors contribute to the design decisions when creating titles for your vids? Are they determined just from qualities inherent to the source or are there outside influences?

In a few of my earliest vids I used really bad collages as titles, which didn't look any good once the shiny feel of a new vid wore off. Xandra giggles whenever she recalls them and I cringe, because she is right - they look completely ridiculous. I became cautious after that fiasco and kept my titles very simple. An overlay or crossfade is my usual way of doing them. They are very basic Photoshop results; I default to white/grey on black with a font that suits the feel of the vid or a crossfade into the title card. Everything else you might have seen in a video of mine -- pretty much everything animated or that looked like something out of After Effects -- was Xandra's doing.




Do you have formal artistic training? You have such an incredible sense of composition. One of the most successful aspects of your vids is the way that you direct the eye within the frame. Is that something you're conscious of?

No, no artistic training besides highschool art classes, more learning by doing things wrong. I did go crazy and used an awful lot of fades and overlays when I discovered them. In 'Ice' and 'Crucify' I went totally overboard with them. I did wonder why some compositions looked good and others were a complete mess. Figuring out why they worked did take some contemplation. My composition is set up on an intuitive level. By now I notice when something is off with the flow or a face pops out from a corner that is already too busy and I normally know how to fix it. I don't truly consider why I flip clips horizontal or zoom into a part of the frame. If I don't see a solution to smooth things over, I switch scenes, if I have another valid choice.





So my basic rule is: where do you expect the next movement in the frame? It's not directing the eye and more about being aware of the scope and the viewer's anticipation. But other, often obvious lessons, did refine my vidding style over time and I try to be conscious of them, even if they don't always apply.

1. 'Crazy Beautiful' reinforced to avoid 4:3. It has this very tight focus in the middle and there isn't much room to play around. Older seasons of shows like TXF or AtS/BtVS also look less dated in 16:9. Today's viewers are used to widescreen, if you don't want to cultivate that feeling of nostalgia reconsider 16:9.





2. Cropping is one of the most important tools in icon making and it plays a large role in vidding as well. Sometimes a scene looks more refined, if you zoom in and you can easily shift the focus to the things you want to highlight.




3. Transitions look better, if you have an unoccupied space in the frame to introduce them to. The scenes interweave more seamless and elegant. The shift is more natural from one subject to another.




4. Sometimes I force this by adding a dark mask to get rid of distracting backgrounds. It's easy to do with night shots or shadows. (I export a frame from the middle of the crossfade, in which I see both layers and import the frame into Photoshop. There I add a new layer and paint with a big black brush with soft edges over the distracting part. Saving the PS project and then import only the layer I painted on into Premiere. The layer order should be layer 1 - clip with the distracting background, layer 2 - the dark mask, layer 3 - the second clip. Depending on the footage, I either overlay the clip completely, so the viewer never knows that something was in the way of the clean transition; or I time the dark mask slightly ahead of the crossfade, so it seems like an expanding shadow.)




5. Lights, explosions, effects and close ups of signs or objects are a great; especially for crossfades. The B-crew or the special effect department often come up with marvelous shots. Use them; they add something in my opinion and they rarely distract from a close-up character shot, and instead embed it deeper into the context of the source.




6. Eyes focus on motion and light in a frame.




7. The contrast of long distance and close-up typically gets good results.




8. Use the original motion -- a character turning, or a face going in or out of a frame -- in crossfades.




9. Eyes follow motion, so it is generally better to keep the direction of a spin.




10. Except when it's not. This one depends entirely on your clips, but it can look amazing when you change the direction. It has a vertigo effect in fast paced songs and it really punches the beat home sometimes.

Can you give us examples of other art (pro-music videos, movies, painting, sculpture, etc.. that has had a major influence on your work?

This might sound cheesy, but I always loved music videos that were part of the soundtrack of a movie. This was a decade before I knew what vidding was. Madonna's videos were also something I looked forward to, because she pushed the envelope and they were beautifully shot and very innovative.

I did take notice of Quentin Tarrantino's style, and how he worked songs into his films and made them part of the story. 'The Crow' had this dark style that felt unique and epic for me. I adored the cuts and details in 'Se7en' and 'Fight Club' - gritty and yet very clean. 'Bad Boys' felt like a music video at the time, because of the way the camera moved and circled. 'Matrix' did influence the whole genre. Sitting in the cinema I was in complete awe, how it played with speeding up and slowing down the footage and made it instrumental to the action.

What brings you the most satisfaction about vidding? Seeing the final piece onscreen? Or is it the process that brings you joy?

The process to get to the video is awesome, but seeing the final export is pure self-gratification. The weird moment when I know a vid is finished. Done. It is this click in my brain, the light switch going off. Leaving the editing room and joining the audience, because I love the story that evolves before my eyes enough to share it and I can’t be bothered with a retake, when all I want is the popcorn and making out in the back row with Xandra.

What has been your single most rewarding moment as a vidder?

Creativity isn't something you can force, but I have to say that the first sequence of 'To be a Ghost' with the first tentative put in alpha masks ranks very high on this list. The 'OMFG! I can't believe this works!' was said out loud and I never mutter to myself while I vid. The feeling of 'Look at this beauty!' was followed by 'I've got to redo the whole vid, who cares.' I suddenly had the room to add all the scenes I wanted, this was perfection and a vidder dream come true.




On the opposite side, do you feel like you've ever failed at executing a vid idea, why?

There are usually parts in every vid that I either feel indifferent about or don't like. There is a balance between obsessing over things most viewers won't notice and letting a vid go. It depends on how annoyed I am with my inability to gloss over a perceived fault. It usually has something to do with the flow and that is very subjective. If I'm not able to fix the flaw and I tried several things, I might let the best solution stand. When I watch a vid I made five, or even nine years ago, I can still pick out the places I had to nod in resignation and give up. Even in vids I worked months on, there are scenes that could have looked better, but I had no idea how.

I think a big part of the feeling that you've failed as vidder is recognizing the fact that there is a more elegant execution possible. The possibility alone is sometimes enough to drive oneself crazy. But I'm not sure if I ever posted a vid that I felt I failed. I did pull the emergency brake on three or four vids early in the project. Although I would write it down to not being passionate enough about the idea in the first place. There are a plenty of projects I needed to take some time off to actually finish. Going at them again a few months later with fresh eyes helped me figure out what didn't work and overcome my frustrations.




What was the hardest vid (for whatever reason--technical, emotional, timing, etc.) that you have made? How did you persevere? Were you happy with it in the end?

Some vids have the power to break us, nothing rational or exceptional about them. They just do, because we are sensitive artists, if Xandra is to be believed. 'Overflowing' immediately comes to mind. It was a wedding gift for Charmax and should have been a happy vid for the occasion. I knew she adored Joanie and the song, but boy, did I despair while vidding. I was already in a vidding funk and this vid kicked me in so deep I lost my way out. I was going against the source and my instincts which resulted in more whining at Xandra than actual vidding. She tried the true and tested method of ass-kicking and then just said that I should give up and do another vid.

I did push through, because in my mind it was the perfect mix of song and source for the gift I had in mind. I wanted to vid it so bad, I could taste it. The concept was so fucking simple I should have been able to sleepwalk through it. So I wouldn't let a slight inconvenience like me freezing up every time I opened the Premiere project stand in the way. Oh, and I was happy with it in the end. So happy I didn't vid for the rest of 2008, instead I went back to writing, and I let 2009 go by the same way.




What dragged me back at the beginning of 2010 was a sweet idea for a Jo tribute for Supernatural. I made it a fast one and took almost the rest of the year off to make icons. I thought about vidding in this hiatus and I did vid, but couldn't finish anything. Xandra tried to lure me back in several times with various success rates. I stare at 'Those Days' and how I just couldn't push through at that time. In the end, the pendulum swung back with Darla's 'Bite you'. My reasons for doing it were trivial, the song was fun, so it became all about stretching my wings and trying to find my roots in one go. I conquered Deadwoods Jane/Joanie with 'Angels would fall' for a 48hour pinch hit for festivids. Both videos made me realize a lot of things. Mostly that vidding isn't rocket science, nothing bad happens when you crash and burn a half-finished vid idea into the ground and that you can always rely on old fandoms to fuel you back into the vidding orbit of things.

Notes from Xandra: This is why I tell you never to promise anything... if no one knows you're working on something you haven't really failed. But then again sometimes you're just stuck and need some bullying, or sex.




Are there vids that you have ideas for that you're putting off vidding? What are your reasons for not making it?

I recently took out my to-do-list from back then and did 'Thought that you would be' just because I could. It took me two days to vid the idea, when I know that it would at least have taken me three or four weeks back then, if not longer. This list is filled with concepts that would be cool, but I wasn't interested enough to pursue them, or I was in the middle of another more challenging or time-consuming project. So for whatever reason they landed on that list instead of me vidding them immediately? They are usually thought out enough to make quick work of them. So I plan to keep coming back, whenever I'm bored or my muse refuses to play nicely.

My newer procrastination installment is my 'To vid or not to vid' playlist. This folder is filled with songs for subjects I don't feel so fannish about. Mostly the music would work beautifully for a source, so I want to keep the idea on my radar. Searching for the recent 'One vid per season'-challenge made me add a lot of songs that I would like to come back to once I have that big project out of my way. My main reason to not immediately vid an idea is always lack of passion. If something hits me square between the eyes there is no way in hell I will put off an idea and not work on it in some form, even when it is just in my head to mainline the scenes I want to use.




Do you have any project idea that were never used that you would like to share with us?

One I might never do is 'Before you dead' by Kidney Thieves for Cordelia from Angel. This one would be a lot more like my fanfics and I know that it would rely profoundly on external source. Plus it would be deliciously dark and fucked-up. The challenge this one presents itself is teasing me with the bad odds of pulling it off. But I don't think I have enough footage of Cordelia to make it work in the way I imagine it.

Can you talk about your Apocalypse vid "How Far We've Come"? How did the idea for the vid come about, how were fandoms chosen, what was the process of making it like, and how do you feel about the final result?

Anybody expecting careful scheming, doesn't know how Xandra and I click together. Xandra could deliver the IM transcript from the conception of the idea, till we posted it on LJ. There are missing parts, because she switched PCs. Some confusion remains when we decided on additional fandoms. For anyone not interested to read through several pages of half-formed sentences, let's break it down.

After we finished 'Those Days', Xandra and I instantly wanted to do another collaboration. So we started our game of throwing songs at each other till something sticks. In this case it was 'How far we've come' attached to the apocalypse theme. Going mentally through the shows featuring an apocalypse of some sort brought up a unsurprising long list - we love sci-fi-shows. We settled on who gets which part of the song with timestamps without a big fight.

Actually reading through this transcript I have to admit I don't know how we do it, because it seems perfectly clear to us, who gets what without a word to explain it to the other. So obviously we know each other's head space alarmingly well. Xandra started to vid, I set up my project and prepared some additional footage, while waiting on the first draft to arrive from her, and in the meantime I sorted out my part. The vidding itself became a blur. Two days later we were done; from start and to finish the project lasted three days. I still watch the vid with amazement and wonder, how we did it. Because seriously? This was insane.




Notes from Xandra: I was so proud of you for this one, love. So my thoughts on this vid, since I did come up with the theme and song, was a very clear cut meta theme. For the record I let you have a lot of leeway with it and it still hurts my OCD brain that you did, and you were vidding so fast. But it was APOCALYPSE, A-P-O-C-A-L-Y-P-S-E! END OF THE WORLD! NOT, oh were in a battle again! Merlin! Really! You just can't help yourself can you? And you couldn't even justify it well through plot! You did so well with the verse you had to mesh, but you always go back to your old ways when your finishing out the vid. But I can forgive you because you have the other half of my brain and I love you.
P.S. those of you reading the transcript, I make no apologies for my horrible spelling/grammar thing.

Afteredit: I did justify it awesomely. Just because we know the world won't end, doesn't mean Arthur and Merlin know it. And there was a real threat of the end of their world, so yeah, I would like to object.




You've recently started a project in which you make a vid per season of the X-Files. What are the goals of this project? What have you been learning from it? Are you using the source differently since you are limiting how much you can use per vid?

Xandra being my vidding muse had to put up with a lot of random TXF-observations while I vidded 'Matches to Paper Dolls'. Some of them containing my bewilderment about the whole emotional range these two characters went through. The traumas each season contained, or horrors of one episode. There were so many moments I plain forgot about. Not small ones, but important ones that were later topped in more horrible and sad ways, because Mulder and Scully went through hell together. Just like Supernatural only over a decade earlier.

So my surface thinking was along the lines of what would happen if the show was airing now, and how vidders would be all over these wonderful scenes and cherish them and work them into vids. I mean it was evident that one season of TXF could easily fill a vid. Two leads and the focus on them all the time? There was nothing to distract from their story. And I had Xandra there to tell her: 'We should do a 'one vid per season'-challenge for Scully and Mulder.' And she answered, 'Yeah, we should.'




TXF was the first show, Xandra and I felt truly fanish about and obsessed over, and not remembering all ep titles instantly is a sad state of affairs. We are not aiming to relearn them all, but we want to make each season shine. The whole concept of this challenge is to use the source differently, to bring out all dazzling little moments that got swept away in the tidal wave of big events later on. It actually feels very liberating with TXF to vid one season, because you don't have the whole backlog of nine seasons and two movies to worry about. One season seems very manageable compared to that black hole of emotions you get sucked into when vidding TXF otherwise. So we can really dive into character arcs and let them build up, instead of using that iconic scene or that hint at the whole plot.

Notes from Xandra: 'Tell the truth'-time, I listen to a lot of Astarte's crazy ideas and just say "yes dear". I never thought we'd actually do this when she brought it up. It was just one of the random vidding ideas she had, but she kept talking about it and talking about it, and dread went over me. But then I found a song first and jumped right in, and now I have this compulsive need to beat her. But she's no fun, I'm already thinking out my s5 vid and she hasn't even started 4! I mean come on, I gave you back Scully! But really this challenge gives us a chance to look at these seasons anew. Do you people have any idea how hard it was to vid Mulder first season without having the "Samantha is abducted" sequences! Also being seasonal you don't have to take anything else into account, and really delve into the smaller character issues. Licks and kisses.




When using source that you've vidded many times before, do you try new ways of working with the footage to make it feel fresh?

If you come back to an old fandom, it feels weirdly fresh for you as vidder. It's peculiar, how you stay attached to a source and how many emotions it has in storage for you. A bit like cleaning out the attic, when you discover your favorite doll or that letter you never sent. As years passed you matured and so did your opinions, you can look back fondly without the drama of living in the moment and that pesky myopic vision. Darla/Lindsey wasn't a pairing that peaked my interest during the show run and I felt pretty indifferent about Willow. So discovering these characters later is cool, because you see them in a new light, or what feels like the very first time.

But coming back to beloved characters is special. The admiration is preserved and you get why this character left such a big impression in your younger self. I'm lucky in a way that I often did shy away from very iconic shots when I first vidded Angel and Buffy, so I don't feel too bad if I use them now. There is a certain nostalgia embedded in them, and I like to cultivate that mood and open up their worlds for viewers.




The couples I come back to are open for several readings and I find it fascinating to create vids that represent this variety. I do try to avoid various aspects when I vid a pairing again, so that it doesn't feel like I'm repeating myself. For example I think that Angel(us)/Wesley in 'Want to', 'Kryptonite' and 'Nothing else matters' are very different animals. One bites, one cuddles, and one is guarding something precious. I don't hold them equal in my affection, but the fluidity is something I love about my favorite pairings.

I talked earlier about vidding being a exquisite tool to express my opinion of a character, but I don't hold just one view and I certainly don't think, that my intention in one vid is the absolute truth. I mean, I know what scenes I cut away, where I lingered and which emotions I sidelined that were also articulated in canon. So revisiting pairings is about expanding my horizon and zooming into another aspect. Vidding at its finest is remixing emotions for me, manipulating the source to my advantage and these moods are fluent. This is the beauty of making subtext into text while vidding: you can end up with so many different interpretations.




Which two or three of your vids would you point to as your most significant attempts to push yourself or try something new?

Feeling Good: It was the first time I tried very hard to manipulate the mood with colorations. The song did scream for some kind of effect and the tints added a meaningful layer to the vid. The effect helped me control emotions; I made certain scenes harsher and others warmer just by adding filters. Even now I associate the colors with the scenes and think something is off with them when I see them in their original form.




Around the corner: Probably not the first vid anyone outside of my head would think of by this question, but for me the obvious answer. I would say it has the single biggest influence on my current vidding style. It was the result of a 48-hour-speed challenge with Charmax, and covers an outsider PoV. Both things were novelties for me, especially the speed was something I feared. Bad habits were broken with it, and I did gain a new perspective after I finished it and had time to ponder the outcome of the challenge. To rely on objects to create atmosphere, and to trust my instincts and the viewer to follow the story through unusual means did shape how I approach themes nowadays. I picked up a lot of stuff I learned with this vid in 'Wood and Nails', and so for me, 'Around the corner' is always a milestone.




To be a Ghost: Well, that is the obvious answer, even when it doesn't feel that way. It was a no-brainer once I realized that I could add the alpha masks in this attention-seeking effect, after Charmax and Xandra gave their approval. I had too much fun playing around with brushes, masks, and all the new room I suddenly gained to even realize that this should be challenging in any way, or that I did push myself over the edge and back with this vid. In fact the only memory I have of this vid was me being completely blissed out on a constant vidding high.




What's the biggest challenge you faced in the vid(s) you've made most recently?

I always try to advance my technique; sadly, I'm also pretty comfortably set. It's a paradox I have to live with. I don't use effects for the effects sake alone, and my latest projects didn't call for something fancy to push me hard in that regard. I really need a shove from an idea to force me into effects; it needs to be done with a purpose in mind. So my reliance on effects might change with the next project or might not, it really depends for me on the concept.

What I found really challenging recently was to have a very precise theme in mind, and then find a song that works with that atmosphere and mood I want to accomplish. I mean finding a song fast, not randomly listening to music for months. It's completely backwards to the way I vidded in the past, when I knew I wanted to vid a character, but had to wait for the right song to come along for him/her on shuffle. Now I have half-formed ideas about where I want to go with a source or a season and to connect this 'work in progress' with a piece of music can be very challenging - in a good way. I feel I own the vid more, the inspiration was before the song, so it reflects my feelings on a show more accurately, because I make the song work for me.

Part 2
Previous post Next post
Up