Vidding with Challenging Source
You'll have to forgive me, I've been thinking about video editing at work again. You see, when I work the dayshift on the weekends the hours can drag on seemingly without end and it gets really quiet and really really boring. Envision the movie Clerks without all the interesting people. Interesting people only seem to visit our store during week night shifts. So there I am most Sundays, having done as much unnecessary busy work as any one person can stand, leaning on the register, video editing in my head. It's how I manage to stay sane.
Today I was considering the unviddable source. The kind of thing we look at and tell ourselves, 'I want to, but I can't, because it would suck!'
When that thought appears in our heads, I think we should give ourselves a patented Gibbs (NCIS) slap to the back of the head. There is no such thing as an unviddable source. There are only sources with severe limitations. And this is just some of my rambling and unedited (is there any other way with me?) thoughts on that. Feel free to skip.
A few examples of challenging source:
Real Person (sometimes poor quality, can be photo-centric, no cleary storyline or character arc, so no embedded context)
House M.D., Stargate Atlantis (lots of talky-face, a certain same-ness about much of the source)
Sitcoms (more talky-face than not, static camera, uninteresting visually)
Movies (limited source)
Doctor Who (OH MY WOW TOO MUCH SOURCEwhatclipsdoipick?)
Nasa/Space Exploration (news reel/documentary focused correct?, can be distancing to the audience)
Anime (lack of active source)
... the list goes on
The point is, despite challenges, all of these sources have been vidded and vidded WELL, and they each bring their own unique advantages to the table to provide a counterweight. For instance, can you imagine anything more interesting visually than space exploration? Or more geared toward an open audience than a video about a real, widely known person?
To put in my own two cents, the sources I've found most challenging were Real Person & Sitcom vidding. Depending on the amount of source available for the RP vids, I've found that there needs to be a thread pulling everything in the video together and supplying context for the audience so that it isn't just a bunch of random images/clips thrown together set to a song. In Documentary, that thread was the 'recorded relationship', in Gone it was the concept of Justin singing TO JC redefining the meaning of the original music video, in Bohemian Like You, it was the JOY OF JARED (for real, that was the entire point of that video). Your best bet for RP vidding is probably to approach the video with a simple concept and then use every tool in your arsenal to make the weight, especially if you're working with a severe lack of video. The simplicity of your initial statement might be what allows your audience through the front door to read deeper where no context actually exists. Know what you want to say with your video and then say it, and the audience will have more of a chance to view the video in a way they might view a tv show based video where there would be more instinctive associations to be made.
To be honest, I have mixed feelings about my own RPS vids. I think they're highly flawed, but I still really enjoy watching them. That might just be my own angst working itself out there.
Sitcom vidding is another beast. In some ways, it's a lot like vidding anime. The audience participates in the world through a static eye for the majority of the time. TALKY FACE. The angles are often boring and repetitive so that clips run together shapelessly (Farscape has some of these issues, correct? What with the environment and the outfits staying much the same?) To combat that, when I vidded Life With Derek (yes, yes, I know, but honestly, FUN) I took advantage of the somewhat psychotic internal motion it supplied to keep my video active and hopefully interesting to the viewer. Talky-face still managed to squeeze itself in there at some points, but I managed to keep it to a bare minimum. In many sitcoms there's quite a bit of physical comedy so there's always that manic energy to draw from and jazz up your otherwise flat video.
Those are just examples of how I looked at a couple somewhat difficult sources.
Many of you may find none of these things difficult, or enjoy a different approach to vidding than I do, but I want to hear about it. I want to know what you find challenging about your source, your fandom, and the steps you've taken to overcome those issues. How do you feel about that video now? Anything you feel like adding, feel free. I just couldn't stop myself from scribbling this down at work today.
Have some recs from some tough-source fandoms:
Toxic by TheJumpCut (Frank/Gerard, MCR, Real Person Slash)
I Could Be There For You by proofpudding (Friends, Rachel/Chandler)
Be Somebody (NCIS, Tony) by Tearful Eye
Circles (Starsky & Hutch) by Giandujakiss
That's All (Due South, Ray/Ray) by sdwolfpup
Phobic (One Tree Hill, Brooke/Peyton) by Katie
Bukowski (House, House/Wilson) by astolat
These vids each overcome different issues with their source. SDwolfpup's, just as an example, is a video for a pairing of guys who are rarely seen on screen together. AND IT IS AWESOME. Feel free to recommend some examples of overcoming-the-odds-type-vids yourself.
Today I was considering the unviddable source. The kind of thing we look at and tell ourselves, 'I want to, but I can't, because it would suck!'
When that thought appears in our heads, I think we should give ourselves a patented Gibbs (NCIS) slap to the back of the head. There is no such thing as an unviddable source. There are only sources with severe limitations. And this is just some of my rambling and unedited (is there any other way with me?) thoughts on that. Feel free to skip.
A few examples of challenging source:
Real Person (sometimes poor quality, can be photo-centric, no cleary storyline or character arc, so no embedded context)
House M.D., Stargate Atlantis (lots of talky-face, a certain same-ness about much of the source)
Sitcoms (more talky-face than not, static camera, uninteresting visually)
Movies (limited source)
Doctor Who (OH MY WOW TOO MUCH SOURCEwhatclipsdoipick?)
Nasa/Space Exploration (news reel/documentary focused correct?, can be distancing to the audience)
Anime (lack of active source)
... the list goes on
The point is, despite challenges, all of these sources have been vidded and vidded WELL, and they each bring their own unique advantages to the table to provide a counterweight. For instance, can you imagine anything more interesting visually than space exploration? Or more geared toward an open audience than a video about a real, widely known person?
To put in my own two cents, the sources I've found most challenging were Real Person & Sitcom vidding. Depending on the amount of source available for the RP vids, I've found that there needs to be a thread pulling everything in the video together and supplying context for the audience so that it isn't just a bunch of random images/clips thrown together set to a song. In Documentary, that thread was the 'recorded relationship', in Gone it was the concept of Justin singing TO JC redefining the meaning of the original music video, in Bohemian Like You, it was the JOY OF JARED (for real, that was the entire point of that video). Your best bet for RP vidding is probably to approach the video with a simple concept and then use every tool in your arsenal to make the weight, especially if you're working with a severe lack of video. The simplicity of your initial statement might be what allows your audience through the front door to read deeper where no context actually exists. Know what you want to say with your video and then say it, and the audience will have more of a chance to view the video in a way they might view a tv show based video where there would be more instinctive associations to be made.
To be honest, I have mixed feelings about my own RPS vids. I think they're highly flawed, but I still really enjoy watching them. That might just be my own angst working itself out there.
Sitcom vidding is another beast. In some ways, it's a lot like vidding anime. The audience participates in the world through a static eye for the majority of the time. TALKY FACE. The angles are often boring and repetitive so that clips run together shapelessly (Farscape has some of these issues, correct? What with the environment and the outfits staying much the same?) To combat that, when I vidded Life With Derek (yes, yes, I know, but honestly, FUN) I took advantage of the somewhat psychotic internal motion it supplied to keep my video active and hopefully interesting to the viewer. Talky-face still managed to squeeze itself in there at some points, but I managed to keep it to a bare minimum. In many sitcoms there's quite a bit of physical comedy so there's always that manic energy to draw from and jazz up your otherwise flat video.
Those are just examples of how I looked at a couple somewhat difficult sources.
Many of you may find none of these things difficult, or enjoy a different approach to vidding than I do, but I want to hear about it. I want to know what you find challenging about your source, your fandom, and the steps you've taken to overcome those issues. How do you feel about that video now? Anything you feel like adding, feel free. I just couldn't stop myself from scribbling this down at work today.
Have some recs from some tough-source fandoms:
Toxic by TheJumpCut (Frank/Gerard, MCR, Real Person Slash)
I Could Be There For You by proofpudding (Friends, Rachel/Chandler)
Be Somebody (NCIS, Tony) by Tearful Eye
Circles (Starsky & Hutch) by Giandujakiss
That's All (Due South, Ray/Ray) by sdwolfpup
Phobic (One Tree Hill, Brooke/Peyton) by Katie
Bukowski (House, House/Wilson) by astolat
These vids each overcome different issues with their source. SDwolfpup's, just as an example, is a video for a pairing of guys who are rarely seen on screen together. AND IT IS AWESOME. Feel free to recommend some examples of overcoming-the-odds-type-vids yourself.