Vidding Thoughts of the Day
I have been thinking quite a lot lately about context in vidding. Specifically, how much should you rely on context when making a vid?
The video that I am working on right now is giving me a lot of trouble. Not because the concept is difficult or because the tech is out of my league; simply because I am having a very hard time finding the right source clips (or even enough source clips). I keep having to go back and rewatch the episodes over and over looking for anything I might be able to use, because there are still blank spots on the timeline that are mocking me and I swear there is absolutely nothing that will work there. And last night, I had a breakthrough. I realized why I was stumbling: I am obsessed with trying to include as many context-free clips as possible. And when you're only keeping your eye out for the big flashy moments that are perfect visual representatives of a certain line or phrase, you tend to miss the smaller, quieter moments that may not look as good visually but carry a lot more meaning.
Here's an example to illustrate what I'm talking about. (And I'm having to make this one up off the top of my head because I'm having a brain fart and can't think of any actual examples to use; my apologies.) Let's say you're making a video, and one of the lines in the song is something like, "I'll show you that I love you". (Okay, so maybe it's a shipper vid. Shut up.) And you're trying to decide which of two clips you want to use on that line. The first clip shows two people hugging. It's not necessarily from an emotional or important moment in the series; maybe they're just hugging briefly in passing. But the visual image definitely reflects the sentiment in the lyric, and it's a clip that everyone can understand, whether they've seen the show or not. The second clip is more subtle; in it, the first person does something like ... oh, I don't know ... lay a flower on the other person's pillow. And this is a HUGE moment in the series, and has all sorts of deep sentimental meaning, and any fan of the show who watches this vid is going to be all "oh! the flower on the pillow! sob!" But someone who is unfamiliar with the event will just be sitting there thinking "... the hell? I don't get it." So, which clip do you choose?
I can tell you what I would choose. I would instinctively go with the hug every time. And not because I think it's always the right choice, or because I believe the video would be better for it. I think it's due to this weird fear that I have of limiting my audience in any way. I want as many people as possible to be able to watch and appreciate my vids. Plus, pretty visuals are well within my comfort zone. I know how to do pretty visuals. I enjoy pretty visuals. Metaphor and meaning and depth and insightfulness, on the other hand, are scary to me because they don't come naturally. I am one of those people who really has to work hard in order to move past a superficial understanding of a book or movie or vid or, well, anything. It's difficult to step outside your comfort zone, especially when you doubt your abilities and are afraid that your attempt at insight will only wind up as incoherence. I would like to be the kind of vidder that is able to not only choose the flower on the pillow, but also use that clip to actually say something interesting instead of taking the "whee, pretty people!" recruiter-vid approach.
And the above statement appears to suggest that contextual vids are always "better" than context-free ones, which I don't think is true. They both have their place, and both types are enjoyable. And I also don't think that you always have to choose between depth and attractiveness; I've seen plenty of vids that are both meaningful and visually interesting. But occasionally a vidder is forced to sacrifice one for the sake of the other, or to decide what size and type of audience to play to. And I guess the whole point of my little ramble is that while I am comfortable with Option A: The Pretty, I haven't yet mastered Option B: The Layers.
"Happy Girl", for example, is nearly 100% context-free. Anyone can watch it and understand it even if they've never seen a single episode of BtVS. And I lovelovelove the fact that it can appeal to a wide audience. But, at the same time, it's not really the type of vid that you sit and ponder after you've watched it. It's very simple, very superficial. When it's over, you move on. "Reasons Why", on the other hand, has a bit of depth and meaning to it, and attempts to examine a character's state of mind in greater detail than what the show actually gave us. And I should be proud of that. I should be impressed with myself for managing to create something that goes beyond the superficial (or tries to, anyway; maybe it didn't work and I completely failed in getting my point across - if so, hey, live and learn). But every time I watch this vid, I cringe. Well, I do so for many reasons; mostly because it was only my second video and I made a shitload of mistakes, chief among them being that I had NO CLUE what to do with instrumental sections of music. But I digress. I cringe because anyone who watches this vid without having seen the entire Willow/Tara arc is going to be lost and confused. The flashes of Glory and Mr. Maclay don't in and of themselves reveal their importance to Tara or their place in the story; you have to know the show in order to understand. And I know, intellectually, that if I remade this video to be more appealing to the masses, it would lose a great deal of its depth and power, and I would wind up with a lesser vid. I know this. And yet it still bugs me.
And now that I have rambled on and on and on, I've forgotten what my point was. Or if I even had a point to begin with. Anyone out there have any thoughts on context in vidding? Maybe you can help me make sense of all this.
Edit: Thanks so much to everyone who commented! You all said very smart and interesting things, and I will reply to all of you, I promise. It might take a while, because I am trying to deal with about 5 different things right now, plus I want to mull over some of the things that were said, plus I write very slowly and it can sometimes take me up to an hour to get out a single paragraph. But you will get a response eventually. :)
The video that I am working on right now is giving me a lot of trouble. Not because the concept is difficult or because the tech is out of my league; simply because I am having a very hard time finding the right source clips (or even enough source clips). I keep having to go back and rewatch the episodes over and over looking for anything I might be able to use, because there are still blank spots on the timeline that are mocking me and I swear there is absolutely nothing that will work there. And last night, I had a breakthrough. I realized why I was stumbling: I am obsessed with trying to include as many context-free clips as possible. And when you're only keeping your eye out for the big flashy moments that are perfect visual representatives of a certain line or phrase, you tend to miss the smaller, quieter moments that may not look as good visually but carry a lot more meaning.
Here's an example to illustrate what I'm talking about. (And I'm having to make this one up off the top of my head because I'm having a brain fart and can't think of any actual examples to use; my apologies.) Let's say you're making a video, and one of the lines in the song is something like, "I'll show you that I love you". (Okay, so maybe it's a shipper vid. Shut up.) And you're trying to decide which of two clips you want to use on that line. The first clip shows two people hugging. It's not necessarily from an emotional or important moment in the series; maybe they're just hugging briefly in passing. But the visual image definitely reflects the sentiment in the lyric, and it's a clip that everyone can understand, whether they've seen the show or not. The second clip is more subtle; in it, the first person does something like ... oh, I don't know ... lay a flower on the other person's pillow. And this is a HUGE moment in the series, and has all sorts of deep sentimental meaning, and any fan of the show who watches this vid is going to be all "oh! the flower on the pillow! sob!" But someone who is unfamiliar with the event will just be sitting there thinking "... the hell? I don't get it." So, which clip do you choose?
I can tell you what I would choose. I would instinctively go with the hug every time. And not because I think it's always the right choice, or because I believe the video would be better for it. I think it's due to this weird fear that I have of limiting my audience in any way. I want as many people as possible to be able to watch and appreciate my vids. Plus, pretty visuals are well within my comfort zone. I know how to do pretty visuals. I enjoy pretty visuals. Metaphor and meaning and depth and insightfulness, on the other hand, are scary to me because they don't come naturally. I am one of those people who really has to work hard in order to move past a superficial understanding of a book or movie or vid or, well, anything. It's difficult to step outside your comfort zone, especially when you doubt your abilities and are afraid that your attempt at insight will only wind up as incoherence. I would like to be the kind of vidder that is able to not only choose the flower on the pillow, but also use that clip to actually say something interesting instead of taking the "whee, pretty people!" recruiter-vid approach.
And the above statement appears to suggest that contextual vids are always "better" than context-free ones, which I don't think is true. They both have their place, and both types are enjoyable. And I also don't think that you always have to choose between depth and attractiveness; I've seen plenty of vids that are both meaningful and visually interesting. But occasionally a vidder is forced to sacrifice one for the sake of the other, or to decide what size and type of audience to play to. And I guess the whole point of my little ramble is that while I am comfortable with Option A: The Pretty, I haven't yet mastered Option B: The Layers.
"Happy Girl", for example, is nearly 100% context-free. Anyone can watch it and understand it even if they've never seen a single episode of BtVS. And I lovelovelove the fact that it can appeal to a wide audience. But, at the same time, it's not really the type of vid that you sit and ponder after you've watched it. It's very simple, very superficial. When it's over, you move on. "Reasons Why", on the other hand, has a bit of depth and meaning to it, and attempts to examine a character's state of mind in greater detail than what the show actually gave us. And I should be proud of that. I should be impressed with myself for managing to create something that goes beyond the superficial (or tries to, anyway; maybe it didn't work and I completely failed in getting my point across - if so, hey, live and learn). But every time I watch this vid, I cringe. Well, I do so for many reasons; mostly because it was only my second video and I made a shitload of mistakes, chief among them being that I had NO CLUE what to do with instrumental sections of music. But I digress. I cringe because anyone who watches this vid without having seen the entire Willow/Tara arc is going to be lost and confused. The flashes of Glory and Mr. Maclay don't in and of themselves reveal their importance to Tara or their place in the story; you have to know the show in order to understand. And I know, intellectually, that if I remade this video to be more appealing to the masses, it would lose a great deal of its depth and power, and I would wind up with a lesser vid. I know this. And yet it still bugs me.
And now that I have rambled on and on and on, I've forgotten what my point was. Or if I even had a point to begin with. Anyone out there have any thoughts on context in vidding? Maybe you can help me make sense of all this.
Edit: Thanks so much to everyone who commented! You all said very smart and interesting things, and I will reply to all of you, I promise. It might take a while, because I am trying to deal with about 5 different things right now, plus I want to mull over some of the things that were said, plus I write very slowly and it can sometimes take me up to an hour to get out a single paragraph. But you will get a response eventually. :)