VividCon 2006 Report - Part 3 (Wherein I'm having too much fun to take notes)
We're on to Saturday! I'm zooming now. I woke up at 8:30 again (no alarms were set all weekend, I would like to point out, I just kept waking up at 8:30) and greensilver and I chatted for a bit about various shows, saying what we were and weren't spoiled for in our first-time viewing of Due South, Farscape, and other shows that had already ended but we're still catching up on. We both got ready and then room service came while we were still gearing up for the day, so we sat on the couch while the cleaning lady worked around us. I thought I had just asked her to empty the trash cans but she ended up doing everything, including changing the sheets. Once we'd finished getting ready, I headed downstairs for the first panel of the day: Comedy. untrue_accounts took excellent notes on the comedy panel, here.
- The same joke needs to be changed slightly to remain funny (familiarity + expectation), hence the ----| drawing
- Structure is important; put the funny part at the end of the "sentence"
- Experiment with audio effects for comedy vids
- Multi-fandom doesn't seem to work unless fandoms are connected in some way (Hot Hot Hot vs. Hair vids)
- Build your joke
- The Rule of Three (again!)
- Try to get fresh betas for each version; or even better, do it in person
- Consider framing to introduce the feel of your vid right away (like opening shot of IWIWAL)
- Expressions in a vid can guide the audience to how they feel
- Use the instrumentation if the visuals are key
- Make the reaction shots big to get the point across
- Hold the joke for laughter (i.e., don't cut out too soon, either)
- Levels of comedy: slapstick; literal; metaphor
After the Comedy panel, I headed for my second volunteer stint, this time as door person for the "God, The Devil, and Bob" vidshow. These reviews may be even more scattered than the rest because of the focus on not wanting to miss the buzzer light going off. It was really sad how intensely I watched that buzzer light, ready to buzz back in response at a moment's notice!
Big Red Boat by Seah and Margie (Joan of Arcadia) - I talked about this vid when I saw it premiere, uh, last year? Anyhow, I still love it. The end puts an enormous grin on my face, and it's very happy-making throughout.
Darkness, Darkness by Jo and Gwyneth (Miracles) - I've also talked about this one before; it's creepy and dark and awesome. I love it.
Wings of Steel by Lithium Doll (Constantine) - I have written here, and I quote: "pretty."
Caught In A Jar by zeneyepirate (Rescue Me) - I knew zen was making a Rescue Me vid, so I was really looking forward to seeing this (and it is, in fact, one of the reasons I volunteered for door person for this show). I am happy to report that I was not disappointed in the slightest. It's a fantastic vid, moving and funny and has a great ending shot.
Dear God by Chris Harshman (Jeremiah) - I loved this vid. Not knowing the show or the song, it still managed to stick out for me through the whole con.
Real or Not by Jo (Brimstone) - I have "humorous" written down for this one. I think it was mostly because of the Devil.
Why by AJ (The Crow) - This vid made great use of still shots. I remember one in particular where he's bent over, and you get the lines of his face transitioning into the next shot, it was really powerful.
Angels by California Crew (Touched By An Angel) - Surprisingly (to me) moving. I enjoyed this.
Saved by tzikeh and snoo (Carnivale) - GAAAH CREEPY. And I'd seen it before, too. Still creepy.
Brothers/Sisters by obsessive 24 (Buffy) - I did not expect to enjoy this vid (it's all about Glory and Ben!), but it was another surprisingly good vid. The vidder had a fresh idea, and while some of the climactic bridge shots I was uncertain about because I felt like they diluted the focus of the vid, overall I was really impressed.
Prayer for the Dying by f1renze (Angels in America) - Another vid I've seen before, which I still like.
Swing Down Chariot by Eunice (Dogma) - I have mad love for this vid, and the song, and how everyone swings. Fabulous.
Next up was the lunch break and I hung around in the con suite until noon and the start of the Mac vidders' lunch. While in the con suite, I ran into anoel and renenet, and gave renenet the lunch ticket which I had foolishly purchased this year, even though I have never actually had need of the lunch ticket before. Maybe next year. Hee. For the Mac vidders lunch, par_avion was awesome and got food for us, and tzikeh showed some of the new vidders how not to be afraid of Final Cut, and the rest of us bitched about upgrading OS and software versions, pondered the actual benefits of having an Intel chip in a Mac, and just generally had a really nice lunch together. I know I learned something, but I didn't ever actually write it down so now it is lost to the mists of time. Darn it.
After lunch was the Professional Inspiration panel, moderated by Melina. She showed clips explaining her points, and we talked about ways to incorporate thematic and technical tricks from professional sources into our fan vids. It was a great panel, but I took nearly useless notes. Here they are anyway.
- Consider multiple music sources for one vid
- Don't use black space fades as a strobe effect
- Set up parallelism early in the vid and then use the clips to comment on each other later
- Keep in mind scale and scope; don't be afraid of wide landscape shots
After that I toddled back over to the Novelty Songs and Tv Themes...On A Plane! vidshow. There were 24 vids in this show, all relatively short, and for every single one of them I would put the following comment: "Really cute/funny/hilarious! I enjoyed it!" This is not meant to disparage any of the vidders or these vids, I really did enjoy them all, but because they were all along this same theme, it's not really worth the space to essentially say the same thing over and over individually. The only one that really stands out because it wasn't funny in any way, though it was still very good, was Emergency at St. Joel Center by janzki.
Next up: the Audio Editing Panel, led by heres_luck. This was another panel I was really looking forward to, and it was especially great to get actual examples of songs that had been cut, as well as songs that had whole verses moved around, especially since they were both songs I knew from h.l's vids. I haven't stumbled on anyone with notes for this panel yet, but when I do, I'll let you know. Here's what I have written down:
- Learn how to take out vocals and use the instrumental portion you need underneath
- To take out vocals, use the center channel extractor. That takes out the sounds in the middle of the range, not the highs and lows. There might be other settings for it to help refine, such as male vs. female vocalist.
- Also try a parabolic crossfade
- Look at cutting on the downbeat of the first measure of a musical chunk whenever possible.
After Audio Editing came possibly the easiest panel vs. vidshow choice of the con: Lord King Bad Vid. And that's not saying anything against Merry's panel, which was likely awesome, but - Lord King Bad Vids! I was so there. It was definitely the most fun vidshow of the con; I loved the audience participation feel of it: lots of hooting and "awww"ing and laughing. Spectacular.
Thinking of You by AbsoluteDestiny (Lord of the Rings) - Frodo + Sam 4EVA!!!1!1 "Skip to the end" is still freaking hysterical.
Jolene by Zoe Rayne (SGA) - Dear GOD, I love this video. It makes me weep with laughter and yet still go "awwww, poor Rodney!" every time. I can't watch the episode without expecting Chaya to get up off of the bed three times in a row.
Father Figure by sisabet (Smallville) - This vid is SO TRUE. That is all Clark wanted! Something special! Oh, Clark.
Close To You by zeneyepirate (Pitch Black) - I haven't seen this movie, but I still love this vid. Poor girl who wants blind Vin to see her! Awwww!
Lose Yourself by Kusoyaro (Napoleon Dynamite) - I seriously don't even consider this Lord King Bad Vid, it's just a great vid, perfect for the movie.
Fancy by Barkley (SG-1) - So I had managed to never successfully watch this vid until the con and my word but Barkley is an LKBV genius. (As we'll reinforce in a moment!) Daniel sold himself for the stargate! It's so clear now!
I Am I Said by sdwolfpup (Buffy/Angel) - Not even the chair.
Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want by zeneyepirate - I do giggle during this vid, but it also hits some chord deep in me and makes me so sad. I love it.
Like Partnerships by sweetestdrain (Due South) - Oh, Fraser. And Ray. And Fraser & Ray.
All By Myself by T. Jonesy (Star Trek) - Oh, Kirk. This vid made me tear up a little at the end there.
Separate Ways by Barkley and Pouncer (SGA and Airwolf) - Dude. You know this is the song John sings to himself all the time. And the parallels! This vid is super-fantastic. It helps that I love the song. Don't you judge me!
Man In Motion by renenet (The Matrix movies) - All Neo needs is this pair of wheels! He's a man in motion! He's coming ALIVE! There is no part of this vid I do not love. And it's so colorful, too.
Lover's Cross by Dualbunny (Buffy/Angel) - This was adorable. I especially loved the cameo appearance.
Time After Time by wolfling (Doctor Who (2005)) - Awwwww! Rose DOES fall behind! *sniff*
Bring Me To Life by Luminosity and sisabet (Zombies) - Mad, mad genius. And direct from my note-taking page to you: "Mind-blowing."
After LKBV it was back up to f1renze and sweetestdrain's room with Dualbunny. We also had Ian, settiai, and someone else whose name I cannot make out, but they ended up leaving the four of us to our own means. I'm fairly certain DB had cheese for dinner. Hee. I had Outback AGAIN, this time a salad and cheese fries. And then we watched more Prison Break because I was by then utterly hooked on the show. I'm not talking about PB a lot in these reports, but it filled up a significant portion of my thoughts that weekend. I was starting to get nervous, but nowhere near as badly as last year. I was actually able to eat this year, and I didn't get a bad case of the nerves until we'd headed down to wait in line. After PB finished, I went back to my room to get ready and talked briefly with greensilver, barkley, and destina (whom I'd seen around LJ but never talked to before, so it was great to meet her!). F1renze, sweetestdrain, DB, and I headed down for good Premiere seats and ended up at the front of the line. This is when I really got nervous. Lots of nervous leg jiggling and wringing of hands, a sort of twinge in my stomach. I'm sure I looked pretty nervous because people kept hugging me and saying it would be ok. Heh. I did manage to score a front row seat for the Premiere show, and while I was initially horrified by sitting in the front, it ended up being awesome. And I had Laura Shapiro sitting next to me, which was also awesome, because she is such great vid support. Permetaform sat in front of me and I know people I love sat behind me, but I can't remember who they were. I was very forward-focused. *g*
I'm going to break here, and next time we have the much-vaunted Premiere show, the madcap fun of karaoke, and room parties. Then? Sunday. Heh.
- The same joke needs to be changed slightly to remain funny (familiarity + expectation), hence the ----| drawing
- Structure is important; put the funny part at the end of the "sentence"
- Experiment with audio effects for comedy vids
- Multi-fandom doesn't seem to work unless fandoms are connected in some way (Hot Hot Hot vs. Hair vids)
- Build your joke
- The Rule of Three (again!)
- Try to get fresh betas for each version; or even better, do it in person
- Consider framing to introduce the feel of your vid right away (like opening shot of IWIWAL)
- Expressions in a vid can guide the audience to how they feel
- Use the instrumentation if the visuals are key
- Make the reaction shots big to get the point across
- Hold the joke for laughter (i.e., don't cut out too soon, either)
- Levels of comedy: slapstick; literal; metaphor
After the Comedy panel, I headed for my second volunteer stint, this time as door person for the "God, The Devil, and Bob" vidshow. These reviews may be even more scattered than the rest because of the focus on not wanting to miss the buzzer light going off. It was really sad how intensely I watched that buzzer light, ready to buzz back in response at a moment's notice!
Big Red Boat by Seah and Margie (Joan of Arcadia) - I talked about this vid when I saw it premiere, uh, last year? Anyhow, I still love it. The end puts an enormous grin on my face, and it's very happy-making throughout.
Darkness, Darkness by Jo and Gwyneth (Miracles) - I've also talked about this one before; it's creepy and dark and awesome. I love it.
Wings of Steel by Lithium Doll (Constantine) - I have written here, and I quote: "pretty."
Caught In A Jar by zeneyepirate (Rescue Me) - I knew zen was making a Rescue Me vid, so I was really looking forward to seeing this (and it is, in fact, one of the reasons I volunteered for door person for this show). I am happy to report that I was not disappointed in the slightest. It's a fantastic vid, moving and funny and has a great ending shot.
Dear God by Chris Harshman (Jeremiah) - I loved this vid. Not knowing the show or the song, it still managed to stick out for me through the whole con.
Real or Not by Jo (Brimstone) - I have "humorous" written down for this one. I think it was mostly because of the Devil.
Why by AJ (The Crow) - This vid made great use of still shots. I remember one in particular where he's bent over, and you get the lines of his face transitioning into the next shot, it was really powerful.
Angels by California Crew (Touched By An Angel) - Surprisingly (to me) moving. I enjoyed this.
Saved by tzikeh and snoo (Carnivale) - GAAAH CREEPY. And I'd seen it before, too. Still creepy.
Brothers/Sisters by obsessive 24 (Buffy) - I did not expect to enjoy this vid (it's all about Glory and Ben!), but it was another surprisingly good vid. The vidder had a fresh idea, and while some of the climactic bridge shots I was uncertain about because I felt like they diluted the focus of the vid, overall I was really impressed.
Prayer for the Dying by f1renze (Angels in America) - Another vid I've seen before, which I still like.
Swing Down Chariot by Eunice (Dogma) - I have mad love for this vid, and the song, and how everyone swings. Fabulous.
Next up was the lunch break and I hung around in the con suite until noon and the start of the Mac vidders' lunch. While in the con suite, I ran into anoel and renenet, and gave renenet the lunch ticket which I had foolishly purchased this year, even though I have never actually had need of the lunch ticket before. Maybe next year. Hee. For the Mac vidders lunch, par_avion was awesome and got food for us, and tzikeh showed some of the new vidders how not to be afraid of Final Cut, and the rest of us bitched about upgrading OS and software versions, pondered the actual benefits of having an Intel chip in a Mac, and just generally had a really nice lunch together. I know I learned something, but I didn't ever actually write it down so now it is lost to the mists of time. Darn it.
After lunch was the Professional Inspiration panel, moderated by Melina. She showed clips explaining her points, and we talked about ways to incorporate thematic and technical tricks from professional sources into our fan vids. It was a great panel, but I took nearly useless notes. Here they are anyway.
- Consider multiple music sources for one vid
- Don't use black space fades as a strobe effect
- Set up parallelism early in the vid and then use the clips to comment on each other later
- Keep in mind scale and scope; don't be afraid of wide landscape shots
After that I toddled back over to the Novelty Songs and Tv Themes...On A Plane! vidshow. There were 24 vids in this show, all relatively short, and for every single one of them I would put the following comment: "Really cute/funny/hilarious! I enjoyed it!" This is not meant to disparage any of the vidders or these vids, I really did enjoy them all, but because they were all along this same theme, it's not really worth the space to essentially say the same thing over and over individually. The only one that really stands out because it wasn't funny in any way, though it was still very good, was Emergency at St. Joel Center by janzki.
Next up: the Audio Editing Panel, led by heres_luck. This was another panel I was really looking forward to, and it was especially great to get actual examples of songs that had been cut, as well as songs that had whole verses moved around, especially since they were both songs I knew from h.l's vids. I haven't stumbled on anyone with notes for this panel yet, but when I do, I'll let you know. Here's what I have written down:
- Learn how to take out vocals and use the instrumental portion you need underneath
- To take out vocals, use the center channel extractor. That takes out the sounds in the middle of the range, not the highs and lows. There might be other settings for it to help refine, such as male vs. female vocalist.
- Also try a parabolic crossfade
- Look at cutting on the downbeat of the first measure of a musical chunk whenever possible.
After Audio Editing came possibly the easiest panel vs. vidshow choice of the con: Lord King Bad Vid. And that's not saying anything against Merry's panel, which was likely awesome, but - Lord King Bad Vids! I was so there. It was definitely the most fun vidshow of the con; I loved the audience participation feel of it: lots of hooting and "awww"ing and laughing. Spectacular.
Thinking of You by AbsoluteDestiny (Lord of the Rings) - Frodo + Sam 4EVA!!!1!1 "Skip to the end" is still freaking hysterical.
Jolene by Zoe Rayne (SGA) - Dear GOD, I love this video. It makes me weep with laughter and yet still go "awwww, poor Rodney!" every time. I can't watch the episode without expecting Chaya to get up off of the bed three times in a row.
Father Figure by sisabet (Smallville) - This vid is SO TRUE. That is all Clark wanted! Something special! Oh, Clark.
Close To You by zeneyepirate (Pitch Black) - I haven't seen this movie, but I still love this vid. Poor girl who wants blind Vin to see her! Awwww!
Lose Yourself by Kusoyaro (Napoleon Dynamite) - I seriously don't even consider this Lord King Bad Vid, it's just a great vid, perfect for the movie.
Fancy by Barkley (SG-1) - So I had managed to never successfully watch this vid until the con and my word but Barkley is an LKBV genius. (As we'll reinforce in a moment!) Daniel sold himself for the stargate! It's so clear now!
I Am I Said by sdwolfpup (Buffy/Angel) - Not even the chair.
Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want by zeneyepirate - I do giggle during this vid, but it also hits some chord deep in me and makes me so sad. I love it.
Like Partnerships by sweetestdrain (Due South) - Oh, Fraser. And Ray. And Fraser & Ray.
All By Myself by T. Jonesy (Star Trek) - Oh, Kirk. This vid made me tear up a little at the end there.
Separate Ways by Barkley and Pouncer (SGA and Airwolf) - Dude. You know this is the song John sings to himself all the time. And the parallels! This vid is super-fantastic. It helps that I love the song. Don't you judge me!
Man In Motion by renenet (The Matrix movies) - All Neo needs is this pair of wheels! He's a man in motion! He's coming ALIVE! There is no part of this vid I do not love. And it's so colorful, too.
Lover's Cross by Dualbunny (Buffy/Angel) - This was adorable. I especially loved the cameo appearance.
Time After Time by wolfling (Doctor Who (2005)) - Awwwww! Rose DOES fall behind! *sniff*
Bring Me To Life by Luminosity and sisabet (Zombies) - Mad, mad genius. And direct from my note-taking page to you: "Mind-blowing."
After LKBV it was back up to f1renze and sweetestdrain's room with Dualbunny. We also had Ian, settiai, and someone else whose name I cannot make out, but they ended up leaving the four of us to our own means. I'm fairly certain DB had cheese for dinner. Hee. I had Outback AGAIN, this time a salad and cheese fries. And then we watched more Prison Break because I was by then utterly hooked on the show. I'm not talking about PB a lot in these reports, but it filled up a significant portion of my thoughts that weekend. I was starting to get nervous, but nowhere near as badly as last year. I was actually able to eat this year, and I didn't get a bad case of the nerves until we'd headed down to wait in line. After PB finished, I went back to my room to get ready and talked briefly with greensilver, barkley, and destina (whom I'd seen around LJ but never talked to before, so it was great to meet her!). F1renze, sweetestdrain, DB, and I headed down for good Premiere seats and ended up at the front of the line. This is when I really got nervous. Lots of nervous leg jiggling and wringing of hands, a sort of twinge in my stomach. I'm sure I looked pretty nervous because people kept hugging me and saying it would be ok. Heh. I did manage to score a front row seat for the Premiere show, and while I was initially horrified by sitting in the front, it ended up being awesome. And I had Laura Shapiro sitting next to me, which was also awesome, because she is such great vid support. Permetaform sat in front of me and I know people I love sat behind me, but I can't remember who they were. I was very forward-focused. *g*
I'm going to break here, and next time we have the much-vaunted Premiere show, the madcap fun of karaoke, and room parties. Then? Sunday. Heh.