Ask the vidder: Loki (secretlytodream)
Hello! I'm secretlytodream also known as Loki and the rest of the world knows me as Maria and I’m thrilled to be the guest vidder this month. I'd like to thank oxoniensis for inviting me and giving me such an amazing opportunity ♥
Vidding is my favorite thing, so I tend to ramble about, like, a lot! So, under the cut you’ll find a little bit about me as a vidder, my background, my vidding process, a few links and maybe (hopefully) even something interesting and useful :) Ask me any questions you want and I’ll try to answer them! \o/
How did you got into vidding?
Come to think of it, I guess I first tried my hands on editing back in 2003 or something. It was so long ago I barely even remember it. At that time I was around 12-13 and into Britney, so. The very first sort of kinda fanvid I made was, if I remember correctly, for “I’m not a girl, not yet a woman” song, and basically was a bunch of clips from different music videos thrown together with the help of Windows Movie Maker. My second video I’ve ever made was for Evanescence’s “Bring me to life”, and I believe it was a “Daredevil” movie video. As I said, it was so long ago I don’t have any copies of those videos left, which is a real shame, I would love to laugh at myself now lol
Anyway. I didn’t have internet connection at that time, so of course I didn’t even know what I was doing and how it was called. It wasn’t till the year of 2007 that I discovered SPN fandom and all the shiny things people made. At that time I was familiar with editing in general, because in those 4 years between I somehow got into it thanks to my family occupation. I edited a bunch of school thingies, a wedding or two, but it was different. So, I got into fandom sometime around April 2007 and in October I got me my first ever copy of Sony Vegas 7 and I started playing around. I was fascinated with what other vidders could do and I was really curious from the technical point of view, so I just had to learn that. I didn’t know anyone from fandom so I kind of had to go through everything by myself. There were so many days when I was stupidly trying to figure out the program and I still don’t know how I had enough patience to actually beat it. So, I sort of finished my first SPN video in the beginning of December, and of course I had to show this masterpiece to everyone /o\ Even though it’s amazingly embarrassing now, I still don’t have enough willpower to delete it lol
Anyway, since then it’s been a fun ride of experiments, different fandoms, styles and genres, songs and videos.
Do you do it professionally?
No, I don’t. It’s a shame though because I’d love to get money for editing cute boys for angsty songs ;____; 8D
As I said, I got into editing thanks to my family occupation, so I have to edit something from time to time. But it’s much more different from what I do in my videos. Vidding is a hobby, the direction of my professional career is completely different.
What program do you use?
Right now I work in Sony Vegas 10. I guess Windows Movie Maker can be counted as well. I also worked in Adobe Premier and Pinnacle Studio, but since I tried Sony Vegas I don’t use anything else. I went from SV 7 to SV 10 trying out every new version.
Where do you get your inspiration?
From everywhere! Sometimes it’s a song, you know, like when you hear some tunes and the image just pops up in your head? Sometimes it doesn’t work out though, because even though the song is awesome, I just can’t figure out the storyline. Sometimes it’s an actual show plot or storyline - I guess you can see that from the number of Sam Winchester videos I’ve made. Recently though a lot of inspiration comes from tumblr. People do crazy things! So beautiful and artistic. It can be an image, a screencap or whatever, with some lyrics of the song or even without it and I just can’t help but wonder how it’ll look like in the video. So, yeah, a lot of bits and pieces comes from there.
What about your “editing style”?
I can’t help but notice that there are two “kinds” of vidders out there. I think I’ve already mentioned it somewhere. Anyway. There’s the LJ vidding community and then there’s the YT vidding community and somehow I clearly see the difference in the editing styles vidders try out. For example, YT vidders tend to use more effects, they kind of go crazy about it - not in a bad way :) - and I sometimes catch myself staring at the monitor, watching a video, with my mouth open, like, how did they actually do this?.. Technically I can imagine how, but the patience!
As for the LJ vidding community - vidders here are a little bit “calmer” if I can say so. The videos are clearer, the editing a little bit simpler but it looks amazing nonetheless. For example, if it’s a character study video, vidders tend to dive in into the storyline and the videos, the storyline, the thought behind it - so clear and so straight and amazing, that sometimes the videos are even better than the actual shows/films.
That having been said, I think I went from one point to another trying a few different things in the editing. At the beginning I kind of wanted to throw into the video whatever effect I could find, like, if it looked cool I’d probably use it, even though if sometimes it wasn’t actually that cool. I played a lot with AU videos, and I actually didn’t make any general videos, concentrating on a show storyline or something. After this phase I kind of went through “calm” phase, when I used a lot of simple editing, my videos were clearer and simpler but I hope not more boring lol I started trying my hands on showing my perception of particular moments in the source I was vidding. And after it I decided to stop somewhere in between I think. I like to use bright colors in my videos, because I think a lot of impact comes from the coloring you choose for your storyline. I love love love playing with pan/crop, using a lot of close ups, concentrating on eyes or lips (if it’s a face, for example), or just to show something that I think is more important in the particular shot, that will help accentuate the storyline I’m trying to tell. I like to add a bit of color by using “video textures” - something I don’t use very often now, but still.
Who are your favorite vidders?
There’s quite a bunch of them! I mean, I owe them the fact that I actually started vidding at all, so.
The first vidders I came across were Dayln (gigglemonster), alcoholicpixie, NYCalls0909, ash48, astartexx, deirdre_c, lsketch42, hay1ock, maichan808, proofpudding. Their videos are one of my all time favorites.
I also would like to name almostgaby - she makes incredible crossover AU videos.
obsessive24 - what she does with the videos, man. The thought and the storylines! I had a chance to work with her, and I think it was one of the best vidding experiences I’ve ever had.
TheHorizon26 - I just love the softness of her videos and what clips she chooses, I’m always fascinated with her videos.
SmokeyFiizz - the editing they do is crazy. So creative and inspirational and beautiful.
404ing - different AU videos and incredible editing + effect work.
Describe your vidding process?
As I’m a very very lazy vidder, I would like to forward you to the workshop I made awhile ago. There you’ll find my vidding process with scans and examples of my storyboards, a few tips and helpful links :)
I’m most known in Supernatural fandom, I think, having made 150+ videos /o\ But I made a few videos for other shows and movies as well. I keep coming back to SPN because I feel comfortable making videos about two brothers in a car driving around the states and hunting demons and all sorts of supernatural stuff. I’ve been making videos in this fandom for almost 4 years and I still feel like there’s so much to vid! Though from time to time I do make videos for different shows or movies just to try something new.
So, here are some of my videos as an example of my work :) You can find the complete vid list masterlist or at my graphic/vidding comm graphicinmotion.
Mouthwash
["And I use mouthwash sometimes I floss I got a family and I drink cups of tea." Jensen's POV.]
I Take Your Word
["Of all the people in my life...You're the only person in my life I trust." Neal, 1x10.]
The Spell
[Arthur will always protect his people, but who will protect him?]
Recessional (Lucky Number Slevin)
["And I never thought I would find her here."]
Two Twenty-Two
[He really tried to keep him safe.]
Burden Of Sacifice
["Take my hand, rescue me, justify…set me free, break me down...make it right; burden of sacrifice." Dean character study, his way from the old brother, then down to hell, then to the man who started the Apocalypse and the one who can save the world.]
Cherry Tree
[All roads lead to the crossroad.]
Last Song
["If this was our last song, what would we do then?"]
Roads
["We've got a war to fight, Never found our way, Regardless of what they say." An AU-ish character study vid (is it even possible?) of Dean and Bela.]
Ease My Pain
[Sam's character study mostly through season 4]
From The Deepest Of Red To The Lightest Of Grey
["We swept out the ashes and went on our way from the deepest of red to the lightest of gray."]
When Things Explode
["All is forgiven."]
I Promise
[Here's to the boy, who saved the world he never felt a part of.]
Till The Sun Starts To Cry
[AU. Dean Smith dreams of Hell.]
Unable to Stay, Unwilling to Leave
[And if I forget, Dean, make me remember, because I would burn down the whole world just to remind you of the smell of smoke.]
Haust
["Come on, Sam. Don't you know what's real?" Dean, 7x02.]
Vidding is my favorite thing, so I tend to ramble about, like, a lot! So, under the cut you’ll find a little bit about me as a vidder, my background, my vidding process, a few links and maybe (hopefully) even something interesting and useful :) Ask me any questions you want and I’ll try to answer them! \o/
How did you got into vidding?
Come to think of it, I guess I first tried my hands on editing back in 2003 or something. It was so long ago I barely even remember it. At that time I was around 12-13 and into Britney, so. The very first sort of kinda fanvid I made was, if I remember correctly, for “I’m not a girl, not yet a woman” song, and basically was a bunch of clips from different music videos thrown together with the help of Windows Movie Maker. My second video I’ve ever made was for Evanescence’s “Bring me to life”, and I believe it was a “Daredevil” movie video. As I said, it was so long ago I don’t have any copies of those videos left, which is a real shame, I would love to laugh at myself now lol
Anyway. I didn’t have internet connection at that time, so of course I didn’t even know what I was doing and how it was called. It wasn’t till the year of 2007 that I discovered SPN fandom and all the shiny things people made. At that time I was familiar with editing in general, because in those 4 years between I somehow got into it thanks to my family occupation. I edited a bunch of school thingies, a wedding or two, but it was different. So, I got into fandom sometime around April 2007 and in October I got me my first ever copy of Sony Vegas 7 and I started playing around. I was fascinated with what other vidders could do and I was really curious from the technical point of view, so I just had to learn that. I didn’t know anyone from fandom so I kind of had to go through everything by myself. There were so many days when I was stupidly trying to figure out the program and I still don’t know how I had enough patience to actually beat it. So, I sort of finished my first SPN video in the beginning of December, and of course I had to show this masterpiece to everyone /o\ Even though it’s amazingly embarrassing now, I still don’t have enough willpower to delete it lol
Anyway, since then it’s been a fun ride of experiments, different fandoms, styles and genres, songs and videos.
Do you do it professionally?
No, I don’t. It’s a shame though because I’d love to get money for editing cute boys for angsty songs ;____; 8D
As I said, I got into editing thanks to my family occupation, so I have to edit something from time to time. But it’s much more different from what I do in my videos. Vidding is a hobby, the direction of my professional career is completely different.
What program do you use?
Right now I work in Sony Vegas 10. I guess Windows Movie Maker can be counted as well. I also worked in Adobe Premier and Pinnacle Studio, but since I tried Sony Vegas I don’t use anything else. I went from SV 7 to SV 10 trying out every new version.
Where do you get your inspiration?
From everywhere! Sometimes it’s a song, you know, like when you hear some tunes and the image just pops up in your head? Sometimes it doesn’t work out though, because even though the song is awesome, I just can’t figure out the storyline. Sometimes it’s an actual show plot or storyline - I guess you can see that from the number of Sam Winchester videos I’ve made. Recently though a lot of inspiration comes from tumblr. People do crazy things! So beautiful and artistic. It can be an image, a screencap or whatever, with some lyrics of the song or even without it and I just can’t help but wonder how it’ll look like in the video. So, yeah, a lot of bits and pieces comes from there.
What about your “editing style”?
I can’t help but notice that there are two “kinds” of vidders out there. I think I’ve already mentioned it somewhere. Anyway. There’s the LJ vidding community and then there’s the YT vidding community and somehow I clearly see the difference in the editing styles vidders try out. For example, YT vidders tend to use more effects, they kind of go crazy about it - not in a bad way :) - and I sometimes catch myself staring at the monitor, watching a video, with my mouth open, like, how did they actually do this?.. Technically I can imagine how, but the patience!
As for the LJ vidding community - vidders here are a little bit “calmer” if I can say so. The videos are clearer, the editing a little bit simpler but it looks amazing nonetheless. For example, if it’s a character study video, vidders tend to dive in into the storyline and the videos, the storyline, the thought behind it - so clear and so straight and amazing, that sometimes the videos are even better than the actual shows/films.
That having been said, I think I went from one point to another trying a few different things in the editing. At the beginning I kind of wanted to throw into the video whatever effect I could find, like, if it looked cool I’d probably use it, even though if sometimes it wasn’t actually that cool. I played a lot with AU videos, and I actually didn’t make any general videos, concentrating on a show storyline or something. After this phase I kind of went through “calm” phase, when I used a lot of simple editing, my videos were clearer and simpler but I hope not more boring lol I started trying my hands on showing my perception of particular moments in the source I was vidding. And after it I decided to stop somewhere in between I think. I like to use bright colors in my videos, because I think a lot of impact comes from the coloring you choose for your storyline. I love love love playing with pan/crop, using a lot of close ups, concentrating on eyes or lips (if it’s a face, for example), or just to show something that I think is more important in the particular shot, that will help accentuate the storyline I’m trying to tell. I like to add a bit of color by using “video textures” - something I don’t use very often now, but still.
Who are your favorite vidders?
There’s quite a bunch of them! I mean, I owe them the fact that I actually started vidding at all, so.
The first vidders I came across were Dayln (gigglemonster), alcoholicpixie, NYCalls0909, ash48, astartexx, deirdre_c, lsketch42, hay1ock, maichan808, proofpudding. Their videos are one of my all time favorites.
I also would like to name almostgaby - she makes incredible crossover AU videos.
obsessive24 - what she does with the videos, man. The thought and the storylines! I had a chance to work with her, and I think it was one of the best vidding experiences I’ve ever had.
TheHorizon26 - I just love the softness of her videos and what clips she chooses, I’m always fascinated with her videos.
SmokeyFiizz - the editing they do is crazy. So creative and inspirational and beautiful.
404ing - different AU videos and incredible editing + effect work.
Describe your vidding process?
As I’m a very very lazy vidder, I would like to forward you to the workshop I made awhile ago. There you’ll find my vidding process with scans and examples of my storyboards, a few tips and helpful links :)
I’m most known in Supernatural fandom, I think, having made 150+ videos /o\ But I made a few videos for other shows and movies as well. I keep coming back to SPN because I feel comfortable making videos about two brothers in a car driving around the states and hunting demons and all sorts of supernatural stuff. I’ve been making videos in this fandom for almost 4 years and I still feel like there’s so much to vid! Though from time to time I do make videos for different shows or movies just to try something new.
So, here are some of my videos as an example of my work :) You can find the complete vid list masterlist or at my graphic/vidding comm graphicinmotion.
Mouthwash
["And I use mouthwash sometimes I floss I got a family and I drink cups of tea." Jensen's POV.]
I Take Your Word
["Of all the people in my life...You're the only person in my life I trust." Neal, 1x10.]
The Spell
[Arthur will always protect his people, but who will protect him?]
Recessional (Lucky Number Slevin)
["And I never thought I would find her here."]
Two Twenty-Two
[He really tried to keep him safe.]
Burden Of Sacifice
["Take my hand, rescue me, justify…set me free, break me down...make it right; burden of sacrifice." Dean character study, his way from the old brother, then down to hell, then to the man who started the Apocalypse and the one who can save the world.]
Cherry Tree
[All roads lead to the crossroad.]
Last Song
["If this was our last song, what would we do then?"]
Roads
["We've got a war to fight, Never found our way, Regardless of what they say." An AU-ish character study vid (is it even possible?) of Dean and Bela.]
Ease My Pain
[Sam's character study mostly through season 4]
From The Deepest Of Red To The Lightest Of Grey
["We swept out the ashes and went on our way from the deepest of red to the lightest of gray."]
When Things Explode
["All is forgiven."]
I Promise
[Here's to the boy, who saved the world he never felt a part of.]
Till The Sun Starts To Cry
[AU. Dean Smith dreams of Hell.]
Unable to Stay, Unwilling to Leave
[And if I forget, Dean, make me remember, because I would burn down the whole world just to remind you of the smell of smoke.]
Haust
["Come on, Sam. Don't you know what's real?" Dean, 7x02.]