Dear Festividder 2013
Oct. 10th, 2013 03:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jetpack_monkeyOnce again, incredibly early, but I love Festivids and I get very excited.
Dear Festividder,
Here we are again. This is my third year in Festivids. This could be your first, your fourth, or somewhere in between. If it is your first time, I hope my requests do not terrify you in their verbosity. If you've been doing this for a while... I hope my requests do not terrify you in their verbosity. In any case, thank you for being awesome and adding to the Festivids experience!
Festivids is probably my favorite time of year, because vidders get to share the things they love with each other!
I hope that you have fun making whatever vid you make and that you love the end result. Festivids is about sharing love and squee and feelings and I will be happy with whatever you make for any of these seven fandoms, especially if you love them even one-tenth as much as I do.
Music-wise, I am easy-going. The right song is the right song for a vid. I do have a bulletproof musical kink for Celtic-infused folk and/or rock music, but in general, my tastes are cast far and wide -- rock, pop, folk, bluegrass, dance, alternative (whatever that means), singer-songwriter, rap, metal, emo, punk, New Wave, etc. I've found that genres I don't care for become amazing when they are the right choice for a vid, so there's nothing you should really avoid, as long as it's appropriate to whatever you're making.
The shortlist:
Almost Famous (2000) [safety]
The Body Snatcher (1945) [safety]
Gravity Falls (2012)
The Howling (1981) [safety]
Raumpatrouille / Space Patrol Orion (1966)
The Thin Man series
Vertigo (1958) [safety]
Almost Famous (2000) [safety]
When I was 18, I bought my first DVD player and one of the first DVDs I bought was Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous. I watched it and I was instantly convinced it was the perfect movie. In many ways, it is a masterpiece, as Crowe fictionalizes his own years as a teenaged reporter for Rolling Stone, following a mid-level rock band that may or may not be on the way to greatness. There were many things that spoke to me about the film at the time -- the passion for writing, the love of media (music for main character William Miller, cinema for me), the desire to be true to yourself while also desperately wanting to please people who seem so much cooler than you.
However, the thing that struck me most about the film at the time was the relationship between William and mysterious groupie Penny Lane. William's in love with her and Penny makes him her confidante. I felt like the relationship mirrored one I had with my best friend at the time. However, I later realized that my relationship was kind of bulls**t pining-for-the-sake-of-pining. That soured me on Almost Famous a little as I was embarrassed for myself when I saw William pine for Penny, which is further bulls**t because the two relationships really didn't have anything in common except what I put there.
The point of all of this confession is that Almost Famous is an amazing movie and I want to love it again. I can never love it the way I loved it at 18, but I want to discover how to love it at 30. The vid can be about anything -- it can be about William and his journey, it can be about the band in the film (Stillwater is pretty awesome), it can be about the relationship between William and the guitarist with mystique, Russell Hammond. It can be about Penny Lane. It can even be about William and Penny Lane's relationship -- I believe a good vid about that can probably overcome my old issues, especially if it's contextualized outside the realm of what I discussed earlier.
Music-wise, this is the only fandom where I have a preference. Folk or rock music would be best and, if possible. avoid dance/pop music (especially of a more recent vintage).
Trailer:
The Body Snatcher (1945) [safety]
In the 1940s, producer Val Lewton made a series of low budget horror films for RKO that represented a major shift in the status quo from the monster movies of Universal and the mad science films of Warner Bros. and Columbia. For the most part, the films took place in the modern day and featured a strongly psychological approach to horror. Even in the few period pieces that Lewton did, human psychology was still at the forefront. This was never more true than in the 1945 masterpiece, The Body Snatcher, directed by Robert Wise and starring Boris Karloff.
In the The Body Snatcher, we are drawn into the downward spiral of two men locked in a struggle of mutual hatred and dependence. Loosely based on Robert Louis Stevenson's short story (itself an extrapolation of the heinous deeds of "resurrection men" Burke and Hare), The Body Snatcher takes place in Edinburgh, circa 1831. In this period, cadavers necessary for advancing medical knowledge are in scant supply. Some unscrupulous doctors, like Dr. MacFarlane (Henry Daniell) rely on the talents of graverobbers to secure specimens. Cabman Gray (Karloff) is such a graverobber, and he uses his invaluable position to continue a long-standing tradition of tormenting his "old friend" MacFarlane. The doctor finds his cold, gruff exterior slipping as despair takes hold. When he attempts to wrest a little peace of mind away from the maliciously jovial Gray, the consequences to all are dire.
Karloff and Daniell form the double patter of the film's dark heart. Their characters are individually fascinating, but together, Gray and MacFarlane act as a self-destructive, self-loathing unit. Theirs is more than just the relationship of supplier and demander (so to speak). The web between them contains a multitude of themes, including the reliance of the upper class on the lower class, the sins of the past haunting the present, the sins of the present haunting the future, the false veneer of respectability, and more. There's a brilliant scene where MacFarlane gets drunk with Gray in a tavern that really shows all of the different aspects of their duality.
Chilling, complex, and artfully told, The Body Snatcher is the kind of shivery cautionary tale relayed in front of fireplaces on cold winter nights. Each character makes their own contributions to the tangled web of human failures, and we can't help but recoil in both fear and recognition. That kind of horror stays with you, lingers at the back of your brain. You'll never get rid of it, Toddy... Never.
Note on the trailer below -- they sell the film as a team-up between Karloff and Bela Lugosi, but Lugosi has a very minor role.
Gravity Falls
Dude. DUDE. DUUUUUUDE. So I just discovered this show and it is the absolute best. My favorite thing about it is the relationship between siblings Dipper and Mabel, which reminds me so much of my relationship with my own sister. They are united against the world and terrible against each other. I would love a Dipper and Mabel vid, but I'll take anything, really. This show is super-viddable and full of visual splendor. Also, an old man punches a pterodactyl while paraphrasing Moby Dick. I mean, come on. How can you not love that?
Show intro:
The Howling (1981) [safety]
Werewolves are my favorite. There's something about blurring the line between beast and man that I find fascinating. Joe Dante's The Howling is a different kind of werewolf romp than had come out before. It's not particularly deep, but it is a lot of fun.
Television anchorwoman Karen White (Dee Wallace-Stone) suffers a traumatic experience at the hands of twisted serial killer Eddie Quist (Robert Picardo). Plagued by nightmares of Quist turning into... something, Karen heads to The Colony, a back-to-nature commune. The locals seem a little strange to say the least, and sleep is difficult because of all the howling at night. Needless to say, things get hairy before the end.
I love how The Howling shifts the focus of the werewolf genre away from the standard "tragic victim doomed at the full moon" plot. Lycanthropy is no longer a curse or a hidden shame. Now it's a gift that allows a select few to know primal power of which normal humans could not dream. Some wait for the day they can integrate with society, while others look forward to dominating and hunting mankind. All of them live in secret, secluded from the world, never to be truly of it (and happy that way, for the most part).
I would be remiss if I didn't mention how *sexy* this movie is. Marsha Quist (Elisabeth Brooks) was kind of a huge deal for me as a teenager, the wilderness woman who turns wilder. She exudes hotness, especially when she's mid-transformation (and especially especially in her first, extremely memorable transformation scene).
In the "things that are obvious" category, I love the references to werewolves past that Dante sprinkles throughout the film. At one key point, werewolf exposition is given by a clip from 1941's "The Wolf Man."
Trailer:
Raumpatrouille / Space Patrol Orion (1966)
I never got around to making a rec post of source from my Starships! remix vid. If I could only recommend one source from that vid, it would be this seven-episode space series from West Germany. It's semi-serialized (some episodes are one-and-done, others deal with the ongoing threat from an alien races called "the frogs" by our heroes) and features a fantastic cast of characters. I would love anything from this show -- space adventure action vid, story of the Frog war, character love (especially for Major MacLane). Just anything. If you wanted to do an entire vid of ridiculous future dancing, I would watch the heck out of it.
Subtitled clip (there is better quality source than this, but this demonstrates the cast repartee pretty well):
The Thin Man series
People had told me for ages, "Watch The Thin Man series! It's great!" I believed them, but it wasn't high on my list of priorities. It should have been. These movies are amazing. I love love love the relationship between Nick and Nora Charles, mystery-solving spouses. William Powell and Myrna Loy have great chemistry, especially when their characters are drunk (which is frequently). I love the series even more when it lets Nora get in on the action (instead of sidelining her as a cheerleader, which it sometimes does). We'll live with the fact that the Charles's had a son in the third movie.
I really want a Nick and Nora vid -- I don't care if it's about them solving mysteries, being hijinks-y, or just being adorable together. I love 'em. The series is at its best in the first four films, so if you want to limit yourself to those, I'm okay with it (but the last two films have some great footage so if you need 'em, use 'em)
A compilation of Nick and Nora being adorable and drunk:
Vertigo (1958) [safety]
I once had a class on Hitchcock where the professor showed us a scene from Vertigo (the scene in James Stewart's apartment after he rescues Kim Novak) and then he showed us the same scene again with the sound turned off. There were two completely different levels of communication going on -- what was being said was not what was being *said*, if you get my meaning. That's what I find fascinating about Vertigo -- the levels. This is one of those cases where I know there's a great vid in the film, but I couldn't make it myself. The way Hitchcock uses color, staging, and cinematographic tricks to communicate would make for a visual feast for any vidder.
From a story standpoint, Vertigo is an amazing expression of obsession. James Stewart plays Scottie Ferguson, a detective with acrophobia hired to tail Madeleine (Kim Novak), the wife of an old friend. He falls in love with her, but fails to stop her from killing herself when his vertigo overtakes him. After a mental breakdown, he meets another woman, Judy (Novak again), who with a little work could be the spitting image of Madeleine. And Scottie puts that effort in, in some desperate attempt to reconnect with and save the woman he failed before. But Judy is not Madeleine... or is she?
Trailer (re-release):
Thank you so much for taking part in this amazing time of year. I just know that you're going to come up with something great!
Hugs and squee,
Jetpack Monkey
Dear Festividder,
Here we are again. This is my third year in Festivids. This could be your first, your fourth, or somewhere in between. If it is your first time, I hope my requests do not terrify you in their verbosity. If you've been doing this for a while... I hope my requests do not terrify you in their verbosity. In any case, thank you for being awesome and adding to the Festivids experience!
Festivids is probably my favorite time of year, because vidders get to share the things they love with each other!
I hope that you have fun making whatever vid you make and that you love the end result. Festivids is about sharing love and squee and feelings and I will be happy with whatever you make for any of these seven fandoms, especially if you love them even one-tenth as much as I do.
Music-wise, I am easy-going. The right song is the right song for a vid. I do have a bulletproof musical kink for Celtic-infused folk and/or rock music, but in general, my tastes are cast far and wide -- rock, pop, folk, bluegrass, dance, alternative (whatever that means), singer-songwriter, rap, metal, emo, punk, New Wave, etc. I've found that genres I don't care for become amazing when they are the right choice for a vid, so there's nothing you should really avoid, as long as it's appropriate to whatever you're making.
The shortlist:
Almost Famous (2000) [safety]
The Body Snatcher (1945) [safety]
Gravity Falls (2012)
The Howling (1981) [safety]
Raumpatrouille / Space Patrol Orion (1966)
The Thin Man series
Vertigo (1958) [safety]
Almost Famous (2000) [safety]
When I was 18, I bought my first DVD player and one of the first DVDs I bought was Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous. I watched it and I was instantly convinced it was the perfect movie. In many ways, it is a masterpiece, as Crowe fictionalizes his own years as a teenaged reporter for Rolling Stone, following a mid-level rock band that may or may not be on the way to greatness. There were many things that spoke to me about the film at the time -- the passion for writing, the love of media (music for main character William Miller, cinema for me), the desire to be true to yourself while also desperately wanting to please people who seem so much cooler than you.
However, the thing that struck me most about the film at the time was the relationship between William and mysterious groupie Penny Lane. William's in love with her and Penny makes him her confidante. I felt like the relationship mirrored one I had with my best friend at the time. However, I later realized that my relationship was kind of bulls**t pining-for-the-sake-of-pining. That soured me on Almost Famous a little as I was embarrassed for myself when I saw William pine for Penny, which is further bulls**t because the two relationships really didn't have anything in common except what I put there.
The point of all of this confession is that Almost Famous is an amazing movie and I want to love it again. I can never love it the way I loved it at 18, but I want to discover how to love it at 30. The vid can be about anything -- it can be about William and his journey, it can be about the band in the film (Stillwater is pretty awesome), it can be about the relationship between William and the guitarist with mystique, Russell Hammond. It can be about Penny Lane. It can even be about William and Penny Lane's relationship -- I believe a good vid about that can probably overcome my old issues, especially if it's contextualized outside the realm of what I discussed earlier.
Music-wise, this is the only fandom where I have a preference. Folk or rock music would be best and, if possible. avoid dance/pop music (especially of a more recent vintage).
Trailer:
The Body Snatcher (1945) [safety]
In the 1940s, producer Val Lewton made a series of low budget horror films for RKO that represented a major shift in the status quo from the monster movies of Universal and the mad science films of Warner Bros. and Columbia. For the most part, the films took place in the modern day and featured a strongly psychological approach to horror. Even in the few period pieces that Lewton did, human psychology was still at the forefront. This was never more true than in the 1945 masterpiece, The Body Snatcher, directed by Robert Wise and starring Boris Karloff.
In the The Body Snatcher, we are drawn into the downward spiral of two men locked in a struggle of mutual hatred and dependence. Loosely based on Robert Louis Stevenson's short story (itself an extrapolation of the heinous deeds of "resurrection men" Burke and Hare), The Body Snatcher takes place in Edinburgh, circa 1831. In this period, cadavers necessary for advancing medical knowledge are in scant supply. Some unscrupulous doctors, like Dr. MacFarlane (Henry Daniell) rely on the talents of graverobbers to secure specimens. Cabman Gray (Karloff) is such a graverobber, and he uses his invaluable position to continue a long-standing tradition of tormenting his "old friend" MacFarlane. The doctor finds his cold, gruff exterior slipping as despair takes hold. When he attempts to wrest a little peace of mind away from the maliciously jovial Gray, the consequences to all are dire.
Karloff and Daniell form the double patter of the film's dark heart. Their characters are individually fascinating, but together, Gray and MacFarlane act as a self-destructive, self-loathing unit. Theirs is more than just the relationship of supplier and demander (so to speak). The web between them contains a multitude of themes, including the reliance of the upper class on the lower class, the sins of the past haunting the present, the sins of the present haunting the future, the false veneer of respectability, and more. There's a brilliant scene where MacFarlane gets drunk with Gray in a tavern that really shows all of the different aspects of their duality.
Chilling, complex, and artfully told, The Body Snatcher is the kind of shivery cautionary tale relayed in front of fireplaces on cold winter nights. Each character makes their own contributions to the tangled web of human failures, and we can't help but recoil in both fear and recognition. That kind of horror stays with you, lingers at the back of your brain. You'll never get rid of it, Toddy... Never.
Note on the trailer below -- they sell the film as a team-up between Karloff and Bela Lugosi, but Lugosi has a very minor role.
Gravity Falls
Dude. DUDE. DUUUUUUDE. So I just discovered this show and it is the absolute best. My favorite thing about it is the relationship between siblings Dipper and Mabel, which reminds me so much of my relationship with my own sister. They are united against the world and terrible against each other. I would love a Dipper and Mabel vid, but I'll take anything, really. This show is super-viddable and full of visual splendor. Also, an old man punches a pterodactyl while paraphrasing Moby Dick. I mean, come on. How can you not love that?
Show intro:
The Howling (1981) [safety]
Werewolves are my favorite. There's something about blurring the line between beast and man that I find fascinating. Joe Dante's The Howling is a different kind of werewolf romp than had come out before. It's not particularly deep, but it is a lot of fun.
Television anchorwoman Karen White (Dee Wallace-Stone) suffers a traumatic experience at the hands of twisted serial killer Eddie Quist (Robert Picardo). Plagued by nightmares of Quist turning into... something, Karen heads to The Colony, a back-to-nature commune. The locals seem a little strange to say the least, and sleep is difficult because of all the howling at night. Needless to say, things get hairy before the end.
I love how The Howling shifts the focus of the werewolf genre away from the standard "tragic victim doomed at the full moon" plot. Lycanthropy is no longer a curse or a hidden shame. Now it's a gift that allows a select few to know primal power of which normal humans could not dream. Some wait for the day they can integrate with society, while others look forward to dominating and hunting mankind. All of them live in secret, secluded from the world, never to be truly of it (and happy that way, for the most part).
I would be remiss if I didn't mention how *sexy* this movie is. Marsha Quist (Elisabeth Brooks) was kind of a huge deal for me as a teenager, the wilderness woman who turns wilder. She exudes hotness, especially when she's mid-transformation (and especially especially in her first, extremely memorable transformation scene).
In the "things that are obvious" category, I love the references to werewolves past that Dante sprinkles throughout the film. At one key point, werewolf exposition is given by a clip from 1941's "The Wolf Man."
Trailer:
Raumpatrouille / Space Patrol Orion (1966)
I never got around to making a rec post of source from my Starships! remix vid. If I could only recommend one source from that vid, it would be this seven-episode space series from West Germany. It's semi-serialized (some episodes are one-and-done, others deal with the ongoing threat from an alien races called "the frogs" by our heroes) and features a fantastic cast of characters. I would love anything from this show -- space adventure action vid, story of the Frog war, character love (especially for Major MacLane). Just anything. If you wanted to do an entire vid of ridiculous future dancing, I would watch the heck out of it.
Subtitled clip (there is better quality source than this, but this demonstrates the cast repartee pretty well):
The Thin Man series
People had told me for ages, "Watch The Thin Man series! It's great!" I believed them, but it wasn't high on my list of priorities. It should have been. These movies are amazing. I love love love the relationship between Nick and Nora Charles, mystery-solving spouses. William Powell and Myrna Loy have great chemistry, especially when their characters are drunk (which is frequently). I love the series even more when it lets Nora get in on the action (instead of sidelining her as a cheerleader, which it sometimes does). We'll live with the fact that the Charles's had a son in the third movie.
I really want a Nick and Nora vid -- I don't care if it's about them solving mysteries, being hijinks-y, or just being adorable together. I love 'em. The series is at its best in the first four films, so if you want to limit yourself to those, I'm okay with it (but the last two films have some great footage so if you need 'em, use 'em)
A compilation of Nick and Nora being adorable and drunk:
Vertigo (1958) [safety]
I once had a class on Hitchcock where the professor showed us a scene from Vertigo (the scene in James Stewart's apartment after he rescues Kim Novak) and then he showed us the same scene again with the sound turned off. There were two completely different levels of communication going on -- what was being said was not what was being *said*, if you get my meaning. That's what I find fascinating about Vertigo -- the levels. This is one of those cases where I know there's a great vid in the film, but I couldn't make it myself. The way Hitchcock uses color, staging, and cinematographic tricks to communicate would make for a visual feast for any vidder.
From a story standpoint, Vertigo is an amazing expression of obsession. James Stewart plays Scottie Ferguson, a detective with acrophobia hired to tail Madeleine (Kim Novak), the wife of an old friend. He falls in love with her, but fails to stop her from killing herself when his vertigo overtakes him. After a mental breakdown, he meets another woman, Judy (Novak again), who with a little work could be the spitting image of Madeleine. And Scottie puts that effort in, in some desperate attempt to reconnect with and save the woman he failed before. But Judy is not Madeleine... or is she?
Trailer (re-release):
Thank you so much for taking part in this amazing time of year. I just know that you're going to come up with something great!
Hugs and squee,
Jetpack Monkey
no subject
Date: 2013-10-11 05:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-10-11 10:46 pm (UTC)