Aeronautic Primates and Other Delights

2015 Vidding Meme

Wed, 30 Dec 2015 03:34:14 GMT

As usual, I go off of release date rather than when I made/finished it:

February (Festivids reveals):
White Telephone (Halloween / Halloween H20)
Moves Like Yaweh (Prince of Egypt)

August (Vividcon):
Electric Avenue (Robots)
Right Round (Classic Hollywood Serials)
Madhouse (Psychonauts)

Misc Related Works:
Leonard Nimoy Tribute (Escapade/KiSCon)
End of the World remaster

Depending on how you count it, that's either five or seven works. In either case, it's my least productive year since 2011. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

( What do I have to say for myself? )

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2014 Vidding Meme

Sun, 21 Dec 2014 00:49:31 GMT

It's looking like I'm not going to finish off my robots vid before the year is up, so let's just do this now, shall we? As I normally do, I only count the vids I released in 2014, even if the majority of work was done in 2013.

February (Festivids reveals)
Battle Without Honor or Humanity (Danger 5)
Radio (Hey Ash Whatcha Playin')
Raise Your Glass (Space Cases)
The Ballad of Wesley Crusher (Star Trek: TNG)

August (Vividcon)
Dracula Has Risen from the Dance Floor (Hammer Dracula)
Carries On (Jim Henson)

( Rest of the meme behind the cut! )

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Vidding Meme Answers Part 3

Mon, 29 Sep 2014 21:44:34 GMT

From violace and killabeez
1. Describe your comfort zone—a typical you-vid.

I absolutely adore making multisource vids centered around a particular theme or film series. Drawing out meta-narratives and tropes is totally my jam. It's not just the vidding process, though. It's the research. The deep delve into film/television history, looking for those rare sources, finding new favorite sources (or suffering through sources that Should Not Be). Example vids:

From violace and killabeez and kiki_miserychic :

2. Is there a genre or style you've yet to try your hand at, but really want to?

I am trying my hand at comics vidding right now and I really really really want to make a video game vid at some point. Mass Effect, probably, but I had a terrible idea for a Mario Kart vid (or, well, jmtorres had it and I stole it)

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Vidding Meme Answers Part 2

Thu, 11 Sep 2014 05:21:07 GMT

rhoboat requested:

7. Point to a section from one of your favorite vids you've made and explain why you're proud of it.

The first four seconds of Slippery Slope were huge for me. I wanted to give the audience the foreknowledge that things were going to go badly without giving away the ending. I also wanted to do it before the lyrics kicked in. Ending that little pre-amble just a frame or two after Sgt. Howie's look of indignant horror fully forms ended up being exactly the thing that worked. It's something in a vid where the editing choices and the effects of those editing choices feel entirely mine.

16. Do you use any tools, like clip notes or storyboards?

It depends entirely on the vid. For multi-source vids that aren't for a limited canon (for instance "all black and white space movies made before July 1969"), I keep spreadsheets that track potential source, whether I've acquired it, and whether I've clipped it. I also make a lot of clip notes (either in text documents or actual physical notebooks) for projects with more than, like, four movies worth of source (or source I'm not familiar with). For complex character vids, I've been known to outline the vid on paper -- I did that with All the Rowboats to track the general rise and fall of Michael Corleone against the lyrics.

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Vidding Meme Answers Part 1

Wed, 10 Sep 2014 02:40:28 GMT

shati wants to know:

5. Share one of your strengths.

I have a strong sense of film/media history that informs my vidding. It's a bit like having an Intersect for movies in my brain (what? I've been watching a lot of Chuck lately).

Also, I'm apparently crazy fast when I want to be.

6. Share one of your weaknesses.

My sense of montage is very weak. I'm laser-focused on individual clips, but I have difficulty parsing the interactions between a group of adjacent clips in terms of primary and secondary visual attractors, movement, lighting, and color.

Also, I don't know if this is a weakness, but I strongly emphasize the literary (especially in terms of narrative) in my perception and vidding of visual media. This means my vids tend to emphasize important Narrative or Thematic visuals and I don't spend a lot of time with aesthetics beyond what's provided for me. My vids have a lot of medium-to-close shots and very few landscapes or inanimate objects.

More answers to come!

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That vidding meme

Tue, 09 Sep 2014 02:40:59 GMT

So, here's a list of questions about vidding. Toss some numbers at me in the comments and I'll answer them in posts. Probably. Until I see a butterfly.

1. Describe your comfort zone—a typical you-vid.
2. Is there a genre or style you've yet to try your hand at, but really want to?
3. Is there a genre or style you wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole?
4. How many vid ideas are you nurturing right now? Care to share one of them?
5. Share one of your strengths.
6. Share one of your weaknesses.
7. Point to a section from one of your favorite vids you've made and explain why you're proud of it.
8. Which vid was the hardest to make?
9. Which vid was the easiest to make?
10. Is vidding your passion or just a fun hobby?
11. Is there a section of canon above all others that inspires you just a little bit more?
12. What's the best vidding advice you've ever come across?
13. What's the worst vidding advice you've ever come across?
14. If you only could vid one show/movie for the rest of your life, which show/movie would it be?
15. Do you work mostly from start to finish, or do you vid sections out of order?
16. Do you use any tools, like clip notes or storyboards?
17. Stephen King once said that his muse is a man who lives in the basement. Do you have a muse?
18. Describe your perfect vidding conditions.
19. How many times do you usually revise your vid before posting?
20. Choose a section from one of your earlier vids and talk about whether and how you'd do it differently now. (Person sending the ask is free to make suggestions).
21. If you were to revise one of your older vids from start to finish, which would it be and why?
22. Have you ever deleted one of your published vids?
23. What do you look for in a beta?
24. Do you beta yourself? If so, what kind of beta are you?
25. How do you feel about collaborations?
26. Share three of your favorite vidders and why you like them so much.
27. Do you accept prompts?
28. Do you take liberties with canon or are you very strict about your vids being canon compliant?
29. How do you feel about smut?
30. How do you feel about crack?
31. Which is your favorite site for posting vids?
32. Talk about your current vids in progress.
33. Talk about a comment or review that made your day.
34. Do you ever get rude reviews and how do you deal with them?

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Vid questions answered!

Wed, 13 Aug 2014 22:33:29 GMT

I just finished up notes for my Dracula and Jim Henson vids and I realize that I'm probably not covering the bits that people find interesting. If you have any questions about *any* of my vids (source, editing process, tips and tricks, etc), leave them here and I'll answer them whenever possible. If I like my answers, I'll append them to the notes for the appropriate vid.

Vid list

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The Movie Meme thing

Wed, 21 May 2014 02:30:19 GMT

From heresluck and a bunch of others: Everyone should post their ten most CRUCIAL CRUCIAL CRUCIAL-ASS movies, like the movies that explain everything about yourselves in your current incarnations (not necessarily your ten favorite movies but the ten movies that you, as a person existing currently, feel would help people get to know you).

Frankenstein (1931)
Bringing Up Baby (1938)
The Third Man (1949)
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
Psycho (1960)
Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964)
Harold and Maude (1973)
Lisa and the Devil (1973)
Re-Animator (1985)
Josie and the Pussycats (2001)

I am not sure how I feel about this list, honestly... They are the films that feel like they answer the call of the meme best, but how do they really come together to explain me?

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2013 Vidding Meme

Wed, 25 Dec 2013 04:47:18 GMT

I highly doubt I'll have any vids I'm releasing between now and December 31st, so here we go:

Vids premiered in 2013

February (Festivids reveals)
All the Rowboats (The Godfather series)
The Angelic Look (Charlie's Angels)
Back to Avalon (A League of Their Own)
Feel Dead Inc. (Cabin in the Woods)
I Don't Speak Hungarian (A koppányi aga testamentuma)
Wolfsbane (The Wolf Man series)
Burn Brighter (Firestarter)

May
Wonderful World (multi)
Blow (The Prisoner, VidUKon)

August (Vividcon)
crushcrushcrush (Star Trek: DS9)
Let's Go to the Mall (Dawn of the Dead 1978)
A Quite Serious Thematic Analysis of the Works of David Cronenberg (David Cronenberg)
Slippery Slope (The Wicker Man - 1973)
Starships! (Monochromatic Remix) (multi)
Va Va Voom (I Love Lucy)
Vividcon 2013 Premieres Intro (Werewolf multi)

My favorite video this year (of my own):
It's a tie between All the Rowboats -- where I really challenged myself -- and Starships! Monochromatic Remix, which was fun to make, fun to watch, and was an overall educational experience.

My least favorite video this year:
I'm still not completely comfortable making vids about interpersonal relationships, so I feel like The Angelic Look could have come out so much better than it did.

Most successful video:
My instinct here is to say Starships! remix, but that one is such a gimme based on how great and loved the original by bironic is. So I'm going to go with Blow, because it was a labor of love for me and it had an unexpected, nigh-overwhelming response.

Video most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion:
Wolfsbane. Hands down. Some of my most emotional, angsty work there.

Most fun video:
It's probably a tie between Starships! remix and Feel Dead Inc. The latter was just a blast to make and I still have fun watching it.

Video with single sexiest moment:
David Cronenberg has a whole spate of them. I worked really hard to make that vid both sexy and uncomfortable at the same time.

Biggest vid fail:
I still owe nakedbee a vid for making my amazing Prisoner jacket for Club Vivid. It's going to happen, I promise!

Hardest video to make:
Different levels of hard. Va Va Voom was the most difficult in terms of work-to-enjoyment. It was really kind of a slog, because while I was theoretically a fan of I Love Lucy, in practice, I wasn't feeling it. All the Rowboats represented a challenge I gave myself to bring my vidding to the next level and really be more than just the guy who makes fun vids or horror vids.

Most unintentionally telling video:
This is always such a weird category, so I'm going to go with the vid that told me the most about myself in the making -- Starships! (Monochromatic Remix). I have always been a film history buff, but I was astounded at how much easier it was to make that vid (which encompassed 77 different sources) simply because I was learning while I was doing it. I've always known that my external reason for vidding is to curry the respect and admiration of my peers. Making the Starships remix clarified my internal, personal reasons for vidding -- I do it to learn. I gain an intimate insight into editing, cinematography, and film history with this one hobby. The more I vid, the more I understand how film works and the more I understand I have more to learn yet.

Other vidding miscellany:

So I wanted to repost one of my responses from last year's iteration of this meme, where I talk about my expectations for 2013:

I honestly think 2013 is going to be a big year for me. I have some really interesting vids planned (or already made in terms of two Festivids vids). I plan on hitting Vividcon with all rockets firing and really pushing myself in terms of technique, musicality, and narrative. I don't think I could have come to this point as a vidder without the amazing community and I plan on doing more in terms of volunteering at Vividcon, running panels, and putting together vidshows.

I just got really emotional re-reading that because I am not a goal-setter and when I do set goals, I usually disappoint myself. But I feel like I accomplished all of the above. I'm a more assured vidder now. I've made vids that would've seemed impossible to me 18 months ago. It's been a good year.

For 2014:

I released 16 vids in 2013 -- I think I'm going to take a step back. I'm going to hunker down and focus on a smaller set of vids that are really important to me. And a couple of silly ones, too, because I'm me. And I'd like to make a video game vid this year. That would be cool.

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The Pick-a-Date meme, aka GIVE ME TOPICS! GIVE THEM TO ME NOW!

Tue, 03 Dec 2013 22:14:45 GMT

Ahem. Sorry. Throwing my hat into the ring of "posting on topics provided by friends". It's an abbreviated schedule because I missed the first few days.

So here's how it works -- at the bottom of the post are the days of December. If you want to read my witty, scintillating thoughts on a subject, claim a day in the comments.

I'll talk about anything, but here's some general areas where I might have more thoughts than others: running a website, vidding, horror movies, movies in general, comic books, atheism/agnosticism, video games, and anything listed in my user interests.

So here's the list of dates. Multiple topics encouraged. Leave a comment!

December 3 -- This.
December 4 -- Tell us about your vidding process. In general, or of one specific vid you've made if you prefer. (thirdblindmouse )
December 5 -- Ramble on about your favorite Universal monster. (elipie )
December 6 -- How does it feel to be (such an awesome) dude in the so heavily female dominated vidding world? Do you see something gendered in vidding, or is it just the sort of thing that more dudes would like if they'd--IDK, let go and embrace their feels more?? :D (cesperanza )
December 7 -- please explain gregory peck's left eyebrow (kiki_miserychic )
December 8 -- what do you think was the main message behind Wonderfalls? (kiki_miserychic )
December 9 -- are there any movies that you wanted to like, but didn't? meaning, a movie people loved, but you didn't (kiki_miserychic )
December 10 -- What's your earliest memory of gaming? (elipie )
December 11 -- Favorite haunted house film? Or what makes for a good haunted house film? (greenet )
December 12 -- Favorite ongoing comics not from the big two? (greenet )
December 13 -- Is there a genre or style of music that you think should be vidded more often, either by yourself or by others? (seekingferret )
December 14 --
December 15 --How did you find fandom, and how long have you been involved? What about fandom appealed to you, and what place does it have in your life? (vagabondage )
December 16 -- Continuity errors and you: a rant (cesperanza )
December 17 -- the invention of film in the 1990s (shati )
December 18 --
December 19 -- What is the One True Vid (or more, if you want) of your heart that you don't think you'll ever make? (grammarwoman )
December 20 -- if someone were going on vacation to where you live, what would you suggest they do while there? (kiki_miserychic )
December 21 --
December 22 --
December 23 --
December 24 --
December 25 -- I think it would be very edgy to talk about agnosticism/atheism on December 25. (qkellie )
December 26 --
December 27 --
December 28 --
December 29 -- tell me about the time you laughed the hardest (kiki_miserychic )
December 30 --
December 31 --

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Ask Me Anything!

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 00:34:54 GMT

Borrowed from everybody:

If there is any question you would like to ask me about any one of my vids, then go ahead! What I meant by a particular clip or sequence, why I chose to highlight that characterization, why I chose that song, what crack I was taking and where you can get some...anything. Anything you might like to know about how I made a vid, I shall do my best to answer.

Convenient list of my vids broken up into four arbitrary categories.

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2012 End-of-Year Vidding Meme

Thu, 27 Dec 2012 00:55:30 GMT

Vids I made this year, by date of posting

Previous years (that I did this meme):
2011

January
Eye of the Tiger (A Knight's Tale)
Home (Jigoku)
Mean Woman Blues (Once a Thief (TV))
TiK ToK (Cemetery Man)

June
The Song is Over (Horror multi)

August
The Godzilla Saga (Godzilla)
Martin Scorsese (Goodfellas, et al.)
Real Wild Child (Lost Girl)

September
The Jolly Green Avenger (Toxic) (The Toxic Avenger)

Also, I finally put my Tank Girl vid from 2011 on the Internet in September.

Wow. I made NINE vids this year. That's a personal best.

( Rest of the meme under the cut )

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End-of-Year Vidding Meme

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 04:58:25 GMT

Yes, I should be working on my Festivid. Shush.

This year's vids:

Invincible - Tank Girl (with echan ) [available only on the Apocalypse West 2011 DVD]
Invincible - James Bond [Vividcon 2011]
The Gremlin Show - Gremlins [Vividcon 2011]
A Sophisticated Song - Classic Hollywood (Cary Grant/Katharine Hepburn) [Vividcon 2011]

Wow, I only made four? What is that? *checks vidding history* Oh, I guess that's about average for years that aren't 2008.

( Meme answers behind the cut )

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Feeling a Bit Bored

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 22:03:27 GMT

Not that I don't have a lot to do, but it's not exactly taking up a load of brainspace.

So, I give you the opportunity to know more about the weirdness that is me. Ask any question about me or my opinions (fannish, silly, personal) in the comments and I will answer.

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