Con.txt 2018 - Vid Show Report
Jul. 31st, 2018 10:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
amediaCon.txt 2018 Vid Show
I thoroughly enjoyed this vid show, not once but twice! I saw it on Friday evening and then, on Saturday, con members could check out a flash drive with all the vids and copy them to their own laptops so we could rewatch them again anytime! I was in vid heaven! I rewatched them with some friends on Saturday night and loved them all over again. There were fewer conventional slash vids than I’m used to seeing, more character-study vids, and lots of grrl power. Great, great stuff.
[ETA]The con has posted a link to watch them all online! http://con-txt.net/index.php/vid-show/[/ETA]
Intro. The show began with Led Zeppelin’s “The Immigrant Song,” which still makes me think of Viking Kittens despite its use in Thor:Ragnarok, so I really liked it with the opening scene with Heimdall and the Nyan-Duck Con.txt mascot. The intro vid went on to provide the rules for the vid show under the play from Ragnarok re-enacting Loki’s apparent defeat near the end of Thor 2. Because the vids are also provided in another format to watch in the quiet of your own room, vid show viewers are expected to put up with a certain amount of noise—so “no shushing” is one of the rules—but so is “no singing along”! It was a great way to present these and other protocols with a healthy dose of humor.
1.1. The first vid was a Black Panther vid by Anoel to the Janelle Monae song “Tightrope.” I adore the song (and Ms. Monae’s video for it), but I haven’t seen Black Panther yet. I couldn’t tell if there was a storyline I should be following, but I definitely loved the way the song showcased the action in the film and made it look like dancing. I liked the transition from snappy cuts in the verses to longer clips depicting fluid motions in the refrain, and I loved the way that movements that were neither dance nor action were cut to the music to make them appear dancelike.
1.2. “Bend Hard, Play Hard” by IleiaAMVs, an Avatar: The Last Airbender vid, also did a nifty job differentiating the verses from the chorus. In this case, the verses were rapped and the cuts were not only very fast, but often very funny and clever, while the chorus was sung and the heroic clips echoed the rousing, triumphant lyric.
1.3. “it’s a new day” by pollyrepeat puzzled the heck out of me, because I hadn’t heard of a show called Rivers of London and the vid, while pleasant to watch, was very short. Someone explained to me that RoL is a *book* series, so this was a vid that tried to visualize what it might look like if filmed. Not being familiar with the universe, I can’t say much else about it, but I thought it was a cool idea.
1.4. “Congratulations” by starlady was a Star Wars vid mapping the conflict between Anakin and Obi-wan onto the song from Hamilton. I thought the vidder did a great job—howls of laughter greeted the opening, in which Obi-Wan appears to inform Anakin (quite rightly!) that he has invented a new kind of stupid, while casting Palpatine as Jefferson (IIRC) was an excellent fit. As the song gentled down to talk about “my sister,” the vid became more serious, depicting Obi-wan’s protectiveness of Amidala, and it concluded with a continuation of the conflict into A New Hope. The transition from laughter to feels was well done.
1.5. “A Girl Like You” by hollywoodgrrl and ohvienna was a sizzling tribute to Lucy Lawless, intercutting scenes from a number of her works. I still find slashy moments more engaging than outright sex scenes, but by juxtaposing—to give one example--clips of Lucretia and her female partners in Spartacus to moments from Xena: Warrior Princess with Xena and Gabrielle and Xena and Callisto, the vidder infused the slashy scenes with additional sexuality and the sex scenes with additional meaning.
1.6. “Ships in the Night” by bethofalltrades was a Star Trek: Discovery vid focusing on the relationship between Burnham and Georgiou. It looked angsty and sad and beautifully done, even though I couldn’t follow it well. (I’ve only seen the first free episode.) One thing I especially liked was how it highlighted how badass the characters are, as well as how hard they struggle to connect.
1.7. Johnny Cash’s version of “Won’t Back Down” became a Rogue One vid by colls, focusing on Cassian Andor. It didn’t do a lot for me, although I can’t figure out why. The song certainly works for Cassian, but the vid didn’t seem to add anything beyond that fact. It may be more of a living-room vid; watching it again may reveal further depth.
1.8. “Field Work” by eruthros was an Indiana Jones vid set to the Imperial Death March from Star Wars. Um … it was fun to watch, but what was the vidder trying to say? Is Indy something like Darth Vader? Or was it just fun to match the clips to the music? It was hard to work out the throughline of events chosen for the vid; they didn’t seem chronological or thematic. A number of the clips were speeded up to fit the music, which isn’t my favorite style of vid. At the end there was a brief exchange of dialogue in which someone accuses Jones of being a tomb robber and he shoots back that he’s a tenured professor … Given that he pretty much *is* depicted as a tomb robber, stealing objects from indigenous cultures and wrecking sites as he goes--maybe that was the point.
1.9. “Look What You Made Me Do” by dar_vidder impressed the heck out of me. I haven’t seen the Hunger Games movies, but I read the books and was able to follow the vid pretty well. The song was incredibly well chosen and the vidder mapped the story onto it extremely well. The sexy-defiant voice in which Taylor Swift sings the song added another dimension to the vid, since it includes scenes in which Katniss uses her popularity and attractiveness as part of her weaponry to support her resistance not only against the original government but also against dark factions in the rebellion.
1.10. “Connections” by bonibaru tackled the very confusing first season of Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency. As near as I could tell, the vid created parallels between the holistic detective Dirk Gently and the holistic assassin played by Fiona Dourif, who was my favorite character in the show. I may not be interpreting the vid correctly, but it was fun to watch.
1.11 “Chase You Down” by gwenyth rhys puzzled me a little. At first I thought it was a slash video for Captain America/Falcon, but then the second verse was all about Steve & Bucky, and the third verse was about Steve & Peggy, and then the final refrain blended all three relationships. There was a nice mix of action clips and quieter moments, as well as touches of humor.
1.12 “Might Lead to Mixed Dancing” by seekingferret was a multi vid that was definitely an audience favorite! Beginning with clips from The Frisco Kid and set to what was clearly a Jewish song, it featured dance and dance-like scenes from many different sources featuring Jewish characters & actors. Josh from West Wing and Ivanova from Babylon 5, Barbara Streisand, and several dance numbers from Fiddler on the Roof--to name a few—-merged into a marvelous tribute. To me, this vid was special because Trek fandom started out as a Jewish-founded space as well as a Jewish-friendly space, as it should ever remain. Plus it was fun! When the vid show was over, they asked if there was a vid or two that people wanted to see again, several people shouted at once, “Dancing Jews!”
1.13 “Titanium” by Anoel sketched an arc of Wonder Woman’s awesomeness, focusing especially on her as a strong and beautiful fighter. I couldn’t understand any of the lyrics to the song and I haven’t seen the movie, but the way the vidder blended the music with the clips was poetry in motion.
1.14. “Wake Me Up” by fiercynn and scribe was a multi vid with a super intriguing theme: it focused on characters who woke up from an earlier life into a new/changed self, whether literally or figuratively. Characters as varied as Neo from The Matrix, The Master from Doctor Who, and Om Prakash (becoming Om Kapoor) from Om Shanti Om, each shed a different light on the common theme, building up layers and layers of meaning.
1.15. “Live in this City” by heresluck celebrated the female Ghostbusters and their connection to New York City. The feisty female garage-band sound of the song perfectly echoed the scrappy sheroes’ adventures. Another fun one!
1.16. “Thunder” by Aria was a terrific celebration of Thor, with loads of great clips from Ragnarok supporting a great song by Imagine Dragons with a hypnotic chorus. I could watch this one over and over.
1.17. “Stand by You” by thingswithwings was another multifandom vid with a solid theme worked out in many fandoms. This time, it was characters supporting one another, with the supported character, generally female, achieving great things. So many relevant lines found wonderfully parallel applications, especially “Even if we can't find heaven, I'll walk through hell with you.” If I had any criticism, it would be that there were so many short clips that it was hard for each one to reach its full impact … but it would clearly reward multiple rewatchings.
Intermission (a welcome chance to stretch one’s legs!)
2.1. “This is a Trent Reznor Song” by rhoboat is a Star Trek reboot vid that I’ve seen before, and love even more every time I see it. The song itself simultaneously criticizes and celebrates songs by Trent Reznor (from Nine Inch Nails)—it’s sort of the emo darkcore version of “Generic Uptempo Folksong.” Setting clips of the reboot Star Trek to the song functions as a biting satire of the typical J.J. Abrams clichés overused in the movies.
2.2. “they can’t do it like I do” by Ichored focused on a character from Shadowhunters, which I have not seen. What struck me about the vid, coming to it as an outsider, was how much the genderqueer Asian character was exoticized by the camera, and how the vid, by mapping him onto the first-person narrator who owns his identity with pride and sass, takes someone who might be seen as Other and Object in multiple ways and makes him unequivocally the Self and Subject.
2.3. “Bad Blood (Never Ever)” by fiercynn and scribe was another multi vid, this time focusing on bad breakups. Lots of dry humor, lots of laughter from the audience. There were also a few woobie moments that drew “ooh” sounds, but it was mostly humorous. Relationships varied—m/m, f/f, het—but what they all had in common was that they were DEFINITELY over!
2.4. “Got Her Own” by bingeling, a Black Sails vid, gave us a change of pace with an understated, lyrical character study of Max (a female character). It made me want to watch the show and root for the her.
2.5. “16 Tons” by cara marie was a vid based on the Alien/Aliens movies. I liked the point the vidder was trying to make about the parallels between the evil exploitive employers referenced in the folksong and the evil exploitive mining corporation that causes so much of the trouble in the movies. I’m not sure the series really yields the clips needed to make it work, so I’m afraid the point of the vid was more intellectual than visual. But I liked it very much. I especially appreciated the female-sung version of the song, which helped tie it to Ripley as the POV character.
2.6. “Desperado” by fightingarrival was a Star Wars vid focusing on Finn & Poe, Finn & Rey, and Finn & Poe & Rey as near as I could tell. What I got from it—which may not be what the vidder intended—was that their friendships helped them to succeed and survive in their acts of rebellion. (This was not set to the Eagles song, but a different one.)
2.7. “I Am the One Who Will Remember Everything” by chaila is a Harry Potter vid that will tear your heart out. McGonagall is the one who will remember so very many painful things—the song by Dar Williams is about refugee orphans and the vidder skillfully maps it onto the events leading up to the Battle of Hogwarts. It definitely brings home how grimdark the movies rapidly become, and how central McGonagall is as a survivor and witness.
2.8. “Get Better” by absternr is a really cool and unusual vid using stills from the Hawkeye comic books (Fraction run). I think the only one I’ve seen that is similar was a From Eroica with Love vid I saw a little while ago. I love this kind of extension/expansion of the way songvids are done!!! I wasn’t clear what was going on in the vid until I rewatched it with a couple of fans of the comic series who assured me that it was really, really good, and filled me in on some of the background I needed in order to agree with them. (Which I did!)
2.9. “Weapon” by eruthros is a vid that I want to learn more about so I can enjoy it even more! The pairing is Cindi Mayweather/Janelle Monae—the former being an alter ego portrayed in music videos by the latter! Other than a brief use of a scene from a Will Smith vid in Central Consortium’s “Shoop,” I can’t think of other fan songvids that have used scenes from professional music videos—and that’s what this was, entirely. I recognized the clips from “Tightrope” and a few of the others—now I want to watch all of them and then watch this vid again! It’s another kind of boundary-pushing, yay!
2.10. “Black Panther” by vordeel was an instrumental—always a challenge for vidders—that I thought was very well-timed to the music. I haven’t seen the movie yet so I can’t really say more than that, but I really enjoyed watching it.
2.11 “Woman” by runawaynun was a fierce and fun “Legends of Tomorrow” vid focusing on the female characters. Grrrl power for the win!
2.12. “Wild One” by sisabet was a Channing Tatum vid. I haven’t seen an actor vid in ages, so it was fun to see this one, which included what looked like out-takes or ‘Net videos or talk-show interviews alongside the clips from various movies he’s been in. My take-away was that he seems very athletic. And bouncy.
2.13. “She’s a Rebel” by bessyboo blended clips from various Star Wars movies, women’s marches, Princess Leia cosplayers, public appearances by and tributes to both Carrie Fisher and Princess Leia, to make a statement about her importance as a role model for strong women, a mental health advocate, and a powerful, beloved character. The audience clapped and shouted enthusiastically for the vid;it was very stirring and blended our sorrow at losing her to our joy in what she gave us. It reminded me a little of the “Carry that Weight” video from last year’s Vividcon DVD, but it isn’t possible to over-acknowledge her legacy.
2.14. “Rainbowland” by violace made me want to watch The Good Place, although I haven’t seen the show and couldn’t follow the vid, which clearly had some kind of interesting storyline.
2.15. “Never Look Away” by helcinda was a Yuri On Ice!!! vid that was adorably slashy. I would love to have seen the vidder slow down a little, because the longer clips seemed to work better than the very quick cuts, but I loved how the song went with the characters and their relationship.
2.16. “Gods and Monsters” by mithborien was another character study, this time of Valkyrie from Thor: Ragnarok. I liked the way the song fit the character, and it brought out the genuine sadness inherent in a mostly light-hearted movie, as well as Valkyrie’s BAMF! Aspects.
2.17. “Wolves without Teeth” by dar_vidder was a Sense8 vid that looked interesting, disturbing, possibly hopeful, but which I couldn’t quite follow since I don’t know the fandom.
2.18. “The Greatest” by Bironic was a multifandom vid that celebrated a variety of heroic characters—after about thirty seconds or so I realized that all the characters in it were people of color. At the end, it displayed the hashtag “Fandom Trumps Hate”—a marvelous play on words. A great vid in itself, as well as a great statement to end on!
Additional information about the vid show can be found at http://con-txt.net/index.php/vid-show/.
I thoroughly enjoyed this vid show, not once but twice! I saw it on Friday evening and then, on Saturday, con members could check out a flash drive with all the vids and copy them to their own laptops so we could rewatch them again anytime! I was in vid heaven! I rewatched them with some friends on Saturday night and loved them all over again. There were fewer conventional slash vids than I’m used to seeing, more character-study vids, and lots of grrl power. Great, great stuff.
[ETA]The con has posted a link to watch them all online! http://con-txt.net/index.php/vid-show/[/ETA]
Intro. The show began with Led Zeppelin’s “The Immigrant Song,” which still makes me think of Viking Kittens despite its use in Thor:Ragnarok, so I really liked it with the opening scene with Heimdall and the Nyan-Duck Con.txt mascot. The intro vid went on to provide the rules for the vid show under the play from Ragnarok re-enacting Loki’s apparent defeat near the end of Thor 2. Because the vids are also provided in another format to watch in the quiet of your own room, vid show viewers are expected to put up with a certain amount of noise—so “no shushing” is one of the rules—but so is “no singing along”! It was a great way to present these and other protocols with a healthy dose of humor.
1.1. The first vid was a Black Panther vid by Anoel to the Janelle Monae song “Tightrope.” I adore the song (and Ms. Monae’s video for it), but I haven’t seen Black Panther yet. I couldn’t tell if there was a storyline I should be following, but I definitely loved the way the song showcased the action in the film and made it look like dancing. I liked the transition from snappy cuts in the verses to longer clips depicting fluid motions in the refrain, and I loved the way that movements that were neither dance nor action were cut to the music to make them appear dancelike.
1.2. “Bend Hard, Play Hard” by IleiaAMVs, an Avatar: The Last Airbender vid, also did a nifty job differentiating the verses from the chorus. In this case, the verses were rapped and the cuts were not only very fast, but often very funny and clever, while the chorus was sung and the heroic clips echoed the rousing, triumphant lyric.
1.3. “it’s a new day” by pollyrepeat puzzled the heck out of me, because I hadn’t heard of a show called Rivers of London and the vid, while pleasant to watch, was very short. Someone explained to me that RoL is a *book* series, so this was a vid that tried to visualize what it might look like if filmed. Not being familiar with the universe, I can’t say much else about it, but I thought it was a cool idea.
1.4. “Congratulations” by starlady was a Star Wars vid mapping the conflict between Anakin and Obi-wan onto the song from Hamilton. I thought the vidder did a great job—howls of laughter greeted the opening, in which Obi-Wan appears to inform Anakin (quite rightly!) that he has invented a new kind of stupid, while casting Palpatine as Jefferson (IIRC) was an excellent fit. As the song gentled down to talk about “my sister,” the vid became more serious, depicting Obi-wan’s protectiveness of Amidala, and it concluded with a continuation of the conflict into A New Hope. The transition from laughter to feels was well done.
1.5. “A Girl Like You” by hollywoodgrrl and ohvienna was a sizzling tribute to Lucy Lawless, intercutting scenes from a number of her works. I still find slashy moments more engaging than outright sex scenes, but by juxtaposing—to give one example--clips of Lucretia and her female partners in Spartacus to moments from Xena: Warrior Princess with Xena and Gabrielle and Xena and Callisto, the vidder infused the slashy scenes with additional sexuality and the sex scenes with additional meaning.
1.6. “Ships in the Night” by bethofalltrades was a Star Trek: Discovery vid focusing on the relationship between Burnham and Georgiou. It looked angsty and sad and beautifully done, even though I couldn’t follow it well. (I’ve only seen the first free episode.) One thing I especially liked was how it highlighted how badass the characters are, as well as how hard they struggle to connect.
1.7. Johnny Cash’s version of “Won’t Back Down” became a Rogue One vid by colls, focusing on Cassian Andor. It didn’t do a lot for me, although I can’t figure out why. The song certainly works for Cassian, but the vid didn’t seem to add anything beyond that fact. It may be more of a living-room vid; watching it again may reveal further depth.
1.8. “Field Work” by eruthros was an Indiana Jones vid set to the Imperial Death March from Star Wars. Um … it was fun to watch, but what was the vidder trying to say? Is Indy something like Darth Vader? Or was it just fun to match the clips to the music? It was hard to work out the throughline of events chosen for the vid; they didn’t seem chronological or thematic. A number of the clips were speeded up to fit the music, which isn’t my favorite style of vid. At the end there was a brief exchange of dialogue in which someone accuses Jones of being a tomb robber and he shoots back that he’s a tenured professor … Given that he pretty much *is* depicted as a tomb robber, stealing objects from indigenous cultures and wrecking sites as he goes--maybe that was the point.
1.9. “Look What You Made Me Do” by dar_vidder impressed the heck out of me. I haven’t seen the Hunger Games movies, but I read the books and was able to follow the vid pretty well. The song was incredibly well chosen and the vidder mapped the story onto it extremely well. The sexy-defiant voice in which Taylor Swift sings the song added another dimension to the vid, since it includes scenes in which Katniss uses her popularity and attractiveness as part of her weaponry to support her resistance not only against the original government but also against dark factions in the rebellion.
1.10. “Connections” by bonibaru tackled the very confusing first season of Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency. As near as I could tell, the vid created parallels between the holistic detective Dirk Gently and the holistic assassin played by Fiona Dourif, who was my favorite character in the show. I may not be interpreting the vid correctly, but it was fun to watch.
1.11 “Chase You Down” by gwenyth rhys puzzled me a little. At first I thought it was a slash video for Captain America/Falcon, but then the second verse was all about Steve & Bucky, and the third verse was about Steve & Peggy, and then the final refrain blended all three relationships. There was a nice mix of action clips and quieter moments, as well as touches of humor.
1.12 “Might Lead to Mixed Dancing” by seekingferret was a multi vid that was definitely an audience favorite! Beginning with clips from The Frisco Kid and set to what was clearly a Jewish song, it featured dance and dance-like scenes from many different sources featuring Jewish characters & actors. Josh from West Wing and Ivanova from Babylon 5, Barbara Streisand, and several dance numbers from Fiddler on the Roof--to name a few—-merged into a marvelous tribute. To me, this vid was special because Trek fandom started out as a Jewish-founded space as well as a Jewish-friendly space, as it should ever remain. Plus it was fun! When the vid show was over, they asked if there was a vid or two that people wanted to see again, several people shouted at once, “Dancing Jews!”
1.13 “Titanium” by Anoel sketched an arc of Wonder Woman’s awesomeness, focusing especially on her as a strong and beautiful fighter. I couldn’t understand any of the lyrics to the song and I haven’t seen the movie, but the way the vidder blended the music with the clips was poetry in motion.
1.14. “Wake Me Up” by fiercynn and scribe was a multi vid with a super intriguing theme: it focused on characters who woke up from an earlier life into a new/changed self, whether literally or figuratively. Characters as varied as Neo from The Matrix, The Master from Doctor Who, and Om Prakash (becoming Om Kapoor) from Om Shanti Om, each shed a different light on the common theme, building up layers and layers of meaning.
1.15. “Live in this City” by heresluck celebrated the female Ghostbusters and their connection to New York City. The feisty female garage-band sound of the song perfectly echoed the scrappy sheroes’ adventures. Another fun one!
1.16. “Thunder” by Aria was a terrific celebration of Thor, with loads of great clips from Ragnarok supporting a great song by Imagine Dragons with a hypnotic chorus. I could watch this one over and over.
1.17. “Stand by You” by thingswithwings was another multifandom vid with a solid theme worked out in many fandoms. This time, it was characters supporting one another, with the supported character, generally female, achieving great things. So many relevant lines found wonderfully parallel applications, especially “Even if we can't find heaven, I'll walk through hell with you.” If I had any criticism, it would be that there were so many short clips that it was hard for each one to reach its full impact … but it would clearly reward multiple rewatchings.
Intermission (a welcome chance to stretch one’s legs!)
2.1. “This is a Trent Reznor Song” by rhoboat is a Star Trek reboot vid that I’ve seen before, and love even more every time I see it. The song itself simultaneously criticizes and celebrates songs by Trent Reznor (from Nine Inch Nails)—it’s sort of the emo darkcore version of “Generic Uptempo Folksong.” Setting clips of the reboot Star Trek to the song functions as a biting satire of the typical J.J. Abrams clichés overused in the movies.
2.2. “they can’t do it like I do” by Ichored focused on a character from Shadowhunters, which I have not seen. What struck me about the vid, coming to it as an outsider, was how much the genderqueer Asian character was exoticized by the camera, and how the vid, by mapping him onto the first-person narrator who owns his identity with pride and sass, takes someone who might be seen as Other and Object in multiple ways and makes him unequivocally the Self and Subject.
2.3. “Bad Blood (Never Ever)” by fiercynn and scribe was another multi vid, this time focusing on bad breakups. Lots of dry humor, lots of laughter from the audience. There were also a few woobie moments that drew “ooh” sounds, but it was mostly humorous. Relationships varied—m/m, f/f, het—but what they all had in common was that they were DEFINITELY over!
2.4. “Got Her Own” by bingeling, a Black Sails vid, gave us a change of pace with an understated, lyrical character study of Max (a female character). It made me want to watch the show and root for the her.
2.5. “16 Tons” by cara marie was a vid based on the Alien/Aliens movies. I liked the point the vidder was trying to make about the parallels between the evil exploitive employers referenced in the folksong and the evil exploitive mining corporation that causes so much of the trouble in the movies. I’m not sure the series really yields the clips needed to make it work, so I’m afraid the point of the vid was more intellectual than visual. But I liked it very much. I especially appreciated the female-sung version of the song, which helped tie it to Ripley as the POV character.
2.6. “Desperado” by fightingarrival was a Star Wars vid focusing on Finn & Poe, Finn & Rey, and Finn & Poe & Rey as near as I could tell. What I got from it—which may not be what the vidder intended—was that their friendships helped them to succeed and survive in their acts of rebellion. (This was not set to the Eagles song, but a different one.)
2.7. “I Am the One Who Will Remember Everything” by chaila is a Harry Potter vid that will tear your heart out. McGonagall is the one who will remember so very many painful things—the song by Dar Williams is about refugee orphans and the vidder skillfully maps it onto the events leading up to the Battle of Hogwarts. It definitely brings home how grimdark the movies rapidly become, and how central McGonagall is as a survivor and witness.
2.8. “Get Better” by absternr is a really cool and unusual vid using stills from the Hawkeye comic books (Fraction run). I think the only one I’ve seen that is similar was a From Eroica with Love vid I saw a little while ago. I love this kind of extension/expansion of the way songvids are done!!! I wasn’t clear what was going on in the vid until I rewatched it with a couple of fans of the comic series who assured me that it was really, really good, and filled me in on some of the background I needed in order to agree with them. (Which I did!)
2.9. “Weapon” by eruthros is a vid that I want to learn more about so I can enjoy it even more! The pairing is Cindi Mayweather/Janelle Monae—the former being an alter ego portrayed in music videos by the latter! Other than a brief use of a scene from a Will Smith vid in Central Consortium’s “Shoop,” I can’t think of other fan songvids that have used scenes from professional music videos—and that’s what this was, entirely. I recognized the clips from “Tightrope” and a few of the others—now I want to watch all of them and then watch this vid again! It’s another kind of boundary-pushing, yay!
2.10. “Black Panther” by vordeel was an instrumental—always a challenge for vidders—that I thought was very well-timed to the music. I haven’t seen the movie yet so I can’t really say more than that, but I really enjoyed watching it.
2.11 “Woman” by runawaynun was a fierce and fun “Legends of Tomorrow” vid focusing on the female characters. Grrrl power for the win!
2.12. “Wild One” by sisabet was a Channing Tatum vid. I haven’t seen an actor vid in ages, so it was fun to see this one, which included what looked like out-takes or ‘Net videos or talk-show interviews alongside the clips from various movies he’s been in. My take-away was that he seems very athletic. And bouncy.
2.13. “She’s a Rebel” by bessyboo blended clips from various Star Wars movies, women’s marches, Princess Leia cosplayers, public appearances by and tributes to both Carrie Fisher and Princess Leia, to make a statement about her importance as a role model for strong women, a mental health advocate, and a powerful, beloved character. The audience clapped and shouted enthusiastically for the vid;it was very stirring and blended our sorrow at losing her to our joy in what she gave us. It reminded me a little of the “Carry that Weight” video from last year’s Vividcon DVD, but it isn’t possible to over-acknowledge her legacy.
2.14. “Rainbowland” by violace made me want to watch The Good Place, although I haven’t seen the show and couldn’t follow the vid, which clearly had some kind of interesting storyline.
2.15. “Never Look Away” by helcinda was a Yuri On Ice!!! vid that was adorably slashy. I would love to have seen the vidder slow down a little, because the longer clips seemed to work better than the very quick cuts, but I loved how the song went with the characters and their relationship.
2.16. “Gods and Monsters” by mithborien was another character study, this time of Valkyrie from Thor: Ragnarok. I liked the way the song fit the character, and it brought out the genuine sadness inherent in a mostly light-hearted movie, as well as Valkyrie’s BAMF! Aspects.
2.17. “Wolves without Teeth” by dar_vidder was a Sense8 vid that looked interesting, disturbing, possibly hopeful, but which I couldn’t quite follow since I don’t know the fandom.
2.18. “The Greatest” by Bironic was a multifandom vid that celebrated a variety of heroic characters—after about thirty seconds or so I realized that all the characters in it were people of color. At the end, it displayed the hashtag “Fandom Trumps Hate”—a marvelous play on words. A great vid in itself, as well as a great statement to end on!
Additional information about the vid show can be found at http://con-txt.net/index.php/vid-show/.
Tags:
no subject
Date: 2018-08-01 03:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-08-03 06:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-08-04 02:34 am (UTC)Around twenty years ago, I guess, I posted to a very thoughtful fanfic listerv I belonged to at the time, a question that I had been wondering about for a while. I happen to be Catholic, and I had noticed that media fandom in the U.S. at the time included a much higher percentage of Jewish and Catholic members than the U.S. population, at least in my impression (which the list members agreed was accurate). Not necessarily practicing Jews or practicing Catholics, but people who were raised in those cultural traditions. There were plenty of Protestants around, just not as many as you'd expect. My question was, why? The listserv batted this around for a little while and generally agreed that both faith traditions are closely associated with storytelling in a distinctive way (as compared to mainstream Protestant traditions). I can't think of specific Jewish examples that were raised--everyone seemed to assume that was obvious!--but Catholic examples included things like medieval mystery plays and the lives of the saints. And being raised in such a tradition made people more open to/interested in fanfic.
It was so long ago that I forget whether the next step in the conversation was something that I had noticed myself or that someone else pointed out! At any rate, while there were a lot of Jews and Catholics writing fanfic in the 1990's, if you go back earlier to the origins of Trek fandom in the late 1960's, the movers and shakers tended to be Jewish. Devra Langsam, who edited the first Trek fanzine, Spockanalia; Ruth Berman, who edited another early zine, T-Negative; the folks who put on the first conventions, etc. etc.
Just to give an idea of how Jewish-friendly a space this listserv was--one of the Jewish members felt confident enough to give the following reason why the early foundresses of Trek fandom were mostly Jewish. "Look, we all know the stereotype!" she wrote. "We're Jews! We're rude and pushy and we don't take no for an answer! We. Get. Things. Done."
So while it's seriously cool that one can spin a dreidel with Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock, they're not the founders I'm thinking of. Rather, it's Devra and Ruth and all those other people whose names I can't remember off the top of my head, who created this amazing sandbox we're all still playing in.
no subject
Date: 2018-08-04 02:40 am (UTC)More on this may be a part of our lunch-time convo on Thursday.
no subject
Date: 2018-08-04 02:43 am (UTC)