New vid: "Starships!" multifandom SPACE VID YAY

[bironic]

LJ post | DW post | AO3

This premiered tonight at Club Vivid (first vid, even! after the Joxer Dance), so finally finally I get to share it with you!

Title: Starships!
Music: Nicki Minaj
Fandoms: *deep breath* 2001: A Space Odyssey, Alien/Aliens, Apollo 13, Archer, Battlestar Galactica (2004-8), Cocoon, Community, Doctor Who (2005-), Dune, Farscape, The Fifth Element, Firefly/Serenity, Forbidden Planet, Futurama, Galaxy Quest, Independence Day, The Muppet Show, Odyssey 5, Planet of the Apes (1968), Spaceballs, Star Trek (TOS, Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager; movies II, IV, VII, VIII and XI/Reboot), Star Wars IV & V, Stargate: Atlantis, Stargate SG-1, Sunshine, Superman (1978), Toy Story 2, Virtuality, WALL-E.
Length: 3:36
Summary: A celebration of pilots, captains, engineers, crew members, and the spacecraft they love to fly. (And race, and crash, and fix, and play in, and fight in, and...)
Rating/Contents: PG-13 for sci fi action, swear words and makeouts. *Physical note for camera movement (shaking, spinning, tilting), flashing lights and some fast-cut sequences. I don't believe there are any other content issues, but please correct me if I'm wrong.
Spoilers: There... actually might not be any. Cool.
Acknowledgements: To cinco, deelaundry, ellen_fremedon and thingswithwings for taking the time to lend me various sources. To kassrachel for offering. To nightdog_barks, roga and others for contributing to the brainstorm. To absolutedestiny for granting permission to make this vid for the show on short notice.




Streaming at Vimeo | Streaming on YouTube | Download MP4 (43 MB) | Download captions file (.srt)

password: starships ETA: removed password protection

Notes: Whew! For those of you who don't know the story, I made this vid in a week and a half at the end of April while working six-day weeks at my day job. That's how much time there was between when I first heard the song/got permission to submit it to Club Vivid, and when Club Vivid vids were due. Words cannot describe the scramble to get enough source—I only own about a third of the above—plus make all the clips, figure out the best aspect ratio, find a good vid structure, define constraints (e.g. only clips where people look happy/enthralled to be flying; only ships in space, not in atmosphere, except for launches/crashes), etc.

Having done a bunch of vids before definitely made this one possible; it was like previous experience built up to allow me to do this one in the allotted time. I knew how to rip and encode and clip several different kinds of footage. I figured out how to deal with a Premiere letterboxing problem. I knew that like half the clips needed speed work. I knew how to export for DVD when it was done. All of that and more meant technical problems didn't defeat the project and I had a little more time to devote to things like making sure this wasn't an "all white guys, all the time" show.

The punishing turnaround had its benefits, though. For one, there wasn't time to second-guess a lot of choices; for another, it prevented me from actually attempting to acquire every spaceship-containing movie and representative TV show episode ever and cram them in there. (Even on the last day, I was tugging at my hair about how there's too much Lee/Apollo and no Babylon 5/Red Dwarf/Andromeda/Avengers/whatever. Not to mention anime and other non-Western source.)

And then it was done, and then... I couldn't even talk to you about it, because it didn't premiere for another three and a half months!

Now here it is, and I am so so happy to post it here. It may not be deep, but it's almost exactly how I envisioned it when I heard the song (I only thought there'd be more room for space battles), and that is a wonderful thing to be able to achieve and share. Hope you like it.





Lyrics can be found at http://rapgenius.com/Nicki-minaj-starships-lyrics. Coming up Now posted (see link below): a list of clips/sources paired with the lyrics, for kicks and for people who've asked if there's a way to identify quick or obscure images.

Comments and concrit are always welcome as I try to improve my vidding.

Okay, back to the party.

x-posted to vidding (LJ) and vidding (DW)



UPDATES:

8/25/12: A note about how the vid does not contain "everything"

4/6/13: List of clips/sources matched to the lyrics

4/18/13: Traffic spike and follow-up, with discussion of platform limitations and community attribution habits

8/19/13: jetpack_monkey's Starships! (Monochromatic Remix), source list, and remarkable side-by-side comparison

8/21/13: Thanks to morgandawn, Starships (as well as the remix) now has a Fanlore page!

8/5/14: Two-year anniversary; traffic spike; haters gonna hate

1/8/16: Exciting news: Vancouver Art Gallery exhibit

2/24/16: Vids inna museum (Vancouver visit)

This vid has since shown at: Connotations 2012, Swancon 2013, Muskrat Jamboree 2013, Vidukon 2013 (space vid show), Wiscon 37 (Ad Astra Per Aspera vid show and singalong vid show), Continuum 9, Nine Worlds, Vividcon 2013 (Out of this World vidshow), Bitchin' Party/Pacificon 2014, WisCon 38 (Sing Along With Me vid show), ComicCon 2014 (OTW panel), Vividcon 2014 (Club Vivid), Worldcon/Loncon-3, sinpOZium 2014, Vidukon 2015 (Tropes vid show), Wiscon 39 (Singalong: The Voyage Home vid show), Wiscon 40 (Singalong: The Comeback vid show)

It will be included in "MashUp: The Birth of Modern Culture" at the Vancouver Art Gallery, February-June 2016 (!)

And it has been featured at: TheMarySue.com, io9 (!), AmazingStoriesMag.com, Queer Geek Theory (Alexis Lothian's blog), Obsidian Wings (Doctor Science's blog), SourceFed News, Riemurasia.net, Giant Freakin Robot, MoviePilot.com, and some other sites, and has been kicking around Tumblr and Twitter. So cool.

(These and all other related posts now organized under the vid: starships tag)

Comments

[just-ann-now.livejournal.com]

That was wonderful! Literally; not just the fun of all the clips, but full also of the actual sense of wonder of space travel. I enjoyed it very much!

[bironic.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad to hear that. I think this is one of those cases where the fanwork creator's love of the source material ends up resonating with other people. Thank you!

[mific.livejournal.com]

THIS IS SO GREAT!!!!!!
The song's perfect of course - I can see why you wanted to make this when you heard it. I didn't know all the sources, didn't matter at all, as it came together so well and the overwhelming love of starships message is so clear. Joyous, and it made me laugh and tear up a little. I'm hugging this vid so hard, and I'm gonna rec it right now on bestthingever over on DW.

and wow, I'm first only the second to comment - time zone FTW!

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! Your comment made me smile and smile on Friday night when the metaphorical ink on the post hadn't even dried.

[no-detective.livejournal.com]

Oh, WOW. This is fantastic and glorious and full of space joy! (I especially love that you used Galaxy Quest.)

&STARSHIPS;

[bironic.livejournal.com]

&STARSHIPS;-

Pretty much! Thank you thank you—I'm so glad you liked this.

(And, really, given the choice of including Alan Rickman in a vid, how could a person resist?)

[notarealverb.livejournal.com]

Hi! This is absolutely awesome. I can understand why you would have been chomping at the bit to talk to people about it!
The fact that I was watching it going "what obscure images?" just goes to show I watch almost enough sci-fi. ;)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Ha. Well done, you! :) And thanks so much for your comment. I'm glad you liked the vid.

[coyotegestalt.livejournal.com]

This is gorgeous!

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Hooray! Thank you.

[schneefink.livejournal.com]

I love this. It's glorious. I have a big stupid smile on my face and tears in my eyes. This is why I love spaceships (and why I stare at people who don't understand why, because spaceships!)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

because spaceships!

Right? Honestly. :)

Thank you for the comment!

[splash-the-cat.livejournal.com]

This was awesome!

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Glad you thought so! Thank you.

[busaikko]

This is glorious! Love all the shows and characters represented, you've got me grinning ear to ear :D

[bironic.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad! Thank you.

[lynnenne]

Fantastically beautiful, and so much fun!

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[suechosethis.livejournal.com]

This is wonderful! I'm with the previous commenter on the stupid grin and teary eyes, it's so full of love and fun. I've downloaded it - a definite keeper! Thank you. x

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much!

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

OH MY GOD THIS IS SO JOYOUS.

I am serious -- it is so full of promise, and hope, and we'll get there, we will. Awesome work. All the kudos in the world. Wow.

[mycrazyhair.livejournal.com]

Yes, yes, that's exactly right - this is JOYOUS. I can't stop smiling.

[auntmo9.livejournal.com]

This was amazing! I couldn't think of a single show/clip that I didn't recognize and I am not sure what that says about me, but I thoroughly enjoyed it! I have no vidding abilities whatsoever but when I listen to this song, this is the type of video I imagine and it is the only reason I listen to it! Loved it!

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Hearing the song definitely gave me an image of a vid like this, and I'm very pleased to have borne that out and to see it make other people happy.

[bitter-crimson.livejournal.com]

I love the vid, I enjoyed reading about your process (as someone who's never made a multifandom vid I'm still scurred of / in awe of them, haha), and I wish I could have been able to dance to this with a room full of ppl. :D

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Hey, you've already had a recent vid party, why not follow up with a vid dance party? :) But seriously, I'm glad you enjoyed this. And I'd definitely never attempted something of this scope source-wise before but it helped to love the genre so much and know what I wanted. If I'd had more time, I would have researched & included many more, including more animated and non-Western/English sources.

Vid Rec

[livejournal.livejournal.com]

User nightdog_barks referenced to your post from Vid Rec (http://nightdog-barks.livejournal.com/1640619.html) saying: [...] one more frontier on the horizon. There is so much going on here, and I just loved it. Starships [...]

[flywoman.livejournal.com]

OMG, I have the biggest grin on my face right now! So many great memories - I feel like this vid was made just for me :D.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

That is one of the wonders of "id" fanworks, isn't it? You make something because you love it, and then it connects with others because they love the same thing. So cool. Thank you for the comment.

[lettered.livejournal.com]

This is really freakin' awesome.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

I am so glad you think so!

[swamp-adder.livejournal.com]

Aw, this is so fun!

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Hooray! Thank you.

[eruthros]

This is lovely!

[bironic.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you thought so!

[grey-bard.livejournal.com]

This is AMAZING! It's my first Vividcon vid of the year to watch, but what a hell of a way to start! Seriously, my spaceshow-loving heart is filled with glee, I'm downloading this to keep for myself forever and ever.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Aw, yay. Thank you. I'm so glad you liked it.

[thirdblindmouse.livejournal.com]

Is made of gorgeous and joy!

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Thank you again!

[gorgeousnerd]

This vid is stellar. (Pun mostly intended.) It's like my childhood in dance-y, awesome form!

[bironic.livejournal.com]

The child who will never grow up to stop loving this sort of stuff, right? :) Thank you!

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

How was the dance party?

I am SO HAPPY this vid is public now YAY YAY YAY YAY!

[bironic.livejournal.com]

*hugs you* It was really cool to experience this "live" in a room full of people who cheered at their favorite characters/spaceships and "aww"ed at Wall-E and jumped with their hands up at the "red alert" sections with the strongest beat.

[perspi.livejournal.com]

EEEEEEEEEEE OMG BABE THIS IS AMAZING! There is so much here to love, and so much that calls to what space exploration can be, you know? And getting to see this after seeing g pics coming back from Curiosity, PERFECTION.

Bravo, bb!

[bironic.livejournal.com]

♥ Thank you so much. I was just saying to nightdog above that I didn't anticipate that this vid would resonate so strongly with people on the Curiosity/reality front, but it's wonderful that it did.

[amnisias.livejournal.com]

I loved this! Best possible start to the evening. Spaceships rock!

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Thanks again! I totally agree on the spaceships front. Obviously. :)

[drglam]

That was glorious! I've watched it three times already, grinning so hard my face hurts every time.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Aw, yay. Thank you.