Festivid #3: "Hack the Binary"
Feb. 4th, 2023 04:16 pmI'd wanted to see the Afrofuturist cyberpunk musical movie Neptune Frost since hearing about it last year, and ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
eruthros requesting it for Festivids provided extra motivation.
The film was sometimes confusing but definitely memorable. So much interesting stuff happened visually and thematically that I really wanted to turn it into a treat for eruthros, yet the prospect was also intimidating. And there was only a week or so until go-live. So the first draft was pretty much the final draft. Does it make any sense? Who knows! But hey, the vid exists now.
It didn't turn out as organic as I'd envisioned. The first sequence, of the miners, wanted to be cut to the beat, one action per drum strike. But that did suggest an editing style in which the beginning of the vid, about oppression in a police state and capitalism and feeling trapped within prescribed gender identities, holds to its own rigid structure, and then as the main character transforms into her ideal self and the people around her break free and wake up and resist, the cuts begin to fall outside that rhythm. Neptune's own clips, you may notice, don't hold to the drumbeat from the start.
Hack the Binary on AO3
I'm super pleased thateruthros responded positively and that a few others found the story compelling. Particular gratitude to thingswithwings for checking visual triggers and providing pre-go-live feedback that it did, in fact, make some sense even for someone who was only passingly familiar with the film.
Of note: There's cool stuff in the movie that doesn't appear in the vid, most notably some dream sequences involving fluorescent makeup. One of the two main characters is only glancingly featured. And the ending of the vid does not reflect the ending of the movie. It's a more streamlined (and Westernized?) version of the movie narrative.
eruthros requesting it for Festivids provided extra motivation. The film was sometimes confusing but definitely memorable. So much interesting stuff happened visually and thematically that I really wanted to turn it into a treat for eruthros, yet the prospect was also intimidating. And there was only a week or so until go-live. So the first draft was pretty much the final draft. Does it make any sense? Who knows! But hey, the vid exists now.
It didn't turn out as organic as I'd envisioned. The first sequence, of the miners, wanted to be cut to the beat, one action per drum strike. But that did suggest an editing style in which the beginning of the vid, about oppression in a police state and capitalism and feeling trapped within prescribed gender identities, holds to its own rigid structure, and then as the main character transforms into her ideal self and the people around her break free and wake up and resist, the cuts begin to fall outside that rhythm. Neptune's own clips, you may notice, don't hold to the drumbeat from the start.
Hack the Binary on AO3
I'm super pleased that
eruthros responded positively and that a few others found the story compelling. Particular gratitude to thingswithwings for checking visual triggers and providing pre-go-live feedback that it did, in fact, make some sense even for someone who was only passingly familiar with the film.Of note: There's cool stuff in the movie that doesn't appear in the vid, most notably some dream sequences involving fluorescent makeup. One of the two main characters is only glancingly featured. And the ending of the vid does not reflect the ending of the movie. It's a more streamlined (and Westernized?) version of the movie narrative.
Festivids #1-2: Plants Behaving Badly
Feb. 4th, 2023 03:34 pmI wasn't feeling great mentally during Festivids signups and into the vidding period, so I went easy on myself and offered only a few sources. I was glad to get matched with corbae for this two-part documentary narrated by David Attenborough, which I hadn't seen but which sounded fun.
Hall & Oates' "Maneater" suggested itself right away as a silly song for the episode about carnivorous plants. It took until the day before deadline to finish it, but by then things were on an upswing and I knocked out "Let's Talk About Sex" in 24 hours for the episode about orchids. And here we are: an irreverent pair of vids about plants.
Maneater on AO3
Favorite part: the ant freaking out because it can't get its footing on the slippery leaf. Poor ant, but also LOL.
Thank you todeelaundry for nudging me to re-edit a sequence to avoid a moment of black video that looked like a mistake.
Let's Talk About Sex on AO3
Favorite part: either the fly that looks buck-toothed because of the pollen or the orchid that nods like a gossiper.
corbae for this two-part documentary narrated by David Attenborough, which I hadn't seen but which sounded fun. Hall & Oates' "Maneater" suggested itself right away as a silly song for the episode about carnivorous plants. It took until the day before deadline to finish it, but by then things were on an upswing and I knocked out "Let's Talk About Sex" in 24 hours for the episode about orchids. And here we are: an irreverent pair of vids about plants.
Maneater on AO3
Favorite part: the ant freaking out because it can't get its footing on the slippery leaf. Poor ant, but also LOL.
Thank you to
deelaundry for nudging me to re-edit a sequence to avoid a moment of black video that looked like a mistake.Let's Talk About Sex on AO3
Favorite part: either the fly that looks buck-toothed because of the pollen or the orchid that nods like a gossiper.
Vid #3 complete! One of seekingferret's pitches was to vid the sisters of the band Haim walking in their music videos. This being a very seekingferret concept, I was happy to develop the idea with him.
Walk, Walk
Source: HAIM music videos & Instagram posts
Music: "Walk Walk" by Yael Naim (slightly edited), which makes the unofficial title of this project "Haim & Naim"
Physical notes: Often, several clips appear at the same time depicting people walking, running, or dancing. Some shaky cam and panning.
Content notes: Jews dance in this vid.
Summary: Gonna walk 'til dawn, on and on.
On the AO3 or ( embedded )
This vid supported the International Rescue Committee.
seekingferret's pitches was to vid the sisters of the band Haim walking in their music videos. This being a very seekingferret concept, I was happy to develop the idea with him.Walk, Walk
Source: HAIM music videos & Instagram posts
Music: "Walk Walk" by Yael Naim (slightly edited), which makes the unofficial title of this project "Haim & Naim"
Physical notes: Often, several clips appear at the same time depicting people walking, running, or dancing. Some shaky cam and panning.
Content notes: Jews dance in this vid.
Summary: Gonna walk 'til dawn, on and on.
On the AO3 or ( embedded )
This vid supported the International Rescue Committee.
Vid #2 posted! yhlee asked for Jessica Jones or Valkyrie set to this song. I hope you agree the latter made for an excellent match.
Tomboy
Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe | Thor movies
Rating: Teen and Up
Characters: Valkyrie, Thor, Loki, Bruce/the Hulk, Jane, the Grandmaster
Music: by 여자)아이들 (G)I-DLE
Content notes: violence, guns, drinking, nonconsensual stripping of a man in public, eating of a mouse-like animal
Physical notes: shaky cam, occasional flashing lights (e.g. ray guns firing)
Thank you to M. for high-quality source!
Summary
In which Valkyrie kicks everyone's ass.
On the AO3 or ( embedded )
This vid supported the World Health Organization.
yhlee asked for Jessica Jones or Valkyrie set to this song. I hope you agree the latter made for an excellent match.Tomboy
Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe | Thor movies
Rating: Teen and Up
Characters: Valkyrie, Thor, Loki, Bruce/the Hulk, Jane, the Grandmaster
Music: by 여자)아이들 (G)I-DLE
Content notes: violence, guns, drinking, nonconsensual stripping of a man in public, eating of a mouse-like animal
Physical notes: shaky cam, occasional flashing lights (e.g. ray guns firing)
Thank you to M. for high-quality source!
Summary
In which Valkyrie kicks everyone's ass.
On the AO3 or ( embedded )
This vid supported the World Health Organization.
Vid #1 posted! lilysea asked for Guillermo/Nandor set to this song, and so she did receive.
Sex and Violence
Fandom: What We Do in the Shadows (TV)
Rating: Mature
Relationships: Guillermo de la Cruz/Nandor the Relentless
Music: by The Scissor Sisters (edited)
Content notes: bloody clothes, vampire biting, stakes, swords, ashy bodies, physical fighting & shoving around, one clip of fairly explicit sex
Physical notes: constant shaky cam, including panning and zooming
Spoilers: through the end of season 3; does not contain any footage from season 4
Thank you to findmeinthealps for source help!
Summary
Who is gonna make you cry?
At the AO3 or ( embedded )
This vid supported the World Health Organization Foundation.
lilysea asked for Guillermo/Nandor set to this song, and so she did receive.Sex and Violence
Fandom: What We Do in the Shadows (TV)
Rating: Mature
Relationships: Guillermo de la Cruz/Nandor the Relentless
Music: by The Scissor Sisters (edited)
Content notes: bloody clothes, vampire biting, stakes, swords, ashy bodies, physical fighting & shoving around, one clip of fairly explicit sex
Physical notes: constant shaky cam, including panning and zooming
Spoilers: through the end of season 3; does not contain any footage from season 4
Thank you to findmeinthealps for source help!
Summary
Who is gonna make you cry?
At the AO3 or ( embedded )
This vid supported the World Health Organization Foundation.
Try, Try Again
Last but not least. All these vids were done and there were still two weeks until go-live. Surely time for one more treat? It wasn't like I had anything else to do. So I surfed people's Dear Festividder letters for ideas and foundthingswithwings's request for the Netflix Black-teens-invent-a-time-machine movie See You Yesterday, about which she wrote, "I really hope someone makes a vid for this one."
I watched the movie, I liked the movie, the themes were timely and important—the seeming inescapability of police brutality for Black communities, the generational loss of family and friends to violence, the enduring passion to effect change—and it's always nice to vid science geeks and non-white characters. Plus,thingswithwings didn't have any treats at that point, although by the time this got done, she had three others. So it goes.
Straightaway I grabbed the footage and a ticking clock sound effect, which I thought would be good for the time trope and for building a sense of suspense or urgency. I imagined a vid in which all the loops built and built and mixed and repeated and worked with and against the relentless tick tick tick. I laid down the first sequence. I laid down a second, then ripped it up. Again. Again. Something wasn't working. I didn't know how to get from setup to climax. The monotonous clock necessitated using as few clips as possible, lest people (read: I) get bored or impatient. The project stalled.
For a week and a half, I kept opening the Premiere file and closing it again. I wanted the vid to exist, but my brain didn't want to make it. Finally, the day before go-live, I threw out the clock and dumped in this slow-build piano track from the "maybe vid this one day" pile. I'd always figured I'd use it for a murder mystery or something, but it did the trick here. Suddenly the sequences started working. I didn't even have to adjust the existing clips much. The piano drove the narrative instead of fighting with it. I snipped lots of little pieces from the music to suit the pace the vid wanted to follow. And the draft got done at 8 or 9 p.m., hallelujah.
Internal critic: Could the movie's themes have been made more apparent in the vid? Could the vid have benefited from clearer editing or more powerful statements? Could it have balanced the pain and violence with more clips of support and love? Could I have found uses for cyclical symbols like Sebastian's whirling power saw? Yes. But it exists in the world, and I got a little better at problem solving. I like how the last sequence recontextualizes scenes from the movie to hinge on that pivotal moment when someone has the choice between violence and de-escalation. It's a different way of depicting the ambiguity of the movie's final images between hope/optimism and despair/pessimism thatthingswithwings said she likes.
(It's just as well the clock didn't work out, since I later learned the official trailer used one. But it's too bad I didn't leave myself enough time to search for—and haven't cultivated enough working knowledge to have at the ready—perfect music by a Black artist.)
Watch on the AO3 or ( behind the cut. )
I'm glad![[archiveofourown.org profile]](https://p.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico)
livrelibre made a See You Yesterday vid for the collection, too: Rise Up. They work nicely as a pair, I think. Hers lets the footage breathe, and she gives more attention to the love and support between CJ & friend Sebastian and CJ & her brother Calvin & their mother.
Last but not least. All these vids were done and there were still two weeks until go-live. Surely time for one more treat? It wasn't like I had anything else to do. So I surfed people's Dear Festividder letters for ideas and found
thingswithwings's request for the Netflix Black-teens-invent-a-time-machine movie See You Yesterday, about which she wrote, "I really hope someone makes a vid for this one." I watched the movie, I liked the movie, the themes were timely and important—the seeming inescapability of police brutality for Black communities, the generational loss of family and friends to violence, the enduring passion to effect change—and it's always nice to vid science geeks and non-white characters. Plus,
thingswithwings didn't have any treats at that point, although by the time this got done, she had three others. So it goes.Straightaway I grabbed the footage and a ticking clock sound effect, which I thought would be good for the time trope and for building a sense of suspense or urgency. I imagined a vid in which all the loops built and built and mixed and repeated and worked with and against the relentless tick tick tick. I laid down the first sequence. I laid down a second, then ripped it up. Again. Again. Something wasn't working. I didn't know how to get from setup to climax. The monotonous clock necessitated using as few clips as possible, lest people (read: I) get bored or impatient. The project stalled.
For a week and a half, I kept opening the Premiere file and closing it again. I wanted the vid to exist, but my brain didn't want to make it. Finally, the day before go-live, I threw out the clock and dumped in this slow-build piano track from the "maybe vid this one day" pile. I'd always figured I'd use it for a murder mystery or something, but it did the trick here. Suddenly the sequences started working. I didn't even have to adjust the existing clips much. The piano drove the narrative instead of fighting with it. I snipped lots of little pieces from the music to suit the pace the vid wanted to follow. And the draft got done at 8 or 9 p.m., hallelujah.
Internal critic: Could the movie's themes have been made more apparent in the vid? Could the vid have benefited from clearer editing or more powerful statements? Could it have balanced the pain and violence with more clips of support and love? Could I have found uses for cyclical symbols like Sebastian's whirling power saw? Yes. But it exists in the world, and I got a little better at problem solving. I like how the last sequence recontextualizes scenes from the movie to hinge on that pivotal moment when someone has the choice between violence and de-escalation. It's a different way of depicting the ambiguity of the movie's final images between hope/optimism and despair/pessimism that
thingswithwings said she likes.(It's just as well the clock didn't work out, since I later learned the official trailer used one. But it's too bad I didn't leave myself enough time to search for—and haven't cultivated enough working knowledge to have at the ready—perfect music by a Black artist.)
Watch on the AO3 or ( behind the cut. )
I'm glad
In Want of a Gentleman
After vidding Aniara, it was time for something fluffy. I'd watched and offered the super charming web series Black Girl in a Big Dress after hearing about it insandalwoodbox's Dear Festividder letter and thought it would be fun to try. It only needed some music. From somewhere or other came the idea to look up Black classical composers. The Chevalier de Saint-Georges, a.k.a. "the Black Mozart," went on the list. I liked an album on YouTube of pieces by African American musician-composer Francis Johnson, but they were so short, I didn't know how to make any one of them work for a whole vid. Then the brainwave came to use individual dances to match each of Adrienne's would-be suitors, and boom, the concept and the music came together perfectly. It took maybe two days to lay down the draft, followed by some fiddling around.
The title cards were fun to make. It was my graphic designer coworker M.'s idea to add Victorian-flavored frames. I'm especially pleased with the trumpet/bugle fanfare announcing Colin's entrance.
(Hope no one minds that Johnson wrote his music just after the Victorian era in which Adrienne's cosplay is set. I figure if she's living in modern times and reenacting the past, she and we can enjoy a slightly anachronistic soundtrack. :) )
Watch on the AO3 or ( behind the cut. )
This Is Halloween
But wait, there's more. After taking a break from Festivids to makedeelaundry's extremely overdue Fandom Trumps Hate vid, I still had the vidding itch and a lot of time on my hands. One of my only other offers had been The Halloween Tree, the Hanna-Barbera adaptation of the Ray Bradbury book that I'd read two years ago, which I knew feedingonwind has been asking for. So I rented the movie and got cranking on music ideas.
A children's song on YouTube about the Halloween tree seemed like it would work, except it got too repetitive too fast, so I went with my first thought, "This is Halloween" from The Nightmare Before Christmas. Chopping out most of the verses helped (1) separate the song a bit from the original movie and (2) focus the theme on global and historical contributions to what the U.S. today calls Halloween, as per what Moundshroud teaches the kids in the movie. P.S. Did you know Moundshroud was voiced by Leonard Nimoy?
Again, the whole thing came together in a day or two, including remastering a handful of clips when the draft was complete because the screen capture program I use, OBS Studio, often gets choppy. It was fun to make, to givefeedingonwind a treat after they'd missed the signup deadline, and to add another Halloween vid to my collection.
This one couldn't be added to the official![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
festivids collection because feedingonwind didn't sign up, so it slipped under the radar. I hope more people see it now.
Watch on the AO3 or ( behind the cut. )
After vidding Aniara, it was time for something fluffy. I'd watched and offered the super charming web series Black Girl in a Big Dress after hearing about it in
sandalwoodbox's Dear Festividder letter and thought it would be fun to try. It only needed some music. From somewhere or other came the idea to look up Black classical composers. The Chevalier de Saint-Georges, a.k.a. "the Black Mozart," went on the list. I liked an album on YouTube of pieces by African American musician-composer Francis Johnson, but they were so short, I didn't know how to make any one of them work for a whole vid. Then the brainwave came to use individual dances to match each of Adrienne's would-be suitors, and boom, the concept and the music came together perfectly. It took maybe two days to lay down the draft, followed by some fiddling around.The title cards were fun to make. It was my graphic designer coworker M.'s idea to add Victorian-flavored frames. I'm especially pleased with the trumpet/bugle fanfare announcing Colin's entrance.
(Hope no one minds that Johnson wrote his music just after the Victorian era in which Adrienne's cosplay is set. I figure if she's living in modern times and reenacting the past, she and we can enjoy a slightly anachronistic soundtrack. :) )
Watch on the AO3 or ( behind the cut. )
This Is Halloween
But wait, there's more. After taking a break from Festivids to make
deelaundry's extremely overdue Fandom Trumps Hate vid, I still had the vidding itch and a lot of time on my hands. One of my only other offers had been The Halloween Tree, the Hanna-Barbera adaptation of the Ray Bradbury book that I'd read two years ago, which I knew feedingonwind has been asking for. So I rented the movie and got cranking on music ideas. A children's song on YouTube about the Halloween tree seemed like it would work, except it got too repetitive too fast, so I went with my first thought, "This is Halloween" from The Nightmare Before Christmas. Chopping out most of the verses helped (1) separate the song a bit from the original movie and (2) focus the theme on global and historical contributions to what the U.S. today calls Halloween, as per what Moundshroud teaches the kids in the movie. P.S. Did you know Moundshroud was voiced by Leonard Nimoy?
Again, the whole thing came together in a day or two, including remastering a handful of clips when the draft was complete because the screen capture program I use, OBS Studio, often gets choppy. It was fun to make, to give
feedingonwind a treat after they'd missed the signup deadline, and to add another Halloween vid to my collection.This one couldn't be added to the official
festivids collection because feedingonwind didn't sign up, so it slipped under the radar. I hope more people see it now.Watch on the AO3 or ( behind the cut. )
Five! Five festivids this round, ah ah ah. This would not have been possible without a two-week winter break at work and, you know, not being able to go anywhere or see anyone.
absternr and I matched on two fandoms, so I was excited to vid for her.
Death Is the New Sex
I knew straight off that I wanted to try vidding Aniara, the existentialist Swedish sci fi film I loved last year, hard as it might be. The opportunity was extra sweet becauseabsternr said in her letter that she'd requested the movie after seeing it on the nominations list, which was my doing. I just needed a song and the confidence to try editing something that needed to descend into a frenzy of different emotions and actions. Spotify paid off in the song hunt; it had introduced me to "Death Is the New Sex" not long before and thought it might work for this project.
It was a bit tough to sit with these characters' existential crises day after day while dealing with my own and, uh, the world during a pandemic, but the editing itself went really well. There was more storytelling up front than expected. Although the frenzy part didn't turn out as frenetically paced as envisioned—I'd been thinking something more like Long Night's Journey Into Day—I'm happy with how things came together.
With immense thanks tomarginaliana for finding clean footage. Making the first draft when half the clips had hard-coded captions was difficult because they distracted the eye and made the footage seem busier than it really was.
P.S. Gotta love a project with clip categories like "screaming," "cults," "dancing" and "makeouts."
P.P.S. Although there are many spoilers in the vid, the ending is not among them. Clips from the end of the movie do not appear anywhere in the vid, and the end of the vid is taken from several different places in the movie.
Watch on the AO3 or ( behind the cut. )
Calling All the Monsters
I'd also been playing with the idea of vidding Los Espookys, an HBO comedy miniseries about a group of delightfully morbid friends in Mexico who do horror special effects and come to discover that the supernatural is more real than they knew. (Well, Andrés and Tati knew.) I didn't have any song ideas, but Spotify came to the rescue again with playlists of Halloween songs.mollyamory and arduinna were kind enough to provide files so I didn't have to screen-grab the whole show, and I was able to draft the vid in a day. Just a fun little romp through Renaldo's geeky love of horror and the team's adventures in staged and not-so-staged effects. My one regret is that I couldn't crop out the subtitles on the shot of the werewolf makeup reveal because they were right over her hand/mouth.
Watch on the AO3 or ( behind the cut. )
festivids this round, ah ah ah. This would not have been possible without a two-week winter break at work and, you know, not being able to go anywhere or see anyone.absternr and I matched on two fandoms, so I was excited to vid for her. Death Is the New Sex
I knew straight off that I wanted to try vidding Aniara, the existentialist Swedish sci fi film I loved last year, hard as it might be. The opportunity was extra sweet because
absternr said in her letter that she'd requested the movie after seeing it on the nominations list, which was my doing. I just needed a song and the confidence to try editing something that needed to descend into a frenzy of different emotions and actions. Spotify paid off in the song hunt; it had introduced me to "Death Is the New Sex" not long before and thought it might work for this project.It was a bit tough to sit with these characters' existential crises day after day while dealing with my own and, uh, the world during a pandemic, but the editing itself went really well. There was more storytelling up front than expected. Although the frenzy part didn't turn out as frenetically paced as envisioned—I'd been thinking something more like Long Night's Journey Into Day—I'm happy with how things came together.
With immense thanks to
marginaliana for finding clean footage. Making the first draft when half the clips had hard-coded captions was difficult because they distracted the eye and made the footage seem busier than it really was.P.S. Gotta love a project with clip categories like "screaming," "cults," "dancing" and "makeouts."
P.P.S. Although there are many spoilers in the vid, the ending is not among them. Clips from the end of the movie do not appear anywhere in the vid, and the end of the vid is taken from several different places in the movie.
Watch on the AO3 or ( behind the cut. )
Calling All the Monsters
I'd also been playing with the idea of vidding Los Espookys, an HBO comedy miniseries about a group of delightfully morbid friends in Mexico who do horror special effects and come to discover that the supernatural is more real than they knew. (Well, Andrés and Tati knew.) I didn't have any song ideas, but Spotify came to the rescue again with playlists of Halloween songs.
mollyamory and arduinna were kind enough to provide files so I didn't have to screen-grab the whole show, and I was able to draft the vid in a day. Just a fun little romp through Renaldo's geeky love of horror and the team's adventures in staged and not-so-staged effects. My one regret is that I couldn't crop out the subtitles on the shot of the werewolf makeup reveal because they were right over her hand/mouth.Watch on the AO3 or ( behind the cut. )
Approximately 500 million years ago, deelaundry won a vid from me in the ![[tumblr.com profile]](https://www.tumblr.com/favicon.ico)
FandomTrumpsHate charity auction. We decided to make opening credits for a TV show she's been spinning out in her head, in which Martin Freeman and Robert Sean Leonard play exes and business partners who run a fashion design company in Manhattan that specializes in bespoke clothing for people no taller than Martin Freeman. :) Relationship and other entanglements ensue, and many outfits are made. Check out Dee's entire plan here, formatted like a real TV pitch.
Watch the trailer behind the cut or on the AO3!
( Embed )
This vid supported Planned Parenthood.
deelaundry won a vid from me in the Watch the trailer behind the cut or on the AO3!
( Embed )
This vid supported Planned Parenthood.
In 2019, within a few months of subscribing to Spotify, I heard a song that I thought would make for a fantastic Game of Thrones vid. "Boy From the North," by a Scandinavian singer-songwriter named Monica Heldal, had a strong, haunting atmosphere, with recurring lines about dragons, having once been too young, and in the end being ghosts, being gone.
I thought about Jon Snow first, and then about all the Stark children, who'd been so young and naïve at the start of the story when they traveled south to King's Landing or further north to the Wall, then went on such physical and psychological journeys, half their family and more felled along the way.
( Lyrics )
But I didn't want to sift through the ton of footage necessary to make the vid, nor was I sure I could achieve something so mood-driven. So the idea sat.
Thensisabet came along in spring 2020, offering limited vid commissions for charity. I pitched her the idea and she accepted.
Friends: She did it. She took this concept and a few guideposts and not only crafted the vid that was half-formed in my head, she made it better.
( Details, with some show spoilers )
The final product is so good. I'm so happy. It's what I wanted and more, and someone talented made it happen.
sisabet decided to premiere the vid at fanworks in October, where it got an enthusiastic response in the live Discord chat.
Do you know what's baffling, though? More than two months after she posted it to the AO3, the vid has no comments and only 16 kudos. I hope that if you watch it and like it, you'll let her know.
Have you seen it? Do you like it? What else do you notice in there?
A final note: This vid helped support the ACLU, NAACP, Bail Fund, Feeding America, and the Navajo, Hopi & Apache COVID-19 relief funds.
I thought about Jon Snow first, and then about all the Stark children, who'd been so young and naïve at the start of the story when they traveled south to King's Landing or further north to the Wall, then went on such physical and psychological journeys, half their family and more felled along the way.
( Lyrics )
But I didn't want to sift through the ton of footage necessary to make the vid, nor was I sure I could achieve something so mood-driven. So the idea sat.
Then
sisabet came along in spring 2020, offering limited vid commissions for charity. I pitched her the idea and she accepted.Friends: She did it. She took this concept and a few guideposts and not only crafted the vid that was half-formed in my head, she made it better.
( Details, with some show spoilers )
The final product is so good. I'm so happy. It's what I wanted and more, and someone talented made it happen.
sisabet decided to premiere the vid at fanworks in October, where it got an enthusiastic response in the live Discord chat. Do you know what's baffling, though? More than two months after she posted it to the AO3, the vid has no comments and only 16 kudos. I hope that if you watch it and like it, you'll let her know.
Have you seen it? Do you like it? What else do you notice in there?
A final note: This vid helped support the ACLU, NAACP, Bail Fund, Feeding America, and the Navajo, Hopi & Apache COVID-19 relief funds.
Vid reveals!
Apr. 27th, 2019 03:19 pmEquinox time! I made two vids for Northern Exposure, a show I hadn't seen until I matched with valoise and couldn't come up with a song idea for the two other fandoms we had in common. I'd been meaning to check it out anyway, since people seemed enthusiastic about Marilyn and a TV reunion that may be in the works, and this provided a good opportunity to finally see what people had been talking about back in youth group in temple.
valoise asked for character studies of Marilyn, Ed or Chris. Clipping six seasons of material for a character study was more than I had energy (or song ideas) for, especially when Marilyn's otherwise awesome deadpan delivery makes for difficult visual storytelling and Chris is such a complex dude, but focusing on one- or two-episode plots felt manageable.
Conveniently, I fell for the brief and bittersweet romance between Marilyn and "Bob" the Flying Man, played by Bill Irwin, a real-life clown college graduate whom you may know as the voice and invisible manipulator of the robot TARS in Interstellar, among other things. The Norah Jones song occurred to me right away, and then Bob came back for a surprise second episode! So there was enough material to do a proper vid. Editing the song down proved trickier than expected because the transitions between verses didn't match, but eventually the pieces slotted into place.
( Vid #1! Come Away with Me )
I'd had half a mind to do a triptych forvaloise by making little treats with Ed, specifically Ed/Rolf, the punk dude with the terrible attempt at a German accent who comes to town to tune an antique clock and hits it off with the guy his own age, and Chris, specifically Chris/the lady whose pets he kept accidentally killing, but I didn't have a song for the former, and I wasn't sure if the latter, which would've been set to "Another One Bites the Dust," aligned with valoise's humor, and you want to be sure about that kind of thing.
Come deadline day, I was really feeling the itch to do something more, both forvaloise and to make additional use of all the DVDs I'd watched, heh. I thought of the Blood, Sweat & Tears song with the lines, "You make me so very happy / I'm so glad you came into my life," but while it conveyed the right sentiment, the tone didn't feel right. I realized the music was the wrong genre, and that the right genre was, of course, punk. So I literally just Googled "punk songs," and this one, which had "love" in the title, came up in the first set of featured results. I listened to it, decided it would work if I cut out all the verses, and since I'd already ripped the episode just in case, I was able to make the thing in the three-ish hours that remained until go-live. \o/
( Vid #2! Ever Fallen in Love )
I think I broke my own rules about making sure you cut fast enough to match a fast song. But each jump cut meant that much less footage to work with, and less footage would have required the excision of another refrain, which would have been really hard to do with the structure of the end of the song. Given more time, the vid might have been edited better—but then again, I might've fought with it and decided it wasn't good enough to post.
The important thing is there is an Ed/Rolf vid in the world. Considering that the characters only had three scenes together, I think it's pretty good.
(There were no tags for Marilyn/The Flying Man or Ed/Rolf on the AO3! I wonder if there were more back in the day on other sites, now lost to time, or if they were never popular pairings.)
P.S. Ed was the character I'd referred to cryptically in the "Watching" section here. Darren E. Burrows is the son of Billy Drago née William E. Burrows, frequent portrayer of evil hotties. Check it out: Burrows (left) was the spitting image of Drago (right) when they were both young—I gasped in one scene in Northern Exposure where Ed had his hair slicked back and wore a fedora, the resemblance was so strong—yet you'd hardly know it now.
( Two more examples )
valoise and couldn't come up with a song idea for the two other fandoms we had in common. I'd been meaning to check it out anyway, since people seemed enthusiastic about Marilyn and a TV reunion that may be in the works, and this provided a good opportunity to finally see what people had been talking about back in youth group in temple.valoise asked for character studies of Marilyn, Ed or Chris. Clipping six seasons of material for a character study was more than I had energy (or song ideas) for, especially when Marilyn's otherwise awesome deadpan delivery makes for difficult visual storytelling and Chris is such a complex dude, but focusing on one- or two-episode plots felt manageable.Conveniently, I fell for the brief and bittersweet romance between Marilyn and "Bob" the Flying Man, played by Bill Irwin, a real-life clown college graduate whom you may know as the voice and invisible manipulator of the robot TARS in Interstellar, among other things. The Norah Jones song occurred to me right away, and then Bob came back for a surprise second episode! So there was enough material to do a proper vid. Editing the song down proved trickier than expected because the transitions between verses didn't match, but eventually the pieces slotted into place.
( Vid #1! Come Away with Me )
I'd had half a mind to do a triptych for
valoise by making little treats with Ed, specifically Ed/Rolf, the punk dude with the terrible attempt at a German accent who comes to town to tune an antique clock and hits it off with the guy his own age, and Chris, specifically Chris/the lady whose pets he kept accidentally killing, but I didn't have a song for the former, and I wasn't sure if the latter, which would've been set to "Another One Bites the Dust," aligned with valoise's humor, and you want to be sure about that kind of thing.Come deadline day, I was really feeling the itch to do something more, both for
valoise and to make additional use of all the DVDs I'd watched, heh. I thought of the Blood, Sweat & Tears song with the lines, "You make me so very happy / I'm so glad you came into my life," but while it conveyed the right sentiment, the tone didn't feel right. I realized the music was the wrong genre, and that the right genre was, of course, punk. So I literally just Googled "punk songs," and this one, which had "love" in the title, came up in the first set of featured results. I listened to it, decided it would work if I cut out all the verses, and since I'd already ripped the episode just in case, I was able to make the thing in the three-ish hours that remained until go-live. \o/( Vid #2! Ever Fallen in Love )
I think I broke my own rules about making sure you cut fast enough to match a fast song. But each jump cut meant that much less footage to work with, and less footage would have required the excision of another refrain, which would have been really hard to do with the structure of the end of the song. Given more time, the vid might have been edited better—but then again, I might've fought with it and decided it wasn't good enough to post.
The important thing is there is an Ed/Rolf vid in the world. Considering that the characters only had three scenes together, I think it's pretty good.
(There were no tags for Marilyn/The Flying Man or Ed/Rolf on the AO3! I wonder if there were more back in the day on other sites, now lost to time, or if they were never popular pairings.)
P.S. Ed was the character I'd referred to cryptically in the "Watching" section here. Darren E. Burrows is the son of Billy Drago née William E. Burrows, frequent portrayer of evil hotties. Check it out: Burrows (left) was the spitting image of Drago (right) when they were both young—I gasped in one scene in Northern Exposure where Ed had his hair slicked back and wore a fedora, the resemblance was so strong—yet you'd hardly know it now.
( Two more examples )
I don't even go here, as they say, but toft & J. & marginaliana & I were talking about this rectangular livestock meme popularized by The Museum of English Rural Life, and one thing led to another. Happy early birthday, toft.
Title: Squares Are Everywhere (AO3)
Fandom: "Absolute unit" livestock meme
Music: by StoryBots (edited)
Length: 41 sec.
Content notes: Improbably shaped farm animals, brief ram genitalia
Physical notes: A few slide/push transitions
Credits: Images mostly via![[twitter.com profile]](https://p.dreamwidth.org/e0caa790ec10/-/twitter.com/favicon.ico)
TheMERL, with some from Ars Technica, Medium, eBay, etc. Info about the meme here; warning for fatphobia at top.
( Embed & lyrics )
toft & J. & marginaliana & I were talking about this rectangular livestock meme popularized by The Museum of English Rural Life, and one thing led to another. Happy early birthday, toft.Title: Squares Are Everywhere (AO3)
Fandom: "Absolute unit" livestock meme
Music: by StoryBots (edited)
Length: 41 sec.
Content notes: Improbably shaped farm animals, brief ram genitalia
Physical notes: A few slide/push transitions
Credits: Images mostly via
( Embed & lyrics )
What's that? Tentacles and morbid humor? Count me in.
It Came from Beneath the Sea is a classic B-movie about an oceanic creature that starts encroaching on human ships/submarines/beaches/cities because radiation. It features the special effects of legend Ray Harryhausen. There are a bunch of human scientists and military types, but whatever, we know who the real protagonist is. I was pleased to be compared tojetpack_monkey when someone guessed that he made this vid. :)
Title: Part of That World
Fandom: It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955)
Characters: Giant octopus, civilians
Music: from Disney's "The Little Mermaid"
Length: 2:34
Content notes: Sea monster attacks treated humorously
Physical notes: Stop-motion animation
A/N: A treat forgwenfrankenstien for Festivids 2018-9.
Summary: Out of the sea
Wish I could be
Part of that world
( Links, embed & lyrics )
( Commentary! )
It Came from Beneath the Sea is a classic B-movie about an oceanic creature that starts encroaching on human ships/submarines/beaches/cities because radiation. It features the special effects of legend Ray Harryhausen. There are a bunch of human scientists and military types, but whatever, we know who the real protagonist is. I was pleased to be compared to
jetpack_monkey when someone guessed that he made this vid. :)Title: Part of That World
Fandom: It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955)
Characters: Giant octopus, civilians
Music: from Disney's "The Little Mermaid"
Length: 2:34
Content notes: Sea monster attacks treated humorously
Physical notes: Stop-motion animation
A/N: A treat for
gwenfrankenstien for Festivids 2018-9.Summary: Out of the sea
Wish I could be
Part of that world
( Links, embed & lyrics )
( Commentary! )
Hey, did you know I like Longmire and Zahn McClarnon??? And yet only alpheratz guessed me for this vid? Probably because not a lot of people watched it, comparatively. Small fandom, last page of the collection index on the AO3, maybe scary-sounding warnings. I hope some more people give it a try after reveals; I really like how it turned out, sad and sweet, with a flow that hopefully conveys both the impact of individuals and the interconnectedness of community. (One person suspected sholio made this, which IMO was a good guess!)
No source knowledge required to watch this vid. I aimed to make the narrative accessible by telling a series of very small stories underscored by the lyrics. Of course, that said, knowing the characters and plots should certainly add depth.
Title: Hey, Brother
Fandom: Longmire (TV)
Characters: Ensemble, Cheyenne reservation
Music: Olivia Penalva covering Avicii
Length: 3:06
Summary: From hugs to bail money, from job creation to public protests, members of the Cheyenne community have got one another's backs.
A/N: Fordirty_diana, who wrote, "I also love the recurring themes of handling trauma, both individual and generational," and said she liked Henry, Jacob and Mathias. Thank you to stultiloquentia for beta.
Content notes: Deaths, including of a teen; suicide by hanging; physical assault, briefly; implied domestic violence; off-screen kidnapping of children
Spoilers: 1x1 (Lilly Stillwater), 1x5 (Neel Cody), 2x13-3x10 (Henry's trial), 3x5 (Hector), 3x10 (David Ridges), 4x6-4x9 (Gab), 5x4 (Mingan), 6x7 (Tate)
Physical notes: Some camera movement
( Links, embed & lyrics )
My goal was to scrape together enough footage of Cheyenne characters being visibly supportive to sustain a vid. Several challenges presented themselves. First, Longmire is a crime procedural, which means bad things happen to people more often than good things, and I didn't want this to turn into torture/sadness porn. Second, the main characters are white, so even though there are many episodes that focus on Cheyenne community members, the stories are usually told from an outsider POV, with Walt Longmire or Cady or Vic literally centered in the frame. That all meant that sometimes a short or awkward clip was still the best (or only) clip to use to show a particular character, set a scene or tell a coherent story.
It also means this vid depicts only part of the picture of Cheyenne plotlines on the show. Maybe a misleading one, for those unfamiliar with it? I hope no one tries Longmire expecting it to look like this vid all the time. It's still about Walt and his department, foremost.
More in-depth commentary coming soon!
alpheratz guessed me for this vid? Probably because not a lot of people watched it, comparatively. Small fandom, last page of the collection index on the AO3, maybe scary-sounding warnings. I hope some more people give it a try after reveals; I really like how it turned out, sad and sweet, with a flow that hopefully conveys both the impact of individuals and the interconnectedness of community. (One person suspected sholio made this, which IMO was a good guess!)No source knowledge required to watch this vid. I aimed to make the narrative accessible by telling a series of very small stories underscored by the lyrics. Of course, that said, knowing the characters and plots should certainly add depth.
Title: Hey, Brother
Fandom: Longmire (TV)
Characters: Ensemble, Cheyenne reservation
Music: Olivia Penalva covering Avicii
Length: 3:06
Summary: From hugs to bail money, from job creation to public protests, members of the Cheyenne community have got one another's backs.
A/N: For
dirty_diana, who wrote, "I also love the recurring themes of handling trauma, both individual and generational," and said she liked Henry, Jacob and Mathias. Thank you to stultiloquentia for beta.Content notes: Deaths, including of a teen; suicide by hanging; physical assault, briefly; implied domestic violence; off-screen kidnapping of children
Spoilers: 1x1 (Lilly Stillwater), 1x5 (Neel Cody), 2x13-3x10 (Henry's trial), 3x5 (Hector), 3x10 (David Ridges), 4x6-4x9 (Gab), 5x4 (Mingan), 6x7 (Tate)
Physical notes: Some camera movement
( Links, embed & lyrics )
My goal was to scrape together enough footage of Cheyenne characters being visibly supportive to sustain a vid. Several challenges presented themselves. First, Longmire is a crime procedural, which means bad things happen to people more often than good things, and I didn't want this to turn into torture/sadness porn. Second, the main characters are white, so even though there are many episodes that focus on Cheyenne community members, the stories are usually told from an outsider POV, with Walt Longmire or Cady or Vic literally centered in the frame. That all meant that sometimes a short or awkward clip was still the best (or only) clip to use to show a particular character, set a scene or tell a coherent story.
It also means this vid depicts only part of the picture of Cheyenne plotlines on the show. Maybe a misleading one, for those unfamiliar with it? I hope no one tries Longmire expecting it to look like this vid all the time. It's still about Walt and his department, foremost.
More in-depth commentary coming soon!
A year ago January, resolute won a vid from me as part of the FandomTrumpsHate charity auction. Her most intriguing request:
I don't watch a lot of TV shows, but the music and concept called to me, and I couldn't resist the challenge. Fifteen months, a ton of help and approximately 75 new or new-to-me sources later, I'm proud to present:
Title: The Greatest
Fandom: Multi
Music: by Sia feat. Kendrick Lamar (edited)
Length: 4:27
Content notes: character deaths (2:38, 3:14, 3:20-3:31), zombie beheading (:25-:26), characters being shot at (but not harmed), character briefly being choked, character played by the late Nelsan Ellis
Physical notes: lightning/electricity flickers (:46-:52), shaky cam
Spoilers: The 100, Agents of SHIELD, Doctor Strange, Gotham, The Magicians, People of Earth, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Sleepy Hollow, Star Trek: Discovery, Supernatural, Timeless, X-Men: First Class, Z Nation
AO3 | Tumblr | Twitter | Vimeo | YouTube | download at Mediafire (60 MB .rar) + subtitles (.srt) + character/source IDs (.srt)
THANK YOU
Toresolute for donating, originating the concept and song, and working with me to shape the final product.
To theFandomTrumpsHate auction team for providing the opportunity to vid for charity.
Towiscon_vidparty for granting an extension that allowed this to be finished in time for the con.
To the army of fan friends who honed the character list, advised on key episodes for dozens of the shows I hadn't seen, provided source, helped me think things through (and sometimes helped me stop thinking so much), recommended software, reviewed drafts, and more: anoel, arduinna, bonibaru, cathexys, cherry, cinco & R., deelaundry, disgruntled_owl, dolorosa_12, DrGlam, elipie, eruthros, ghost_lingering, happydork, kiki_miserychic, laurashapiro, llincathryn, longwhitecoats, lurrel, merisunshine36, metatxt, mific, monanotlisa, NicasioSilang, no_detective, par_avion, purple_fringe, rionaleonhart, sanguinity, scribe, sdwolfpup, seekingferret, SerenadeStrong, sholio, sisabet, sol_se, stultiloquentia, synn, thedeadparrot, thingswithwings, topaz_eyes, trelkez and violace. Other people I've inadvertently left out. Half of Twitter for support and encouragement. I couldn't have made this vid without all of you.
Sources
The 100, 3%, The 6th World, Advantageous, After Earth, Agents of SHIELD, Almost Human, Altered Carbon, American Gods, American Horror Story (Coven, Freak Show, Roanoke), Annihilation, Ash vs. the Evil Dead, Black Lightning, Black Mirror, Black Panther, BrainDead, Captain America: Civil War, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, The Chronicles of Riddick, Cleverman, The Cloverfield Paradox, Continuum, Crazyhead, Crossbones, Da Sweet Blood of Jesus, Dark Matter, The Dark Tower, Death Note (2017), The Defenders, Defiance (TV), Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, Dirty Computer "emotion picture," Doctor Strange, Doctor Who, Emerald City, The Expanse, The Exorcist (TV), Extant, Falling Skies, Fear the Walking Dead, The Fits, The Flash, Game of Thrones, Get Out, Ghostbusters (2016), The Girl with all the Gifts, The Good Place, Gotham, Grimm, Humans, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, Jessica Jones, Justice League, Killjoys, Krypton, Legends of Tomorrow, The Librarians, Life, Lucifer, Luke Cage, The Magicians, The Martian, The Originals, Orphan Black, Pacific Rim Uprising, People of Earth, Penny Dreadful, Power Rangers (2017), Powerless, Powers, Raising Dion (web), The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let's Do the Time Warp Again (2016), Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Runaways, Sense8, Shadowhunters, The Shannara Chronicles, Siren, Sleepy Hollow, Snowpiercer, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Star Trek (2009), Star Trek: Beyond, Star Trek: Discovery, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Stranger Things, Suicide Squad, Supergirl, Supernatural, Thor: Ragnarok, Timeless, Travelers, True Blood, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, The Vampire Diaries, The Walking Dead, Westworld (TV), A Wrinkle in Time, What We Do in the Shadows, Wonder Woman, The Worst Witch, X-Men: Days of Future Past, X-Men: First Class, Z for Zachariah, Z Nation
Who's that at [time]?
Good news! If you click the (CC) button on the Vimeo player and select "Interlingua," you'll get a subtitle file that identifies every clip in the vid. On YouTube, enable captions and then click the Settings gear icon to choose Interlingua.
Regular subtitles are also available in English. Lyrics can be found here, although the vid has extra verses because it's a combination of two versions of the song.
How did you decide who & what to include?
The inclusion criteria went something like:
- Characters of races and ethnicities that are underrepresented in the countries that produced the movie or show
- Countries = mostly U.S., also Canada, England, Australia, New Zealand, a few scattered others
- Characters got struck from the list if they were played by someone the U.S. would generally consider white
- Live-action sources
- I wanted to see the performer's face. No green-face makeup or whatever (e.g. Gamora in Guardians of the Galaxy), full-face masks (e.g. Klingons in Star Trek: Discovery) or CGI/motion capture characters (e.g. Maz Kanata in Star Wars: The Force Awakens)
- "Badass" does not mean "pointing and shooting guns"
Also, FWIW, inclusion in the vid does not always imply endorsement of the original source or how a character was treated in it, *cough* Slipknot *cough*.
a multi-fandom vid set to Sia's "The Greatest" reveling in the bad-ass wonderfulness of characters of color in SF/F/horror TV and movies of the last 3-5 years.
I don't watch a lot of TV shows, but the music and concept called to me, and I couldn't resist the challenge. Fifteen months, a ton of help and approximately 75 new or new-to-me sources later, I'm proud to present:
Title: The Greatest
Fandom: Multi
Music: by Sia feat. Kendrick Lamar (edited)
Length: 4:27
Content notes: character deaths (2:38, 3:14, 3:20-3:31), zombie beheading (:25-:26), characters being shot at (but not harmed), character briefly being choked, character played by the late Nelsan Ellis
Physical notes: lightning/electricity flickers (:46-:52), shaky cam
Spoilers: The 100, Agents of SHIELD, Doctor Strange, Gotham, The Magicians, People of Earth, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Sleepy Hollow, Star Trek: Discovery, Supernatural, Timeless, X-Men: First Class, Z Nation
AO3 | Tumblr | Twitter | Vimeo | YouTube | download at Mediafire (60 MB .rar) + subtitles (.srt) + character/source IDs (.srt)
THANK YOU
To
To the
To
wiscon_vidparty for granting an extension that allowed this to be finished in time for the con.To the army of fan friends who honed the character list, advised on key episodes for dozens of the shows I hadn't seen, provided source, helped me think things through (and sometimes helped me stop thinking so much), recommended software, reviewed drafts, and more: anoel, arduinna, bonibaru, cathexys, cherry, cinco & R., deelaundry, disgruntled_owl, dolorosa_12, DrGlam, elipie, eruthros, ghost_lingering, happydork, kiki_miserychic, laurashapiro, llincathryn, longwhitecoats, lurrel, merisunshine36, metatxt, mific, monanotlisa, NicasioSilang, no_detective, par_avion, purple_fringe, rionaleonhart, sanguinity, scribe, sdwolfpup, seekingferret, SerenadeStrong, sholio, sisabet, sol_se, stultiloquentia, synn, thedeadparrot, thingswithwings, topaz_eyes, trelkez and violace. Other people I've inadvertently left out. Half of Twitter for support and encouragement. I couldn't have made this vid without all of you.
Sources
The 100, 3%, The 6th World, Advantageous, After Earth, Agents of SHIELD, Almost Human, Altered Carbon, American Gods, American Horror Story (Coven, Freak Show, Roanoke), Annihilation, Ash vs. the Evil Dead, Black Lightning, Black Mirror, Black Panther, BrainDead, Captain America: Civil War, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, The Chronicles of Riddick, Cleverman, The Cloverfield Paradox, Continuum, Crazyhead, Crossbones, Da Sweet Blood of Jesus, Dark Matter, The Dark Tower, Death Note (2017), The Defenders, Defiance (TV), Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, Dirty Computer "emotion picture," Doctor Strange, Doctor Who, Emerald City, The Expanse, The Exorcist (TV), Extant, Falling Skies, Fear the Walking Dead, The Fits, The Flash, Game of Thrones, Get Out, Ghostbusters (2016), The Girl with all the Gifts, The Good Place, Gotham, Grimm, Humans, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, Jessica Jones, Justice League, Killjoys, Krypton, Legends of Tomorrow, The Librarians, Life, Lucifer, Luke Cage, The Magicians, The Martian, The Originals, Orphan Black, Pacific Rim Uprising, People of Earth, Penny Dreadful, Power Rangers (2017), Powerless, Powers, Raising Dion (web), The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let's Do the Time Warp Again (2016), Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Runaways, Sense8, Shadowhunters, The Shannara Chronicles, Siren, Sleepy Hollow, Snowpiercer, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Star Trek (2009), Star Trek: Beyond, Star Trek: Discovery, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Stranger Things, Suicide Squad, Supergirl, Supernatural, Thor: Ragnarok, Timeless, Travelers, True Blood, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, The Vampire Diaries, The Walking Dead, Westworld (TV), A Wrinkle in Time, What We Do in the Shadows, Wonder Woman, The Worst Witch, X-Men: Days of Future Past, X-Men: First Class, Z for Zachariah, Z Nation
Who's that at [time]?
Good news! If you click the (CC) button on the Vimeo player and select "Interlingua," you'll get a subtitle file that identifies every clip in the vid. On YouTube, enable captions and then click the Settings gear icon to choose Interlingua.
Regular subtitles are also available in English. Lyrics can be found here, although the vid has extra verses because it's a combination of two versions of the song.
How did you decide who & what to include?
The inclusion criteria went something like:
- Characters of races and ethnicities that are underrepresented in the countries that produced the movie or show
- Countries = mostly U.S., also Canada, England, Australia, New Zealand, a few scattered others
- Characters got struck from the list if they were played by someone the U.S. would generally consider white
- Live-action sources
- I wanted to see the performer's face. No green-face makeup or whatever (e.g. Gamora in Guardians of the Galaxy), full-face masks (e.g. Klingons in Star Trek: Discovery) or CGI/motion capture characters (e.g. Maz Kanata in Star Wars: The Force Awakens)
- "Badass" does not mean "pointing and shooting guns"
Also, FWIW, inclusion in the vid does not always imply endorsement of the original source or how a character was treated in it, *cough* Slipknot *cough*.
Note
This vid began life as a way to raise support for at-risk groups in the United States and as an artistic act of resistance and celebration. If you are so moved (and able), perhaps you will consider extending the reach of
Drop a line about your donation at https://goo.gl/forms/Pz5HLrxsvYWJFKaM2, anonymously if you like, and it will be added to the tally!
ETA: Fandom is amazing. ♥ Organizations who've received support include: American Civil Liberties Union, Border Angels, Canadian Women's Foundation, ConPRmetidos, Council on American-Islamic Relations, Flippable, Higher Heights for America, Life After Hate, National Immigrant Justice Center, Planned Parenthood, The Refugee Council (UK), Southern Poverty Law Center, Standing Rock Legal Fund, Trans Lifeline, The Trevor Project, We The Protesters/Campaign Zero, Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights
FOR THE RECORD, four of the five sources I offered for Festivids this year were NOT about vampires or outer space.
I loved What We Do in the Shadows when it came out in the U.S. and have seen it a few too many times since then. That said, I've talked with friends about how it would be tough to vid the movie well because of its specific, oddball humor. So of course that is whatthe Festivids algorithm fate matched us on.
I couldn't decide which of two song candidates to use--the more unconventional choice of "Hey Ya!", which had been on the to-vid list for years and would provide opportunities to include Katherine and Jackie, or an "I'm Too Sexy" mashup I found on YouTube, which would allow a dual focus on how these guys are terrible at being sexy and terrible at being vampires--so I started working on both, and figured I'd submit whichever one got done first. Except when "Too Sexy for My Fangs" wrapped up, I still wanted to work on "Hey Ya" because it was fun. The pace of the song and the need to fit the (pared-down) lyrics to the story made me work harder, and as a result I think the editing turned out better. Still nothing fancy, but a little peppier.
Both vids seem to have gone over well. So that is nice.
tl;dr TAIKA WAITITI'S FACE
AND ALSO JEMAINE CLEMENT'S
( Hey Ya )
( Too Sexy for My Fangs )
I loved What We Do in the Shadows when it came out in the U.S. and have seen it a few too many times since then. That said, I've talked with friends about how it would be tough to vid the movie well because of its specific, oddball humor. So of course that is what
I couldn't decide which of two song candidates to use--the more unconventional choice of "Hey Ya!", which had been on the to-vid list for years and would provide opportunities to include Katherine and Jackie, or an "I'm Too Sexy" mashup I found on YouTube, which would allow a dual focus on how these guys are terrible at being sexy and terrible at being vampires--so I started working on both, and figured I'd submit whichever one got done first. Except when "Too Sexy for My Fangs" wrapped up, I still wanted to work on "Hey Ya" because it was fun. The pace of the song and the need to fit the (pared-down) lyrics to the story made me work harder, and as a result I think the editing turned out better. Still nothing fancy, but a little peppier.
Both vids seem to have gone over well. So that is nice.
tl;dr TAIKA WAITITI'S FACE
AND ALSO JEMAINE CLEMENT'S
( Hey Ya )
( Too Sexy for My Fangs )
New vid! "When I Go," American Gods
Oct. 7th, 2017 04:09 pmTitle: When I Go (AO3)
Fandom: American Gods (TV)
Characters: The old gods, the new gods, Shadow Moon, Salim, Mrs. Fadil, Essie MacGowan, Laura Moon
Music: by Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer
Length: 4:04
Summary: And the wind will long recount the story, reverence and glory when I go
Content notes: Death and dying. There are also briefly spiders (1:13-:17), sex (1:29-:32), a noose (2:28-:31), and fights/beatings (:41-:45, 2:37-:39).
Physical notes: Flashing lightning (:53-:56)
A/N: A treat forbonibaru for Fall Equinox 2017. This vid was originally going to focus on Anubis & Thoth, but it quickly grew as I realized I wanted to tell more of the old gods' stories along with this beautiful song. I hope you enjoy watching it as much as I enjoyed making it.
I'm not sure how much sense this will make if you're not familiar with the canon (book or show). Here is a quick, spoilery guide if you'd like one.
Thanks: torevolutionaryjo for beta, bessyboo for putting us in touch, and cinco for giving this a look despite not having seen the show.
( Embed & lyrics )
Fandom: American Gods (TV)
Characters: The old gods, the new gods, Shadow Moon, Salim, Mrs. Fadil, Essie MacGowan, Laura Moon
Music: by Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer
Length: 4:04
Summary: And the wind will long recount the story, reverence and glory when I go
Content notes: Death and dying. There are also briefly spiders (1:13-:17), sex (1:29-:32), a noose (2:28-:31), and fights/beatings (:41-:45, 2:37-:39).
Physical notes: Flashing lightning (:53-:56)
A/N: A treat for
bonibaru for Fall Equinox 2017. This vid was originally going to focus on Anubis & Thoth, but it quickly grew as I realized I wanted to tell more of the old gods' stories along with this beautiful song. I hope you enjoy watching it as much as I enjoyed making it.I'm not sure how much sense this will make if you're not familiar with the canon (book or show). Here is a quick, spoilery guide if you'd like one.
Thanks: to
revolutionaryjo for beta, bessyboo for putting us in touch, and cinco for giving this a look despite not having seen the show.( Embed & lyrics )
Title: Best of Enemies [AO3]
Fandom: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (DS9)
Characters: Sisko and Dukat, plus cameos
Music: Audio excerpts from The Lego Batman Movie
Length: 1:23
Summary: Pffft. You think you're my greatest enemy?
Content notes: Hurt feelings.
Physical notes: The clips from "Waltz" have flickery firelight.
A/N: A belatedequinox_vids treat for purplefringe, who requested:
(Er, also I reserve the right to change the ending later -- I had to stick in some clips so the credits would render correctly!)
( Embed + text )
Fandom: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (DS9)
Characters: Sisko and Dukat, plus cameos
Music: Audio excerpts from The Lego Batman Movie
Length: 1:23
Summary: Pffft. You think you're my greatest enemy?
Content notes: Hurt feelings.
Physical notes: The clips from "Waltz" have flickery firelight.
A/N: A belated
equinox_vids treat for purplefringe, who requested: if you're more a wacky-comedy-vid sort of person, I would absolutely love a vid about Sisko and his many nemeses! Gul Dukat, Kai Winn, Michael Eddington, Solok the Vulcan...who is his one true nemesis??! They all think it's them! :-DSorry it took so long! Needed to wait for the movie to come out on DVD so I could use the audio.
(Er, also I reserve the right to change the ending later -- I had to stick in some clips so the credits would render correctly!)
( Embed + text )
