Musing about Vids
Aug. 18th, 2005 11:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kerravonsenI've been having some fun looking at some New Who vids, and it's got me thinking about fan vids in general. Once upon a time I actually made some vids myself, with the primitive technology of two VCRs hooked up together, and a lot of luck. So I do sort of think I am qualified to muse about them, even though the ones I made are nothing to the smooth things folk make today.
Fan music videos are really a different genre to "real" music videos, though they are superficially similar. But even fan videos I think could be divided into two types: thematic, and interpretive.
Thematic videos are actually more similar to commercial music videos, because the song is the focus, the images are there to highlight its meaning. They can often be multi-fandom, because the fun is in showing how all these different characters fit the theme. With thematic videos, the original context of the images isn't as important.
Some examples of thematic vids:
"I'm Too Sexy For My Shirt" -- shown at MediaWest, multi-fandom.
Lots of views of handsome guys with and without shirts...
"I'm Alive" -- one of the vids I made, mixed universe, following the theme of the song, showing many many places in SF where things and people wake up and be glad they're alive.
Swordplay
This is unusual in that the "song" is more an instrumental, but this is still thematic, the theme being, as the title says, "swordplay"; action-packed sword fighting taken from four different movies, intercut in a most dramatic way.
With interpretive videos, the images are the focus; they are interpreted through the lens of the song. An interpretive video tends to be set in a particular fandom, and about particular characters or incidents in that universe; it's like a visual poem about them. It is "interpretive" because it is saying, "look, this is what these characters (or their relationship) is like", with the images providing corroboration of how the lyrics fit the characters. Often the song is taken as being "sung" from the point of view of a particular character, (or sometimes a sequence of characters) showing their attitude (as the vid author sees it). Interpretive vids depend on the viewer knowing the context of the images, the events to which they refer, who the characters are and what their relationship is. Some images are more specific than others; sometimes you just have to know who they are, other times a line will have more resonance if one recalls the particular circumstances of that image. Some interpretive vids don't concentrate on a particular character, but are more general, but still focused on a particular universe, or perhaps a particular episode.
What makes a good interpretive vid?
- technical: how well it's edited
- fittingness of song: how well the song fits the characters or situation
- selection of clips: how well the clips fit the lyrics of the song, the point of that particular line, or even just the pace of the song
Some examples of interpretive vids:
Ordinary Day (Doctor Who).
This focuses on the relationship of the Doctor and Rose. The point of view is Rose's, saying that, she's met this "ordinary boy" who wants her to come along with him, who opens her eyes to wonder and who looks to the skies.
I like this one a lot because it's true to Rose's situation at the start of the series -- that she's sort of stuck in a rut -- and the Doctor's character -- that he brings a sense of wonder to the world he's in. While it's kind of shippy, it isn't too romantic, doesn't place it outside the bounds that it actually (didn't) go in the series.
Walk The Walk (Doctor Who)
From Rose's point of view, the theme is of her striking out for her own independence (and standing up for what's right) by travelling with the Doctor rather than staying home and submitting to the tick of the clock. And it fits, because that is one of the recurring themes in Season 1.
Looking at this one again, I am liking it more and more, partly because it is put together so well, catching the beat of the song not just with particular clips, but with good editing.
Into The Fire (Lord of the Rings)
This is an example of a more general interpretive vid; it is about the Fellowship as a whole, being brave, standing up for what's right, going "into darkness, into danger" -- it would make a perfect trailer for the movie trilogy, I think!
Full of Grace (Doctor Who -- "Father's Day")
This is an interpretive vid which focuses on the events of a particular episode, "Father's Day", focusing particularly on Rose and her father. I was kind of amazed at how well some of the lines fitted to the situation in the episode (or how well the vidder selected the clips...)
The Creation of Man (Harry Potter)
Interpretive videos can be humourous too -- especially if focusing on a character who deserves as much fun poked at him as Gilderoy Lockhart.
Fan music videos are really a different genre to "real" music videos, though they are superficially similar. But even fan videos I think could be divided into two types: thematic, and interpretive.
Thematic videos are actually more similar to commercial music videos, because the song is the focus, the images are there to highlight its meaning. They can often be multi-fandom, because the fun is in showing how all these different characters fit the theme. With thematic videos, the original context of the images isn't as important.
Some examples of thematic vids:
"I'm Too Sexy For My Shirt" -- shown at MediaWest, multi-fandom.
Lots of views of handsome guys with and without shirts...
"I'm Alive" -- one of the vids I made, mixed universe, following the theme of the song, showing many many places in SF where things and people wake up and be glad they're alive.
Swordplay
This is unusual in that the "song" is more an instrumental, but this is still thematic, the theme being, as the title says, "swordplay"; action-packed sword fighting taken from four different movies, intercut in a most dramatic way.
With interpretive videos, the images are the focus; they are interpreted through the lens of the song. An interpretive video tends to be set in a particular fandom, and about particular characters or incidents in that universe; it's like a visual poem about them. It is "interpretive" because it is saying, "look, this is what these characters (or their relationship) is like", with the images providing corroboration of how the lyrics fit the characters. Often the song is taken as being "sung" from the point of view of a particular character, (or sometimes a sequence of characters) showing their attitude (as the vid author sees it). Interpretive vids depend on the viewer knowing the context of the images, the events to which they refer, who the characters are and what their relationship is. Some images are more specific than others; sometimes you just have to know who they are, other times a line will have more resonance if one recalls the particular circumstances of that image. Some interpretive vids don't concentrate on a particular character, but are more general, but still focused on a particular universe, or perhaps a particular episode.
What makes a good interpretive vid?
- technical: how well it's edited
- fittingness of song: how well the song fits the characters or situation
- selection of clips: how well the clips fit the lyrics of the song, the point of that particular line, or even just the pace of the song
Some examples of interpretive vids:
Ordinary Day (Doctor Who).
This focuses on the relationship of the Doctor and Rose. The point of view is Rose's, saying that, she's met this "ordinary boy" who wants her to come along with him, who opens her eyes to wonder and who looks to the skies.
I like this one a lot because it's true to Rose's situation at the start of the series -- that she's sort of stuck in a rut -- and the Doctor's character -- that he brings a sense of wonder to the world he's in. While it's kind of shippy, it isn't too romantic, doesn't place it outside the bounds that it actually (didn't) go in the series.
Walk The Walk (Doctor Who)
From Rose's point of view, the theme is of her striking out for her own independence (and standing up for what's right) by travelling with the Doctor rather than staying home and submitting to the tick of the clock. And it fits, because that is one of the recurring themes in Season 1.
Looking at this one again, I am liking it more and more, partly because it is put together so well, catching the beat of the song not just with particular clips, but with good editing.
Into The Fire (Lord of the Rings)
This is an example of a more general interpretive vid; it is about the Fellowship as a whole, being brave, standing up for what's right, going "into darkness, into danger" -- it would make a perfect trailer for the movie trilogy, I think!
Full of Grace (Doctor Who -- "Father's Day")
This is an interpretive vid which focuses on the events of a particular episode, "Father's Day", focusing particularly on Rose and her father. I was kind of amazed at how well some of the lines fitted to the situation in the episode (or how well the vidder selected the clips...)
The Creation of Man (Harry Potter)
Interpretive videos can be humourous too -- especially if focusing on a character who deserves as much fun poked at him as Gilderoy Lockhart.
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Date: 2005-08-18 08:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-18 09:16 pm (UTC)