purplefringe

Look at me, making three posts in as many days \o/ And all of them about vidding, because I absolutely refuse to talk about What Is Happening In The World on here, and my actual daily life is very boring and nobody needs to hear about that, and I haven't got my brain in gear to talk about the latest episode of Doctor Who yet (!!!!!!) and I've got many (not all, but many) of my other tv-related emotions off my chest through the medium of capslock on WhatsApp (they should rename it WhatsCapp). So: vidding it is!

In exciting and only-slightly-terrifying news - I have joined the VidUKon ConCom this year! \o/ I'm . . . not entirely sure how this happened?? I definitely remember offering last summer to help cosmic_llin with things behind the scenes if she needed, and then suddenly I found myself in co-charge of programming. But it's exciting! Continuing my running trend of making the con slightly more challenging for myself every year.

SO, on that note: please submit your programming ideas! It would be super awesome to have some, you know, actual content at this con. Otherwise it's just going to be three days of Vid Roulette from the (several hundred) vids I have saved on my laptop, and whilst I'm not saying that wouldn't be enjoyable, it could lead to some serious emotional whiplash. Here are the kinds of things we're looking for:

VIDSHOWS: Alongside the regularly-scheduled shows (Vidder's Choice, Premieres, the Festivids show), we would like some other curated shows! If you've come to the con before, you don't need me to explain this to you. If you haven't - head over to the very snazzy website and check out the shows from past years! They can be shows on a particular theme or concept (eg. 'Home' or 'Religion' or 'Fandom' or 'Be Gay, Do Crimes!') or about a particular genre of media (eg. horror, or SFF set in space or video games) or kind of character/relationship (Vampires! Lady Spies! OT3 relationships! ...ngl I would watch that show). Or the show can be constructed around the kind of vid (eg. constructed reality vids, comedy vids, dance vids, vids set to non-english-language music, vids with a POV switch). We had a karaoke show one year, which was fun, and we once had an amazing show which showcased snapshots of human history through the medium of vids in chronological order, from Ice Age (20,000 BCE) to Goodbye Lenin (1989). We often have a show for vids made a decade ago, if someone volunteers to put it together - so this year we'd be looking at vids from 2010! (what is linear time??) Possibilities are endless and exciting! You can run a show by yourself or in a pair or group - and if you've never done it before and are thinking it sounds fun, please ask me things :) I super enjoy talking about it. If we have too many shows submitted, priority will be given to those run by people attending the con - but if you are supporting the con you should totally submit ideas too \o/

PANELS: We would also LOVE some panel suggestions! Past panels have included Anatomy of a Vid, in which three panellists each spent 15 minutes lovingly analysing one of their favourite vids; we've had some amazing academic panels on the history of vidding as 'women's work', vidding as critique, fannish archives; we've talked about vidding different kinds of canons, about watching vids as a vidder vs as a non-vidder, about various technical aspects of vidding. It's always a bit more of a struggle to find panels, but I would really love it if people had suggestions <3 I personally am always up for LEARNING things and so would be very enthusiastic if anyone out there wanted to talk about, eg. vidding to different genres of music, or how using visual effects can sway a viewer's emotions, or different ways to beta vids. But please suggest things! Any things!

To submit a vidshow idea, go HERE, and to submit a panel idea, go HERE and click 'create a show/panel'.

PREMIERES: We are also looking for PREMIERES! You do not have to be attending or supporting the con to submit a premiere! You do not have to be an experienced vidder - it could be your first vid! :D It can be about any source. Literally the only requirement is that it isn't released online or at another con before it airs at the VidUKon show (Saturday 13th June) and that it's submitted to us by the 10th May. Premieres is a great time - it takes place after dinner on Saturday night, and tends to result in a lot of emotional hangovers for everyone. GOOD TIMES.

So, um, yes, please send us things. I really don't want to subject everyone to three days of Vid Roulette.

FESTIVIDS REVEALS JUST HAPPENED AND I AM DOING A LOT OF YELLING RN.

I received TWO VIDS AGAIN THIS YEAR and I am so happy and grateful and overwhelmed /o\ I don't???? deserve???? such???? nice???? things?????

I received You Might Think, a beautiful and perfect Pushing Daisies vid by sisabet, which INSTANTLY filled me with an intense need to rewatch the show - it's a delighful, loving look at all the joy in Ned and Chuck's relationship, and all the creative ways they find to negotiate their . . . particular problem. It's beautifully cut with a wonderfully light touch, in a way that really highlights simultaneously the sweetness and the awkwardness of their life together. There's a line about Ned's 'fragile smile' paired with the perfect clip, that breaks me every time I watch it. (I love him so much, you guys. And I want to *be* Chuck. Argh.) I hadn't even considered that Pushing Daisies might be eligible for FV so this was a last-minute request, and I'm so glad I asked for it.

I ALSO received A Gorgeous Vid Moment, a QUEER EYE VID by cosmic_llin, who is the SNEAKIEST MOTHERFORKER IN THE WORLD, jfc. I am SO MAD AT HER :D :D :D We literally watched this together with our friends like three days ago and she kept COMPLETELY POKER FACED and I am so overjoyed and so mad at her, I have been yelling at her via whatsapp for the last hour :D :D

ANYWAY, this gem of a vid is set to YMCA and oh my GOD I'm so, so, thrilled it exists - it is warm, and wholesome, and heartfelt, and earnest, and kind, and captures everything I love about the show. ( . . . Honestly just from those adjectives I should have guessed cosmic_llin made it.) Please watch this vid, but only when you are emotionally ready because it WILL make you cry, in a good way. It uses this song to *perfection* to highlight one of the main themes of Queer Eye - not just personal transformation and learning to value yourself, but personal transformation through community, and through truly allowing yourself to connect with others and be valued. Come to think of it, this is also a theme in Pushing Daisies. And in The Good Place, which emotionally devastated me with its finale last night.

Anyway, please watch these vids <3

Some other Festivids I loved this year:

Be Brave and Children's Work - there were six Star Trek Discovery vids this year, all of them spectacular, but these two about Michael and Spock's relationships with each other and their parents, were my favourites. They are both very different, but there are so many layers and things to unpack in each of them <3

Hello My Old Heart and Let Me Go - two gorgeous, very moving Moana vids

Untitled Goose Vid - The Untitled Goose Game, what a total delight.

Body Talks - Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers films - wonderful dance vid

Try Everything - a lovely, uplifting vid for Gourmet Makes (also: Claire Saffitz's face) which gave me unexpected emotions

Personal Jesus - fantastic Fleabag vid starring the Hot Priest

What's To Come - completely lost my mind over this incredible Jesus Christ Superstar vid :D

D&D 101 and Can't Stop The Feeling - two fun, joyful Critical Role vids which I loved even though I don't go here.

Juice - hilarious and brilliant Vicar of Dibley vid about Geraldine Living Her Best Life

We're Here, But Should We Have Come? - Richard Ayoade living the opposite of his Best Life

Victorious - an utterly haunting vid for Moulin Rouge

Heroes (We Could Be) - absolutely need to watch Raising Dion. There is SO much love in this vid.

Higher Love - astonishingly coherent and phenomenally queery vid for Xanadu, the most batshit film I have ever seen

Mahna, Mahna - I have absorbed a love of My Brother, My Brother and Me vicariously via such_heights, and this vid made me laugh a lot

Renegades - I have never watched this incredibly 90s show (Roar) but this vid somehow gave me a lot of feelings anyway??

Our House - hilarious vid for Ghosts, a show about a perfectly normal couple who move in to a perfectly normal house and nothing unusual whatsoever happens

So, yes, Festivids <3333 my heart is VERY full. (And I'm still mad at you, cosmic_llin)

Well, friends, it has now been exactly six months since the Good Omens TV show took over my whole life, and I have just finished my fourth (4th) vid. Yes, it's also my eighth (8th) vid set to Vienna Teng. WHAT OF IT. I DO WHAT I WANT, THOR.

( Ramblings: )

I LEARNED THINGS making this one! I am delighted that with each new vid I make using FCP, I am learning new things about how it works. This time I taught myself how to use colour masks and keyframes (well, I say 'how to use'...more like 'how to get them to do a thing via trial and error in a way that is probably much less efficient than how they are supposed to be used', but you know). I also did more with recolouring and special effects than I have ever done before, in the course of taking a tiny clip from Supernatural and a tiny clip from a Billie Eilish music video that Twitter promoted to me at just the right moment, and editing them to do what I wanted. LEARNING THINGS. \o/

Huge, HUGE, ENORMOUS thanks to both elisi and promethia_tenk who went above and beyond, and very kindly & patiently talked this through with me at great length over A MILLION rambling emails, and between them made this a MUCH better vid than I could have done alone <333

Gravity
edited by purplefringe
fandom: Good Omens
music: Gravity by Vienna Teng
summary: I am a constant satellite / of your blazing sun
content notes: v brief shot of a nail being driven into someone's wrist at 00:30; v brief shot of a snake at 00:52; some flashing/flickering lights at 2:22-2:27

Also on tumblr and the AO3

stream:

Lyrics

Hello, most wonderful Festividder!

I am super excited to be participating in Festivids again after two years of noping out due to a combination of technical problems in my laptop and in my brain. But this year I am ON IT and look I've even written my letter before sign-ups closed.

As ever, about half my requests are things I have requested before, and am going to keep on requesting every year until someone makes them for me :P This is probably because I don't actually consume that much *new* media in any given year. I just consume the things I do very intensely.

Anyway, whatever you make the most important thing is that you enjoy making it!

( Festivids: Kindness, Pining and Good Faces edition )

So it has been exactly four (4) weeks since Good Omens graced our screens, and I, um, have made TWO vids for it already?? ( WHAT IS HAPPENINGGGG. )

ANYWAY, shut up Phoebe. Here's a vid about Anathema Device, Agnes Nutter and The Book. It came to me in a flash as I crossed the road listening to Queen, the day before the show actually aired, and I started laughing a bit hysterically to myself in the street. If you are thinking, 'Phoebe, did you make a WHOLE VID just because of one (1) absurdly ridiculous lyric match?' you would be...entirely correct. I never thought I would love the show enough to actually make this. But apparently I do. I also have a newfound appreciation for Adria Arjona's meticulous acting choices, and also for her face.

Thank you to all the lovely people who have said nice and helpful things to me about this and/or reassured me that it is not terrible - elisi, soupytwist, such_heights, cosmic_llin & raven. I promise this vid is not a Trap.

Killer Queen
edited by purplefringe
fandom: Good Omens
music: Killer Queen by...Queen. Yes, really this time.
summary: Extraordinarily nice. (Nice: /naɪs/ [adjective] scrupulously exact)
content notes: some fast cutting throughout the vid.

download: 113MB @ mediafire

stream:

Lyrics

Er, hi friends! *waves*. It's been a while! But I, like almost the entire rest of my friend group, have fallen MADLY in love with the Good Omens TV series. It's one of my all time favourite books, and I just, I just can't quite believe how wonderful this adaptation is??? I just??? I was expecting it to be GOOD, but I wasn't expecting to lose my fucking mind like this.

So, here's a vid! This one was a LONG TIME in the making. It first occurred to me...five years ago, I think? Well before the TV show was even announced. It was a hypothetical 'if they ever adapted Good Omens, this is what I would love to make' thing. And....and I can't quite believe I have now finally made it?? wtf.

I just thought, you know what, it would be SUPER INTERESTING to make a vid examining all the theological arguments, biblical concepts and questions of morality which are touched on in Good Omens. There's some really interesting metaphysical ideas in there, and it just struck me that someone should make a vid exploring that more closely - and of course, it would have to be set to a piece of suitably epic religious music. So, here's Bach's Mass in B Minor.

Huge, huge thank you to the *truly* ineffable thingswithwings for her amazingly dedicated beta-ing which made this 1000% better, and also to all my jerk friends (hi guys) who have also lost their fucking minds and yelled at me about this a lot.

Mass In B Minor
edited by purplefringe
fandom: Good Omens
music: Mass In B Minor by J. S. Bach
summary: Kyrie eleison (Lord, have mercy)
content notes: some fast cutting in a couple of places, around 1:33 and 2:18

download: 119MB @ mediafire

stream:

Lyrics

Hi friends!!

It is that time of year again*: I would like your vid recs! This year I'm running Vidukon's first ever singalong-a-vidshow \o/ I'm hoping it's going to be a fun bonding experience for everyone at the con. Singing along will not be mandatory, and will not be solo, but will be very much encouraged :-D

PLEASE REC ME THINGS! What vids can you never resist singing along to? What vids have people sung particularly enthusiastically along to at Wiscon, at Club Vivid, at your own vid parties? What vids do you see in your head as you belt out the song when it comes on the radio, or when you're doing karaoke, or when you're in the shower? Share your favourites with me! As always, self-recs are loved.

If the vids already have subtitled versions, so much the better, but don't worry if not - I really ought to know how to subtitle already, and this is my kick-up-the-arse to actually learn to do it.

So - recs please and thank you! (Also - come to Vidukon! We have singing now!)

*I'm pretty sure that the last few years I have made this post it has not been SNOWING in LONDON in MID-MARCH WTF /o\

So I did a lot of shrieking yesterday. A lot of capslock on my phone to my friends. I don't even know how to begin writing about it, but I wanted to say something here, that I can look back on.

The thirteenth Doctor is a woman!

Yes, she's still White, and yes, that is absolutely something that we should address. There is still a way to go. But also: she's a woman. After 54 years! And a really wonderful woman at that. I didn't know Jodie Whittaker before Broadchurch, but she was absolutely mesmerising in all three seasons of that show, and I know she's going to be completely amazing. From the bits and pieces I've read from her so far, I know she *gets* the show, and the Doctor, and we are in extremely safe, capable, brilliant hands.

I knew Thirteen wasn't going to be another White Dude. With 100% certainty. And whilst Jodie Whittaker hadn't been particularly on my radar as a contender, I knew that it was not unlikely that they'd cast someone Chibnall had worked with before. But still - that first moment in the trailer when we saw her hand, and then her eye - I felt all the breath knocked out of me. Then I think I may have screamed? It's all a bit of a blur. I certainly screamed a lot for the next hour or so.

I'm going to miss Twelve a LOT. I love him, and I love his beautiful, subtle, expressive face, and his absurd inability to run in a dignified manner. I love his prickly, difficult kindness, and I love his easy forgiveness. I love the way he's grown and evolved as a person more than any of the other Doctors before him. I'm going to miss him terribly, the way I miss them all. But if there was one thing that could make me able to deal with him leaving, it's this. I can't wait. <3

I don't know what the show will look like under Chris Chibnall. Whether it will be closer in tone to Moffat's vision or to Rusty's, or something completely different. As probably anybody who knows me or has read this journal knows, I'm a huge fan of both Moffat and RTD and would fight bears for them both. Yes, even Moffat. I don't think his seasons have been perfect by any means - but I also don't think they have been any more problematic than RTD's seasons. Just differently so. But in both cases, the problematic elements have been, for me, completely outweighed by all the joy and wonderful things they have done. With that in mind, here are a few things I would love to see going forward: ( Read more... )

...in other news, I already have a vidsong for the Regeneration and I have to wait until Christmas to make it /o\

Sooooooo.....I had a dream. Or rather, A VISION. From the PROPHETS of Bajor. 'You must make a vid', they said. 'You must vid...THE GARAK.'

And I said, 'The Garak? What is this?'

And they showed me. And lo, it was good.

...ok, what actually happened was this:


And then I did nothing. And then, almost a year later, this happened:


And still I did nothing. And then, finally, over a year since I was first blessed with a Vision from the Prophets, I commenced my life's work:


And so, dear friends, I humbly submit to you this vid, towards which the Prophets guided me, almost two years ago. It just premiered at Vidukon. I hope it brings you joy.

ETA: wrote this in a hurry before the Vidukon premieres show, and so I FORGOT, like the terrible person I am, to thank the amazing bironic and cosmic_llin for their wonderful and supremely patient beta comments, and also such_heights, raven and Flatmate L for their enthusiasm for Garak being punched in the face.

Dedicated Follower of Fashion
edited by purplefringe
fandom: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
characters: Garak
music: Dedicated Follower of Fashion by The Kinks
summary: Garak is just a simple tailor
content notes: Contains a lot of punching in the face.


download: 64MB @ mediafire

stream:

Lyrics ( here )

HI VIDDING TYPES! *waves*

It is SPRING here in London, and, as ever, that means I've recently passed several important annual milestones: I have eaten and rejoiced in my first creme egg of the year (a sacred moment); I have listened to Paul Simon’s Graceland (the greatest album ever) whilst walking in the sunshine and smiling inanely to myself at how warm it is; and…I’ve had a vidshow approved for this year’s Vidukon!

This year, what with the fact that Everything In The World Is On Fire, I thought we could all do with a short break from the unrelenting misery of the impending apocalypse. SO to that end, I’m planning a COMEDY vidshow :-) I thought a nicely cathartic release of oxytocin could be extremely helpful. Working title is either ‘Tragedy Tomorrow – Comedy Tonight’, from the wonderful Sondheim musical A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, or 'Make 'Em Laugh', from Singing In The Rain - but alternative title suggestions are welcome.

So: rec me vids, please! Any vid that makes you laugh out loud, or at least grin wildly and flail your hands around in uncontrolled glee – that's what I want! I’m interested in any and all genres – from hugely popular TV shows to niche indie films to RPF to literally anything else. Character studies, crack!vids, dance vids, multifandom tropey extravaganzas…anything that makes you laugh. Watching vids en masse is often a very different experience from watching them alone, so if you remember any funny vids that have had a particularly great reaction at other conventions, do share.

There’s endless ways vids can wring humour from a source – perhaps it’s a funny show in the first place, and the vid makes the most of the characters’ physicality and ridiculous facial expressions, with exquisite comic timing. Perhaps it’s a more serious show, vidded from a new and unexpected angle to get humour from incongruity. Perhaps it’s just pure crack. Ideally, I’d like to end up with a mixture. I aim to make everyone’s sides hurt by the end of the show. :-D

Self-recs are, as always, highly encouraged! And premieres are very welcome. I'm not sure when the deadline is, but if you think you might have a premiere in the works, let me know and I'll investigate.

(Also - come to Vidukon! It's awesome.)