(no subject)

[f1renze]

more ask-me-anything answers. some vid talk within.

- sweetestdrain -- how are you so hot - errr, i mean: describe your favorite moment of vid narrative/Deeper Meaning (both in your own vids and others).

What a fantastic question, and possibly the hardest vid question I've ever had to answer. First of all, I have this weird bias against my own stuff and I always think that if I can do it, then it must not be very deep. So I can't answer this about my own work. But others'! Are you kidding? How am I supposed to pick a favorite!

So I'll just do it randomly.

One of my favorite moments in sisabet's Closer happens around 3:14 (this is the remastered file). Audio is Spike saying "Keeps you going". The movement and blending between these two Spike and Angel clips are stunning to watch in and of itself, but my favorite is when she switches back the direction of camera movement at 3:17. To me it adds richness to what "going" means. Blood complicates. It "keeps you going" both forward and backwards. This fits so nicely with Angel's whole conflict re: "I'm not an animal." and Spike saying "Angel. You should've warned me." OH MY GOD!

It's hard not to think of emotional bits as Telling Deeper, because emotion is often something I can't describe in words, but just *works*. I think Closer is the first time sisabet does these freeze frames all over that make us emotionally linger on something while she moves on to something else. It feels deep to me because it tells me something about the vidder, as someone whose thoughts and messages I'm trying to keep up with. But interestingly, I also feel that these freezes also serve as a breather. This is a very fast-moving vid, and clips that linger give a sense of familiarity, something I can hold on to at a given moment before continuing with the ride.

Still in Closer, at the very end, it's Angel that's up there, open, ready to die. And she makes it look like, despite all these parallels and complex dynamic between the two, Spike is still watching him (from the floor!), as if to say that he'll always be learning from him.

In sisabet's Two Words, I love the intercuts between Angel and Connor walking away (starts around 1:52). tribe2003 told me once that that Angel clip (that is also used at the end of the opening credits) seems to symbolize him walking towards the light, The Good, which I think makes sense. So to me, this intercut bit in the vid shows how the son walks toward the bad (Jasmine) just as the father strives to reach the good. Love the motion continuation and how The Good is dark and The Bad is bright. Beautiful.

(I probably shouldn't start on "Throw your hands up" or I wouldn't be able to stop.)

In sisabet's Weeping Willow, throughout the vid Darien keeps saying that he wants Bobby to be beside him and to save him. But there's this little moment I love, when Darien disappears against the van at 2:34. I realized just now why I love it. The song says "You know it has to end". I see this as saying that Darien, despite his cry for help to Bobby, with a love that is pure and true would rather *die* than endangering Bobby in the process. Let me just disappear so you won't have to deal with me. Ahhh!

I'm just starting to learn to really read sockkpuppett's vids, so I'll probably be more chatty about them in the near future, but a current favorite is this moment in Here, around 3:58. That shot of Wes' hand reaching for and grabbing Angel... it just jabs at you. I see this as Wes continuing to be so *aware* of all the things that happened that led up to that point, Wes craving for the truth up to the very last breath. It's not just him trying to survive while Angel is suffocating him with the pillow, because set to this context in the vid, it speaks about a neverending struggle within Wes to speak the truth, to justify what he feels is the right thing to do. ::hurts::

I obviously got carried away there. Oops. Just another Jossverse newbie appreciating vids :">

To anyone reading: What would be your own answer(s) to the question? - I'm all curious now.

- spaggel -- WIll you post a picture of you for all the see? [-o< I wish to see the woman that brought gale to his knees O:-)

Oh Syd >:D<

- jenepherre -- What is something you wish you were better at doing?

Writing. I wish I not only were good at it, but also LOVE it. I can only imagine the wonderful life work would be if this were true.

- tribe2003 -- Copying reinabelle, kinda: favorite memory in the US, any age?

Undergrad graduation night. Surrounded by my favorite people, I had the most beautiful night and was looking forward to my next phase in life.

(1) what is your vidding goal now, if it has changed or become more specific

No goals so much as practice. I want to be more creative in reading songs and get more used to vidding concepts that rely more on the vidder to tell the narrative than on the song.

and (2) what factor or factors causes a vid to resonate most deeply with you (this isn't the same as
[sweetestdrain]'s question - I'm asking, in general, what attributes cause you to feel deeply vs. deepest meaning),

For me, Feeling Deeply has something to do with attachment to characters. I find that I need to at least know who's who and something about the personalities of the characters. If I can't have those, I will need unusually touching story-telling that does not depend on a lot of source knowledge, like what flummery did with Haunted.

What attributes to Deepest Meaning to me involves a lot of originality in terms of imagination/argument. Other aspects include composition, like framing and pacing and general story-telling, showing parts of an event in a way that tells how the event unfolds, cause-and-effect re: emotional reaction shots, and a new favorite: when an editing technique reaffirms the story that you *think* the vid is saying.

also (3) what would people have to take from your vids for you to feel that you had succeeded re: your audience,

It totally depends on what I intended the vid to be. A simple "LOL!" for a light humor vid or "Aww... you made me want to cry." for vids that are designed for emotional connection speaks volumes re: success. Something like, "You added to/made me see this [concept] that I didn't have before." for intentionally narrative ones means the world to me.

and (4) when you are 225 years old and looking back at the days of vidding and these shows, what will you remember most favorably, and what will you remember least favorably?

Most favorably: Internal movement. Hee j/k. Seriously? The vidding community. I just love how people support, inspire, and learn from each other.
Least favorably: The mundane stuff we have to deal with, like capturing clips or dealing with software that 225 years from now will just look totally pathetic. Um I guess I really have no real complaints.

- windtossed -- how did you get into qaf fandom? were you involved in other ones?

I got into the show in December 2002 (S2-S3 hiatus = best thing ever). I lurked around boards and mailing lists until around December 2003, when I got this journal. And no, no other fandoms. By my definition of "fandom", QaF was my first.

- burnitbackwards -- i was gone! answer me. what's your favorite food?

As in dish or kind? I have so many favorite dishes I have no #1. My favorite kind is absolutely my home country's food. Come visit someday and I'll take you places :x


Wow that was... long.

Comments

[lj4brandi.livejournal.com]

Would love to see a picture of you now too. Someone else suggested it above! So the question is: Will you post it?

[nerdanel.livejournal.com]

Hi Flo! You only had to ask me, like, twenty-five times before I remembered to come over here ;)

First, thanks for answering. And sorry that it took me forever to respond :-S

:X Undergrad graduation night. Sounds wonderful.

I want to be more creative in reading songs and get more used to vidding concepts that rely more on the vidder to tell the narrative than on the song.

I've already given you some thoughts on this, since we've discussed different permutations of it since January. After seeing sisabet on "Two Words", I think that finding some balance between the song and the vidder telling the story is key. As sisabet said with Two Words, giving us the four lines in the middle of literal vidding was helpful, because it first was amusing, bringing humor into the midst of a very emotional vid, and second, it provided a hook to latch onto. So, we have a vid ranging from the Angel/Connor Light/Dark contrast to "cheerleader prom-dated" - and the "most imitated / Grammy nominated / hotel accommodated / cheerleader prom-dated" REALLY helps the novice or even the midbie vid-viewer. So, I think it's good to distance from the music somewhat, but it's also wonderful to have something, somewhere in the song that the audience can tie to.

Here's the deal: the novice is going to look for clip-lyric pairings, right? When you start watching vids, you love the literal. It makes sense. And then, you come to appreciate deeper meanings, the "Eureka!" moments where you realize some deeper meaning that the vidder was trying to communicate. BUT, if the vidder goes too deep and loses the connection with midbie or even oldbie viewers, then they are forced to relapse to the novice level and just appreciate Teh Pretty.

All of this by way of saying, "I am non-EBVW, hear me ramble." ;)

For your response to question two, I would like to hear examples if you have any:

What attributes to Deepest Meaning to me involves a lot of originality in terms of imagination/argument.
when an editing technique reaffirms the story that you *think* the vid is saying

Can you think of examples? I'd like to see, esp. the second.

Something like, "You added to/made me see this [concept] that I didn't have before." for intentionally narrative ones means the world to me.

Yep. This is the "higher purpose" of vidding IMO.

In [info]sisabet's Two Words, I love the intercuts between Angel and Connor walking away (starts around 1:52). [info]tribe2003 told me once that that Angel clip (that is also used at the end of the opening credits) seems to symbolize him walking towards the light, The Good, which I think makes sense. So to me, this intercut bit in the vid shows how the son walks toward the bad (Jasmine) just as the father strives to reach the good. Love the motion continuation and how The Good is dark and The Bad is bright. Beautiful.

YES. You know, we haven't talked about Jossverse vids too much. Not even all of Two Words :-w And for the two seconds we did, a Deeper Meaning emerged. I want to talk more with you about Jossverse vid interpretation and Deeper Meanings! Not that I'm pushy or anything.

;)