Vid recs (multifandom)

[hazelk]

I’ve had a vid recs post in mind ever since reading narahttbbs’s post on the appeal of vids being about being able to experience what other people see. As brain posts tend to, it grew and grew but here at least is the beginnings of a list.

Vids of vicarious love.

Don’t Panic by cherryice I’m not able to watch Heroes but have enjoyed reading about it in other people’s journals. Then yesterday I downloaded this and was instantly blown away by the Claire love. It’s a beautifully constructed vid that pulls the eye into it with constant motion mixed with contrasting scenes of visceral horror and human connection. By the climatic sequence it feels as if you’ve gone through so much with the character I dare anyone not to weep from pride.

You can call me Al by sdwolfpup. Due South is a show I saw relatively little of back in the day (damn you BBC and your snooker shaped scheduling obsessions) but always remember with affection. This vid shows me why.

This is how it was by lim.
This is an early SGA vid from the maker of Us also to a Regina Spektor track. Us is technically more accomplished but this one speaks to me more. Mostly because of what it has to say. It’s a vid about memory and loss and regret and I love it because it manages to actually look like memories look to me inside my head. Little flashes of disconnected images with weird colour distortions, some almost photographic others mere sketches and words. And numbers because music is made of numbers and Rodney is a physicist so he knows that.

Loggerheads by obsessive24. Based on an indie movie that may never get a release outside of festivals this is another vid about regret. Third person weaving multiple stories together where TIHIW was first person and singular it uses dissolves quite beautifully to convey memories being triggered and linked and airy, rarefied colours that give a feeling of being simultaneously caught up in events and yet distant from them. Most of all though, to bring things back to the original theme of this post, is a sense of the deep impression the movie made on the vidder in turn creating a longing to see what they did.

Comments

[emily-shore.livejournal.com]

The vicarious-love question is a good one. Personally I've found that Due South makes really good vids, to the extent that I will seek out Due South vids despite never to my knowledge having seen a whole episode of the show. My particular favourites there are "Zebra" by shalott and "Goody Two Shoes" by laurashapiro and Pipsqueak.

Stargate is another one of my vicarious fandoms, but somehow I find that the fanfics speak to me more than the vids do. Odd, that. I did quite enjoy "This is how it was," though.

[emily-shore.livejournal.com]

Sorry, that should be astolat, otherwise known as Shalott. It's late...

[aycheb.livejournal.com]

Yes, Due South being such a source of good vids (I love "Zebra" and "Goody Two Shoes" too - Ray is so jumpy and Fraser's jacket is so very, very red) is a bit of a mystery. Have you seen heresluck's two vids "Out There and "In the Mirror?" The first one's an interesting case of vicarious love through making rather than watching (made as a gift for two friends who were big fans). In the comments she also said it was a difficult show to vid because so much of it depends on the dialogue and visually it's often rather dull, lots of tradditional two shots. It's a show you probably need to know well (or be very organised about making clip database for) to vid. Maybe that's why the vids that do get made have so much love in them.

[emily-shore.livejournal.com]

Perhaps it's the enthusiasm of the fans rather than the vidworthiness of the source material? It would be interesting to plot that actually: fandoms with shiny visuals versus fandoms with really enthusiastic fans, with the goal of finding out whether those fandoms which had both would be the ones with the most vids or the best vids...

Funnily enough I downloaded both of heresluck's Due South vids last night before I even saw your comment. I really enjoyed "Out There" (a different and more thoughtful look at the main character than I'd seen before) but "In The Mirror" didn't really grab me.

[aycheb.livejournal.com]

Shiny visuals aren't enough by themselves or I think there would be more and better movie vids. Vidding makes you very aware of cinematography etc, there are shows I'll watch and be thinking "you could do something with that" but without caring enough to start putting shots together in my head to make a story. But there's probably a community effect as well, once a few good vidders take up a particular fandom others follow.

I like the way "Out there" and "In the Mirror" work as a pair but suspect "Mirror" needs more context to work well on its own. It also suffers by comparison with "Zebra."

[yourlibrarian]

Just saw the Heroes one today, and as I'm watching Due South, have snagged that one as well.

[aycheb.livejournal.com]

I think Heroes is going to turn up on terrestrial TV here some day. I'm in two minds about watching because I know the whole "next sep in evolution" backstory is going to bug me like hell but the rest sounds such fun and so pretty.

[yourlibrarian]

Yeah, it's probably better to handwave all that and just enjoy the ride. I quite like the fact that it has such an ever expanding cast of characters, that seems a real shift to me in storytelling (at least outside of soaps).

[obsessive24.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much for the rec. As a matter of fact I was just saying to someone the other day about how much I feel this vid is a transparent "look-through" to the film as opposed to anything that's solidly connected to me as a vidder. Interesting theme you have going here. Must go check out the meta.

[aycheb.livejournal.com]

I'm such a slouch about reccing :-) Do read the meta though, I really didn't do it justice.