We All Start Somewhere...Vid Posting for Posterity

[sisabet]

Okay - last post has generated some great ideas and instead of whinging at Nummy Treat or trying to take back the treat, I am beginning to think y'all are right and giving up and starting anew might be the thing to do.

And while I talk and talk and talk about why critical review is important and it is important to work on your craft and no one improves in a vacuum... it is time to stop telling why and showing...

Here is my first vid. It is Spike and his women (and Angel) and it is to Gordon Lightfoot and it is unbelievably bad - and there is a Riley/Buffy sub-plot. See, I thought, like TV shows, a video should have a A story and also a B story.

This, is what feedback and hard work has done for me. Thank you.

Right Click to Save as (WMV)

http://www.headtilt.com/VideoThatSucks.WMV

Comments

[boniblithe.livejournal.com]

You tool. OMG WTF THAT IS TEH BEST VID EVER!
I felt Spike's PAIN. And his WOE! And OMG RILEY/VAMPWHORE 4EVA!

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Makes "West End Girls" look like "The Godfather" - now don't it. Hee.

[way2busymom.livejournal.com]

Sweet mother of god you've got balls....big brass ones.

I'm just in awe.

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

Okay, so I have a question. Is there any place in vid concrit for sort of retroactive crit? By which I mean, would it be too boring and/or feel like a waste of time (to you, since you're the only person who can answer for you, although I'd love to know from other people who are experienced vidders too) to go through a vid that someone made some time before and offer crit on it, with the understanding that said vid was complete, and that all suggestions would be of the "Oh good, I'll keep all of these sorts of things in mind for the next vid I make" type?

[heresluck]

This is pretty much the only kind of feedback I send; all feedback is retroactive crit once the vid is past the beta stage. I'm always learning from feedback as well as from my own process of making vids, so I assume that others can benefit from it too -- even if the vid's no longer new. Which is almost always the case, because I'm usually weeks or months behind on vidwatching.

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

Thank you for replying -- it's good to know. From a newbie's perspective, I think it's less intimidating to think that one might be able to get crit later, once the "this took XXX hours to make!" initial protectiveness has faded. It might not make THAT vid any better, but at least you'd have something to go on for next time.

:-)

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

What h.l said. Hee - seriously - well thought out constructive feedback not only lets you know what to work on, it also lets you know what you are doing correctly.

For example - in some of the first feedback h.l ever sent me - she mentioned how she appreciated that I did not go for a throw-away repeat literalism on a repeated line (actual line was "feels like being cloned" from Golden Earrings's song Twilight Zone -Xander vid- easy literalism was using clips from "The Replacement"). For the past 2 years - every vid I have made sense - I have kept it in mind that I want to interpret my lyrics clearly, but I also want to do so varying from chorus to chorus and never throw out an easy thought/clip when there is an opportunity to look at the words in a different, more unexpected light. This keeps the audience interested as it is fresh and unpredictable and it makes them think.

And I got all of that from a vid that I probably will never redo - that I seriously flubbed the ending to - it was the first vid of mine ever discussed publically and it is the vid that taught me stuff I still use today - after I vidded it.

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

I think part of my reluctance to ask for crit of my first vid is that I don't want to kill the enjoyment I got out of it, you know? Which isn't to say that I don't want to do better on the next one -- it's more that, without knowing the kind of crit people tend to give, I'm worried that the poor little vid will get torn to pieces and I'll be left with a "never want to vid again" feeling. I think it's easier when time has passed and that immediate afterglow has faded.

People are saying they can see the potential in this Lightfoot vid -- can you? When you look at it, can you see things about it that you like? And if so, could you (or any of the other people who could see them) point them out to me? I think that knowing where the "good" lies might be helpful.

[trelkez.livejournal.com]

I am in absolute awe of you right now. Not just for having the balls to post that, but for actually coming so fucking far from that.

Maybe there's something to be said for teaching by example. I've never had a vid beta before, but I'm thinking I might try to unearth one in my current vid-in-progress' fandom before I finish it. Damn. There's something oddly encouraging about the fact that you didn't hatch from your fandom egg already a fantastic vidder.

[chantal87.livejournal.com]

oh sisabet you made my night.
And the saddest thing about it is its still better than any vid I have ever tried to do.
*hugs you*
:)

[just-eunice.livejournal.com]

I love this vid so much my heart is changing colors, and I love you for posting it. It's just so...*earnest*. And it reminds me that I *can* get better and move on from the frustration of not being able to make The Great Vid just yet. Watching this back to back with "Would" is downright inspiring is what it is.

*buckles down with Final Cut Pro and works just a little bit harder*

[wordsleadmeon.livejournal.com]

For a first vid, that's not that bad, really. I've seen worse.

Thanks for putting that out there...shows even better just how far you've gone to become the amazing artist you are now :)

[luminosity]

And yet? AND YET? There was POTENTIAL.

from the "there has to be a pony in here somewhere" contingent--

:)

[dualbunny.livejournal.com]

Nothing new in my thoughts. I'm with Lum in saying that looking at this, unpolished as it is, there is potential. There are still moments in it, when you did catch me. I'm also a big Spike sap, so maybe that's not that hard. ;)

And I agree with everyone else, that's it very cool of you to post this. Inspiring and all of that. :) I also hope you and Eunice, and whoever else you two can rustle up at VividCon, have much luck pulling together a new bootcampish sort of group.

[permetaform]

::giggles:: I think thats still better than my PotC vid-that-never-saw-the-light-of-day-nor-was-ever-really-finished or the PotC vidlet that I had.

question tho: is it *possible* to have a subplot in a vid?? I mean, that Haunted vid to Odyssey 5 had several different story lines...but are they actual subplots or parts of a main overarching plot about the characters and group as a whole? Or would the sub-plot be a sub-theme instead? Like how in 'Why' my theme was "Lex goes evil 'cause Clark keeps on leaving him" and my subtheme was "omg, Lex is SO IN LOVE with Clark"? Or is that subtext?? ::goes off muttering::

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

I love you.

Gordon Lightfoot is the most embarrassing CD I own, but you notice the part about how I'm not actually getting rid of it?

What is really amazing about your vid is how the best parts were kind of actually the parts I was laughing at -- like "The feeling's gone and I just don't know how to get it back" with Drusilla raising her hands to her temples and doing woo-woo eyes before going off into her plastic chip rant.

Your B-plot -- where Buffy's loss of Riley is paralleled with Spike's obsession with love (Dru or Buffy) -- is actually pretty nifty. I laughed, but it was pretty nifty.

[dodyskin.livejournal.com]

So, what would be really interesting, and useful for us ignorant types, is a quick critique from you. I mean, I know what I think but you have the expertise.

Wow.

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

That's mighty brave of you, Sisabet. ::wince::

I do kind of like the B plot conceit -- it'd be interesting to see it in more vids. And I see hints at, as Lum says, your potential.

But.

Ow.

Thank you for posting this!

Re: Wow.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Imagine as much as this hurts you - it really *hurts* me.

[vrya.livejournal.com]

Curse you! (And I mean that in the nicest possible way ;-) ) Not only have I had that song stuck in my head all day, now I'm remembering my first vid, and actually wondering if I still have it around somewhere. Surely even if I do, I don't really want to relive the Slaughter (that would be, Fly to the Angels, and you guessed it, a touching tale in which Buffy takes a swan dive)

oh, and while I'm posting: Vidding Solidarity! Rah, rah, go you!