an almost con report

[hafital]

I was dutifully writing up a con report when I somehow lost the post. Thus, ya'll are getting a truncated con report.

I had a great time, as usual. Yay for Vividcon! I dearly missed the extra bookend days of fannish hijinks I normally get with my darling New York Crew, but c'est la vie. Maybe next year, I'll fly out early to NY and do the drive again, for old time's sake. Although, in all honesty, I'm MUCH less tired than last year. That drive is exhausting! (but fun. *g*)



First off, I'm not going to do an in depth analysis of all the premiering vids, or even most of the premiering vids. I will touch on those I found memorable, so take that for what it's worth. I went to a lot of vid shows this year and they're all blurring together, so it's really just a big soup of vids in my head, and there were only a few that really stand out in my memory.

The Social:

Roomed with melina123, who makes a great roommate :). Although, neither of us were ever in our room much. Seriously, I was only ever there to sleep, and Melina worked hard all weekend on concom. Spent most of my social time with killabeez and Taselby, as I am wont to do in these situations (and yet there's never enough time and it's very very sad. I perpetually pine for Killa. *pine*) I also dearly missed T.Jonesy and I was ever so sad she wasn't able to make it this year.

There was a lot of dinnering going on all weekend. And also breakfasting. Lost of milling around and gabbing. A lot of hugs, too. I finally (finally!) got to meet Terri! Yay! I got some good sherrold and wickedwords time in this year and that was great, because I can never get enough of either one of them. I spent some time with cesperanza and geekturnedvamp but it was always just a little bit sad because I miss them so. And also astolat, who was too busy running a con (the nerve. *g*) I snuck in a smidge of elynross and sockkpuppett time as well. There were tons of others and I'm going to stop naming names, now, because I'm definitely leaving people out. I'm with merryish on the whole moving thing -- it's like you collect more and more people you desperately need to see and hang out with, and there's never enough time.

Club Vivid was so. much. fun. :) I love dancing, and there's nothing better than a glorious mob of fan girls shaking their collective booty, let me tell you. And now with extra special glow sticks. wheee. Also, the VividCon Pool Party was a blast as always. My favorite part was the startled-and-just-a-little-bit-scared look on the faces of the regular hotel guests that had the sad misfortune of thinking the pool would actually be empty (and not filled with crazed singing fans) on a random Sunday night. heh.

The Panels:

I only went to two actual panels this year. Next year, I'm going to more panels instead of the vidshows. I think I'm nearly vidshowed out, if that's possible, but I found my enjoyment of the vids begin to lessen over the course of the weekends, mostly from simple over exposure.

I went to the Aesthetics Movement panel and Vivid Section. The movement panel was moderated by Lum. I always learn something from Luminosity, and often it's something that can be applied to more than just vidding. :) Me adores Lum. *adores*. I always notice color and movement the most in vids, but it's nice to have a vocabulary for what I'm watching, and more of an ability to notice what a vidder is actually doing with their vid.

Vivid Section was really interesting (moderated by Killa), and I'd wonder if it's something that will continue. My impressions of the panel were that the very brave vidder who offered her vid-in-progress to be the guinea pig for the hour truly got some great advice and some guidance on how to continue. In many ways I thought this panel better than say a Vidding 101 type panel, for those who want insight from other viders.

The Vids:

There were many many vids that were shown in the vid shows that I thought were great. There were several premieres in these shows, many of which were lots of fun (the Club Vivid premieres in particular). And I'm sad to say I can barely remember any of them, but others are doing a much better job than I am, and thank God, really, because I suck at this sort of thing.

I really loved the Anime vid show, and was sad I never got to see the whole thing.

My next favorite vidshow was the Audio Rarities show on Friday. Lots of fun, and also informative. I often am drawn to songs that might be considered unviddable, so it was interesting to see these and see what the vidder did with them. I like the spoken word ones a lot.

My third favorite of the vidshows would have to be Literalism vs. Metaphor, which is lesson that is alarmingly allusive and difficult to understand it seems, and I'm not excluding myself from being a bit thick about it either. I also think the question is when to be literal and when not to be is a good one to ask, and not just for vidding. I didn't go to the accompanying panel, much to my loss, I'm sure.

And then there was Premieres. This years premiere show felt much more uneven than last years, but it was still a great time. I apologize now that I'm not going to touch on many of the vids. This is mostly due to my inability to remember well and my lack of reference for many of the fandoms that were shown, like Firefly, Farscape, and SG1, and Angel/BtvS. There are always vids that can reach a large audience despite lack of familiarity with the source, but then there are those that don't, and really and truly, there's nothing wrong with that.

Anywoo...

I Just Wanna Take You Home by Merry, Smallville: More and more I'm starting to like Smallville vids. They normally don't work for me so well, and I think this has to do with the way the show is shot, more than anything else, but this vid was sooo much fun, and light hearted, and a great way to start the evening.

No Fear, No Hate, No Pain (No Broken Hearts), Equilibrium by P.R. Zed: I had much the same reaction to this vid that everyone else had. The "dude, I MUST watch this NOW" reaction. I know people say Equilibrium isn't very good, but I'm okay with that, really. *g* And can I tell you how thrilled I am that Christian Bale is getting so much attention these days? I've always been very fond of him. This vid was my favorite from the first half of Premieres.

The Mountain by Melina and shallot, LotR: I've seen this vid many times and it gets lovelier each time. It's mostly fun to see Melina and shallot so bouncy about it. *g* And yes, thank goodness, a decent LotR vid! I'm still way ambivalent about these movies, but there's no denying how pretty they are, and it's a shame so many of the LotR vids to date have been, er, well horrible, to be frank. This one was clean and beautiful, with a great song choice, and wonderful design elements as well.

Streets on Fire by L'Abattoir, Robbery Homicide Division: One of the things that I love so much about vids and vidding is the great editing that goes into them. This is a fine example of a vid that does that, pulls you into the world of the fandom for those three or four minutes, and then spits you out again, and mostly from just the song choice and the editing.

Change by Juliette Torres, Fight Club: I just love this movie. :) And I also thought this was a good solid vid, with interesting choices and some really great moments.

Blue Skies for Everyone by snoo and tzikeh, Dead Like Me: I adored this vid. I don't have much else to say. Another show I don't watch but still enjoyed the vid. :)

Rough Boys by Zeneyepirate: A multi fandom vid that showed lots of boys beating the crap out of each other. And also shooting each other. And lying on the floor covered in blood and cuddling up together. It was... A thing of beauty. *g* Can't tell you how much I loved this vid. One of my favorites from the night, for sure. And I think I squeaked when towards the end of the vid we got a shot of Jack Sparrow, which was the only Piratey thing all weekend. I need a list of all the films and shows used in this vid so I can watch each and every one of them.

Not Only Human by Laura and Killa, The X-Files: Easily my favorite from the entire weekend. Certainly my favorite from the second half of the Premiere show. A beautiful heartbreaking Scully vid. Everyone download this and watch it.

Forget Me Not (Bury Me Lovely) by Mad Poetess, The Others:There were a lot of people for which this vid did not work, but I gotta say I really liked it a lot. Couldn't really tell you why, though. I think I'm developing a penchant for movie vids...

Big Red Boat by Seah and Margie, Joan of Arcadia: I wish I knew the source more (or at all, really). I think I saw 20 minutes of an episode once. Fun, catchy song. Lovely themes. Just a great fun vid, all around.

Challenge Vids:

Of all the vids I saw this weekend, the only one I bothered to download and watch as soon as I got home was Lucky You, by permetaform. A vid to the movie The Ring. It's a stunning vid, and utterly creepy, and incredibly perfect for the film. It was more like I was compelled to download this vid and watch it... which just makes the whole vid even creepier. hee. But seriously, the vid has some fabulous timing and once again illustrates the importance of song choice.



Jeez, that took all day to write. It's like they expect me to work, or something, around here. The nerve. ;)

I talked about more vids than I thought I would, thanks to other peoples con reports that helped jog my memory. And now, I'm ready for home.

Comments

[permetaform]

as you will ::bows:: =)