Meta: If Yoda Could Teach You Vidding

[morgandawn]

I've posted about this before. But to me vidding - like most art - is all about the choices we make. Each choice impacts your audience and shapes their likes/dislikes of your vid. It is not about 'Rules' or 'Vidding The Right Way' or 'Quality Vidding' or "My vid is bigger better than your vid". It is all about understanding that what you do *with your vid* will cause other people to react *to your vid.*

Here is how it works folks. Take notes as there will be quiz later.

When you start making a vid you have the 100% hypothetical audience who loves and adores the vid and wants to have its babies. Your first step is to pick the fandom. You lose 10% of the audience - they're just not going to watch that Fandom X vid. You pick a pairing or a character. There goes another 10%. Then you pick the song - this one is a biggie - pick country western and you're likely to lose 70% of the remaining audience. Pick a rap song or heavy metal or Linkin Park and your numbers may not be much better. Bottom line: every song choice will whittle away a portion of your audience.

So by now, with careful selections - you're lucky to have 60% of your audience remaining. You're actually doing quite well (pause to pat yourself on your back).

But you have yet to make a single edit. If you cut too fast on the beat, some of your audience will fall over into seizures. Cut too slowly your audience will start to snooze. Ignore the lyrics and the dynamics of the song and cut just anywhere? Your audience will just be confused. Didn't edit the song? Too many notes!! You edited the song - but the audience really wanted to hear all hundred choruses of "bottles of beer on the wall?" Either way there goes another 15%.

How about if you add effects? Use too many white flashes or fades to black? Random POV shifts? You didn't use *any* effects? Boring. There goes another 15%.

So where are we? Somewhere around 30% of the audience is still hanging in there watching your vid. We're almost done. Because the last question is 'how did you distribute your vid?' Blurry Youtube version? WMV file with funky aspect ratio? "I only vid for Macs - Quicktime should be good enough for anyone". How about: "No I will not stream, you need to send me a certified letter before I'll send you the password to my website so you can download." Whew, there goes another 15%.

And now you've arrived at your destination! An entire 15% of your audience is watching your vid, loving it and wanting more. Congratulations, you've just made a vid.

But if you wonder why the rest of the world has failed to appreciate your brilliance? It's all about the choices, baby. And rather than railing against the vid, the vidder or the audience, I find it far more productive to realize that with every choice you gain an audience and you lose an audience. It's almost Zen-like.

Comments

[millylicious.livejournal.com]

Can I marry this post and have its babies?

No really, because if I read another comment of the 'whine, why doesn't anyone comment on my vids, FINE I JUST WON'T MAKE THEM NO MORE' variety, I might throw my laptop out the window. And then I'd be sad, because *I* couldn't vid.

[morgandawn.livejournal.com]

And I am sure your laptop would be even sadder. ;-)

[halcyon-shift.livejournal.com]

I prefer to believe that 100% of people watch the vids and are too awestruck to comment. Maybe no comments is WIN \o/

In other news, I got really high on the caffeine click test.

In more relevant news, yes, totally *g*

[luminosity]

One of the best comments I ever got was from Shoshanna. She stopped watching my vid in the middle because she didn't know the fandom yet and wanted to wait till she had seen it all because *obviously* I was saying something profound. I *loved* that. LOLOLOL

[halcyon-shift.livejournal.com]

Bwah! Awesome

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

I have always loved this theory. Thanks for posting it. (:

[anoel.livejournal.com]

This is really great to remember. And it makes me even more grateful for the people who are willing to watch and appreciate many different kinds of vids and fandoms they don't know.

How The World Is Better With 'Choices' Not 'Rules'

[morgandawn.livejournal.com]

These concepts form the basis for two of my main thoughts about art/vidding:

1. there is no 'right' or 'wrong' way to vid. there are no Golden Rules. What we have are conventions and stylistic choices that - unless you think about them carefully - can reduce (or enhance) the impact of your vid on an audience. And until we start discussing Choices not Rules we end up with pointless griping ("Your vid sucks because you didn't follow X rule." or "Stop shoving your goram rules down my throat you ...you elitist.")

2. which leads me to my second thought - that until we understand how the choices we make can shape the audience reaction, we may never be happy with the level and quality of feedback we receive. Or how an audience responds to our vid at a convention. And the same is true for the audience - if they have a narrow vision of What A Vid Should Be And There Can Be Only One - they may end up unhappy when the world fails to conform to their singular vision.

Re: How The World Is Better With 'Choices' Not 'Rules'

[lim.livejournal.com]

*dances you* This comment makes me so happy. I am utterly USELESS at rules and am always left there thinking, but, but, it looks the way it looks!

In my fandom (SGA) I think we've largely escaped the idea of vidding rules but sometimes people comment from other fandoms and they have all this baggage about effects and songs and *waves hands*, it's just choices!

Re: How The World Is Better With 'Choices' Not 'Rules'

[morgandawn.livejournal.com]

I'd personally stop just short of calling it *just* choices because the total sum of the choices + the audience = the impact of your vid. And we can no more ignore the impact of our choices than we can ignore the impact of gravity when said choices hit the ground. Or the audience. ;-)

What I'd like to see is more discussion about the impact of choices on the audience as opposed to the 'right' or 'wrong' way of making a vid. Ex. Is a vid helped or hurt by [fill in the effect/choice] [ex. putting a title card/credits] at the start of the vid? What kinds of vid does this work for? What kinds of vid does it not work for? And what kind of audience responds to what you're doing ? And why?

Re: How The World Is Better With 'Choices' Not 'Rules'

[lim.livejournal.com]

Of course visual choices carry baggage, just like word choices do. For me it's more useful to learn what that extra weight is, what those connotations are, because then I can use them. That helps me get better at communicating.

There are connotations that are very individual—a certain song reminds you of a certain time, a particular place, a personal feeling beyond its musical or lyrical content and you respond to it idiosyncratically, unpredictably—and there are connotations which are shared beyond the individual, with a generation praps: a song can become symbolic of a time, a moment, a fashion, can reference a wider culture. And these things stack up--you'll respond differently to, say, White Rabbit depending on whether you first heard it at Woodstock, or in some film about the sixties...but most everybody will get some broad connotations of acid, the sixties, a mind fuck and so forth.

Re: How The World Is Better With Choices Not Rules

[morgandawn.livejournal.com]

Nods. I would classify what you're describing under as "know your intended audience." In the past, when we made a vid for a specific convention we would have some idea of the makeup and background and cultural expectations of the audience.

Making a vid for the Internets (like we do today) is so very much harder. Which is why when I start making a vid, I have to think about my choices and how they may impact *my* hypothetical viewers. Which is how I ended up with my hypothetical 15% audience and laughing at myself. And hoping that they will 'get' what I am aiming for.

But that leads me back to my original desire - to see more discussion about the choices (or connotations) in our vids and how and why they will play out with the hypothetical audience. Instead of only hearing this same discussion over and over: "Use of White Rabbit song in Xfiles vid = automatically good. Use of White Rabbit song in Xfiles vid = automatically bad." End of discussion. When - as you point out - the song can have more nuanced connotations.

On a side note: I think this type of discussion that I am hankering for appeals mainly to vidders. I know that I- as a viewer – often don’t want to ruin the fun by thinking "you know, that White Rabbit song would have worked so much better in a Matrix vid."

[girlguidejones.livejournal.com]

I remember having just this conversation with you and killabeez at Wincon, trying to equate (or not so) the same sorts of choices we writer people make and how it affects the readership.

Uh, you probably don't remember, because was merely basking in the brainyness of the two of you and so on.

Heh.

[busaikko]

*amused grin* (strangely, my most popular vids are country and western... least popular one? Will Oldham. And am contemplating a Thurl Ravenscroft one next...)

[ashiva.livejournal.com]

Then again if you most of all vid for yourself 100% audience is always guaranteed. My last vid was Bump Off Lover (bizzare Asian drama) vid (I'm still totally dumbfounded that I got a comment as I wasn't really expecting anyone to watch it) and the vid I'm working at the moment is about quite unknown Asian movie, if I were fretting over the audience I doubt I would vid at all, or at least the vidding would be much less enjoyable.

[sue-chose-this.livejournal.com]

Yes.
This a much more constructive way to look at the process, and to analyse results.

Bearing this in mind, as much as influencing the things I add to my vids, and the way I promote them, is a good way to be at peace with whatever reactions I get.

It was lovely to hear from one person in her feedback that on hearing a much hated song in future, she would picture my vid and not hate it so much. I was very lucky she watched it at all looking back...

[wistful-fever.livejournal.com]

Nnnnnnggggg. YES. I am totally zen just from reading this.

[morgandawn.livejournal.com]

See? The Yoda is very talented, is he not?

[astartexx.livejournal.com]

And thank you for your shared Zen.

This is so true and there is never a reason to whine about the lack of comments. You always have a choice in this and chosing the deserted road might make yourself a very happy person and that is all that counts. It's for me about the self-gratification.

Grabbing one point and running off into the night

[morgandawn.livejournal.com]

And to me, this (points to my entry above) touches on a wider range of issues than feedback. It has to do with how we discuss vids and our inability to see that there are other ways of appreciating/perceiving vids than our own. The fact that every choice we make adds/subtracts to/from the audience means that vid making/appreciating is more complex than saying: "well I liked it so it must be good. and if I didn't then it must suck." Until we start to discuss the hows ("if you edit *this* way, some of your audience may react *that* way") we're forever stuck with superficial understanding. And frustration.

which leads me to my next question: why would we focus on feedback to the exclusion of other facets? (you're not the only person to raise the feedback issue so I thought: let's discuss.)

Re: Grabbing one point and running off into the night

[astartexx.livejournal.com]

Mmh, I think the choices we make during the vidding process are very personal, sometimes even obscured to our self. That is in part why feedback can be surprising and touching and insightful. Sometimes we as vidders are too close to see the wider impact our choices have on the audience.

Feedback is the input you get from other people outside your bubble and it won’t change a single thing within the vid. It can broader my understanding, even give me unanticipated depth in how my vid was perceived or audience expectations I met. But I won’t have the audience in mind while vidding the next one. Instead my idea is centre-stage and everything else fades into the background. Even sometimes good advice from my beta. I trust my judgement and I rarely ask, if a choice works. I will consider an alternative, especially if it’s some scene I haven’t considered before, but this is my vid and my inspiration and I will do it my way - the best way I can. I will fail and hit the mark and learn.

It’s interesting that I’m not even that interested in explaining the hidden aspects within a vid.

Whatever motivated me to vid this show, this song, this character, this ship and this mood is not up to the audience to decide or to question my preference. Because obviously why watch if you are not into this show, that music genre, this particular character or ship? You have to reflect on your interest as viewer, not waste your time. – If you hate a song and are still attracted to the rest of the package, you know damn well, what you are heading into. You love the song, but can’t stand the character X and instead want me to care about Y for the same song? Sorry, that ship has been sailed. These are the details I give you in my header and if you won’t get pleasure from them find something else on the world wide web that will suit your taste, because this is mine and I will even give you further reasons in my vidding notes, if you are interested in the Why.

Maybe my position sounds harsh or arrogant, but I will not expect someone to watch my vid if they aren’t into the subject in the slightest. I know that I eliminate parts of my audience with every step I take into the deserted wilderness of my mind. I will stop watching another vid, if I will go too often, ‘Mmh, why use this shot instead?’ or ‘Another close-up of XY crying – really?’ or ‘Cut – Please cut – still no cut?’ I will not rummage through the vidders reasons for a choice, if the vid is not a beta job and I feel like I have the right and privilege to demand an explanation or offer other options.

Re: Grabbing one point and running off into the night

[astartexx.livejournal.com]

The superficial understanding is either something that blows my mind, makes me squeeful and happy or something I will never talk about and instantly forget. Discussing the Hows is very intimate and not something I would force onto an unknown vidder. It’s not even something I feel comfortable with vidders I know - with two exceptions.

I rather focus on the things that worked for me and the reasons Why.

‘This choice doesn’t work (for me)!’, is a very harsh criticism in itself, because it is my opinion and nothing else. Because if I say that I obviously don’t support an editing choice that was made with consideration and confidence it's just cruel and I can’t always present an alternative. Like I said, I would say it in a heartbeat, if the vid isn’t finished and the vidder will confidently kick my ass for even suggesting that she is in the wrong here. Choice comes down to judgement and therefore trust, which means knowing each others style. It can be plain coaxing someone along, when they hit a block or having as beta the balls to say, ‘You are out of your fucking mind, stop wasting your time, this will never be good. There is not enough AU to make this vid in our universe a sane attempt. Stop driving yourself crazy.’

This will not always stop me, because if the vid in my head demands me to go down this road, I will follow my vision even to the nastiest place in hell, just to get it out of my system. Ignoring good advice and not giving a damn about the artistic implications, I expect the same single-minded obsession from someone I discuss the Hows. Because I wait for the click to finish a vid. The moment everything falls into place and I just know watching it this is the vid I wanted to make. This is finished now, even when I lost my beta in the first verse and with all the detours I took from my original idea and the road blocks and the unsuspected beauty of unplanned vantage points. Self-gratification.

I made the trip and hey, maybe someone else enjoys it too, so let’s share.

This vid is finished and of course you are right, excluding other facets would be superficial. I would never say a vid is bad, because I can’t stand the song. I can appreciate the beauty of a vid from which I never saw the source and maybe even been captivated enough to buy the DVDs without any further reference. I get into shows this way and rekindle my love for old fandoms. I understand a good vid, even when I don’t agree with how the character is portrayed. In fact I can be utterly fascinated with vids that completely contradict my opinion. I will instantly forgive weaknesses in technical aspects, if the emotion shines through. I know that I am less forgiving, if I have the feeling that the vidder was just lazy and not trying too hard.

The Whys are easier to explain, but the Hows take some guts, if you don’t sing praise or state a technical question.