Vidshow - Fanlore

A vidshow takes place during a convention, and is a series of vids shown in succession, most often for one or two hours. These may or may not be brand-new ("premiering") vids.

Conventions that have premieres-only vidshows include MediaWest, Escapade, Vividcon, and Vidukon. These vidshows may later be distributed as contapes or, more recently, con dvds.

Other cons have shows that combine premiering and existing vids, such as Bascon, Revelcon, CON.TXT, Muskrat Jamboree, PacifiCon (aka Bitchin' Party) and Eastern Media Con.

Cons that are devoted specifically to vidding, such as Vividcon and Vidukon, also have vidshows based on themes, such as "Action", "Made in the UK", "Horror", or "Celebrating Fandom".

vid feedback forms

For a couple of years in the late '90s, vidders experimented with vid feedback forms at Escapade and ZebraCon vidshows, asking people in the audience to scribble comments during, or directly after the show. The comments left on the forms were occasionally hilarious, but ultimately not very useful for the vidders ("good use of clips!", and the experiment was discontinued.

vid show contests

It used to be more common for vidshows to include awards. ZebraCon, RevelCon, VirguleCon and others gave out varying awards, often including, "best slash vid", "best humor vid," and "best vid by a new vidder". Escapade made a point, back in 1991, that they weren't going to give awards, and yet managed to have a strong vid show for years, which may have led to the decline in vid awards at vid shows.