Vividcon/Vividcon 2004
Contents |
Overview
Vividcon 2004 was the third Vividcon, and was held during August 13-15, 2004. The con was well-established by this point, and for the first time sold out its membership, as word continued to spread about it in the vidding community.
To keep costs under control, in 2004 the concom held an auction, putting out a public call for vidders to offer their services to the highest bidders, with all proceeds going to the con. Five vidders volunteered (Angel, Carol S., Luminosity, Roach, and sisabet), and their vids were shown during a special show following the Challenge show. The Auction vids were not included on the con DVDs; they were put onto their own DVD specifically for the auction winners, as a special thank-you.
The auction succeeded to the point that it became an annual tradition, and has kept membership costs down ever since.
This was also the first year that anime had a real presence at the con; while a few vidshows in previous years had included an AMV, 2004 had a vidshow devoted entirely to anime vids. The show was the stealth hit of the con. Although the audience at the actual vidshow was relatively small, one of the two tapes of the vidshow in the Vid Library was playing nearly constantly in the con suite, and the other copy was checked out for most of the con to one attendee or another. By the end of the con, most attendees had seen at least a couple of the vids in the anime vidshow, and most wanted to know more.
Another new addition to the con was "Vividsection", which is basically a live beta session with a few dozen people. One vidder signs up to have a vid -- either a finished rough draft or something in progress -- talked out by the group.
Programming
Vidshows
The Wayback Machine (playlist)
- VJ: tzikeh
- Description: You know how when you're flipping channels and you hit American Movie Classics and the movies there aren't really much like the movies we get now, but you get sucked in and watch them anyway, and then you try to put them in historical context and go back to school and get a Ph.D. in Media Studies? This is kinda like that.
Audio Rarities (playlist)
- VJ: Barkley
- Description: Vids done to unusual audio source, such as rap,calssical, bluegrass, or spoken word.
Effects? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Effects (playlist)
Nearly New (playlist)
- VJs: hafital and Cassandra
- Description: Miss your favorite con this year? This is the place to catch up: vids in all genres that have premiered in the past year at other cons. Also includes several brand-new vids that couldn't be included in this year's Premieres show due to lack of time.
- VJs: the concom
- Description: Friday night dance vid party and mixer. We'll be showing a selection of dance vids, with dancing in the vidshow room, quiet vidwatching in the panel room, and drinks and chatting in the con suite. Cocktail hour starts at PM in the con suite.
Saturday Morning Cartoons (playlist)
- VJ: Seah
- Description: Remember Schoolhouse Rock? Yeah? Well, this is something completely different. A selection of some of the best anime vids out there.
- (Seah also provided a comprehensive handout, including her reasons for including each vid, a list of vids that nearly made the cut and why, a glossary, and an introduction to using animemusicvideos.org.[1])
Unexpected Levels (playlist)
- VJ: sisabet
- Description: Vids that blow your mind, or at least blow your preconceptions out of the water.
Couples, Triples, and Ensembles: Illustrating Relationships (playlist)
- VJs: rache and Equanimity
- Description: Whether it's a canonical or noncanonical romantic relationship, a tight-knit group of comrades, or a battle between two archenemies, the power and energy that exists between people is often what draws us to a show. How do we capture that energy and distill it in such a way that the core of the relationship is communicated to a larger audience, who may not be that familiar with the source?
Literalism vs. Metaphor (playlist)
- VJ: Gwyneth Rhys
- Description: "If the lyric says 'my heart is on fire,' then by God, I better see flames." Why do so many vidders believe this, and why do so many vid watchers have issues with it? How do you know how to use these two divergent concepts? The vid show will span the entire spectrum.
Breaking the Rules (and Getting Away with It) (playlist)
- VJ: Sandy Herrold
- Description: Vids that break the unwritten rules of vidding. External source, voiceovers, added text, use of black space, and other forbidden fruit.
Movie Vids (playlist)
- VJ: Jacke K.
- Description: Ah, movies. They're big, they're beautiful, and they've got less footage than a Fox or ABC show. But the vids sure are fun.
Villains, Scoundrels, and Masterminds: World Domination in 5 Minutes or Less (playlist)
Vividcon Challenge Vidshow (playlist)
- VJ: tzikeh
- Description: A double-blind show, in which vidders respond anonymously to our challenge. Vids will be both shown and discussed in the show. This year's challenge is to make a vid on the them of luck'.
- VJ: shalott
- Description: Vids made to order by and for the brave and generous souls who participated in our first vid auction.
Panels
Language of Vidding
- Moderators: here's luck and Lucy
- Description: An overview of technical and fan-vidder terms and definitions, as well as discussion of terminology for different types of vids.
- The handout for this show was useful enough that Cesca and Shoshanna promptly grabbed all the leftover copies to hand out at their own panel on Giving Good Beta.[2]
Master Class
- Moderator: Jo
- Description: Has it really all been done before? Why is it that some cuts work and some don't? What's a film plane and why shouldn't you cross it? What are the emotional effects of color and tinting? We'll attempt to explore a tiny bit of the theory of visual editing, with a smattering of psychology, practical application, and history thrown in for good measure. And who exactly was that Khuleshov guy?
Language of Music
- Moderators: Nestra and par avion
- Description: Faster, louder, softer, slower: music theory for vidders.
Song Choice
- Moderators: kandy and Carol S.
- Description: What makes a song choice unexpected? What makes the unexpected choice work?
Giving Good Beta
- Moderators: Cesca and Shoshanna
- Description: How do we articulate what we think of a vid? How do we describe how it mkaes us feel, and the connections particular moments and images make us see? How do we explain to ourselves, the vidder, or other people how we think the vid works -- or doesn't work? We'll look at some vids and try to figure out how to beta and give feedback on vids, as well as why it's sometimes so intimidating.
VividSection
- Vidder: Juliette Torres
- Moderator: Killa
- Description: A brave vidder has volunteered to have her vid in progress torn apart by a roomful of hungry wolves... er, enthusiastic participants. The group discussion aims to help the vidder hone her ideas while we hone our own skills as vid betas.
Aesthetics: Movement
- Moderator: Luminosity
- Description: Movement. What is is. A little of its history. Why it's important. What to choose. how to do it.
- Lum had some tech issues; the VCD she'd burned with her examples wouldn't play. shalott stepped up and got several examples from Lum's laptop to play on the tv, though.[3]
Copules, Triples, and Ensembles: Illustrating Relationships (paired)
- Moderators: rache and Equanimity
- Description: Whether it's a canonical or noncanonical romantic relationship, a tight-knit group of comrades, or a battle between two archenemies, the power and energy that exists between people is often what draws us to a show. How do we capture that energy and distill it in such a way that the core of the relationship is communicated to a larger audience, who may not be that familiar with the source? (follows the Illustrating Relationships vidshow)
Literalism vs. Metaphor (paired)
- Moderator: Gwyneth Rhys
- Description: "If the lyric says 'my heart is on fire,' then by God, I better see flames." Why do so many vidders believe this, and why do so many vid watchers have issues with it? How do you know how to use these two divergent concepts? This panel will let us discuss the topic in depth. (follows the Literalism vs. Metaphor vidshow)
Breaking the Rules (paired)
- Moderator: Sandy Herrold
- Description: Once upon a time, there was an unwritten rule that fannish vids must only use source from the show. is this still true? When does it work to use deleted scenes from DVDs, bloopers, home-shot footage, clips from other shows, animated sequences, and other "out of bounds" footage? When does it cause cognitive dissonance in the viewer? the use of voiceovers has grown in recent years, as has the use of audio from our source shows, while credit sequences and added text have become a form of creative expression and vidder commentary. When do these "extras" work to help a vid? When don't they? (follows the Breaking the Rules vidshow)
- Moderators: Melina and renenet
- Description: An opportunity to examine specific vids from the Premieres show in greater detail, from both vidding and viewing perepectives.
How Did You Do That?
- Moderator: sisabet
- Description: An in-depth look at the technical and artistic voodoo behind the Smallville vid "Without You I'm Nothing".
Connecting with the Audience
- Moderators: Laura Shapiro and rache
- Description: When making a vid, one of the questions frequently asked is who is this vid for? Yourself, fans of a character, a relationship, a universe...? How do you define your target audience, and does the way that you distribute your vid affect that? If you're showing at a con, do you need to worry about multiple types of audiences, and is this related to what old-school vidders call con or living room vids? What is the vidder's responsibility to their audience, or is there any, other than to provide entertainment? Is there an implicit vidder/viewer contract?
Notable vids
- Big Red Boat, by Seah & Margie (Joan of Arcadia), from the Premieres show. An upbeat, happy vid that's turned into a perennial Vividcon favorite.
- I Wish I Was a Lesbian by AbsoluteDestiny, from the Saturday Morning Cartoons (anime) show. (Not a premiering vid.) The vid is hugely accessible to non-anime watchers - perfectly timed and incredibly funny. It drew a lot of people into watching more anime vids that weekend, and helped lower the existing barriers between live-action vidding and AMV editing that had existed to that point.
- Not Only Human, by Killa and Laura Shapiro (X-Files)
- Pressure by Sterling Eidolan and The Odd Woman Out, from the Unexpected Levels show. This wasn't a premiere, or even the first time this vid aired at VVC, but every time it airs it has a big impact on new viewers who've never been exposed to how exactly early VCR vids were made.
Concom
Resources
- VividCon Programming FAQ
- Morgan Dawn, Vividcon 2004: Nearly New Show
References
- ↑ Seah's VJ notes for the anime show, August 17, 2004. Accessed June 6, 2009.
- ↑ "Vividcon 2004: Panels, Part 1" con report by Margie on the Vidder mailing list. Posted August 30, 2004. Accessed June 7, 2009.
- ↑ "Vividcon 2004: Panels, Part 2" con report by Margie on the Vidder mailing list. Posted August 30, 2004. Accessed June 7, 2009.
