Ask the Vidder: Greensilver

Interviews by Fans
Title:	Ask the Vidder: Greensilver
Interviewer:
Interviewee:	Greensilver
Date(s):	October 29, 2007
Medium:	online
Fandom(s):	vidding, Supernatural
External Links:	interview is here, Archived version
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Greensilver was interviewed in 2007 for Supernatural Roundtable.

Some Excerpts

I've been in fandom for about eleven years now. My first exposure to vids was at local Trek cons, and I watched them but never really noticed them. They were part of the woodwork, like people in tinfoil Borg costumes and roving bands of Klingons; they were just there. I didn't actually start actively noticing vids until a Women of Voyager con in 2001, which had a mini-vidshow that really went for broke on old standbys like "It's Raining Men" and "Holding Out for a Hero." ("That's awesome!" Thought a younger, more innocent Greensilver. "Men fall from the sky on the chorus! It really is raining men!")

It wasn't until I got out of (mostly offline) Trek monofannishness and into online Buffy fandom that I found out, hey, vids come in online flavors too - right there on my screen, like magic. In 2003, I stumbled across sockkpuppett's BtVS vids and I thought, "Hey, I could do that! Sort of!" So I saddled up with a copy of Pinnacle Studio, and oh, did I try. I really tried. For a couple years there, I vidded for an audience of one, inhaling other people's vids like air and glomming on to vidders whenever possible and trying things out in the safety of my own vid bubble, knowing I'd never actually post anything.

And then Supernatural happened, and I fell in love, and went a little bit crazy, and the next thing I knew, I was submitting my very first public release vid to VividCon Premieres in '06. (I like starting small!) Once that panic attack was over, I thought, "Hey, that wasn't so bad! I didn't, like, die, or anything! I'll bet I can do this on a regular basis without passing out!" And here I am a year later, living proof that you can, in fact, share vids with the viewing public without actually passing out. *g*

As for motivating myself to finish vids: con vidshow deadlines, that's a big one. Of my five vids right now, three were finished for vidshow deadlines - Ghost Song for the VVC '06 Premieres deadline, Ooh La La for the VVC '07 Club Vivid deadline, and White Light for the VVC '07 premiere deadline. My most recent vid had a deadline of sorts, too - it was for a friend's birthday. (The only vid I've posted that didn't have a deadline attached was Hunter, and with all the time in the world on my hands, I tinkered with that vid until I was cross-eyed with it. I'm amazed I didn't drive my beta completely insane on that vid.) But deadlines are only a part of it. Having someone else invested in the finished product is a big part, too. Not just betas, but cheerleaders; friends who watch drafts and go, "Woohoo! Get cracking on that next part!" The vids I've put in the most effort on (both vids I've posted and vids I'm working on right now) have been vids I've made a point of bouncing off other people as I've worked on them.