Del Floria's Interview with Irene Heron
| Interviews by Fans | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Del Floria's Interview with Irene Heron (vysila) |
| Interviewer: | Del Floria (Live Journal) |
| Interviewee: | Irene Heron |
| Date(s): | December 11, 2011 |
| Medium: | online |
| Fandom(s): | Man from U.N.C.L.E. |
| External Links: | full interview is here, Archived version |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Del Floria's Interview with Irene Heron (vysila) is an interview with a Man from U.N.C.L.E. fan.
It is part of a series at Del Floria's. See Del Floria's Interview Series.
Excerpts
Why MFU? What is it about the show that fuelled your creativity? Why not MFU?? Two gorgeous men who just happen to be noble, heroic, smart and funny to boot – what's not to like here? MFU was my first fannish infatuation, and it inspired my life and my imagination in many ways. To my 12 year old sensibilities, Napoleon and Illya were glamorous and exotic. They taught me that being a good person and wanting to help others didn't have to be as boring as my parents made it seem. MFU showed me that honesty and integrity were not old-fashioned virtues. From the UNCLE innocents I saw that courage could take many forms and no one's contribution should be discounted. I learned that a sense of humor is the best kind of armor in an occasionally cruel world. Illya and Napoleon were a wake-up call to the grown-up world with all its possibilities that was waiting for me. Those lessons lived at a subconscious level for many years. I rediscovered MFU and its wonderful online fandom in 2003 and was stunned by the strength of my rediscovered passion.
Do you feel as passionate about your creativity now as when you started? Why/why not?I'd have to say no. I've been fannish for 30 years, on and off, and in MFU fandom for 8. There's a first flush of excitement that burns out after a while - at least this is how it works for me. I made three vids in six months, which is a feverish pace for me and that got tiring, trying to keep up with real life plus be creative. I really needed some balance in my life so I stepped back temporarily. Although my creative output zeroed out for a while, since 2003 my enthusiasm and passion for the fandom, show and characters has not dimmed. Almost every night since I first laid my hands on copies of the old VHS tapes, I've fallen asleep with an episode tape (thankfully now it's the dvds) playing, so I could hear their voices clearly in my dreams. I still do that.
I'm still indulging my creative side by making fanvids at a much slower pace that lets me fit everything I love into the time available.
What do you consider to be your greatest challenge in the creation process?After I lost vision in my left eye thanks to an acute glaucoma attack, working with large amounts of text onscreen became very tiring for me. I'd long wanted to try my hand at vidding so that seemed like the perfect opportunity to switch mediums. Using images to tell a story is a little easier on the eyes than words, but still presents its challenges. I usually have my nose up against the monitor screen during the editing process, to make sure I'm cutting on the beat! Other than that, I still struggle with aspect ratios. MFU was filmed in a classic 4:3 rectangular aspect ratio that fit those old 1960's TV screens. It's fairly easy to vid this footage if that's all you're using. Television today is filmed in a different aspect, while films can have two more aspects, and PAL footage can be different again. It's definitely tricky combining multiple sources with different aspect ratios into a single vid. My hat is off to those who can figure out how to do it successfully, and not have the people look either squished or squashed!
Oh, and I really need to get over my perfectionism.