If Yoda Could Teach You Vidding

Meta
Title:	If Yoda Could Teach You Vidding
Creator:	Morgan Dawn
Date(s):	March 28, 2008
Medium:	online
Fandom:
Topic:	vidding
External Links:	If Yoda Could Teach You Vidding, Archived version
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If Yoda Could Teach You Vidding is a 2008 essay by Morgan Dawn.

The Post

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.

Excerpts from Comments

[millylicious]: 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.

[sockkpuppett]:

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

[anoel]:

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.

[lim]: *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!...

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.

[Morgan Dawn]: 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."

[ashiva]:

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]: 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]:

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

[ astartexx ]: 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 choosing the deserted road might make yourself a very happy person and that is all that counts. It's for me about the self-gratification.

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.

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.