Slideshow

Synonyms:
See also:	vidding, AMV, machinima, fan films
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In their original form, fannish slideshows used a slide projector, a series of single slides, and were the the origin of modern vidding. Later, the term was applied to digital vids made with stills instead of moving footage.

from Berengaria #5, a fan lists her Star Trek slides "for sale and trade" (1975)

Early Slideshows

Kandy Fong began making slideshows in 1975 using footage from Star Trek. These were created from leftover film.

Slideshows were popular events at cons. Phil Foglio and Bob Asprin put together a slideshow for ReKWest*Con in 1975. This show was also produced as a zine, The Capture Coloring Book.

In 1977 at SeKWesterCon, Gordon Carleton showed City on the Edge of Whatever Slide Show and in 1982 at MediaWest*Con, it was Supraman, a slide show with "live voices." At BlooMN'Con #2, there were two slideshows, one was an informational piece by the Star Trek Welcommittee, the other by Ruth Berman called "Inside Star Trek."

There was a slideshow at Westercon in 1982 or 1983 that was called Twice Upon a Time -- it was a Harrison Ford presentation hosted by Brian Narelle.

Origins of Kandy Fong's Slideshows

Kandy Fong explained that she got the idea for the slideshows after watching the Beatles "Strawberry Fields" music video which used jump cuts, static closeups of the Beatles faces and unusual effects to show the musicians clowning around as their music played in the background. Her husband had leftover film footage that had been clipped and left on the editing room floor from Star Trek. Her first few slideshows were done for the entertainment of her local Star Trek fan club, the United Federation of Phoenix and were short humorous pieces: "What Do You Do With A Drunken Vulcan" and "Ensign Fong" (a Mary Sue vid). When Bjo Trimble, a well known fan convention organizer visited Phoenix, Kandy played the slideshow for her and she was invited to bring it to the 1975 Equicon/Filmcon. The room could only fit 35 people, so the convention ran the 7-minute slide show in a loop for the next 8 hours with people standing in line for hours.

While at Equicon, Kandy approached Gene Roddenberry (whom she had met before) with the idea of a fan slideshow and he expressed interest, explaining that he'd been trying to persuade Paramount there was still sufficient fannish demand for them to fund a full length Star Trek movie. Roddenberry later gave Kandy written permission to put together the slideshows and also gave her more original slide footage to use when she visited Paramount studios.

: Then I did a little story about Ensign Fong aboard the Enterpr—, a very Mary Sue story. Y'know, very little story, I just illustrated it. And as a club we were all gonna go over to the very last IDICon Film Con that Bjo Trimble was doing. And her husband was going to be coming to Phoenix for something with his job. And I wrote to her, and said, "Hey, I have this thing I'd love to show at your convention." And she says, "Well, hey, I'm going to be coming in town with my husband, why don't you show it to me?" So I did. She says, "Cool." I ended up taking it to the convention and they put us in this little room at the bottom. And she says, "Oh, I'm sure this'll be a couple of people will want to see it." Well, it had only like thirty-five people I think that could fit into the room. So they ran it in a loop, for eight hours. People would see it, get out, go back in line again, and then stand in line for an hour and a half so they could see the seven-minute thing again. And so that's— I knew there was a hunger for it. So, I had met Gene Roddenberry previously, 'cause he was in Phoenix giving a speech and I was president of the Star Trek club, so I got to meet him. It's complicated, I'll tell the story another time. So, when he was there, I kinda say, "Hi! I'm glad to see you. By the way, would you sign my, y'know, my club badge, so I'm officially a fan of yours," and he did. And he— and I says, "By the way, I have this idea of putting together a slide show." He goes, "Oh, that's a great idea. I've been trying to convince Paramount that there's enough fan interest in a movie." And I said, "Great." So I'm writing to him eventually, and he ended up writing back to me, and oh, I have it in writing, that I can do these slide shows. And in fact, in the future years I ended up visiting a couple of times at Paramount. And he gave me actual slides that were publicity shots, et cetera, from the various sets, so that I could kind of expand my slide shows, and show more....People liked it. And it was a way for me to get to more conventions, because I had very little money. I mean, I'd go and I'd work a second job just to be able to afford to go, to fly to a convention.

One of them, Both Sides Now (~1980), was videotaped for Gene Roddenberry, so it is easily watched today.

Early Technology

These slideshows were done with cassette tape players and slide projectors. The vidder would have to manually change the slides as the song played.

• Cassette players on Wikipedia
• Slide projectors on Wikipedia

Digital Slideshows

Digital slideshows are vids made with stills instead of moving footage. Some are vids of comics or other media that didn't move in the first place.

Others are made with screencaps from tv shows and movies. One notable example is Then I Met You, a 2011 homage to early Star Trek vids using footage from the Star Trek (2009) film.