User:MeeDee/Storyboards
Vid Production Notes
Early fanvids were made using two VCRs and videotapes. This "analog" vidding required great organization and planning because the vid had to be made in order, from start to finish. While a fan could theoretically insert a new clip in the middle of a vid, they ran into the problem of erasing the following clip if they did not hit the “pause” button while recording. This is why early analog vidders researched and mapped their vids ahead of time on paper using vid production notes.
In 1986, Mary Suskind Lansing wrote an essay about the mechanics of fanvids. She explained the design process of a fanvid:
Have a written set of lyrics of the song, ideally written only on the left half of the page to leave the right half available for notes. Give yourself at least a few hours over showers and driving to think about the song to see if there are any natural patterns which will lend the song to becoming something more than just a composite of random video shots.[1]
Handwritten Notes
The early vid production notes were handwritten or typed up on typewriters. In later years, word-processing made the process of listing possible clips much easier. Stanzas would be assigned an over-arching meaning or theme, and the vidder listed images that seemed to match the themes. The location of the scene on the source tape would also be noted, sometimes using hours/minutes timecodes from the videotape or visuals (ex: start the clip where Spock points his phaser at the Horta).
Below is an example of a handwritten Vid Production Sheet for the Blake's 7 fanvid Desperado. The vidder had to hand draw the columns and rows. The far left column is for the episode title. The next column describes the scene - and serves as a rough reminder for the context and placement of the clip within the 45 min long episode. Third column is the precise "cue" where the vidder would start the clip to insert it into the vid. 4th column is the lyric line that the clip is matched to. Final column is the "Count" - many early VCRs did not offer timecodes in hours and minutes. Instead, a mechanical numerical counter tracked the progress through the videotape.
Ex: on the 6th row the song lyric line reads: "Don't you draw the Queen of Diamonds, she'll beat you if she's able". "You" is the character of Avon. "The Queen of Diamonds" in this case is not a playing card but his nemesis Servalan. The episode title is "Aftermath". The scene description reads: "Servalan puts gun to his [Avon's] head". The cue of when to start the clip is when "the gun [is] on his check" and "Servalan says the line: "Stay quite still".
Storyboards vs Organic Vidders
In some ways, vid production notes were similar to storyboards used by film editor, albeit without drawing the scene to be filmed. First off, analog vidders were limited to existing source - they could not - at the time - create or film new source or even edit or crop the source. Second, hand drawing a scene serves no purpose as the scenes have already been filmed and the process is time consuming. But in the vidder's minds, a mental map was often created ahead of time, matching clips to music.
In the vid production notes for Morgan Dawn and Justine Bennett's Starsky and Hutch's fanvid Testify, the vidders listed detailed visual descriptions of the scenes they wanted to use next to the lyrics, making this closer to a written version of the storyboards used by some film editors. The numbers represent the more modern VCR time codes (minutes/seconds). In a few cases, alternative or preliminary clips were marked with question marks. The source of the footage (either episode or movie) is named in front of the equal sign. Note that several lyrics contain multiple clips (ex: The instrumental introduction of the song uses 3 clips from 2 sources) leaving the precise placement of each clip up to the more organic insert editing process.
Not all vidders worked this way - some were organic vidders who never organized or mapped out their vids. But most used at least a printed copy of the lyrics and had a stack of video cassette tapes arranged so that they could efficiently insert the tape and "scrub" (fast forward while watching the images) for inspiration. Most likely even the most organized vidder used a combination of advance mapping and free form scrubbing to find the perfect clip and to adjust its placement.
Multiple Fanvids
If a vidder worked on multiple fanvids at the same time or wanted to avoid reusing the same clips, they might set up a side by side tracking sheet. This would then allow them to the pull tapes used more often and have them pre-positioned to make editing faster. Below is an example of Katharine Scarritt's clip tape log for the six Professionals fanvids she made. On the far left column is the TV episode title. Top row is the name of the 5 fanvids. And in each box is the descriptions of the the clips used.
Ex: For the fanvid In Too Deep, Katharine notes she used a clip from the episode "When The Heat Cools Off" "argument [with] Bodie laying in bed"
For the fanvid West End Girls she used "the first punch in hall" from the episode The Rack. This refers to a scene where Ray Doyle punches a man multiple times at a key moment.
Master Clip Tracking
In some cases the vidder would create a 'master sheet" of the clips used in order, along with brief descriptions, and the episode title. Below is what appears to be an early draft version of Katharine Scarritt's Homicide: Life On The Streets fanvid Losing My Religion. The opening clip listed here also appears in the same position as the final version of the vid. The clip is described as "circle" and refers to an iconic scene where the camera circles the character of Mike Kellerman in a moment of crisis. The remaining clip order may have been changed in the vid's final version, showing how word-processing made on the fly planning less time consuming. No more hand drawing columns and rows!
Character and Themed Specific Clip Tracking
Alternatively, vidders might create lists of scenes featuring just one character - that way they could more easily search for a matching clip to screen it for suitability. In this example, the episode title is in the left column and the videotape timestamp code is in the right column. This character specific clip log was also used for Katharine Scarritt's Homicide: Life On The Streets fanvid Losing My Religion that focuses on one character: Mike Kellerman
Next to Scarritt's worksheet is a similar hand written clip list of "Buddy Action" scenes from Starsky and Hutch used by Morgan Dawn in her Testify fanvid. Ex: in the episode Loanshark there is a clip of "H[utch]" wearing "sunglasses, sniper shooting in junkyard."
