Vividcon 2002 Comedy Show (Rache review)
| Fanwork | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Vividcon 2002 Comedy Show (Rache review) |
| Creator: | Rache |
| Date(s): | August 20, 2002 |
| Medium: | |
| Fandom: | Vidding |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
On August 22, 2002 Rache offered extensive commentary on one of the Vividcon 2002 Comedy vid show. She posted the commentary to the Vidder mailing list. It is reprinted here with permission.
Begin commentary:
This was the other show I caught 'live' rather than going to the panel opposite it; the premiers had nothing scheduled against them. I have to say that I was outta whack with the comedy show, and a lot of things the crowd thought funny just didn't work for me. I think it was song choice, in general, that was the main culprit, but I'll get to more detail later.
Comedy Tonight:: Farscape:: Vidders: Apocalypse West (Dianne DeSha). Funny vid, but it had a high nostalgia effect for me. There's an old Blake's 7 vid to this song, and a lot of visuals in this interpretation reminded me of that old vid. Sometimes I wasn't sure if I was laughing at the vid on screen, or the one I was remembering. I liked it anyway, and so did the crowd.
Talk Dirty to Me :: Sentinel :: Vidders: Vid Weasels (Waldo & Candy Apple). The premise of the story here is that whenever the vidder showed Jim or Blair on the phone, they were 'talking dirty' to one another. I just never got what was funny about this. I think the lack of reaction shots among the characters, and the literalness of the phones linked with the metaphorical nature of the 'talk dirty' lyric hindered my ability to get into this vid.
Don't put it in Your Mouth :: Due South:: Vidder: Chicago Loop. I have fond memories of this song; a Pros version of it was the first vid that Sandy and I did when we were learning vidding from DJ back in 1992. It's a great fit for Due South, and they did a good job with it. It still makes me laugh.
Hoe Down :: Smallville ::: Vidder: bonibaru. I saw this one on-line, so I knew what to expect; I ended up keeping part of my attention on the rest of the crowd, many of whom hadn't seen the vid; if they didn't know the song, the last 'beef' clip cracked them up. The vidder made them wait for the joke, and the song was so short, it didn't tire the audience out before it got to the punchline. Personally, I found 'Clark as Beefcake' intellectually amusing, and desperately drool-worthy. She made me smile.
Everybody's Free (to wear sunscreen) :: Buffy :: Vidders: Apocalypse West (Dianne DeSha). This was a great crowd pleaser, but it didn't really work for me. I just don't find 'sunscreen', the lecture, to be all that amusing, and that really was the core of the vid. Just a mismatch of vidder and viewer tastes, and there's not a lot to do about that.
New Math :: Star Trek: TOS:: Vidder: Mary Van Deusen. Found it funny when I first saw it a decade ago; still find it funny today. Tom Lerher is still a great humor backbone for a vid, and MVD was great at picking out reaction shots.
The Impossible Dream :: Monty Python :: Vidder: Judy Chien. Oh, now this vid is *clever*, and clever goes a long way with me. The combination of the big rip-roaring larger than life song from a musical with 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail' was just brilliant. Really holds up to rewatching.
You can Leave Your Hat On :: Multimedia :: Vidder: Diana Williams. Again, another vid I wasn't certain of why it was in the humor category. I think of this song as inherently somewhat sexy, and certainly the clip choices were more along that line than either a humorous reaction shot or a pratfall. Nice eye candy, but I wouldn't call it a comedy vid.
Intel Inside :: Earth: Final Conflict :: Vidders: Chris & Christina. A great short, and a wonderful example of what you can do by taking non-song sources. Very clever in the way it incorporated a punchline external to the E:FC universe.
When you leave that way you can ever go back :: Star Wars :: Vidders: CaliCrew. Well, this vid nearly made me cry, so I obviously didn't get it. The emotional tone really matched the character internals, and the longing inherent in the song. Oh, sure, there were a few blips that people laughed at, like using yoda for Luke's mom and an Ewok for Han's son, but in a metaphorical sense...Yoda works as Luke's mom. So again, this was a vid that I didn't find all that funny; there was angst in here trying to get out.
Close to you :: X-Files :: Vidder: Chicago Loop (Jessica). Clever vid, and while I'm not quite all about the clever, I live in the neighborhood. The vid holds up to repeated viewing, and I always did like the cow.
--- purposeless digression: overall, there were a lot of dead cows in the vids, from Holy Grail, to Smallville, to this ---
Never There :: Man from Uncle :: Dementia Ink (Kronette & Angie). I got the theme of the vid right away, that Illya is literally tied up whenever Napoleon needs him, but the vid needed more reaction shots to have really pulled it off. It does have its moments, though, and I could have been getting tired by this point in time.
Another Dead Cow :: Smallville :: Vidder: Apocalypse West. Who knew there was a bat boy musical, and one with a dead cow song in it. The opening clip is the best, and they did a great job in the whole 'get in, do the joke, and get out' process. And still more dead cows...
Blew 'Em Away :: Highlander :: Vidder:Shalott. Fifi! It's the best. A humorous song, and a metaphor about bad guys, and again with the cleverness...
The Muppet Show :: Farscape :: Vidder: KOBA-TV. Pure fun and silliness. I really enjoyed this one, though I could have done without Rigel there at the end. As weird a set of things that I'm into, bathroom humor just isn't one of 'em. Though I'm good with the 'farting helium' jokes. Interesting note, here -- according to other comments, The Muppet Show vid plays extremely well to strict Sci-Fi audiences. The combination of fondnesses for both series (Farscape - current and
Muppet Show -- nostalgia) make it very acessible to a lot of folks. vid show.