gwyn | Year in review (vids)

Definitely not nearly as many vids to talk about as fic! I honestly thought there'd be more vids--since my sister died, writing has been hard, but vidding wasn't nearly as challenging for me, there was a mental space that was easier to get into, I guess. But I got stymied at the end of the summer by a Captain America vid of my heart, which just refuses to come together for me, and so I stalled out. And then it was srs bzns work time, and then Yuletide and Festivids time, and…the back half of the year didn't produce anything.

Orange Crush
Hands down the most successful vid I've ever made in terms of views and comments, which still kinda stuns me. Because every time I told someone this idea, they looked at me like I was nuts. But I just kept thinking about it, and finally decided what the hell. I just really loved the parallels of Bucky and Steve as weapons, but also the way the movie used a lot of '70s political thriller imagery and Vietnam war themes, so what better than a song that uses Agent Orange as a major point? Also, I had fun working on it, and I was lucky enough that the DVD rip dropped the night before I finished it, and that really helped a lot in terms of how good it looks.

Shelter
Made deep in the throes of initial fannish love, and I think it shows! I talked at length about making this vid here a few days ago, but one thing I didn't say then was how surprised I am that there still aren't all that many ensemble vids for Captain America: The Winter Soldier. I'm really glad this filled the bill for people, because it's kind of weird how few of them there are.

Bones
I've wanted to make a Luther vid for a while now, and this song was, for me, a perfect backdrop for both Luther's job as a homicide detective and his bizarre relationship with Alice Morgan. Luther is a seriously creepy show, and the tone of the song just fit so well. I honestly thought this would be a really disturbing and graphic vid at VVC, and I wondered if I should warn for it in the summary, but then it turned out to be one of the least disturbing vids in a show filled with gore and violence. So hah.

We Rule the World
This was one of two song ideas someone gave me on Metafilter when I'd asked for some potential songs for my Festivids treat, and I waited to make this for Club Vivid. I just love Happy Endings, but I think there's maybe two of us out there in the world, and so far I'm the only one making vids for it.

Brother
I made this Pacific Rim vid for Escapade, still deep in the throes of love for the movie and not yet aware of what would happen to me in April. ;-) I really love how this turned out--I wanted to show everyone coming together in the movie, rather than focus on the kaiju, so there are only a couple shots of kaiju in the vid. It's people and Jaegers and lots of love.

Best Day of My Life
The second of two Happy Endings vids I made for Festivids. I wish so much there were more people in this fandom. I think this is one of my favorite vids I've ever made, I love how it turned out and it just made me so happy to work on. The only thing I don't like is that I was working in Premiere for both this and Jane's Getting Serious, and I could not get anything to come out decent. The output was really problematic and dark and everything looks shitty.

Jane's Getting Serious
My first Festivid for Happy Endings and an old favorite song from the '80s. Although the song's about a couple who are friends with benefits and the guy is freaking about his girlfriend getting serious, I thought it worked pretty well all the same for a married couple, just because Jane and Brad are wonderful together but they have divergent ways that make for great vidding. I love Jane and Brad and this is my love letter to them.

And the year in review meme swiped from lily the kid:

My favorite video this year: Orange Crush. Yeah. I couldn't make the vid of my heart, so I went ahead and did this one, and I just…flail. Or Shelter. Because FEELS. I can't decide. You decide for me.

Least favorite video this year: I was disappointed with Bones. It's not the vid I saw in my head, because I'm not good technically. I love that some people loved it, but it wasn't what I wanted it to be.

Most successful: If we're defining success by comments or hits or recs/reblogs, it would be Orange Crush. If we're defining it by how I felt about it, then probably Shelter.

Vid most under-appreciated by the universe in my opinion: All of them? Honestly, I sometimes wonder what the fuck it takes to get anyone to view them. Even Orange Crush, by comparison, is nothing in the greater scheme of CA vids. So I just have to focus on the people who did view them and loved them or it would be too depressing.

Funnest video: I really think the Happy Endings vids are all fun. I mean, that's what the show is about. But I would say Best Day of My Life. Even people who are violently anti-comedy laugh at parts of that vid.

Video with the single sexiest moment: Probably Bones? Because Alice Morgan and John Luther are hot like burning?

Biggest vid fail: Bones.

Hardest video to make: On a purely technology level, anything I made in Premiere, because I just don't get that program at all. Stuff that should work easily doesn't seem to work on it and I was frustrated to the point of almost crying sometimes, and thank god for arduinna and therienne or I would have cut my wrists. On an emotional level, there's a vid I haven't been able to make that's killing me, and Orange Crush almost broke me physically because I had to replace all the cam copy shots with the newly available DVD rip shots from Winter Soldier literally the night before I wanted to post it. I was in so much fucking pain.

Most unintentionally telling video: No fucking clue. I don't know that I ever make anything unintentionally telling. Maybe Brother, just because I have a serious thing for brothers in arms stories and I think you can see what a weepy fucker I am over things like that.

I don't make resolutions, but I hope to sort of resolve to make more vids next year. :-D