Old new vid

[gwyn]

Last Friday I got a wild hair and decided to sit down and remaster an older vid. I have no idea why; maybe just that it was pouring rain and windy, brutally cold, and all the things I'd planned to do that day didn't seem appealing, so in the afternoon I sat down to capture clips. It's the easiest vid to capture for -- it uses only three episodes of the X-Files, so you can whip through that pretty fast, and since it was a remaster, there was a template to work from. But I wanted to make a slightly different vid. This is it:

Fall in the Light
Fandom: X-Files
Song by Lori Carson and Graeme Revell (from the soundtrack to Strange Days)
QT Divx avi, 25.3MB



At the time I first made this, I was still learning how to work the VCR editing decks from sherrold, so I didn't have the skills and understanding of how to really put a vid together in order to make what I wanted, and this was only the third thing I'd worked on. And, of course, we couldn't do anything with effects such as dissolves and fades and such. Certainly fading in from white was out of the question (until Katharine's mixing deck came along!).

The song had dynamic range issues, which added some trauma (it starts incredibly quiet, and slowly builds to loud). I had edited the song to cassette tape because editing music on computer was out of the question then, as well. When I digitized this vid last year for my XF/LFN older vids collection, by the middle of the song, I was nearly an entire minute off due to video and audio tape stretching at different levels. The lengthy clips worked in analog, but boy, did they shorten considerably in digital.

So, that meant that to remaster this vid with all-digital source, I would be looking at clips that wouldn't fit as they'd fit before, and also, longer clips like that aren't so common now that we can edit more accurately and tightly. I would finally be able to add some of the elements I'd always wished were there from a time I could not accomplish that. I have no real burning desire to remake older vids. Unlike my contemporaries from VCR editing, I do not lose sleep over how awful things look, and the expense, time, RSI problems, etc., do not seem worth it when faced with the huge catalog of new vids I want to make. Unless there's a clamor (as if) for a vid, I just have no interest in remastering for remastering's sake, and even when there was a clamor for a remastered vid (There's No Way Out of Here), after a lot of expense and huge amount of time, almost no one who'd asked DLed the vid, so I felt kind of hoodwinked by that, and even less interested in remastering. It's fun doing the Professionals vids, but if it's just me making them, I really don't care enough.

But this one... this one calls to me, I guess. It's the only vid besides our first Mag 7 vid, Showdown at Big Sky, that I care this much about, that I wanted to revisit just to see what I could do with it. See, this is my favorite vid. I love all my babies, but this is the one I have always loved most, and will always love most. Nearly everyone hated it, almost no one in the Media Cannibals liked it, and I was just savaged by a bunch of people over this vid ("It's not a vidding song. It sucks." "You're destroying the Cannibals with your evil het vids." "What is this piece of shit supposed to mean? Could you be any more obtuse if you tried?" "What the hell kind of music is this crap?"), which now seems so quaint and mild that I cannot believe it engendered so much vitriol. It was ahead of its time, and that seemed to really piss a lot of people off. The nicest thing anyone could think of to say when I showed it at a gathering after it was finished was, "It's nice to see Mrs. Scully in a vid."

And usually that kind of hammering would wear me down, time after time, but the thing is... I felt really good about it. For once, it didn't matter that a "friend" nearly spit on me, she was so morally outraged by this vid -- and that was because the few people who *did* like it included most of my favorite vidders in the world. I figure if you're going to be ripped apart, it's good to have the people you admire most standing beside you to patch you up. It was as if I knew I hadn't failed because they got it, and so it must mean that I'd succeeded in making a good vid. And if for nothing else I wanted to remaster it just because I liked it and they liked it, and I wanted to see where I could go with it having better skills and without the baggage of its being ahead of its time. And I like it even more now, which is cool. I'm sure the people who hated it before won't like it any better now, but that's okay, because it's still my favorite baby, and it's just what I want it to be.

Comments

[roseveare.livejournal.com]

Do you have a separate DVD with your x-files vids on, then? I have two previous DVDs I think from you with multifandom vids but no x-files. Would it be possible to get your x-files vids on DVD too if I paypal you shipping/costs? (I am in the UK.)

[roseveare.livejournal.com]

I ask because they are too large to download over my connection, btw! Plus I do enjoy being able to watch the vids in high quality on my TV.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

There's info on the vids page at the vids site about the dvds such as what's on the collection, but if you email me privately, we can figure something out. Honestly, the cost is so negligible for mailing a disc that PP isn't really worth it.

The XF vids are digitized copies of analog vids (not remastered, like this one), so they still have that VCR look, but the sound is digital and of course the medium won't wear out. They are on a disc with the LFN vids (and I can't/won't separate them, as it's a finished disc and that's how it is). I would need your address and such for mailing. I figure mailing to the UK or other countries is just the cost of doing business -- I'd much rather have people see these on disc, anyway, but I can't seem to pay people to get them unless it's at a con and they have to fork over money! (I find that very odd -- they won't do it for free because it means sending a postage paid envelope, but they will pay a few bucks at a con. )

[mlyn.livejournal.com]

I'm bewildered that people are so against het in their world of slash. Like, talk about reverse bigotry. It makes me wonder if they think all het represents the oppressive societal norms we're subjected to, and by liking it, we're giving the finger to slash and everything it represents--true love and sexual freedom, or something. Is that the thought process? 'Cause that seems a little...militant.

That said, I like this vid because it beautifully portrays one of my most favorite het relationships of all time. Strange Days is one of Graeme's soundtracks that I actually *do* like (lol), and I think it works perfectly for the tone of the entire series and particularly as a song about Scully. I love all the fading to white and moody shots of Scully. The whole vid is very cohesive.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

I think for a lot of people, het is the everyday "norm" and so they want a het-free zone in slash. I've never self-identified as one interest or another, so it's just not something I get. But I've definitely heard about my icky het vids on Cannibals' tapes, plenty, over the years. Like I'm Yoko or something.

Scully's my gal. I love her, flaws and all.

[mlyn.livejournal.com]

I have no intelligent response, except that the idea of a het-free zone is kind of wanky to me...but I'm the same way you are about het in my browsings. It's all cool beans.

No, mostly this reply is to reiterate COWBOYS IN LOVE OMG and that I want to see Brokeback Mountain right the fuck now.

[mackiemesser.livejournal.com]

Ok, am now very confused: what exactly was it about this vid that people found so hard to understand? Were they simply people who had never seen X-Files and didn't get the atmosphere of the show and the Scully-Mulder dynamic? I guess if a person was completely unfamiliar with the kidnapping-abduction-death-life story arc, it could be a little confusing...but that would assume that said confused person had never encountered any similar use of the classic images and symbology used in the show, and one would only be able to feel rather sad for them in their lack of awareness.

Why, yes, I'm feeling a bit snooty over someone claiming this is "obtuse," when to me it seems the point is quite clear. I especially enjoyed the use of Mulder moving through long hallways in the "real" portions of the vid in complement to the "otherworld" images with Scully.

As for the music...way before it's time, that's for sure. And what's wrong with that, anyway?

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Ok, am now very confused: what exactly was it about this vid that people found so hard to understand? Were they simply people who had never seen X-Files and didn't get the atmosphere of the show and the Scully-Mulder dynamic?

Honestly, I wish I got that. One person told me it was a tone poem, and she didn't get tone poems -- which is okay, because I have absolutely no freakin' clue what a tone poem is, so it meant nothing to me. But yeah, everyone was pretty much X-Files watchers... I think it was just that it was very different. It really wasn't like the vids that people were putting out at that point (computer vidding was just starting to break, and there was a lot of entrenched beliefs about what constituted vid music and vid themes, and big divisions between the kind of vid you could only watch in your living room multiple times to get it, and the kind of vid you showed at a con, since there wasn't anything online to bridge the two viewing sources). I think people fear or dislike what's different (I know I had really negative reactions to online vids for years, and still have issues with the way things are presented), especially when styles are kind of accepted and entrenched.

I just honestly never thought something so minor could engender that kind of wrath. And I mostly hung out with slash fans, so there was a hostile element in the hetness, even though I don't see that vid as being about more than their friendship love for each other.

But that said, thank you for the comments. I'm glad someone was interested in checking it out as it's my baby, and I like thinking of other people enjoying it.

[mackiemesser.livejournal.com]

Well, now that your reply finally found it's way into my inbox...

The tone poem thing is really confusing; I can't figure out what kind of context that person meant, or how the standard definition would be applicable.
That it was shown to an audience of X-Files watchers and they still didn't get it is something that I don't get. The show itself utilized a simliar approach numerous times. I--well, I suppose my sputtering is kinda silly given that this all happened a while back. Still, it just seems odd to me that people working in a primarily visual medium would be so easily thrown by a visual narrative.

I have an odd urge to stand on a soapbox and yell something vaguely about the influence of the French New Wave and other experimental forms...

[namastenancy.livejournal.com]

The vid is absolutely gorgeous. I have a copy of your older one and I ran it "against" the newer one and I can see the difference in pacing and images. In fact, I can really see the difference in quality in almost all of my vid collection from vids made before 2003 (?) and now - the images, sound and pacing of the best vidders NOW is just astonishing. I loved Scully in the X Files and feel that you've done her justice. You've really got a feel for these types of women - smart, tender and damaged yet strong.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Thank you, hon! Doing right by Scully is a big thing to me -- especially since I was mostly into slash in XF, with a little bit of the other, I saw a lot of Scully bashing in my time, and I never liked that much. She is very dear to my heart, plus, I just think GA is a hottie. It's cool that you have the oldie to compare against, I hadn't known that. This is definitely the farthest off of all the vids. No Way Out was a bit off, but this one was wildly off, largely because of the music being on casette, I think. Astounding what we can do with our tools now...

[killabeez.livejournal.com]

I'm so excited that you did this, and have downloaded, though haven't watched yet because my house is full of people all the time. But I hope to have an hour or so to myself tonight, and will indulge.

I find it hard to imagine that kind of response to this vid. I remember there being some kind of "disclaimer" in the notes that came with the MC tape it was on, something along the lines of not expecting it to make sense, or something like that? But when I watched it (I'm pretty sure the first time I watched it was at home alone), I loved it immediately and had no trouble parsing it, even though I'd stopped watching X-Files by that point. In fact, I think it was this vid and The Chain that actually made me start watching the show again, and I stuck with it into the beginning of season 6. Anyway, "Fall in the Light" has always been a totally memorable vid for me -- one of those where you hear the song and you don't need the vid in front of you, because you can see every image in your head. I'm so looking forward to seeing what you've done with it.

*hugs* I still owe you email.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it was definitely... an eye-opener, I guess. It was just different and strange compared to what people were used to, I think, though I can't say for sure if it will go over any better now. XF is so out as a fandom that I don't think many people will see this, so I may never be able to satisfy my curiosity as to whether the times these days would be more supportive of it! Maybe I could make a focus group or something. ;-)

And I'm still so heartened by the fact that you liked it. When you used that snippet in your aesthetics panel, it made me soooo happy, because I felt like if you (and Katharine and Jo and Jill) could like it, then it was a success, more than just because i liked it.