Escapade 2005 vid DVDs report

[marycrawford]

What with one thing and another, I did not go to Escapade. I need an 'I sent my vid to Escapade and all I got was this lousy icon' icon. Except that it wouldn't be true, because
a) many people wrote con and vid reports that I pounced upon gleefully, and
b) others told me something of the crowd reactions, bless them, and
c) I got contributor's copies of the Escapade dvds! Yay!

So I had a vidshow in my own living room, without squeeing fellow fen but with my stripey fleece blanket for company, and I've typed up my thoughts about the vids below.

Summary: when the Escapade vid dvds are offered for sale at escapade_con, and I do hope they will be, I think you should buy them.

Aspect ratio questions
Some, but not all, vids with movie source on this set look wrong on my PAL TV, and I haven't seen anyone else mention it. By 'wrong' I mean that they have the wrong aspect ratio for my TV, and the picture gets stretched vertically. I know that movie source, at least widescreen DVD source, has a different aspect ratio than the 4:3 of TV, and I imagine a vid DVD can only be burned in one aspect ratio - is that why? Or is it something to do with PAL versus NTSC? Would this be solved by cropping/resizing a movie source vid until it’s 4:3 ratio? I really want to know, as I’m working with widescreen movie source myself at the moment. (Maybe that’s why the whole aspect ratio thing is so noticeable to me, and everybody else is going “What are you on about, ya freak?” *g*)
I noted down which vids on the Escapade disc had this problem and which didn’t, and I added that here because I imagine some of the vidders might want to know too.



Escapade 2005 DVDs, disc one

Note: a lot of these vids are online, and elke_tanzer kindly collected the links. I really do think there's a world of difference between watching the smaller, more compressed online versions of vids and being stunned by them on your TV screen, though.

- Straight Up, by Smutcutter (Pirates of the Caribbean)
Silly, fun vid. Love the ‘Yo Ho Ho’s and the great titles, and the use of Jack's outrageous body language - especially the hilarous shot of him running/mincing. The talking-head shots distracted me a bit, and alas, the vid had the aspect ratio problems mentioned above.

- Give A Man A Home, by Barkley (Due South)
Oh, wow, what a song choice. I *love* the Five Blind Boys from Alabama, and this slow, intense, melancholy-yet-uplifting song works really well for Fraser, who needs a home more than most, and the vidder convinces me that he finds it in Vecchio. Love the ending shot.

- Data’s Dream, by Gayle F, Tashery and Morgan Dawn (multi-fandom)
I posted an incoherent vid rec for this earlier. It had me in tears, again, and I’m almost glad I wasn’t at the actual vidshow - watching this and then ‘When I Go’ would have wiped me out emotionally. This captures the yearning at the heart of SF & F fandom.

- When I Go, by Melina (LOTR)
Like 'Straight Up', this vid looked stretched on my TV, but I stopped noticing after a while. Such a beautiful, moving vid, an elegy for Boromir which makes full use of the beautiful landscape of LOTR. It was stunning when I watched the very small version, but this really needs the big screen to do justice to the gorgeous visuals. The first Boromir vid I’ve seen that works for me, probably because Melina doesn’t make apologies for him but shows the man entire, with all his doubt and temptation intact. Like her previous, equally gorgeous LOTR vid “The Mountain”, this uses an evocative song by Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer, and it works incredibly well. (I’ve fallen in love with their music and have just ordered two CDs off their website. Tzikeh, Melina, this is all your fault. Please keep it up. *g*)
My absolute favorite moment in this vid is Faramir grieving then looking up to ‘Do not sorrow for me so’ to see the flag of the White Tree of Gondor flying on the battlements on ‘All your diamond tears will rise up/And adorn the sky beside me/When I go.’ That worked so well for me because it brings back the moment of Boromir’s death, his vision of the White City that he tells to Aragorn in his last moments, and hints at the sacrifices Faramir has yet to make. On rewatching, I’m slightly confused by the shot of the ship sailing from the Grey Havens at the end - I can’t help thinking ‘But Boromir isn’t on the ship!’ Did I miss the point there?

- The Chemicals Between Us, by Lierdumoa (The Fast and the Furious)
No aspect ratio problems here, although it’s clearly widescreen source. Hmm. Very well-made vid full of colour and fire and cars hurtling end over end. Oh yes, and muscled men being intense with each other, which is definitely the best part if you ask me. *g* I didn’t really connect with it emotionally, but I want to watch it again to make note of how the vidder used superimpositions to such effect. Amazing titles, too.

- Everything I Do, by Angel (Star Wars)
This vid had the worst aspect ratio problems of all on my TV, making Han and Luke look like they were painted by Modigliani. And I'm sorry to say that the vid itself really doesn’t work for me, partly because I wasn’t able to overcome my virulent dislike of the song, and partly because I couldn't buy this interpretation of Han and Luke. Although not a fan as such, I really like the Star Wars canon and the snarky, sexy, action-filled relationship between Han, Luke and Leia, but I have yet to see a vid in this fandom that works for me.

- Nothing Else Matters, by Kassidy Rae (Starsky & Hutch)
I like the song, but it’s very slow and ponderous and long, without many changes, and the vid ended up feeling too long and meandering. There were a couple of shots in the vid that were repeated, seemingly at random, three times in a row - a car braking, Hutch diving through a doorway - and I found that very distracting. But all the hurt/comfort had me sighing and wanting to watch S&H again.

- In A Big Country, by Gwyneth (Magnificent Seven)
A great pimping vid to a fandom I’ve never seen. I particularly love the opening, with the beautifully timed ‘ha’ and the galloping, and the fast white flashback sequence. It impressed me how the landscape, the big country, is another character in the vid. Oh, and also there are beautiful men in leather, who ride horses and give each other loving looks - what's not to like? Yes, I’m shallow, but I can’t be the only one. *g*

- Do You Realize? by AbsoluteDestiny (Dead or Alive 2)
Two friends looking back on their life? Recapturing their youth? Recognizing their mortality? I thought I had a handle on the story, and then they grow wings. Whoaaaa. Beautiful source, fragile and melancholy mood, and I wish I had a better idea of what was going on, but I was intrigued. No aspect ratio problems here.

- Karaoke Soul, by LithiumDoll (Invisible Man)
Two fabulous vids, “Voodoo” and “Kryptonite”, already pulled me into Invisible Man fandom, and now there’s a third to further the attraction. A chilling, fast-moving portrait of Darien and his utter dependence on the gland - I loved the repeated closeups of his face in the mirror, that really pulled the vid together for me.

- Say, by hafital and killabeez (Highlander)
Cat Power, ooh. I love her vulnerable voice. And this does the impossible, as I’ve grown to expect from Killa and her collaborators - it’s a Duncan/Methos vid in which every shot feels new. I want to know how she achieved the bleak colouring of this vid. Everything looks like rain and old movies, and thunder rolls in the background. Just gorgeous, moody and moving, and I felt the power of it even though I’m only dimly acquainted with the canon.

- Winter, by Wolfling and Magpie (LOTR)
LOTR is such a hard fandom to find songs to, but I think just a piano and Tori’s voice really work well for Éowyn. Sometimes the clip choices were on the verge of being too literal for me - the flowers, Gandalf’s horse to ‘white horses’, which didn’t seem to have anything to do with Éowyn - but I liked it as a whole, especially the way the mood changes to match the music - fierce, with armies charging and Éowyn crying her battle cry, and then quiet and eerie as the Fell Beast descends upon Théoden. No aspect ratio problems here, as far as I could see, and altogether a gorgeous vid.

- Secretly, by Mudd (Smallville)
Fun idea, to vid Clark & Lex to a doo-wop song, but this vid didn’t work for me. The worst source quality I’ve yet seen for a Smallville vid, plus really long static shots and lots of talking faces. I wasn’t sure whether I was supposed to be looking for irony or not - are they meeting secretly? Aren’t they? Is it a commentary on slash or a straightforward schmoopy vid? I honestly couldn’t tell you.

- Ing, by laurashapiro (Buffy)
For some reason, my player skipped past this vid, the last on the first disc. Bad player! But I found it again. I love this vid to bits. An adorable, funny, poignant and clever portrait of Anya. The quirky song is a perfect choice for her, and the timing here is just beautiful. The shots of the Scoobies reacting to Anya make me laugh every time, especially Tara’s magnificent eyebrow raise. And the ending makes me happy, but with a little twist of hurt inside. Go, Anya!




Disc two

- Live Till I Die, by Mary Crawford (Hercules: the Legendary Journeys)
I could be all cool and collected about this, but what fun would that be? Lookit, my first vid! eeee!

- Hallo Spaceboy, by Janis Cortese (2001: A Space Odyssey)
This was one of the vids I purposely didn’t watch online, because I knew I wanted to see the big version. Wow, did the wait get repaid. This was just stunning. An excellent song choice - no one conveys alienation and inability to connect like Bowie, and the vid convinces me that Bowie is the voice of HAL, talking to himself and to these strange, immature, confused creatures he’s got for company. Great timing, I loved the shot of Astronaut 1 (sorry, I can’t remember their names) running to the beat, and all the thudding cuts to match the drums - especially the first sequence of fast cuts from bone to spaceship. Visually, the vid looked terrific - no aspect ratio problems, very sharp clips. A very stylish and sleek vid.

- My Immortal, by Sian (Star Wars)
I was confused by the POV in this vid. It seems to be Obi-Wan, who speaks of his relationships with his two padawans and his master, still grieving for Qui-Gon, but then we get a shot of Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon walking, to the lyric When you cried, I wiped away all of your tears, followed by shots where I couldn’t tell if Obi-Wan is speaking about Anakin or Qui-Gon, and that just...lost me. It’s almost as though I’m being told that all master-padawan relationships are interchangeable.
The vid looked beautiful, though, and again, no aspect ratio problems at all.

- The Soldiering Life, by PRZed (Sharpe)
I have issues with the song, which has a flatness of tone and affect that grates on my ear, but I really like the vid. I’ve read one Sharpe book and not seen any of the series, so am not very familiar with the source, but when a vidder shows me men sleeping in the dirt, fighting losing battles and exchanging meaningful looks while advancing upon the enemy, I have all the knowledge I need. *g* That shot of Sean Bean to ‘so rough’, looking bloody and scruffy and murderous, is just - guh. Another great pimping vid.

- An Innocent Man, by Versaphile (Angel)
I’m below the reading level for this vid - through fannish osmosis, I have a dim, probably flawed understanding that Wesley and Lilah had a doomed romance and then she came back from the dead and he had to kill her with a great big axe, but that wasn’t enough to make me follow this story. Had to grin at the ‘never taking a lover to bed’ moment, though, and I thought the languid, torch song feel of the vid matched the song very well.

- Weeping Willow, by Sisaset (Invisible Man)
I’m really not allowed to watch this - I’ve not seen the second season of I-man yet! - but come on, a new Sisabet vid, to my favorite new fandom? Eeee! This is an amazing fandom for vids. I have now seen four, which as far as I know are all the vids in existence - Kryptonite, Voodoo, Karaoke Soul and this - and they’re all excellent, but very different.
This was a very disturbing, affecting vid - I am so worried for my fandom now. Clearly things are not going to go well for Darien and Bobby. In memory? Eeep. This song, this vid, just builds and builds and gets to me more with every repetition of ‘beside me’ and every shot of silver eyes and scary skipping. I am worried. *bites nails*

- Forever Autumn, by Sian (Lord of the Rings)
This song has a ...tweeness, I think, that doesn’t work for Aragorn and Boromir, at least not for me. And I wish the vidder had used more varied shots, or a more varied song, or something - this feels like nothing but headshots of Aragorn and Boromir. But then I’ve never been able to buy Aragorn/Boromir, so that may be affecting my enjoyment of the vid.

-Cain, by SmutCutter (Sleepy Hollow)
Aspect ratio problems made this look stretched, but wow. Startling vid, I was reminded of Laura Shapiro’s excellent “Come Together” - this has the same creepy, stalkery vibe, but with a more melodramatic, gothic song that fits the fandom. Love the bells ringing out to the shot of the Horseman riding down on his victim, and I really like how well the vid makes use of the changing tempo, especially that last dreamy sequence with the roots of the tree reaching out. I rather wanted the last shot to be *one* drop of blood falling to the last bell - I think that would be even more effective.

- I Am The Highway, by Morgan Dawn (Jeremiah)
Like I-Man, there don’t seem to be any bad Jeremiah vids. Or maybe I’m just lucky. *g*
I know nothing about the fandom, except that it’s set in a post-apocalyptic world, but this was still a beautiful vid to watch, and the desperate feel of it coupled with the Kurdy/Jeremiah looks and that last shot...yeah. Another great pimping vid.

- So Damn Hot, by Sandy & Rache (Smallville)
Since first discovering vids (lo these ... one and a half years ago *g*) I have been a total sucker for movement on beat. Cutting on beat, yes, lovely, but snappy movement to the music, for comic or other effect, just makes me incredibly gleeful. The opening to this vid, with hand claps and Lex thrusting the billiard cue in time, let me know that I was in good hands. This is an unashamed, hilariously timed, beautifully executed porn!Clark video, and while I am more of a Lex fan, this vid nearly made me change my mind. Lovely in-jokes, too - the sister, the other guy, and there’s a brief clip of Lex with a gun to ‘Don’t think that bothers me at all’, and I just sit back knowing that this is the setup and the payoff will come - and so it does, badabing badaboom. Just great.

- Zebra, by shalott (Due South)
Fabulous song choice. I can’t understand half the lyrics, I admit, but I don’t always understand what RayK is saying, so even that seems to fit, and the whole tough, spiky energy of it is just exactly right. Tight, fast cuts and great movement all through the vid, and I love the last shot.

- If I Didn’t Have You, by Melina (Lord of the Rings)
Wherein the Dwarf and the Elf poke fun at each other affectionately, like the old married couple they are. This was just hilarious. I still can’t believe that shot of Legolas doing something hideously awkward with his bow was actually in the movie - I’m convinced Melina created it. Somehow. And the Gandalf wink, and “Looks good on you”, and Gimli’s facial expressions, and - aww. I loved this.

Comments

[melina123.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the compliments on When I Go and the L/G vid :)

On rewatching, I’m slightly confused by the shot of the ship sailing from the Grey Havens at the end - I can’t help thinking ‘But Boromir isn’t on the ship!’ Did I miss the point there?

Unfortunately there is no clip of Boromir's funeral boat leaving the Anduin and going into the sea, and in my world, heading west toward Numenor and the Undying Lands -- so this clip acts as a bit of a stand-in.

This was just hilarious. I still can’t believe that shot of Legolas doing something hideously awkward with his bow was actually in the movie -

It's not actually his bow, but one of his long knives -- he's cutting the throat of the Warg rider -- "A scout!" -- with no shortage of disgust at the icky orc :)

[marycrawford.livejournal.com]

Hey, thanks for the clarification.

Ah, so he is going to the Undying Lands in your world! Ha! :grins:

he's cutting the throat of the Warg rider

So you saaaay. I still think you startled him while he was shooting his bow. And then you filmed it. *eg*

Mary, who will be rewatching all the same

[melina123.livejournal.com]

Ah, so he is going to the Undying Lands in your world! Ha! :grins:

Not to them, just toward them... he's not an elf, even with the distant ancestry on mom's side, so he passed beyond the circles of the world, like all Men. But his body finding its final grave in the west seemed an appropriate ending for a child of Numenor.

Besides, Boromir would be bored in the Undying Lands :)

[marycrawford.livejournal.com]

Ah, I see.

Besides, Boromir would be bored in the Undying Lands :)

Snerk. Yes, I imagine so. All that Elven singing, no good sword fights...

Nothing Else Matters

[kassidy62.livejournal.com]

Thanks for your honest appraisal of the video. I thought (and still think) the song lends itself to long shots rather than short flashes of video, and that the repeating video worked with the beat at those points n the song, but it is always nice to consider and learn from other people's straight-forward opinion. I enjoyed reading your review of the dvds very much. Regardless of my stated view of my video, the video COULD be sharper and snappier, I know. Still learning, that's for sure;)

Re: Nothing Else Matters

[marycrawford.livejournal.com]

Hey, thanks for the comments! You made me think about those repeated shots and the effect they had on me. In my (still very limited, I hasten to add *g*) vidwatching experience, I think I've only seen immediate repetition of shots used for comic effect. For example, in Luminosity's 'SouthWest Voodoo', there's a closeup of Willow looking up into an ethereal light, and Lum cut it so it repeats fast on the beat, making it look as though Willow is headbanging to the music.

Your longer repeated shots obviously weren't meant for comic effect, and I thought they must be meant to convey a very particular emphasis, that these moments had a special importance, and then I kept wondering what it was... Does that make sense at all? If not, bear with me, I'm definitely still learning - not just how to make vids, but also how to watch them. :-)

[absolutedestiny.livejournal.com]

It's not a PAL vs NTSC problem, it's an "Anamorphic Footage" problem.

For my video (Do You Realise) is added in letterboxing to make the footage appropriate for a 4:3 display (as I'd figure that's what the convention would have). I don't have the escapade dvd yet but I'm guessing many of the other videos use the anamorphic footage without correcting the aspect ratio.

DVDs that are anamorphic generally have a flag on the content that tells the TV (if the tv is listening) that it's stretchyvision. However, if all the videos were encoded with the regular 4:3 flag, this wouldn't happen.

This is one of the reasons why I recommend people correct the aspect ratio (if they can) when sending in to cons because the default is 4:3 and you can't really go wrong with that.

BTW thanks for the feedback on the vid :)

[marycrawford.livejournal.com]

Hey, thank you for answering my question! I...can see that I need to read more on the subject. Possibly one of the excellent, if slightly intimidating guides you put up at amv.org.

And it was a cool vid! Strange, but cool.

Mary, grinning

[absolutedestiny.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I explain the anamorphic stuff with images here:

http://www.animemusicvideos.org/guides/avtech/videogetb2a.html#mozTocId825035

[marycrawford.livejournal.com]

Thank you! That really is very helpful.

[mogigraphia.livejournal.com]

Just to explain:

Winter is a vid about both Eowyn *and* Theoden, both of whom are prominent Rohirrim -- horselords. The Rohirrim flag uses the white horse as a symbol. The white flower or Simbelmyne is one that grows on the Rohirrim grave barrows and is therefore a symbol of death, or of life from death.

We use both these symbols as recurring motifs throughout Winter, really basing the vid around them in many ways, their whiteness being the snow of 'winter' that we don't otherwise have.

So not really all that literal. ;)

Thanks so much for the lovely comments! We really appreciate them. :D

[marycrawford.livejournal.com]

The Rohirrim flag uses the white horse as a symbol. The white flower or Simbelmyne is one that grows on the Rohirrim grave barrows and is therefore a symbol of death, or of life from death.

Ah, and here's the thing - knowing that (which I do! really! I just didn't express myself very well *g*), a few moments still struck me where the literal connection seemed much stronger, to me, than the metaphorical one, and lifted me out of the story you were telling.

Rewatching, I think it's mainly two moments that struck me that way: the use of the simbelmynë overlaid on Éowyn's face, singing at Théodred's interment, to 'Flowers competing for the sun', and the use of a galloping Shadowfax on 'All the white horses are still in bed'.

OTOH, I loved the use of the banner of Rohan falling to the grass on that same line - that really worked for me, coming after 'things are gonna change, so fast', hinting at changes in the house of Rohan, and in both their lives.

Did that make any sense at all? *g* Very much a YMMV thing, I think. And I just want to emphasize that I found this an affecting vid, and beautiful to watch.

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

Mudd doesn't do meta.
And I keep telling him about the talky-face, but he keeps not listening.

And I'm still working on fixing my aspect ratio problems.
Sorry about an El Greco Luke.

[marycrawford.livejournal.com]

Oh, my sympathy on the aspect ratio thing. It's just a pain. (Maybe the information on anamorphic footage absolut3destiny linked to, above, will help? It will probably help me, once I cease to be afraid of words like 'anamorphic' and 'square pixel display'. *g*)

[tanacawyr.livejournal.com]

Wow -- thanks for the happy! :-) I still wish I could get the stupid AVI to save properly so I can at least put it UP online. :-P But I'm glad you liked it, and eternially relieved that the aspect ratio looked okay to you, cuz it sure doesn't on my disk. I'm still irked at that ...

And I'll have you know that "Live Till I Die" is the one vid that I watch the most often from this. I just stick it in my computer, watch that vid, giggle and admire, and then go back to doing whatever I was doing before. :-)

[marycrawford.livejournal.com]

I still wish I could get the stupid AVI to save properly

Ack! I'm so sorry, I asked you questions about that and then totally left you hanging. My brain/sieve=OTP, I swear. But the thing is, I have no idea how reducing 2:1 could leave you with the same size file. NO idea.

On the other hand, shalott's DivX encoding tutorial (http://www.livejournal.com/users/astolat/51221.html) has worked very well for me in reducing filesize and keeping the quality up, and without doing a 2:1 reduction - the online version of LTID is 720x480. To give you an idea, the vid I exported from Premiere at full size, HuffyUV compression, was 1.7 Gb; what I was left with after following shalott's steps was 16 Mb. (This was the remastered, somewhat bigger version.) So all I can recommend is to try that and hope for the best.

But yes, I liked it whole lots, and the aspect ratio looked fine - I just checked, and it looks just as I would expect the movie itself to look on my TV, letterboxed but not stretched. Sharp & full of color, too.

And I'll have you know that "Live Till I Die" is the one vid that I watch the most often from this.

That is just...thanks so much, that absolutely made my day. :-)

[tanacawyr.livejournal.com]

I looked at her tutorial, but the mp3 codec gave me a 404, so ...

I'm just not going to bother anymore. I'm really tired of this whole thing. I am so angry and frustrated right now.

That is just...thanks so much, that absolutely made my day. :-)

It's a fantastic vid. I can't believe it's your first! It's fabulous; I love the end of it especially. Usually it's the intros that realyl strike me as mini-vids all their own, but with this one, it's the end part that it me that way.

[marycrawford.livejournal.com]

I understand the anger & frustration, I really do. All you need to write is a pen, you know?

Still, I would love to see more vids from you & help you get this one online, so. Don't blame me for trying. *g*This MP3 codec (http://www.free-codecs.com/download/LAME_ACM_Codec.htm) is still there, still free, and looks like it might do the job with the Divx encoding. If not, holler.

Thanks again for the kind words - and I'm really jazzed that the ending works for you, I worked on this more or less chronologically and that was the toughest part. Especially finding that last shot. Whoof. *g*

[tanacawyr.livejournal.com]

Thanks -- I got a warning not to install it ... I'm not entirely sure if this is MS trying to get me to pay them for something I can get for free, or a genuine problem. I guess I'm also a little wary of installing codecs. In my experience, they install halfway and then promptly break something. Or they install and tell me they haven't. Or one application will see them but another won't.

And this is why I like fic so much ... *sigh*

Hon, that vid worked for everyone -- the reaction it got at Escapade was wonderful. The whole room didn't know what the hell to expect (I don't think I've ever seen a Hercules vid before, and certainly not at Escapade), and when it ended, everyone was laughing and applauding. It was a real hit.

[tanacawyr.livejournal.com]

*sigh*

Tried it, it saved without video.

I've had it.

[marycrawford.livejournal.com]

Oh, ack. I'm so sorry to hear that - I wish I had other ideas, but I don't. Maybe someone on Vidder or vidding can help?

But yeah, I hear ya on the fic. Vidding is my way to escape from writing - and then, when I get fed up, I can go back to writing. And vice versa. *g*

Thanks so much for telling me about the room reaction to LTID. That just makes me grin like a loon.

[lierdumoa.livejournal.com]

Oh, yay! Thanks for reviewing.

As for how I made the superimpositions work, I mainly had to worry about them getting them to not look muddy, making sure they didn't have too much going on, and timing them properly. The muddiness problem was especially bad for the first chorus because the overlay was a nighttime shot, so I upped the brightness/contrast on the scenes below to make them show through better. The scenes I put underneath the overlay were shots that had very little movement in them and I kept the cutting slower in those sections as well. That way the viewer didn't have too much to register and had extra time to register what was going on.

I *loved* Live Till I Die. But then, I already told you that.

[marycrawford.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the details! I love it when vidders explain how they did things and what worked and didn't work. I can see how putting static shots under moving shots and upping the B/C would help. :takes notes:

And I thought those superimpositions worked so very well - it was as though the whole vid was on fire with color and motion and cars hurtling over each other.

I *loved* Live Till I Die. But then, I already told you that.

:beams: So you did. :-)

[lierdumoa.livejournal.com]

Yes. I really had some beautiful source to work with when I made that vid. I linked to a 'making of' in my vid post (at the top of the post) if you want to know in detail how I did anything.

For me, explaining how I vid is just an elaborate way of complaining about how hard vidding is. Better than complaining the regular way -- people thank me afterwards. ;-)

Great review - I-Man vid info

[taverymate.livejournal.com]

Thanks very much for writing up such a thorough vid review! It was a great read - though I'm now even more eager than ever for the Escapade 2005 DVDs to go on sale. I've been able to download the online vids, but being able to see them on a larger screen allows so much more detail to be absorbed.

Your review really does a lovely job of encapsulating your reactions to the vids; love the mix of vid detail and reactions, and especially what was behind your reactions. I love reading reviews, and really appreciate those that provide links. It can be so frustrating to read about a vid, get enthused about watching it, and then have no idea where to find it.

Please, would you consider posting the review to the Vidding mailing list? I'd love to see more actual discussion about vids on the list, as opposed to techical Q&A and vid announcements - which are all good, but I crave discussion! And your review would hopefully jump start some.

Re I-Man:
I'm still bitter that SciFi channel cancelled I-Man after only two season; that coupled with their cancellation of Farscape forever destroys any hope they had of actually being a SciFi channel, in my estimation.

"This is an amazing fandom for vids. I have now seen four, which as far as I know are all the vids in existence - Kryptonite, Voodoo, Karaoke Soul and this - and they’re all excellent, but very different."

There aren't a lot of I-Man vids, but there are more than four - though those four are really top notch. Despite their relatively small numbers, I-Man vidders have produced some superb vids.

In addition to Lithium Doll's vid (Karaoke Soul), Rache & Sandy's vid (Voodoo), Sisabet's vid (Weeping Willow), and Seah & Margie's vid (Kryptonite), there are about 15 or so others that I know about that should all be available online.

Margie has another I-Man vid (Speed Racer) that can be found at Seah & Margie's vid site. It's a fun vid and impeccably done, as are all their vids.
http://trickster.org/vids

Lauren aka OboeCrazy is better known for her Farscape vids, but has an I-Man vid at her site (Crazy).
http://scaper.com/videos/videos.html

Waldo has one I-Man vid (Secret Agent Man) at the Vid Weasel website:
http://www.vidweasels.com/index.html

SciFi Myke had one I-Man vid about Claire (All Eyes on Me) but I think it's offline. If so, there's usually an email contact to ask for the vid. (It's been quite I while since I checked the site since my computer hates Angelfire and freezes, so I've not double checked the URL lately):
http://www.angelfire.com/trek/ilovept/

Then there is the Vincent Ventresca fan site, which has over a dozen I-Man vids, and used to have one vid using VV's appearance in Prey as well. I know the I-Man vids are back up, not sure about the Prey vid.
http://www.vincentventresca.net/imanmusicvideos.htm

Crimson Eyez had some excellent I-Man vids - or so I've heard - but after her untimely death, her site was taken down and I've never been able to track down the vids.

If you do run across any other I-Man vids, I'd love to hear about them.

Karen

Re: Great review - I-Man vid info

[marycrawford.livejournal.com]

Oh, Karen, thanks so much! I really appreciate your taking the time to hunt down those links for me. Wow. I had no idea.

Except...

Margie has another I-Man vid (Speed Racer) that can be found at Seah & Margie's vid site.

...except Margie is going to kill me. I know the vid, I saw the vid, I have the vid on DVD. :headdesk:
And it's cute and funny and has Bobby Hobbes in it! Aigh. Five! Five, not four! *eg*

But I hadn't heard of any of the others, and had no idea they were out there. Cool. I'll be wandering around and downloading vids tonight...Oo, a Claire vid! I'll definitely keep you posted if I find any others.

And now that you've eased my mind and said so many kind things about this review, I may indeed post this to Vidder, too. :-)

Mary, jazzed

Re: Great review - I-Man vid info

[taverymate.livejournal.com]

Trying to sneak in a reply before the work week consumes me...

Speed Racer is indeed cute and funny and has Bobby Hobbes in it! I-Man vids are always improved with the inclusion of Bobby Hobbes.

The I-Man vids that you've already seen set the bar high but I do hope that you enjoy some of the others. I'm hoping that the relatively new I-Man LJ community will pull in some more vidders. Several people active in the community are making efforts to make the episodes more available for viewing, and that's a good start down the slippery slope to vidding .

Thanks for posting the review to Vidding. Alas, the list seems dead at the moment, but this past weekend was Connexions, so perhaps things will pick up later in the week.