Just let me lie here on the tile

Vividcon challenge vid: Swing

I made this vid in 2009, and the download links for it still work. (Sorry, no streaming, I don't want to deal with the hassle.)

Nichelle Nichols still shines in every scene she's in. 💖

Vid title: Trust In Me
Song artist: Holly Cole
Fandom: V (2009 TV series)
Summary: We are of peace. Always.

This vid premiered at Vividcon 2010, in the Also Premiering (Non-Attending) vidshow.

Download from my website:
Big (.avi, 56 Mb) | Medium (.mp4, 27 Mb) | Small (.avi, 13 Mb)

Download subtitles (.srt) | Read lyrics

Feedback very welcome!

This vid premiered at the Vividcon challenge show. The challenge theme was IDIC (Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combination) and I couldn't resist.

Swing
Music: Club des Belugas
Fandom: Star Trek: TOS
Summary: All you got to do is swing.
Download: Big (.avi, 63 Mb, 640x480) | Medium (.mp4, 40 Mb, 640x480) | Small (.mp4, 18 Mb, 640x480) 
Right-click and save, please!

( Lyrics )

( Notes )

Feedback would be wonderful!

I've put my vids up on Imeem: marycrawford.imeem.com.

Imeem plays streaming video. It's like YouTube, but better quality, as long as you let the vid load first and then play it.

So far, the main advantages I've seen are:

• you can rec and link directly to a vid, your own or someone else's, without compromising the vidder's bandwidth.
• it's a lot easier to get an idea of a vidder's work, without having to remember passwords or navigate through a tiny-blinky-text website.
• it's easy to drop the vidder a comment, for quick feedback; on LJ, it can feel odd to drop a comment on a vid post that's a year old, because LJ is so now-oriented, and it can also be difficult to find the vid post in the first place. On Imeem the vids and the comment box are right there. I do wish they'd make comments threaded, and include email notification. Right now there's no way to answer if someone leaves you feedback, and I really really want to be able to say thanks.
• you can make playlists of both your own and other people's vids: fandom-specific playlists, 'favorite mood-lifting vids', 'personal top 10', 'scary vids' and so on, and then share those playlists with other people.

So far, many people have been using the 'vidding' tag on Imeem to differentiate between vids and other fanworks such as machinima (game engine animation) and fan films. There's more discussion on making vids accessible to a wider audience in the vidding community: You Can't Stop The Signal, and on the Vidding meme on Imeem.

My vids will remain available as downloads on my website, both high-quality versions and small versions for dialup. I really hope other vidders will keep putting up files for download, too: there's nothing like a high-quality fullscreen vid that you can download and play again and again without adding to anyone's bandwidth. I won't be fully satisfied with services like Imeem until they can offer full screen streaming video files that are as good-looking as a 60 Mb Xvid encoded download.

Answers to questions from the vid commentary meme. More questions or requests for commentary welcome!

ahary asked: How do you get an idea, how do you choose a song and what goes first - song or visuals or idea or what?

( Song choice and ideas )

Also from ahary: What are your favorite moments in the new Twanky vid?

( Favorite moments )

And finally, where did this clip with her as Mary Poppins, where she floating on an umbrella, come from?

Heh. That's from the third Twanky episode, Greece Is Burning, in season Five. Screencaps for it are here.

I think I'd better split this up and answer more questions in another post, so this is part one. :-)

I've put up half-size versions of my vids up on my site. They're 7 Mb or less, which I hope is doable if you're on dialup. (I did try to get the size down further, but ended up with a huge pixelated mess.) If anything looks wonky or you have trouble downloading, please let me know.

I should have done this earlier, but I'm afraid I was seduced by ever bigger and prettier encodes. Speaking of which: Ermac and absolut3destiny have updated the inestimable Guide To All Things Audio And Video on AMV.org with a walkthrough explaining how to encode your finished vid to Divx-compatible Xvid. I have tried it and it works beautifully. If you combine the VirtualDubMod settings with Avisynth scripts, as the Guide teaches you to, it really begins to look like magic.

(Of course magic isn't always benign. At one point, I changed one line of code and ended up with a truly bizarre-looking vid - blue-lipped Hercules with purple hair, or was it orange?)

[X-posted to vidding]

The Vividcon Premieres show is over, alas, but on the other hand: that means I can post my vid. Yay!

Fandom: Labyrinth
Music: "Blue Jean" by David Bowie
Format: .avi with the DivX codec
Size: 14.4 Mb
Description: You may find that having is not so pleasing a thing, after all, as wanting.

Download the vid (right-click and save, please!)

Read the lyrics

I've said it before, but it bears repeating: galumping great thanks to elynross, halimede and both halves of flummery for beta-ing and to sockkpuppett for teaching me how to mess with motion settings and track mattes at the very last minute. You all rock.

Should you have any trouble playing the vid, I have outlined some solutions on my vids page.

I would love to know what you think, and that includes critical feedback, here or at marycrawford@squidge.org .

I'll probably do a post about the making of this vid later, once I have recovered from Saturday's fantastic family wedding.