wiscon_vidparty | Vidding Workshop!

chaila posting in

Welcome to the

wiscon_vidparty vidding workshop! We hope this will be a chance for new or potential vidders to find out more about what’s involved in making a vid and to see the wide variety of ways vidders make vids, and for vidders of all skill levels to discuss vidding and share tips and ideas. Everyone is welcome to participate!

This workshop will be discussion- and question-based, so please, start or jump into any discussions you want to have and ask any questions about any aspect of vidding! Finding ideas, getting source, clipping (or not), editing programs, codecs, rendering, effects, specific technical issues you’re having, discussion about specific vids, discussing your own ideas, links to useful resources, tutorials, cheerleading--any and all vidding related topics are welcome.

We’ve created a few categories to keep some of the major topic threads organized. If you have a comment or question or want to start a discussion on a certain topic, just comment below the relevant subject. (We’re flexible though, so don’t fret too much about getting things in the right place. If in doubt, just give your thread a descriptive subject line so people can find it).

Feel free to add new threads if what you want to talk about isn't covered by the categories, but please give your comment a descriptive subject line so readers can tell what’s being discussed.

We have several awesome vidders who have volunteered to participate and introduce themselves at their convenience. We will be linking to their introductions as they appear. Keep an eye out and feel free to ask them specific questions!

Topics (to get you started--add your own threads and subthreads!)

• Vid Idea Development -- Finding and developing ideas for new vids

• Tech Questions -- Hardware and software (PC, Mac or Linux), codecs, aspect ratios, exporting and rendering, effects, etc.
          Questions asked/discussed:
          -- Software to use on a PC? (including discussion of Windows Movie Maker & Lightworks)
          -- Vidding with iMovie09?
          -- Codec rec: Avid DNxHD
          -- Converter recs for Macs?
          -- Linux clipping?

• Getting Started (and Finished) -- From beginning to end, how do you make a vid? Getting source, clipping, editing workflows, tips for getting started, etc.
          • Subthread: Editing workflows/processes
                --chaila (VirtualDub, Vegas, Zarx264gui)
                --heresluck (DVD Decrypter, DGIndex, Premiere, Zarx264gui)
                --thingswithwings (Handbrake, Mac the Ripper, MPEG Streamclip, Final Cut Pro, Sound Studio)
                --ghost_lingering (Adobe Premiere & AfterEffects, Mac the Ripper, and mpeg streamclip)
                --eruthros (DVD Decrypter, VirtualDub, AvsPmod, Premiere, Zarx264gui)
                --such_heights (Switch, audio editing/conversion, Final Cut)
                --beccatoria (avidemux, Cinelerra)

          • Other questions/discussion
           -- How to time clips to the beat?
           -- Using markers
           -- Approaching editing/revising? & how to deal with ambition outstripping effects/transition knowledge?
           -- Free/cheap editing software for Macs?
           -- Ripping DVDs vs. downloaded source?
           -- Note re: codecs & compression

• Links and References -- Link helpful resources from elsewhere on the internet.
          -- Various lists of resources, including subtitling
          -- Mac vidders: how to get the shiniest source
          -- Lots of links, especially about vidding creativity
          -- Panel notes on song choice
          -- A&E's Technical Guide to All Things Audio and Video
          -- Audio editing
          -- Multiple aspect ratio tutorials
          -- Understanding codecs & containers, & Autodesk software for students

• VIDDING SQUEE - All things happy, fun, and inspiring.
          • The first vid you made you're still proud of?
          • Vids/vidders that inspired us!

Meet the Vidder Threads

• Meet the Vidder: Rhi
• Meet the Vidder: metatxt
• Meet the Vidder: such heights
• Meet the Vidder: kiki_miserychic
• Meet the Vidder: Garrideb
• Meet the Vidder: ghost lingering
• Meet the Vidder: here's luck
• Meet the Vidder: chaila

ETA 3/3/14: The main part of the workshop has concluded, but please feel free to add answers or info if you've got them! We've organized a list of the threads, questions and answers for ease of browsing. And don't forget that you can sign up to be a vidding mentor to a newer vidder, or sign up to get a mentor!

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From:

chaila

Vid Idea Development
Discussion about getting and developing new ideas goes here. How do you come up with ideas? Source first, or music first? What moves you to make a vid? How do you find songs? Do you always use songs or music, and if not, what other audio choices can be used? &etc.

Edited Date: 2014-03-01 02:16 pm (UTC)

From:

chaila

Tech Questions
Technical discussion and questions (both PC and Mac) go here. From general questions about the types of clipping or editing programs that are available, to specific questions about one particular problem you’re having. Discuss hardware and software, codecs, aspect ratios, exporting and rendering, effects, &etc.

Edited Date: 2014-03-01 02:17 pm (UTC)

From:

chaila

Getting Started (and Finished)
What is the best way to start vidding if you never have? How do vidders get from an idea to having a completed vid? From getting audio and video source, to clipping, to the process of editing a vid, to rendering and posting, what are the different processes that different vidders use? Tell us about your workflow, talk about tips for getting started, or ask specific questions here.

Edited Date: 2014-03-01 02:08 pm (UTC)

From:

chaila

Links and References
There are a ton of vidding resources on the internet, from posts or blogs about vidding, LJ/DW communities for tech questions or questions from newbies, to video tutorials on Youtube or elsewhere. Link and discuss the ones that have helped you. Or ask for what you’re looking for and maybe someone can help!

From:

chaila

VIDDING SQUEE
Just what it says: the happy parts! Cheerleading posts or gifs, vidding success stories, vidding inspiration--discuss the happy and inspiring things here.

From:

chaila

I suppose I should kick this off! Along with

metatxt (and plenty of other people, you're all great!), I'm helping to organize the Wiscon Vid Party this year. I love vidding: making vids, watching vids, talking about vids, all of it.

I've been vidding for several years. In the past, I've been serially monogamous with fandoms; I made a bunch of Battlestar Galactica vids about ~~Laura Roslin~~ different characters, then I moved onto The Sarah Connor Chronicles and made a bunch of vids about that show. In the past couple of years, I've been without a main fandom so I've become a lot more multi-fandom, and I now have a relatively diverse catalog. (Masterlist here. Someday it'll be better organized but not today).

I got into vidding because I had one specific idea about very specific characters to a very specific song, that was exactly everything I loved about BSG at the time and wanted to show to other people. And I didn't think anyone else would make it if I didn't! I hadn't even watched that many vids and I knew nothing, but that idea motivated me to push through the learning curve. And once I watched the first 30 seconds of video I ever made move to music, I was hooked. Vidding to me is now basically the way I participate in fandom. Vidding is just another way of "talking" about a show/canon for me: pulling out the parts of a canon I love the most and showing them to other people, focusing on the under explored characters or parts of a canon, stitching together the visuals to emphasize a certain theme or idea, making connections between things. Or just making vids for other people who like the canon or idea, who will hopefully be excited or interested to watch. I'm not a very fancy or technically proficient vidder, but I've picked up a decent amount by necessity as I've muddled along.

I've vidded for Wiscon quite a bit. I've premiered multiple vids there, including co-vidding Hands Away (TSCC/Fringe) with

beccatoria <3; Parable (Octavia Butler's Parables series, constructed from other video source); and Keep the Streets Empty For Me (Twilight). I also submitted a playlist last year. Having some vidding space at Wiscon is very dear to my heart! There's basically nothing else that would've motivated me to actually try to construct a narrative for an Octavia Butler book series (what other audience could possibly have been willing to watch that vid?), and there probably aren't very many other places I would've played a vid taking a second look at Twilight without expecting to get laughed at (I mean, I sort of expected to get laughed at, but then I thought people would watch). I like the chill atmosphere, and I really like the expectation of having an audience that comes to media with a feminist lens; it makes me excited to make and play vids there without the fear that they'll be misconstrued or dismissed or mocked or set on fire or something. :)

So, that's more than enough about me. Feel free to ask any questions, should any of this interest you!

From:

heresluck

I've been vidding since 2002 -- and also, coincidentally, attending WisCon since 2002, though I haven't been able to attend in the last few years; in fact, the last time I was there was the year before the WisCon Vid Party began. *facepalm* (A couple of my vids have shown there in years past, though, thanks to other people's playlists.)

I've vidded more than a dozen fandoms: big fandoms and tiny-to-nonexistent fandoms, TV and movies, SFF and not. (Masterlist and streaming versions available at the AO3.) I first tried my hand at vidding because I was deeply in love with the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer and (like

chaila) I was pretty sure no one else was going to make the vids I wanted to see or make them to the music I wanted to hear. So for a year or so my vidding was tied very tightly to Buffy. After that I began to branch out, and for a long time now vidding itself has been my primary fandom.

What I love about vidding is that it's meta + music. When I fell for Buffy and went online looking for other people to talk to, I was delighted to discover that there were so many people saying smart things about the show -- I really got into fandom for the meta, and Buffy was such a smart show that there was a lot of meta, really good meta, because there was so much to think about. And then I found vids, and I realized that people were using vids to express their reactions to and insights about the show. Like meta, but with music! I couldn't resist. And I still feel that way. :) Vids are a terrific way to say some things more elegantly or persuasively or quickly than I could in written meta. And they allow me to invite an audience to collaborate in making meaning with me, which I think is pretty cool.

But it's not just the end results of vidding that I love (I am often dissatisfied with my vids, even now); it's the process. I mean, sometimes the process makes me want to punch myself in the face, but it can be fun. Finding the right song is an amazing rush; it's where the rest of the fun begins. Seeing something on the screen that I saw in my mind's eye is fun. Coming up with something that's better than what I saw in my mind's eye is fun. Getting to engage with my show on a deeper level is fun; celebrating the shiny surface is also fun. Learning new stuff is fun, and I'm always learning as I vid. Just making something is fun; a lot of my day job involves sending a lot of not terribly meaningful email, which means that at the end of the average day I very seldom have something I can point to and say "I made this." Whereas with a vid I can do that, even if it's just "Today I laid two clips" -- those are two clips that weren't on the timeline yesterday. That's progress.

I've been vidding for long enough that my process has changed significantly: I used to plan everything out -- every line -- and make clips in advance, and now I'm much more likely to settle on a few specific clip ideas and a general sense of the effect I'm going for, scrub through the source to see what resonates with me, and start throwing stuff on the timeline. These changes have been partly the result of technological change -- I have hardware and software that can handle that sort of open-ended vidding! -- and partly the result of being less obsessively mono-fannish: When I was vidding Buffy, I knew pretty much every frame of every scene, whereas with the shows I'm currently vidding I don't have anywhere near that kind of detailed familiarity with the source.

I can say more about this in the Tech and the Editing/Workflow threads, but: I vid on a PC, using Adobe Premiere CS4; I edit audio using Adobe Audition; and I have used Adobe AfterEffects in a few vids. I generally vid with DVD source imported into Premiere as AviSynth files, using the process outlined in A&E's Technical Guide. I started vidding when I didn't know much about computers beyond how to use word processors and send email, and now I build my own computers, so I guess I picked up some stuff about tech along the way, and I'm happy to help with tech issues if I can.

Edited Date: 2014-03-01 03:34 pm (UTC)

From:

ghost_lingering

Hello! Posting this now, but I won't be back until later to chat.

I've been making vids for a while, but I still think of myself as a newbie vidder. I vid because I like manipulating something that already exists into something else; because I like to muck around with computer programs; because I like to watch shows with the sound off; because I love music. One of my favorite parts about vidding is that I get to be analytical and artistic at the same time. I don't really buy the "every vid is an argument" line of thought, perhaps because when I'm at my most analytic I care more about questions than answers. However I do like the meta feel that you can get while vidding. For me, personally, I think of vidding as a kind of visual poetry. It's saying something, I don't always know what it means, but I like the way it looks/sounds and I like how it makes me think. I also like that, moreso than fic, I think, it engages in a dialogue with the source material and with other vids. And, what is not to love about 3 minutes of your favorite parts of a show or movie? All the benefits of rewatching in a fraction of the time!

My vidding love is for character studies, partially because I'm defective at romance (another draw of vids over fic, for me, as fic is rather pairing centric) and partially because the way I get into shows is often through the question: "how is x character reacting to these events?" I'm often drawn to characters on the edges; I've joked that if something doesn't have enough footage to make a vid, that's when I decide to try my hand at it. I also really love vidding for exchanges, because it forces me to move outside of my comfort zone and to finish something already goddammit! I've been trying to branch out though: my next few vids I'd like to tackle relationships as a focus (not exactly romantic ones, however) and I've posted a few vids this past year that are more about ideas/concepts than about individual characters, which is something I'd like to play around more with.

Despite the fact that I lived in Madison for almost 5 years it wasn't until the last year I lived there (…2009, I think?) that I actually went to Wiscon. I've only been once and I was shy and quiet the whole time, but I was there! It was also the first time I'd ever been to a vid show, so that was amazingggggggg. <3 I've had one vid, Signs [Dark Angel] play at Wiscon. Unfortunately/fortunately, not the year I went; it played a few years later. I had made it for something else and someone approached me, asking if they could show it in the vidshow. Which, of course! Original Cindy is a great character for Wiscon: a black lesbian in sci-fi. The show didn't always treat her the best — for example, despite how outspokenly "out" she was, the writers still had to put up glass between her and her lover so that they couldn't be together — but she deserves much love.

Masterlist of my vids here.

From:

garrideb

Thank you

chaila for setting this up!

I'm Garrideb and I make vids from comic book scans. I've got three under my belt so far: Downfall (Marvel's Civil War, Steve/Tony) Sky is Open (Carol Danvers, premiered at WisCon 36!) and Service Bell (experimental, Steve/Tony).

The appeal of vidding comics is partly my deep, deep love of various Marvel characters and my appreciation of comic book art, and partly because I'm familiar and comfortable with manipulating still images, whereas manipulating footage is scary and new.

It all starts with the song for me. I have SO MANY songs on my iPod that have half-planned vids assigned to them. Good lyrics are important, but what catches my attention most are songs with cool twists - the gospel-y bridge in "Downfall", the guitar solo in "Sky is Open", the building crescendo of "Service Bell".

I scan 99% of the images myself, so I can get big, high-resolution images, and then I use an ancient version of Photoshop to crop panels and clone-stamp those pesky word balloons out of existence. I use iMovie to set the images to music.

Watching vids has always been a part of my fandom experience. Not only have vids pulled me into new fandoms (I bought the entire series of Due South after watching "Wonder of Birds", for example), but vids have also widened my music consumption considerably. A House vid set to "Hallelujah" introduced me to Leonard Cohen; a Smallville vid to "Red-Blooded Woman" introduced me to Kylie Minogue; CSI gave me Rachel Yamagata, and Doctor Who gave me the Decemberists.

From:

kiki_miserychic

I've been vidding for a very long time. I started in 2002 and it's been so long that I thought I started in 2004 until I found old files dated 2002.

The reason why I'm a vidder comes in different parts. There's a scene from a short lived and underrated television show on in the 90's, Millennium, from Chris Carter (The X-Files). You may laugh, but 12-year-old me sat wide-eyed staring at the tv. It was long before I knew there was such a thing as vidding. Since I started vidding I never thought about it again, but I was watching a Patti Smith video on YouTube and it was linked as a related video. Looking back now, it explains A LOT about my vidding style now. It's not available online because FOX takes them all down, but some of it can be seen in the Vidder Profile that bradcpu made. I wanted to vid before I actually knew there was something called vidding. On that note, I suggest everyone watches all of bradcpu's Vidder Profile Series.

I started out as a viewer of vids and then thought, "hey, I could do that better" and taught myself how to vid. It's a completely rude and mean way to find a hobby. My early vids are quite terrible, but I had a lot of fun figuring out things, like how to write my own XMLs in Windows Movie Maker to create custom effects. I started because I thought I could suck less than other people. My motivation to continue vidding is that it became a creative outlet for me and then it morphed into vidding as therapy. Lately it's evolved even more and I'm trying to "be what I want to see" in fandom. I'm always lamenting the lack of things, so I'm trying to produce the things I want, like femslash and female centric fanworks. I've tried vidding female characters that do more than beat people up and make things explode while being pretty. While I've expanded my vidding subjects, I still strive to vid a larger array of characters.

For reference, my YEAR END VIDDING MEMES: 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013.

I don't think I'm very good at talking about vidding, but vidding meta gives me life. I've written Vidding as My Own Flavor of Feminism, Vidding as Art, my vid commentary on charmax's Unnatural Selection (Along the same vein, thuviaptarth wrote amazing commentary on my Ding! Dong! vid), and Obstacles about the creative process (which I still work off of). I also did the tumblr section of the Vividcon 2013 Infinite Diversity in Vidding Combination Panel.

For wiscon_vidparty, I curated the Thank Heaven for Little Girls Playlist and made Après Moi in 2013. I have one or two playlists in the works for this year and I'm debating which of my ideas to use for a premiering vid. I've never attended actual WisCon, but the hashtag on twitter makes it look awesome.

From:

such_heights

I've been vidding since 2007, inspired by the amazing vidders in the Doctor Who fandom. Since then I've somehow managed to make over 50 vids, fuelled by a combination of fannish squee and desire to procrastinate on university essays. (Having a full time job has been a real timesuck for vidding!)

The main fandoms I've vidded in are Doctor Who, Torchwood and Merlin. Other fandoms I've vidded for include Avatar: the Last Airbender, The Avengers, Buffy and Community. I think my style would probably best be summed up by people who watch my vids as ALL THE FEELS - at least, that's what I get in the comments a lot. I'm interested in trying to get pretty visuals and do interesting technical stuff too, but for me vidding is ultimately about having a strong feeling of some kind and wanting to get that across.

I've now made three premieres for the Wiscon vid party and I'm working on a fourth. The first one I did was Antebellum (Merlin, Gwen/Morgana), which was a sad but heartfelt love letter to a ship I adored on a show I'd broken up with. Then I made The Skins, a multifandom vid about one of my favourite sff tropes, doppelgangers! Last year's contribution was Hammerhead, a Doctor Who vid about how great Martha Jones is.

No spoilers on what I'm making this year, but it's another multifandom vid about a subject very close to my heart. :D Here's hoping I can get it done in time!

I vid on a Mac with Final Cut and have previously used iMovie, though that was a while ago now. I've helped quite a few new Mac vidders get started and am always happy to answer questions or show someone the ropes if I can.

[commenting and running, I'm afraid - will be back tomorrow!]

From:

metatxt

*waves* I'm

metatxt and I am co-hosting these Vid Party shenanigans with

chaila as well as a couple other amazing people.

I LOVE VIDS. I love vidders who make shiny vids that let me see something through their eyes. In spite of my many works in progress and an epic list of vid concepts, I do not have any solo-edited vids uploaded. In 2009 (yikes), I collaborated with

beccatoria,

futuransky, and

cyborganize on the Enemy Within as a present for

kiki_miserychic. But otherwise, my vidding activities are mostly beta-ing and the occasional playlist.

That said, I work with audio and video editing quite a bit more outside of fandom. I mainly work with Adobe Premiere Pro, Audition, After Effects and Photoshop. In the past I worked with Sony Vegas, FCP 7 and I've dabbled with FCP X. Right now I'm learning MOTU Digital Performer and Autodesk Smoke.

I really want to complete a vid for WisCon premieres this year and finally move my vidding skills into vidding.

Initially, I wanted to vid because I am plagued with vid bunnies, that yes, I am also sure no one else would make. I feel doubly committed to really jumping in because the fandoms I want to vid are also terribly undervidded (is this a thing? it must be a thing, Festivids!) -- Lost Girl, Warehouse 13, Scott + Bailey, Orphan Black...

My vidding concepts tend to be experimental, cracky, or meta in some way and I am super into using strange audio source.

Attending WisCon for the first time last year was such a transformative experience. I joke that the whole thing is powered on unicorn giggles and rainbows, but it's more likely the incredible culture of collaboration and community. I am really excited to be contributing in some tangible way this year. <3

From:

rhivolution

Hi, I'm Rhi. I've actually only been vidding, and that sporadically, for about three and a half years, but I've been doing video editing since about 2001 (ask me about VHS tape machines!) and have a postgrad degree in media studies that included camera work and editing. I'm pretty sure academic study of film/TV has ruined my ability to passively enjoy things, but it's also formalised my love of meta and rewired my brain to rework audiovisual canons!

I really should have been vidding from the get-go, and I did have a couple of failed attempts at it previously. I started more seriously lately because people I knew and met at Wiscon made it sound amazing, but also, to be honest, because I work in a different field now (ask me about breaking into the industry and student loans!) and editing is the one thing I've found my ADD brain gets absorbed by entirely, losing hours on end. I love it dearly.

Unfortunately because I get so very into it, I don't do it as much as I used to--this is because of spoons and free time and the fact that I am very much a 'sit down and bang out at least half of this' creator both in fandom and academically. But I aim to do a couple of vids a year, like for Festivids, and potentially one for Wiscon and/or for Vidukon in absentia. If you're so inclined, you can flick through my vids tag here.

I tend to vid stuff I have huge feels about and/or I feel like no one else will address in the same way I like--rare stuff! I always have tons of feels and backstory to a vid that I don't necessarily write about like I should because I worry no one cares. But even the 'fun' stuff has a whole bunch of serious thought behind it, probably too much!

Stylistically I tend to keep my work pretty stripped back, with jump cuts and cross-dissolves only for transitions, along with few to no filters. I've seen fancier stuff done really well, but I find it to look cheesetastic whenever I do it. Much to my chagrin, I think really too damn linearly regarding narrative, which is something I'm trying to work on! I've managed to strip myself of most of the other bad habits I've had.

Despite all of this video love and despite the fact that I usually start with the video source, I've got music in my blood and therefore the audio is essential. It has to be a song that resonates with me, that gets to my heart and my gut, and therefore I'm very much 'know it when I hear it'. Often I'll just put my iTunes on shuffle and flick through, making a playlist, but take some time to decide which song from that list is the best. I was a little startled this year when my Festivids song came to mind within 30 seconds, as I'm usually very indecisive!

With regards to software, I was introduced to Final Cut about ten years ago and have never really looked back since. I know Final Cut X is allegedly rubbish, but I will keep using FC software until it doesn't work anymore, because I feel it's a beautiful thing and actually really accessible. (I should really just wear an ASK ME ABOUT FINAL CUT badge along with all the other ask me badges...) I also use Photoshop as and when I need it, and a whole slew of converter software as suits.

I've been to Wiscon several times, and once to the vidparty, though I've had vids shown twice(?) years I've not been there. My goal is to make it to the con for at least a day this year as I'm actually back in the US (I'm from WI) at the time anyway at that time, so maybe I will see you about! I'm seriously pondering a premiere vid regarding the female companions of New!Who, so stay tuned.

So many Is in the above! If you have questions, please feel free.

Edited Date: 2014-03-01 11:46 pm (UTC)

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