Me, myself & I

I've been gone a while but now I'm back and being as random as ever. Don't mind me.

I have to 2 Vidding related items that need to be passed on. Firstly, festivids! This looks like so much fun so I'm going to be throwing myself at it. The principle is similar to yuletide but it's for vids which is doubly awesome. I cannot wait to see all the potential rare fandom vids to come out of it. Very exciting.

These are my own nominations. I couldn't vid some of these myself but I'd love to see them get done by others more able.

Bionic Woman - 2007 (TV)
Blackadder (series) (TV)
Fringe (TV)
Survivors - 2008 (BBC, TV)
United States Of Tara (TV)
Birds Of Prey (TV)
Jericho (TV)
Animaniacs, Pinky & The Brain (TV)
Phoenix Nights (TV)
Prime Suspect (TV)
Blackpool (TV)
Tipping The Velvet (mini series)
Mary Poppins (film)
West Side Story (film)
Thelma & Louise (film)
Dead Like Me (TV)
Americas Next Top Model (TV)
So You Think You Can Dance (TV)
Collateral (film)
The Goonies (film)

Secondly, I was the focus of October's vidder profile edited by bradcpu for vid_commentary.

The profile includes excerpts from the following vids (in order of appearance):

"Seven Nation Army" (Multi), VVC 2009
"Angel With An Attitude" (Pushing Daisies) Feb. 2008
"Smile" (BtVS/AtS) 2004 (2009 remaster)
"Still Breathing" (BtVS/AtS) June 2007
"Unnatural Selection" (Multi) March 2009
"Club Foot" (Life On Mars) May 2006
"Protege Moi" (Supernatural) October 2006
"Candleburn" (Firefly) September 2006
"Birth of a Geisha" (Memoirs of a Geisha) April 2007
"Tanglewood Tree" (Fingersmith) VVC 2008
"Boom Boom Ba" (Xena) October 2004
"Mambo Italiano" (Alias) July 2006
"I'm Your Man" (Multi) July 2008
"No Bravery" (Troy) Sept. 2005

Follow for streaming and download link.

Other vidders covered in the profile series so far are:
kiki_miserychic - August
bananainpyjamas, aka dragonchic - September

And now I shall love you and leave you.

bop_radar has posted a poll in vidukon to gauge interest in another one happening in 2010/2011. If you are interested in attending a vidding con in the UK then head on over there. [poll]

I'm going this time!

Vidukon's website

ebonypsyche has posted a commentary for my vid "Weak" (Faith/Buffy AU. Made in 2004) over at vid_commentary.

For an older vid of mine to get such attention as been a surprising morale booster.

kiki_miserychic has posted a vid commentary for Unnatural Selection at vid_commentary. It's insightful and it has gifs! \o/

Unnatural Selection by charmax, commentary by kiki_miserychic

There is an interesting new vidding community vid_the_grid!

vid_the_grid is based on the numerous fic prompt table communities that you can find all over LJ. But why should authors have all the fun? In this community, the idea is to extend the fun to vidders too.

I've decided to join up seeing as there is no time limit. It should be fun.

1.	80's music	2.	humour/crack	3.	advertisement	4.	fun/happiness
5.	angst/sadness	6.	no lyrics	7.	secondary characters	8.	Romance/love
9.	black & white	10.	Something different	11.	colours	12.	vidder's choice

It's going around the flist.

Your software:
AE CS3, Photoshop CS3. For a few months I was using Premiere Pro CS3 but I just couldn't get it to behave well so I eventually conceded defeat and returned to good old reliable 1.5

Favourite video:
The answer to this question is always my next video because I'm full of excitement about its potential and haven't had the chance to fuck it up yet.

Least favourite video:
Everything truly appalling is offline now, hopefully. I think there may be some stragglers on Youtube.

A video that got surprisingly good feedback, but you are not completely satisfied with it:
I wasn't sure anyone would be interested in a Merlin vid that wasn't Merlin/Arthur so in that sense "It's Not Over Yet" went over better than I thought and there are definitely a couple of sections in that I wish I'd fine tuned. Also I was amazed to find someone wanted to use "Weak" as the subject of a vid commentary because I'd forgotten all about it.

A video you like a lot that didn't get the good reaction you were expecting:
Generally I'm happy with the level of response my vids get. I am much more often pleasantly surprised than I am disappointed. "Mainstream" was very close to my heart so I suppose it would've been nice for it to have had more attention, then again I've had a flurry of comments for that lately so I shouldn't complain. "Boogie Wonderland" missed its audience I don't think people could get beyond the uncool disco to see what was underneath. It's still a vid I'm very proud of in terms of internal motion and it's something I specifically focussed on and tried to draw attention to.

Best song/video combo (the song you chose was just perfect for the theme):
Without being too egotistical I pride myself on making the right song choices. Not necessarily songs that I would have on my ipod but that are just right for that character or show. I can't pick out one specifically.

Video you had the most fun with:
"Smile" was remastered for More Joy Day and it was an absolute joy to do. I reconnected to source I hadn't looked at for quite a while.

Video you had trouble editing because of the song:
My two Spike Sweet Charity vids were initially problematical. I had trouble visualising them at first.

A video you'd like to remaster:
I would remaster "Tears And Rain" but James Blunt is such a cliché now I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. Also it might be interesting to have another bash at "Weak."

Most inspired sequence you made:
I don't usually think of my vids like that so I don't think I can come up with an answer for this one.

Movie/show you have most enjoyed using for a video:
The superheroes footage for "Destiny Calling" was a delight to work with. I also look forward to using more T:SCC in the future.

Pet peeves (stuff you often see around in vids that makes you go wtf):
Just my opinion, ymmv etc.

-Jumping on an aesthetic or effects bandwagon without really thinking about whether it's appropriate or necessary for a particular vid, examples are grungy textures, acid colours, masking. To clarify it's not the individual elements, all of which I've seen employed to great effect, it's the mindless following of the trend that rankles.

- I can tolerate network logos but when they start flipping and zooming around the screen it really distracts me.

- The intros born out of the desire to avoid Youtube's copyright software that look more impressive than the actual vid.

- Generic angst. I'm not interested in pretty people suffering just because it looks pretty I want to know why they are suffering.

All my vids can be found here.

I've just posted a vid commentary for greensilver's wonderful Doctor Who vid "Everything's Not Lost."

deathisyourart has posted a poll to gauge interest in a vid commentary comm and when this might be best started, before Vividcon or after?

Political Remix's feed url has changed, you may need to add it again.  

Political Remix Video is running a series of posts featuring vidding. They will be focusing on vids that cover war, race, gender and sexuality. First up is my video "No Bravery."

If anyone wants to follow future posts I have set up a syndicated feed.

Edit: The syndicated url has changed, you may need to add the feed again.

This Youtube Copyright Tutorial needs to be passed along. It worked for me!

Also, I am now at Bam Video Vault. Don't know how long it's going to last...

THE GREAT VIDDING TRUTH MEME is on again this year if anyone wants to give concrit anonymously.

My thread.

You know that second Merlin vid I briefly mentioned here? Well, it's kinda on hold until possibly Vividcon. Heh.

Did everyone see the awesome Charmax tribute/meta-y women and technology vid that counteragent posted yesterday, for more joy? She blinded me with science.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!! I hope it's a great one full of love, good health, wealth and vidding.

oh and I am working on yet another Merlin vid. Must strike while the irons hot. ;)

14 new animated vid related icons.

If you would like to use any of them then please do. Credit charmax. :)

1.2.3.

( cut for the rest )

More vid related icons: here, here and here.


I've submitted my non-attending premiere vid today. YAY!

If there's anything you've ever wanted to ask me (vidding related) then now's your chance. I am this months "Ask The Vidder" over at spnroundtable here. Just don't ask me why season 3 Dean devolved into such a fuckwit.

Hi *waves* yep, it's been some time. I have my new computer, it's all sorted and it's "The Beast" with red flashing lights like a cylon. 'Tis cool. Vista has been absolutly fine since I took off all the extra crap that slows it down. It really is no bother. I had heard all these horror stories before I went and bought it but now I can't see what all the fuss was about. Pfft I say. *g* I think I'm pretty much ready for Vividcon now, Club Vivid and theme show vids have been uploaded and I have a non-attending premieres vid that may or may not be ready in time. Talking of vids, I've been searching around for a better streaming service because Imeen is really not doing much for me anymore. I would even go as far as to say Youtube is better. So, with that, and not finding any other real alternatives (Vimeo and Veoh don't work for me) I have decided to upload my vids there. I will still be keeping Imeem I'm just wanting that extra option.

me @ youtube

ETA: The Beast.

So, my computer has been failing for about 6 months now but over the last 2, things have been dire. I am limping to the finish line with my second Club Vivid vid and then with help from the bank of mom and dad (Max's) I am getting this The Dell XPS 630. It's an awesome monster of a machine! I shall have it in about 2 weeks.

These are the specs:

Base Intel® Core™ 2 Quad-Core Processor Q6600 (2.40Ghz, 1066MHz FSB, 8MB cache)
Microsoft Operating System Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium - English
Memory Memory 3072 MB (2 x 1GB, 2 x 512MB) 800MHz DDR2 Dual Channel
Keyboard Dell™ Enhanced USB Multimedia Keyboard - UK/Irish (QWERTY)
Video Card DUAL 512MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8800GT graphics card
Hard Drive Hard Drive 640 GB (2x320GB) Serial ATA (7200 Rpm) Dual HDD Config. Raid 0 Stripe
Floppy Drives and Additional Storage Devices 19-in-1 Media Card Reader with Bluetooth
Mouse Dell Optical Scroll Premium Mouse
Optical Devices 16X DVD+/-RW (Read/Write DVD, CD)
Sound Cards SoundBlaster™ XFI™ Xtreme Gamer Card
Speakers Dell™ A525 Speakers with Subwoofer

Pretty cool, right?

All emails/comments may be sporadic for the next couple of weeks.

Tagged by the awesome halcyon_shift and I in turn tag every vidder on my flist.

( 15 questions )

by bunnythenavia because I've slacked off the past couple of weeks, from lj. I haven't really been slacking off though I've just not been around as much as I'd like because the vividcon Club Vivid vid making rush has begun. I've signed up for 2 vids again this year and like last year, I didn't get my ideas completely formed until about 3 weeks ago which gives me around 3 1/2 weeks per vid to edit. And although I'm generally a quick vidder, relatively, I am still feeling the pressure. It's my own fault and I usually do work better whilst facing a deadline but anyway, yeah, *bites nails*. So, what am I doing vid wise? Firstly I've got a Torchwood gen one and then there's a Life On Mars/Ashes to Ashes crossover. Both vids make me go yay! but the one song is so fast it's like I need to take speed or something to keep up. The deadline is May but of course they won't be published online until August.

Sweet Charity is starting up again very soon. I don't know if I'll have time to get involved this round but I'm pimping it anyway because it's a good thing and I think everyone of you should consider offering your services. Or at least make a bid.

What else am I doing? We booked a venue last week for our wedding reception and ordered the cake. (Flipping heck, wedding cakes are expensive!) We decided on a large round single tier, ivory ornate icing and ivory flowers on top with green foliage. All quite traditional. Really 8 months isn't so long away. You think "pfft it's so long I'll have plenty of time to arrange everything" but it's really flying by and for most things you have to book up well in advance. It's fun really looking at all the bridal magazines etc. The only thing that's holding me back is the finances. Heh Maxine really dislikes all that kind of preparation and I think she's just about ready to throttle me. :D

So when I'm not vidding or wedding arranging I'm walking around 4 miles a day to get in shape for the big day. Fun ay?