Vividcon report part 1: Thursday and early Friday

[arduinna]

Okay, I'm going to be brave here and actually start posting bits of the con report I've been poking at. Usually when I do this it means I stop adding more, because posted=finished in my brain. And I am nowhere near finished. But I'm hoping the post-every-day thing will keep me going (although I doubt I'll be posting bits of con report every day. I write these things slooooowly.)

Relatedly, I had a few days early on when I was determined to do a review on ALL THE VIDS, because yay streaming omg, but then I realized that, er, it would never actually be finished, because that is way too much. So a regular con report with occasional vid commentary it is.

So!

Thursday, travel day

I love the Thursday, with everyone showing up. Most years you start seeing and hugging people at the airport shuttle, which is just - what a great way to start a con! Even if you don't know them, there's this fannish vibe, and you start talking to them -- I met a few fans that way last year.

I thought I was going to repeat that this year, as there was someone who gave off that fan vibe standing at the shuttle stop when we got there, and I struck up a conversation with her, asking if she was here for Vividcon. She said yes, clearly excited, and we started chatting, but her comments were a titch off, even for someone who'd never been. Which is the point at which I remembered that oh, right, Creation was in town for an SG con, so I said, "Wait, are you here for Vividcon, or Creation Con?" -- Creation, of course. *g* But hey, it's not like I can't wing a convo about Stargate, even if I'm not that interested in actors per se. So we had a very nice chat before she got worried and called her hotel to ask what door she should be at for her shuttle, and then wandered off to Door 3 with a friendly wave because she'd gotten it wrong.

A few minutes later, a small crowd of fans arrived just as the shuttle did, so we had a nice chatty time of it back to the hotel anyway. Then there was the usual room-wrangling, groceries-wrangling (I love the Thursday Dominick's trip for the same reason as the shuttle; you never know who you're going to run into wandering around, but you're almost guaranteed to see at least one fan besides the people you went to the store with), and dinner out, then this year my roommates and I all crashed early. This is really unusual for me at cons; usually I much prefer to socialize as much as I can, since I'm around all these fab people (and what the hell, it's not like I won't collapse after the con even with minimal socializing. May as well earn that collapse!)

But it was probably for the best; it was the only night all weekend I got more than 6 1/2 hours' sleep.

Friday

I'm not even a breakfast person, but I make it to the hotel's breakfast every day; it's a really nice way to start the day, and feels almost like low-key social programming, since much of the con makes it down at some point, and people join various tables as other people clear out, and wander around chatting with each other. (And most folks have their badges on already, because so many of us suck at facial recognition and have to do the face-badge-face thing all weekend, heh.)

Breakfast closes early on Friday, though, so I headed down before showering to try out the new breakfast menu. No waffles. :( There was so much dismay at the lack of waffles. (Spoiler: there were Weekend Waffles on Saturday and Sunday, to great relief.) But the fresh fruit was a really nice addition, and the eggs were better than I remember (possibly helped by the display of things to put on your eggs, like cheese or salsa). Then I headed back up to take a shower, secure in the knowledge that the con starts at 10.

... Except on Friday, when it starts at 9:45. *facepalm* So I totally missed the opening remarks and first raffle. But I made it in time for the first show, which is always some kind of History of Vidding, with nothing set against it. The past few years have all been 10-year anniversaries of one kind or another for VVC, so the History shows have been very inward-focused, including this year.

History of Challenge

Vidshow: History of Challenge
VJ: Greensilver
Description: A look back at the first ten years of the Challenge vidshow.
Playlist: http://vividcon.info/vidshows/190/ (this is easier to read than the Google Doc version; no download links on either version, sorry!)

Some years this is more of a panel with supporting vids, some years it's an even mix, and some years it's mostly a vidshow with some introductory remarks. This year it was the latter, as there was a full slate of representative vids from each year.

This is also going to be the only vidshow where I mention every vid, since I'd already started it before I decided haha no, sanity first. Plus I'd already seen all these vids, which makes it a little bit easier.

(Lines in italics are the VJ-provided blurbs for the program book.)

Vid: So Real
Vidders: Luminosity & Woad Society
Fandom: Angel
2003: Dreams. The first year of challenge

Man, I haven't watched this vid in ages. I was also only ever a casual Angel watcher, so I've lost a lot of the context for the vid's storyline in the past decade, but it brings some of it back. It's gorgeous, and feels dreamlike; the song choice is perfect, and makes me feel like the visuals are all soft flowy edges even when they're really not. The very stark silence and "I love you" as Wes wakes up to Angel starting to smother him is brilliant. And the framing of the vid, with Wes lying in bed falling asleep in the beginning and waking up at the end is just lovely.

Vid: Lucky You
Vidder: kanzeyori
Fandom: The Ring
2004: Luck. The year Challenge scared the crap out of us.

Good blurb, that. I've never seen The Ring; I'm never going to. The vid is mesmerizing, though.

And huh, suddenly I'm thinking about all that VCR imagery, and the sheer physicality of loading that tape and copying it -- the whole feel of that would be so different, if it were a digital format. (... which has nothing to do with the vid, per se, but. Interesting.)

Vid: Walking on the Ground
Vidders: Margie and Seah
Fandom: Multi
2005: Milestones. The year we looked back on fictional milestones, and our own.

Good grief, that was 8 years ago? Wow. Does that count as enough distance to be able to talk about it a bit without being tacky? Hm. Okay, well, I will say that watching it, it felt slow to me; it was never a fast vid (nor meant to be), but some of the long clips we put in at the time knowing they were long and willing to let them linger for Metaphor Or Other Reasons now feel even longer (Monty Python, I am looking at you). But otoh, I was also told during the con that someone else felt it had aged really well and didn't feel slow, so there's that! It was a treat getting to watch people react to it again; the final section went over best, which makes perfect sense to me, as it moves a bit faster and has some fairly fun visuals. (I will never not love the random pink birthday cake -- which cracks both of us up every time, even if no one else is as amused -- and the Eye of Sauron turning into Network 23.)

Vid: It's the End of the World (as We Know It)
Vidder: Keely
Fandom: Harry Potter
2006: Remix. The vid being remixed was Luminosity's Buffy the Vampire Slayer vid to the same song.

I'm not a Harry Potter fan, so this vid doesn't do nearly as much for me as the original did; I was a casual Buffy watcher but watched it all, so got a lot more out of the references in that one. I like the energy of this, though. I feel like some of the lyric matching is a bit too literal ("step down, step down" being someone stepping down two stairs on a staircase, etc.), but that's a personal judgement call; with a song like this, where it's a litany of things rather than a narrative, you need enough literalism to let people hook into the vid repeatedly. My one other quibble is the ending, which I felt was a little weak -- but maybe that's a context issue? It didn't make sense to me, though.

Vid: Faithfully
Vidder: Barkley
Fandom: Supernatural
2007: Faith. The year we had faith in ourselves ... or our cars.

I just adore this vid. I know I would adore it even more if I were a Supernatural fan, hard though that is to believe. I give it all the pink sparkly hearts!! (Seriously, the bit where Dean is off having a fling with the sheriff's car, untrustworthy music man that he is? Heeeeeeeeee)

Vid: Tear You Apart
Vidder: Bradcpu
Fandom: Firefly
2008: FUCK YOU! The year we desperately wanted to fuck you ...

Okay, so, I never watched much Firefly; I know who everyone is, I know the general story, I can follow most vids, but I miss a lot. I also have trouble parsing vids on first viewing in general, and fast vids that bounce all over go whoooosh right over my head unless I watch them repeatedly, which I tend not to do for vids that don't grab me hard. Which this didn't, back in 2008, or even during the History show this year. I heard angry loud music and saw fast visuals and that was kind of it; there's too much going on here for me to be able to hook into the vid easily.

I've just rewatched it, and holy crap. Apparently I've finally seen it enough times to start seeing what's there, because my whole brain went *ping*. This is a seriously creepy incesty non-incest-ship vid, and seriously well-done. The opening, all cold metal and distant space mixed with visceral, intimate-but-clinical organic shots is really effective, and he carries that all the way through. Man, once I finally clicked into this, it grabbed me and won't let go.

Vid: How Much Is That Geisha in the Window?
Vidder: Lierdumoa
Fandom: Firefly
... and invited friends, exes, misogyny, and Joss Whedon to go fuck themselves.

So this is the second of the two vids from the same Challenge vid show (2008, Fuck You!), picked because they were two such different looks at the same source - basically a Doylist vs. Watsonian comparison. Where Brad was not just inside the universe but inside River's head, Lierdumoa is very much outside the universe looking at its flaws.

In 2008, I originally missed a lot of what this vid was about, between somewhat limited exposure to the source, an expectation that vids are going to celebrate a source rather than explicitly critique it, and the fact that the supporting text at the end is way too small to read on a projector screen.

Going into it this year with an actual understanding of the context, it's a really powerful vid, and I would have liked this Firefly a lot more than the original. She did a brilliant job weaving in all the external source to create this better universe. My one real quibble with it is the ending, again; I think the extra added singing badly undercuts her sharp, pointed, direct comment to Joss.

Vid: Swing
Vidder: Mary Crawford
Fandom: Star Trek: TOS
2009: IDIC. The year of infinite combinations.

Oh, I love this vid. <3 Uhura! Uhura in all her awesomeness. Plus everyone else, of course, but mostly Uhura sings and swings her way through this vid in a way that makes me ridiculously happy.

Vid: On the Prowl
Vidders: sisabet & sweetestdrain
Fandom: Multi
2010: Self-Portait. The year we held our characters, our showrunners, and ourselves up to a mirror.

I'm with the vidders on this one for the first part of the vid, but it gets too graphic for me eventually, and by the time it hits the torture porn, I pretty much have my eyes closed. It works for me on a sexy -> disturbing level, though.

Vid: I Swear
Vidders: Dualbunny, Greensilver, Pipsqueak, and sweetestdrain
Fandom: Smallville
2011: Blast from the Past. The year we looked back with nostalgia for times, sources, and catpreg gone by.

Oh, this vid. ♥ In 2011, it was a desperately needed release, after two days of half the con crying all over the place, and the experience of being in that room as this ramped up, and up, and UP, was just incredible. I was shrieking with laughter by the end, and I don't really do that. *g*

This year, the reaction started when Greensilver was going over the list, with people slowly chuckling and laughing more, until someone called out that not everyone had seen the vid yet, so, y'know, and the room quieted down. Then when it aired, we all got to be in a room together watching it again, or for the very first time, and man. Seriously, some vids are just flat-out best as con vids. This is a great, fun vid anywhere, but there is nothing like being in a dark room full of fans all watching it together. I never hit the shrieking point, because nothing was a surprise, but I was still laughing my head off - or more accurately, belly-laughing to beat the band. <3

Vid: Not Done With My Changes
Vidder: Kass
Fandom: Doctor Who (classic and new)
2012: Transformation. The year we transformed physically, emotionally, and looked ahead to transformations yet to come.

This was really interesting to me. Last year, coming at the tail end of a long con, it didn't grab me. I'm not really the audience for spoken-word vids, even though I am a Doctor Who fan from way back. This year, though, coming as it did early in the con, and with some familiarity with the vid, it worked much better for me, which I really hadn't been expecting. Good poem choice!

And that wrapped up the History of Challenge show.

Next up, hopefully, the other Friday morning vidshows.

(... I have no tags for vid reviews or con reports here. Huh, I must always have done them in flummery before. I'll post there linking back to the tag here or something when I'm done.)

Comments

[kass]

This vid show was such a great opening to the con. <3 <3 <3

[arduinna]

It really was - so cool, to look back on all of that!

[aruan]

For what it's worth, I was shown Walking on the Ground about five years ago, and it still gives me that same feeling of excitement at creative rebellion. I think it's a super accessible vid, even for someone not steeped in meta or aware of the hurdles that can be put before fannish creators.

[arduinna]

Oh, thank you, that is lovely to hear! *beams*