#festivids 2024

[theofficialdramallama]

Dear Festividder... (Festivids 2024)

Letter under the cut!

First off - thank you so much for putting your time and effort into making a vid for me~! <3

I love pretty much all aspects of all the fandoms I’ve requested, so I’m sure I’ll be so happy and grateful for whatever vid you create, but here’s some stuff to help if you want a little bit more to go on! My suggestions are just that: suggestions - I love to be surprised! <3

Music:

I would love it that the song is the right one for the vid - I have pretty broad musical tastes and there’s not a lot I don’t like, although I’m less keen on the more electronic/dubstep-y side of dance music. I really like folk music, pop-punk, 90s/00s boybands/girlbands, pop-rock, rock, pop (80s, 90s, 00s and some modern pop), 80s power ballads, singer-songwriters with their own instruments, some country, musical theatre soundtracks, K-Pop and J-Pop… I’m pretty old-school with my music tastes, but honestly I’ll listen to almost anything and if it works for the vid - that’ll make me love the song anyway! A lot of my favourite songs have come from vids <3

General:

I love my ships xD <3 However, general fandom vids are great too <3 Character studies, friendship vids, found-family trope vids, cute vids, sad vids, silly vids, bad-ass vids… They all warm different parts of my heart <3 <3

On to the individual fandoms:

~ Alexa & Katie (TV)

I only discovered this show recently, and I fell for it almost instantly! It's such a heartwarming show that actually deals with pretty serious topics <3 Katie x Aiden was top-tier enemies-to-lovers, so I'd love a vid focusing on them! Other topics could be Alexa and Katie's friendship over the course of the show, and general humour/crack vids! <3

~ Before I Fall (2017) [SAFETY]

This film is *chef’s kiss* <3 I love the time-loop aspect, so anything based around would be great~ A Sam character study would be brilliant, or anything Sam x Kent-related - they are such an underrated ship <3 <3

~ Colin From Accounts (TV)

If you've watched Colin From Accounts, you're one of the good ones! Seriously, this show is so underrated, and now that I've watched season 2 (spoilers ahead!), I'd love vids focused on Gordon and Ashley's developing relationship and their discovery of each other's family, the challenges that they face together, and that s2 cliffhanger! Anything Colin-related would be a hit vid too - I mean, that dog was born for the screen!

~ Dramaworld (TV)

If you know and have watched this show, I salute you! <3 Any vids related to Claire x Joon will be loved <3 <3 S1 vids are welcomed~ I know a lot of people might have simply seen s1 and not s2, and if this is you - go watch s2! It takes everything from s1 and turns it up to 11 with a bigger budget, more ambitious storylines and twists! <3 If we’re including s2 eps, [SPOILERS] angst-filled Claire x Joon break up vids, humour vids, dark vids based around the destruction of Dramaworld itself/Evan’s deception, Joon/Claire character studies... Anything goes!

~ Flight 29 Down

Jackson x Melissa is my ship (sorry Jaylor shippers!) Would love any vids focusing on the two of them, and would also love a Jackson character study vid. Humour vids and vids focusing on the friendship and overall arc of the whole cast’s journey in getting off the island would be great too~! Again, surprise me!

~ If Only (2004) [SAFETY]

Time loops are one of my favourite story tropes, and I love the unique take of having just one loop in the film - Paul Nicholls and Jennifer Love Hewitt were brilliant in their roles! For the vid, I'd love a Ian x Samantha vid - something focusing on the bittersweetness/angst of Samantha's death and Ian having to learn to let her go by sacrificing himself in her place </3

~ The In Between (2022) [SAFETY]

I love this film with a passion~ I’m a sucker for cheesy/overly-dramatic/romantic ghost stories, and this ticks all the boxes. Angsty Tessa x Skylar vids would suit me perfectly, but if you have any other ideas for vids, feel free to make them~! <3

~ The Sarah Jane Adventures

I love SJA so much - it's like a warm, comforting hug! It has such a wholesome vibe to it that I love! I was such a Clyde x Rani shipper during my viewing of the show, and to watch Clyde (spoilers!) admit his feelings for Rani during his Tales of the TARDIS ep was such a validation (still waiting on Rani Takes On The World s3!). Elisabeth Sladen was amazing as Sarah Jane, and a vid focused on her would be great <3 Otherwise, fun, heartwarming vids based around the whole cast and Clyde, Rani, Luke and Maria would all be welcomed <3

~ Schmigadoon! (TV)

First off - if you've watched Schmigadoon, but not Schmicago (Schmigadoon season 2), this is your sign to watch Schmicago right now! Done that? Great, welcome back! xD I love both seasons of this show so much, and the musicals that they lovingly reference <3 Any Josh x Melissa vids focusing on the arc their relationship throughout both seasons would be great! Fun/heartwarming vids featuring the many characters in the worlds of both Schmigadoon and Schmicago would be appreciated, and even fun vids that use some sort of musical OST as the soundtrack would be super!

~ Wreck (TV 2022)

It's the slasher/comedy/mystery show set on a cruise ship (until it wasn't) that stole my heart <3 Seriously, watch this show if you like slashers in any way, and if you've only seen season 1, watch season 2! Jamie x Olly vids, Vivian x Pippa vids and Cormac x Rosie vids would all be brilliant to see! You could lean into the fun slasher/teen horror vibes, delve into the deeper horror of Jamie's arc over the two seasons, or do something completely different - your choice! <3

[kuwdora]

Okay, a late entry for the January posting meme... January 21 - what's one of your favorite fandom related memories? lyntergalactic

I have so many favorite memories, it’s very hard to pick one….. but it is Festivids Eve so I’m gonna talk about my excitement about this vid exchange. Cause it’s my favorite moment right now because I feel like I’m staying up late with milk and cookies waiting for Santa to arrive. I have so many great memories and VID RECS in this long post.

Festivids started in 2009 as a vid exchange for rare fandoms. Which was great because I think a lot of vidders really needed this so we could celebrate and get exposed to a whole bunch of new small and rare fandoms, unheard of media and literary sources that hadn't been really been vidded before.

Each year there’s a guest-the-vidder post, and @bingeling has been great about organizing live watches on discord. Sometimes I miss a few vids here and there during the initial weekend of go-live because it’s SO MANY VIDS, but then I always catch people’s recs or vid posts in the following weeks.

It’s just a joy to keep finding new things that I never realized I wanted and needed in my life because there’s so many interesting media and books out there to make vids for and people’s imaginations and technical skills continue to blow my mind.

Way back in 2009 when I signed up for the very first exchange I got assigned to Sol-se and matched up on the source/fandom that I had introduced her to: Little Mosque on the Prairie. We literally spent weeks months and years talking about Little Mosque on the Prairie, being a fandom of two. AO3 was in its early days yet so there wasn’t even any fic, okay. So when I got matched up, made the vid, the guest the vidder post happened and everyone guessed it was me. Everyone likes to claim that they made all the vids so I said that I indeed did make it, of course I did. Yet I was still able to cast doubt in Sol-se’s mind about whether or not I had made it because?? Who knew, maybe there was someone else who happened to get into the show and make an awesome vid for it. It was very fun hypothesizing with her in DMs about who could have made the vid if it wasn’t in fact me. It all comes back to love.

The first vid I made for Festivids in 2009: All For Swinging You Around.

Little Mosque on the Prairie. Ensemble. LOVE. Y’all I had bought Little Mosque DVDs through the CBC website back in the day and was still learning how to rip things. Aspect ratios. Scan lines. It was a TIME I do not miss. Though I do still have the DVDs and probably could rip them better now.

My other favorite memories from festivids is (aside from all of the vids) are the vids made for ME over the years!

2009 When You’re Strange by colls, a Sanctuary vid featuring music by Echo and the Bunnyman. A++ song choice and Amanda Tapping’s face will always inspire me. Sanctuary did so much with so little and this is such a great vid for a fantastic lil’ genre Canadian show.

2012 Meant to Fly by e-transitions. This is a Modern Family vid focusing on Manny, Gloria and Jay who were my favorite of the extended family on that show. Manny in particular is my favorite! This is Nicki Minaj’s Starships and it’s super sweet and endearing look at family coming together and reaching new heights together. And shenanigans. All of my favorites things.

2013 Fame by chaila (also on tumblr here). This is a vid for the show Transparent and focuses on Maura. Do you know what it’s like to get a gift from someene whose fanworks you have loved and admired for years?? I was so blown away by the cover chaila found for this vid. Mree’s vocals are so evocative and still has this powerful determination in the vocals. It’s really, incredibly moving. I was so lucky to receive a gift like this.

2015 Simple Machine by sol-se. This is for a 2014 webseries called Caper which I can’t even remember how I found. I think I was on an Amy Berg kick and was trying to watch everything she’s written for. The vid focuses on Penny who is an inventor who created a super suit and of course a white dude came along and tried to take credit for all of her inventions and hero’ing, so that’s what this vid follows. The show was incredibly dorky and sweet. Superhero fanfic, low-budget staffed with people who were able to call in a lot of favors for cameos along the way. The show also has Beth Riesfgraf and Harry Shrum, too! Along with a few others.

And of course Solvi delighted in being able to make me a vid for ANOTHER SHOW where we were a fandom of two. :D the vid is great and I have a strong affinity for Guster’s music because I listened to so many of sdwolfpup’s vids with that music when I first started vidding.

2019 I GOT SIX VIDS in 2019. I pretty much cried when go-live happened because??? How??? I guess I just had really appealing requests that year. So let me tell you about them.

Little Lion Leo by turquoisetumult. This is for the AMC version of Humans which is a parallel present/scifi show based on the Swedish version of the show Äkta människor. I had actually vidded Leo for the Swedish version but I really really adored Colin Morgan’s portrayal of Leo Elster. Mumford and Sons is such a mainstay in vidding circles and for good reason: the musicality is so gripping and the vocals area always so intense and lovely. That means it’s perfect for Leo and his angst and pain. THE BLOOD! The feelings. Trying to survive with his synth family in a world that wants to end them.

I just rewatched the vid and I immediately want to rewatch the show now, omg. Gemma Chan was extraordinary in the show and the show had a fantastic approach to discussing the the ethics and actual legal standing of artificial humans that I hadn’t other shows touch upon that well.

Raising Hell by bingeling which is a vid for the movie Ready or Not which was one of my favorite movies from 2019. Samara Weaving and that wedding dress getting progressively more fucked up throughout the film as she fucks up the that shitty family?? Kill the bad rich people, those fuckers.Beautiful. Cathartic. This is on top of the well-known fact that I fucking love Kesha’s music (I’ve vidded Kesha 9 times since 2010). Bingeling’s editing here is punchy as hell and this SONG!!!!!!! It makes me crack the fuck up, especially with the lyrics at 1:49. It’s perfect. My heart. My heart. Kesha! Everyone is trying to murder her and she murders them instead. Badass woman with a wedding dress, bandolier and sneakers.

Pity Party by winterevanesce. This is also for Ready or Not. Phenomenal song choice. I have no idea who the artist is and never heard of her before but that doesn’t matter. This song was made for this vid. The editing on this vid is orgasmic. I literally am slack-jawed each time I watch this vid. I cannot emphasize that enough. I love it when people know exactly what I want and need in my vidding soul.

The Middle by turquoisetumult. This is a Fleabag vid! Featuring Fleabag and Fleabag/Priest. It’s a poignant cover of the song, too! It’s so sweet and makes me ache so much for Fleabag because heyooo, shit is hard, esp when you tend to fuck things up along the way. I love how this vid makes want her to do better and have better things in her life. That hope! So good.

When We Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? By starlady. Star Trek Discovery, Mirror Philippa and Michael. This is to Billie Eilish’s song “Bury a Friend” which I had never heard before but it is dark. It is sexy. The tone of the song and the synth-y beats and clicks drive me up the wall with the editing in the vid. Philippa’s sinister competence. That confidence. Starlady and I go way, way back and of course she could make me something that hits ALL OF MY FUCKING BUTTONS. I have long been vocal about how much I love Star Trek and women. And villain women and anti-heroes. Hhhhhnngh. Dark sexy vid of my Empress.

You Should See Me in a Crown, by AurumCalendula. Star Trek Discovery, Mirror Philippa. TO BILLIE EILISH. Because Billie Eilish's music screams Philippa! lmao. Everybody knows exactly what my fucking type is and I AM HERE FOR IT FOREVER. This vid features more of the Mirrorverse episodes and Philippa and HHHHNNGHHHHH. I am so loved by being seen because y’all know me so well. Aurum’s editing always has me glued to the screen. I am also here for Philippa’s face, oh my god. NOTE: Click on the dropbox link in the end notes to stream it. Aurum’s got all their videos private while dealing with some copyright strikes on their account (ugh YouTube).

Those are just the vids made for me. There are many more vids that I have recced for festivids over the years and so much more to come!

The 2023 Festivids Collection currently has 137 fanvids and 111 fandoms right now. A bounty!! Barbie vid! Bottoms1 Cycling RPF?! Vids for books! Hong Kong action films! Janelle Monae and musicals. And more omg.

Festivids. Featuring lots of great fannish memories and great vids. Highly recommend. It's also been a great way for people getting into vidding to make their first vid, too! I love this exchange.

[tafadhali]

End of Year Vidding Meme 2024

It’s time for the annual round up. I know there's a couple weeks left in the year, but unless I'm much mistaken all the vidding I do until then will be for Festivids. [ETA, 12/22: I were wrong!]

I’ve starred co-vids with @periru3!

One, Two, Three Go! (Sense8) *

Teenagers (Dimension 20) [Festivids]

The Unbreakable Katie MaroWITCH (Dropout TV) [Festivids] *

Satisfaction (The Quick and the Dead) [Festivids]

I'm Gonna Make You Love Me (Christine) [Festivids] *

Open Book (Decision to Leave) [Festivids]

Jackrabbit (Catherine, Called Birdy) [Festivids]

The Shape of You (The Pirate) [Festivids]

Boys Keep Swinging (As You Like It) [Festivids]

alone with you inside my mind (Doctor Sleep) [Festivids]

Training Montage (Carrie/Nightmare on Elm Street/Scream)

Linda Ronstadt (The Last of Us)

Obsessed (Rebecca) *

The Queer Gospel (Multifandom)

Bigger on the Inside (Doctor Who) [VidUKon]

Searching for a Former Clarity (I Saw the TV Glow) [Fall Equinox]

My Own Dance (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) [Fall Equinox] *

Spent Gladiator (9-1-1)

FISTMASTIME (Shane Black movies) *

Favourite Vid of the Year: I'm really proud of "Teenagers." I was so pleased with how much movement and energy I was able to get out of a fairly static source, and D20 has been my consuming obsession since last spring, so it came from a real place of love.

Least Favourite: I never want to down-talk my own vids! There's something I love about all of them. I think "alone with you inside my mind" is kind of the oddest vid I made, but its combination of cracky and creepy really landed with some people and I love that I made it — it feels like something no one else would have made.

Vid Most Unappreciated By The Universe: I was so excited to make a vid about my BOY, Buck, and about a current massive fandom, so I would love if more people had watched my 9-1-1 vid.

Most Fun Vid: Hm..."The Shape of You" does have Gene Kelly in hot pants, so that might be the winner, but I also think "One, Two, Three Go!" is infectiously fun.

Vid With The Single Sexiest Moment: If I rule out Gene Kelly's cigarette trick because I just talked up that vid in my previous response, then maybe the sex scene in "Linda Ronstadt"? If a clip that makes me start crying can be considered sexy? The way Murray Bartlett so tenderly touches Nick Offerman's chest 😭😭😭

Most Successful: "Boys Keep Swinging" got a lovely response! And "The Unbreakable Katie MaroWITCH" had the best hits-to-comment ratio, so I feel like it really landed with its target audience, which makes me happy — I completely fell in love with the concept of that vid.

Biggest Vid Fail: I guess the biggest "fail" was not being able to pull together my original concept for my Fall Equinox gift, but it just meant that I focused in on the more out there idea that was really emotionally essential for me to make, so I don't think it really qualifies.

Hardest Vid To Make: "Teenagers" was technically demanding and took a long time to clip, but it was a complete blast to vid. With "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me," I feel like we really used every clip we could possibly use, so that posed its own challenges.

Most Unintentionally Telling Vid: I normally give a pretty glib answer to this question because I think I wear my nerdy obsessions on my sleeve, so no vids really reveal something unintentional about my id, but this year felt like the year I started really processing recent events in my vidding. In 2020, I made a bunch of silly, high concept vids and I needed that escapism — Tess and I literally made a ska vid the month their best friend died. I think it took me until 2024 to start making all kinds of emotionally open vids about processing trauma. A lot of the songs that I vidded this year are simple and emotionally direct and very personal to me: "The Swimming Pool Song," "Linda Ronstadt," "Searching for a Former Clarity," even "My Own Dance."

Last Year’s Goals:

- Finish the damn Buffy vid!

I finished the damn Buffy vid! And I'm really proud of it! I'm so happy Equinox came back and gave me the kick in the pants I needed. As ever, it's a better vid for having made it with @periru3.

- Continue a vid series

I made another vid in my "Screened Out" series, and I'm really happy with it even if it is slightly less historical than some of my queer film history vids.

- Attend VidUKon in person (yay!)

This happened and was so much fun! I can't go every year but I hope I will make it there again in the future. The highlight was finally getting to VJ a show and be present in the room when people watched it!

And this wasn't a formal goal last year, but I am pleased to say that NONE of my main gifts for exchanges this year were het movie vids about blue-eyed white ladies (as every assignment vid I've made for every previous exchange has been, lol).

Goals For Next Year

- Make something that technically challenges me — I don't know what that will look like, but the downside of vidding so many short, simple, emotionally direct songs was making a lot of short, simple, not very technically complex vids!

- Go old school with a fun spoof/cover song! I've been especially into the idea of vidding something bardcore.

- Finish the second 9-1-1 vid I've started drafting and think of an idea (any idea!) that isn't mostly focused on a Buckley.

- "Vid! Album! With! Tessa!" - text from @periru3

[kuwdoravids]

Year in Vidding Review: 2023

Year-end round-up/meme: 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022

April What (Yennefer of Vengerberg) The Witcher Netflix Making of "What" commentary: do it for the process (and for Yennefer!) The Witcher Netflix Mr. Brightside (Jaskier/Geralt/Yennefer) The Witcher Netflix

June Skipping Stones (Fringilla Vigo) The Witcher Netflix

August In Our Wake (Vilgefortz/Geralt) The Witcher Netflix

December [Festivid Assignment] - redacted until reveals! [Festivid Treat] - redacted until reveals!

Review questions under the cut.

Random process notes:

Well, I have been kidding for *counts* 16 years now?? I guess I kind of know what I’m doing when I have a good idea of what a vid is like inside my head. Which is why most of these vids took less than a week to make and none of them were on my actual to-make list that I had written down at the beginning of the year. Flighty ADHD/anxiety brain just latching onto the feelings of the moment and zooming across the timeline until I can call it done. I think I started two non-witcher vids during the year before Festivids but the witcher hyperfixation remains too strong. Everything else falling to the WIP piles. I tried to finish my Moonhaven vid but couldn’t focus. Tried to finish my Green Knight and Blade vids but no, my brain was more interested in writing +70k of fic this year, aha.

Overall thoughts:

HEY I made Festivid stuff! I can vid-non Witcher things! I was really worried there that my brain was just forever stuck on Witcher but! I did it.

Anyway. I really love vidding The Witcher Netflix and keep building up my clip gallery for easy reference for when I can settle in for the next witcher vid. I keep fuck up my exports though because I’m doing everything too quickly and not paying enough attention. So there’s some export-related things and a few minor clips I would have changed if I weren’t caught up in a in a rush. But overall I’m very, very happy with my crop of vids this year.

Favorite Vid:

Most of the time I have upwards of 8-16 vids a year and it’s easier to pick a favorite. When I do so few… they’re all my favorite. For different reasons.

For my Yennefer vid it’s my favorite editing.

For Mr. Brightside it’s my favorite song choice and tone (this is a cover in the style of The B-52s) for Jaskier.

My Fringilla vid — it’s my favorite thing that came together from all of the season footage of her character from seasons 1 and 2 and the song just makes me so happy that it tied everything together for her.

For the Vilgefortz/Geralt vid, oh it’s my favorite because it’s my pure id, heh, and my favorite build/pacing of all my vids.

My festivids are my favorite because I have been wanting to make things them for awhile now but hadn’t had the focus. And then I did!

Hardest to make:

The only thing that was hard was me exporting shitty stuff and not realizing it until days or weeks after I uploaded and crossposted. Anyway. I took my time with my festivid exports so those should look pretty good. Most successful:

They are all successful in my heart. I love them.

My best vid:

Probably my Fringilla or Vilgefortz/Geralt vid. I’m so happy how they turned out.

Most fun vid:

Mr. Brightside. I love playing with Jaskier’s humor with the song choice and the transitions.

Things I learned in 2023:

Mmm, I am still worked up about my fic WIPs and life anxieties that I wasn’t able to do more vidding things that I wanted. As for the projects themselves, I learned that it’s very handy to have a standing clip gallery all labelled and ready for when I want to make my next Witcher Netflix vid.

In 2024:

I always want to be ambitious in the new year but always end up wandering in completely unexpected directions. In any case I would love to finish my Moonhaven vid and get my brain in order to find the last of the Black Sails source I need for a vid idea that has been eating my brain for 4 months now. I also have my Philippa Eilhart Witcher vid I want to make as well as a season 3 Witcher Netflix vid too that’s taking up space in my brain.

[periru3]

End of Year Vidding Meme 2024

Time for the annual round up of vids! Here's a little fun fact about this year: this year marks the most vids I've ever made in a single year (wow!), but if we exclude Festivids, this is actually the fewest vids I've made in a year since before the pandemic! Since I made most of the (way too many) Festivids last year, that means this year has felt kind of unproductive vidding-wise. On the bright side, the reason for that is that I've been busy with good new life stuff! Hopefully this coming year I'll have a little more time for vidding again! (EDIT: I feel a bit better cause I got one more vid made after drafting this post, but I'm gonna go ahead and post now since I don't think I'm pulling another vid out of thin air in the next 6 days.)

I’ve starred co-vids with @tafadhali!

One, Two, Three Go! (Sense8) *

I'm Gonna Make You Love Me (Christine) [Festivids] *

The Unbreakable Katie MaroWITCH (Dropout TV) [Festivids] *

KCIB (Dimension 20) [Festivids]

WTFIGO? (Game Changer) [Festivids]

You Told the Drunks I Knew Karate (Dropout TV) [Festivids]

Body Terror Song (Nimona) [Festivids]

Sucker (Bound) [Festivids]

Waiting for Somebody (Sports Night) [Festivids]

A Better Son (Sports Night) [Festivids]

King of Anything (Overboard) [Festivids]

No Smoke Without Fire (Poker Face) [Festivids]

Favorite Crime (Thoroughbreds) [Festivids]

Obsessed (Rebecca) *

The Golden Rule (Challengers)

Spider (IT Miniseries)

Spider (IT Movies)

Brat Pack 3.0 (IT Miniseries/Movies)

Watershed (Miyazaki Movies) [VidUKon]

Girl Anachronism (Poor Things) [Fall Equinox]

My Own Dance (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) [Fall Equinox] *

FISTMASTIME (Shane Black) *

Favorite Vid of the Year: I'm really happy with so many of the vids I made this year, but my favorite has to be "Watershed." It's an idea I'd had for so long and I was thrilled for the VidUKon themed premiers show to have such a perfect theme for it (creation), which finally prompted me to actually make it. I think it is one of my all-time best song-to-source matches and I'm really proud of my editing on it. It was a joy to make and to have the chance to share at my first in-person vidding con since 2016. I also got a kind comment on it from Vienna Teng, which is honestly a highlight of my vidding career!

Least Favorite: I am proud of all of these vids, but one of the ones I had a lot of trouble with, and was ultimately never 100% satisfied with was "King of Anything." I wanted to critique the dynamics at play in the movie without actively hating on the movie itself, which I really enjoy, and that was a tricky line to toe. The part I struggled with the most was how to end it - I actually originally had a much darker draft that ended with Joanna realizing not only that she was basically abducted, but that she's been in a relationship with her abductor, and then cutting to black on her walking out. I envisioned it as a bit of an AU where you could imagine her realizing "wait, I'm too good for either of these men, fuck all of you, actually," and just getting out, but ultimately the part where the dub-con of it all dawns on her was just way too dark, and that ending had her reading less "independent and strong" and more "betrayed and devastated," so it wasn't working. I'm pretty pleased with what I came up with instead, but I wouldn't say I ever figured out an ending to this that I was totally happy with.

Vid Most Unappreciated By The Universe: So I'll be the first to admit I had a bit of a weird vidding moment there in June when I decided what I needed to make, more than anything in the world, was a third "Brat Pack" vid, and not one but two vids to Bo Burnham's "Spider." But you know what? All three vids slap, and I can only assume that the reason no one has anything nice to say about them is that either a) there isn't actually a big vid market in the IT fandom (something I'm pretty confident is true, given that Taf and I have created 16/19 of the IT works tagged "fanvid" on AO3) so I should never expect a big response to my IT vids, and/or b) the world just isn't ready for the genius of "Brat Pack" or "Spider" or "Brat Pack" or "Spider" or "Brat Pack" or "Brat Pack (Split Screen Edition)." Who knows. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Most Fun Vid: If you'd asked me in February, I would've said it's a toss-up between the four Dropout festivids I made and it'd be hard to imagine something topping those, but actually it's gotta go to "The Golden Rule." I'm so happy to have had a Challengers idea, and also to finally add The Lonely Island to my list of comedy artists I've vidded. This vid is so dumb and I made it in one sitting and I am so unbelievably happy with it. Also gotta give a shout out to FISTMASTIME for this category too. It may be the dumbest thing Taf and I have ever made.

Vid With The Single Sexiest Moment: Well first of all I'll admit to still finding moments of "The Golden Rule" sexy in spite of what a crack vid it is lol. But no, "Sucker" is the obvious winner here. It's probably the sexiest vid I've ever made, which is good since Bound is possibly the sexiest movie ever made. Jennifer Tilly could murder me and I would thank her.

Most Successful: As is frequently the case, one of the vids I spent the least amount of time on was by far my most successful. "Body Terror Song," a vid that came to me in the form of a post-vaccine fever dream and which I made in one sitting while at work later that day, is the most popular vid of the year for me, going by kudos, which was honestly a big surprise to me! I was pleased with my concept for the vid, and I knew the song/movie combo really resonated for me and my personal experience of gender, but I wasn't super sure as I was making it how well it would land for others. Also pleasantly surprising to me is that going by comment threads, "The Unbreakable Katie MaroWITCH" is another contender for most successful!

Biggest Vid Fail: My credits for "The Golden Rule" say "Lonely Island (ft. Lady Gaga)" when it should be "The Lonely Island (ft. Justin Timberlake and Lady Gaga)," something which I'm SURE no one else cares about, but bugs me every damn time I watch it. Truly I don't ever think of the name as having a "the" in it and I honestly forgot Justin Timberlake wasn't just fully a part of the band. Drives me crazy, so annoyed.

Hardest Vid To Make: Well I've already talked at length about my conceptual difficulties with "King of Anything," so I guess I'll say "Girl Anachronism" for this. This is one where the song idea came to me so quickly, and the first verse was fairly easy to vid, but for whatever reason I got very stuck after that. I think partly I was worried this idea only worked because of the obvious thematic match of the title but that there wasn't anything beyond that that I really wanted to say. I think I got past that hump eventually, and do think the lyrical matches I found go beyond just the title, but the whole vidding process for this one was a bit teeth-pulling-esque for a while there.

Most Unintentionally Telling Vid: I already touched on it, but look, I'm just your average angsty NB who would sell their soul for the power to shapeshift, so yeah, when I first heard the Body Terror Song it struck a really specific chord with me, despite not being explicitly about gender or dysphoria, and then years later when Nimona came out, it struck a very similar chord. This was a cathartic vid to make, and is definitely my most personal of the year. I'm sure when I get around to finally vidding I Saw the TV Glow it will be equally telling.

Last Year’s Goals:

Get experimental with premiere! Download new effects and transitions and play with the stuff already in there I've never used. I would say the most out of the box things I did this year editing wise were animation and masking in credits and creative deployment of black and white......... neither of which are new elements in my vidding so I'm gonna say I did not do this one. Oh, though I guess I did expand my text-animating fun into the vids with KCIB and WTFIGO? so that counts!

Make the epic Sense8 vid I've been planning. I clipped for it, does that count?

Make at least 2 of my BNL-Sitcom vids. Nope. Not even one. Haven't made one since Odds Are. I've made some progress on my Good Place one though. Or actually maybe I haven't made progress on that since 2023, it's hard to recall. Oops.

Finish the Buffy vid Taf and I started working on months ago and then promptly abandoned. Done!

Attend VidUKon in person!!!!!!! Done! Flight cancellations and train delays tried their darnedest to prevent it, but I DID do this one!

Make at least one vid that is not primarily character-focused. This would be a vid that is more about a place, imagery, or a theme than a character, ship, or ensemble. Done! Watershed for sure counts for this!

Goals For Next Year:

Continue to challenge myself with new editing styles, tools, or techniques.

Actually make the epic Sense8 vid I've been planning.

Let's lower the bar: 1 BNL-Sitcom vid.

Vid album with @tafadhali!!!

Post something every month? Is that crazy? I don't know exactly how busy and stressful my spring is going to be yet, but I'd LOVE to post a vid every month. Or maybe make at least 11 non-Festivids vids? I don't know, basically be more productive than this year, despite this being, by the numbers, my most productive year ever. The numbers are lying.

Add a new musical comedian to my vidding repertoire! Options include, but are not limited to, Garfunkel & Oates, Flight of the Conchords, Weird Al, Tom Lehrer, and Tim Minchin. (I had Tom Cardy on this list when I drafted this post, but I actually made a Tom Cardy vid for Christmas, so I already feel accomplished in this area!)

Remaster (or possibly remake) a vid or two from 2015 to celebrate a decade of vidding (probably The General and/or Love Is Endless). At the very least I think they deserve to be remastered, but more than that, I think it'd be fun to see how I'd do those vids differently with a decade more vidding experience (and more canon to draw from in the case of Steven Universe), because I am a person who enjoys returning to old work as a way of procrastinating working on any of the 108 new ideas I have written down.

[grupo-enmascarada-carnaval]

La antigua conservera Agramar se convertirá en el escenario principal del Carnaval 2024 en Arrecife. Todos los concursos y actos multitudinarios de la festividad carnavalera van a centralizarse en la zona, ha destacado el ayuntamiento a La Voz. Quedan pocas semanas para que comience el Carnaval en la isla y ya se ha empezado con

[girlfailure-anita]

Dear Festividder... (Festivids 2024)

Thank you most kindly for creating a video for me! I really appreciate your time and effort :)

General: I am such a shipper, but watch just about anything for a fandom. From crack to character studies to AUs to friendship/family vids. I have omnivorous taste. In fact, one thing I miss from early YouTube days were the trailer AUs, where the audio for a movie would be the basis of the vid (examples: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXzMFMhi3tg or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTV6ubfQJcI ). That was such a marvel to me as a teen and really inspired my love of vidding. 

Music/Audio: If it fits the tone of the video, then it is the right one. Anything old or new, popular or niche, original or cover. It doesn’t even have to be music, as seen above. If it inspires the work, please feel free to use it. I have discovered countless songs bc of fanvids and I love works from genres I rarely stray into.

I have one caveat: If you want to utilize the dialogue of the fandom/content in your work, I do prefer instrumental pieces. I’m just really sensitive to when lyrics and dialogue overlap, even when there are subtitles, and find it difficult to discern between them otherwise.

Individual Fandoms

Willow (2022)- Wow, I love women. The show getting cancelled was one thing, but removing it from the streaming service was truly evil. Just about anything related to this fandom would do, but I prefer the characters Dove/Elora, Kit and Jade. If you wanna make any shipping content (some f/f? 👀👀👀), I’d be down. 

Road to Avonlea (TV Show)- If you feel up to vidding this show, I would accept anything, though I have always been more of a Izzy/Felix girl. And it would be nice to see something that wasn’t Gus and Felicity... But if that is what speaks to you, create to your heart's content!

Spy (2015) [SAFETY]- I worked at a movie theatre when this came out and saw the end before seeing the beginning. Because of that, I am full in on Susan Cooper/Rick Ford, though any ship would do. I really enjoy the music from this film as well (Mika, Verka Serduchka, Gin Wigmore, etc) so if it was utilized in the creation process, it would be super cute!

Stardew Valley (Video Game)- I kinda just put this here because I could. I know this would be especially difficult to vid, but just about anything with any farmer/bachelor/bachelorette/townsfolk. If you wanna be more specific though, I enjoy Harvey, Leah, and Willy the most. You could even include mods if you want. Possibly getting to see the opportunities in vidding is why this is here.

Annihilation (2018 Garland) [SAFETY]- An incredible film with a lot of interesting characters and techniques that could be explored through a vid. I really enjoyed the five women’s relationship/dynamic, but anything is on the table for this: from something more mellow to playing into the body-horror.

Pushing Daisies- Kristen Chenoweth as Olive was certainly my favourite part of this show, but I found the characters and atmosphere incredibly charming. I think something beyond Chuck/Ned shipping would be nice to see, especially because I didn’t really care for them as a couple. I was always holding out hope for Olive/Ned. That said, I really liked Chuck as an individual and was excited to see her personal story lines taking off beyond Ned. Also Lee Pace as Ned was such a performance! Anyways-- Please feel free to make something that speaks to you. Because if you enjoy making it, I will enjoy watching it :)

[tafadhali]

Most Listened 2024

Spotify Unwrapped may capture which songs I literally listened to the most this year, but my annual Most Listened playlist captures more the ~*~vibe~*~. It's the songs I discovered or rediscovered this year that I just kept coming back to — here's my abridged version of that list:

Thrash Unreal // Against Me (2007) - Against Me is one of my perennial most-listened-to bands and so each year I'm cycling through a new favorite to have on repeat. This song — in addition to having a pounding beat that makes you want to scream along to it — is the only Against Me song my local karaoke bar has in its catalog so I've played it on repeat on many a long car ride.

Wax & Wane // Alana Henderson (2013) - This was definitely a Spotify suggestion that I immediately latched on to. Love the cello and love its lyrical dexterity. It kind of reminds me of my favorite filk? (In a good way!)

Hands Clean // Alanis Morissette (2002) - I've been getting more into Alanis over the past few years and, as is clear from this list, I 👏 love 👏 a bitter 👏 breakup 👏 song

Happier Than Ever // Billie Eilish (2021) - I LOVE A BITTER BREAKUP SONG. But also this is one of @periru3's go to karaoke songs and after hearing them absolutely fucking kill it week after week, I needed to listen to the real deal. Still think the best way to hear this song is in a crowded bar with Tessa singing but that build!! Something about the simplicity of a line like "'Cause that shit's embarrassing, you were my everything / And all that you did was make me fuckin' sad" really gut punches me.

Pink Pony Club // Chappell Roan (2024) - Finally actually listened to this like a week ago and it is an earworm! I should listen to literally everyone in my life and listen to more Chappell Roan.

No Smoke Without Fire // James Hunter (2006) - This is my favorite track from an album I listened to for my music recommendation algorithm job in 2006, and I've gotten back into it in a big way since P3 vidded it for last Festivids. He has a great retro sound.

I Hung My Head // Johnny Cash (2002) - The best thing about Johnny Cash's American Recordings is there are so many of them and I can (re)discover a new track every year or two that will completely take over my brain. My favorite country songs are full of doom and meaningless violence, and these lyrics are a master class of using passive language to avoid blame while still being overwhelmed by guilt: "My brother's rifle / Went off in my hand." Had no idea this was written by Sting until just now, lol.

Not Like Us // Kendrick Lamar (2024) - I am not immune to the zeitgeist.

Divorce Song // Liz Phair (1991) - This came on in the background and I was listening casually until the combination of deadpan and just absolutely crushing lyrics took the air out of my lungs: And the license said you had to stick around / Until I was dead / But if you're tired of looking at my face / I guess I already am."

Strawberry Blond // Mitski (2013) - This song is totally lovely but also I'm weirdly obsessed with the phrase "strawberry blond" so I was very susceptible.

Amy aka Spent Gladiator // The Mountain Goats (2012) - Listened to a ton of Mountain Goats this year, as always, but this is the one I vidded!

bad idea right? // Olivia Rodrigo (2023) - This is NOT the one I vidded but it is the song that made me realize my love of "brutal" might not be a fluke, but that I might actually just enjoy Olivia Rodrigo — as long as she's in upbeat, bratty mode. The music video for this really hooked me with its '90s vibes and attitude.

Voice in My Throat // Pearl and the Beard (2009) - Heard this one on Ame's character playlist for the Worlds Beyond Number podcast and loved the harmonies.

The Ballad of Lucy Gray Baird // Rachel Zegler (2023) - This one literally did make my Spotify playlist. I feel like I may have listened to this more than anyone alive, but — as you know — I love a bitter breakup song AND I love a dark folk ballad. I also rewatched and reread all of Hunger Games this year, which helped keep the soundtrack in rotation.

Buy You a New Attitude // Tianna Esperanza (2023) - Never going to stop discovering music through NPR, lol. The whole album is good but I love the jazzy sound and swagger of this track.