Vidding Workshop!

[chaila]

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!

Comments

Meet the Vidder: kiki_miserychic

[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.

Re: Meet the Vidder: kiki_miserychic

[garrideb]

The scene you mention from Millennium that inspired you - was it similar to a fanvid, like a montage? Or just a really gorgeous shot that you wanted to set to music? I'm curious how it's linked to your vidding style.

Thinking "I could do better" might be kinda rude, but I relate! ;-) It was part of what got me into polishing up my comics scans to make shinier comic vids. Since then I've seen comics vids that put mine to shame, but hey, if hubris got me to actually make something, I can't be too hard on myself!

I just watched your Teen Wolf zombie AU vid - I'm only on the second season so I try to avoid spoilers but an AU vid seemed safe (and it was!). It took me a second to recognize the music, and then I started laughing. Great vid! I loved how you paired Stiles playing cards while zombies raged outside - it seemed to fit the boredom/horror mix of a zombie apocalypse. Could you talk a bit about your choice of song and the choice to vid in black and white?

Re: Meet the Vidder: kiki_miserychic

[kiki_miserychic]

The scene is closer to a music video than anything. It's set to Patti Smith's Horses, which is nearly 10 minutes long, so imagine a woman going crazy over the course of 10 minutes with all sort of imagery kind of like a montage. I can't find it online, but I e-mailed someone who might have it, so I'll upload it if I can because it's great to watch. Back then I don't think there was anything like it happening on tv.

I used to go through phases where I thought all my vids were garbage, then I'd think they were good, then I'd go back to thinking they were garbage. I've made peace with it I think.

I love using instrumentals of well known songs for vids. And strings always get me. I actually vidded for a Big Bang where a writer sent me their fic and I created the vid around the story. The song choice came from the fic. There was a line in it that played on the song "it's the end of the world as we know it" that was later edited, but I stuck with the song because it fit the tone. I've used Vitamin String Quartet covers for other vids and enjoyed it. There's something beautiful about strings.

I went with black and white to even out the different looks of the source. I toyed with using a red overlay, but went with classic black and white. I changed a lot of the level, brightness/contrast, saturation, etc. to make it look even. It would have been even more difficult with color and I was working on a deadline. Black and white worked technically and thematically.

The fic Endure and Survive (To the Edge of the Universe and Back).