beatriceeagle

VID: A Kind of Brother

Sun, 22 Oct 2023 19:51:19 GMT

Title: A Kind of Brother
Fandom: Critical Role
Music: "Blood Brothers" by The Tyde
Summary: Recipe for lifelong friendship: 1 part screaming, 1 part crying, 1 part stupid jokes, 3 parts revolution. An Empire Kids vid.
Warnings: None!
Notes: Thanks to Jetpack Monkey for encouraging and reviewing.

AO3 | Tumblr | YouTube

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VID: Here Comes the Night

Fri, 03 Feb 2023 03:32:21 GMT

Title: Here Comes the Night
Fandom: Batman (Comics)
Music: "Here Comes the Night Part II" by Arcade Fire
Summary: You hurt yourself again, along with all your friends. A Bruce Wayne character study.
Warnings: Graphic violence; parental death; child abuse.

AO3 | Tumblr | YouTube

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My Year in Vids 2022

Sat, 07 Jan 2023 02:42:20 GMT

It's a little late, but we're still in the first week of January, so I think I can still do this.

Would've Been You | Multifandom (ships that weren't endgame)
watchingyou | Agents of SHIELD (the AIDA arc)
Die Young | Multifandom (CW, WB, and UPN shows)
Breakaway | Disney movies
Let Me Live | Multifandom (women in refrigerators)
Color and Light | Rian Johnson films
seven | Psych (Shawn and Gus friendship)

And, of course, the Star Trek vid album, Blame It on the Stardust. The album comprises 15 vids, 13 of which were publicly posted for the first time this year.

I also completed two vids that I haven't posted yet for various reasons.

My favorite video this year (of my own)
I'm honestly not sure I can pick one. It's probably one of "watchingyou," "They're Coming Back for Me," or "Breakaway."

Least favorite
I'm not a big fan of the song "Old Flames" (from the vid album) and I think it shows in the vid. It's still a neat idea, and there are some visual matches I like, but I think you can kind of tell that I just wanted that one over and done with.

Most successful
"Praying," from the vid album, just beating out "Rainbow" by a couple dozen views. It's (in my opinion) a good vid about a character and a relationship that people have a lot of feelings about, so I'm not surprised.

Video most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion
"watchingyou" is really fucking good, but it's also on a very niche subject. If you like stories about evil AIs with very understandable motives, maybe give it a try!

Video with single sexiest moment
Pick a shot, any shot, from the "sexy dancing" section of "Die Young."

Most fun to make
"Die Young" was SO MUCH WORK, but I also amused the hell out of myself with every single clip I placed.

Hardest video to make
Honestly, it might be "They're Coming Back for Me." It's a very long song, and in places a very weird song, and the point I was making with it is not necessarily an inherently visual one, and it pulls on a lot of lesser-known Star Trek episodes. I pushed myself to all sorts of places while making that vid, and it went through a lot of lesser versions. (This is where I need to thank my beta, without whom it simply would not have existed.)

Runner-up: "seven," a vid where I was actively working against the tone of the most of the source material, but by trying to make it more earnest and sentimental, which is, it turns out, really difficult.

Most unintentionally *telling* video
I think they're all telling, this year.

Things I've learned
I learned a lot of tricks in Motion (which I promptly forgot) to make the binary effect in "watchingyou." I learned how to create a soft focus effect for "seven." I learned better methods for quickly editing comics for comic vids. I learned that SOMEONE MADE UPSCALES OF DS9 AND VOYAGER, and now I'm having to stop myself from remastering my Star Trek vids.

Things to work on
Better motion.

Resolutions for 2023
I want to try new things, both structurally and technically. And I'd like to make a few more single-subject vids—I feel like I've gotten very focused on multifandom lately, but the few single-subject vids I made this year were some of my favorites.

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VID: seven (Psych)

Fri, 09 Dec 2022 17:13:53 GMT

Title: seven
Fandom: Psych
Music: "seven" by Taylor Swift
Summary: Shawn, Gus, and the enduring power of childhood friendship.
Notes: Thanks to absternr for the beta!
Warnings: None, I think!

AO3 | Tumblr | YouTube

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VID: Color and Light (Rian Johnson films)

Wed, 30 Nov 2022 02:45:20 GMT

Title: Color and Light
Fandom: Rian Johnson films
Music: "Low" by Coldplay
Summary: "The movies you're dressing like were copying other movies."
Notes: DOES NOT contain any footage from Glass Onion.
Warnings: Suicide, violence, partial nudity

AO3 | Tumblr | YouTube

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Mon, 25 Jul 2022 15:57:58 GMT

I'm participating in the Woman's Place vid auction, if anyone wants to bid on me or any of the other awesome vidders. Proceeds go to the National Network of Abortion Funds.

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VID: Die Young (CW, WB, and UPN)

Sun, 10 Apr 2022 01:54:30 GMT

Title: Die Young
Fandom: CW, WB, and UPN shows
Music: "Die Young" by Kesha
Summary: Oh, what a night.
Notes: Premiered at Fanworks Mini-con 2022. Thanks to thirdblindmouse and my sister for their help brainstorming and finding clips.
Warnings: Quick cuts and depictions of drowning.

AO3 | Tumblr | YouTube

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Blame It on the Stardust: A Star Trek Vid Album

Sun, 20 Mar 2022 20:05:37 GMT

Title: Blame It on the Stardust

Fandom: Star Trek (all series)

Music: Rainbow by Kesha

Summary: Sorry if you're starstruck, blame it on the stardust.

Notes: This vid album is three years in the making. Over that time, a lot has changed in the Star Trek landscape (I think anyone looking at "Boogie Fleet" or "Let 'Em Talk" or "Mm Yeah" would be able to tell that the first drafts of those vids were made in 2019.) But Star Trek remains its beautiful, optimistic, strange, humanistic, flawed self, and I hope that I've captured that. Some of the vids in this album are silly, some are serious, some are celebratory, some are critical. Rainbow is a beautiful and eclectic album, and Star Trek is a beautiful and eclectic franchise, which is why (I hope) they go so well together.

Blame It on the Stardust would not exist, or would exist in a deeply inferior form, without the support and commentary of aceofwands, thirdblindmouse, LittleRaven, dirty_diana, and my wife and sister. Thank you so much to everyone who helped in the creation of this project.

Warnings: See warnings for individual vids below.

AO3 | Tumblr | YouTube

Plus, a Vulcan bonus track! (Password is "loseit.")

Track Listing and Links to Individual Vids:

Boogie Fleet: Join Starfleet! It's a non-stop dance party!

Let 'Em Talk: Don't listen to those Starfleet drones! Dance your own way!

Mostly Tame: Julian and Garak are in love! What can possibly go wrong?

Everything Stops: The single-episode love stories of Star Trek.

Can't Hold a Candle: Starfleet captains in love with their ships.

Finding You: Kirk/Spock in every universe.

Rainbow: A Sylvia Tilly character study.

Praying: Some things only God can forgive. (Kira and Dukat)

Learn to Let Go: A Ro Laren character study.

Hunt You Down: Starfleet really, really, really wants the Maquis to stay.

They're Coming Back for Me: Fuck the Prime Directive.

Don't Let the Bastards Get You Down: A vid for the underserved and screwed-over characters of Star Trek.

Mm Yeah: Fifty years of women in, and despite, Star Trek.

Blame It on the Stardust: This is a hymn for the hymnless.

Content Notes:

Boogie Fleet - quick cuts
Let 'Em Talk - quick cuts
Mostly Tame - violence, torture, domestic violence
Everything Stops - minor character death
Can't Hold a Candle - none, I think!
Finding You - quick cuts, major (temporary) character death
Rainbow - flashing lights
Praying - character death, implied sexual assault, violence, flashing lights
Learn to Let Go - character death, torture, violence
Hunt You Down - minor character death, violence, mild gore, flashing lights
They're Coming Back for Me - death, violence
Don't Let the Bastards Get You Down - major character death
Mm Yeah - major character death, violence, sexual assault, flashing lights
Blame It on the Stardust - quick cuts, violence
Emotional - death, violence, alien blood, quick cuts

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VID: watchingyou (Agents of SHIELD)

Sun, 27 Feb 2022 03:14:15 GMT

Title: watchingyou
Fandom: Agents of SHIELD
Music: "Every Breath" by Dennis de Laat
Summary: I learned it by watching you.
Notes: AIDA/Ophelia's arc in season 4.
Warnings: Quick cuts, flashing light, moving text on screen. Graphic violence (including burning flesh), death, sexual assault.

AO3 | Tumblr | YouTube

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VID: They Give It Away (DC Comics)

Sun, 03 Oct 2021 17:29:39 GMT

Title: They Give It Away
Fandom: DC Comics
Music: "Lost Kitten" by Metric
Summary: Don't say yes if you can't say no.

Notes: Premiered at Fanworks 2021.
Warnings: Rape/sexual assault, graphic violence, character death, references to underage sex work, misogyny, misogynoir.

YouTube | AO3 | Tumblr

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VID: They'll Be Waiting at the Lab (The Good Place)

Thu, 17 Jun 2021 15:48:21 GMT

Title: They'll Be Waiting at the Lab
Fandom: The Good Place
Music: "Buzzer" by Dar Williams
Summary: The Good Place: Where everything's made up and the points matter so, so much.
Warnings: Flashing lights/quick cuts and one shot of cartoonish gore.

YouTube | AO3 | Tumblr

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VID: On Fire (Farscape)

Sat, 15 May 2021 20:29:47 GMT

Title: On Fire
Fandom: Farscape
Music: "Sex on Fire" by Kings of Leon
Summary: Farscape: It's just leather all the way down.
Warnings: Sex, sexual assault, nudity, character death, quick cuts.

YouTube | AO3 | Tumblr

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Fri, 15 Jan 2021 21:46:33 GMT

My wife and I are moving at the beginning of February, so I'm packing. Endlessly. Whenever I move, there's always some TV show that I watch during packing/unpacking, and this time it's Sports Night.

Took me three and a half episodes to pack up the big bookshelf. Two more bookshelves left. Then I can move on to things that aren't books.

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VID: You Can Make It Easy On Me (Multi)

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 00:26:50 GMT

Title: You Can Make It Easy On Me
Fandom: Multi
Music: "The Mother We Share" by CHVRCHES
Summary: It's you and your siblings against the world.
Warnings: Blood, death, death of a child, child abuse, suicide.

AO3 | Tumblr | YouTube

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Thu, 31 Dec 2020 19:19:26 GMT

I'm trying to write Bat Family fanfiction but with, you know, plot. And this is reminding me just how much plot is my arch nemesis in writing.

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My Year in Vids (2020)

Fri, 25 Dec 2020 17:11:28 GMT

Mm Yeah | Star Trek TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY, ENT, DIS (women in Trek)
Burn, Burn, Burn | A:TLA (Zuko character study)
Little Gods | Titans (intergenerational trauma and found families)
Kill For You | Titans (Hank/Dawn critique)
Get This Feeling | Multi (queer rep in children's TV)
Under My Skin | Multi (traumatic injury in sci-fi/fantasy)
Waiting | Batman Comics (Alfred Pennyworth character study)
Oblivion Upon Us | DC Comics (the existential terror of DC's continuity reboots)

Plus six vids for the Star Trek vid album that I haven't released yet, and one Festivid vid that hasn't been revealed yet.

My favorite video this year (of my own)
Little Gods. Titans is a really visually rich source for vidding—tons of visual matching, a lot of intentional visual metaphors—even if it's too damn dark to see, sometimes. I'm really proud of some of the visual matches and sequences I was able to make with that vid, and I'm still really obsessed with the themes that I was examining.

Least favorite
Waiting is the first comics vid I've ever made, and I'm still not able to get the visual effects that I want out of still images. There are sequences in that vid that I like a lot, and I think that I got better in Oblivion Upon Us, but this is still an area where I'm finding my footing.

Most successful
Burn, Burn, Burn (everyone loves Zuko) but I suspect that Get This Feeling will surpass it at some point.

Video most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion
Kill For You is my least watched vid ever, but that's what happens when you vid a couple no one cares about in a show not that many people watch. I do think it's a good vid, though! But also, Under My Skin has under 100 views, and I think that's a great vid.

Video with single sexiest moment
Kill For You, technically, but it's in a context where the sexiness is being heavily critiqued. Honestly, I find the shot in Little Gods where Dick zips up Kory's dress to be unbearably sexy, but I'm probably biased.

Most fun to make
Get This Feeling pretty much made itself, and even the part of vidding that I usually dread, source acquisition, was fun, because I got to do all this research on queer rep in children's TV.

I also had a lot of fun making my Festivid this year, but shhhh, that's a secret.

Hardest video to make
Technically, it was Waiting. So many word bubbles to erase. But emotionally, I almost gave myself a panic attack while making Little Gods.

Most unintentionally *telling* video
Little Gods.

Things I've learned
I learned the basics of comics vidding. I learned how to erase credits text from clips. For Under My Skin, I spent a full day figuring out how to track a mask to a moving object (for a single two-second-long shot, no less). For the first time ever, I edited music to be shorter/more applicable to my vid. I used sound from the source video for the first time ever.

Things to work on
I want to get better with comics vidding, since I have a feeling I'll be doing more of it. And I'm always in search of better match cuts and movement.

Resolutions for 2020
FINISH THE STAR TREK VID ALBUM.

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VID: Oblivion Upon Us (DC Comics)

Tue, 22 Dec 2020 22:46:04 GMT

Title: Oblivion Upon Us
Fandom: DC Comics
Music: "Oblivion" by Bastille
Summary: Are you going to age with grace? The existential terror of DC's cosmic reboots.
Warnings: People fading from existence, major reality shifts.

Comment on AO3 | Watch on YouTube | Reblog on Tumblr

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VID: Waiting (Batman Comics)

Tue, 24 Nov 2020 22:20:49 GMT

Title: Waiting
Fandom: Batman (Comics)
Music: "We Don't Deserve Love" by Arcade Fire
Summary: The men that you love always leave you alone. An Alfred Pennyworth character study.
Notes: Thank you/I hate you to thirdblindmouse for encouraging this.
Warnings: Blood, death.

Comment on AO3 | Watch on YouTube | Reblog on Tumblr

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VID: Under My Skin (Multi)

Sun, 15 Nov 2020 04:53:15 GMT

Title: Under My Skin
Fandom: Multi
Music: "Now or Never Now" by Metric
Summary: My body is a foreign object.
Notes: A Bitchin' Party Virtual Vid Dance Party 2020 premiere.
Warnings: Graphic violence, blood, disfigurement/body trauma, guns/gunfire, death, medical trauma, ableism.

Comment on AO3 | Watch on YouTube | Reblog on Tumblr

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Dear Festividder

Sun, 25 Oct 2020 20:08:13 GMT

Overview: I'm pretty open musically! There's music that I've never been able to get into at all (very scream-y music, stuff without a strong melody) but as long as the song fits the vid, that's the priority. In terms of vids, I hate dialogue in vids, and I get migraines, so strobing/very quick flashing lights are maybe something to be avoided, but other than that, there are no strong dislikes. I do tend to prefer serious vids over humorous ones, but my definition of "serious" is pretty broad, and I've definitely seen humorous vids I've liked, so again, whatever works for the vid. Mostly, what I want out of a vid is to feel something, or to see canon in a new light.

Bright Summer Night: First of all, if you actually matched on this, way to go. I love the atmosphere of this series, and I love its humor, and I love love love its character work. I'd really love a vid that captures the feeling of watching BSN.

Elementary: This is maybe a really boring vanilla prompt in some ways, but Watson and Sherlock's relationship is both incredibly lovely and heartfelt, and in some ways a kind of strange ferris wheel of power dynamics and emotional turmoil, and I would be interested to see a vid that captures that.

Higher Ground: Lean into the late 90s angst of it all. Shelby/Daisy/Scott are the characters that amuse me most, but you do you. Also, that slash there is intentional; if you want to make an OT3 vid, I can handle it.

The Brothers Bloom: There are really only four characters in this movie, and I love them all, so I'm not going to ask for a specific character's arc—although I would be happy with a vid focused on any of them, or all of them, or the relationship between any two or three of them. Mostly, I love the aesthetic of this movie, and—to quote Bloom in one of the deleted scenes—"I love a good tonal shift." I love the way it hops between funny and sentimental and menacing and wry on the turn of a dime, and you're never quite sure what's next. I would love a vid that reflected that feeling.

The Baby-Sitters Club: Just give me good old-fashioned friendship feels, and we'll be good.

Into the Woods: I may have aimed too high with requesting this one; Into the Woods is my favorite story in any medium. I don't really know what to ask for. Pick a theme from the show and make a vid about it. Or follow one of the characters. (Maybe not the men? although I dunno, there are interesting parallels you could make between the Baker's story and the Witch's...) Or break down the Act I/Act II dichotomy. Celebrate all the children of the show. Or all the parents. Make a vid about metanarratives. Or about grief, or wishes, or bargains. I DON'T KNOW, don't talk to me, I have to go cry about Into the Woods now.

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VID: Get This Feeling (Multi)

Sun, 25 Oct 2020 01:38:32 GMT

Title: Get This Feeling
Fandom: Multi
Music: "Everytime We Touch" by Cascada
Summary: 22 years of queer representation in western children's TV.
Notes: A Fanworks Con 2020 premiere.
Warnings: NONE!

Comment on AO3 | Watch on YouTube | Reblog on Tumblr

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VID: Kill For You (Titans)

Fri, 23 Oct 2020 05:35:11 GMT

Title: Kill For You
Fandom: Titans
Music: "Kill For You" by Skylar Grey, feat. Eminem
Summary: Some relationships have a body count.
Warnings: Graphic violence (including audio in some places), substance abuse, implied childhood sexual abuse, death, nudity.

Comment at AO3 | Watch on YouTube | Reblog on Tumblr

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VID: Little Gods (Titans)

Sun, 09 Aug 2020 18:35:58 GMT

Title: Little Gods
Fandom: Titans
Music: "Wake Up," by Arcade Fire
Summary: May we be better heroes than our parents. May we be better parents than our parents.
Warnings: Violence, blood, death, child abuse.

Notes: Thank you so much to thirdblindmouse, who enabled my spiral into Dick Grayson/Batfamily feels and subsequent Titans viewing, and who did a heroic job beta-ing the vid that fell out of it.

If you're in Australia or New Zealand and the YouTube vid is blocked, or if you just prefer to watch on Vimeo, you can also watch here. Password is lightningbolts.

Comment at AO3 | Watch on YouTube | View on Tumblr

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VID: Burn, Burn, Burn (A:TLA)

Sat, 13 Jun 2020 03:32:38 GMT

Title: Burn, Burn, Burn
Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Music: "Ring of Fire," cover by WILDWOOD
Summary: It's like the Sun, but inside of you. A Zuko character study.
Warnings: None, really, except for all of the warnings that a Zuko character study sort of requires, which is to say, there's a lot of implied child abuse, violence, genocide, etc., but it's not explicit.

Comment at AO3 | Watch on YouTube | View on Tumblr

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VID: Mm Yeah (Star Trek)

Tue, 09 Jun 2020 18:40:29 GMT

Title: Mm Yeah
Fandom: Star Trek (TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY, ENT, DSC)
Music: "Woman," by Kesha
Summary: Fifty years of women in, and despite, Star Trek.
Warnings: Violence against women, including a scene of attempted rape; flickering lights.
Notes: Thanks to tigerlily for betaing!

This is the second vid in an album of Star Trek vids set to songs from Kesha's Rainbow album. You can see the first vid (an examination of Bashir and Garak's relationship, set to "Godzilla") right here!

Comment at AO3 | Watch on YouTube | View on Tumblr( Vid discussion below the cut )

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