Vid Commentary Challenge

...for year 3! The marchmetamatterschallenge is focused on not just new meta, but making sure older meta gets a chance to be read and remain a part of fandom history.

While new meta is also encouraged, the priority for Meta Matters is to make sure meta doesn't vanish with sites or personal accounts when those get closed or moved. That's also why the challenge will be using the Archive of Our Own as a destination site and collection host.

This will be a month-long event kicking off on March 1 with bi-weekly check-ins. March Meta Matters will close on April 1.

Find out more about the challenge through our introduction or the FAQ. Feel free to leave questions on either post.

Has February begun? Well March will be here before you know it, and that means that the marchmetamatterschallenge community will be up and running again to help get you going (or started!) on archiving your meta works on AO3.

While creators have often used multiple sites to host their works, one type of work has generally been left out of fans' efforts at archiving and preserving fanworks -- meta. In many cases, meta posts have not been copied anywhere else other than the location where they were first posted, leaving them hard to find and particularly vulnerable to loss.

So what if we can make a small dent in getting it saved? The March Meta Matters Challenge is focused on not just new meta, but making sure older meta gets a chance to be read and remain a part of fandom history. While new meta is also encouraged, the priority for Meta Matters is to make sure meta doesn't vanish with sites or personal accounts when those get closed or moved.

This is a month long event that kicks off on March 1. There are no signups and anyone can participate, whether here at Dreamwidth or elsewhere.

If you have any questions about MMM, look over how the challenge works, or visit our FAQ or leave a comment!

Also, if you enjoy meta? Check out the over 250 works archived in 2020.

Title: Brick House
Vidder: deirdre_c
Fandom: Supernatural
Link: http://deirdre-c.livejournal.com/351190.html
Commentary by: yourlibrarian
Warnings:: Spoilers for the S5 finale.

The timing of this vid couldn't have been better. While there is never a wrong time for an Impala love vid, there was definitely a right time. Appearing on May 17th, the vid echoed the love and respect for this mainstay of the SPN verse that we had just seen in the S5 finale. But it also had some interesting things to say about females in the SPNverse, which remains a problematical aspect of the series.

( Read more... )

Commentary Challenge:
There is a little over a week left to sign-up for the new VIEWER's Commentary Challenge. We haven't seen a lot of participation so far (just 4 volunteers as of this morning), but I'm hoping that is because many of our members missed the last post. This community only works if everyone participates in some way; whether it is by writing commentary, commenting to posts, or volunteering in some other capacity.

I keep seeing the following reason given for people not signing up to write commentary: "I don't feel qualified to write about vids". Let me remind everyone that this is not a test, and there are no wrong answers; commentaries are a way for you to talk about what you see in a vid, and how you interpret it. That is all! If you watch vids, and I assume since you are here that you do, then you are fully qualified to write/record commentary for this community. We want everyone to have a voice and be involved, so if you are thinking about signing up, I strongly encourage you to join us for this challenge. :)

Information on this challenge round can be found in the Information Post.

Vidder Permission:
To all the vidders who have given blanket permissions in the past, and are listed in the Vidder Permission Post, please check that your information is up to date; and provide us with any new streaming links that you might have now that BAM is gone.

Interview Series
Finally, tomorrow, May 23rd is the last day to suggest a vidder for the Interview Series. If there is a vidder whom you would like to see interviewed, or ask questions of, then please e-mail me (deathisyourart at livejournal dot com) with their names and "Interview Series" in the e-mail subject heading. Thank you!

Commentary Challenge 3

The next vid_commentary challenge is coming up! Unfortunately, only 10 people answered our poll for the timing of the next challenge (I get it, you don’t like polls), so I just have to hope that the timing works for a majority of you.

We are going with a VIEWER COMMENTARY challenge for the summer, and we will try to follow that up with a combined challenge or a vidder-only challenge in a few months. We’ve had some requests for additional content in the community, and we are making some changes to our format for the Fall (Northern Hemisphere). See below for information on that, but first, let’s get to our challenge dates.

Next Challenge: Viewer Commentary

Dates:
Sign-up: May 16th – 31st
Posting Dates: July 5th – July 30th

These dates will give everyone, no matter when they signed up, more than a month to write or record their commentary, take their screencaps, and upload everything for posting. The rules will be reposted right before the sign-up period begins, but if you would like a refresher now, they can be found: HERE

Note 1: If you posted an incomplete commentary for the last challenge, please complete it prior to the start of the next posting period.

Note 2: A reminder that all commentaries posted to the Dreamwidth community have been added to the memory section; however, all future challenges will only be held at the Livejournal community with links to the LJ memory section or masterlists posted here at the end of each challenge. I apologize for the inconvenience, but the participation at the DW community was far too low compared to the hassle of reposting for those who are not on Dreamwidth. This rule will be revisited in the future if the situation changes.

LJ vid commentary memory section

---

At the suggestion of some of our members, and to fill in the time between vidder profiles (starting again in August), we will be trying out both an interview and a meta series. If they go well, we will try our best to continue them in the future.

Interview Series

It has been tried in a few fandoms, but let’s try takin out the singular fandom focus and question a vidder about their entire body of work. This interview series will be made up of vidders suggested by YOU, and questions submitted by YOU. If there are vidders whose brain you want to pick, this will be where you can do that.

Dates:
Vidder suggestions: Now to May 23rd
Question suggestions for early interviews: June
Posting: August to January

How vidders will be chosen: All vidders interviewed will be at the request of the community members; however, this will not be a popularity contest and there will be no voting. All suggestions for vidders you would like to see interviewed can be e-mailed to me at deathisyourart at livejournal dot com, with “Interview Series” in the subject title of the e-mail. Vidders will be drawn at random and contacted after the suggestion deadline. If a vidder agrees to an interview then we will start to request questions for them.

How questions will be chosen: All questions submitted will be asked of the vidder; however, we cannot guarantee that they will have an answer for all of them. A vidder may chose not to answer a question, and we will not insist that they do so. If two or more questions ask essentially the same thing, they will be combined into one; and any follow-up questions can be submitted in comments to the interview.

If there is a vidder you would like to see interviewed, then feel free to e-mail me immediately with their name.

---

Meta Series

This community needs some straight-up vidding meta, don’t you think? I’ve contacted a few people who I know write about vids when they can, but I don’t know everyone, or what strengths most of our members have when writing about vids. So, I am looking for volunteers to round out our meta writing staff.

We are not looking for an academic paper. The aim is to produce a piece structured like an informal essay, or a magazine article. Authors pick their own topics (though we will try to avoid repeating the same one), co-authors if you would like one, and word count. In the piece you can get quotes from other vidders, link to vid examples, or provide screencaps; whatever you need to make your point. This is a stress-free project that will hopefully be fun for authors and readers alike.

If you were wondering what kind of topics we are thinking of, let me give you a few suggestions:
- Title Design
- The use of Black and White footage
- Religious themes in vids
- Vid distribution choices

If you would like to volunteer to write vid meta for us, then please e-mail me at deathisyourart at livejournal dot com, with “vid meta series” in the subject title of the e-mail.

Vid: "Attention: Gotham City, There Is A War Going On For Your Mind"
Vidder: cherryice
Fandom: Batman: The Dark Knight
Song: Flobots’ "There's a War Going On for Your Mind"
Link: http://cherryice.livejournal.com/233207.html?view=1547255#t1547255
Commentary: zephyrprince
( Read more... )

Title: Ding! Dong!
Vidder: kiki_miserychic
Fandom: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Link: http://kiki-miserychic.livejournal.com/142043.html
Commentary: By thuviaptarth

My apologies to kiki_miserychic and deathisyourart for missing the deadline.

( It's what she did )

Hello everyone!

To make things easier on two very busy moderators, all future challenges and vid profiles will only be posted at the Livejournal vid_commentary community. Mod posts with links and master lists will continue to be posted here to allow anyone who does not have an LJ account to find all community content. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

A poll for what and when the next challenge should be has been posted here: LJ poll link

All commentaries that have been posted to this community can be found via tags or the memory section, and a link to the Livejournal community can be found at the bottom of the page.

Title: Weak
Vidder: charmax
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Link: video link
Commentary by: ebonypsyche
Warnings:: AU and yet spoilers for S3

So let's into this yeah? *claps giddily*

So confession time: Faith is my favorite character ever. Her flaws, triumphs, and...just everything. And I kinda love Buffy (the character) as she is in her eyes- flawed and yet perfect. But I am tired of seeing Buffy/Faith vids where all Faith does is hurt Buffy and Buffy is this saint. The hurt went both ways but as Faith said "You hurt me, I hurt you. I'm just more efficient." So I was kinda giddy to see this one.

( *gets off soapbox and presses play * )

title. elemental
vidder. fabella /wistful_fever
fandom. merlin
link. http://wistful-fever.livejournal.com/207922.html
commentary by.tearful_eye
warnings. i tend to ramble & also: there are 60+ pictures behind this cut...

& erh, this is late, as in very late. so sorry :/ i'm the worst deadline-keeper ever.

( arthur & merlin - insert conflict )

Title: The Wizard and I
Vidder: chasarumba
Fandom: Ashes to Ashes
Link: http://chasarumba.livejournal.com/43780.html
Commentary By: theanonsisters

( under here )

Title: What We Had
Vidder: cherryice
Fandom: Doctor Who/Torchwood
Link: http://cherryice.livejournal.com/213248.html
Commentary By: hollywoodgrrl
Warnings: Heavy on the Images and the Words, heavier yet on my own Pretentiousness. (Hell, I can't help it! This vid touches me like a lover.)

( nobody's here, just empty space )

- Challenge One Update
- Vidder Profile: Kiki_miserychic
- Up-coming Community Content
- Creator Commentary Master List & Links

Hello everyone! Are you enjoying the vid commentaries and vidder profile posted thus far? Are you happy with the creative direction that the community is taking? If you have an opinion then we are always willing to hear it; we want this community to be both a fun and useful place for all of those who are watching it.

Most of the commentaries for Challenge One have been posted; we have a few authors that were granted extensions, but their commentaries will be available within the next few days, and tags and memories have been brought up to date for easy searching. If you have posted a commentary, or will be doing so, please remember to mirror your post in our Livejournal community, or to let me know that you are unable to do so.

Also, I want to encourage all community members (and HOLY CRAP we have over a 100 people watching us now) to comment after reading the commentaries posted here; they take both time and a great deal of thought, and letting the authors know that their efforts are appreciated is good for your karma. *nods*

Vidder Profiles:
My co-mod bradcpu has begun posting a monthly series profiling a vidder and their body of work. The audio visual interview can be viewed or downloaded our Livejournal mirror community: vidder profile Kiki_miserychic

Up-coming:

After Vividcon a poll will go up in the LJ mirror community to see when community members would like to hold the second round of the commentary challenge. I know that there will be many new vids being posted after VVC that members may wish to talk about and dissect, and if the enthusiasm is there to hold the next round sooner rather than later then we would like to accommodate that.

The second Vidder Profile by bradcpu will be posted the 5th of September.

Creator Commentary Master List:
I would like to compile a master list of audio commentaries made by vidders, series/movie title design creators, and music video directors/editors to act as a resource and a source of inspiration for both vidders and viewers alike. If you have have links to favorites in these categories, then please comment with them so that we can share them with the community.

Just to give you an idea about the kind of things we are looking for outside of the vidder community, my wonderful co-mod bradcpu found the following commentary by Digital kitchen, the title sequence designers for HBO's True Blood:

The Making of the True Blood Title Sequence

THe title sequence as it airs can be found here at the Digital Kitchen website. The Digital Kitchen team has been responsible for the main title sequence for Six Feet Under, House, Nip/Tuck, Dexter, Rescue Me, as well as True Blood, and Shark Week promotional spots the Discovery Channel is currently airing.

Title: ...and The Ladies With Pretty Hair
Vidder: hollywoodgrrl
Fandom: Legend of the Seeker / Merlin
Link: community.livejournal.com/sync_slaying/14408.html
Commentary By: _deejay_
Spoilers: Seeker up to 1x11, all of Merlin s1
Warnings: Magical themes, PG violence, and so much awesome your head might explode.

Omg guys, let's talk about magical stereotypes! (Yeh this isn't the most serious commentary you'll read this week :P)

( ...and The Ladies With Pretty Hair: discuss! )

Title: "Beautiful"
Vidder: castorfate
Fandom: Memoirs of a Geisha
Link: http://castorsfate.livejournal.com/2805.html
Commentary By: zephyrprince

( Read more... )

Title: Who Found Mr. Fabulous?
Vidder: kuwdora
Fandom: Star Trek Reboot
Link: http://kuwdora.livejournal.com/445297.html
Commentary By: ciaan
Warnings: Spoilers for the movie, 97 screencaps, sucky screencaps, a handful of swear words, multi-ship innuendo, sci-fi violence, semi-nude people in only underwear


You've watched the vid? Yes? Okay, great, now we can move on to the commentary.

( See what we find. )

Title: Unnatural Selection
Vidder: charmax
Fandom: Battlestar Galactica, Terminator: Sarah Connor, Terminator movies.
Link: vid post
Commentary by: charmax
Warnings: From the vid post, "Images of apocalypse and violence that some may find disturbing." For the commentary, I am a ridiculous and mad person that doesn't believe in transitions and sees the world a bit differently than most. Post contains 35 300x167 still images, 8 160x90 gif images, 1 embedded youtube video, and 1 pretentious movie quote. I am not the vidder; these thoughts are from my crazy brain, so don't take them as the intention of charmax.

( Unnatural Selection - That body was made to look like a person. We were made in God's image. )

Title: Tear You Apart
Vidder: bradcpu
Fandom: Firefly
Link: http://bradcpu.livejournal.com/62250.html
Commentary By: bop_radar
Warnings: (as per the vid itself) Violent and disturbing imagery, including images that could imply rape; explicit lyrics
Note: Spoilery for the vid which involves a reveal--if you haven't seen the vid, please do watch it first before reading this or the vid notes.

( This way for image-heavy commentary )

Title: Scarlet Ribbons
Vidder: aycheb
Fandom: Buffy & Angel
Link: http://aycheb.livejournal.com/80347.html

Commentary By: alchemise

( commentary and 33 pictures behind the cut )

Title: The Pinky and the Brain - Doctor style
Vidder: Chayiana
Fandom: Doctor Who
Link: Vid post

Commentary by: rhoboat

( Commentary with 29 screencaps )