VID REC POST!
Aug. 22nd, 2013 03:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nnyOkay, this has got a little bit out of control and is potentially still growing because I keep remembering vids that I Just Have To Rec OMG, so I'll put all explanations for why I've recommended vids under cuts. I should probably arrange these by fandom or something, right?
Due South
Title: You Can Call Me...
Vidder: SDWolfpup
Song: Paul Simon, "You Can Call Me Al"
Fandom: Due South
Spoilers: The whole series
Summary: A man walks down the street
Link
This is one of those vids where the choice of song is so unutterably perfect that you don't know what to do with yourself. The lyrics fit and describe the characters to a tee, to the point where you can't imagine any other clip association with them, and it shows and celebrates the gorgeous relationships that due South does so well. As well as the beautiful framing of Fraser's relationships with his Rays - and, significantly, the fact that neither of those is foregrounded or shown as more important, which is awesome and I applaud it - it shows how Fraser interacts with his world and how that world interacts with and values him. The 'angels in the architecture' section is gorgeous and always gets me right in the throat.
Also the Benny/Betty lip-synch is a thing of delight and adorableness.
Title: Out Here
Vidder: Here's Luck
Song: Peter Mulvey, "Out Here"
Fandom: Due South
Spoilers: Series 3/4
Summary: I swear that I am working on what keeps me miles away. (Fraser/Ray K)
Link
If the last was perfect for the lyrics, in this one it's the timing that gets me. I love the subtle cuts that echo the rhythm of the song, and in particular there's a moment (close up of Fraser's face) around the one minute mark that absolutely kills with the perfection of the editing.
I love the concept and the execution of this vid. The idea that for Fraser, it's Chicago that's the wilderness, with its strangeness and distance; that he's unable to connect with what he doesn't know and doesn't have the words to cross that involuntary divide. That the resolution shows Fraser and Ray in what would traditionally be called a wilderness, caught in a bubble of warm firelight together and relying on each other as partners and friends (at the very least) is a gorgeous and satisfying end to this gently achey character portrait.
Doctor Who
Title: Handlebars (I'm the Doctor. Look me up).
Vidder: Seah and Margie
Song: The Flobots, "Handlebars"
Fandom: Doctor Who
Spoilers: 10's reign
Summary: The Doctor can ride his bike with no handlebars.
Link
You've seen this before, right? I'm imagining you've seen this before, it was everywhere when I first came across it. Again the choice of song is perfection because it showcases so incredibly the breadth of Doctor Who, from his silliest smallest most human moments to the moments in which he is ancient and terrible and bigger than worlds. The song and the vid show a gradual expansion from one state to the other and then back down again, the resolution showing the Doctor small and human and (significantly) alone, but you are unable to forget all that's come before. Suddenly this seemingly harmless man contains the traces of all these other incredible and terrifying acts, and that's as good a summary of Doctor Who as you could hope to make.
I love this vid, I think it introduces and illustrates the fandom perfectly.
Stargate: Atlantis
Title: The Writer
Vidder: Suzvoy
Song: Dead Already AKA The theme from American Beauty, by Thomas Newman
Fandom: Stargate: Atlantis
Spoilers: SGA from the pilot through ep 2.14, Grace Under Pressure. The JF movie Farewell to Harry and the DH movie Century Hotel
Summary: Constructed reality. An aspiring writer lacks inspiration until he starts a part-time job at an old movie theatre...but from obsession comes jealousy. (McKay/Sheppard)
Link
I found this vid absolutely fascinating when I first saw it. Not only was it one of the first fan vids I had ever seen, it was also the first constructed reality fan vid I'd seen. I found it incredible that a vid could tell as much of a story as any I'd read, and made me newly appreciate the idea of coherent narratives and structuring within vids. I love the use of footage from different films, and the way that has been woven together skilfully in a way that absolutely makes sense, and makes me wish there was a supplementary fic so I could spend hours and hours bathing in the concept rather than just watching the vid over again. (Not, I hurry to add, that that's ever a hardship).
Title: Absolutely Cuckoo
Vidder: Zoetrope
Song: The Magnetic Fields, "Absolutely Cuckoo"
Fandom: Stargate: Atlantis
Spoilers: Rodney
Summary: Rodney is cuckoo for John. (McKay/Sheppard)
Link
A teeny tiny vidlet which is ridiculous and hilarious and adorable. It combines animation and vid clips, something that is something of a theme in my recs for this fandom, and highights the utter silliness Stargate: Atlantis can occasionally show.
I wouldn't use it as an introduction to the fandom or a pimping tool, because I don't think it particularly reflects the show either in theme or in atmosphere. It's bloody delightful to watch, though, and I love the creativity and skill it shows.
Title: A lieutenant colonel is being beaten
Vidder: Thingswithwings
Song: Iggy Pop and the Stooges, "I Wanna Be Your Dog"
Fandom: Stargate: Atlantis
Spoilers: depicts the nonconsensual bdsm from the show
Summary: John Sheppard really does spend a lot of time on his knees.
Link
I have no idea how to even describe how many of my buttons this vid mashes. It's a beautifully put together vid to an unbelievably appropriate song, and depicts John Sheppard on his knees, bound, restrained, zip tied, frequently bleeding, beaten and pushed around by soldiers, various ladies and even himself. It serves unnervingly well as a character portrait and inspired my rather histrionic post on tumblr about outwardly hardcore men who are secretly longing to submit (Derek Hale, Ray Kowalski, Dean Winchester, John Sheppard...) I have a type, and this vid showcases it.
I have to fan myself vigorously after watching. I love it.
Title: My Brilliant Idea
Vidder: Lim (it was hard to choose one vid, I recommend them all)
Song: Jason Robert Brown, "I could be in love with someone like you"
Fandom: Stargate: Atlantis
Spoilers: all series
Summary: Rodney's crush on Irish girls. John apparently being one of them. (Mckay/Sheppard)
Link
Another constructed reality vid with a skilful blend of footage and animation. Lim is one of the most interesting and technically proficient vidders I have come across, and everything she does is an absolute delight. I was thinking about reccing I am/Lamb, but that would involve watching it again and I found it rather heart-rending.
This vid has an interesting choice of song that I would never have associated with the canon, and uses it absolutely beautifully to depict the helpless struggle against a crush that inevitable and adorably fails. It's a lovely introduction to and illustration of the character of Rodney McKay, and it's excellent as an insight into how his mind probably works. The song really has a flavour of Rodney's distinct run-on sentences and inability to keep his foot out of his mouth, and the vid is adorable and always leaves me grinning.
Title: The Tree
Vidder: Newkidfan (again, it was hard to choose one vid)
Song: Autour de Lucie, "Chanson de l'arbre"
Fandom: Stargate: Atlantis
Spoilers: all series
Summary: Since the day John left him, Rodney hasn't moved.
Link
I am reasonably sure this was the first vid I saw to blend animation and video clips, and it does it incredibly. Newkidfan's graphics tend to be beautiful and deceptively simple and use white space to incredible effect, and this vid is very much the same way. It's the first vid, I think, that started me thinking of vids as an art form as well as a fannish medium; it is genuinely beautiful to look at and watch, and many of the frames wouldn't be out of place as pieces of fan art.
It's a gorgeous and melancholic vid, and it uses a beautiful metaphorical song and illustrates that metaphor both literally and figuratively on the screen, and the final shot is a little bit heartbreaking. Even if not a fan of vids or of Stargate: Atlantis, I recommend this unreservedly as a beautiful thing.
Teen Wolf
Title: Where do I even start?
Vidder: youisfan
Song: Morgan Taylor Reid, "Where do I even Start?"
Fandom: Teen Wolf
Spoilers: season 1, 2
Summary: Sterek vid; Derek Hale's awful life
Link
Unlike many of the vids in this rec list, this one I would absolutely use to introduce the show and the character of Derek Hale. It illustrates him perfectly; the awful things that have happened to him, the way he blames himself for those things and how that affects his actions, the way it informs his treatment of others. Derek has a tendency to yell at his younger self when he's yelling at the people around him, and that is illustrated really poignantly in this vid.
I think one of the most delightful things about this is that the final sentiment of the video hasn't actually been edited - that's actually the transition that Jeff Davis chose to go for. Sometimes Sterek doesn't even have to be reached for. :D
Title: Red Riding Hood
Vidder: paquim
Song: Fever Ray, "The Wolf"
Fandom: Teen Wolf
Spoilers: season 1, 2
Summary: A constructed film trailer.
Link
This is gorgeous and exciting and beautifully cut together, and what is possibly most delightful is that voice overs have also been edited together to add to the constructed reality. It's a gorgeous vid that makes me kind of resentful that the film will never exist; I love the way the characters and interactions have been placed to create an entirely different story to the one the series shows (or is it?).
I think this is the best of the faux-trailer style vids I've seen.
OKAY I AM DONE.
In return, I'd love you to rec me anything I've missed in the comments! :D
Due South
Title: You Can Call Me...
Vidder: SDWolfpup
Song: Paul Simon, "You Can Call Me Al"
Fandom: Due South
Spoilers: The whole series
Summary: A man walks down the street
Link
This is one of those vids where the choice of song is so unutterably perfect that you don't know what to do with yourself. The lyrics fit and describe the characters to a tee, to the point where you can't imagine any other clip association with them, and it shows and celebrates the gorgeous relationships that due South does so well. As well as the beautiful framing of Fraser's relationships with his Rays - and, significantly, the fact that neither of those is foregrounded or shown as more important, which is awesome and I applaud it - it shows how Fraser interacts with his world and how that world interacts with and values him. The 'angels in the architecture' section is gorgeous and always gets me right in the throat.
Also the Benny/Betty lip-synch is a thing of delight and adorableness.
Title: Out Here
Vidder: Here's Luck
Song: Peter Mulvey, "Out Here"
Fandom: Due South
Spoilers: Series 3/4
Summary: I swear that I am working on what keeps me miles away. (Fraser/Ray K)
Link
If the last was perfect for the lyrics, in this one it's the timing that gets me. I love the subtle cuts that echo the rhythm of the song, and in particular there's a moment (close up of Fraser's face) around the one minute mark that absolutely kills with the perfection of the editing.
I love the concept and the execution of this vid. The idea that for Fraser, it's Chicago that's the wilderness, with its strangeness and distance; that he's unable to connect with what he doesn't know and doesn't have the words to cross that involuntary divide. That the resolution shows Fraser and Ray in what would traditionally be called a wilderness, caught in a bubble of warm firelight together and relying on each other as partners and friends (at the very least) is a gorgeous and satisfying end to this gently achey character portrait.
Doctor Who
Title: Handlebars (I'm the Doctor. Look me up).
Vidder: Seah and Margie
Song: The Flobots, "Handlebars"
Fandom: Doctor Who
Spoilers: 10's reign
Summary: The Doctor can ride his bike with no handlebars.
Link
You've seen this before, right? I'm imagining you've seen this before, it was everywhere when I first came across it. Again the choice of song is perfection because it showcases so incredibly the breadth of Doctor Who, from his silliest smallest most human moments to the moments in which he is ancient and terrible and bigger than worlds. The song and the vid show a gradual expansion from one state to the other and then back down again, the resolution showing the Doctor small and human and (significantly) alone, but you are unable to forget all that's come before. Suddenly this seemingly harmless man contains the traces of all these other incredible and terrifying acts, and that's as good a summary of Doctor Who as you could hope to make.
I love this vid, I think it introduces and illustrates the fandom perfectly.
Stargate: Atlantis
Title: The Writer
Vidder: Suzvoy
Song: Dead Already AKA The theme from American Beauty, by Thomas Newman
Fandom: Stargate: Atlantis
Spoilers: SGA from the pilot through ep 2.14, Grace Under Pressure. The JF movie Farewell to Harry and the DH movie Century Hotel
Summary: Constructed reality. An aspiring writer lacks inspiration until he starts a part-time job at an old movie theatre...but from obsession comes jealousy. (McKay/Sheppard)
Link
I found this vid absolutely fascinating when I first saw it. Not only was it one of the first fan vids I had ever seen, it was also the first constructed reality fan vid I'd seen. I found it incredible that a vid could tell as much of a story as any I'd read, and made me newly appreciate the idea of coherent narratives and structuring within vids. I love the use of footage from different films, and the way that has been woven together skilfully in a way that absolutely makes sense, and makes me wish there was a supplementary fic so I could spend hours and hours bathing in the concept rather than just watching the vid over again. (Not, I hurry to add, that that's ever a hardship).
Title: Absolutely Cuckoo
Vidder: Zoetrope
Song: The Magnetic Fields, "Absolutely Cuckoo"
Fandom: Stargate: Atlantis
Spoilers: Rodney
Summary: Rodney is cuckoo for John. (McKay/Sheppard)
Link
A teeny tiny vidlet which is ridiculous and hilarious and adorable. It combines animation and vid clips, something that is something of a theme in my recs for this fandom, and highights the utter silliness Stargate: Atlantis can occasionally show.
I wouldn't use it as an introduction to the fandom or a pimping tool, because I don't think it particularly reflects the show either in theme or in atmosphere. It's bloody delightful to watch, though, and I love the creativity and skill it shows.
Title: A lieutenant colonel is being beaten
Vidder: Thingswithwings
Song: Iggy Pop and the Stooges, "I Wanna Be Your Dog"
Fandom: Stargate: Atlantis
Spoilers: depicts the nonconsensual bdsm from the show
Summary: John Sheppard really does spend a lot of time on his knees.
Link
I have no idea how to even describe how many of my buttons this vid mashes. It's a beautifully put together vid to an unbelievably appropriate song, and depicts John Sheppard on his knees, bound, restrained, zip tied, frequently bleeding, beaten and pushed around by soldiers, various ladies and even himself. It serves unnervingly well as a character portrait and inspired my rather histrionic post on tumblr about outwardly hardcore men who are secretly longing to submit (Derek Hale, Ray Kowalski, Dean Winchester, John Sheppard...) I have a type, and this vid showcases it.
I have to fan myself vigorously after watching. I love it.
Title: My Brilliant Idea
Vidder: Lim (it was hard to choose one vid, I recommend them all)
Song: Jason Robert Brown, "I could be in love with someone like you"
Fandom: Stargate: Atlantis
Spoilers: all series
Summary: Rodney's crush on Irish girls. John apparently being one of them. (Mckay/Sheppard)
Link
Another constructed reality vid with a skilful blend of footage and animation. Lim is one of the most interesting and technically proficient vidders I have come across, and everything she does is an absolute delight. I was thinking about reccing I am/Lamb, but that would involve watching it again and I found it rather heart-rending.
This vid has an interesting choice of song that I would never have associated with the canon, and uses it absolutely beautifully to depict the helpless struggle against a crush that inevitable and adorably fails. It's a lovely introduction to and illustration of the character of Rodney McKay, and it's excellent as an insight into how his mind probably works. The song really has a flavour of Rodney's distinct run-on sentences and inability to keep his foot out of his mouth, and the vid is adorable and always leaves me grinning.
Title: The Tree
Vidder: Newkidfan (again, it was hard to choose one vid)
Song: Autour de Lucie, "Chanson de l'arbre"
Fandom: Stargate: Atlantis
Spoilers: all series
Summary: Since the day John left him, Rodney hasn't moved.
Link
I am reasonably sure this was the first vid I saw to blend animation and video clips, and it does it incredibly. Newkidfan's graphics tend to be beautiful and deceptively simple and use white space to incredible effect, and this vid is very much the same way. It's the first vid, I think, that started me thinking of vids as an art form as well as a fannish medium; it is genuinely beautiful to look at and watch, and many of the frames wouldn't be out of place as pieces of fan art.
It's a gorgeous and melancholic vid, and it uses a beautiful metaphorical song and illustrates that metaphor both literally and figuratively on the screen, and the final shot is a little bit heartbreaking. Even if not a fan of vids or of Stargate: Atlantis, I recommend this unreservedly as a beautiful thing.
Teen Wolf
Title: Where do I even start?
Vidder: youisfan
Song: Morgan Taylor Reid, "Where do I even Start?"
Fandom: Teen Wolf
Spoilers: season 1, 2
Summary: Sterek vid; Derek Hale's awful life
Link
Unlike many of the vids in this rec list, this one I would absolutely use to introduce the show and the character of Derek Hale. It illustrates him perfectly; the awful things that have happened to him, the way he blames himself for those things and how that affects his actions, the way it informs his treatment of others. Derek has a tendency to yell at his younger self when he's yelling at the people around him, and that is illustrated really poignantly in this vid.
I think one of the most delightful things about this is that the final sentiment of the video hasn't actually been edited - that's actually the transition that Jeff Davis chose to go for. Sometimes Sterek doesn't even have to be reached for. :D
Title: Red Riding Hood
Vidder: paquim
Song: Fever Ray, "The Wolf"
Fandom: Teen Wolf
Spoilers: season 1, 2
Summary: A constructed film trailer.
Link
This is gorgeous and exciting and beautifully cut together, and what is possibly most delightful is that voice overs have also been edited together to add to the constructed reality. It's a gorgeous vid that makes me kind of resentful that the film will never exist; I love the way the characters and interactions have been placed to create an entirely different story to the one the series shows (or is it?).
I think this is the best of the faux-trailer style vids I've seen.
OKAY I AM DONE.
In return, I'd love you to rec me anything I've missed in the comments! :D
