I may have my mojo back.

[eleanorjane]

Vidding mojo, that is, insofar as I had any to begin with. I'm actually feeling inspired to vid again, which is very welcome after the creative blank spot of the last year.

Of course, I can't actually get started yet, since I haven't yet installed the new HDDs sitting on my bookcase, nor upgraded my OS, and there's seriously no point even getting started until that's done.

And I'm not sure what to tackle first. The vid of my heart is a Farscape vid I've been wanting to do for ages, but it's hugely intimidating - it'll require shitloads of source, and I'm reaaaally bad at keeping all the source straight in my head if I'm vidding from anything longer than a movie or a few TV episodes. Plus it's kind of a serious vid, and has A Thesis and I don't want to get that wrong. Urf.

...also, I'm, in general, fairly underconfident about vidding, because ... hmm, how to put it: I'm not practised at narrative creativity, in the way that vids require (other than "whee look at the shiny" vids, which are awesome). I'm not a very practised storyteller, and I'm not experienced at building the narrative (of a vid, in this case) to say anything coherent.

I wish there were "Vidding For Dummies" resources; everything I've seen focuses on the technical help, which is awesome and appreciated, but not where my big obstacle is.

(So, yeah, if anyone has any tips or suggestions, they would be super duper welcome.)

Also, is #vidding still active? I retreated during my I Am Crap At Everything phase last year, and last time I checked it out a couple of months ago, pre-Yuletide, it was empty.

--

The above might sound like I'm whining. I'm actually not; I'm hugely happy to have the creative urge back again, it's a rare thing with me. I'm just not sure what to do with it now I have it back. :)

Comments

[ambersweet]

Have you thought about perusing books/articles/blogs about scriptwriting or filmmaking? The techniques are probably not terribly dissimilar, except that you're choosing extant shots rather than creating new ones. The storytelling techniques are definitely going to be similar; what's a vid but a short film, set to music?

[eleanorjane]

I hadn't thought of that - that's a fantastic idea. Thankyou. :)

[limrecs]

Hey, I surfed past this journal for some unknown reason and this entry caught my attention. I know you're not keen on my particular vids (and that's ok!) but maybe I can help with your vidding process insofar as: the thing with art is you have to make it. You might get it wrong. You probably WILL get it wrong. The next one will be better. Keep doing it. If you never start because you might fail, you have failed.

I know how tempting it is to husband ideas carefully, but it's the path to stagnation. GO for it. You'll have more ideas. Honestly!

Nearly everything I have learned about vidding has been through figuring out where I went wrong - through doing.

[eleanorjane]

Oh no, I _like_ your vids, they just intimidate the hell out of me, because I feel like there's so much about them that I'm not getting, or that I don't know how to read them. But I'm really sorry to have ever given the impression that I wasn't keen your vids, because I'm perpetually impressed by them even if I perhaps don't get as much out of them as other people do. :)

And your advice is very welcome - at the moment I'm stymied due to technical reasons (as in, waiting for parts so I can reinstall my OS; I don't want to start a vid til that's done), but you're absolutely right; I really do need to stop agonising over the possibility (or probability :)) of failure and just do it.

[lim]

Er, I expressed myself badly there, even for me! I meant to say, rather, that you are not obliged to want to make vids like mine to benefit from the method I use to make them. In my anxiety to not come across as overbearing instead I came across as weirdly petty and brittle! *facepalm* It's a tightrope, this speaking out loud lark.

I'm glad to hear you're champing at the bit. \o/