Finally, I've decompressed enough information to pass on my vid recs from Vividcon, which I just attended in Chicago. Here are just a few that have popped into my head. More later, probably.
"Intergalactic Friends" by dragonchic. Smallville set to a Beastie Boys / Dandy Warhols mashup.
Inherent awesomeness of the music aside, I really loved how this vid evoked the entire Superman mythos, pulling it up and out of the context of Smallville itself, and connecting it to the entire history of the character. Shirtless Clark and evil, plotting Lex also help. Michael Rosenbaum is the best Lex ever cast, no competition. (Sorry, Kevin Spacey.)
"Seven Nation Army" by Charmax, to the Matrix, I Robot, Doctor Who, BSG, and Terminator.
This vid really knocked my socks off by drawing the connections across so many franchises, and I really shook my booty to it at Club Vivid.
And the most inexplicable award goes to...
Monday, August 31, 2009
Friday, August 28, 2009
Aca-Farr
Okay, so back in Australia... stressed out about all the things on my plate right now... but hey that's the life of the PhD student!
I'm currently working on an short article for the TWC's upcoming issue on Supernatural, and have been swimming through my mountain of SPN vids to choose which to talk about. And hey I'm just curious: what's your favourite meta-y SPN vid, or one that tickled your thinky brain, and why?
I'm currently working on an short article for the TWC's upcoming issue on Supernatural, and have been swimming through my mountain of SPN vids to choose which to talk about. And hey I'm just curious: what's your favourite meta-y SPN vid, or one that tickled your thinky brain, and why?
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Vividcon Unpacking: Vid Recs
Absolute fav vid of Vividcon: bradcpu and laurashapiro et al: Hard Sun for Firefly. This vid pulled something right out of my brain, set it to music, and put it up on a big screen for everyone to enjoy. For me, it is an extremely intimate and personal vid of that little moment where you are walking along, listening to music, and thinking about Firefly. I've had that experience, and I know a lot of other Browncoats and vidders out there have had that experience too. And it was so beautiful to see it expressed in vid-form, utterly compelling and beautiful. It also gave me a powerful sense of SHARING that experience with other fans, walking their local streets doing what I'm doing. This vid just sang to me: "We're all in this together." Yes.
Closely followed by jescaflowne's vid Can Delight: Pure, cheerleading joy. I saw it at Club Vivid, and I just had to stop dancing and stare, slack-jawed, at the screen and admire it. A must-watch.
More recs to follow, and perhaps also some comments on the simmering bad feelings surrounding the con (which is a shame, because I enjoyed myself thoroughly and was upset to hear that some people didn't).
Closely followed by jescaflowne's vid Can Delight: Pure, cheerleading joy. I saw it at Club Vivid, and I just had to stop dancing and stare, slack-jawed, at the screen and admire it. A must-watch.
More recs to follow, and perhaps also some comments on the simmering bad feelings surrounding the con (which is a shame, because I enjoyed myself thoroughly and was upset to hear that some people didn't).
Vividcon by the numbers
Back from Chicago, finally. Utterly exhausted and useless, and here's why: Over 4 days, I collected:
16 hours of recorded audio.
10 interviews.
1 focus group.
75 pages of notes.
200+ vids watched.
15 library items checked out.
15 GBs harddrive consumed.
and 14 hours of sleep required upon return in order to recover.
But I had a fantastic time. Proper detox post still forthcoming.
16 hours of recorded audio.
10 interviews.
1 focus group.
75 pages of notes.
200+ vids watched.
15 library items checked out.
15 GBs harddrive consumed.
and 14 hours of sleep required upon return in order to recover.
But I had a fantastic time. Proper detox post still forthcoming.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Windy City, Here I Come
My flight leaves in 14 hours for Chicago: I am finally going to go to Vividcon. This trip has been a year and a half in the making, and now that I'm finally going I can only say that I'm both extremely relieved, and extremely nervous. A lot of things have changed for me in the past 18 months, that's for sure.
In any case, I have a pretty packed schedule during the few days I'm in Chicago. Lots of interviews with fantastic vidders and vid-watchers alike that I'm supremely excited to talk to. Getting to know individuals, learning about their history and their vids and techniques and thoughts on the community is the most engaging part of this sort of research.
And I can't wait to squee wildly over the gabillion vidders I admire. Fangirl at heart, what can I say.
I am worried that my schedule is too packed, that I'll be run absolutely into the ground by the end of the weekend. But hey, I've done cons before, forgone sleep, and lived off pixie sticks and coca cola, and I can do it again!
I'm coming, Chicago.
In any case, I have a pretty packed schedule during the few days I'm in Chicago. Lots of interviews with fantastic vidders and vid-watchers alike that I'm supremely excited to talk to. Getting to know individuals, learning about their history and their vids and techniques and thoughts on the community is the most engaging part of this sort of research.
And I can't wait to squee wildly over the gabillion vidders I admire. Fangirl at heart, what can I say.
I am worried that my schedule is too packed, that I'll be run absolutely into the ground by the end of the weekend. But hey, I've done cons before, forgone sleep, and lived off pixie sticks and coca cola, and I can do it again!
I'm coming, Chicago.
Wednesday, August 05, 2009
OMGCRAP
deep breath... Vividcon is only ten days away... I leave in just over a week.... HOLY CRAP I'M NERV-CITED!
Friday, July 24, 2009
Nervous
Okay, I'm finally going to do it. I'm going to make my own vid. I'm really nervous, but my horoscope says it's a good time to start a project and I'm house-sitting for a few days so that should give me enough free time to really dig my teeth in and get started. Hopefully a good head-start will provide me with enough momentum to keep it going, and not abandon the project 1/3 of the way through like I tend to do. *looks at her mountain of unfinished fanfiction*
Taking the advice of many of the vidders I have met so far, I am planning to limit my source material as much as possible to make it a little easier as a first-timer. I'm thinking of making a chara vid for Saffron/Yolanda/Bridgette from Firefly. While singing in the shower the other day, one particular song made me think of her character for some reason out of the blue. Going to listen to it a little more closely now and see if it will suit as well as I hope.
Wish me luck, I think I'm gonna need it!
Taking the advice of many of the vidders I have met so far, I am planning to limit my source material as much as possible to make it a little easier as a first-timer. I'm thinking of making a chara vid for Saffron/Yolanda/Bridgette from Firefly. While singing in the shower the other day, one particular song made me think of her character for some reason out of the blue. Going to listen to it a little more closely now and see if it will suit as well as I hope.
Wish me luck, I think I'm gonna need it!
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Effects Research...
...why are you so painful? As much as I love anthropology, I hate sociology. BLEGH.
(In other news, Happy Bastille Day.)
(In other news, Happy Bastille Day.)
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Eroticism, Sex, and Consent in the Field
I'm currently reading the fascinating collection "Taboo: Sex, Identity, and Erotic Subjectivity in Anthropological Fieldwork", edited by Don Kulick and Margaret Willson (London & New York: Routledge, 1995). Despite the fact that I only did anthropology for my undergraduate degree, I find the methodological, ethical, and subjective issues of this particular field endlessly interesting (nerd that I am). The collection of essays deals with issues of eroticism, sex, and sexuality in fieldwork, a topic that most fieldworkers are silent on. There is an unspoken rule that sex while in the field is unethical, and it is assumed that all anthropologists are somehow celibate while performing their fieldwork. I find this book very confronting in that it acknowledges the possibilities, risks, and even benefits of sexual desire for one's fieldwork. Most of all, the honesty and candid accounts of various ethnographers' experiences is touching and brings up a lot of issues that I think should be addressed in more anthropology training in universities.
Consider this passage from Ralph Bolton's chapter, speaking as a gay man who frequently had sex with his participants while researching the gay community and the AIDS epidemic in Brussels:
"I cannot imagine doing fieldwork without sex, perhaps from a feeling that life is too short and one must enjoy it while one can. We don't get younger. Perhaps it's because I came out late and am 'catching up'. In truth, it's probably because I enjoy sex too much to remain voluntarily abstinent. It is most definitely not a sacrifice I would make for my profession. But the question of identity is implicated as well. In the hierarchy of components of my personal identity, gayness ranks higher than ethnicity, nationality, and profession. And that aspect of my being is expressed and celebrated through sex." (pg. 149)
This passage just floored me. What a brave statement to make, first of all. I commend Bolton for so openly stating such things. The role of the body, of emotion, of sex, and indeed of love is one that hardly ever enters ethnographic discourse, and certainly not in such frank terms. The scandal of Malinowski revealing his sexual desires in the field in his "Diary in the Strict Sense of the Term" shocked and scandalized the anthropological discipline. Despite all the recent hubbub on self-reflexivity and auto-ethnography, the silence remains.
And as someone who always struggles with issues of consent and ethics (even though my research has never been with high-risk communities), I find this also deeply unsettling. Obviously Bolton's partners were all consenting adults, and likely also educated Westerners, but obtaining data through pillow talk seems questionable.
Later in the chapter, Bolton details the ethical concerns in performing this type of research. Regarding consent, he explains that he did not obtain signed consent from any participants (partially out of concern for their privacy), and did not hide that he was researching when asked. But would these men have consented to sex if they knew in advance that Bolton was studying them? Would it have affected their decision in some way?
Or am I placing my own subjectivity onto this? Bolton seems unworried for the consequences, and I am neither gay nor male, and certainly cannot claim knowledge of the role of sex in the gay male community. Bolton states that he engaged in sex for personal and not professional reasons, but if he stood to gain professionally from the encounters I believe he should have obtained consent in advance. "...The purpose of informed consent is to prevent hard to the individual, or if harm could occur, then to obtain permission and acceptance of that risk by those who would incur it. In my judgment, no risk was involved in the Belgian fieldwork." (155) I find this statement problematic for many reasons: if someone slept with me and then started quizzing me as an anthropologist, I would feel at risk. I wonder how Bolton's participants felt. I agree with Marshall's review of his work, when she called it "passive deception", even though Bolton himself does not.
Bolton also points to the necessity of participating in sex in order to fully be a member of the gay community, and of course participant observation is the cornerstone of anthropological methodology. You learn by doing. My own participants have insisted that I make a vid myself in order to fully understand their practices, to be "in" I need to become a vidder myself. Could Bolton have achieved his research goals while abstaining? I doubt it.
I can just imagine the reaction from the UOW ethics committee if I even thought about suggested a project like this!
Consider this passage from Ralph Bolton's chapter, speaking as a gay man who frequently had sex with his participants while researching the gay community and the AIDS epidemic in Brussels:
"I cannot imagine doing fieldwork without sex, perhaps from a feeling that life is too short and one must enjoy it while one can. We don't get younger. Perhaps it's because I came out late and am 'catching up'. In truth, it's probably because I enjoy sex too much to remain voluntarily abstinent. It is most definitely not a sacrifice I would make for my profession. But the question of identity is implicated as well. In the hierarchy of components of my personal identity, gayness ranks higher than ethnicity, nationality, and profession. And that aspect of my being is expressed and celebrated through sex." (pg. 149)
This passage just floored me. What a brave statement to make, first of all. I commend Bolton for so openly stating such things. The role of the body, of emotion, of sex, and indeed of love is one that hardly ever enters ethnographic discourse, and certainly not in such frank terms. The scandal of Malinowski revealing his sexual desires in the field in his "Diary in the Strict Sense of the Term" shocked and scandalized the anthropological discipline. Despite all the recent hubbub on self-reflexivity and auto-ethnography, the silence remains.
And as someone who always struggles with issues of consent and ethics (even though my research has never been with high-risk communities), I find this also deeply unsettling. Obviously Bolton's partners were all consenting adults, and likely also educated Westerners, but obtaining data through pillow talk seems questionable.
Later in the chapter, Bolton details the ethical concerns in performing this type of research. Regarding consent, he explains that he did not obtain signed consent from any participants (partially out of concern for their privacy), and did not hide that he was researching when asked. But would these men have consented to sex if they knew in advance that Bolton was studying them? Would it have affected their decision in some way?
Or am I placing my own subjectivity onto this? Bolton seems unworried for the consequences, and I am neither gay nor male, and certainly cannot claim knowledge of the role of sex in the gay male community. Bolton states that he engaged in sex for personal and not professional reasons, but if he stood to gain professionally from the encounters I believe he should have obtained consent in advance. "...The purpose of informed consent is to prevent hard to the individual, or if harm could occur, then to obtain permission and acceptance of that risk by those who would incur it. In my judgment, no risk was involved in the Belgian fieldwork." (155) I find this statement problematic for many reasons: if someone slept with me and then started quizzing me as an anthropologist, I would feel at risk. I wonder how Bolton's participants felt. I agree with Marshall's review of his work, when she called it "passive deception", even though Bolton himself does not.
Bolton also points to the necessity of participating in sex in order to fully be a member of the gay community, and of course participant observation is the cornerstone of anthropological methodology. You learn by doing. My own participants have insisted that I make a vid myself in order to fully understand their practices, to be "in" I need to become a vidder myself. Could Bolton have achieved his research goals while abstaining? I doubt it.
I can just imagine the reaction from the UOW ethics committee if I even thought about suggested a project like this!
Focus Group at VVC
Just sent out a bunch of invitations for people to be interviewed at VVC, and I'm going to send out another round soon.
I'm wondering if anyone is interested in participating in a focus group while at the con, which is kind of like a group interview with four or five people all together. I've found this type of interview format to be really useful, engaging, and tends to be more social and fun than traditional interviewing. The questions will be a bit meatier and more open-ended, and are designed for everyone to discuss and debate with each other, dealing with trends in vidding, remix culture as a whole, the role of gender in the vidding community, and fair use and copyright issues.
If the idea of participating in this appeals to you, hey, let me know! I'm sure we can arrange a time for all of us to chat together at some point, perhaps over dinner?
Email me at fanthropology@gmail.com if you'd like to participate, or leave a comment and I'll get back to you. You're welcome to join the focus group even if I'm interviewing you separately as well!
I'm wondering if anyone is interested in participating in a focus group while at the con, which is kind of like a group interview with four or five people all together. I've found this type of interview format to be really useful, engaging, and tends to be more social and fun than traditional interviewing. The questions will be a bit meatier and more open-ended, and are designed for everyone to discuss and debate with each other, dealing with trends in vidding, remix culture as a whole, the role of gender in the vidding community, and fair use and copyright issues.
If the idea of participating in this appeals to you, hey, let me know! I'm sure we can arrange a time for all of us to chat together at some point, perhaps over dinner?
Email me at fanthropology@gmail.com if you'd like to participate, or leave a comment and I'll get back to you. You're welcome to join the focus group even if I'm interviewing you separately as well!
Sunday, July 05, 2009
History of Vidding: The Struggle
Struggling to write my chapter relating to the history of vidding... It's probably because my supervisors are pushing me for another chapter before I go back to Canada, and I really haven't done enough research on this yet to write about it with any confidence. I've watched Francesca Coppa's great documentary on the genealogy of vidding from the DIY conference, checked out the Fanlore articles... But it's really scattered and I'm finding it difficult to piece together. I really do need to wait until I get back from Vividcon and manage to meet some VCR vidders and such there to get a more complete picture before I write any more. If anyone wants to help me out, let me know!
In other news... my ambitious side wants to plan a small vidding convention here in Australia somewhere. How sweet would that be?
In other news... my ambitious side wants to plan a small vidding convention here in Australia somewhere. How sweet would that be?
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Any Canadian / Australian vidders out there?
Because I'll be travelling a bit these next two months, I'm wondering if there are any vidders out there who might be interested in being interviewed. Any Sydney / NSW vidders from now until early July, and then I'll be in Brisbane, QLD in early July and in Toronto, Canada from mid-July to mid-August. If you're out there and interested, drop me a line!
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Guest post
I just guest-posted on Supernatural fandom, vidding, and intertextuality over at FandomResearch.org. Check it out!
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Dear Vidding: How are you so awesome?
Just finished writing up a guest post for Fandom Research (I'll post the link when it goes up) on the different ways Supernatural vidders manipulate genre and use outside sources to tell their stories. Ten seconds later, I am scrolling through the latest Meta Vidding Newsletter and downloaded Ash's "Supernatural at the Movies":
How utterly amazing is this vid? Especially in terms of how useful it would be for my own research, as lately I've been focusing on how vidders are so media literate that they are able to make use of television cinematography, editing, and genre conventions to manipulate the source footage to tell any sort of story they desire.
And here it is!
Ash, between this vid and Channel Hopping, you are my new favourite person in the whole world. XD
How utterly amazing is this vid? Especially in terms of how useful it would be for my own research, as lately I've been focusing on how vidders are so media literate that they are able to make use of television cinematography, editing, and genre conventions to manipulate the source footage to tell any sort of story they desire.
And here it is!
Ash, between this vid and Channel Hopping, you are my new favourite person in the whole world. XD
Monday, June 15, 2009
Holy crap
I'm FINALLY done my transcriptions from VidUKon! It only took... oh... 9 months?? I really need to do a better job getting my data down after Vividcon. I don't want to still be transcribing when I should be writing because it's very distracting.
But I will say there are worse ways to spend your time than sitting outside in the Australia sun, even in the 20 degree C "winter", listening to vidders chat about what they love.
But I will say there are worse ways to spend your time than sitting outside in the Australia sun, even in the 20 degree C "winter", listening to vidders chat about what they love.
Thursday, June 04, 2009
Video Remix Origins
Check out this parody of a German propaganda film from 1941, which takes footage from Nazi rallies and edits it to a popular musical number from the period to make the German WWII troops look ridiculous:
Link Here.
It may not be of the vidding tradition per se, as that grew out of fandom in general and the fanfiction tropes and traditions specifically, but I think it certainly does constitute one of the earliest video remixes I've ever seen. Fascinating!!
Thanks to my colleague Ruth Walker for pointing this out to me.
Link Here.
It may not be of the vidding tradition per se, as that grew out of fandom in general and the fanfiction tropes and traditions specifically, but I think it certainly does constitute one of the earliest video remixes I've ever seen. Fascinating!!
Thanks to my colleague Ruth Walker for pointing this out to me.
Monday, June 01, 2009
What I Do In My Office All Day
I probably watch 5 vids a day, every single day. Some days, it's up to 25-30 if I'm cataloguing the vids from the vidding discussion thread on LJ. and i figure... why on earth am i keeping all these to myself?! so i'm going to try and rec more vids as i find them, so here's today's:
the aforementioned thread has been flooded by star trek vids in honour of the new film, and i have to share a few with you. i've never been into trek - every other fandom on the planet, yes, but i seem to have missed this one. but i found the new movie to be really fun and enjoyable even for a non-trekker.
so i'm recommending "Who Found Mr. Fabulous?" by kuwdora. it's fast-paced and tons of fun to watch. check out the imeem stream here.
here's a great one for classic trek: steady as she goes by jesuit24. it's a deliciously fun and campy romp through TOS. check out the stream below:
and for something completely different: i highly recommend chamalla's "dust in the wind" for the whole of BSG. it's a heartbreaking overview of the series now that it's over.
switching gears again so as not to depress you all to death...
SPN slashers has discovered misha collins (aka: castiel/jimmy) and i giggled myself to death watching danegen's "luv song". god help him. check it out at imeem here.
that's all for now, folks!v
the aforementioned thread has been flooded by star trek vids in honour of the new film, and i have to share a few with you. i've never been into trek - every other fandom on the planet, yes, but i seem to have missed this one. but i found the new movie to be really fun and enjoyable even for a non-trekker.
so i'm recommending "Who Found Mr. Fabulous?" by kuwdora. it's fast-paced and tons of fun to watch. check out the imeem stream here.
here's a great one for classic trek: steady as she goes by jesuit24. it's a deliciously fun and campy romp through TOS. check out the stream below:
and for something completely different: i highly recommend chamalla's "dust in the wind" for the whole of BSG. it's a heartbreaking overview of the series now that it's over.
switching gears again so as not to depress you all to death...
SPN slashers has discovered misha collins (aka: castiel/jimmy) and i giggled myself to death watching danegen's "luv song". god help him. check it out at imeem here.
that's all for now, folks!v
Friday, May 22, 2009
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