ExtraPenguin

( some brainstorming of what could go where )

Some baihe dramas I'm definitely planning to at least check out (Nü Er Hong + a bunch of stuff aurumcalendula said was requested in festivids):
Couple of Mirrors (双镜) loved it!
The Evidence Tells (消失的痕迹)
Intimates (自梳)
The Message (风声)
Moonlight Fills the Western Tower (月满西楼)
Soulmate Adventure (风灵玉秀)
Nü Er Hong (女儿红)

Plus some other cdramas:
Side Story of Fox Volant (2022)
Legend of the Condor Heroes (2024)
Story of Yanxi Palace

As it's been almost 3 years since vexercises last ran, I decided to go through and categorize what happened on which week on each round (2020, 2021, 2021 summer [autumn] school, and 2020), in part as a way of seeing how the curriculum evolved and in part in case I ever want to find, say, the lightbuilding examples and explainers. The pechakuchas are a constant, and every round had one genre mashing/AU/multivid/transform -type exercise (with a different name each year).

Content lists:
2020
2021
2021 summer
2022

( all the exercises, plus which week they happened )

Which ones were your favorites? I really liked the pechakuchas and lyrical play ones. I should probably think more about color and lightbuilding at some point...

With my 00s music, I got my bingo on vid_bingo! Link to card. Is it possible I'll try to do a second line bingo? Yes. Likely? Ehhhhh.

(Next round I think I'll request a 3×3 card and aim for blackout. I am not doing a blackout on a 5×5 card.)

(I used my Palps vid for Villain, 10s music is practically a free space – 268 10s songs vs 124 00s songs – and I have half an Everything Everywhere All At Once idea for Family, leaving Mentor.)

*returns to battleship*

I finished and submitted my themed premiere to vidukon_cardiff and now I have a regular premiere that's mostly done. I simply need to go through all the clip timings (the song has a beat, but it's more of a bzzwot than a snap) and also potentially do color correction. And subtitles. So much stuff. Bleurgh.

Also the new Vidder's Choice rules meant I couldn't have Return to the Sea (DW | AO3) be my vidder's choice submission, so I'm linking it here now.

Will make the typical post-con report on what I submitted to which show plus general remarks. Idk I guess I should practice vid watching, but I currently feel like my brain is Full of Stuff and I cannot absorb anything (see also: how my fic input has dropped to within a rounding error of 0) or produce text. Pretty Pictures Bouncy Music Output is what I can do without pulling teeth. Text? Kinda sorta maybe if I hate myself.

Still looking for a good Rey "rejecting my grandfather's legacy" Palpatine song.

I finished my Liu Yunrui Filmography Starring Sheng Wei and Ai Ye vid! I had 10 sources, ranging from 2:23 to 6:17 long (though mostly around 5 minutes and change). 5 were shampoo commercials and one was an ad for facial wipes. *g* I did not use the hairwashing/shampooing scenes, but there was one source with some very cleavage-y bathing that I felt compelled to highlight.

Tech notes: continued my song-chopping ways. Figured out how to use cleancredits. (Zapped logos off everything, zapped two instances of hardsub.) Installed a new font, Centers George, which is cool and great ... except that the ligatures are done a bit incorrectly, and typing in "RI" generates something that is very obviously "RO". (Dafont's preview doesn't utilize the ligature glyphs.) I thus had to split the text layer in two for both the "filmography starring" and "Blackbriar", which was annoying. Regardless, this was the correct font choice.


AO3

...and with that, I'm at 4/5 for my vid_bingo card. Time to go to listen to my library of 00's music some more. I did 2000-2004; next batch is 2005-2007.

For the Sheng Wei x Ai Ye filmography project, I have
- edited the song to be 3:03 (previously: 4:38)
- vidded 2:17 of it in total
-> I have 45 seconds and 10 frames to vid??? how did I get this far so fast

lyrics & what I axed

(intro)

I loved you once, I loved you twice
I loved you in my previous lives
I know your voice, I know your eyes
You haunt me through my dreams at night

Oh, my love, we'll meet again
We always do, in the end
Our two souls destined to be
You and I 'til eternity

We live on and on and on
Death is weak and we are strong
On and on and on
Time is weak and we are strong
Whoa, whoa, whoa

And I see you and you see me
Your eyes are like a raging sea
I know it's you, I know it's true
I gazed into them once in a dream

Oh, my love, come take my hand
Like you did in my dreamland
You feel the immortality
It's you and I 'til eternity

We live on and on and on
Death is weak and we are strong
On and on and on
Time is weak and we are strong
Whoa, whoa, whoa
Whoa, whoa, whoa

I loved you once, I loved you twice
I loved you in my previous lives
And when I die, just keep in mind
I'll love you in another life
Love you in another life

(instrumental)

We live on and on and on
Death is weak and we are strong (we are strong)
On and on and on...
We are strong (we are strong)
On and on and on
Death is weak and we are strong (we are strong)
On and on and on
Time is weak and we are strong (we are strong)
Whoa, whoa, whoa
Whoa, whoa, whoa
Whoa, whoa, oh

The longest currently-vidded sections are the beginning (0:35), the first refrain (0:25) and the final refrain (1:04). I also realized, to my great amusement, that for the "I'll love you in another life" bit I am using footage from a source titled In Another Life. :D

Oh look I'm actually poking at my new year's resolutions. I took Return to the Sea and ripped out the first verse and put something more thematic in there. Now I have a Rey/Leia vid! I'm using it for the vid_bingo vidder's choice on my card.

Major Character Death. The AO3 summary is Kill my son and die with me.

Will you take this dagger from me, sweet sister?
Don't linger
Come on into the water 'cause our blood runs deeper
and I miss you

Now actually posted on the 1st!

AO3 Stats

Stat	2023	2022 then	2022 now	All years
User Subscriptions:	235	203	-	-
Kudos:	2002	2826	4449	43877
Comment Threads:	147	178	220	2960
Bookmarks:	619	648	1117	9631
Subscriptions:	60	77	113	1218
Word Count:	70555	68204	68204	903014
Hits:	15074	22390	35448	456741

Miraculously, I wrote more in 2023 than in 2022. Only by 2k, but considering the RL year I've had, I was not expecting anything along the lines. I had a nice October, but the rest of the year was kind of 0/10. 2024 would have to expend some serious effort to be as bad.

I posted 47 things to AO3 in 2023. Mostly fic, a bunch of art and vids, also a fanmix and an IF.

Popularity

( Read more... )

Self-recs

Interactive Fiction
I made one. I like it! You play as Maul and you're investigating rumors that Obi-Wan Kenobi has been seen at the local university:
Crossing Over

Art/Comics
I think the Expert Judgement on ... comic with the explorer and her kitty is the best art of mine:
Intrusion Into

Fanmix
I made a fanmix and posted it onto AO3! I should perhaps crosspost it here at some point. It's for the Investigator from the Expanse (books), and thus engages also with the worldbuilding about the Builders. I think I should maybe make a post on the book series actually.
Wake the World for Me

Vid
Y'all already know what I'll rec.
Reincarnation

Fic
Here I have four "main" recs that all do something different.

Force-Found, Fetter-Free is a gen TPM canon divergence fixit and also the longest thing I wrote this year (at under 12k, but w/e). I like the POV structure and the fact that the concept is not the most popular one.

Desert Sons is a gen post-AotC fic where Anakin confesses his Tusken massacre to A'Sharad Hett. It is a serious fic with themes like law relativism and restitution and I think I tackled the topic well.

In the Shadow of Korriban is a gen crossover between SW PT and Babylon 5. I like how I interwove the worldbuilding here.

Starless Void of Ageless Night is 442 words of gen for Europa Report, but readable canon-blind. It's in future tense! I think I did it well. I like being experimental.

There's some other honorable mentions as well – I liked the traps I constructed for the tomb in Beyond the Thunder Sounds (SWTOR), the mythology ~vibes~ of Trust in the Might of a Miracle (SW PT), and the dark mood and such of Ascent (The Luminous Dead).

2023 Resolutions & did I do them

Comments with critical praise
LOL no. 2023 was terrible IRL and I simply did not have the brain to anything like this.

Finish All That is Solid Melts into Air
No. I did add some words, but I did not have the wherewithal in me to sink into a long word-based project.

Find some workable longform writing meta
No. To be fair, I don't think I tried at all. I just forgot this was a thing I resolved to do and it whooshed out of my brain by the 6th.

Write some fic just for me
Yes! Desert Sons, mostly, and In the Shadow of Korriban, definitely.

Improve my vidding skillz
Yes! I think I leveled up with Begin Again (process notes), and then again with Reincarnation (very brief notes). I should probably post full process notes on Reincarnation at some point.

2024 Resolutions

I've decided to include some RL ones this time, since those are ones I should 100% be able to tick off the next time I'm making this post.

Find love
I'll be moving, possibly internationally, later this year. I'll give Tinder etc a second chance there. I want to love and be loved and be physically close with someone. I want to fuck a hot chick. I guess I can suffer through ten billion awkward first dates that people agree to solely on the basis that I am one of the few people in the queer woman dating pool capable of asking people out.

Do [redacted RL sports thingamajig]
The next stage of commitment, if you will. Redaction because the community is small enough I might be doxxable if I mention it.

Finish the work project
It was supposed to be done in October, but shit broke. I want to be fucking done with it so I can move on with my life.

Make a vid from a baihe short film
Either from something longform, like Legend of Yunze, or a patchwork of different sources like for the reincarnation romance project (notes the first, notes the second).

Finish my vid_bingo card
This will include:
- Return to the Sea. A Rey/Leia vid to Sirens - Of Blood and Water by Epica. Technically done, but I need to rip out and redo the first verse.
- character study of [redacted] to [redacted] by [redacted]. I just need to clip it.
- the reincarnation romance project above to Until Eternity by Blackbriar. I need to decide on the source set and figure out how to run cleancredits.
- 00's music. Possibly a Rey vid to either Mortalitas Part IV: From Beneath You It Devours by Nemesea or Show Me the Way by Elis (or the shorter version or original version of the latter). The music deep dive was worth it, esp. when I realized Metal Archives has a Related Bands tab for each entry! Though Elis I found when it was mentioned in a review for a completely different album, so you should read the reviews as well. :)

Write some fic that is weird/wild/experimental
I like doing this. I want to stretch my wings. I want to become me, blobbing out of the boxes of typicality and write something utterly and completely deranged.

As I have ANOTHER idea for a reincarnation-themed vid (one that I've been thinking about for longer than the Rey Reincarnation – Rey-incarnation? *g* – one), I went through douqi's Sapphic Short Films carrd's Yang Yimo & Yang Fuyu section to get stuff with the same actresses. I knew I'd have to cleancredits out the Bilibili logo and cut around the hardsubs, but here are the other notes, incl. on which of them actually have Yang Fuyu:

The Young Master and the Tea-Picking Girl: a watermark in the middle of the frame (barely visible, some frames usable ig) as well as song lyrics in variable places (visible). 5min long and very plot-light. (Actually Yang Yimo and Yu Zixuan)

I've Saved You Once Again, Little Princess! 1:36, mostly dialogue-free, very horny, has a slo-mo waist grab/dip going on. (Yang Yimo and Jiu Jing Yan)

The Hunter, or the Hunted?: 19s, but kinda spicy, definitely using this. ...actually, this is 5 videos in one! #4 has a voiceover and thus hardsubs, but everything else is usable. (#5 is solo dancing.) (Note: #1 and #2 are Sheng Wei and Qi Xiaxia, #4 is Sheng Wei and maybe Yang Yimo, no Yang Fuyu)

Fight Scene: 00:51 long, exactly what it says on the tin, no text on the screen, and also the BB logo is on a black letterbox. Amazing. I love this. (Actually Yang Yimo and Qi Xiaxia)

"You Were Once My Light": 2:46 of dark femslash (not just cinematographically!), but some of the shots with no speaking are nice. (Yang Yimo and Qi Xiaxia)

Every Moment With You Is Sweet: 3min, no dialogue/hardsubs. There's a BB logo in one corner and a more ornate one in another, but they're stationary throughout the video. Leads seem to be in a reincarnation romance already; multiple costume changes, present-day section very good for my purposes.

The Young Master and the Pauper: 3min, again song lyrics in variable places. Some might be croppable, but most not. I'll probably want to use at least the dramatic dip, the wrist grab, and the hand grab from this, as well as the definitely not kiss, though, so suffer I shall.

Xiaoshimei's Strategy Guide to Winning Her Shijie's Heart: 2:46 with the most obnoxious hardsubs known to man, but some nice handholding and faking being afraid for an excuse to cling. Def usable.

Three Hundred Years Later: 5:12. Mostly talk-y and thus hardsubbed, but there are some excellent lotion-applying scenes, as well as pinning hands to a bed and definitely a kiss.

Help, I Accidentally Stole My Shixiong's Crush! 4:19 of the adorable shimei and the shixiong's crush making eye contact, gazing dreamily at each other, playing the qin, wound treating, and running through fields – and that's just what didn't have hardsubs on it.

Led Astray by Love: 52:07, so there's definitely stuff in there. I remember some mashing face into boob, bathing together, and waist touching, at the very least.

That's 6 things with the advertised actresses, though one of them is comparatively really long – 52 min vs ~18 total for the others. The intended song, Until Eternity is, like, 4:40 (the orchestral ver is 4:19, but the vibes are not there), so I should have enough footage in there to make a vid :D

ETA: this twitter gif is highly relevant.

Reincarnation
Fandom: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars Original Trilogy (in roughly that concentration)
Music: Reincarnation by Beyond the Black
Runtime: 4:13
Warnings: rapid cuts (throughout), natural strobing (entire second half), flickering image (esp second half)
Premiered at fanworks con 2023.

  You can't run from who you were.



This is my magnum opus. The entire reason I watched the OT and ST. On the 28th of February, I told a friend over Discord "RIP to me, I have a vid idea that I super want to do and that necessitates watching the OT and ST (and clipping through all 9 movies)" after hearing the song for the first time and then, uh, went and did it. I originally planned to submit it to VidUKon, but I wasn't even done with the clipping, so I swapped to the idea I got a few days later watching ANH: Burn It Down. I finally finished the draft in August and asked on the Vidders Discord for someone to make sure the concept was clear. seekingferret answered the call, and then we ended up having a truly comedic stint of taking turns being AFK for weeks on end, but I did end up with invaluable feedback on how I needed to toss out my instrumental intro and make a new one.

General notes on how I made it: I first did the purely-ST Rey "frame", starting from ~0:31, vidding along as I clipped. This led to one false start, where I originally used TLJ and Rey holding Kylo's red saber, for the section from 2:26, but then I realized I had nowhere to go to for the instrumental from 2:50, and ripped that out and replaced it with TRoS footage after I'd clipped that. Then I watched through all the lightsaber fights I'd included, made notes on what Rey's lightsaber was doing/directions of slashes etc, and went through my clip library to see what clips would best match. Matching the TRoS Rey-Kylo fight footage with OT Vader-Luke footage was a bit hard, since I was working against lightsaber color coding and also the OT fights were Of Their Time. Grabbing PT Anakin clips to match with the TFA fight in the snow, OTOH, was pretty easy ... apart from the bit where the PT's fights are faster-paced than the ST's. But I really like how the bit from 1:30 goes, with the intercuts to the Anakin-Dooku fight, as well as the 3:09 to 3:46 flashback section, especially the final "Reincarnation – My soul won't die" from 3:43 to 3:46.

Also, because I knew this was Fast Cuts: The Vid, I watched my final draft at half speed in VLC to make sure everything was timed and to really have time to consider every image I presented in the montage. I think this is a good process step and will repeat it for any future vids with lots of rapid cuts/a plethora of visuals.