Escapade Sidebar 1: Vid Reading Levels or Beware the Cheese

[wickedwords]

melina123 is the person who originally brought this up, and it made sense to me, so I'm gonna put out a half-baked version of the concept so it can be discussed and refined a bit. Several years ago, the Highlander Media Cannibals created a vid to "Hear that Voice Again." It was a pretty complicated vid, attempting to show how guilt and Duncan's past history and insecurities have fucked up his life. The first person we showed it to, who was a Methos fan without any real interest in Duncan, was very confused by it. "What is this, a graduate exam?"

At that point, all the energy went out of us. If you didn't have a strong background in the character and his history, you couldn't get the vid. It was a confusion of images and sounds that just didn't make sense. The vid seemed to work fine for those who knew Duncan's history and his character, but as that was only about a third of the Highlander slashers at the time, it was a little disheartening. It meant that the audience for the vid would never be that big, as it required too much detailed knowledge of characters and canon to be truly accessible.

So, when Melina made a statement about how sherrold's and my Smallville vid "So Damn Hot" was at her 'reading level' in the fandom, it made a ton of sense to me. You don't have to know a lot about the fandom to access the vid, but you have to know some to get the biggest joke.

And that seemed to be about the level of most of the Escapade audience: a passing familiarity with a lot of fandoms, but wide-spread, detailed knowledge of only a few. Graduate level vids are gonna be a hard sell in that environment, for more than a handful of fans with the specialized education required, and if there's a mismatch between what a first grade/literal interpretation of a scene would be in comparison to a graduate level/metaphorical interpretation -- well, the audience is likely to react to it en masse at grade level one. I think that graduate level vids can and should be shown at cons, but if you want to prevent misunderstood viewings, they should be reviewed by a fan who is somewhat unfamiliar with the fandom prior to the showing to make sure that there's no grade one level joke or perception that would interfere with the more "educated" reading.

An example of this: we used the occasional shot of fire or heat vision on some of our lyric lines, so the grade one read has the audience going "Oh! Fire. Hot. I get it." If you're saying anything more complicated along with that, it may be completely missed. The literal interpretation is the grade one interpretation, and if there is nothing else that the grade one reader can tie into, then they will spend the whole vid reacting to that.

For us, it worked great. For someone else trying to say something complex about the fandom or the relationship or character, it might not.

So beware the cheese.

Comments

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

What an outstanding post. Reading levels! That's a great metaphor (metaphor about metaphors, how meta can you get?), and I plan to steal adopt it in future conversations.

Do you think, though, that people who are purely fans of vids *as* vids still need fandom context to grok graduate-level vids? Or maybe, they need it, but not as much? Are they reading at a higher level than Jane Q. Average Fan? I wonder, because even though I've seen vids for shows where I had no context at all, if they were good vids, I always enjoyed them anyhow. And frequently I was able to piece *some* kind of meaning together. I guess I'm saying that, as a vid qua vid fan, I never metaphor I didn't like.

::runs away::

I love how the conversation about connecting with audiences keeps going on. (:

[wickedwords.livejournal.com]

I think that vid fans (fans of vids-as-a-fandom) learn to see the markers for metaphor even in fandoms that they don't normally play in, as long as the vidder is using 'commonly agreed to' signposts for what these might be. A vidder from a different asthetic coming into the vids-as-fandom community might not have their complex vid read sucessfully, because they are using different markers than we are used to reading in the vividcon-trained world.

Not sure though, and I think we are cross-breeding anyway.

I love how the conversation about connecting with audiences keeps going on. (:

Man, me too. It's one of the threads we share, wanting to talking about how to create connection.

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

I think that vid fans (fans of vids-as-a-fandom) learn to see the markers for metaphor even in fandoms that they don't normally play in

Excellent way of putting it. Yes.

[melinafandom.livejournal.com]

Do you think, though, that people who are purely fans of vids *as* vids still need fandom context to grok graduate-level vids? Or maybe, they need it, but not as much?

Yes and yes, IMO, at least for me. I appreciate vids as vids, but I find it much harder to connect to a serious vid in a fandom I'm not familiar with. I can appreciate it aesthetically, I can see that it was well put together, but to the extent the vid relies on context, it's much harder to really feel like I got it, whatever it is. I might be able to recognize that something more is going on in terms of context or metaphor, but a lot of times I think you have to know what that is to emotionally connect (especially in serious vids as opposed to comedy). And if it's a fandom I really cannot stand -- I don't care how good the vid is, the chance that I'll ever have a positive emotional reaction to it is very low. Which is different from appreciating, from a vidder's perspective, what the vidder is doing.

For the reading level theory, a good example for me from Escapade were both the I-Man vids -- I have a passing familiarity with the show and have seen a couple of vids before, both of which I really liked (Kryptonite and Voodoo). But just as with Voodoo, I knew there was way more going on in the vid than I was able to appreciate. They were just above my reading level.

I think what I like about this theory most is that it's a good way to distinguish a failure of the vidder (the vid is good or bad or didn't successfully connect with the audience) to differences in the audience itself, and how they relate to the source. To someone who doesn't know or care about Highlander, Say was probably just another D/M vid that used all those clips they've seen before -- but to fans of the show and pairing, it was something different entirely.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

I think what I like about this theory most is that it's a good way to distinguish a failure of the vidder (the vid is good or bad or didn't successfully connect with the audience) to differences in the audience itself, and how they relate to the source. To someone who doesn't know or care about Highlander, Say was probably just another D/M vid that used all those clips they've seen before -- but to fans of the show and pairing, it was something different entirely.

Hm - I agree with you taht this is a good way to parse out whether the vidder failed at communication or the audience simply doesn't have the reading level necessary, but I'm not a HL vid, nor do I particularly care, yet I thought "Say" was wonderful and I got a lot out of it.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

but I'm not a HL vid,

While true, this is not what I meant. I am not an HL *fan* is a more useful statement.

[melinafandom.livejournal.com]

You probably understand the relationship well enough, though -- even if that understanding comes from other vids rather than the show itself -- for Say to be meaningful. Maybe that's true for other sophisticated vid-watchers, too, so it probably isn't a very good example at all :)

So maybe the theory needs expansion to include the idea that even if you don't watch the source of a particular fandom, watching a lot of vids in it over a period of years can itself increase your reading level in the fandom. Which is kind of interesting...

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

*nod* I think that's definitely the case. I wouldn't know who those guys even are without vids. Now I feel like I know them, and I understand their relationship, and it's pretty much all from vid-watching. Especially watching *your* vids.

Which reminds me I need to go look at your new ones!

[heresluck]

...even if you don't watch the source of a particular fandom, watching a lot of vids in it over a period of years can itself increase your reading level in the fandom.

That *is* interesting, and certainly true in my case although I'd never thought about it in those terms before.

I think the "reading levels" concept in general is a *great* addition to vidding vocabulary -- and it'll be an especially useful term at VividCon, I think.

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

Interesting that you brought emotional reactions into the discussion, because I'd been thinking purely intellectually.

I do agree that there's a big divide between "vids that get me emotionally" and "vids that don't" which has a *huge* amount to do with knowing/caring about the show. Especially the "caring about" part. *g*

Examples:

A Buffy vid is going to have an excellent chance of grabbing me emotionally, and I will probably get all of the context associated with it. I know the show really well. I read Buffy vids at a graduate level.

A Smallville vid has a poor chance of grabbing me emotionally, but I will probably get most of the context. I know the show pretty well (I watched most of the first three seasons and still occasionally read recaps), but I don't really care about the characters. So while I can read a Smallville vid at a fairly high level, I'm just not likely to engage with it emotionally.

[nestra.livejournal.com]

It ties in with a couple of the panels this weekend, too, especially with regards to being monofannish. More than one person talked about doing fannish "homework", in order to be at least conversant with the current crazes.

[wickedwords.livejournal.com]

That's true. It's work to have at least some familiarity with a lot of fandoms, even if you don't have a detailed, in-depth exposure. So a monofan might have the advantage in knowing the arguments contained in a graduate level vid that a polyfan might pass by in order to gain knowledge in yet another fandom. Monofans only have primary fandoms, while polys struggle with primary, secondary, tershiary and so on. I'm not sure it's harder to show a graduate level vid than it has ever been, but the audience for that vid feels like it may be getting smaller.

[absolutedestiny.livejournal.com]

Heh, well that's me screwed :)

[wickedwords.livejournal.com]

So not screwed. *g* That Dead or Alive 2 vid was the sleeper hit. I think maybe 2 people at the con were familiar with the fandom, but for many of the rest of us, we didn't even know the genre until it came on-screen. But everyone left with a feeling like they wanted to know more about the fandom and what was going on. movies_michelle promised to watch the movie and report back on it, so others could find out if it might be their thing; by focusing on the relationship between the characters, you made the fandom really accessible to people who had no knowlege of it but who were into male relationships. Plus the colors! Oh, man. It was glorious.

So, rather than turning people off, the vid could be read by those with both a grade level one and a graduate level, and the level ones were left hankering for advanced degrees.

[elistaire.livejournal.com]

Oh, I definitely like this description. Reading Level.
And that vids are created at the different levels--on purpose, or by a vidder who is slowly educating themselves to become better. :-)

[wickedwords.livejournal.com]

The more a vidder is aware of themselves and their audience, the better chance they have of crafting something that works.

[tanacawyr.livejournal.com]

That's a really good metaphor, I think, the whole "reading level" thing. I think it's also important for vidders to realize that they can make a graduate-level vid, but they are going to leave some people behind who will not get what they wanted to say. I guess the converse also goes -- when you make a basic level vid, people who are deeply into that fandom might look at it as a McVid of sorts, fun but not filling.

Setting expectations and all that, I guess ...

[wickedwords.livejournal.com]

It's really tough. You want the best of all possible worlds, but sometimes the vid you wanna make either has a smaller audience or is mind candy (note that I like mind candy, *g*) Lots to think on

[tanacawyr.livejournal.com]

It's not so bad as long as the vidder is aware of it. You just can't make a terribly complex vid and expect everyone to get it. and as an audienc emember, you've got to be prepared to turn your a-ha filter up or down, or just go with the flow and understand that just because you don't get it, doesn't mean it's not gettable.

It's strange -- these issues just aren't as present for fic. Vids are unique in that it's expected that (as for Escapade) we'll all sit in a room and watch whatever we're shown, whether we are in that fandom or not. I don't expect anyone outside of "Hornblower" to read my H/A fic, though.