I haven't done a end of year vid review since 2015, mostly because I felt I hadn't made enough vids during the year to warrant one. And I was tossing up whether to do one this year as well, but then I realised I could do an end of the decade vid review instead and then I wouldn't have to do another one until 2030!

And you know, I do generally hope I still making vids in another 10 years.

(I also had a brief moment of worry that maybe I should be waiting until the end of 2020 to do a decade in review but I googled it (like a nerd) and the general consensus is the new decade starts now.)

51 Vids in 10 Years

It's actually pretty awesome to look back 10 years and see all the vids I have made. I technically started vidding in 2004, then I took a break for a couple of years and then started up consistently again in 2007.

All the links go to AO3 but in case the streaming video doesn't work, they should all be up on my YouTube.

2019

Bones - Crimson Peak [Gen ]
Seven Nation Army - Agent Carter [Peggy Carter ]
Come With Me Now - Thor [Heimdall/Thor ]
Come As You Are - The Craft [Gen ]
Melodrama - Guardians of the Galaxy [Gamora & Nebula ]
I Know What I Am - Ocean's Eight [Gen ]

2018

Heavy In Your Arms - Mirrormask [Anti-Helena ]
Just Dance - Captain America [Steve/Peggy ]
Gods & Monsters - Thor [Valkyrie ]
Bela Lugosi's Dead - INSIDE [Gen ]

2017

Bird Song - Practical Magic [Gen ]
Shots - Robin Hood: Men in Tights [Gen ]
Call Me Maybe - Agent Carter [Peggy/Angie ]
Ain't No Mountain High Enough - Captain America [Sam/Steve ]
Handclap - The Fifth Element [Gen ]
Take Me to Church - Mother May I Sleep With Danger [Pearl/Leah ]

2016

Grand Theft Hydra - Captain America [Steve Rogers ]
Bad Romance - Agent Carter [Peggy/Dottie ]
I Of The Storm - Push [Gen ]

2015

Everybody Wants To Rule The World - Guardians of the Galaxy [Gamora & Nebula ]
I Bet My Life - Teen Wolf [Gen ]
When I Get My Hands On You - Captain America [Steve/Peggy ]
Ghost - Teen Wolf [Allison/Lydia ]
The Pit - Guardians of the Galaxy [Peter Quill ]
The Draw - Teen Wolf [Scott/Derek ]
Tuning Out - Van Helsing [Dracula/Van Helsing, Aleera/Anna ]
Yellow Flicker Beat - Transistor [Gen ]

2014

From Here On Out - Teen Wolf [Scott/Stiles ]
Hungry Like The Wolf - Teen Wolf [Gen ]
Wanderluster - Thor [Thor/Jane ]
Psalm 40:2 - Constantine [Gen ]
Feeling Good - Agents of SHIELD [Melinda May ]
Fireproof - Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters [Gen ]

2013

21 Guns - Teen Wolf [Derek Hale ]
Homewrecker - Teen Wolf [Erica Reyes ]
Together Like The Devil and Sin - Supernatural RPF [Gen ]
Hells Bells - Supernatural [Gen ]
Neckz 'n Throats Photoshoot - Teen Wolf [Gen ]
The Good Book - Black Books [Gen ]

2012

Lonely Souls - Merlin BBC [Gen ]
A Prince From Another World - Merlin BBC [Merlin/Arthur ]
Give Me Rock and Roll - Supernatural [Gen ]
We're Getting a Divorce, You Keep the Diner - Supernatural [Gen ]
Bruises - Supernatural [Sam Winchester ]
Me & Lazarus - Daybreakers [Gen ]
Dear Prudence - Misfits [Alisha Bailey ]
The Devil Takes Care of his Own - From Dusk Till Dawn [Gen ]

2011

Hey Jude - Supernatural [John/Mary ]
Awake My Soul - Supernatural [Gen ]
Dance in the Dark - Lady Gaga [Gen ]
Fingers - Ever After [Danielle de Barbarac ]

2010

No vids made :(

Trends... with GRAPHS!

This is mostly for my own curiousity but I think it is still cool to see.


I don't know what happened in 2010 but we can ignore that. But generally I have made a couple of vids a year.


"Other" is for fandoms where I have only made one vid, otherwise it's pretty clear which fandoms I have been passionate about over the last decade.


And likewise, if we break down just the Marvel vids, it's easy to see which Marvel fandoms I am most passionate about.


Again, "Other" is for music where I have only made one vid for. I actually thought Florence + the Machine would count for a lot more because she is probably my favourite singer/band but I guess that all the vids I have planned to her songs are still stuck in the ideas phase.


And just out of curiousity. "Gen" here is for ensemble or single character or general overview type vids. The others are for vids that explicitly focus on a pairing. I'm actually surprised that F/F is just as high as M/M since I tend to read/ship more slash than femslash but I suppose that is just because more is available. Whereas what I vid is up to me.

Questions

I always struggled to answer these when I only had like 6 vids to choose from, but it's a bit easier when I have 50 odd vids to consider.

My favorite video this year decade (of my own):
Okay, this one is a bit harder when I have to choose from 50 vids. I have two criteria when it comes to favourite vids: a) I have to like the vid itself in terms of subject matter, song, concept, etc and b) I have to like the technical execution.

I have plenty of vids that I still really like but there's always a couple of editing choices or mistakes that make me cringe when re-watching.

But out of all my vids of the last decade, these are the ones I really love and are really proud of.

Melodrama - Guardians of the Galaxy [Gamora & Nebula ] - This is actually part of a series of Gamora & Nebula vids (with hopefully more vids to come) but I really like how Melodrama turned out. I really like Gamora & Nebula's characters and relationship and I really like vids where I can mirror clips and themes and I think it worked really well for this vid.

Just Dance - Captain America [Steve/Peggy ] - It kinda pains me to include this because Endgame soured me so goddamn much on this pairing but I really love how this vid turned out. I think the editing is really concise on this vid and fun to watch. Some vids I get stuck or run out of time and I just end up shoving in random clips to fill out the timeline but if I did it with this vid I can't tell.

From Here On Out - Teen Wolf [Scott/Stiles ] - I was never a huge Scott/Stiles fan (and I stopped watching Teen Wolf after a couple of seasons so who knows what happened with them) but I did really enjoy their relationship and I had a lot of fun making this vid.

Ghost - Teen Wolf [Allison/Lydia ] - I really enjoyed how this vid turned out because not only did I have to construct an AU narrative (where Lydia brings Allison back to life) but I used a number of special FX as well. Nothing real fancy but enough that I was super pleased with what I made.

Shots - Robin Hood: Men in Tights [Gen ] - I actually hate this song so goddamn much but the beat is really fun (as long as I stop listening to the lyrics on occasion) and I think it works so well with the movie. I think this was the most fun I had making a vid and it's always so fun to rewatch it as well.

Handclap - The Fifth Element [Gen ]- I wasn't sure this vid worked when I first made it but after rewatching it a couple of years later I am actually really please with out it turned out. My aim was to vid the movie but to arrange the clips in a colour spectrum through the rainbow, so red to purple than back to red again. I'm really happy with how it turned out and somewhat impressed at how coherent it turned out to be.

Then I do have some a lot of honourable mentions. These are vids that I really do love but like I said above, there are just some technical choices that I dislike upon rewatching: Come With Me Now - Thor [Heimdall/Thor ], Gods & Monsters - Thor [Valkyrie ], Call Me Maybe - Agent Carter [Peggy/Angie ], Ain't No Mountain High Enough - Captain America [Sam/Steve ], Grand Theft Hydra - Captain America [Steve Rogers ], Bad Romance - Agent Carter [Peggy/Dottie ], I Of The Storm - Push [Gen ], Everybody Wants To Rule The World - Guardians of the Galaxy [Gamora & Nebula ], I Bet My Life - Teen Wolf [Gen ], The Draw - Teen Wolf [Scott/Derek ], The Good Book - Black Books [Gen ], Psalm 40:2 - Constantine [Gen ] & Fingers - Ever After [Danielle de Barbarac ]

My least favorite video this year decade:
I don't know if I have a vid I actually dislike. I know there are plenty that have editing choices I don't like or the overall vid didn't turn out how I wanted it to in my head but that is generally because I was vidding on a deadline and simply ran out of time.

And I always make sure with exchanges and challenges to carefully curate my list of offered fandoms so I am always vidding with a source I am excited to vid with.

But if I had to choose:

Lonely Souls - Merlin BBC [Gen ] - I don't hate this vid but it doesn't quite convey what I want it to. I mean it does, it's not an especially deep vid but I got stuck with some sections, which didn't turn out the way I wanted them to. Also there are a lot more gorgeous scenes from Merlin that I wanted to use but didn't quite manage to fit them it. I do still kinda want to redo this video, especially with higher quality source but I doubt that is going to happen

Most successful video:
I think this has a lot of variables, especially because I know I didn't promote some vids as much as others.

On YouTube my most popular vid is Bad Romance - Agent Carter [Peggy/Dottie ], which has 186,424 views (!!!) which blows my mind but the second most popular vid has only 31K views, and some vids have under 100 views. So really, Bad Romance is only popular because it pleased YouTube's algorithms somehow.

On AO3, Neckz 'n Throats Photoshoot - Teen Wolf [Gen ] wins for hits and kudos.

And on Tumblr, where I haven't even posted all my vids, The Draw - Teen Wolf [Scott/Derek ] wins with 505 likes/reblogs. But that was also made for an exchange and was originally posted on their tumblr which I am assuming had a lot more followers. Of the vids that I posted directly to my tumblr, Gods & Monsters - Thor [Valkyrie ] wins with 214 likes/reblogs.

Video most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion:
I mean, this also has a lot of variables, especially since, as I mentioned, some vids I didn't even post to Tumblr for exposure.

However, I do have to say, I am a little disappointed that Ain't No Mountain High Enough - Captain America [Sam/Steve ] didn't get more traction. I thought that was a very cute vid that Sam and Steve were very cute in.

Most fun video:
Definitely Shots - Robin Hood: Men in Tights [Gen ]. Like I said, I hate the song but damn if the vid ain't fun.

Video with single sexiest moment:
Hmm, I think Bad Romance - Agent Carter [Peggy/Dottie ] has some sexy moments between Peggy and Dottie, and I think Come With Me Now - Thor [Heimdall/Thor ] also has some sexy moments between Heimdall and Thor.

Biggest vid fail:
I don't think I really had any vid fails, aside from technical issues every now and then.

My vid fails are all the vids I have started or thought about starting but never finished...

Hardest video to make:
Every vid? I mean aside from all the vids for exchanges and challenges that I (unintentionally) leave until the last minute and then struggle to rush through them...

Handclap - The Fifth Element [Gen ] was a bit of a struggle because I first had to clip every scene in the movie and organise them by colour and then somehow place them on to the timeline in a way that made sense.

Most unintentionally telling video:
I don't know if I have any "telling" videos. I mean, generally if I vid something, you can assume I like it.

Things I learned this year:
Vids get made faster when you actually sit down at the computer and work on them. I know, astounding!

Things to work on:

Actually sitting down at the computer and working on a vid? There are so many vid ideas that I have and I think I actually make vids pretty fast but my problem is that I will re-watch my current vid-in-progress a couple of times, place a couple of clips on the timeline and then not touch it for a month, which for some strange reason, is not conducive for producing vids on a timely basis.

For 2020 (and beyond):

• Keep vidding. Ideally on a regular basis. Like maybe making a vid once per month? But I do genuinely hope that I am still vidding in another 10 years.


• Try vidding using the sounds from the source as well. Like this amazing vid: Glitter & Gold. I have a great idea for a vid where this would work but a slight hurdle is the fact that I have most of my source saved without audio to save on hard drive space. So I would have to reacquire that.


• Maybe also try updating viddingnews on a more regular basis. But in my defence, there isn't always a lot of vidding news to post.


• Watch more and rec more vids. I have like a whole folder of bookmarks of vids that I want to watch, or rec, or download forever. I actually started this process and have been bookmarking them on Pinboard if anyone is interested. This is primarily for my own use in case my computer dies and I need to download all the vids again (because this did happen to me once and yes, I did spend a lot of time finding my favourite vids again) but I figure other people may be interested.

Other Thoughts

Despite the sheer disappointment that Endgame was (pretty much for single character), I still like and want to vid Marvel. Possibly out of spite and possibly the fact that with vidding I can just cut out the bad part of the movies.

Rewatching my vids also made me super nostalgic for Supernatural. I stopped watching around season 8 but I kinda want to re-watch everything once the final season is over and then make one final vid (I even have a song picked out) but the thought of going through ~250 hours of footage is so very, very daunting.

Something else I noticed as I was going through my vids, which I found interesting, was the fact that I often get matched with the same people in exchanges like Festivids. I mean, saying "often" is probably an exaggeration but definitely more than once I have either made a vid for someone one year, and they've been assigned to make a vid for me another year. Or I have been assigned the same person as a recipient for multiple years. And this is for multi-fandom exchanges across a wide variety of different sources. But it's interesting to think about how our taste in movie and tv are similar.

I'm also still a little astounded that after 15 years I do still really enjoy vidding. I love vids as an artform so much and I still find that watching the perfect vid gives me such a rush of inspiration or motivation or whatever you want to call it. It fantastic! And even though I generally don't reply (because I am terrrrible) I still really treasure every comment or kudos or reblog that I get. Every time I get one it's just a little moment of brightness in my day, to know that I have created something that someone else liked. Which is why I really need to make an effort to comment on other people's stuff.