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viddingGreetings helpful people!
I'm a novice vidder who's also a kinky grad student studying kink for a thesis in Social Anthropology. My program is hosting a small conference on March 12th and this time I opted to propose an alternative media submission rather than a standard paper. My abstract was accepted, so now I'm working on putting together about 20 minutes of kink-related video (both clips showing BDSM & other contextually kink-connected acts and objects and things that weren't intended by the creators to reference kink but which can be re-read with a kinky lens) to loop on display in the conference's reserved exhibition space. I'm regretting this decision a bit now for being overambitious, as I haven't actually completed a vid on my own before, but oh well.
My goal for the installation, which I've titled "Media Erotometrics", is (quoting from my abstract) "to provoke viewers to consider portrayals of 'kinky' and 'vanilla' sexual practices and relationships in popular culture, and also to consider their own affective responses to these scenes and the expectations they bring to and take away from their viewing. Through this project I will explore ways in which sexual acts and identities characterized as 'normal' or 'abnormal' are treated in popular media production and received by viewers, exploring ways in which the practices and expectations of 'kinky' and 'mainstream' (or “vanilla”) audiences shape and are shaped by accessible representations of alternative sexualities." My plan is to intersperse clips from various film, television, advertisement, & music video sources (both scenes with original audio and short "montages" overlaid with chunks of songs) with 'placards' presenting open-ended questions challenging viewers to interrogate their responses to the video and formatted like they've been extracted "out of sequence" from some hypothetical questionnaire.
I order to make this project at all manageable I'm breaking it down into "movements" of 45-90 seconds, with themes like good-natured comedy (laughing with kinky people), mean-spirited comedy (laughing at kinky people), kink = evil (how to spot the villain), kink = awesome (kinky people having fun in kink positive settings), kiss me kill me (rough sex & UST fighting), jeopardy/danger/torture, "ooh how edgy!", bondage (people cuffed & tied in various ways), spanking/ass & face slapping, whips & chains & other accoutrements, leather/latex/otherwise fetishy costumes, service/discipline & D/s, gestures of tenderness & lovey-dovey "soft" kink, maybe a bit on how all kinds of sexual non-normativity (same-sex or interracial pairings, for example) get sold as "kinky" if I can figure out a way to make this work in context, maybe separate bits for music video and commercial sources. I'll separate these using the 'placards' which will pose questions like "did that surprise/offend/amuse/excite/disturb/frighten you/turn you on?" or "did you find that kinky/scandalous/disappointing/tedious/distasteful/appealing/persuasive?" (possibly offering these as "check all that apply" tickybox options?) and "are you enjoying this/yourself?"
What I'm looking for help with:
1. Given limits of time and money and the wide range of sources I'm hoping to draw on, I'm not counting source quality a high priority, but is there anything I can do to "smooth out" using clips taken from different file types, qualities, aspect ratios, light levels, etc.? I imagine it's easier to get consistency by "rounding down" from .vobs etc. (because it's impossible to "round up" from lower quality).
2. Are there any recommended sources for music videos and commercials that will yield a better result than ripping from YouTube, and if not what programs/settings do you recommend for that?
3. What other advice would you offer a n00b with a shoestring budget in over her head on a massive multifandom project? I've got DVD Decrypter for ripping, MPEG Streamclip for clipping, and Movie Maker for cutting together and I've read some useful tutorials on using them (and I do have some WIP vids languishing on the hard-drive, so I'm not starting completely from scratch, but it's close).
Source suggestions: I already have quite a few ideas for songs and video sources I want to use for each of the "movements" listed behind the first cut, but I am more than happy to hear suggestions for scenes (as specific as possible, please--or if it's something you happen to already have clipped and don't mind sharing that would be super fantastic) for any of those themes, or suggestions for other themes or question cards! I'm really impressed with how helpful and considerate people on this community are, and really grateful to have you all here as a sounding board. Thank you!
I'm a novice vidder who's also a kinky grad student studying kink for a thesis in Social Anthropology. My program is hosting a small conference on March 12th and this time I opted to propose an alternative media submission rather than a standard paper. My abstract was accepted, so now I'm working on putting together about 20 minutes of kink-related video (both clips showing BDSM & other contextually kink-connected acts and objects and things that weren't intended by the creators to reference kink but which can be re-read with a kinky lens) to loop on display in the conference's reserved exhibition space. I'm regretting this decision a bit now for being overambitious, as I haven't actually completed a vid on my own before, but oh well.
My goal for the installation, which I've titled "Media Erotometrics", is (quoting from my abstract) "to provoke viewers to consider portrayals of 'kinky' and 'vanilla' sexual practices and relationships in popular culture, and also to consider their own affective responses to these scenes and the expectations they bring to and take away from their viewing. Through this project I will explore ways in which sexual acts and identities characterized as 'normal' or 'abnormal' are treated in popular media production and received by viewers, exploring ways in which the practices and expectations of 'kinky' and 'mainstream' (or “vanilla”) audiences shape and are shaped by accessible representations of alternative sexualities." My plan is to intersperse clips from various film, television, advertisement, & music video sources (both scenes with original audio and short "montages" overlaid with chunks of songs) with 'placards' presenting open-ended questions challenging viewers to interrogate their responses to the video and formatted like they've been extracted "out of sequence" from some hypothetical questionnaire.
I order to make this project at all manageable I'm breaking it down into "movements" of 45-90 seconds, with themes like good-natured comedy (laughing with kinky people), mean-spirited comedy (laughing at kinky people), kink = evil (how to spot the villain), kink = awesome (kinky people having fun in kink positive settings), kiss me kill me (rough sex & UST fighting), jeopardy/danger/torture, "ooh how edgy!", bondage (people cuffed & tied in various ways), spanking/ass & face slapping, whips & chains & other accoutrements, leather/latex/otherwise fetishy costumes, service/discipline & D/s, gestures of tenderness & lovey-dovey "soft" kink, maybe a bit on how all kinds of sexual non-normativity (same-sex or interracial pairings, for example) get sold as "kinky" if I can figure out a way to make this work in context, maybe separate bits for music video and commercial sources. I'll separate these using the 'placards' which will pose questions like "did that surprise/offend/amuse/excite/disturb/frighten you/turn you on?" or "did you find that kinky/scandalous/disappointing/tedious/distasteful/appealing/persuasive?" (possibly offering these as "check all that apply" tickybox options?) and "are you enjoying this/yourself?"
What I'm looking for help with:
1. Given limits of time and money and the wide range of sources I'm hoping to draw on, I'm not counting source quality a high priority, but is there anything I can do to "smooth out" using clips taken from different file types, qualities, aspect ratios, light levels, etc.? I imagine it's easier to get consistency by "rounding down" from .vobs etc. (because it's impossible to "round up" from lower quality).
2. Are there any recommended sources for music videos and commercials that will yield a better result than ripping from YouTube, and if not what programs/settings do you recommend for that?
3. What other advice would you offer a n00b with a shoestring budget in over her head on a massive multifandom project? I've got DVD Decrypter for ripping, MPEG Streamclip for clipping, and Movie Maker for cutting together and I've read some useful tutorials on using them (and I do have some WIP vids languishing on the hard-drive, so I'm not starting completely from scratch, but it's close).
Source suggestions: I already have quite a few ideas for songs and video sources I want to use for each of the "movements" listed behind the first cut, but I am more than happy to hear suggestions for scenes (as specific as possible, please--or if it's something you happen to already have clipped and don't mind sharing that would be super fantastic) for any of those themes, or suggestions for other themes or question cards! I'm really impressed with how helpful and considerate people on this community are, and really grateful to have you all here as a sounding board. Thank you!
no subject
Date: 2011-02-23 09:42 pm (UTC)