Overused and covering the same ground - a problem?

[absolutedestiny.livejournal.com]

As I'm not as intimately familiar with the vidding community as I am the amv one, I was curious whether repeated song + source combinations are an issue.

In the amv communities there are so many videos that again and again the same ideas will be regurgitated (Fighting Anime + Nu Metal Band Du Jour being the most common). Does this happen in vidding? Do you get an infinite amount of Matrix videos to "Bring me back to Life"? (I'm guessing not so much because the demographic seems to be different)

Also, when you come up with a new idea, do you go and find out if anyone has done it before or do you just make whatever you like? Is there an unspoken taboo about doing videos to songs that have been massively popularised by other vidders?

Just a few random musings - any insight would be appreciated.

Comments

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

At last count there were, I think, 13 vids to "Bring Me To Life" in the Buffy Music Video Database. (:

Yes, it happens. Among the people in the corner of the vidding community where I hang out, it is considered anywhere from "not recommended" to "extremely rude" to vid a song that you know someone else has used. People vary in their opinions, and other factors are relevant (for instance, is your vid in the same fandom as the other? are you using the same version of the song, or a cover?).

Naturally, as the number of vidders increases, there is an ever-growing chance that the song you picked has been or will be used by someone else. Personally, I don't check to see if anyone has used a song before; my songs are almost always so obscure that most people haven't even heard them, let alone vidded them, before.

It did come up for me once, though; I vidded a song that I knew a friend was using. Different fandom, different version, but I spaced talking to her about it before releasing my vid, and I should have done so. It ended up causing some trouble between us. Fortunately, my friend and I are good at working these things out. (: But not everyone would be so forgiving.

[absolutedestiny.livejournal.com]

>At last count there were, I think, 13 vids to "Bring Me To Life" in the Buffy
>Music Video Database. (:

Beat ya - 488 amvs listed with that song, 74 of them to final fantasy footage :D

But yeah... Buffy... I should have guessed :) [see, not my fandom]

I guess I'll just have to be careful. Most of the time I have reasonably obscure sources but at the moment I'm using a song which would probably be considered overused in old-school AMVs but to a live action movie. I guess I'll just see how the response is when I finish it.

Maybe I'll be excused for being a vidding n00b.

hmmm... I hope n00bs aren't treated the same way in vidding as they are in amvs...


[Comic by Big Big Truck on the DBZ+Linkin Park backlash...]

*g*

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

Depends on who you ask. The vidding community is really several communities, of course, and it's getting more balkanized all the time. I have seen a fair amount of newbie smackdown in my neck of the woods, and I gotta tell ya, I do not like it.

488 amvs to the same song! I think even if we were able to count each and every vid to "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and "Holding Out for a Hero", we wouldn't hit a number like that!

For the most part, I think vidders should make what their heart prompts them to. There surely are certain song choices which, to older-school vidders, are going to be seen as clichés, but that doesn't mean you can't make them work. Ideally, a new voice can bring something different to it.

Personally, I'm obsessed with song choice as a topic, and with finding songs that are as *specifically* right for the characters and stories I'm vidding as possible -- specific as in, that couldn't be used for anyone else. A lot of vidders just aren't that obsessed with song choice, and I'm not saying everyone should be. But I find that the more song-choice-obsessed a vidder is, the more likely I am to love her vids.

Re: *g*

[absolutedestiny.livejournal.com]

Ah there's another key distinction with amvs.

Character profile and slash take a proverbial back seat in anime music video creation. Not that they doesn't exist, but they aren't as prevalent. It's usually particular shows that invite those kinds of videos (Inu Yasha, for example) but on the whole the amv world is flashy, blunt, fic-less and male.

It's going to be interesting seeing where my vids will end up when I make them :)

Re: *g*

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

If I had to guess based on your comments, I'd say Club Vivid (http://www.livejournal.com/users/elke_tanzer/459466.html). (:

[sarismchee.livejournal.com]

I think I have a slightly different opinion from laurashapiro. I think it can be hard to come up with something original if you're reusing a song in a fandom where it's been used several times, but it's not really fair to say "Well, that song was already used for a Smallville vid, so I guess I can't make a Farscape one to it." Song choice alone does not determine how good a vid is, and because every fandom is different, there's always room for another video to that song.

By the way, newbies are awesome and always welcome!

[beloved4always.livejournal.com]

... in the Buffy Music Video Database

where can one find this database?

[river-boat.livejournal.com]

www.buffyvids.com (http://www.buffyvids.com)

[beloved4always.livejournal.com]

thanks soooo much!!

[diannelamerc.livejournal.com]

It's something I definitely take into account when planning a vid, but it's not an automatic deal-breaker. I'm actually not aware of any database :), and I've got far more friends/connections among the older tv-style vidders^*, but I generally ask around to see if anyone knows if my chosen song has been done before (at least in our circles).

If not, then I figure I'm clear. Sure someone somewhere has probably used it before, but at least I know it didn't just occur to me because I saw it on someone else's reel last and it got stuck in my head. :)

If so, then I consider differences in covers/versions of the song and fandoms. If someone's already used the song at all in the same fandom, I'd have to feel I had a really unique take that would be completely different in style and tone before I did it. (I wouldn't want to be "re-doing" someone else's vid... even if I think I would have done it better. :)

If the song's been used, but in another fandom, then I don't set the bar quite so high. But I'll still consider trying to come up with another song. And I'll still be concerned that I do something different with it.

*shrug*

There's not enough cohesion to say "This is what vidders feel", but that's my take. :)


^*I mean in contrast to a lot of people I've seen who have a whole run of eps on their computer in very low-resulution and tend to put together quick internet-only vids on the fly. I know internet-only is the big explosion in sheer number of vids, hence relevance to re-use of songs.

[chicken-cem.livejournal.com]

I think the turn-off for some vid viewers is that if there's a challenge going on, and the last five posts have been Nine Inch Nails, it gets trite and repetitive, to the point where people won't even think about watching the sixth one that comes down the pike. So it's not just individual songs, but artists and sometimes whole genres that generally get over-used. It's not a sin, just a turn-off for some.

[imzadi-gumdrop.livejournal.com]

Personally I think you should vid to whatever makes you "feel" or "see" that particular fandom. As long as you say what song it is when you post it ppl always have the choice not to watch it or not accept it into contests. And even if a song is over used flames are never approaite of course. Like all critisim song choice should be constructive.