WinchesterCon 2007 and vid watching experience

[redina]

I jotted down a note about wanting to thank convention and vidshow organizers for allowing viewers the option of seeing vids under a 'theater' experience or an 'all hell breaks loose' experience. Thank you!

I had opted to spend last Friday doing the WB Studios VIP tour (5-6 hours of Dean's Deluxe tour, seriously, and Dean also liked watching Supernatural), which was fun and factoid interesting, and I had also been to Long Beach. So, LAX area to Burbank to Long Beach and back to LAX area meant *hours* of public transit, including running around and stair climbing, in one day and arriving back late to catch the tail-end of the WinCon vidshow. By then, I was *tired*... Combine that with an audience that had already been drinking, the sound system not being able to compete with raised voices where I was sitting, and random conversations... I actually considered walking out of the room rather than be in the situation of seeing SPN clips, kinda hearing the music intermixed with other topics of conversation, and barely understanding what the vids were about because my attention was split between conversations that had little to no relevance about the vidshow... in the middle of said vidshow.

As vids that were more 'background', including *premiering* ones, it was one of the most challenging situations for a vid to be presented under. Even during Club Vivid, I could still enjoy the vids and grasp the careful editing placed into them.

Let me emphasize, this was not a fault of the vidshow and convention organizers. Next day, during the repeat vidshow and against folk still talking, walking in and out of the room during playback, and even tripping over the power cable and stopping the show, I was finally able to see what a good collection of vids was gathered for WinCon 2007. Evidently, I missed Luminosity and Charmax's vids both times (first time, who knows where I was in LA, and second time, being unaware the vidshow had started), but thankfully, many are available online as well.

I wrote this in the notepad I was carrying: "Vidshow repeat was much better than the disappointing first view. For example, I didn't even know what Faithfully was about until the repeat. And when folk started getting too chatty, I moved away."

"Ask about SOS."

"Getting to comment real time with vidder as vid is playing."

The last two are tied into VividCon 2006 and 2007: Killa's SPN vid in 2006 and Ringwench's SPN vid in 2007.

From what I'm hearing, the remastered SOS vid by Killa wasn't supposed to be included in WinCon 2007 and why it only appeared during the repeat vidshow. Still, it's one of the vids that holds a fond fandom spot. Back then, I just recently got into Supernatural and SOS was among the group of 2006 VVC vids that comprised my first experience of watching SPN vids. And yes, {makes grabby hands} I wanted the remastered copy on DVD. I'm such a dork to probably miss the time it was available for limited download, so having SOS play during WinCon's repeat viewing was a fond surprise.

The second comment pertained to Ringwench bringing a DVD of her vids to VVC2007, and it was a unique experience (for me at least) to sit down with a vidder and talk about their vid during playback. Unlike the 'variety of conversations' during a vidshow, this was focused talk about a vid in a non-group setting. I was glad Ringwench shared the experience of asking a vidder questions about their work while it was playing and talking to them about how I saw their vid and literally pointing out parts of the vid onscreen.

Comments

[morgandawn.livejournal.com]

The way I looked at it - the showings catered to two crowds - the party goers and the vid watchers, so they offered max flexibility. Although one fan commented at the second theatre style showing: "I don't know why people were telling me to shush. They were sitting at the front and its not like they couldn't hear the vids over me talking." snort.

On that note: do not come to the Bascon vid show if you want a non-talking vid show (as much as we have tried). Very rowdy group (although not as rowdy as I suspect the Friday night Wincon must have been from the reports)

Re: vid watching

[redina]

The way I looked at it - the showings catered to two crowds - the party goers and the vid watchers, so they offered max flexibility.

Aye, which IIRC, taps into the history of vid watching. I think folk mentioned vids originally started as 'background' and the [preferred] editing style leaned toward non-complex... Hm, the QL vid to Oh Boy was one example. However, it seems nowadays technology and vidding evolution/trends are leaning more toward complex and 'background' watching is more difficult with these types of vids, IMO, especially as a viewer that's been 'spoiled' with VividCon's dedication to vids and vid watching. So, WinCon was a "culture shock".

I've never attended BASCon. Last SF-ish convention I've attended was FrisCon and I remember it being like Escapade, at the time, in that it was a 'theater' experience... but on a large TV with VCR 'jockeys' back then. {g}

Re: vid watching

[morgandawn.livejournal.com]

Bascon - huge screen. loud sound system. small con with an enthusiastic audience. They do love the vids - make no mistake. The vid show is one of the highlights of the convention. The fans love to sing and giggle and chatter. if they could, they would dance on the chairs. Very different from my preferred vid viewing style but I knew that going in and adjusted my exprectatations....

This year we'll have to be firm about no one bringing in any open containers (and no glass). last year a glass shattered and it was not easy to remove all the pieces.

[charmax.livejournal.com]

Thanks for reporting back redina. It's a shame the vid show experience wasn't more satisfying. I guess at a lot of cons people just think of vids as background whilst waiting for signings etc.

[morgandawn.livejournal.com]

no signings at this con. this was a pure fan run experience. the only actors were the ones we carried in our fantasies. thank god - they'd've run screaming in terror.

[charmax.livejournal.com]

I realise there were no signings at this one but I was just thinking that might be the experience of the average attendee.
And I definitely think the actors would not be safe from all the crazy fangirls. :D

[morgandawn.livejournal.com]

excellent point on the average con going experience. and lots of people think its fine to talk through movies and text message and answer cell phones and play games on their hand helds and surf with their laptops during all sorts of events. You know....I should do a poll. A confessional poll about movie/TV/vid watching habits. It could be very revealing. (sayeth the woman who has - cough cough - talked her way through a vid. or was that groaned?...:-).

[charmax.livejournal.com]

Well we've all groaned our way through a vid at some point. You should definitely do that poll! Inappropriate cell phone use drives me absolutely nuts. They do have off switches. Grrr. :)