Lost Video Island

[rbexter93]

I've started a video that I feel is perfect for my favourite ship to a song that really suits them. It is kind of a personal project but at the same time I want my video to entertain people.

So basically I'd like your opinions on how to keep a Jate video to a shippy song interesting
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[thefilmchick]

Hi! Captain Anti-Ship of the Good Boat-Type Ship Cynicism here.

Ways you (or anyone else) can make it interesting:

* Don't show the same scenes over and over again. (Skate kiss, I'm looking at you). If you do show scenes everyone else shows, clip them interestingly or give them a different spin instead of 'Gee, aren't Jate tender/isn't Skate hot/whatever the heck.'

* Use anything that's not shippy to keep the viewer's attention. One recent video I thought was successful with regards to that was eleprue's Breakeven. You'll note I am not a Jater (can't stand either Jack or Kate in most cases, in case that hasn't been made sufficiently clear elsewhere), but I gave that a good review, because I felt that it was successful in proving its case (so to speak) but taking it as a fairly complicated thing with non-shippy parts, instead of Aw, just the sweetest thing ever (which generally makes me run screaming and not review.)

* Use a song that hasn't been used for the fifteenth damn time. Nothing against any particular video that has used this song, but I'll die happy if I never see "PersonA/Person B - Iris" on my screen again (I also can't stand the song.) Iris has been (in my book) officially played-out and tends to make me not want to review, because it means yet another slog through the song.

* Use a faster-paced song. This is more my personal preference than a cardinal rule, but if I hear sleepy violins and plinking pianos, my eyes start glazing over and it becomes a bit of a trial to get through, particularly if it's about a ship I really don't care about or the thousandth Jate/Skate video to come down the pike.

I'm sure I can come up with more, but this should be a good start!
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I saw a werewolf drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic's. His hair was perfect.

[rbexter93]

It was your opinion I was kind of hoping for the most seeing as you are anti-ship lol but I'm probably going to end up going against most of what you said

It's a Jate video to "I Got You" by Leona Lewis and I think it ticks all of your bad criteria
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[thefilmchick]

I am opinionated, but you knew that already. Yeah, I should add too that it is possible to break these caveats and make a good video. Think of them as... guidelines, not actual rules. </pirate> But they are, I think, fairly useful criteria as far as getting Captain Anti-Ship to like your video.

Captain Anti-Ship has made a few shippy videos herself too (I love you, Sayid and Nadia), and even some to slow songs with violins and whatever, so you know, I'm not entirely dead-set against any of the above (besides cutesiness, which will always leave me cold, because I'm just not wired that way in RL). I just know certain things will ping my sense of sickly-sweetness, so to speak, and take away some enthusiasm I might have for the video.
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I saw a werewolf drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic's. His hair was perfect.

[thefilmchick]

Some more advice! Maybe some of this will be more useful.

* Have a point of view on the ship. Yes, you like the ship, or you would not have made the video, presumably. However, the video should explore why you like the ship, ideally in a more interesting direction than has already been done. Why do you find Jate compelling? What details about the relationship can you use to illustrate that?

* Don't think of it as a ship vid. I think a lot of reason a lot of ship vids fail is because they already begin life as a cliche.

* Avoid cliches, thus, too:

The cliche Jate video will
* Include lots of crying.
* Include clips of Kate screaming "Jack!"
* Include the net scene.
* Include something from 'Something Nice Back Home.'

The cliche Skate video will
* Include the kiss from 'Confidence Man.'
* Include lots of long, wistful looks.
* Include something from 'I Do' and probably, nowadays, from 'What Kate Does' as well.

(Future posters, add your own things that make your eyes roll in either regard!)

... Stay away from those bits or, if you use them, use them well, and not the same way that everyone else does.
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I saw a werewolf drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic's. His hair was perfect.

[littleton_pace]

I don't think you should 'stay away' from any clip at all, if it fits it fits. But I totally agree with kate; make the use of it in YOUR video something different, do something more with it. I am no skate fan but when I see a vid that doesn't use the 'go-to' scenes (anything from 3x01-3x06) for example it makes me like them a little more because there's a different spin on it

I think song choice is definitely up to you You can make an angsty vid with a slow song as much as a faster paced one and give two different views on the same theme.

Most of the time; I would say ignore everyone else's advice because in the end, the video is made for you and you're likely to get differing advice from the more sources you ask, as you can see just here with me and Kate You are the one making the decisions on and you are the one who should be happiest with its outcome; regardless of what others think
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[Aislynn]

In addition to the good advice you've already got here from Kate and Kat, I'd add that I also consider a canon shipper vid a good time to experiment with a new visual or other technique that might be too distracting if I put it on, say, an AU vid where it was vitally important that you understand the story. So I wouldn't want to be distracting with magical slights-of-hand at that time, lol!

I used that photo book gimmick for a Skate vid ("Walking Behind") and I had an animated clock in the kinda elaborate frame for a Doctor/Rose vid, ("Montreal Love Song") for two examples. I wouldn't have done either of those for an AU or rarer pairing because I wouldn't want to chance distracting away from the story I was building. But because I was using a canon pairing for both of those, I felt that I could experiment with some different visuals then to give them a little more oomph than if they were just the bare vid clips.

The main thing, though, is definitely that if there's something you want to see or do, whether it's a certain clip you want to use or a certain song, then you should follow your vision and make something that makes you happy. If you feel passionate about it, then it doesn't matter if it's a shipper vid or if the clips or song have been used before. You can really feel it when a vidder lets their love shine through their work!

Basically, if it makes you happy, then it's a success! (And you can be pretty sure that your fellow shippers will enjoy it as well, if it gives them the warm-fuzzies! )