Festivids 2019 Letter

[seinmit]

Dear Vidder:

I have never done a vidding exchange before, but I love vids and I am very excited about it!

Music Likes: In my own time, I mostly listen to hip hop, but I like all sorts of music. I love music with a good beat and interesting lyrics. Most of my favorites are in a minor key and have a dark, distorted element to them. In terms of music to vid, I love incongruous song choices and finding new music through vids. I like when the lyrics make sense of the video and reveal something interesting about the themes/characters involved. Sometimes when music is a little bit too on the nose it can be a bit much for me.

Hip-hop can be really tricky to vid to, but if you can pull it off I'll be so delighted.

Random artists that I'd love to see in a vid, if any of them inspire you: Zeal & Ardor, XTC, Barns Courtney, BROCKHAMPTON.

If you're curious about my taste in music, here are a few illustrative spotify playlists. You shouldn't feel at all bound by them--I love vids in part because I get to discover some new music, but these are a good snapshot of my taste.

Personal to me: Spotify-created "On Repeat, Release Radar.

Fandom related playlists I like and/or made: bucky barnes sad boi hour, end of the line | stucky, favorite son | steve rogers

Playlists I just really reliably like: Spilled Ink, Anti-Pop, Lorem, Internet People, Swagger, Southern Gothic.

Vid Likes: I like vids of all sorts! My requests don't really lend themselves to shippy vids this year, but I like those. I like vids that reveal new, interesting things about the themes or characters. I like being surprised by a vid and where it is going, even if it is a canon I know really well and love. I like tight cutting and a strong use of the beat. I like surprising images and I like when additional material is cut within the canon. I don't really like heavy effects or color correction, but I've liked that in the past so it isn't a hard no. I've liked vids that both use dialogue and don't, but I probably prefer those that don't in general. I like vids that have narrative and those that are just thematically linked images, but I prefer there to be some sort of arc.

The Brother from Another Planet (1984)
This one is a little hard to find, so I created a torrent of the best quality .avi I could get my hands on and am going to be seeding it throughout the vidding period. Get that here. (702mb)
Here is a YouTube version of it, but the quality is worse.

This movie is about an alien who lands on earth looking like an ordinary human Black man. It is a strange, low-budget flick, with somewhat silly special effects and heavy doses of social commentary. I would love something that explores the alien-strangeness of the Brother and his place on earth, especially if it is meshed with an understanding of the alienness of "normal" Black existence. I'm really eager for anything here, though, so if something strikes you--run with it.

Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari | Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
Another mildly tricky one to get ahold of. A torrent of the best quality 720p version I could find is here: link (4.55gb). In the meantime, here is a crappy YouTube version.

This movie has been one of my favorites for years and years. It is a strange, haunting thing that to modern eyes seems less like a movie and more like some sort of strange art piece. I think a really fascinating vid could be made to this and I would love to see what music choice inspires you--the movements of the actors are so stylized that it could be edited almost like a dance.

James Baldwin RPF
In terms of source for this, he's all over youtube and the recent movie I am Not Your Negro would be a great place to start. For this vid, I imagine there would be a lot more spoken word than the rest of them--he is a gorgeous, phenomenal speaker and I think you could get a lot of mileage out of using his words. Feel free to bring in any sort of imagery you would like, even if it is not directly of him--I would love if you pick out a thematic element of his work and draw it out with a vid. The thing I find most inspiring about him is the embittered hope that he has in all of his work and his enduring faith in the power of human love.

Salò or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)
Yet another mildly tricky one to get ahold of--a torrent I made of a good quality 1080p version is here: link (8.90gb). I can't seem to find a youtube version, but if you want a short video that gives you a taste of the canon, this one is good.

CW warning for this canon: it is famously grotesque and disturbing, with all sort of violence and rape in it. It is based on a novel by the Marquis de Sade and it set in fascist Italy during World War 2. There are all sorts of horrifying sexual tortures in it, including a scat scene which still haunts me. At the same time, I agree with the video that I linked that says that it is a film that is essentially about humanity and how humanity can endure. I would love for a vid to draw that out and reveal how the film is essentially about triumph over fascism. Something drawing out the sick absurdity would be also welcome.

El Mariachi Trilogy (Movies)
These are reasonable to track down, but if you need some help, give me a poke and I'll help you out. I have excellent quality versions of the first two (El Mariachi and Desperado) and could probably track down a good version of the third (Once Upon a Time in Mexico).

I love these movies. There is an enormous quantity of badass emanating from Antonio Banderas' El Mariachi character. This would be a fantastic opportunity for a ringing, fuck all y'all I'm here to destroy type vid and I would adore that. There's also quite a bit of melancholy in the ship between El and Salma Hayek's character, which I would also love an exploration of. And as much as he is a piece of shit, Johnny Depp's character in the third movie is fascinating to watch and I'd love a vid focusing on him. One note for this is that I don't speak Spanish, but feel free to put Spanish dialogue in the vid or use a Spanish language song. I'd just love directions to a translation.

The Toxic Avenger (Movie Series)
I have only managed to get ahold of the first one and I'll throw up a torrent of it when I can, it's currently downloading. I have a bluray of the other 3, I'm just without an optical drive that can rip it, but I'm thinking about getting one. Again, poke me via mod if you want help. Here is a youtube link of the first one and here is a youtube link for the second one.

I adore the weird, low-budget Troma aesthetic. This canon would be a good canon to draw out the silliness and absurdity in the canon, but it also has a lot of potential for leaning on the environmentalist message. It would be interesting to have a vid that edits it as either a horror movie or a more straightfoward super-hero movie.