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On Reviewing in Fandom
So, I'm probably throwing my two cents in at the end of this debate but whatever. I've been reading the meta (slowly) about whether it's ok to say negative things about fanworks (if people have missed this and would like links, just ask, there are a ton floating around). Normally I'm one of those people standing firmly on the side of the cult of nice but this time, I just can't do it.
I think we all come into fandom, not only with different life experiences (mine tend to put me in the cult of nice) but into different environments of fandom. The point where I got into actively participating in fandom (and producing fanworks myself) there was a bit more room for reviews than my current place in fandom has. When I started vidding![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
poison_pagan was posting her reviews to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
vidding and even though she would often say negative things, I was eagerly looking forward to her reviewing one of my vids (she announced she wasn't going to watch any more QaF vids before she reviewed any of mine). In fact, she inspired me to start my own vidding critique journal, I never shared it with anyone and now I'm really glad I didn't because, quite frankly, I didn't know what I was talking about. I just knew what I liked and what I didn't, I couldn't articulate why. I feel I've gotten better now (although, I'm by no means a vidding expert) so I also occasionally volunteer for the_reel and am a member of vid_critics (although I haven't participated there yet). (Random question, are there such comms for fics? Since I'm not a fic writer, I've never seen or looked for them, but I'm wondering if vidders are just different).
The thing is, I can remember my very first "in depth" review I ever received. There was a feedback exchange onvidding and exsequar got my vid The Otherman. I can honestly say, that review (which is here if anyone is interested) changed the way I vidded. Even though I had done mostly POV vids up until that point, I had never *realized* that I was doing POV vids! exsequar brought that up, she kept mentioning POVs and how I would randomly change the POV and I realized she was right! I did that all the time, because I wasn't thinking of POVs when I was vidding! It was such a basic thing that I could have picked up had I read any meta on vidding, but it had never occurred to me. All my vidding knowledge at the beginning of my vidding career came from watching other people's vids. I knew what I like and what I didn't and I stupidly thought that would be enough.
I think it can probably be worse with writing because we all write every day. We all had to take it in school, we don't think we have to go and research how to do it. Which is why I think critical feedback and reviews are great. They give creators a chance to experiment and have the information come to them. Have the information personalized to their styles and delivered right to them. They give the creator a chance to see other people's reactions. And, they give the reviews a chance to articulate things to better understand them too.
Most of us have betas but sometimes it's a matter of having a *good* beta. Sometimes we choose our friends to be betas, friends who can't tell you when things aren't great. Or don't recognize when things aren't working. I know that when I first started vidding, I'd show my vids tocarr0ts1979 but she was more of a cheerleader than a beta. Once I started seeing more critical reviews, especially of my vids, it made me go looking for vididng meta, it made me want to become a better beta myself. Had I not been involved in such an environment, I'm sure my vids would never have improved (well, I *hope* they've improved!).
I think we all come into fandom, not only with different life experiences (mine tend to put me in the cult of nice) but into different environments of fandom. The point where I got into actively participating in fandom (and producing fanworks myself) there was a bit more room for reviews than my current place in fandom has. When I started vidding
poison_pagan was posting her reviews to vidding and even though she would often say negative things, I was eagerly looking forward to her reviewing one of my vids (she announced she wasn't going to watch any more QaF vids before she reviewed any of mine). In fact, she inspired me to start my own vidding critique journal, I never shared it with anyone and now I'm really glad I didn't because, quite frankly, I didn't know what I was talking about. I just knew what I liked and what I didn't, I couldn't articulate why. I feel I've gotten better now (although, I'm by no means a vidding expert) so I also occasionally volunteer for the_reel and am a member of vid_critics (although I haven't participated there yet). (Random question, are there such comms for fics? Since I'm not a fic writer, I've never seen or looked for them, but I'm wondering if vidders are just different).The thing is, I can remember my very first "in depth" review I ever received. There was a feedback exchange on
vidding and exsequar got my vid The Otherman. I can honestly say, that review (which is here if anyone is interested) changed the way I vidded. Even though I had done mostly POV vids up until that point, I had never *realized* that I was doing POV vids! exsequar brought that up, she kept mentioning POVs and how I would randomly change the POV and I realized she was right! I did that all the time, because I wasn't thinking of POVs when I was vidding! It was such a basic thing that I could have picked up had I read any meta on vidding, but it had never occurred to me. All my vidding knowledge at the beginning of my vidding career came from watching other people's vids. I knew what I like and what I didn't and I stupidly thought that would be enough. I think it can probably be worse with writing because we all write every day. We all had to take it in school, we don't think we have to go and research how to do it. Which is why I think critical feedback and reviews are great. They give creators a chance to experiment and have the information come to them. Have the information personalized to their styles and delivered right to them. They give the creator a chance to see other people's reactions. And, they give the reviews a chance to articulate things to better understand them too.
Most of us have betas but sometimes it's a matter of having a *good* beta. Sometimes we choose our friends to be betas, friends who can't tell you when things aren't great. Or don't recognize when things aren't working. I know that when I first started vidding, I'd show my vids to
carr0ts1979 but she was more of a cheerleader than a beta. Once I started seeing more critical reviews, especially of my vids, it made me go looking for vididng meta, it made me want to become a better beta myself. Had I not been involved in such an environment, I'm sure my vids would never have improved (well, I *hope* they've improved!).
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Ha, that was me too. It sounds dumb to say that knowing the name for something will mean you'll be better at doing it, but the thing is, if you know the name, you know the definition. That's why I think it's kind of important to read at least a little bit of meta before you get started in vidding.
It wasn't really until I started to get better on my own that I received more critical reviews. Which is just ass backwards if you ask me.
It's backwards but it also makes sense. I like to think that I'm a pretty good vid beta and while I'll beta for friends, I'll also offer to beta for complete strangers if they ask for one and I see it. I've gotten a whole range of vids from the stranger sets. Some of them have completely blown my socks off with how awesome they are and even though they are awesome, I can still send back a 3 page email of things to fix up. Others though, are not so great and it can be hard to come up with anything to say to them except "start over" which I'm never mean enough to do.
The thing is, a vid needs to have a strong story line/theme to be good. If it's a random shippy vid set to a love song with just clips of the characters together... well you can throw a few technical suggestions like "extra frame at 1:04, transition at 4:56 is too flashy" but at the end of that, the vid is never going to be anything more than mediocre because there's no backbone to it. It's like you're showing them how to colour within the lines instead of showing them how to make something original. The best you can do in that situation is maybe refer them to some meta.
To equate it to fic, if the story line is bad, well you can go in and fix the grammar, spelling and maybe throw a characterization suggestion in but you can't totally redo it for them.
If a *vidder* (I use the term loosely here)
I think the difference is that you need some kind of artistic talent to vid/write fic technical ability isn't really enough. I mean, I can write. Obviously, since I'm doing that now, but I would never write fic because I know I'm not any good at it. I think you can learn how to be an artist but there are very few people who just *have* it right out of the gate.
I may have just rephrased what you said. I just wanted to throw my two cents into the pot.
No, you brought up some points I meant to bring up but forgot. Thanks for stopping by :)