Interview with luvtheheaven5
1. How, why, and what made you decide to start vidding?
I... I think I stumbled across YouTube fanvideos about the show Scrubs first, and then watched a bunch for ER, Gilmore Girls, and Smallville before eventually dying to try to make one myself. This was back over the summer of 2006 I'm pretty sure, when I was 16.
2. What fandom did you first vid?
ER, I had only one episode to work with because my dad had gotten it via a torrent for me when I'd accidentally not recorded it on the VCR. It was the only thing I had to work with but it was a great episode and I found a song on a CD I owned that would work for it. I made like 3 or 4 ER fanvideos total before moving onto Gilmore Girls as my main first fandom though, because access to clips was so much easier. Most people would probably consider Gilmore Girls my first fandom lol.
3. What program did you start out on?
Windows Movie Maker... I'm not sure what version. It was back in 2006 though, probably an older version, whatever already was on my computer. I moved onto Corel Ulead VideoStudio 11.0 Plus about a year later after making about 80 vids on WMM and like 2 or 3 on a free trial of Sony Vegas that at the time I had no clue how to use. I then continued to use Corel for another year and... 3-4? ish months.
4. What program do you use now?
Sony Vegas 9.0 Platinum Edition. :D I got it for 19th my birthday January 2009 (legally, my dad bought it for me) and I also more recently obtained the New Blue FX pack. ;)
5. What is your inspiration for vidding?
Usually songs... sometimes the show/relationship/storyline... sometimes other vidders or something. :P
6. What comes first? the music for the idea or the idea for music?
Probably most often music but sometimes I search for a song to fit an idea I want to vid. Both really are true for me, it's not one or the other. I get video ideas pretty much every time I listen to music though. :P
7. What type music do you like to vid to? Pop, rock, dubstep, etc.
Um... I suppose I mainly vid pop, alternative, stuff like that... which is usually what everyone else is vidding. ;) I've vidded oldies more than your average vidder - I've vidded The Beatles multiple times, The Beach Boys, The Foundations, Gloria Gaynor, etc. I've vidded songs from the 80s. I like some rock. I've vidded rap like when I vidded the entire song "Love The Way You Lie" by Eminem featuring Rhianna. I like variety.
8. Canon or AU vids?
Both. AU took a while to grow on me and I probably prefer canon vids still but people love my AU stuff and I do like the challenge of it.
9. What is your favorite type of vid to vid? Drama, action, character studies, etc.
I really love vidding character studies... family relationships... cast videos... multi-fandoms are easier for me to do for some reason actually, multi-fandoms might be my favorite. I'm not sure. My favorite type of vid to vid is probably some aspect of a show, or a show, that is undervidded and yet still loved. Those tend to get the best comments too. The best reaction out of people. Which makes me happy.
10. What are your favourite Pairings/Characters to vid and why?
I have favorite ships and platonic relationships and favorite characters, but "to vid", I don't know... I like variety. I probably do enjoy vidding characters and relationships I know inside and out, because I've vidded them a lot already, because it's easier and because I have a lot of subscribers who leave me nice comments when I vid them. I love vidding Quinn on Glee (on my luvtheheavenFOX channels, currently luvtheheavenFOX4), Rory/Jess from Gilmore Girls, Clark/Lana from Smallville, etc. I especially love vidding Clana because they have 8 seasons worth of scenes one can work with which makes things really easy.
11. Do you use a Beta?
Sometimes. I'd never heard the term "beta" before getting into fanfiction in 2010 lol, but yeah I had my brother actually help me a little just looking at my vids while I was making them on WMM back in 2006, and eventually hollwoodgirl2005 and meesa96 would help me out (and I'd also critique their editing and help them as well. We all were Smallville fans and friends). I stopped using a beta for a while after we stopped communicating as much, idk. Recently I've started getting JolieFan48's opinions on a lot of my videos, and she asks me to beta many of hers too though. ;) We both know each other because of Kyle XY. Although I also have additional fandoms in common with hollywoodgirl2005 and meesa96 now (One Tree Hill, TVD, etc) and additional fandoms in common with JolieFan48 too (we both watch(ed) Life Unexpected, Nikita, The Secret Circle, Glee, etc.)
12. Do storyboard or make notes (what's your vidding process)?
Lately I've been doing it a lot more but not always. I lot of times I plan out videos in my head and that's it, but sometimes I write down (or print out) all the lyrics, then write down what scenes I want to use where. It depends on how many scenes I have to work with, and how well I know the fandom/relationship/etc that I'm about to be vidding. I remember back in the summer of 2007 when i was making a WMM video, my Rory character video set to the song "Absolutely (Story of a Girl)" by Nine Days, the lyrics:
"This is the story of a girl
Who cried a river and drowned the whole world
And while she looked so sad in photographs"
repeated 4 times, plus 2 more times that chorus showed up slightly altered as:
"This is the story of a girl
Whose pretty face she hid from the world
And while she looks so sad and lonely there"
And then also there were lyrics like "But she only found tears" so I remember planning out on paper all of the times I could think of the Rory character looking sad/actually crying/etc and planning when to use each scene so that I'd use the right scenes in the right places. Most of my WMM vids I didn't do that for, but that one I felt it was necessary to plan ahead for.
You can watch the video here if you want lol:
Link to vid on youtube
13. Do you, or have you been, involved with collaborations?
Yes lol. SO SO MANY. Um... I currently run 3 collab groups myself. A Smallville one, ViddersofSteel, which I had been co-hosting with TheClash413 but she's stopped vidding completely now and my new co-host, hiphuggerz4ever is rarely around. An ER one, CountyGeneralVidders, which I started myself and have always run by myself. And a really huge and crazy Glee one that I'm currently loving... GleekyCollabs2. MlleFantineJavert kindly agreed to help me out recently and start co-running the group with me but I'm still pretty much in charge of it. She just is helping me when I ask her to. ;) I used to help run iNeedaHeroProduction for a while, a Heroes collab group that I'm still in.
I am a member of many more collab groups too, some of which really aren't very active. I'm in a few multi-fandom groups and over the past few years have made a TON of parts for them although lately they've been a lot less active, a Nikita group & a Dair (Gossip Girl ship) group, both of which I have yet to participate in, a 7th Heaven group where we make 1 video a month, a Gilmore Girls collab group where we've made some videos, etc. I also have participated in plenty of one-time collabs for fellow vidders' birthdays, or just for no reason, just for fun. I've also hosted a lot of collabs just on my own channel for people's birthdays, holiday wishlists, for my own birthday, for prizes when people won in contests I hosted, and just for no reason. I actually have a whole playlist on my channel right now of those types of collabs that I've hosted. It currently contains 30 videos and should contain 3 more within the next week, and an additional 6 more by the end of May lol!
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLE5A9FEADD628E175&feature=view_all
I also have a playlist of very different types of collaborations, the type that's just 2 or 3 of us, more like a video you make by yourself, you know. I'm VERY proud of 95% of these. There are 24 videos currently in the playlist, and I'm actually working on 4 others of this type of collab with people right now. And have plans to start like 4 more in the near future as soon as some of my other collab commitments die down. ;)
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL477D2531558FEA10&feature=view_all
14. What is your favorite vid that you have made?
That is really an impossible question. Lol. Um. Probably my "Fix You" Brothers & Sisters cast video... I really love my editing in it and it was SO well received by fans of the show and non-fans of the show. Even by people who don't get vidding at all, like extended family members - the song really helps people appreciate it, since it's one of the most universally loved songs out there.
Yes lol. SO SO MANY. Um... I currently run 3 collab groups myself. A Smallville one, ViddersofSteel, which I had been co-hosting with TheClash413 but she's stopped vidding completely now and my new co-host, hiphuggerz4ever is rarely around. An ER one, CountyGeneralVidders, which I started myself and have always run by myself. And a really huge and crazy Glee one that I'm currently loving... GleekyCollabs2. MlleFantineJavert kindly agreed to help me out recently and start co-running the group with me but I'm still pretty much in charge of it. She just is helping me when I ask her to. ;) I used to help run iNeedaHeroProduction for a while, a Heroes collab group that I'm still in.
I am a member of many more collab groups too, some of which really aren't very active. I'm in a few multi-fandom groups and over the past few years have made a TON of parts for them although lately they've been a lot less active, a Nikita group & a Dair (Gossip Girl ship) group, both of which I have yet to participate in, a 7th Heaven group where we make 1 video a month, a Gilmore Girls collab group where we've made some videos, etc. I also have participated in plenty of one-time collabs for fellow vidders' birthdays, or just for no reason, just for fun. I've also hosted a lot of collabs just on my own channel for people's birthdays, holiday wishlists, for my own birthday, for prizes when people won in contests I hosted, and just for no reason. I actually have a whole playlist on my channel right now of those types of collabs that I've hosted. It currently contains 30 videos and should contain 3 more within the next week, and an additional 6 more by the end of May lol!
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLE5A9FEADD628E175&feature=view_all
I also have a playlist of very different types of collaborations, the type that's just 2 or 3 of us, more like a video you make by yourself, you know. I'm VERY proud of 95% of these. There are 24 videos currently in the playlist, and I'm actually working on 4 others of this type of collab with people right now. And have plans to start like 4 more in the near future as soon as some of my other collab commitments die down. ;)
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL477D2531558FEA10&feature=view_all
14. What is your favorite vid that you have made?
That is really an impossible question. Lol. Um. Probably my "Fix You" Brothers & Sisters cast video... I really love my editing in it and it was SO well received by fans of the show and non-fans of the show. Even by people who don't get vidding at all, like extended family members - the song really helps people appreciate it, since it's one of the most universally loved songs out there.
Link to vid on youtube
However I don't know. I have at least 10 videos that are pretty much tied with that one as favorite ones I've made. Like seriously. I'm just in the right mood today to pick that one. If you asked me tomorrow I'd probably pick a different one.
15. Who is your favorite vidder?
Truly impossibly to answer. There are so many epic vidders out there. I could never pick only one. Even narrowing it down to 10 or 20 would be difficult and would probably result in me forgetting one of my absolute faves and feeling horrible about it. :P
16. Are there any vidders who inspire you?
Yeah, tons. There are vidders who I do consider myself "better than", sure - ones that don't try to match the rhythm of the song at all at this point when so many videos do, or who don't match lyrics at all or as well as I feel they should, etc... but there are also SO MANY vidders who amaze me. Look through my favorites and every vidder there inspires me for sure. Plus there are plenty of videos I forget to fave but love just as much. Vidders totally inspire me daily. I strive to be like them. I'm introduced to a song and immediately want to vid it. Stuff like that. :P
17. What is your favorite video that you have seen (not including your own)?
See my answer to #15. :P
18. What is your favorite thing about the vidding community?
The fact that a lot of us are really able to "Get to know one another" via editing styles and fandoms alone even, that usernames can be recognizable, etc. I love that we all defend one another when a video is stolen and fight the injustice. People truly "in" the vidding community know things like not to bash couples they don't ship but rather compliment the editing and how the video makes them see what they never saw before that is good about the ship. They complain about jerks that dislike amazing videos. They often know how to leave very detailed and appreciative comments. Vidders are the best people to watch and review fanvideos, the people who are able to best appreciate what a fellow vidder has done, and there's something special about that. ;) And I like that we're mainly, in the vidding communities I'm in at least, all approximately the same age (13-28 or so) and usually female. :P There's something very unifying about that. I also really love the fact that the community is SO international!! It's so cool that people from all over the world share the same loves and interests and are able to communicate the way we do via vidding and fandom.
15. Who is your favorite vidder?
Truly impossibly to answer. There are so many epic vidders out there. I could never pick only one. Even narrowing it down to 10 or 20 would be difficult and would probably result in me forgetting one of my absolute faves and feeling horrible about it. :P
16. Are there any vidders who inspire you?
Yeah, tons. There are vidders who I do consider myself "better than", sure - ones that don't try to match the rhythm of the song at all at this point when so many videos do, or who don't match lyrics at all or as well as I feel they should, etc... but there are also SO MANY vidders who amaze me. Look through my favorites and every vidder there inspires me for sure. Plus there are plenty of videos I forget to fave but love just as much. Vidders totally inspire me daily. I strive to be like them. I'm introduced to a song and immediately want to vid it. Stuff like that. :P
17. What is your favorite video that you have seen (not including your own)?
See my answer to #15. :P
18. What is your favorite thing about the vidding community?
The fact that a lot of us are really able to "Get to know one another" via editing styles and fandoms alone even, that usernames can be recognizable, etc. I love that we all defend one another when a video is stolen and fight the injustice. People truly "in" the vidding community know things like not to bash couples they don't ship but rather compliment the editing and how the video makes them see what they never saw before that is good about the ship. They complain about jerks that dislike amazing videos. They often know how to leave very detailed and appreciative comments. Vidders are the best people to watch and review fanvideos, the people who are able to best appreciate what a fellow vidder has done, and there's something special about that. ;) And I like that we're mainly, in the vidding communities I'm in at least, all approximately the same age (13-28 or so) and usually female. :P There's something very unifying about that. I also really love the fact that the community is SO international!! It's so cool that people from all over the world share the same loves and interests and are able to communicate the way we do via vidding and fandom.