So this was my first Vividcon and I was so excited about it; apparently my excitement showed! Someone said I had the look of a con first-timer and I totally did. I’m sure I was grinning at everyone. It was awesome to meet all of you, people whose names I’ve been seeing for a few years now and people whose vids I’ve adored. It was really a one of a kind experience, and I hope to go again. Here are some of the highlights for me, now that I‘m starting to have time to get them together.

1. Club Vivid rocks! Someone said that it’s surprisingly easy to dance to awesome vids in a dark room with glow sticks and other enthusiastic fans and they were totally right. I'm glad that I decided to go in costume, too. I mean, where else am I going to rock the Starfleet uniform? I wasn’t really sure what to expect, and I didn’t think I would really dance, but I did. I pretty much danced all night, and it was so much fun. I think this was one of my favorite parts of the con.

2. Premieres and Nearly New were awesome; the movie atmosphere with the huge screen was neat. My husband Neo and I saw Nearly New in the big room, and premieres in the overflow room. The overflow room was neat because it was more casual, and I got to talk with (ie: fangirl at) luminosity  about Ecstatic Drum Trip and Farscape. Lots of really awesome vids, it was cool to see them back to back, like a best of the best for the year. Vid review the next day was neat. I didn’t actually realize what it was going to consist of, but after seeing so many vids they all ran together and I wasn’t able to always remember each vid entirely, or what I thought about them. I think I’ll be able to give better reviews on second re-watches. Yay for the Con DVD! I think I’ll get into it this weekend. Is there any way to get DVD's or booklets for past cons?

3. Meeting people was awesome. Luminosity, elynross , and kassrachel  were all wonderfully welcoming to me right off the bat, and I really appreciated that. millylicious  was also very nice, and I appreciated the time she spent with me talking about Photoshop. I had a fantastic time talking with Vlad during the buffet, and dancing with norabombay , frostfire_17 , Millylicious and shinetheway  at Club Vivid. And it was so cool to meet heresluck , bradcpu , absolutedestiny , hollywoodgrrl , jarrow  and bananainpyjamas  . I really admire their vidding skills, so it was neat just to be around them. I know that’s not everyone I met and talked with (Neo and I talked with someone quite a bit during the buffet before Club Vivid, but I can't remember her name), I know I’ve forgotten some people’s names now, so let me just say that everyone there made my experience really fun. Everywhere I went people were discussing vids or fic and saying totally fannish stuff that made me smile.

4. There were some really cool panels. Milly’s Photoshop and jescaflowne 's AE and Premiere gave me a good idea of what more I can do with my vids, and how to use the software programs together to maximize time and effectiveness. I still have a lot to learn, but at least I feel like I know where to start. Here’s Luck is an awesome vidder and gave me lots to think about when timing my vids. The challenge is not cutting on every single beat, but using the beats and various instrumental aspects of music to emphasize movement and visual significance of clips. I think I’ll have to study her vids further to learn that lesson better ;) Motion Roller Coaster by anoel  was really cool too, lots of amazing vids that I totally want to review again. In-Depth vid review with Milly and Absolutedestiny was awesome. The vids reviewed were incredible, and it was so cool to hear other people's thoughts about them.

5. The Star Trek party was a blast. There is nothing like watching vids and parts of Trek with a bunch of loud, enthusiastic fans. It was really fun.

6. The Town Hall on Vidding and Visibility was really cool. It was so awesome to meet astolat , Francesca Coppa, Rebecca Tushnet and everyone else who is so involved with the OTW. I really believe in the OTW’s mission and how they are making it happen, and it was really cool to get a progress review in person. Kassrachel has an in depth con report here that has a very detailed section of the Town Hall.

I only wish I had more days before and after the con to meet people and see the city. Neo and I were going to see downtown on Sunday afternoon after the challenge show but it was pouring rain. Since we weren’t likely to see much or want to get out of the car we decided to hang out for a while longer at the con. I think the con was really well run. Everything was very organized and it was really cool to have the whole second floor to ourselves. The buffet before Club Vivid was amazing, too. I'd love to go again. Maybe not next year, but when I have the time and money again. Thanks everyone for an amazing first time!

I'm going to VIVIDCON this year!!  I'm so excited I can barely contain myself.  It was such a last minute thing - Last week they announced that they have extra tickets and I've wanted to go since I learned about it three years ago, so my husband and I decided to do it.  I don't have any vids premiering, sadly.  It would be so cool to watch a vid premiere there, but I have the opportunity so I have to take it anyway.  I'm so excited to meet other vidders and immerse myself in the vidding world the Con provides.  It's going to be such a fantastic experience.  This morning while eating breakfast I had the realization that in 9 days I'll be at a place where saying things like "What fandoms do you vid", "What software do you use", "I love the way that vidder used motion", "What do you think about the visibility of vidding and vidders these days", "The history of vidding" will be understood.  My husband (who is coming with me) enjoys vids and puts up with me talking about them as much as I have, but no one I know really gets the squee like I do.  I'm hoping I won't be too shy to get to know some people because I think it's gonna rock. 

A few more fun Star Trek recs.  For the most part these are general or Kirk vids:

Trip Like I Do by un4scene:  So far as I can tell, this is a vid about how awesome the crew of the Enterprise is.  Really tight editing to a pretty hard core song.  Great vid.

A Million Miles From Here by nel-ani:  All he wants to be is a million miles from here. Kirk finds home on the Enterprise.  She really captures Jim's restlessness and his experience on the Enterprise.

I'm On A Boat by kiki-miserychic:  Kirk's got his nautical themed pashmina afghan. DON'T YOU EVER FORGET.  Major Crack vid, so much fun.

On the Dance Floor by sloanesomething:  Too many men, not enough ladies in Star Trek!  Another crack vid, but also very true.  Very funny.



I also recently saw several Stargate Atlantis vids that were just wonderful.

Liquid Bird by hollywoodgrrl:  A final farewell to the Team and the City that changed them all forever. Gorgeous editing, really made me want to see even more of the series.

Language by newkidfan:  A gorgeous look at all the things John doesn't or can't say. Very emotional and moving, beautiful and simple effects to accentuate the lyrics.

In case you haven't heard, iMeem is going to be deleting all user-generated videos, including fan vids, on June 30, 2009.  That's in four days; talk about advanced notice.  Apparently they are becoming a music and video site for commercial music only.  ( It looks to me like it's going to be extremely similar to Last.fm and Pandora.  Do we really need another one?)  According to the announcement post, iMeem states that "Simply put, there’s no ROI for us in UGV."  Like synecdochic</user>  says Here, Here and Here, there is no money in putting advertising on user-generated-content, and imeem discovered that.  So they are entirely changing their business model.

And that just sucks. What a crappy thing for iMeem to do, especially since vidders used their site often and relied on them.  I mean, I guess I understand the logic from a business sense, but it still utterly sucks for vidders because I have so many links to imeem, and now how am I going to watch them?  And what about the recs I've posted to my journal that have imeem links only?  I guess I'll be doing a lot of googling and searching LiveJournal to find them.  I guess I'll have to look into Bam and Blip.tv and sort out where I want to put my vids. Not that I have a lot; my sympathy for the prolific vidders, that will be a real pain in the rear to re-upload everything.

My money is still on the OTW's future vid archive so we can own the goddamned servers.  This just further cements my belief in the need for the OTW.  I can't wait for them to put something out there for us to use, I wish it was here now.

Links to more discussion, including Bam video vault, Blip.TV and streaming your vids from your own site are here at Veni_vidi_vids. 

ETA 6-27:  If you can help fandom out by recording the individual vids included in playlists on imeem, go here:  http://community.livejournal.com/veni_vidi_vids/79443.html#cutid1  I don't think they require current links right now, they just want the video names, vidder name and song info.

More discussion here: http://community.livejournal.com/vidding/1915846.html