absolutedestiny

My rationale for treat-making this year was simple. 1) I would actually make treats this year. 2) They would exist because it would be a shame if they didn't. The reason for this treat was almost entirely due to fan_eunice's Dear Festividder letter where she mentioned Will Smith punching an alien in the face. I thought to myself "but what if she doesn't get a vid where that happens?!". So I made one for her.

Now, I actually find the song kinda hilarious. The opening is so so over the top. I was mostly just happy to be vidding something fairly mindless and where my entire creative energy would be in the minutia of editing and making sure the energy of the song was being represented. I think it came out pretty well. Thanks go to jarrow for being a great beta.

Footage: Independence Day (1996)
Audio: Doomsday by Nero
Duration: 00:02:55

Continuing the "wouldn't it be a shame if" theme, I was delighted to see that the internet's favourite kitty had been requested for Festivids but, I thought to myself, what if nobody makes a Maru vid! Of course, my fears were unfounded as unknown to me a very very excellent, vid with humour love and tenderness was being made in the form of Outside the Box.

Anyway, I decided that I would try and put together a super-quick, super-fun Maru vid. Yeah, this was the year where I decided that literalism was *exactly* what festivids needed.

Footage: Maru (まる) (2011)
Audio: Papa's Got A Brand New Bag (pt 1) by James Brown
Duration: 00:01:30

Making all these vids over my Christmas vacation was so much fun that I didn't want to stop. So when I saw the last round of pinch hits go up, I knew I wanted to grab this one.

Colls had suggested 70s or 80s but was worried about it being cheesy but was happy for something fun and actiony. 'I can do that', I thought to myself. Now, I actually have some major major issues with Star Wars or more to the point with George Lucas' repeated screwing over of my childhood. Star Wars was, without a doubt, by first fandom. I LOVED STAR WARS. So much. Figures, stickers, the Empire Strikes Back bedspread and matching PJs. It was happy hi-jinx and adventure time. What I didn't like was 1997 and everything that followed. The Special Edition was a travesty - the new CG was hideous, goofy and made the whole thing look so incredibly dated and needlessly so. The art design and special effects on the original trilogy were pioneering and internally perfectly consistent. The new stuff was garish and laughable. Then you had every revison after that - Greedo shooting (screw who shot first, Greedo never shot ever), replacement Anakins ('who the fuck is that guy' thought Luke) and finally the total desecration of Vader in his origin story. God damn you, Lucas.

So, if I were to vid Star Wars, it would be to the Star Wars of my youth and without Lucas' modern retcon bullshit. So, first rule was that there would be no special edition footage. No new Death Star explosions, no new cloud city, no new blue snow on Hoth, no new pink lightsabers, no new dead Jedi, no new creepy ewok eyes. Thankfully, fan restoration projects are plentiful and Harmy had recently completed his really excellent De-specialisation project where High Def footage was used where available and Laserdisc or GOUT-sourced footage was used for the scenes as they should be. The next major decision was to exclude Vader and any overt use of the force. In focusing on the getaways and the rebels as scrappy underdogs there wasn't really any place for the father-son story. So I figured since Vader had been so thoroughly defanged by Lucas, I'd just remove him altogether in this vid. I think it was for the best. Lots of Han, Leia, Luke and Lando with a fair share of Chewie, R2, 3PO, Obi Wan, Wedge and Ackbar.

The criminal hi-jinx of the rebel scum.

Footage: Star Wars (1977), Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (1983) and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Audio: Jailbreak by Thin Lizzy
Duration: 00:03:16