January
Bones (The Fall of the House of Usher, ensemble)
May
Wobble (Monkey Man 2024, Kid action tribute)
June
Dirty (Shadow and Bone, Crows ensemble + Kaz)
July
Dead of Night (The Witcher Netflix season 3, Yennefer/Thanedd/Yennefer/Geralt)
August
Every Step That I Take (Shadow and Bone, Kaz Brekker)
September
Only Happy When It Rains (Stigmata 1999, Frankie Paige(/Andrew Kiernan))
December
You're Gonna Go Far Kid (The Witcher Netflix, Aplegatt)
Losing My Religion (The Witcher Netflix season 3, Ensemble + Ciri)
Vidding Process Resources
A Vidding Primer - brief intro about the vidding process with resources + community links. 1700w.
A Guide for Discovering Fanvids - originally written in 2023 but archived on AO3 in 2024. How to use AO3 and tumblr to find fanvids. 709w.
How to Leave Feedback on Fanvids - originally written in 2022 for the Witcher Commnent Crawl but archived on AO3 in 2024. Examples of different kinds of comments. 1300w.
Vid Recs
Let’s Talk About Vids - I contributed a vid rec for this vidding zine, a zine run by @cosmic-llin with many contributors this year. Lots of great vids and vid talk!
Vid Rec Ask Game - I pitched the idea of a vid rec ask game during VidUKon and @heliological put this together with help from Gus and Emma. You can check out a bunch of amazing vidder’s recs here in the tag and in the reblogs.
Kuwdora Vid Rec Compilations:
2024 was the year of getting back into writing recs. I wrote over 120 recs for fanvids. I created a series called “Saturday Morning Vid Recs” which gave me a tidy deadline of when to complete/share recs. I wanted folks to see a lot of new and old vids that I’ve found incredible and hopefully encourage people to watch/share.
Saturday Morning Vid Recs:
FEELINGS & THAT DYNAMIC (12 recs, BIG emotional feelings and joy and soul)
Vidder Ask Game - I answered a ton of questions about my vids and vidding process which you can browse through the tag here for text and video and lots of navel gazing and links.
Naked Vid Draft Series (watch kuwdora make a vid)
Dead of Night (The Witcher Netflix, Yennefer/Thanedd):
Process Video: the first 30 seconds
First Draft Sneak Peek
Timeline Progress
Losing My Religion - vid outline, rough drafts, revision notes
Archiving Project - Kuwdora Vids on AO3
2007 Kuwdora Vids (95% complete)
2008 Kuwdora Vids (incomplete)
2019 Kuwdora Vids (incomplete)
The most complete archive list is this pinned post in my dreamwidth. Which you can see from the length why this is a an Ongoing Project to Archive.
Lots and lots of notes and thoughts and details about my 2024 vids, writing recs and trying to write about the vidding process. All beneath the readmore. These are the same questions I've been answering (more or less*) since 2007. 🤯 !!
*I've dropped a few q's from the original meme over the years since they just didn't work for me. But it's 95% the same questions Since The Beginning, aha.
Overall thoughts:
This year I only finished 8 vids and I think I only have one WIP that I started in 2024 that I did not finish and it’s 90% finished so I might try to get that done before Festivids drops at the end of the month.
I spent a significant amount of time thinking about recs and writing recs. My vidding communities originated on journal platforms and the fractured nature of fandom spaces these days means there’s a lot of amazing things people have no idea exists, or they get recced behind discord walled gardens or at online cons. Or vids are passing under the tumblr radar because, as many vidders themselves have noted, tumblr is a very difficult platform for visibility/engagement for fanvids.
I get a lot out of watching vids in discord/con group watches but I really wanted to get back to writing/sharing recs. Cause these are really cool fanworks.
I also spent a lot of time thinking about my vidding process. This year I had a great desire to try and share about what I’ve learned and how I’ve engaged with this creative act, and how it’s been an enduring hobby for me for…18 years. Fuck. That meant I wrote a primer about the vidding process, I started archiving previous things I’ve written about vidding on tumblr. I’ve also started rummaging livejournal/dreamwidth to archive other things I’ve presented at cons and in interviews/community spaces about vidding.
Also trying to (slowly) archive my old vids on AO3. Not everything is on YouTube because of copyright or the source material has nudity/some other obscenity, so my pinned post in my dreamwidth remains the most complete list of my fanvids over the years. For now.
Final vid breakdown:
I made 8 vids. 5 of them were different sources. 3 vids were The Witcher Netflix, 2 vids were Shadow and Bone. Two films (Stigmata and Monkey Man). And a Festivid for the Mike Flanagan show The Fall of the House of Usher. 50% of my vids were ensemble pieces. 90% of these vids I finished in a month, two months at most.
Vidding Process notes:
My biggest hurdle was burnout and my inability to work on my old WIPs that I have been gnashing my teeth to work on and even rewatched the source for and got excited to work on again but didn’t manage to get any traction on them. But also I focused a lot of effort on writing recs and talking about my vidding process, which I think was a good use of the working brain I had left.
The Witcher Netflix remains my favorite thing to be vidding at the moment. I’m vidding so close to the source, so close to my fannishness about the the source, the various witcher canons, and the fandom. Those vids are probably less readable to those who aren’t into the show/fandom, but I fucking adore vidding this show.
Favorite Vid:
Dead of Night - My Witcher Netflix Yennefer/Thanedd vid of intrigue. I love the actress who plays Yennefer, and I really reallllly loved working on this. The feeling of when the verses and choruses were coming together was fannish euphoria. Dopamine of the highest degree.
Hardest to make:
None of these vids were hard to make. Which is something I’ve rarely been able to say when it comes to my vids. The hardest thing I encountered this year was my inertia. I’ve been so burnt out and dealing with job hunting fuckery and a toxic workplace that I just didn’t have the brain to start or work on anything that would be challenging me. I needed fun and frictionless this year, and that’s what I made for myself.
Most successful:
Dirty - Shadow and Bone Crows ensemble. I made this as a premiere for VidUKon. It went over SO WELL and I was elated to watch the chat stream by with cheers and to see some recs and comments come in on it. I let myself play a little with some After Effects transitions I had bought many years ago since I thought the song would greatly benefit from that kind of snappy slick editing. It was a lot of fun and the song went over really well with the audience, too.
My best vid:
These are all my best vids. Every year I feel more confident in what I’m making and how I’m making a vid. If I were to think about what an audience might say might be my best vid - it would either be Dirty/Crows ensemble vid or my Losing My Religion Witcher Ensemble+Ciri vid due to how well I nailed a specific tone and emotional atmosphere.
When it comes to technical/structural best I would say that would be Bones, my Fall Of House of Usher vid. That’s an ensemble vid with something like 9 fucking characters and it was so much to try and cram into a single vid. I framed the vid by beginning with the ending of the show and ended it with the ending of the flashback with Roderick and Madeline. The first Bridge/chorus I did a brief overview of the Usher family and the intrigue/deal with the Angel of Death. Then each verse I introduced two Usher siblings, and then introduced two more and kept stringing the Usher Horribleness along the timeline until it just kept Escalating. It was so much fun. This is the type of vid that is probably most appreciated to watch just after you watch the show when the source material is so fresh in your mind.
Most fun vid:
You’re Gonna go Far Kid, a super niche Witcher Netflix vid. This is not a fun subject, but it was fun to finally come up with a song for an idea that I wanted to do since the summer. This is the type of vid that will probably only make the most sense to people who have read both the books and are fans of the show because it’s a wry commentary about Netflix’s adaptation choices and how it really just…fell flat. My vid notes about this are longer than the actual vid and I rambled even more in the comments to mayoho about it. It’s fun but it’s also ridiculous and really made for that audience of like 4 people. Heh.
Favorite vid moments:
Dead of Night - 3:18-3:48 - Fighting and dancing and fucking. The choreography of this makes my soul vibrate. 🔥🔥🔥
Wobble - 2:08 - 2:18 - This action sequence makes me fucking cackle so fucking much. So much. I love it so much. I also love everything else in this vid, too.
And the entirety of Losing My Religion is my favorite vid moment.
Things I learned in 2024:
I learned it’s possible for me to set up structure to write and post/share vid recs. I also learned that I have quite a lot to say about vidding. I didn’t manage to work on or share anything about song choice (I started writing something for the vidding zine and didn’t get far because brain squish blahs) but I’m also quite happy with how well my vid recs and vid meta was received this year. I wasn’t sure about it when I started working on those projects but it was really gratifying to see folks were interested in what I had to say and share
I also had some revelations about what it is about songs that make my brain tick. Also I realized how my finished vids definitely reflect that “holy shit two cakes” meme you see floating around fic spaces. I’ve made the same exact vid several times and I’ve even been able to freak out (happily and incredulously) when I’ve been able to pin down my vidding style because of that.
I also am still coming to terms with letting go of vid WIPs while also still wanting to figure out how to hack my brain to get the motivation back because I genuinely am excited and want to be working on those vids.
I also learned that I am not going to get tired of vidding The Witcher Netflix and that’s probably not going to change for awhile.
In 2025:
Every year I have ambitious plans that inevitably get derailed. I say as much every year in this meme (go ahead and click thru previous years). The past two years I’ve been in burnout and my health woes are wearing me down in new ways so it’s been a struggle. I need to be less ambitious. But that doesn’t mean I can’t daydream and…have desires. Intentions, maybe. This is all with a grain of salt, right. I want to write more vidding process stuff but that's still ambiguous in my head.
And for the past 3 or so years I keep saying I’ve been wanting to work on my Moonhaven and my Green Knight vids. I’m still not ready to let those fall into my never-finish WIP pile. It’s been strange that I can’t seem to let these two go when I’ve been able to let go of other vid WIPs. So I want to figure out what this hangnail is in my brain about these vids are. Would be a dream to finish them..
I want to write more about my vidding process - and hope that others might find it interesting if I were to actually try and get out all these sticky intuitive things in my head and articulate them.
I want to write more vid recs in 2025, and possibly ping the vidding discord and Fan Tech discord for ideas to make vid rec templates/setting up automations for sharing recs more easily across platforms. I have so many ideas but also I keep spiralling out into burnout. I have at least 2 more Saturday Morning Vid Rec themes that I have vids for I just need to finish writing/formatting. And I want to do another round of Festivid Recs for the 2024 collection that will go live at the end of the month.
I want to continue archiving my old vids on AO3 and maybe remember to crosspost here on my main blog or my @kuwdoravids sideblog, and probably set up some automating crossposting to bluesky.
As for vid ideas. I have so many. I also think I need to set myself up wtih a combination of “vids that are going to be fun and easy to work on” and make sure I have myself set up with clipping so I can just ease right into it when I need the dopamine boost. But I also have a growing desire to finally work on some more challenging vid ideas that I’ve had brewing for awhile.
Some Vid Ideas for 2025:
Captain Janeway Kuwdora Thesis Statement Vid - I discovered my Janeway vidsong in 2019 and it’s been 6 years of rewatching and fannishly meditating on this vid. It might be time to embark upon this. The last time I spent this much time Actively Contemplating for a vid was for High Voltage and…this would be a similar type of Great Character Scope. Huge project though. I have DVDs to rip and 20+ episode seasons to trawl through and clip. But the end result… nobody would be ready. Maybe this year?… maybe.
Interview with a Vampire. There’s only two seasons here but during VidUKon @sandalwoodbox gave a panel presentation on audio editing and the season 2 finale was airing that weekend. My brain just had a cataclysmic idea. Not just an idea. An Idea. Something that would focus on POV and memory / unreliable narrators. This vid concept would be outside my wheelhouse because of the song / audio editing involved. Which is something I haven’t done before (or at least to this specific extent). So it’s scary and new in a way and I think might be really refreshing challenge for me to try.
Sydney Character Vid - The Bear. I’ve rewatched this show like 4 times already and I adore Sydney. I meant to make this vid in 2024 but just didn’t get to it. I have a song, I have the love. I just need to sit down and grind through the clipping process.
Black Sails/Andor. This might be a great vid for WisCon VidParty, and it’s something I’ve been wanting to make for a few years now. Andor season 2 is coming out at some point but I think I could make it without the second season.
Foundation - I have two Foundation vid ideas I keep bouncing around with. I adore the visuals and the actor’s performances so fucking much, and I’m obsessed with Salvor and Gaal. This is something I’m really keen on and am most likely to start and finish since it’s limited source and a relatively contained concept (while one vid would also a tribute to one of my favorite vidders that inspired me when I first started vidding). Also a good idea for WisCon Vid Party if that happens this year.
Now looking back on this list that I’m writing on January 1st 2025 will be fun because odds are I’m going to pop out another 4 Witcher vids and probably hiccup out three impulsive festivid treats that I didn’t think I’d make, lol. I mean I’ll make Witcher vids regardless, I’m just wanting to dream about my other vid ideas for now.
Violace helped me upload a bunch of my back catalogue to YouTube many years ago but I’ve done a poor job of updating my embeds and adding stuff to my AO3 account. I’ve added YouTube embed here for fewer clicks to get to the vid!
Source: The Abyss, Avatar, Avatar the Last Airbender, Aladdin, Alias, Alice in Wonderland, Angel, Arrested Development, Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, Batman and Robin, The Blues Brothers, Blues Clues, The Blue Man Group, Braveheart, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, A Bug’s Life, Captain America, Captain Planet, Care Bears, Cars, Contact, Doctor Who, Eragon, Fantastic Four, The Fifth Element, Finding Nemo, Firefly, Fringe, Farscape, Gargoyles, Gummi Bears, Hellboy, Hercules, Highlander, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Huckleberry Hound, Interstella 555, Laputa, Lilo & Stitch, The Lion King, Little Mosque on the Prairie, Legend of the Seeker, Monsters vs Aliens, Megamind, Merlin, The Little Mermaid, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Mortal Kombat: Legacy, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Monsters Inc, The Muppets, Nausicaa, My Neighbor Totoro, Quantum Leap, Sailor Moon, Sanctuary, Sesame Street, Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1, Stargate Universe, Star Trek: Enterprise, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager, Sliders, The Smurfs, Sonic the Hedgehog, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantum Menace, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Supernatural, Superman, Thomas the Tank Engine, Thor, The Tick, Tiny Toons, Toy Story 3, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Torchwood, Watchmen, The Wizard of Oz, Willy Wonky, X-Men 2, X-Men 3, X-Men: First Class
YouTube Channel | dreamwidth master post of vids
April
What (Yennefer of Vengerberg) The Witcher Netflix
Making of "What" commentary: do it for the process (and for Yennefer!) The Witcher Netflix
Mr. Brightside (Jaskier/Geralt/Yennefer) The Witcher Netflix
June
Skipping Stones (Fringilla Vigo) The Witcher Netflix
August
In Our Wake (Vilgefortz/Geralt) The Witcher Netflix
December
[Festivid Assignment] - redacted until reveals!
[Festivid Treat] - redacted until reveals!
Review questions under the cut.
Random process notes:
Well, I have been kidding for *counts* 16 years now?? I guess I kind of know what I’m doing when I have a good idea of what a vid is like inside my head. Which is why most of these vids took less than a week to make and none of them were on my actual to-make list that I had written down at the beginning of the year. Flighty ADHD/anxiety brain just latching onto the feelings of the moment and zooming across the timeline until I can call it done. I think I started two non-witcher vids during the year before Festivids but the witcher hyperfixation remains too strong. Everything else falling to the WIP piles. I tried to finish my Moonhaven vid but couldn’t focus. Tried to finish my Green Knight and Blade vids but no, my brain was more interested in writing +70k of fic this year, aha.
Overall thoughts:
HEY I made Festivid stuff! I can vid-non Witcher things! I was really worried there that my brain was just forever stuck on Witcher but! I did it.
Anyway. I really love vidding The Witcher Netflix and keep building up my clip gallery for easy reference for when I can settle in for the next witcher vid. I keep fuck up my exports though because I’m doing everything too quickly and not paying enough attention. So there’s some export-related things and a few minor clips I would have changed if I weren’t caught up in a in a rush. But overall I’m very, very happy with my crop of vids this year.
Favorite Vid:
Most of the time I have upwards of 8-16 vids a year and it’s easier to pick a favorite. When I do so few… they’re all my favorite. For different reasons.
For my Yennefer vid it’s my favorite editing.
For Mr. Brightside it’s my favorite song choice and tone (this is a cover in the style of The B-52s) for Jaskier.
My Fringilla vid — it’s my favorite thing that came together from all of the season footage of her character from seasons 1 and 2 and the song just makes me so happy that it tied everything together for her.
For the Vilgefortz/Geralt vid, oh it’s my favorite because it’s my pure id, heh, and my favorite build/pacing of all my vids.
My festivids are my favorite because I have been wanting to make things them for awhile now but hadn’t had the focus. And then I did!
Hardest to make:
The only thing that was hard was me exporting shitty stuff and not realizing it until days or weeks after I uploaded and crossposted. Anyway. I took my time with my festivid exports so those should look pretty good.
Most successful:
They are all successful in my heart. I love them.
My best vid:
Probably my Fringilla or Vilgefortz/Geralt vid. I’m so happy how they turned out.
Most fun vid:
Mr. Brightside. I love playing with Jaskier’s humor with the song choice and the transitions.
Things I learned in 2023:
Mmm, I am still worked up about my fic WIPs and life anxieties that I wasn’t able to do more vidding things that I wanted. As for the projects themselves, I learned that it’s very handy to have a standing clip gallery all labelled and ready for when I want to make my next Witcher Netflix vid.
In 2024:
I always want to be ambitious in the new year but always end up wandering in completely unexpected directions. In any case I would love to finish my Moonhaven vid and get my brain in order to find the last of the Black Sails source I need for a vid idea that has been eating my brain for 4 months now. I also have my Philippa Eilhart Witcher vid I want to make as well as a season 3 Witcher Netflix vid too that’s taking up space in my brain.
[fanvid]: Big Pimpin' / Papercut
source: Event Horizon (1997)
pairing: crew/ship
song/artist: Jay-Z/Linkin Park
length/size/file: 2:36 / 39MB / mp4
download/streaming: right-click save and streaming at vimeo (password: pixie_vids).
Thanks to rhoboat for gouging out my eyes until I fixed the aspect ratio probs and for giggling with me for many days about the crackiness of this vid.
Content Notes: Lots of flickering lights and fast cuts, suicide, mutilation, sexual abuse, cannibalism, some nudity. Lots and lots of blood.
Summary: The crew is paranoid for good reason.
(POV crew = Linkin Park. Ship POV = Jay Z)
Real World
source: Iron Man 1, 2, 3, The Avengers
song/artist: "Real World" by Matchbox Twenty
length/size: 3:56 / 38MB mp4
download: right-click save as - thanks to epershand for hosting!
Summary: I wish the real world would just stop hasslin' me.
Cross Bone Style
source: Winter's Bone (2009)
song/artist: Cross Bone Style by Cat Powers
length/size: 4:36 / 42MB mp4
download: right-click save as - thank you epershand for hosting my stuff!
One Foot
source: Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order
song/artist: “One Foot” by Walk the Moon
length: 4:33/343MB/mp4
notes: Cal Ketis and his perseverance and found family!
download: right click save as - thanks to epershand for hosting!
What We Live For
source: The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi and Rise of Skywalker.
song/artist: "What We Live For" by American Authors
length/size/format: 3:07/106MB/mp4
notes: fluffy OT3 in our time of need. thank you sweetestdrain for your helpful suggestions.
download link: right-click save as - as always thank you to epershand for hosting! ♥
Death of Me
source: Underwater (2020)
song/artist: “Death of Me” by Saint Phnx
characters: Nora, Emily, Liam, Captain Lucien, Rodrigo, Cthulu and Cthulu’s babies
length/size: 2:53/60MB/mp4.zip
content notes: vid contains flickering lights, lovecraftian horror, character death and bleary underwater scenes.
summary:
Someone help me
Screaming out, I’m down on my knees
This will be the death of me
I feel it in my bones
The Devil’s at at my doorstep
This will be the death of me
download: right click save as - thank you always to epershand for hosting!
read on for some vid notes
I finished this vid at 11:45pm on the final day of 2020. A two-evening affair where this vid was itching to get out of me for weeks and I didn't do it until the last minute. It took me 50 minutes to export because I had fucked up my sequence settings when I was setting up the project file so I wasn't able to upload it until after midnight. But I am still counting it as my final vid of the year since I had the timeline done in 2020.
I saw Underwater in theaters last January and was surprised by how much I enjoyed the film. I guess some folks had issues with it and there's some things I would have changed but it's very much an homage and love letter to Alien with all the Lovecraft horror vibes one can stand. Also I very much appreciated a stripped-down Kristen Stewart and the camera was not sexualizing her one bit and Jessica Henwick was sooo great too.
Basically this movie is all about living through a state of never-ending shock and trauma and trying to survive with those around you while this giant specter is trying to to eat you and destroy everything. All to an amazing song with a great beat. It seemed fitting to make this my last vid of the year.
Posted by: beatrice_otter
Fandom: Stargate
Pairings/Characters:
Rating: Teen
Length: 3:24
Creator Links: kuwdora
Theme: fanvid, fandom classics, old fandoms, gen, psychic powers, science fiction,
Summary: High voltage: bringing you up and taking you down.
Reccer’s Notes: Can we say it’s character development if it’s species development? If it’s about the development of our understanding of and relation to the Ancients? This fic takes pieces from all of the Stargate shows, as our understanding of the Ancients changes over the years. This is about how they see themselves vs. how we see them, and the terrible legacy of their choices that they left their descendants to pay the price for. It’s so well done.
Fanwork Links: High Voltage
comments & original content @ fancake
I’m so pleased to see this vid get recced almost a decade after I made it. This was such a monumentally important fanwork in my learning journey. I discovered the song and spent 5 years making many other kind of vids, but also thinking specifically how I was going to construct this vid. Making a thematically coherent vid–especially when you have 20 seasons to pick through–is just a long process. You have to make sure your clip choices are supporting the lyric associations you’re trying to convey. This is probably my most dense vid I’ve ever made and was created for the audience who knows the canon inside and out. I’m so proud of this vid.
I sent this to Vividcon in 2011 and was overwhelmed by its reception. I loved having people come up to me and tell me just how much they were wowed by the way I pulled together the smallest references to the Ancients and the impact they had on the galaxy and our protagonists and villains. Their arrogance, superiority, all their technology left behind to be used and abused by those who were also left behind.
I also adored hearing from people who didn’t actually know Stargate and had only seen vids, but I had folks come up and tell me they loved it because they’d never seen the show through vids like this before. Such a cool experience for me as a creator.
@beatrice-otter thank you again for the rec. It made my day when you originally post it and again when I discovered this sitting at the bottom of my drafts folder 5 months later (lol).
I don’t always share these widely but I have a remix I made of High Voltage ages and ages ago but I’d like to share this it!
Vidders occasionally ‘remix’ their own or their friends vids by swapping in different songs and seeing what the results are. Sometimes they’re hilariously wacky and strange, different or more meaningful than the song you originally used. Sometimes remixes just don’t work because of editing or song choices.
Well. I have a song that changes nothing about High Voltage except the tone and atmosphere of the narrative. I used Electric Six’s “Danger! High Voltage!” and it is 100% amazing and matches humor and vibes of Stargate.
This really highlights the impact of song choice on your vid narrative. I really love it and I hope you do, too!
Please enjoy!! Feel free to let me know what you think of the similarities/differences from the original. 😃
Best Day of My Life
source: POKEMON Detective Pikachu (2019)
song/artist: “Best Day of My Life” by American Authors
length/size/format: 3:14/70MB/mp4
notes: made for elipie for Festivids 2019!
download link: right-click save as (thank you to epershand for hosting! ♥!)
