so i’ve have been obsessed with fanvids since youtube came out and i was a preteen who watched a lot of television. i even made some in high school, mostly supercuts of maria deluca scenes set to death cab (i had a huge crush on majandra delfino). although my video editing is limited to library tutorials these days, i love collecting the awesome edits by other talented people. to me, fanvids are another way to read and interpret art, a conversation between the work and the fan(s) with a killer soundtrack. since i have been on my bl drama kick in the last year, i’ve been scouring youtube to find video interpretations that i enjoy. this is extremely subjective and are chosen with a mix of editing and music taste.
without further ado, the top five:
5. i fucking love tove lo (i got to see her live complete with her flashing routine one year at lolla and it was life changing). she makes very sexy music and talking body is definitely one of her hottest songs. thus it is very fitting for kornknock. this series was terrible (with an even worse sequel and prequel), but there is no denying the maxtul chemistry. the combo of the music and the couple plus the editing, makes a truly a banger of a video. the chorus “if you love me right” with the proposal scene, followed by “we fuck for life” with them…you know doing what they do = chef’s kiss. now where is the bl fanvid set to disco tits??
4. one of my biggest complaints about the selection of fanvids i have come across for bls is the lack of upbeat music. the tone of these shows is so wacky and honestly bizarre a lot of the time. twenty million videos set to fire on fire and mystery of love are great…but sometimes i want silly pop songs that fit the mood of the show. this one definitely suits the crack that is yyy while still fitting the narrative of the show really well. i had never heard of it before this video and i would be lying if i said i hadn’t blasted it while driving down the highway a couple of times.
3. i honestly hate the youtube algorithm now. i find it really hard to find anything, the search results pages is extremely frustrating, and it always recommends me the same five videos no matter what. this one the recommended videos and i ignored it forever because the font choices looked a little questionable (i’m sorry i’m a snob when it comes to aesthetics) and it was super long. but i was happy when i finally clicked it out of boredom because it is so good!! you get the whole petekao story spread over three really fitting song choices with some great choice quotes. i love that the editor included scene from every petekao appearance. the first third of the video is definitely my favorite, because again, i love a good upbeat pop song. but truly the whole video is a masterpiece. for some reason youtube STILL displays it as the first option in my recommended video sidebar like 25% so i ended up having to rewatch a lot.
2. coldties is the queen of bl edits on youtube. every she does is incredible. i’m always in awe with the editing. literally i will just rewatch all her videos when i’m bored even though i haven’t seen a lot of the shows because they are just that good. just an immediate shot of dopamine to the brain. anyways this one has footage from the first 3 eps of itsay and it is just sooooooooooooooooo good. the show already is a masterpiece with great music so it definitely hard to top, but i feel like this interpretation captures the emotions so well. the timing, the cropping, the effects, the text, everything just edited so impeccably well. even with all the eps out now i still find myself coming back this video.
bonus/runner up: okay so this didn’t really fit within the theme (and tumblr will only let me post 5 videos) but it is one of my favorite fanvids of all time. although it is from a bl show (i consider cql a bl because of the source material), it’s not focused on any pairing but rather wen qing (the best character fight me). the way it frames the tragedy of her life with a mostly instrumental piece, coupled with all the shots from behind plus the voice overs all in sixty-five second…i’m not kidding when i say hang this one in the moma.
1. i have a long tradition spanning back to being a bored closeted teenager in rural georgia cast among the most basic white country girls you have ever met, of being a staunch taylor swift hater. well it’s not even about hate, because i feel like that gives her too much power. more like purposeful indifference. but i shamefully admit, that this creator’s cql swift edits have really won me over. there are no shortage of good cql fanvideos on the internet but there is something about the way swift’s bland pop music feels like its written to narrate this story of gay love in anachronistic ancient magic china that is just so compelling. there are 5-6 cql videos on her channel that are all set to various swift songs that are equally charming. none of them hit quite like this one though. you got the triple whammy of “my baby’s fly like a jet stream, high above the whole scene, loves me like I’m brand new” with the flying shot and then reincarnation piece. this is followed up with the “all the drama queens taking swings, all the jokers dressin’ up as kings, they fade to nothing when I look at him” bit that has xue yang (taking a swing no less), jgy in his little hat, and then the scene where they are alone in their own world surrounded by swords???? just pure art. i could literally break down how well this video manages to match the lyrics. like i could do a whole lecture on it. but really, miss swift how did you write all these songs about the mdzs universe? what do you know that we don’t?
anyways here is a collection of shiny things that i like to look at. there’s a lot more where this came from if you are looking for something specific. if you have any recommendations in this vein (especially if they involve female characters) feel free to send them my way (i am so sure that youtube hides everything good from me). long live the tradition of gay people putting their little gay hands all over media and making it even gayer.
kaledo-art
romaincrisis
vaporwave
jacobvanloon
turnnoffyourmind
germansingergirl
