Video Clipping Philosophy

[davedoty]

Since I started doing my own clips, I've been doing a lot of thinking about what gets left in and left out, and exactly how close to cut down. Since I know we've got several clippers and even more watchers, I thought I'd see if other people had actually thought about this.

I'm also going to suggest that if someone brings up things they don't like in other people's clips, they don't mention any names. I'd love to have a discussion about what we think clip sets ought to be, but I'm not keen on having a bitch session about clippers we don't like.

In some ways, I think there are actually different philosophies driving what to keep in and cut. More specifically, I think there are minimalist viewpoints (only the bare minimum, only the bits with the characters actually in them, only the clips with BOTH characters in them, etc) and a broader viewpoint that includes more material. Obviously most clippers are going to be a bit of both, but I suspect most lean towards one side or the other.

Both are valid, but I lean more towards the broader view. When watching clips, I'm sometimes frustrated because I can't understand a story because important earlier scenes were left out, or I'm disappointed that I don't get to find out how a story I've been watching ends because the gay couple stop being part of the story. I don't necessarily want full eps, but I like it when the stories that do come into the clips get at least a reasonable skeleton outline of the story intact, even if they don't necessarily involve the gay characters at every step.

Obviously, this philosophy influences my own decisions in my Shameless clips. I sometimes worry that I leave too much in, but I'd rather include too much than not enough. For example, there was a plotline about Ian and others robbing a house. I wanted viewers to know why, even though it involved multiple scenes of Lip that had nothing to do with Ian.

Likewise, there was a Christmas episode in which Ian was lying dying in his bed. Most of the plot, which involved governmental biological warfare and military occupation of the neighborhood, had nothing to do with Ian. But I thought it was important to show why he was sick, why they weren't taking him to a hospital, and why Lip and Kev kept apologizing and acting like it was their fault.

I'm sure there are viewers who wish I would stop putting in so much extraneous stuff and just include "the good bits," but I hope there are also viewers glad to have the context to enjoy the story as a whole. In the end, I think all clippers can do is include the material the way we'd want to see it if we were viewers, and hopefully people will accept it.

Anyone else thought enough about this to have $0.02 to throw in? (And since I already brought up my own clips, if you've seen them feel free to use them as examples, even negative examples.)

[Zathras]

It's tough. I would tend to agree with you, that you should err on the side of including more. The hard part is that, unless you know exactly where things will go, you don't know exactly what will end up being an important plot point later. There is also good reason to include anything that ends up being important for developing a character (who they are, why they do what they do, etc.).

The good example for me would be the way the EKP ladies clip Alles Was Zählt. There is a lot of stuff there that isn't "the good bits", but the middle part (long period where they aren't a couple or even trying to be) has a huge influence on how you view Deniz's actions, and what he does with Roman later.

Of course, once you watch the whole thing, then if you want you can always go back and watch only the "good bits" . It's easier to do that, than to go back and wonder "why is (s)he behaving that way?"

(Edit: I don't do clips of my own. I just watch lots of them. )