House of Leaves

Day 24 – Betaing – How many betas do you like to use to make sure there aren't any major flaws in your vid? Do you have a Beta horror story or dream story?

I'm still eternally grateful for my early betas, who had to sit through some appalling shit and had the patience to explain, where I failed and where I succeeded. In detail. But the thing is, now I vid to get the vid I want to see. If there are flaws in a vid, I own them. Vidding is all about excitement and passion for me. I don't need someone to walk me through a vid, but I'm in the lucky position to have someone, who shares my brain.

I love vidding with Xandra on IM, it's inspirational competition. It gives us the opportunity to ask the rare 'What ep was this scene in?'-question, which on two or three occasions leaded to the very disappointing answer, 'A fanfic' or 'Just in your head'. And also important conversations going something like this, 'Damn, I need her/him looking sad. But not sad sad, more happy sad with a glint of manic depression.' - '2x04 around 34 minutes in.' - 'Yes, but I need the expression as night shot preferable with blue police lights flashing.' - 'How about 1x15?' - 'Perfect.'

IMing regularly leads to various degrees of 'Spin the ship' and the always fun game of, 'S/he is ready to rip his clothes off to shut him/her up' aka UST pumped up while scrolling through the eps without audio. Xandra and I indulge in rewatch marathons and we sometimes lose nights to random 'Arrested Development' or 'Better off Ted' cravings. We pressure each other into shows one likes like 'Deadwood', 'Game of Thrones', 'True Blood' or 'Firefly', which frequently results in even more vids. Xandra has a knack for alternate plot lines and back stories to spice things up. Reasons like Veronica being married to Lem make their relationship this much richer and interactions even funnier. Most importantly we crack each other up, get tropes and vibes.

We know each other and our tastes and differences so fucking well. Our vidding styles are completely different, but I trust her implicitly to tell me when I'm in the wrong head space for a vid or push me through a block and drag me through a slump. Even kicking and screaming in utter frustration. We also share our technical knowledge and boy, were there some things she taught me I wished I knew earlier. In return I dumped her in the beauty of avisynth-filters and ignored her curses. The instant gratification of seeing her react to a draft and telling me to stop fussing with a perfectly good section and 'Really? Do you need that eight frame shot? Because most people will miss the meaning.'

So exposure to new fandoms, shows and music and being a constant inspiration, makes Xandra my dream beta.