Vividcon 2009
2009 Envelope Pushers of the Past

The first vids were long clips to accessible (and often sappy) music. Almost immediately, some fans started to push the boundaries: speed them up, add non-fannish clips, edit the music, add text, go meta, you name it. See the vids that astonished con goers in the 80s and 90s. VJ: Sandy

# Title Vidder(s) Song (if different) Artist Fandom(s) Duration Download URL
1 Walking and Falling Tashery Laurie Anderson Blakes 7 0:00:00
In the 90s and early 90s, vid songs were generally accessible pop ballads and themes from musicals; this bold choice of song was astonishing and perfect.
2 Heartbreaker Deejay Pat Benatar The Professionals 0:02:12
The vidder used a non-humorous song to subvert the usual view of Ray Doyle--making a very funny vid.
3 Crucify Katharine, Media Cannibals and Pam Tori Amos Homicide: Life on the Street 0:04:07
This vid is an amazing character study. It is also the first vid I ever saw that used jump cuts and made them work. They were taken directly from the source, mirroring a change in mundane TV editing that has continued to affect vidding til this day.
4 Centerfield California Crew John Fogerty Multi 0:05:13
We'd seen multimedia vids before this, but never one that tried to create an actual crossover between the sources!
5 Orinoco Flow (Data's Dream) (original) GF aka Gayle, ShadowSongs and Tashery Orinoco Flow Enya Multi 0:04:03
This vid is gorgeous, it has a ingenious frame (not a technique commonly used in vids of the time) and it uses source we think of as "fannish" and other source we don't, mixed together perfectly.
6 Turn the Page Megan Kent and Sandy Bob Seger Led Zeppelin RPS 0:04:48
Fans were vidding RPS long before Popslash, LoTRiPS, Bandom, and J2.
7 Tapestry Mary Van Deusen Carole King Star Trek TNG 0:05:10
By 1990 when this vid was made, MVD had already been vidding for years, and it shows in this perfectly told story.
8 Java Jive Chicago Station Manhattan Transfer The Sandbaggers 0:03:12
Timing, timing, timing!
9 Strong Enough Jill Sheryl Crow Wiseguy 0:01:28
I don't know which amazed me more--the exquisite timing or the depth of the storytelling.
10 Finland, Finland Leigh M. Monty Python The drawings of Tom of Finland 0:03:19
Fannish is what we say it is, dammit; and you have to admit, Tom of Finland shared the early slasher's love of very male bodies.
11 Prison Sex Jo Tool Oz 0:02:05
Initially, slash vids were done to a relative handful of G-rated sources, and yet at gen cons, were still played late at night or in "adult-only" spaces, solely for the implications we hinted at. This vid goes way beyond implications and G-rated source...
12 I Would Do Anything for Love Carol McCoy I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That) Meatloaf Blakes 7 0:03:28
An early use of including fannish art in vids, and hilarious to boot.
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