On vid recs for non-fandom audiences (ie without background knowledge)

[cimorene]

I'm supposed to present a 3-minute emotionally affecting video today to the Finnish Art History class. Obviously I would use a vid.

But going through my recs & favorites, it was surprising how many could be confusing without at least a fandom-osmosis level of background knowledge.

My two first choices - that instantly leapt to mind, I mean - were Absolute Destiny's "Too Much Light in this Bar" (Life on Mars) and Luminosity & Sisabet's "My West Hollywood Lifestyle (Whatever)" (Angel), but when I watched them I realized they both demand pretty good oral English comprehension, not to mention some skills at a) regional accents and b) the gay scene (respectively). Not TOO worried, for the most part, about the Finnish classmates, but my Russian-speaking classmates are a problem there. (Russian diaspora people seem to be under a unusually strong cultural disincentive to practice foreign languages that makes them choose Russian anytime it's even possible, e.g. anytime another Russian-understander is in the room, and this shows in heavy accents and copious errors, even for most of the more competent speakers in my class). (Although Russia isn't as into dubbing vs subbing as France, haha.)

So reluctantly discarding the spoken-word songs, I went through recs, our media harddrive, and our collective memories, and even rewatched the Smashing Pumpkins and Muse theatrical trailers to Watchmen and the Seven Devils trailer to s2 Game of Thrones, which stood out in my mind as pro vids. But most of them suffered from the fandom osmosis problem: they don't require you to be in the fandom, but the references seem potentially lost if you aren't aware of the canon and what it basically is.

My finalists were both by obsessive24, Bachelorette (Buffy) and Candyman (Willy Wonka).

I found Bachelorette packed a huge punch when I first saw it and I immediately rewatched it about 6 times in a row, but as hard as it is to imagine not having heard of Buffy, I made the attempt, because there are like 18-year-old Finnish hipsters in my class, who could be either totally pop culturally savvy or just way too young and I have no way of knowing. I've only watched Buffy through season 6, and that one time, so I don't actually remember most of the detail ("Who's the evil priest? Wait, what are those army dudes? Who's that girl with the baseball bat?"), but I've got more than enough to follow the vid.

I'm hoping "Candyman" (which carries a warning for disturbing themes, is summarized 'smells like children' and uses footage from Requiem for a Dream) is blatantly disturbing enough - as are both Wonka films for that matter - to come across even if by some miracle someone hadn't seen either film. It seems unlikely that anyone could have not HEARD of them.

But the process has made me curious... what vids would you rec for outsiders? Can anybody think of any candidates immediately that shouldn't depend on background knowledge?


*I'll add links to this post when I come home, but I'm in a bit of a rush to get out the door now.

Comments

[niqaeli]

I don't know if it qualifies as not requiring background knowledge, but AbsoluteDestiny's Revenge is definitely a fascinating reconstruction/deconstruction of sexploitation and blaxploitation flicks of the 70s (and of Tarantino's work that references those films) that doesn't rely upon language, just musical cues. I certainly find it emotionally affecting. All of AD's vids here, including Revenge.

[cimorene]

Wow! Thanks, that is really amazing.

[liviapenn]

I think multifandom vids might have a better chance of coming across-- "Girl power, yay!" or "spaceships, yay!" -- even if someone hasn't seen most of the fandoms, they've probably seen *some* of them?

[niqaeli]

Oh man, on that note, I think jetpack_monkey's Starships! (Monochromatic Remix) is pretty awesome as a multi vid. I love bironic's original a whole lot but I love the B&W remix even more, For Reasons.

[cimorene]

Oh yeah, good idea! I didn't even think of that yesterday. And I hadn't seen the b&w remix so thanks for that.

[starlady]

Yeah, I think Starships! (the original, not the remix) might work well. I've also been recommending rhoboat's phenomenal James Bond vid as something that would go over well with non fannish audiences, because it's technically perfect, impactful, and because most people are familiar enough with the movies to understand it pretty well on first viewing.

[cimorene]

It is indeed technically amazing! Wow. Thanks for the rec!

[gonergone]

I don't know about recing to outsiders, but I watched Greensilver's Lend Me Your Teeth before I'd ever seen an episode of Doctor Who, and found it pretty creepy and not difficult to understand at all.

[cimorene]

Thanks, I hadn't seen that one!

[gonergone]

It's only 2 minutes long, so not good for your purposes, though. :(

[cimorene]

That's okay - I knew it would be too late for class anyway! But my curiosity is still here.

[zooey_glass]

(Here via my network.)

Laura Shapiro's super-creepy 'Stay Awake' works well for outsiders, I think - the trope of pregnancy body horror is so culturally pervasive that even if you don't know any of the specific sources she uses in that vid you can still get the point, and the combination of the clips she uses and the song definitely makes it emotionally affecting even if you miss the point totally. It's up at Laura's Vids page.

[cimorene]

Cool, thanks for the rec!

[hannah]

Dancing At The Movies comes to mind. "Circles" for The West Wing, wherever I found that one, could work with the bare minimum of background ("They work in the White House and talk a lot").

[cimorene]

Thanks!

[brownbetty]

I think a multifandom vid, maybe? Starships were Meant to Fly or Charmax's Space Girl?

Space girl, especially, was vidded from obscure sources, so there's an attempt to make it comprehensible to people who haven't seen the sources.

[cimorene]

I just saw Space Girl by accident, surfing through from ... one of the pages I visited as a result of someone else's comments (but I can't remember what right now).

Also that reminded me I definitely was already a fan of Charmax but I can't remember what vid I was already into. Whatever it was, I didn't bookmark it. Go past me.

[brownbetty]

Maybe Boom Boom Ba? It's her legendary Sexy Xena/Gabriel vid.