My First Fanvid
I made my first fanvid twenty years ago for a sociology class about feminist media. It was titled “The Quest for Strong Female Characters in Animation” and included clips from some 30 titles, mainly Disney and anime. I took over my brother’s computer, imported everything from the DVD/VCR through a camcorder, and worked on it my entire Spring break. I even dubbed my own voice over footage of Evangelion‘s Asuka for the introduction. My classmates were unimpressed – animated media just wasn’t feminist enough for them – but I was really proud of it, and became hooked on vidding.
My first Star Wars fanvid was set to Coldplay’s “Fix You”, an ode to my seminal moment in Star Wars, when Luke chose his father over power and Anakin chose his son over everything. When digital media became available I remade that vid, and I want to remake it again. My process and my skills have improved, and I want to include Ahsoka, and potentially footage from the sequels. It’s my unicorn and I want to perfect it.
Flying
My most popular fanvid is the lovechild of those two firsts, an ode to the animated women of Star Wars.
I made this before Resistance aired, before the final season of Rebels and now even Clone Wars has new episodes. I won’t remake this vid, but I do want to make more tributes – to the women, to the Skywalkers, to individual characters and relationships. I’m addicted to vidding, especially to vidding Star Wars. You can find all my vids here.
Also: Festivids 2019 goes live today! Festivids is an annual anonymous fanvid exchange for rare and obscure fandoms. Now, Star Wars is the antithesis of a rare and obscure fandom, but last year (the first Festivids I participated in) Solo was eligible and I made a tribute to Qi’ra (both film and character deserve more love!). No Star Wars this year, but there are nearly 100 fanvids in over 65 fandoms!
Impact
When I make Star Wars fanvids I craft my own ‘a Star Wars Story’, creating tributes to my favorite characters, reframing the narrative to provide alternate endings, or highlighting the parallels across generations.
How do you make Star Wars you own? Do you have any favorite fanvids?