This post gets the public service tag. :D
If you’ve read this blog for more than a few pieces, you know how rabid I am about fan videos, which I’m defining as videos set to music and starring the object of a fan’s attention — someone or something. They got me started on Richard Armitage, and my love for them has become so intense that I’m wondering when these things will gain much more notoriety than they currently enjoy. For now they are not really acknowledged much by the mainstream media, and a good part of the reason is the history of their illicit nature. In my search on the web, I found one piece from a mainstream media source discussing the significance of fan videos, and that was from 2007. Maybe there are a few more, but the key word would be few. However, at some point soon I think fan videos will have more formal recognition. So far for most people who don’t peruse videos sites and are over the age of 25, there has been no awareness these things exist, but that’s changing as more and more people (even your grandmother) are starting to surf YouTube.
Heck, SO’s almost 80 year old parents get on YouTube regularly, and my mother, who by the way, is considerably younger :D, also gets on YouTube. So if you’re 60 and you don’t ever get on YouTube? What planet are you on? ;-)
Actually, I’m assuming most reading this are the choir. So why did I even say that? Maybe there is one out there among you who has not ventured onto a video site for fear it’s just stuff like this:
and you got your fill of this kind of thing on “America’s Funniest Home Videos.” Oh, you’ve never seen that show? LUCKY YOU. Really wrestling here with the temptation to go on a rant about why I hated that show when it was on, but one rant a week is enough. The show is still on?! God help us.
Of course this is a cute video, and it’s understandable why it’s in the top ten all-time watched videos on YouTube, but c’mon, after you’ve watched it 300 times, you would think it would get old. FYI: a few weeks ago this video passed its four year anniversary, and I can see its lasting effect with the eventual publication of How to Pay For College: The Advantages of Being a Mischievous Teether in the Digital Age by Charles Davies-Carr. ;-)
Okay, where was I? Oh, yeah, fan videos. Well, if you’re new to them, and I’m assuming you’re a Richard Armitage fan since you’re reading this blog, there is only one place to go, and my friends, it’s not YouTube. No, it’s a little place on the web hosted by one of the most intriguing fans, Elvira Sweeney. Here are some things I know about Elvira. She is artistic, prolific, a bit perfectionistic, and definitely industrious. Oh, and she likes RA. :D He was the inspiration for what I now think of as the RA Fan Video Empire, or just The Empire. So what is this place? It’s called RAfanvids, and if you have never been there, oh my are you in for a treat. Now the only proviso I will give you is that you must prep the storage on your computer so you can download to your heart’s content when you get there. You’re not sure about this downloading? No, you’ve got to change that notion. You can’t really enjoy some of these videos without watching a download. YouTube, Vimeo, et al will not give you the quality of a 1080 vid. You can only get the real impact of it by downloading and watching on your system or possibly your tv monitor.
Take this video for example:
You can watch it and love the music and the clips, but you can’t get the full effect of this unless you download and watch. It’s the eyes. You almost fall into them. Can’t get that from watching on YouTube — even in full screen mode. Oh, it’s better than the little window, but not nearly as good as watching your own copy.
Or consider this one:
Want to really feel like that leather is within arm’s reach, download! And of course the eyes are also compelling. By the way this video was done as part of Elvira’s “Vidding on the Cheap” series for all those people who think making videos with an old Mac isn’t possible. Guess again.
This is one of my favorite montage videos, and for good reason. I really feel I’m in the room with RA and he’s looking at me when I watch the download:
This was the video that convinced me I needed to watch everything I could from a download copy. Once I got this one on my computer and started watching, I realized that I had missed so much on YouTube, and if a video is not in a large format, putting the player in full screen doesn’t really cut it either. So I downloaded this one and was blown away. I also realized something about Elvira. She can read people. Anyone who puts as much emphasis on people’s eyes and expressions is focused on reading them. I would love to know what she really thinks of RA other than just liking him so damn much. LOL!
And the next two you haven’t really seen unless you’ve watched a download and especially in 1080. You watch these like that, and you will never be satisified with them on YouTube again.
If you still don’t want to download, you can just watch the videos on that site, and there are quite a few that are not on YouTube. So check it out.
One more thing. If you go over to RAfanvids, you may notice something is absent. But no worries, ’cause Elvira’s got it covered over here. :D (note: the link is an archive page and not all pages linked within it are available).
Candid shot from, uh, I’m not sayin’.
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RAFrenzy 
Oh, I LOVE Elvira’s site, bless her, she is providing a great, great service to RA fans. It’s wonderful to have those vids downloaded and at my fingertips. Another great aspect for me of having downloaded vids is my slow “high speed” connection here at home. All vids on YT or Vimeo have to buffer. And it’s a pain. With downloaded vids–no problem. :D
Yep, that is also a great point. Elvira, God love her! also has a site for people with dial up — the “low tech edition.” LOL!
http://www.richard-armitage.org/lotec/fan-videos.html
Holy moly…just downloaded Heathra’s “Lucas North Video”…talk about intense, especially when those drummers get going! And once again, I’ve gained more tech education. I had NO idea that this downloading stuff is so superior to youtube!!!! Now wondering if I need to call my local puter geek to get more memory. Last time he was here to order new hardrives, he asked if I’d need room for vids. I very self-righteously threw back, “Heck no. Who watches that stuff? ” Of course that was pre-RA. Nuff said.
Thanks for yet another public service announcement. But I really have to take you to task on beating up on the elderly. 60 is NOT old and 80 is looking younger every day. *grump, frazzle, harrumph*
No, I meant the 60 year olds are the kids who definitely should be looking at YT. :D The 70 year olds are tthe teenagers and the 80 year olds are the, uh, young adults? I guess YA is now a teen or younger. I’m so confused.
Yeah, the computer I had was just absolutely fine for what I was doing until I discovered vidding. Suddenly the processor was way too slow, the graphics card didn’t have enough RAM, and there was way less than enough disc space. Sigh. Armitage may simply be a gimmick thought up by computer hardware salesmen to get us to buy more and more :)
[…] post of Frenz’s I really liked that profiles fanvids by elvirasweeney but also reflects a bit on the way to watch them: by downloading them to your own machine rather than streaming from the web. I totally agree. I […]