A brief introduction and guide to the tags

I blame this community on my return to post-secondary education. Initially I wanted a single page of a few recs on my own site, but as school continued to drain my creative energy, I kept writing reviews as a way to justify coveting the creativity of the vidders around me. I'm also, sadly, trained as a library tech and I like organizing the hell out of things, so I thought an LJ community with its handy little entry tags would be a perfect place to post my recs, so here I am.

I do not own any of these videos, so please do not post them anywhere else without the express permission of the vidder themselves. Also, if you are a vidder and you would rather I didn't link to your site or video because of bandwidth constrictions/healthy paranoia of over-zealous copyright police/whatever, please contact me and I'll remove it immediately. I try very carefully follow each vidder's personal wishes regarding linking back to their work, but it's entirely possible that I missed a couple.

If any vidder stumbles across a rec I've made for one of your videos, feel free to take the banner I made for it to post on your website/LJ/wherever for bragging purposes. While this isn't technically an awards site as it's not submission-based, I've seen a couple places over the years where the recommended video gets its own banner of recognition, and always thought it was a good idea. Hence the inclusion here. Also because I'm shallow and tend to find videos far more interesting if they come with pretty pictures. Heh.

The tags are here to make browsing through the reviews easier. The tags specifying fandom start with fdm. Genre tags (if you're in the mood for action vids, creepy vids, etc.) start with gnr. Finally, the Reasons for Recommendation tags (rrec) are my personal reasons for recommending the video. My mind is a complicated, random and abstract place, so I'm giving you a brief rundown of the rrec tags so you don't pull out your hair trying to decipher them.

• Angst (Heartbreaker) - Come for the emo, stay because you're too depressed to move after you've watched a couple.
  
• Badass - Badass-edness is more than the ability to kick someone's ass, it is a state of being, and anyone who has ever heard Bruce Willis say "Yippy-ki-yay motherfuckers" knows it to be one of the most satisfying and entertaining states of being on the planet. These videos either feature the badassery of specific characters or embody it in and of themselves.
  
• Char (Characterization) - It would be easy to just stick to the character genre tag and leave it at that, only a lot of vids I like aren't character studies yet have jaw-droppingly accurate characterizations, so I feel like it deserves to be singled out.
  
• Conc (Concept) - Whether it's a tribute to Sam Winchester's bitchface or the presentation of four separate videos simultaneously, these vids all take truly unique ideas and run with them.
  
• Cute (...Cute!) - A collection of the cutest, sweetest videos you have ever seen. Be prepared to smile.
  
• Edit (Editing) - A little harder to define, but what you can expect to find here are vids with unique, well-executed, and clever clip selection and placement.
  
• FX (Effects) - These vids may or may not be loaded down with cool effects, but the effects used add to the overall feel of the video instead of taking away from it.
  
• End (Ending) - Be they upsetting, profound, or delightful, these videos feature endings that will stick with you long after you've watched them.
  
• Gorgeous (Freaking Gorgeous) - For videos that make use of footage cinematography and often their own original effects to create something truly beautiful.
  
• Intro (Lead in/Introduction) - For the videos that manage to introduce the feel/concept/quality of the final product before the singer has a chance to open their mouth, or even before the music starts in the first place.
  
• PoV (PoV) - This is for videos with a strong point of view (or multiple points of view), particularily if they work strongly with the song being used.
  
• Repeat (Once is not Enough) - Whether repeated viewings are required to grasp the scope of the vid or just because they're that AWESOME, these are vids you'll watch again and again.
  
• Song (Song Choice) - The song is either spot on for the concept, or is used inventively to make it relevant.
  
• Story (Storytelling) - A showcase of alternate universe videos, recap videos, and any video with a strong beginning, middle and end (although not necessarily in that order).
  
• Time (Timing) - For vids with transitions/action that matches strongly with the beat of the music.
  
• Trans (Transitions) - Videos that use imaginative and flowing transitions to move the video from one scene to the next.
  
• VO (Voiceover) - For good videos what use voiceovers to become great.