Dear Festividder 2019

Hello Festividder! Thank you so much for doing this, you are wonderful. I’m sure I’ll enjoy anything you make!

I’m super flexible music-wise—if it fits the tone of the vid, I’m here for it. I’m not super into vids that feature a lot of source audio over music without a compelling reason to do so, but for the podcasts you could certainly pull audio from the source or find other music that works, or use a mix of both! My one general request for the non-visual canons is you do your best not to whitewash them, since most of the major characters are people of color.

 

Fantastic Four (2015) [SAFETY]

Look. Is this a good movie? It is not. But it has a lot of potential!!! The idea of doing a horror-ish take on superheroes (especially the Fantastic Four) is a great one, and this movie backs it up with some cool visuals, if not, you know…good plot. But I love the idea of the FF’s powers as an “affliction,” and I love the 3/4s of the movie for which the main villain is the military. Creepy planet-possessed Victor is really weird and interesting. The Storm family interactions are great, Ben and Reed’s friendship is great. MICHAEL B JORDAN IS THE BEST EVER CASTING FOR JOHNNY STORM. Please give me the weird dark FF movie of my dreams! (And/or just give me a Johnny Storm vid. A+++ Johnny Storm)

 

Friends at the Table (Podcast)

Hi I love this show. My ideal vid for this would be something that captures the aesthetic and ambiance of Twilight Mirage (utopian worldbuilding! Weird digital spaces! Weirder planets!), but I recognize that that’s a BIG ask. I would be delighted with anything that builds a visual look for any one season/campaign—a Counter/WEIGHT amv or Hieron/Marielda HBO show trailer would be incredible. Or if you’d like to go a more RPF direction and focus on the fun interactions between good friends that would be delightful too! There’s not a lot of visual material there but there is their very cute SHUX live show and some clips floating around from GenCon.

Here are a few loose prompts for various seasons if that’s helpful, feel free to ignore: MARIELDA HEIST CRIME TEAM. The Chime feat. Orth and Jacqui! Literally anything with divines/mechs, pulling from any season. A character study of Samol/Hieron. The weirdness of spring. Literally any femslash!! (also tenfour!) Something about Cass or Echo and siblings.

 

Heaven Will Be Mine (Visual Novel)

HWBM is a great little game about queer mech pilots. It only takes a couple hours to play! Unsurprisingly (check out my icon) I love Luna-Terra, who has a lot of feelings and has never betrayed anyone in her life, ever. Pluto is also the best (“dislikes: trying very hard not to have any”). Really the whole ot3! I would love an ot3 vid!! Also the side characters! Also giant robots as metaphors for bodies and society! The game has pretty but relatively minimal/still graphics, as most of the story is conveyed through text, so if you want to mix in outside sources, have at it. (But to be clear, I think you could make an excellent vid with just game graphics!)

 

Marvel 2-in-One (2017)

Some background if you’re not familiar with Fantastic Four comics: in 2015, half the Fantastic Four “died,” leaving behind Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, and Ben Grimm, the Thing, who joined various other superhero teams and mostly existed in the background for a couple years. In 2017, in anticipation of the “dead” characters returning, this series was created to reunite Johnny and Ben and deal with their grief and generally fraught relationship. There’s SO MUCH ANGST and love and good, nuanced feelings of the type that comics characters are rarely allowed to have. The Fantastic Four have always been a family first and foremost and this series leans all the way in on that. If you’re interested in trying a comics vid, this might be a good place to start, since the whole run is only 12 issues! (Although you’d be more than welcome to include other FF comics if you’d like.)

 

Now You See Me (Movies)

These movies have everything: elaborate Robin Hood heists, incomprehensible plot twists, stage magic as a fighting technique, secret societies, Daniel Radcliffe as a magic-hating villain, found family??, the most implausible magic tricks you’ve ever seen…basically heists + stage magic = so much fun nonsense! I’d love a vid focused on the Horsemen as a team or on the elaborate historical magic backstory. Or whatever Mark Ruffalo’s up to.

 

The Penumbra Podcast

The Penumbra Podcast is an anthology show with multiple distinct storylines, so there are a lot of vid possibilities here! I love Juno Steel, queer nb private detective on Mars, more than basically anything. (He’s grown as a person! He’s realized he has friends! Excuse me while I cry) A space noir vid could be extremely cool visually! I also love a LOT of second citadel characters, so a vid about Sir Caroline (angry lady knight), Rilla/Damien/Arum (lizard ot3), Sir Marc and Talfryn (ridiculous brothers) or all of the above would be wonderful!! If you wanted to do a meta-ish vid about the Penumbra hotel/train/whatever it will be next, that would also be rad as heck.

 

Parable Series - Octavia E. Butler

This series hits pretty close to home in a lot of ways, and might feel a little too real in the current political climate, but I love the thread of hope running through it. Earthseed is so fascinating as a flawed but beautiful religion that sees change as inherently divine, and I would love a vid on those themes. I also think there’s a really cool multi sci-fi vid to be made around “the destiny of Earthseed is to take root among the stars.”

 

Sorry To Bother You (2018)

This was probably my favorite movie of 2018! I love the mildly surreal aesthetic and the poking fun at capitalism. I especially loved Tessa Thompson’s character (her fashion!!!!) so a vid about her or her relationship with Cassius would be awesome. Or anything that explores how the different characters exist and live their lives in the weird slight dystopia they exist in.