Interest gauging: episode-by-episode thing with screencaps and maybe icons?

[extrapenguin]

(ETA: if any of you are into exchanges, Guardian the TV series is part of the tag set for space_swap – sign-ups end on Sunday!)

So, I've been going through the episodes again for purposes of my dramatis personae thingy, and I've been making notes and screencapping as I go (I'm currently at ep 6). Then I got the idea that maybe I should make icons out of the 20ish-screencaps-per-episode – smallish themed packs! And maybe give the "raws" to the world so that people can use them as they wish! And hey, I'm already making notes on stuff like expressions and what people say, perhaps I should include those as well, and-

Well. I suppose it would be a watchalong thing. Do any of the things mentioned above excite interest in people? Here's some example screencaps; I've generally tried to go for interesting composition or team shots/people interacting over shot #10250345 of Shen Wei Pines Sadly. (Well, after I got enough shots of Shen Wei pining sadly. But surely we all have enough icons of Shen Wei Pining Sadly available for our needs?)

Poll #21384 Interested?

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 20

View Respondents

Would you be interested in this?

View Answers

Yes
18 (90.0%)

No
0 (0.0%)

With caveats
2 (10.0%)

What things would you like?

View Answers

Screencaps
18 (90.0%)

Episode-themed icons
11 (55.0%)

Discussion of what happens in the episode
18 (90.0%)

Discussion of characterization during episode
18 (90.0%)

Other – I will tell in the comments
1 (5.0%)

Comments

[jo_lasalle]

I think an episode-by-episode post series could be a lot of fun! I was staying away from anything in the fandom for fear of spoilers when I was watching for the first time and so there wasn't much online / fandom by-episode stuff for me.

I'd personally like a somewhat predictable schedule so I'd know what's up when and can do my research. *g*

Is my vote!

ETA:
"Other - I will tell in the comments": a Zhao Yunlan Cool Jacket Watch

[extrapenguin]

There's a lot of stuff that is only noticeable in hindsight, and in contrast to the later episodes, so I'd like to talk about that! And also character introductions. And other stuff.

There'll be no post on ep 1 until mid-next week at earliest (I'm away for the weekend), but other than that, I have no opinions on the day. Would weekly be good? We have 40 episodes, after all, and I'd rather not take over a year...

I can include a screencap of Zhao Yunlan's jacket of the episode!

[no_detective]

a Zhao Yunlan Cool Jacket Watch

um yes please!

[asya_ana]

I would definitely follow and enjoy. Always happy to see more Guardian meta :D I probably would avoid eps I haven't seen yet, but I would save those posts for enjoying later!

And as a side note, these kinds of things can end up creating some pressure for the poster to continue even if you're not feeling it anymore, so I would just say that although I would LOVE this, I'm also happy with as much or as often as you have time for :D

Is there EVER enough pining!Shen Wei??? Actual question.

[extrapenguin]

Oh, I know about not feeling it; if that happens, I'd probably ask if someone else would wish to take over. As for how often, we do have 40 episodes, so going less often than once a week would take over a year...

You're at 20-something, right? It'd take us over 4 months to get there, so hopefully you'll be in a position to join once we get there!

Is there EVER enough pining!Shen Wei??? Actual question.
"Shen Wei Pines In Every Item In His Wardrobe" would be a bit repetitive, I think.

[yantantether]

This would be really fun! And would encourage me to rewatch more consistently - I tend just to rewatch bits when I'm thinking of writing fic set around that point, so my memory of overall canon can get a bit confused.

[extrapenguin]

\o/

Yeah, rewatching canon as a whole gives interesting revelations about things one wouldn't have realized to seek out.

[trobadora]

This sounds like fun!

(Am I the only one who really isn't into Shen Wei pining sadly? I mostly tend to find pining boring, unless it's "quietly pining while busy with other things, and not really spending much time dwelling on it" ...)

[extrapenguin]

Then it shall start sometime next week!

Shen Wei does have some nice pining faces, and I want to document them as a sort of "document all the expressions" thing, but more than 2-3? Boring. (I loathe it in fic, but as images, it can work a bit, provided it's like canon – moments of pining/yearning that punctuate the other stuff.)

[schneefink]

I would be interested in all of this, though I'm not sure how much I could/would participate in discussions.

[extrapenguin]

Part of the charm is that people can also read the discussions, even if they can't participate for whatever reason! I'm glad this idea of mine would be interesting.

[kurosakiami01]

I love this idea!! Yes, I'm all for it. And my "other" is actually all of the above :P (I... didn't try to see if I could select more than one. I'm sorry if that was something I could do hahaha.)

[extrapenguin]

The second question is ticky boxes, so it's possible to select all of them! (And also edit one's poll response, IIRC?)

[kurosakiami01]

Ah! I didn't know. Thank you! I've changed them appropriately :')

[no_detective]

this is an excellent idea, as i've just finished a rewatch but - like a kid at a roller coaster - i wanna go again! :D there's so much that happens, nevermind the tons of subtext, so it would be really cool to do individual ep breakdowns.

p.s. it might also be useful to keep track of content that might need trigger warnings in episodes; i've tried noting some of it bc i want to recommend the show responsibly to friends, but the eps do tend to blend together.

[extrapenguin]

Ahaha, well. In your defense, looking at each episode in isolation and devoting time to it is much, much different to inhaling the whole series! (Inser bad Ye Zun pun here.)

I'm not that good at figuring out trigger warnings/content notes, especially as given the nature of the genre (people die) a certain background radiation of content is to be expected, and people's triggers can be quite ideosyncratic. What sorts of warnings are you envisioning?

[no_detective]

ahahahaha, WOW - i totally DID snort the entire series!!!

re: warnings, i was thinking stuff like child abuse, suicide, rape... there are some pretty grim cases covered in the course of the show. but now that i think of it, that might be better as a separate project/resource. (i've been giving warnings for potentially triggery stuff to my friends, so it might be useful to have a collection broken down by episode in one place. hmmm.)

[extrapenguin]

I do think it's be better done as an episode list with warnings, similar to galaxysoup's list of important episode timestamps.

[teaotter]

I'd love to have a place for discussing episodes!

[extrapenguin]

Then this will be a go!

[tinny]

If you make the episode-themed icons a battle, I'd be very much up for that!

[extrapenguin]

I'm not really aware of how icon battles work - would you mind elaborating what you envision? A comment on the main post to which icons of scenes from the episode in question are posted in reply, and ... limitations on number of icons?

[tinny]

Yes, of course!

Battles in general are just something a group of makers agree on. It can be anything. :)

A comment on the main post to which icons of scenes from the episode in question are posted in reply

That would work (and it would be the least work-intensive way for you to do it).

I have come up with three ways:

a) in comments of the review post

The downside here is they'll be hidden in the comments, but if you'd prefer them not cluttering up your review posts, I'd understand that. The advantage is that maybe the review will inspire people to make icons. (but nobody will see them unless we later make roundup posts again)

b) in the review post itself

If the icons should be added to the review post, we'd have to have a place where makers can submit them ahead of time. Like: we make a signup post where everyone who is interested can put their name and submit their icons. Make one thread for each ep. Screened submission. Then you'd just have to collect the submitted icons for the ep and add them to the review post.

c) run the battle separately

If neither of the above ideas appeal to you, we could make separate posts for the icons.

I honestly don't have the time to do weekly posts in sync with your review posts, though. So maybe I could make it 4 eps at a time or ... something like that? Icons just always look better in groups, anyway. :D


I can't decide which one I like best. The idea of having icons to post with the review is just so nice - like, everyone will immediately have icons to use from this episode if they so desire. But grouping them might look better, especially if we only have very few makers participating. Then just having two or three icons in the review post will just make the icons look sad and lonely. ;)

What do you think?

limitations on number of icons?

Usually, series-battles have one icon per episode (and maker). E.g. see this Teen Wolf battle here: https://sucksucksmile.livejournal.com/385599.html.

But everyone can always submit alts that are just listed at the bottom so they don't clutter up the presentation of the other icons.

But I don't know how many makers we even have. Maybe three or four? So not sure we need a limit. (Maybe gauging interest for the battle might be a good idea, too.)

[extrapenguin]

Ooh, thank you for the long response!

My original idea was that I'd make crops of the sceencaps I make and provide then as a sort of themed icon set that people could use as is or make additional edits to. If done instead as a comment thread for icons, I'd be willing to make a recap post every ... 5 episodes? A separate signup and submissions post would be too much effort for me. :P

I would also be completely behind a separate icon battle post! I think there are only 4 icon-makers in the fandom, so a 1-icn limit wouldn't give that good results, I think. Maybe 3 icons per person, if you would like a limit? Episode-wise, if every episode is too often, maybe sets of 4-5 episodes, once a month? (A "one icon per episode" challenge would also be interesting.)

[tinny]

(sorry for dropping this discussion, my week was too busy. :( )

My original idea was that I'd make crops of the sceencaps I make and provide then as a sort of themed icon set

Okay, I think we have a different interpretation of "icons". :) What you are proposing are bases.

I think it makes the most sense if I just run a separate battle and make it the usual one icon per episode (unless the makers who sign up have other ideas) and split the battle into four parts of 10 eps each. (Or less if more people sign up, but I don't calculate on more than 4 makers.)

I will post the signup post on the weekend. Not sure what to make the deadlines, but it has to be so that you can link to the roundup posts from your reviews - i.e. we have to finish the first part before you review ep10.

Sound good?

[extrapenguin]

I freely admit to being an icon plebe with no icon knowledge greater than "DW accepts images of 100x100 px as icons"!

A separate icon battle makes perhaps the best sense, though now I fear you'll need to provide a unified definition of "icon", lest I screw up somehow. :P Four separate battles of one per episode sounds nice, and I think I'll only be doing one episode per week at most, so there'd be over two months' time to make a sign-up post + create icons. First post will likely be today, though only with screencaps in an Imgur album.

[tinny]

though now I fear you'll need to provide a unified definition of "icon", lest I screw up somehow. :P

lol. :) Icons are usually somewhat edited after cropping a cap.

But if you just crop and don't do anything else to it, it can also be an icon, if you want. I guess then the only difference between bases and icons is that the maker allows other people to further edit bases, and icons are final.

so there'd be over two months' time to make a sign-up post + create icons.

Yes. I decided on starting with six weeks, so I can give extensions if necessary. I want to make sure all the icons are done before you make the relevant review post.

I was in the groove today, so I actually already posted the battle post:

https://iconbattles.dreamwidth.org/5799.html

I will promote it at sid_guardian and in iconmaker communities.

[china_shop]

I'm allergic to actor talk and talk of actor performance (like, I do not want to know whether certain scenes were improvised, or have my attention drawn to how well something is acted, or even really any mention of the actors, because it disrupts my suspension of disbelief, though weirdly I'm fine with talk about writers' intent and narrative causality and the like), so if that ends up being a thing in the discussion (which it probably will, because fandom), I probably won't participate. But I'll be cheering on your posts from afar! *\o/*

[extrapenguin]

I imagine my starter posts would keep to things on the level of "look at zhao Yunlan's expression! What do you think he's thinking?" and firmly in the in-universe level, though people might, of course, talk about the actors.