Festivids

Festivids is "a fannish vid exchange inspired by Yuletide." Festivids user info. (Accessed Feb. 20, 2010) The concept is simple: rare and under-vidded fandoms are nominated, fans make requests for certain fandoms, vidders sign up anonymously and are paired with a request for a vid, then the vids are revealed (first anonymously and then the vidder's identity is revealed). Assignments are given to the vidders in November, with the vids being revealed in mid-January.
In keeping with Yuletide and Yuletart, Festivids was initially going to be called Yulevids. After the exclusionary nature of the name was pointed out,http://community.livejournal.com/festivids/1192.html Rename? (Accessed March 5, 2010) the mods held a poll to determine a new name for the community.http://community.livejournal.com/festivids/1563.html Name Change Poll (Accessed March 5, 2010) The name refers to Festivus, a family December holiday tradition popularized by the TV show Seinfeld.
Years of Festivids are named according to the year they start in (so December 2009-January 2010 would be "Festivids 2009" or "Festivids 2009-10").Congratulations, Festividders! Posted January 8, 2012. (Accessed January 8, 2012.)
==2009==
===Policies===
A description of the policies for 2009 was found here; however the community has been deleted and the data was not archived. A list of the fandoms nominated was found here; however the community has been deleted and the data was not archived.
=== Festivids 2009: The Vids ===
For a full list, see Festivids/2009.
==2010-2011==
Over 75 fans signed up to participate. Over 20% of the participants did not complete their vids, but volunteers stepped up to take their place.
===Policies===
A description of the policies and procedures for 2010 can be found archived here Livejournal community has been deleted, but the profile page can be found here A list of the fandoms nominated can be found archived here and here.
Festivids that year required content notes
The moderators reminded participants that source needed to be readily available and popular fandoms might not make it past the challenges
Reasons to dispute the inclusion of a fandom were
Volunteers were recruited to go to locations where fanvids might be posted to count the number of existing vids.
The burden of proving a fandom was too popular to be included was on the personal making the objections:
After fandoms were nominated and vetted, and the list of participants was finalized, vidders were then matched with one another:
Participants were encouraged to write an open letter to their matched vidder:
Since the 2009 IRC chat room was popular, fans were referred to the server which had been running for the past year.
Often participants dropped out or failed to complete their assignments. This is when calls for "Pinch-Hits went out. There were sometimes multiple rounds of pinch hitter requests:
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As in 2009, there was a listing for volunteers to beta each other's vids:
As with Yuletide failure to complete an assignment meant you would be barred from participating next year. However, the challenge offered a penalty free cancel date:
There were several check-in dates
In 2010, the preferred streaming platform was viddler:
But uploading could be complicated
Participants could also sign up to make extra 'treats'
After vids were posted anonymously, viewers were invited to try to "Guess The Festividder"In 2010-2011 this took place in the Livejournal community which has been deleted and is not archived.
Then the names of the creators would be revealed in a complex process:
=== Festivids 2010: The Vids ===
The Master List for 2010 With Reveals WebCite for 2010 Master List; WayBack Machine
==2011-2012==
In May 2011, Festivids 2011 started off with a change in management with both yhlee and the website manager leaving. Yhlee was replaced by "The lovely and (scarily) talented lithiumdoll/halcyon_shift will be succeeding her, and she's already got awesome and terrifying plans for new and even-more-amazing website features, so we're lucky to have her."
The remaining moderator giandujakiss spelled out the technical skills they were hoping to find:
In July 2011, the first Festivids Collection was created at AO3.
And a new dedicated domain name was set up: festivids.net
The definitions of a 'small' fandom were redefined:
And fans could each nominate up to 20 fandoms:
And a schedule was set up.
Viddler was again selected as the streaming host:
1,089 fandoms were nominated. A complete list of fandoms offered is archived 
The number of vidders who signed up has not been archived but 110 vidders completed their vids and there were 12 pinch-hit requests (down from the previous year).
There was some discussion about the various streaming platforms: Viddler, Vimeo and Blip:
There were problems with site logins from users with LJ accounts:
Days before launch, Viddler streaming embeds stopped working on Livejournal, where all Festivids were posted:
===Festivids 2011: The Vids===
The Master List for 2011 With Reveals. WebCite for 2011 Master List.
==2012-2013==
===Festivids 2012: The Vids===
The Master List for 2012 With Reveals.WayBack link.
Notable vids included Defeat You by echan, a 3 Ninjas vid with a clip of one of the actors giving a shout out to the recipient.
==2013-2014==
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===Festivids 2013: The Vids===
The Master List for 2013 With Reveals.
This round produced 205 vids—more than any other yearFestivids 2013 is Live! at LiveJournal. 26 January 2014. (Accessed 27 January 2014.)—for 145 different fandoms. The most-represented fandoms include Sleepy Hollow (2013) (7 vids), Pacific Rim (6 vids), Friday Night Lights (5 vids), and Masters of Sex (4 vids).
2013 is notable for being the year Orlando Jones found Festivids.
==2014-2015==
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* By Jan 2015, approximately 310 vidders had created accounts on the Festivids website.
===Festivids 2014: The Vids===
The Master List for 2014 With Reveals.
==2015-2016==
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* A complete list of fandoms available to sign up are archived 
* A copy of the FAQ can be found archived 
* By 2015, over 310 vidders had participated in the challenge over the years
===Festivids 2015: The Vids===
The Master List for 2015 With Reveals.
==2016-2017==
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* A complete list of fandoms available to sign up are archived 
===Festivids 2016: The Vids===
The Master List for 2016. Reveals are set for 11 Feb 2017, 12:00PM EDT
== References ==
Category:2009 Challenges
Category:2010s Challenges
Category:Vidding Challenges