[4] Vidding began in 1975,[1] when Kandy Fong synced Star Trek stills on a slide projector with music from a cassette player.
[5] Fong's slideshow was first presented publicly at Bjo Trimble's Equicon/Filmcon convention in 1975, where it was celebrated as the first source of "new" Star Trek stills since the conclusion of the original show.
[2] Vidders during the 1980s and 1990s formed collectives, such as California Crew, GloRo Productions, Bunnies from Hell, the Chicago Loop, and the Media Cannibals.
[6] "Pressure" recorded the actual process of making a vid, depicting the female vidders, and the skill necessary in order to produce the work during the VCR age.
With the rise of digital media, greater bandwidth, and the widespread availability of free, albeit basic, video editing software such as iMovie and Windows Movie Maker or more professional and in use ones such as Sony Vegas, the skill level required for vidding has been reduced and the number of distribution outlets has increased.
[2] The Museum of the Moving Image in New York ran an exhibition from 29 June – 14 October 2013 called Cut Up which included highlights of style from the original by Kandy Fong to "Vogue (300)" by Luminosity.
A frequently used vidding term is "slash" in which footage of two characters (typically heterosexual) are combined to create a homosexual bond in the alternate universe.
The author may also argue for a romantic pairing that does not occur in the source text through juxtaposing relevant scenes or even splicing in additional material.
Supporters or "shippers" of on-screen couples may also manipulate clips to retroactively change scenes to fit a within-vid reality that incorporates their pairing.
Other fans and lawyers, such as those in the Organization for Transformative Works, argue that fanvids fall under the fair use exception to copyright laws, as only small snippets of video images are used creatively and no profit is made.