AMVSite and Guide suggestion, PLZ look.

[Lyrs]

Okay, just to clear things off at first. My sis is an avid web surfer and she's seen more bad main page setups then you can shake a stick at. This is also the first time she's actually seen the Org and therefore her impressions.

Her suggestions on the Main Page:

Instead of Having the "Search" button, use "Media" or "Videos." Most ppl with recognized this much faster then "Search."

Instead of just "Guides," extend it to "Guides for Video Creation," or something along that line. Much more easier to understand at a glance.

Guides are not newbie friendly. Most of the guides assume people already know how to create "Basic" videos. Have "direct" instructions on what to do and explain it right from the beginning, such as this.

1. Have a pc with these minimum system Requirements. <A list of Machine spec's that the person must have in order for them to be able to create videos. Something like:
300mhz cpu
256meg's ram
A type of video card, capture card, sound card, etc card's.
40gig harddrive, note: More drive space, better video quality potential.
DVD-drive, if you plan on ripping your own source.
Etc. stuff...Note: To find the various hardware used here and Op's about them follow this link, *link*

a. Learn how to use the hardware. Read the hardware manual. If the manual is too complicated for you, post your question in this Forum. *link to hardware help forum* These people might be able toexplain some things better.

2. Have all the Software need for video creation.

a. List of software neccessities. Something like this:

VirtualDub (a neccessity when it comes to encoding/decoding/testing etc.)Premeire softwares
Windows Movie Maker
Audacity (should you want to edit sound/music).
DVD ripping software
Etc. stuff

Note: Put the link to the Download page of the software right after the software name and/or in it's descrption page. It should be the First thing a person sees when they enter that page. Getting a trial and learning how to use Premeire through that is better. If you don't understand premeire, don't buy it until you do, it's $600 bucks wasted if you can't understand a thing.

Have this message immediately after the Names of Neccesary Software:
To find the various software people use and their Op's here, *link*

b. Read the Software manual. <Have the manuals be a part of this site, if possible. Not only is this convient for the creator, it allows for people to have access to the Manual anywhere in the world, should they find themselves without the helpfile.> < Put a link to the manual in a general Software Description. The current Software Opinion page serves very little use other than for Opinions sake.> <A software description page will be more helpful since it outlines the can and cannots of a software instead of just peoples impressions of a product.> <Also have a link to the product's help online service if the product has one.>

c. If after reading through the helpfiles, you still have questions, feel free to post your question at this link, *link to Software help*

3. Have all the source materials. (You don't want to run out of clips)
a. This link will tell you how to Rip DVD's to your hard drive. *Link to the guide page pointing out step by step teh process of ripping DVD's to the hard drive.*

b. This link will tell you how to transfer footage from a tape (VHS, etc.) to your pc. *Link to guide page pointing out the step to step proccess of ripping footage from tapes.

c. The web always has some clips you can experiment with. Search for "anime clips" at this link, "Link to a search engine, google is best*

d. Some members may be willing to share you some of their old DVD's, go to this forum page to see if any member is willing to share. *link to forum page*

4. Now that you have everything needed to make amv's, Hardware, Software, and Knowledge of how to use those software and hardware, you may want to start creating videos (if you haven't died from just reading all those manuals or if you still think creating amv's is still cool).

a. Pick an anime to fit to your idea.
b. Or pick an idea to fit to your anime.
C. Or pick a music to fit to your anime/footage.
d. Go to this forum for help, *Link to amv suggestions*

5. If after all of this you still have a question, feel free to post them in the correct forum at this link, *link to the a-m-v.org forum index*

......................................

So there is all the notes and information she gave me in the form of three word sentences. I She also outlined an AMV NEWB guide. I added some stuff to her original ideas and hopefully this is helpful. If not, well, it's a total waiste of 2 damn hours.

Of course I didn't have to do any of this, but I just wanted to since I noticed that all the really new newbs are having trouble with all this video stuff and they couldn't get "direct" information on how to create a video. The guide above is a layout of what a basic NEWB guide should look like.

Hopefully my other pc has finished ripping and encoding my source footage and I can start messing around the darn stuff. If I had known AMV's took so much work I would have started EARLIER and so by now I would've known everything there is to know about video creation.

Shyt! School starts in like two days for me! This AMV stuff is going to take so much time, I'm most likely never finish my project until next summer! Damn...damn...damn! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

I feel better now having typed down my frustration about about school. Damn! I hate this! I hate this! Wait..my friends at school have anime DVD's. YES! I can borrow some Anime!

I feel much better now. If you read everything above, thank you for taking the time to read it all. Thank you again.