Your Life Story

[Davis 51]

How you got into AMVs: Year: 2002 Scene: First Anime Convention, Anime USA. Blew my fragile teenage mind. After that, I found a whole bunch of them on a shitty 2003 internet dial-up, low-res, quicktime, etc. I initially tried editing one myself back then, but ended up crashing and burning when I couldn't figure out how to make Windows Movie Maker behave the way I wanted it to. I didn't try again until years later.
How you came up with your screen name: It's a screenname I've had for a long-ass time. I can't remember why I initially got it, but I picked it when I was still in middle school.
How you discovered the Org: I had watched This Is Otakudom with a friend (it was passed around by disk at our high schools anime club), and he later invited me over to check out a cool Naruto video, I asked where he found it and he showed me the Org. Was hooked instantly.
Tell me about your studio, like how you joined/created it, etc... Made my studio name originally a variant of "Outside the Box", but I also wanted to convey the feeling of something like a cult classic or a hidden gem. Something you would find underneath an old pile of junk. I was told by a friend that it sounded dumb. Didn't care. Been using it ever since.
Favorite genre to edit and why: I seem to wildly swing between Dramatic/Emotional videos and Trailer Parodies. I do drama because I edit slowly, and even though I'm getting faster, my time is short and precious, and I want to make sure I can achieve maximum audience impact. The best way to do this is Drama and Comedy. I don't feel I'm as good with comedy, so I stick to dramatic and leave satire to the brief moments in my trailer parodies. Trailer Parodies are also easy to do so I can churn them out quicker (with the exception of my latest, that I shall upload shortly), so I use them as breaks in between my big dramatic stuff.

Most of them are action-oriented, but it's pretty easy to sneak in a chuckle here and there without worrying about compromising the video. I've always been surprised at exactly what the end audience laughs at. For example, I give hints at a Light-L shipping in my last parody. I meant to play it straight, but people thought it was funny. Meanwhile, I had a blatant joke in Expendable Waltz giving a small little girl Arnold Schwarzenegger's voice and the joke fell flat.
Favorite newbie mistake you've made: Oh geez. My two videos, not hosted on the Org because Avatar: The Last Airbender. They are No Avatar for Old Men and A Million Little Gods. True, I made a bunch of classic newbie errors (Windows Movie Maker for the first one, some bad sync, etc), but what takes the cake in my opinion is the encode. I ripped the discs as xVids and re-compressed the final results. Then for youtube upscaled the second one to 1080p. When my second made it into some contests, I had just read the AV Tech guide and was just utterly shocked that it didn't look like a total mess on screen. Except for its first appearance....
First contest experience: Getting A Million Little Gods into Anime USA. Due to tech problems, that contest was run of SVHS. My video had its whites washed out completely. It's one other appearance looked pretty damn good though.
Best experience you've had thus far with the community: The tremendously positive feedback I got on was absolutely critical to me continuing to do AMV's. I was moved that this many people had enjoyed something I made, and haven't ever stopped.
Worst experience with the community: Seeing people leave it for Youtube and beyond. Hearing about skilled editors passing away. I still think there is something here. I have been planning a post for a few weeks now with ideas on ways to improve/renew/revitalize the org, which I have no clue how to begin implementing so I've been hesitant to post it. This place was my big watershed moment in choosing to make this hobby a big part of my life so seeing it diminish has been incredibly disheartening.
Why you edit: For the final cut. The finished product of taking a vision in my head and making it a reality. The chill in your spine when you see a really good sync moment, and a video coming full circle. that's the nerve center of art. That's what makes it worth it.
Future goals: To advance my career to better support myself until retirement. To branch out into other styles and genres of editing. To get better at comedy videos. To one day live in a place I can be utterly proud of, not just an apartment. To one day visit Japan.

[Davis 51]

How you got into AMVs: Year: 2002 Scene: First Anime Convention, Anime USA. Blew my fragile teenage mind. After that, I found a whole bunch of them on a shitty 2003 internet dial-up, low-res, quicktime, etc. I initially tried editing one myself back then, but ended up crashing and burning when I couldn't figure out how to make Windows Movie Maker behave the way I wanted it to. I didn't try again until years later.

Ghetto Edit: I should probably clarify, that was how I discovered AMV's. It would be callous to leave out the editor that inspired me to actually start editing myself after my first crash/burn. So here is my shout out to VicBond007. Without his videos, I wouldn't have even tried getting back into it.

[Gorz]

How you got into AMVs: my first encounter with AMVs was in 2009, when my little bro (14 years old) got ranked 2nd in a contest called Level up! with his Birth Right AMV which I didn't even know what it was about back then, all what I remember is how much I was in awestruck and envious of the stuff he could do in After effects, since then I started watching AMVs and it gradually becomes a hobby of mine but I never had the chance to actually create my own AMV until early 2012
How you came up with your screen name: gorz, yeah! such a goofy name, well I'm a huge fan of Gorillaz...i think you are able to see what i did there
How you discovered the Org: surprisingly enough! it was from a debate in amvnews about the org in one of k-x-s or nostromo videos, it was funny but yeah that's how I ended up here
Tell me about your studio, like how you joined/created it, etc... I'm in Soul's Team, I've always been a fan of this team and I'm really happy to be a member of it, awesome people
Favorite genre to edit and why: can't really tell! I like experimental videos I always try to make something different from my latest video, I enjoy all kind of categories as long as I'm inspired.
Favorite newbie mistake you've made: (Give us a good cringe-worthy one!) stealing scenes from other AMVs so eassssssssssyyyyyyyyy #noregret

First contest experience: Level up 2013! with one of my biggest inspiration to date Gidra, I learned a lot from him and a special shout to Echotrooper too he helped me a lot with the basics! thanks a lot
Best experience you've had thus far with the community: I'm still kinda new to the org! but I really like the atmosphere here
Worst experience with the community: I'm working on it!
Why you edit: as I stated before AMVs has become a hobby of mine, and I'm not willing to stop anytime soon
Future goals: regarding editing? I'll try to make an AMV community which represents my country, since I'm currently the only active editor...kinda

[dj_ultima_the_great]

How you got into AMVs:
Brad. He's popped a lot of people's AMV cherries, actually.

How you came up with your screen name:
I've explained the origin story in other threads, so I'll just keep it simple and say that it was my e-mail username prior to this site.

How you discovered the Org:
I honestly don't recall. I was downloading videos from Napster and Kazaa back when I first got into the AMV hobby, and I imagine that the site may have been mentioned in the file info on one of them.

Tell me about your studio, like how you joined/created it, etc... (If you're not in a studio, say why )
Not in one. No one has ever asked me about it.

Favorite genre to edit and why:
Drama, mostly because the majority of the sources I own are geared toward it. It's probably more relevant to note that I don't watch anime anymore, so I edit almost exclusively with videogames.

Favorite newbie mistake you've made: (Give us a good cringe-worthy one!)
Shit, I'm still making newbie mistakes all the time, but I'll have to go with using footage from other editor's videos. Mind you, I always chose the unedited clips (no effects and whatnot), but still... it's pretty douchey.

First contest experience:
I submitted a Saikano video some years back and it played on the big screen, which I guess was pretty cool, but that's all there was to it. My submission the next year was denied, and I haven't sent anything to a contest since then. (Erm, I don't mean that the denial was the reason, by the way; I just hadn't edited anything that year.)

Best experience you've had thus far with the community:
Probably being told that I was a good MEP coordinator by the folks who participated in FMV, even though I knew I was an inexperienced, flakey bastard that didn't have any business running a project. That they actually had faith in me kind of blew my mind.

Worst experience with the community:
There are a lot of little things, but since I brought it up, I'm most sorry about canceling the FMV 2 MEP. I should have never started a second project so soon after the first, especially knowing I had a personal deadline while also knowing full well that MEPs typically run far past their schedules. There were a lot of people who made great tracks, and several more who had wanted to be on the first one but hadn't found out in time, and I felt bad that they didn't get the opportunity to shine.

Why you edit: (If you don't edit anymore, explain yo'self!)
Actually, I kind of hate editing - but I LOVE having a finished product. I have a hard drive full of processed, ready-to-go footage just waiting to be tossed into my editing program, and I have a million ideas begging to be put together, but I absolutely cannot force myself to do that shit. I used to make a few videos per year, and then one per year, and now it's several years between videos - but I always say that I have an idea in the works, and it's true, I do, but hell if you'll ever see me put a clip on the timeline.

Future goals: (Editing, non-editing, whatevers)
For editing... well, making anything would be an improvement. In life... I'm a little distracted by the trees to see the forest right now. I can't afford longterm goals currently, so much that I can't even have a longterm goal for when I can have longterm goals again.

[TritioAFB]

How you got into AMVs: my first encounter with AMVs was in 2009, when my little bro (14 years old) got ranked 2nd in a contest called Level up! with his Birth Right
Future goals: regarding editing? I'll try to make an AMV community which represents my country, since I'm currently the only active editor...kinda

About the first:

Spoiler :

you're siblings with Raitshu? I used to meet the guy. What happened with him?

About the second one:

Spoiler :

Kinda my situation in the last months. When I'm missing intentions to edit, all the community in this country has decided to flow and go to the next con. Then I feel like in the old days: like if I want to put all about me when editing

[Haus Haberdasher]

How you got into AMVs: I attended my first anime convention in 2005, and happened to wander into one of the late night video rooms that was running AMVs. I vaguely remember seeing an Evangelion/Bohemian Rhapsody AMV.

How you came up with your screen name: Haberdasher is my second favorite word in the English language, but that was already taken on the org, so I combined it with part of my surname for lack of any other/better ideas.

How you discovered the Org: My best friend (who took me to that first convention, and who I still attend conventions with) told me about it.

Tell me about your studio, like how you joined/created it, etc... (If you're not in a studio, say why ) Not in a studio, never had a desire to join one. Also, I’m just not that good at editing.

Favorite genre to edit and why: I haven’t edited enough AMVs in different genres to have a favorite.

Favorite newbie mistake you've made: (Give us a good cringe-worthy one!) Threw a bunch of incoherent, unrelated scenes from different series together with no thought to the AMV’s structure.

First contest experience: Nebraskon 2011. I watched my video for the first ten seconds to make sure it looked decent on a large screen, then buried my face in my hands for the next five minutes until the video ended and the audience applauded.

Best experience you've had thus far with the community: The Disney MEPs.

Worst experience with the community: None yet since I’m not too active.

Why you edit: (If you don't edit anymore, explain yo'self!) I watched AMVs for years (and have been reading the org forums since 2005), had ideas, and thought it would be a fun hobby. It turned out to be an incredibly frustrating hobby, but I like the end result.

Future goals: (Editing, non-editing, whatevers) To be the Pirate Queen.

[Vlad G Pohnert]

How you got into AMVs:
I uses to make MVs (Sci-Fi & Fantasy) in the late 80s so it was natural to move into AMVs. I did my first AMVs without even knowing others made them
How you came up with your screen name:
No screen name... I like my name... and besides, at my first contest the front row chanted "Vlad.. Vlad.." when I went to get my finalists prize and then people would not believe me that that was my real name
How you discovered the Org:
Pretty much here almost since it started... just stumbled onto it
Tell me about your studio, like how you joined/created it, etc... (If you're not in a studio, say why )
Why the need for a studio? I create the AMVs myself so I never saw the need for it.
Favorite genre to edit and why:
Use to be Dramatic, but now I do anything that I find challenging (if anything, crossovers)
Favorite newbie mistake you've made: (Give us a good cringe-worthy one!)
Not knowing other AMVs excited and I was the first! Honestly the only one I can think of!
First contest experience:
Being in a room prejudging AX 2000 with Brad DeMoss, Kevin Caldwell, Joe Croasdaile, Tim Park, Hsien Lee, Nic Neidenbach and others I'm forgetting to mention
Best experience you've had thus far with the community:
All the people I met and continue to do so
Worst experience with the community:
The Drama and people who keep constantly complaining about this place being their worst experience (honestly people, it's not that bad)
Why you edit: (If you don't edit anymore, explain yo'self!)
Enjoy the challenge
Future goals: (Editing, non-editing, whatevers)
Keep running AMV rooms and editing to bring more joy to the world

[ngsilver]

How you got into AMVs:
I first got into watching AMVs back in 96 browsing the internet and downloading these videos from a popular Sailor Moon fan site. They were pretty low quality, even for the standards of the day, but I really liked the idea of putting music to the anime, even if they were just recycling the attack and transformation animations and putting them to some of the better tracks from the OST. I started downloading as many of these AMVs as I could find from searching the web, the AMV webring, Kazaa, Morpheus, and other file sharing systems. Brad, Brad Demoss, SSGWNBTD, Vlad, Maboroshi, Kevin Caldwell, Jestmaster, ect were among my favorite editors that I would follow from back in the day.

I got into actually making AMVs myself because I wanted to give back the same feeling I got from watching videos. I lacked the equipment to actually make anything (because the thought of downloading footage and editing with that didn't even cross my mind back then) until 2002 when I bought a WinTV card for my PC so I could watch TV at college on my PC but it also doubled as a capture card. Started off with a Linkin Park and Rouroni Kenshin vid and went from there.

How you came up with your screen name:
I've stated it many times but might as well again. My screen name is based off of the pen name I developed for myself back in my early days of writing short stories and putting my work online. It was N. G. Silver if you spell it out entirely but shortened to ngsilver for username purposes. Basically, it's just a shortened version of my name, Nathaniel Gene Silverthorn. So yeah, pretty boring actually. Just call me Nate.

How you discovered the Org:
Despite enjoying AMVs since 96 I actually didn't discover the org until the end of my first year of college in 2003. I was in the student org office hanging out with the guys from the gaming club watching a ton of AMVs, mostly Descendants of Darkness videos and a bunch of other 'standard' vids that one of the guys had burned on a spindle of CDs. I asked him where he found all of these videos as they were a lot of ones I haven't seen before and he told me about the org. I never found my way to the AMV mailing list back in the day so I kind of never stumbled onto the org. By the time it was created I stopped searching the internet for videos and just downloaded them using file sharing systems. So the idea of a place that catalogs and hosts videos was really intriguing to me. I signed up for an account and 2 weeks later (you had to wait 2 weeks back in the day to access the golden douhnut) started downloading vids and uploading my own.

Tell me about your studio, like how you joined/created it, etc... (If you're not in a studio, say why )
Well, when I first started making AMVs I edited under the 1 man studio NGSilver & Friends Productions. It was my own web company name that I used for all of my online endeavors back then. I liked the idea as it meant that it was mainly myself doing work and then friends helping me out from time to time.
I now edit for Chaotic Bad-Raptor. I was invited to join after I made my Singing 'Parts' and impressed Addy. At first I joined CBR just for my hentai videos, because at the time I actually had friends interested in joining my studio. However after all of that fell through I gave up dealing with my studio and just threw my hat in completely with CBR. I like to think of that time as the day I gave up on standards, because CBR has none.

Favorite genre to edit and why:
I don't really have a favorite genre to edit really. I just edit whatever idea I feel like working at the time. I started off as a drama editor, really liking drama and enjoying the heck out of editing it. I was a little bit of an emotional person at the time and it just fit with my overall mood. I've since mellowed out a bit and overall I'm generally happy now so I most of the time prefer to edit fun and happy videos, if only because that's the kind of mood that I'm in most of the time and I hate having to make myself sad to work on anything else.

Favorite newbie mistake you've made: (Give us a good cringe-worthy one!)
I've made tons of mistakes and I'm sure I still make them. I suppose the one that I keep making apparently is editing long videos.

First contest experience:
I used to enter Sugoi-con's contest back in the day and in 2003 I finally got to attend the con, even if only for Saturday. I entered my Apocalyptic Silence video that year and a friend of mine who doesn't edit anymore had entered his new video as well. He got to know the coordinator a bit at the time, the guy played DDR, and he actually let us have a private screening of the contest that night in one of the unused meeting rooms. It was fun being able to sit down in a room with some of my friends, including staff of the con, and watch the entries. I didn't win, but I was glad my video even made it in. As the coordinator had considered dropping it because it was in his words, 'The LONG one.'

Best experience you've had thus far with the community:
I've had tons of really fun times with the community. AWA has always been a blast to goto and ACEN back in the day when everyone would come out for the con (before the con really started hating AMVs) was a lot of fun. I really do enjoy hanging out with CBR and everyone else at AWA so I think that would be my best experience, just keeps me coming back.

Worst experience with the community:
ACEN 2011. Not that it was the communities fault. Just the year the con died for me.

Why you edit: (If you don't edit anymore, explain yo'self!)
I edit because I enjoy doing it. I enjoy telling stories and imparting emotions on people. I like making videos I want to see. People other then me enjoying them as well is just icing on the cake.

Future goals: (Editing, non-editing, whatevers)
As an editor I'm kind of at an impass. I plan to keep making the videos I want to make and I do keep getting ideas, but I'm getting to the point where to do what I really want to do I have to start making most of it myself. I have a lot of really large ideas for videos that are more the short film kind of thing. Stuff similar to Novem, Interstella, ect. In a way I'm kind of moving more toward actual film production, directing, ect. So we'll see how that goes and where it leads. I plan to work on a script for a short film in November and hopefully start filming by February in hopes of perhaps having it done by AWA, but we'll see considering it'll require a lot of AE work and I've never really been known for enjoying much of that (or really doing any of that at all.)

[Eake4]

How you got into AMVs:
I first noticed AMVs back around 2005 during my early years (single digits living experience during the time) when I saw some naurto with no editing played together with a song. Skip a few years forward and I first saw 2 of the greatest AMVs by comparison to some other linkingpark+naruto crap that I've been watching, thus leading me to actively search for great AMVs similar to those.

How you came up with your screen name:
In middle years of elementary school I typed some letters on pokemon crater.

How you discovered the Org:
In 2010 I had kept much of the momentum which was born from my findings of many "awesome" and "epic" AMVs, I googled amvs and walah, this webpage came out. I was already wanting to begin editing these videos and I thought this place would be a great start.

Tell me about your studio, like how you joined/created it, etc... (If you're not in a studio, say why )
When I first began editing, I really wanted to join studios to meet other editors, I've created one with close friends only but was extremely inactive mainly due to most of us being lazy editors. Nowadays I don't really see the reason to join a studio besides the fact of trolling and dragging the team down I do wish to find a new group though to expand my horizons further.

Favorite genre to edit and why:
Horror, although I have only had the opportunity to edit this genre once I was thoroughly enjoying every second of bringing my ideas to life. I have planned ideas for additional horror videos in the future and they seem to give me most joy thinking.

Favorite newbie mistake you've made: (Give us a good cringe-worthy one!)
With my first AMV ever, all I did was spam grunge footage and effects all over the place while editing with bleach.

First contest experience:
Honestly can't remember, but the most memorable one was definitely SMASH! con.

Best experience you've had thus far with the community:
Meeting all my favorite editors and getting the opportunity to talk to all you guys.

Worst experience with the community:
There really isn't any but the worst for the community is the drama this forum has once in a while.

Why you edit: (If you don't edit anymore, explain yo'self!)=
Frankly my reason for editing has died, rarely I find an idea which i want to express in a video however never having enough motivation to finish it. Nowadays I'm just simply editing to pass the time to create something I find relaxing to watch.

Future goals: (Editing, non-editing, whatevers)
My goals from when I first began editing (my competitive side):
1. Win Akross twice
2. Create 2 AMVs which I myself consider masterpieces
3. Get to at least a stage where I myself believe I am as good as Evanlet in terms of after effects editing

[ViKAMV]

Nice idea

How you got into AMVs:
It was in 2011, a videogame-anime web where I always spend time organized an AMV tournament and I was interested, so without hesitation I joined and did my first AMV.

How you came up with your screen name:

I started with the name of some DBZ character, 6-7 months later I though about create a definitive one.
About the meaning, it's simply an abbreviation of some important family names.

How you discovered the Org:
I started in a spanish-speaking website and I knew about org since long time ago, when I took AMV's as serious hobby I decided to register, follow the web often and upload some AMV's.

Tell me about your studio, like how you joined/created it, etc... (If you're not in a studio, say why )
January 2013, I created my own team since the one where I was got totally dead. We premiered our first MEP at June and we're always working in new projects. I'm really proud of it and with my team-mates. It's called "Legends Team" or LT, as you want.

Favorite genre to edit and why:
I don't know because every one of them are good to me, don't like so much horror though. I edit mostly action and drama so I'm better with them. As viewer, fun, no doubt

Favorite newbie mistake you've made: (Give us a good cringe-worthy one!)

Do again and again masking and always got fps problems, then you ask yourself, why me? Not really cringe-worthy but it was really annoying D':

First contest experience:

None lol, I tried at Akross con 2011, when I almost finished the project my PC got fucked. The next year I joined Japan Expo, this time Sony Vegas lost the file and I didn't get the .bak file. I'm making a new project for Akross con 2013(with a new pc xD), I hope to release it!

Best experience you've had thus far with the community:

Well, nothing to be honest, I only read here and sometimes upload AMV's, I don't participe so much so I can't get experiences at all xD. It's a good site though.

Worst experience with the community:

Same

Why you edit: (If you don't edit anymore, explain yo'self!)

Is fun, I love anime and music, I'm studying vfx and many friends share my hobby here so, why? I enjoy with it so I'm not planing about stop editing

Future goals: (Editing, non-editing, whatevers)

Go on, I like to learn and improve, so I'll continue in this way, I don't care about become the best or something like that xD.

Bye!