The AMV Documentary

[Vlad G Pohnert]

I'd love to get involved with this too. I've been around amvs for about 19 years, dating back to when I first saw Maboroshi's videos on some Escaflowne fansubs. Back then I did short videos on VHS (around 1996) but those have been lost. I first started digitally editing (and calling myself a creator) in 1998. Before the org I used to host all my videos myself on my website. Lost my hosting around the time the org went live and I've been here ever since.

I think I got you beat on all of that

Vlad

[rubyeye]

Here's my stream-of-thought on the matter......

I love documentaries, and an AMV Documentary is something that always comes to mind whenever I catch one. It would help you if you've seen a lot of different kinds of Documentaries, to get an idea of how you would like to structure this one. Are you going for a "Fan" film, like the recent ones on Bronies (i.e. A Brony Tale, Bronies: The Extremely Unexpected Adult Fans of My Little Pony) or more of an educational/historical perspective on the evolution and influence AMVs have on otaku culture, like the documentary series Metal Evolution?

You're essentially making a video about editing/re-mixing (copyrighted) video and music, so I would be miffed if you didn't include something about the legality of the hobby which has had some run-ins with the law in the past (remember Evanescence). You could possibly reference Lawrence Lessig and watch his TED talks on remix culture and cultural creativity, one of which he actually plays an AMV as an example.

I'd would like to recommend you also check out other documentaries about "Film", for inspiration and to get an idea of how they incorporate movie clips into telling their stories. After all, I assume an AMV Documentary would actually show some clips of edited AMVs...right?

The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing
Side by Side: The Science, Art and Impact of Digital Cinema
These Amazing Shadows

Beyond that, I strongly recommend watching DEMOGRAPHICS: Behind the Scene, a short documenatry that explores the definition and roots of an artistic computer sub-culture known as the demoscene, very similar to the AMV community and their creation of Anime Music Videos.


Both Brad and Radical_Yue offer interesting outlines on a possible direction for a story, with a focus on fans and creators, as you'd expect. But I always felt the history of AMV creation also incompassed more than just the people. It's about the ANIME (why are some titles used so much in amvs?). It's about the MUSIC (why the hell does everyone use Linkin Park?). It's about the VIDEO (we've gone from VHS tapes to DVD/Blu-rays to Digital just within a few decades!).

So how's this for a quick brainstorm....what if you broke the documantary into those constituant parts and actually talked about each aspect of it with fans and editors (why this Anime, why that Music, why this Video source?) and how it all comes together into this massive community we call Anime Music Videos.

[seasons]

I'd never recommend trying to actually rip-off anything about Exit Through the Gift Shop but it's more entertaining than any other documentary I've ever watched and I think there's aspects of it that are really relevant to our world here.

[Enigmo]

remember to have a whole chapter about me

[Bollocks]

remember to have a whole chapter about me

Don't you mean a whole documentary?

[Tono_Fyr]

Here's my stream-of-thought on the matter......

I love documentaries, and an AMV Documentary is something that always comes to mind whenever I catch one. It would help you if you've seen a lot of different kinds of Documentaries, to get an idea of how you would like to structure this one. Are you going for a "Fan" film, like the recent ones on Bronies (i.e. A Brony Tale, Bronies: The Extremely Unexpected Adult Fans of My Little Pony) or more of an educational/historical perspective on the evolution and influence AMVs have on otaku culture, like the documentary series Metal Evolution?

You're essentially making a video about editing/re-mixing (copyrighted) video and music, so I would be miffed if you didn't include something about the legality of the hobby which has had some run-ins with the law in the past (remember Evanescence). You could possibly reference Lawrence Lessig and watch his TED talks on remix culture and cultural creativity, one of which he actually plays an AMV as an example.

I'd would like to recommend you also check out other documentaries about "Film", for inspiration and to get an idea of how they incorporate movie clips into telling their stories. After all, I assume an AMV Documentary would actually show some clips of edited AMVs...right?

The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing
Side by Side: The Science, Art and Impact of Digital Cinema
These Amazing Shadows

Beyond that, I strongly recommend watching DEMOGRAPHICS: Behind the Scene, a short documenatry that explores the definition and roots of an artistic computer sub-culture known as the demoscene, very similar to the AMV community and their creation of Anime Music Videos.


Both Brad and Radical_Yue offer interesting outlines on a possible direction for a story, with a focus on fans and creators, as you'd expect. But I always felt the history of AMV creation also incompassed more than just the people. It's about the ANIME (why are some titles used so much in amvs?). It's about the MUSIC (why the hell does everyone use Linkin Park?). It's about the VIDEO (we've gone from VHS tapes to DVD/Blu-rays to Digital just within a few decades!).

So how's this for a quick brainstorm....what if you broke the documantary into those constituant parts and actually talked about each aspect of it with fans and editors (why this Anime, why that Music, why this Video source?) and how it all comes together into this massive community we call Anime Music Videos.

I actually like the suggested approach. Speaking of Sam Dunn documentaries, why not follow a single person as a Narrator (Chris, Jay, and Brad are all quite photogenic), and use them to tell the documentary in a similar framework. Build it almost as if it were an essay for an anthropology class, begin with an introduction to what AMVs are, and a few people who make them (via interviews at various cons), followed by a "history" section (which could, really, just be a single long interview with Vlad ;P ) which goes over AMVs and how they've developed over the years, then a sort of breakdown as Rubyeye suggests, focusing on Anime, Music, and Videos. Try to finish it up with a chapter focused purely on community (though, the community would also need to be a centerpiece of discussion throughout the film).

Thoughts?

[ZephyrStar]

And noted!
I will check into all of these docs you've mentioned, I've not seen any of them (shame on me actually, they look awesome).
I'm keeping notes on all of this, please keep it coming guys!

[Pwolf]

These Amazing Shadows is awesome

[Tono_Fyr]

And noted!
I will check into all of these docs you've mentioned, I've not seen any of them (shame on me actually, they look awesome).
I'm keeping notes on all of this, please keep it coming guys!

Check out "Metal: A Headbanger's Journey" and "Global Metal", both are pretty phenomenal and focus on a similar idea/approach to the study of sub-culture through documentary.

[anneke]

Good luck on this project. My suggestion is your going to want to narrow your focus on what you want to show. The history of AMVs is big enough on it's own, and you have about 2 hrs for a regular documentary. I would try and focus on the evolution of AMVs at one specific long running convention. You can talk about some of the creators, how things evolved, but have a common thread to the 'story'.