AMV Autobiography

General discussion of Anime Music Videos
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AMV Autobiography

Post by Koopiskeva » Wed Oct 22, 2008 2:42 pm

We all have a lot to say about the videos we've made throughout the years. I think it's actually really interesting to hear what everyone has to say about the things they've made.

So, I would like to ask you to post your 'AMV autobiography' of sorts.

Awesomely enough, Infinity Squared made a post on his livejournal about his videos throughout the years (which is what interested me in making my own and making this post).
InfinitySquared wrote: Ok, current video tally is as follows. There are 35 video projects I have been publicly listed to have participated in, 14 of them were as part of a multi editor project with the rest being solo videos. I’ve been making video introductions for the AMV competition in Manifest since 2005 with I reckon more than half of them able to be considered as full videos in their own right. I’ve also completed 1 backing video and 1 trailer video for Eminence. There’s also half a dozen or so documentary, dedication and live action videos that I’ve compiled over the years. And all of this started with 2 videos, never released, that I experimented with in Windows Movie Maker back in 2004.

Just considering the listed video projects, this equates to roughly one video released every two months, though more realistically, I probably work in spurts rather than regularly, sometimes months passing by without anything done (The Second Raid sat there for near on two years). I guess this is a testament to how much I love this hobby as even after all this time, I don’t foresee myself stopping soon. I’ve probably got at least a year’s worth of ideas which is plenty of time to come up with even more while things are cooking, and sometimes I don’t even bother with ideas and just edit as the need/impulse arises.

So how did this all begin? Romanticising the whole thing, I would say it goes back to those first two experimental videos. The very first one was a mixing of various fansubbed sources to a Nami Tamaki song I was enjoying at the time with various attempts at some sort of beat sync. It came complete with macroblocking, wrong aspect ratios, the opening titles of the actual anime and of course, the subtitles. The next video however was a great deal better than the before. The first one was all about testing the software and tools. The second one is probably the first video I would consider a true AMV. It had a progressing narrative, intentional beat and emotional sync, effects and had full ticks for attempting to eliminate unwanted features (e.g. lip flap, subtitles, orphan frames, etc.). This is the video that really showed me what was possible and there was no turning back from that point onward.

If I were to be pragmatic about this though, it would be Talk To Me that deserves the accolade for propelling me forward. Again, in terms of its technical aspect it wasn’t too bad and though comparatively speaking to my videos today, the transitions weren’t the most polished, the video was definitely not a step back. It’s the joyous melding of the anime and music theme that made this video such fun to make and consequently successful in gaining attention and earned me my very first win at an anime convention. I remember being so ecstatic at two in the morning when I heard of the news and pretty soon, winning felt like a drug that I had to have more of. Internet fame is fleeting and miniscule but it was definitely addictive.

Stand Your Ground and Look To The Stars were the next two that I created to satisfy this addiction. This was during the days when I thought in terms of projects as if I had some purpose, when winning meant I had to form strategies and video combinations. Stand Your Ground was straight up action and it did win once more in conventions in the country and achieved a runner up position in an American one, which gave me the confidence to believe I could do this outside of Australia. Admittedly, whether or not it makes me sound cocky, competition in the country is not really very tough, so getting recognition in an international convention that attracted 3 times at least more attendees than the biggest ones in Australia did was definitely something else. Look To The Stars however never won anything, yet I felt that it was the more ambitious video of the two.

My attempts at conventions slowed down a bit after the “campaign” I put those two through. I slowly got out of the mindset of projects and moved on to just making videos as they come to me, videos with no particular purpose other than to entertain me, much like Talk To Me in the beginning and this is how it has continued on for me till this day. There was also this strange stretch where all the videos I made had drama undertones, culminating in Dedication, which albeit its simplicity had its share of controversy and really gave me the push to really start caring less about what people say as a consequence.

Listen To Your Heart was the first video that was created for a specific convention. There’s a subtle difference between this and Stand Your Ground and Look To The Stars in that, I created those two with the specific goal in mind that should a convention sound appealing to me, I’d have 2 ready made video to dispatch immediately. This however was made for only one convention and though I probably did enter it in one or two others afterwards, it was never something I purposely created to pimp at every opportunity. All of a sudden this meant that I was actually working to a deadline, something I didn’t do before. Dates ever since then has dominated how/when I create things.

Originally perhaps, the motivation for winning was the prizes but as time got on and I was easily more able to purchase the kind of things I actually might win, some other reason which was previously just a secondary thing took main stage. It was fame and prestige. It became a motivation for knowing more people, and specifically, people who were considered top of the game. Dates became more important as conventions was when these people converged. Similarly, convention successes also equated to online presence. This was probably one of the biggest drives for me to have started joining Multi Editor Projects. During this time which started from late 2005 all the way till mid-2007, the ratio was for every solo video, I was part of almost two multi editor projects. Working in such projects as Piyush Juneja, Project Trinity and having some hand in Project Ayumix 2 definitely led to some good interactions with some great editors but none had more impact than Yuri Collections as besides the collaborative side of things, this marked for me the move into more complex editing concepts.

Anime Academy Heroes no doubt made the biggest splash of all the videos I have ever made. It was also a turning point as for the first time ever, I dived into the comedy arena. It had been so different from anything I have ever created and in my opinion, it’s also a part of a breed of videos that you probably wouldn’t immediately think of when you discuss AMVs. My videos prior to this were music plus anime equating to a video with some theme/story; the standard AMV. This story or theme however was really just a product of the combination of audio and video sources and consequently has a somewhat inconsistent form. For example, to a creator, their combination was supposed to show how the characters were misunderstood in the anime and how the song described the effort they made to let others know them, but to the viewer, all they might be seeing was a random action video needing to show how Naruto and Linkin Park are so kick arse. That’s how most AMVs are, they are free floating intangible creations. Anime Academy Heroes on the other hand had a solid story to start with and though the music and anime sources greatly helped to bring that story to life, one could say that I could have used any number of other sources in place of what I used, but so long as I stuck to the core story, the result would been the same.

This is where the “complex editing concepts” movement started for me, albeit this is all in retrospect. I guess with the success that it had, it has raised the bar for me, heightening pressure, but also elevated me to a different kind of thinking. To which we return to Yuri Collections where I delved into yet another not very common AMV style, that being original 3D animation. Admittedly though there was a fair bit of effort put into it, it is by no means a perfect creation. Scales of the models were not consistent and lighting was rudimentary at best, not to mention the shapes were like something you found in late ‘90s video games with sharp edges and unintelligent distribution of polygons, but the fact that it wasn’t something you see everyday in AMVs meant the reviews showed praise for it, and I certainly felt proud of it.

Though I did dabble in the standard AMV many more times since then, my interest in conceptually and technically new or niche styled videos has grown more and more. Echoes of Sanity and to a lesser extent Reaction were examples of these. Echoes of Sanity was random at best, from the source that it used, to the concept, all the way to the ever altering Winamp-visualisation-like editing. If I were asked to nominate just one of my videos to be shown at a museum, this would be it as though it may seem to have some semblance of a plot/direction, at the end of the day each person who has seen it will have a different interpretation of it. Reaction was a test of how technical I can make a video, specifically this was the first time I got into masking. These days, masking is a very prevalent concept, with frame by frame editing becoming something of a badge of honour for those engrossed in the hobby to claim. Once more, this was a way out of the linear editing style and to create something that wasn’t previously there. This is something which is at the core of AMV creation; originality. It’s hard sometimes to associate originality with this art because it’s part of the remix culture phenomenon where the products are derivatives of someone else’s creation. But when asked why an AMV creator made his or her video, their first answer would almost invariably be “because I want to see something I haven’t seen before”.

What followed next is another stretch of drama videos with an ever growing emphasis on high quality footage. With ever growing screen sizes, if your video was not at least in native NTSC resolution, you’re beginning to penalise yourself and the encoding technology was also always improving. To that point, Cherished Memories and M Drive 1.0 broke me into another world that YouTubers will probably never see, and that is Region 2 DVD sources. R2 DVDs themselves don’t mean anything, but it’s the fact that they are as close as you can get to the actual television or cinema release of the anime in Japan that makes this very alluring. It’s basically trying to reach perfection to the Nth degree, which is to say putting a lot of effort to achieve something that people won’t actually notice offhand. In essence, my thinking is, if I could entertain fellow editors, those that would pick out that I used an R2 source, then everything else should fall into place.

The last of these drama pieces was Only Human, which is the only video right now which is planned for a remake, despite it not being all that old. Myself and those who have watched it believe that this video has not reached its full potential. It’s interesting to note that usually, when I’m done with a video, that’s that. I never keep project files for long and once I’ve created some lossless backups, everything else is deleted primarily because as many people might be prone to do, I have the tendency to keep wanting to tweak some things. Sort of similar to this, Anime Academy Heroes – The Second Raid is a sequel to the original and though arrogant it may sound, this may be how hacks like George Lucas think when reviving their old epics in that they’ve already created things which will forever be regarded by people as some of the best, but now all they have left is to best themselves and the only way to do that is show the same thing but aim a little higher. Maybe they’ve just become too good at what they do, essentially.

That’s where AMVs have been for me at this stage. How about you? Why don't you write some overly long account of the hobby you got into. Maybe I'll even read it, but only if you sound pretentious enough.
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Post by Koopiskeva » Wed Oct 22, 2008 2:43 pm

AMV Autobiography
Koopiskeva Edition

This whole ‘AMV’ thing started for me back in the early 2000’s. Having seen several shows from the ‘awesome’ cartoon network line-up *ahem,* it eventually led to being part of the fansubbing community back in 2001. That was short-lived though, because it just wasn’t much fun for me. However, it wasn’t fruitless, since I did learn how to rip/encode for digital format.

Looking for some kind of creative outlet, I had it in my mind that I wanted to start making my own music, or at least mixing other music. I picked up Magix Music Maker, but I never got around to actually using the thing to make music because soon after, my younger brother had shown me a few AMVs that he had found from IRC and/or Kazaa/Morpheus/etc.

It kinda just clicked one night, as a friend brought over the ‘new’ Linkin Park CD. We started talking about AMVs, and in that same night I started/finished my first AMV. It’s actually listed as Runaway Shinji on the org. Just like anyone else on their first AMV, hell yea I was proud of it! Obviously, it’s pretty bad by today’s standards, maybe even then.

I attempted to make 3 other videos, which were never completed (well maybe one of them kinda is), but it wasn’t until Gravity of Love (early 2002) that I really felt that I had edited something worthwhile. Throughout that time, I watched and started to really fall into the community. Meeting a lot of new people, all sharing this love to edit/create really fascinated me.

Late summer of 2002, I finished and released Damaged Rei-mix. I was and am still really proud of that video. I sought out to create something dynamic back then, yet still retained the qualities of the character I meant to profile. It was then that I started to gain early fans and felt that I had a voice in the community. It was quirky and unique, something that was not so prevalent back then. I think I pretty much decided from then on that I would continue to pursue somewhat techie videos like this. Due to this, I had my first taste of ‘success’ and also being hated on. I recall having specific arguments with people based on the merits of this video actually.

Soon after, Perception (late 2002) was made. Just a sentimental video edited in a span of a few days. In a way, this was the start of my love affair with sentimental/drama/romance videos. This was re-enforced by Through Time, Through Space (early 2003) a few months afterwards. With this, I developed an editing style I was most comfortable with, and was closest emotionally to how I felt about the sources I used. However, my thirst to make something grander was always lurking beneath.

Through Time, Through Space was also edited within the span of a few days, and it was actually edited while taking a break on Euphoria (spring 2004). At the time, it was not common practice to be spending several months on editing an AMV. However, Euphoria was my first glimpse on tedious editing and what came was entirely unexpected.

To this day, I don’t really know what sparked and continues to spark that video. Early on, and even to this day, I know the digital effects had a huge influence on its popularity. But as time passed, the effects placed in the video clearly showed its age as it was replicated many times over by other editors throughout the world. Also, even then, the effects themselves weren’t really ‘groundbreaking’ in retrospect… but regardless, it was catapulted into arguably being one of the most ‘famous’ AMVs of all-time (I swear I’m not just saying that).

Immediate effect of that was my sudden 15 minutes of fame. I got to meet so many people cause of that video – editors, fans, and haters alike. It was overwhelming to say the least (in an AMV community sense). While I enjoyed it’s ‘success’ a bit.. I stayed away from actually editing for nearly two years. I actually attempted a few videos between 2003 and 2005, but nothing was ever finished. Now that’s partly due to supposedly ‘reaching the top,’ but mostly I had a brand spanking new girlfriend and other things in my life were taking up my time.

So after being dormant for a bit, I finally had some time to edit and release Waking Hour (early 2005). Had a bit of mixed reaction to this, as people were clearly expecting another Euphoria, but it was received well with time. This video was natural to me, and at the time, was easily my favorite of my videos. Somehow I knew though, through post-Euphoria, any video I would make would always get some kind of attention.

Between 2005 and 2006, I was somewhat reviving my interest in editing AMVs, though I never actually left the community. I edited for a few MEPs, trying to muster up some editing will, but I didn’t really have any clear videos that I wanted to make. I know I wanted to make a big splash again, but I always felt overshadowed by the success of Euphoria. Early 2006, I started editing Heart (unfinished and unreleased). The possibility of integrating digital effects once again started to fill my head. After tediously editing for several weeks, I just felt exhausted on it and did not want to continue.

In the summer of 2006, the idea for Skittles popped into my head. Originally, I had set out to make a ‘fun little video’ to be done in about a week. That idea quickly went out the window as grander ideas and presentation ideas filled my head. Luckily, I had learned some new techniques while trying to edit Heart. As the months rolled by, I continued to press on with Skittles.

Now I didn’t address this before, but in my previous videos, I had no care about ‘winning’ anything – specifically conventions. It was always nice to win something, but really, I just liked seeing my videos up on a large screen for people to enjoy watching with me. I still feel the same way now, but I knew and wanted Skittles to be that video for me – the one that could win over audiences. If anything, just to know I am capable of doing so.

Opposite of Euphoria, I knew this video would be well received, but I didn’t really know to what extent. After releasing Skittles (early 2007) and getting through all the hoopla, I was absolutely ecstatic when I heard that it was being well-received in Japan of all places. I achieved my goal with Skittles, but mostly, I was able to convince myself to go beyond what I knew of AMVs to make something drastic and dynamic for myself. I never thought I was ever limited to anything, but this proved to me that I could do it if I wanted to.

Soon after, I started work on Twilight (mid 2007). I struggled a lot with this video both conceptually and technically. I kept going back and forth on several things about this video, about what I wanted it to say, and how I wanted it to look. I ended up spending over a year working on this video, even making Momentum and Paper Image as a break in between. In many ways, Twilight achieves that ‘culmination’ of AMV editing I had sought out for, but it was also plagued with compromise as I realized the supposed limits I had with patience editing in regards to a high-concept video.

As it stands now, I’m proud of Twilight, regardless of technical imperfections, as it shows how dynamic I could be. However, only time will tell how I will feel about it later on.

On Momentum (summer 2007) and Paper Image (summer 2008), both videos continued my tradition of sentimental videos. Their simplicity and emotion keeps me grounded on the ‘humble beginnings’ of what AMVs were and continue to be for me. That is, a fandom on which fans reflect on the things they love about the sources they use to relive and show others what they see. So why do I make the complete opposite as well? Videos with tons and tons of digital effects? Well, I also believe in making something more of what it is – a concept I really tried to pursue in Twilight. My effects-heavy videos definitely show that.

So what now for me? Honestly, I don’t see myself ever leaving AMVs. The people I’ve met and the passion I’ve discovered throughout these years will always keep me going, even if I do take breaks here and there. I’ll keep pursuing my editing theories and continue to learn about the dynamics of it all. Maybe make something that will go beyond the scope of the community.

At the moment though, I’m actually working on another effects-heavy video… and it might just be the video I’d been meaning to make this whole time.
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Post by Otohiko » Wed Oct 22, 2008 3:38 pm

Very cool thread :o

I'll try to add something, when I'm not working on my assignments.

I do see what you mean with Euphoria getting the reception that it did, though I wouldn't put it down so quickly. I mean by any standard, it was a great video, just that I think a lot of people picked on it for the "omg techgasm" reason which isn't really the best way to look at it...
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Post by Koopiskeva » Wed Oct 22, 2008 3:54 pm

Otohiko wrote:Very cool thread :o

I'll try to add something, when I'm not working on my assignments.

I do see what you mean with Euphoria getting the reception that it did, though I wouldn't put it down so quickly. I mean by any standard, it was a great video, just that I think a lot of people picked on it for the "omg techgasm" reason which isn't really the best way to look at it...
Yes, please definitely add yours - it'll be a great read.

Also, I totally forgot to add more to the Euphoria part (I could go on and on about the things that came about because of it, but I'll keep this short) -

I actually do like that video a lot. I loved it then, and I still like it now. I believe it was Vlad that left an early opinion on it saying that it was 'destined to be a classic.' I was pretty much speechless about it then, and I still don't know what about it was so good that it has retained throughout these years. I can definitely say that part of it was timing of when it was made and released though. Either way, it's a definite landmark in my AMV 'career' that I'll never forget.
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Post by Fall_Child42 » Wed Oct 22, 2008 4:39 pm

Well, My first experience that made me want to make an AMV started at A-North (my second anime convention) I saw the winning videos of the competition (one of them was doki's that year I believe) and I thought to myself hey, those are cool and they made people laugh I think I would like to try that.

I got a crappy video editing program from future shop, (Roxio easy video creator.) which simply was not what I needed, But I did have fun messing around. with music and non encrypted DVDs (The Street Fighter.)

A little in the future, I received a new computer and a student copy of Adobe premiere (it was nice and cheap.) and I got to work making my first AMV for the following A-North. http://www.animemusicvideos.org/members ... hp?v=74517

The C-Team, I recreated the A-Team opening with cowboy bebop. Perhaps not the most innovative idea, but I wanted to do it, so I did. This video didn't win anything, but it got played at 10:00 in the morning to tired fans and they all laughed at the right spots. Seeing it play and be well received gave me a bit of a rush (one I still get today) and I loved it. Kumaguro (the winner of the creativity award at A-North that year) Said she quite liked my video. A rush and some encouragement was all I needed to get started on my next idea.

My second idea came about because of all of the same repeated ideas i saw at these AMV screenings. That's right second video I made I was parodying cliches in AMVs. http://www.animemusicvideos.org/members ... hp?v=86866
This video did get positive feedback from those that saw it as well as those on the org. I started liking this stuff more and more.

I watched cromartie. I needed to make a video to cromartie.
http://www.animemusicvideos.org/members ... hp?v=82787
I loved making it even though I had Bohemian Rhapsody stuck in my head for a month, and appearently other people liked it too. Cromartie rhapsody was made at about the same time I started hanging out in the IRC with all the intimidating Cool and Popular editors, especially the ones I looked up to BMA, Aqua, (I actually didn't know who decoy "was" when I started talking to him but we were talking about video games so it didn't matter) Aqua gave me some great compliments on the video, Eshan gave me some needed criticism, and I won my first award with this (Best in show wtf?) Unfortuneatly because it was CN anime I never actually got an award. Those pricks.

Then I made http://www.animemusicvideos.org/members ... hp?v=92292
Puttin on the rhitze. This is about the time I decided I want to be different, I want to make videos that are challenging or interesting to me. Texhnolyze is a very serious cyberpunk story that I connected to an 80s pop tune because everyone in the show had really nice suits.

One trend that started around this time was Azumanga Diaoh. (I am specifically thinking of 1985 when I made this thing.) I didn't want to make a normal Azumanga diaoh video I had originally intended to make an action azumanga daioh video but as I was searching for music I came across one of my favourite rammstein tracks. Amerika. Things started falling into place but alot of planning was done. Eventually I popped this video http://www.animemusicvideos.org/members ... hp?v=93725 out.
We all live in Azumerica.

Outside of the community it is still likely my most popular video. As evidenced by the fact it is the only announcement thread of mine Brad has ever posted a reply in.

After this video, I made (with the help of the IRC crew.) Iron Chef Idol. It was some good times. It was the most terrible thing ever and I loved every minute of it. Because of this I made my decision that I will make whatever crazy Idea I want to make even if noone likes it.

This personal belief system resulted in.

http://www.animemusicvideos.org/members ... p?v=107612

and

http://www.animemusicvideos.org/members ... p?v=119088

I am proud to say that to my knowledge I have made the first ever noise AMV.
I am also proud to say that people often use it as a counter example when someone says "you can't synch to "insert music genre here""

and of course, I can't stop without mentioning the video that not only made me notorious within the community, but also helped in getting down to AWA for the first time and having one of the most awesome vacations ever.

Dewelopers.
http://www.animemusicvideos.org/members ... p?v=129674

It was years in planning (mainly with Haunter103) and I don't think anyone had done anything like it before. As a matter of fact, a few of the names I mentioned earlier I knew I had to include because they did impact my AMV life so much. And this video is a tribute to those people.

If anyone knows me I don't like things that are similar to other things. I find them boring. So I always try and do things a little different, and I appreciate it when other people do as well.

Now, AMVs are at the centre of this entire thing, but I must say, the real reason AMVs have changed my life is all the great people I now know and hangout with.

I still love making these things and hanging out with all my friends, and I still plan on making videos with my unique twist. So I don't think I'll be stopping anytime soon.


(please disregard poorly structured story, I made this on koops request and I didn't plan out anything very well.)

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Post by Zarxrax » Wed Oct 22, 2008 4:40 pm

AMV Autobiography
Zarxrax Edition

I think I first discovered AMVs back in late 2000. I had been getting involved in the whole fansubbing scene back then, and in those days it wasn't like it is now, where you can just download torrents of whatever you want. Back then, you would have to go on irc channels and browse through people's fserves and see what random stuff they had available, or check on some private FTPs that you had access to. Occasionally I would find AMVs on people's servers and I'd download them. After seeing some really amazing works by the popular editors of the time, I became really inspired. I just thought that it was incredibly amazing that normal people could create videos like these. Consumer digital video editing had only become a reality recently, so it was one of those things that I always figured was only possible by some professional. One day when I was talking about my desire to make my own AMV, someone in one of my irc channels told me to check out the program Adobe Premiere, so I did.

Towards the end of February 2001 during a long weekend off from school, I put together my first AMV. I used Dragon Half set to a piece of classical music, the idea inspired largely by Kevin Caldwell's Kodocha video. It was nothing special, but I guess it wasn't horrible either, for a first video. It wasn't until a few days after I finished my video that I first came across the org. I was really excited to find a site like this, and I posted my video up right away. I received a few opinions on it and made my first amv buddies ^_^

About a month later I put together my second video. I pulled an all nighter and basically finished the video in one day. At the time I thought it was pretty good, but looking back at it later I realized that it was even worse than my first video. Fortunately though I went straight into my third video, and realized that I need to actually put more time and effort into these things if I wanted them to actually be good. So I spent two to three weeks working on my third vid, which came to be known as "The Fanservice Video". I guess this was the one that kinda put me on the map. It was a pretty popular video when I released it, and since the AMV community was still rather tiny, it got my name out there some.

Shortly after, I moved on to making my first drama video. I was introduced to the series Battle Athletes Victory after seeing it in Kevin Caldwell's Believe video, and upon watching the series I instantly fell in love with it. I wanted to make a video that would really do the series justice. I put a lot of thought and effort into this video, and I'm still pretty proud of it even today. I sent it in to the AWA Pro contest that year, which I think was my first AMV contest that I entered. Though it didn't win anything, it did at least get nominated for best drama, which made me really happy.

Overall, 2001 was a big year for me, and I also saw most of my progression as an editor during this year.

2002 was slower for me, but I had two videos that I think were notable. Firstly, The Fanservice Video: Bouncing Back For More, which was essentially a remake of the first Fanservice Video. I ended up releasing it almost exactly a year after the first one, and I think it showed a very clear progression of my skill during that time. My other major video from that year was "Tod", my Evangelion drama video. I put a lot of work and effort into this one, and also tried to have some sense of a story in it. I think I pulled it off pretty well, and I think it's still one of my better videos, though the video quality in particular (the EoE scenes) was really ugly.

2003 ended up being an amazing year. I don't know what happened, but I pulled off a LOT of really good videos that year. The first one I worked on was actually my Bomberman video for the NES project. It's a trippy little vid, full of love and HYPER BOMBER!! That was the first video where I took a step into Adobe After Effects. I didn't really use AE for anything notable (almost all the effects were done in Premiere), but I got my feet wet.

Next came Doujin Addiction, which would immediately become one of my most popular videos. This was where I really started to use After Effects to my advantage. Hardly any other editors at the time had ever used AE, so even though the video isn't really all that complex, people were impressed by the effects in it at the time. I entered this video into the AMV contest at Animazement, which was the first AMV convention that I would attend. It was a rather tiny convention, but I got to meet a few other AMV editors for the first time, including Jeff Heller, Nathan Bezner, and Hsien Lee.

Rounding out the year, I had a ton of other vids, all of which I think are actually pretty good. A Smooth Criminal video with Lupin, my first chance to work on the DDR Project, a crazy Super Mario Cosplay video for the NES Project, a Saikano drama video (which was actually a remake of an unreleased video from 2002), a Marmalade Boy drama video, and an Ikkitousen action video. Well, ok, so the Ikkitousen video sucked...

2004 was the year that history would be made. Only three videos this year. AMV Hell & AMV Hell 2, and my Tetris video for RVG Project. I could say a lot about these three videos... but it's all been said before, so I will spare you. I went to AWA for the first time this year, and had a blast. I've kept going back every year, even though it's not really been the same since... so many old faces are gone :(

2005, I spent most of the year organizing AMV Hell 3 and Hell 0, but I found some time to make a Duck Hunt video for VG3 Project, and a cute Hello Kitty video, and even a Christmas themed video which I released on Christmas Eve. Towards the end of the year and into 2006, I participated in AtomX's online Iron Chef, which was a lot of fun.

2006 was a weak year for me. All I did was organize AMV Hell Championship Edition. Hell 3 had left me with a severe case of burn-out. I did *start* working on a video though.

2007 was rather uneventful too, as I didn't really do anything except organize AMV Hell 4. This too, left me severely burnt out. Towards the end of the year and into 2008, there was AtomX's 2nd online Iron Chef, and I made it to 2nd place this year! I think this sort of gave me the push that I needed to get started doing some more videos. I went on to make a Smash Bros Brawl video, and also completed the video that I had begun 2 years earlier, 58008. I think of this vid as a successor to The Fanservice Video, so I guess that kinda brings us full circle, or something, doesn't it?


Addendum:

I wrote all of that in a hurry, but after thinking about it for a bit, I left out a few other thing's that I'd like to mention. In 2004, me and Omnistrata teamed up to create a Seishiga MAD styled video using Kanon. We released it under the studio name "Gaijin Factory International". I don't believe I have ever publicly mentioned this. The idea was to release the video anonymously, so it wouldn't be judged with any preconceived notions about us as editors. I think this video was probably on the drawing board for well over a year, and it was, conceptually, one of the most difficult videos that I ever worked on. I am rather pleased with the end result, especially knowing that many parts of the video were made and remade over and over again, trying to get it right. We later teamed back up to do a similar video with Air for one of the DDR Projects, with the song Moonlight Shadow. All in all though, I feel like I never really did get the hang of making something like that... so mad props to all those Japanese guys who pull it off with such amazing grace.

I've also had a lot of failed videos over the years. Some of them got rolled into various AMV Hells to salvage what I could, and others just ended up on the cutting room floor. One such video was a Streets of Rage 2 video which I was trying to make for VG3. Despite doing a ton of preparatory work for it, and making an amazing first few seconds, I found that I couldn't really get the actual editing to work out how I had wanted. Another video which I never completed had Nadia set to New Age Girl by Deadeye Dick. I actually had that video halfway completed, but it just wasn't what I had expected from the idea... I really wish I still had a copy of my work from that though, as I would love to watch the part that I finished again...
I had also tried to do another MAD-style video using Clannad once. It was horrible, but I ended up taking what little I had done, and submitting it to that one project where all the videos were about 8 seconds long, or whatever.
And then there was the time I tried to organize a MAD with the #amvfx group, but that one fell apart too due to lack of interest from everyone, and I personally lacked any real vision with the video too...
And then there was that time I tried to start the openAMV project... yea... that was a big flop...

Looking to the future, I've still got 2 videos that I want to make, and I've actually wanted to make them for a really long time now. One of them, I think I've had on the backburner for like 5 years now. I've worked on it at times, but never really had the drive to get it going. I think that's where I will be going next though. I think the reason I haven't been able to work on it is because I fear that the video idea won't work, and since I want it to work so badly, maybe I've just been putting off the inevitable.
Last edited by Zarxrax on Wed Oct 22, 2008 6:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Koopiskeva
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Post by Koopiskeva » Wed Oct 22, 2008 5:05 pm

Kickass.. keep them comin guys!

To Todd, Brad can only love one Canadian at a time.
To Zarx, I still like your 'Tod' video to this day.

:up:
Hi.

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Post by Otohiko » Wed Oct 22, 2008 5:08 pm

Koopiskeva wrote: To Zarx, I still like your 'Tod' video to this day.
x2

It's a shame people don't remember it more. It was one of the first AMVs that I got and kept from the .org back in the day.
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Post by Brad » Wed Oct 22, 2008 5:10 pm

Todd wrote:Outside of the community it is still likely my most popular video. As evidenced by the fact it is the only announcement thread of mine Brad has ever posted a reply in.
Seriously? o_O I really liked that video a lot :O I could've sworn I replied to it. Oh well. Sorry pal.

I might do one of these later on. I'm not feeling especially "writer'y" at the moment.
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Post by Fall_Child42 » Wed Oct 22, 2008 5:18 pm

Brad wrote:
Todd wrote:Outside of the community it is still likely my most popular video. As evidenced by the fact it is the only announcement thread of mine Brad has ever posted a reply in.
Seriously? o_O I really liked that video a lot :O I could've sworn I replied to it. Oh well. Sorry pal.

I might do one of these later on. I'm not feeling especially "writer'y" at the moment.
no no no you misunderstood

you did reply, but it's the only announcement reply you've ever given me :O
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