How has the hobby made a difference in your life?

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LittleAtari
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Re: How has the hobby made a difference in your life?

Post by LittleAtari » Sat Jun 16, 2012 1:01 am

Some of the greatest people I've ever met and best friends I've had are because of AMVs. My best memories are shared with them.

As for actual AMVs, they're still what they've always been. Something I do. Things that I watch. Sometimes I think people get a little too harsh on theirselves and others, making it unenjoyable. The people that freak out and are like 'DO YOU EVEN LIKE AMVS ANYMORE?' Dont realize that everyone takes breaks or needs one.

Been editing since I was 13 years old. I'm 23 now. Going to keep doing this.

For how it's affected my professional life, it made me pursue a field that I would have never thought of doing. I went to a middle school and high school that had no art program. It was very heavily focused on math and science. So there was literally no room just mess around and play with stuff. AMVs gave me that outlet.

I went into college as a computer science major. Ended up not liking it. One day I was at a career fair talking to someone from microsoft who said, it had to be something that you completely love to do. AMVs popped into my head the time and I smiled. I spent the next couple of years in school finding something that would give me a similar fix. I did game design, then Cinema (thinking I would edit), and then finally, I landed on Animation.

I just graduated this past week and after the marathon this past year has been, things finally slowed down. I looked around and was like, 'now, what...' AMVs are still there. This community is still here. Those project files have collected dust, but those videos still need editing.

I think the most valuable asset AMVs have taught me is how to take a critique and how to create one. I think the only reason I could put as much effort as I did in animation is because of how much effort I put into AMVs. I know how to keep going and I know when a piece is just a bad product.

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Castor Troy
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Re: How has the hobby made a difference in your life?

Post by Castor Troy » Sat Jun 16, 2012 1:09 am

LittleAtari wrote:I went into college as a computer science major. Ended up not liking it. One day I was at a career fair talking to someone from microsoft who said, it had to be something that you completely love to do. AMVs popped into my head the time and I smiled. I spent the next couple of years in school finding something that would give me a similar fix. I did game design, then Cinema (thinking I would edit), and then finally, I landed on Animation.
That sounds like my situation. My parents told me to "major in computers" so I chose computer science and wanted to shoot myself in the head after 1 quarter of it.

Never again. :roll:

I could write an entire novel on how amvs changed my life for the better, but I'll just leave it at that. :wink: :bear:
"You're ignoring everything, except what you want to hear.." - jbone

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Re: How has the hobby made a difference in your life?

Post by ngsilver » Sat Jun 16, 2012 10:24 am

I like this topic, so much so I think this is what I'll talk about on Tuesday's podcast. Sorry you'll have to wait until then to hear what I have to say. I'll post again once the video is ready to be seen.
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CodeZTM
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Re: How has the hobby made a difference in your life?

Post by CodeZTM » Sat Jun 16, 2012 10:57 am

"How has the hobby made a difference in your life?" Anything big/small, feel free share your story, as I have just shared mine.

I learned some very important lessons here that I don't think I would have learned anywhere else.

1) As you may know, I live in rural Arkansas. Everyone here is basically stuck in a certain "way" of living, and I tried my damnest to stick within that certain way. Then I came here and discovered the internet. Many people in my town might say it "corrupted" me, but I like to think that it opened my eyes to the real world. I saw/met all sorts of different people and different cultures. I met assholes, dipshits, people from other countries, honest to God nice people that aren't just assholes in disguise, people who were sick/dying and HAPPY, friends, and some of the perkiest people that have no reason to be that perky. It took me a while, but I realized that I could be who I wanted to be here. The real me. The sarcastic somewhat humourous perky asshole who goes giddy over pokemon, fangasms over Bioware incessantly, and enjoys yaoi/yuri videos without getting stared at wrong. After a while, my persona in the real world began to meld with it until I really changed as a person. I quit trying to fit into the "mold" that my culture had put before me and became a well rounded person because of it.

2) Before coming here, I thought I was the cream of the crop in EVERYTHING that I did. Top 1% of my class, software/hardware genius to all that knew me and the "go-to" guy for anything machine related. Then I came here and learned from the REAL geniuses that I know jack shit. :sweat: Not even just with AMVs (I'm still get nervous submitting to Awa Pro every year, thinking that I don't belong XD), but with tech stuff too. I learned REAL fast that you can't become complacent with thinking you know everything and trying to continue acting that way. The pursuit of knowledge is endless and to quit is to basically kill yourself from ever achieving anything. I think had I not learned all this before going to college, I probably would have burned myself badly.

3) I'll always remember a conversation I had with a certain member here. (I believe it was Sanchez, but I can't quite remember now...) I was venting to him about how getting an 80% on my math test in high school was the worst thing to happen since sliced bread and that I'd never be able to face my peers, I would lose everything blah blah blah, you get the picture. I'll always remember his immortal words... "CALM YOUR TITS". Took me a while, but I realized that not everything is worth stressing yourself over. I still stress, but I stress to a much more "normal" degree. XD

4) I'm an accountant. Not much room for creativity there. ;__________; Well, there is, but the IRS/SEC/PCAOB don't like it. XD I can't draw, I can't sing, and I cannot play music. AMVs are a way for me to express myself in a creative/artistic way that I would otherwise be unable to do.

5) Disclaimer: This is going to sound like "that weird internet guy" speech, but bear with me. I still have real life relationships/friends, so I'm not some hopeless unsociable person when I say the following statement. / Ok, disclaimer over. I feel like I have a "purpose" here of sorts. I noticed at some point that the site's community seemed to be... Well... Slowing down a bit. There would be days where the site would get maybe 1-3 posts a day as opposed to the 10-30 posts that it used to (and has now). So I decided to "push it" a bit. I started giving more and more reviews to the videos that never got reviewed (hoping that some of them would stick around). Making free opinion threads. When I was a little more brave, I started Project Editor and The Lip Flapper. I have plans for this winter (October) to hold another Org contest seeing the activity that The Quickening and Org-editor are causing. I can see the results. We're getting people TALKING about things again. Sure, some of it is rehashing things, but other things are new conversations that we've never had before. I can see the community coming back a little bit, and more AMVs getting published. So in a way, this site has given me a "purpose" of sorts. Not the only one I have (my other purpose in life it to save people from the tax zombies), but it's a really fun one to have, and I'm glad to have it. :3

"If AMV's are a form of Communication. What do they Communicate?"

I think they communicate who we are at a certain point in time. It may just be me, but my videos that I edit usually reflect what my feelings are at a certain time, even unintentionally. Which is sad, considering the amount of sad/sappy/violent romance videos I churn out every year. :uhoh:

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Re: How has the hobby made a difference in your life?

Post by macchinainterna » Sat Jun 16, 2012 12:23 pm

"How has the hobby made a difference in your life?" Well to sum it up my ass got even fatter, I watched a ton of awful animes to come up with ideas for mediocre videos I never finished, and now I can't listen to music anymore without obsessively thinking about how I can sync it up and what to sync it up with.

"If AMV's are a form of Communication. What do they Communicate?" Lens flares and shaky cam or GTFO. :bear:

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Re: How has the hobby made a difference in your life?

Post by ReggieSmalls » Sat Jun 16, 2012 1:09 pm

macchinainterna wrote:"How has the hobby made a difference in your life?" Well to sum it up my ass got even fatter, I watched a ton of awful animes to come up with ideas for mediocre videos I never finished, and now I can't listen to music anymore without obsessively thinking about how I can sync it up and what to sync it up with.

"If AMV's are a form of Communication. What do they Communicate?" Lens flares and shaky cam or GTFO. :bear:
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Re: How has the hobby made a difference in your life?

Post by AMV_4000 » Sat Jun 16, 2012 3:29 pm

I have been making amvs since 1999... and as applejack once said... I didn't learn anything!

On a serious note, I have grown up with amvs as a part of my life.. they helpped me to be creative and funny and stupid, even when I was all alone I always had my videos! I have made so many friends because of this, and I've gotten the confidence to put myself out there and do things! Amvs have been in half of my life.. I've become a better person because of this hobby.

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Re: How has the hobby made a difference in your life?

Post by Phantasmagoriat » Sat Jun 16, 2012 4:32 pm

@Atari: For sure :up: You hear it time and time again, that the people you encounter and the hobby as a whole let you see things about yourself that you otherwise wouldn't see, or in some cases admit to (ie. "I like this stuff. Why wouldn't I do something about it?"). And I like hearing those stories, so thanks for sharing.

@Castor: After reading your guide, So you want to be a "Professional Editor"? Read this first, all I can say is thank you. :book:

@ng: do keep us updated :)

@Code: Hey, you're not the only one that feels some sense of purpose here. Through the guides/stuff I've written; to the help I try to give in the tech forum; it really is about sharing the same sense of happiness with others that we all feel/felt at some point in the hobby [that was a hint for those that want to answer the last question]. Just don't burn yourself out buddy. You're not alone. The division of work and play is my way of coping. I also really like your take on what AMV's communicate :wink:

@macchinainterna/ReggieSmalls: lol it had to be said XD

@AMV_4000: You know, you're one of the more interesting people I've seen on these boards. You've been around for a while --much longer than me-- so one of these days I'd like to hear your whole story, if you have the time of course. I certainly don't want to impose.
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Re: How has the hobby made a difference in your life?

Post by lloyd9988 » Sat Jun 16, 2012 5:15 pm

ReggieSmalls wrote:
macchinainterna wrote:"How has the hobby made a difference in your life?" Well to sum it up my ass got even fatter, I watched a ton of awful animes to come up with ideas for mediocre videos I never finished, and now I can't listen to music anymore without obsessively thinking about how I can sync it up and what to sync it up with.

"If AMV's are a form of Communication. What do they Communicate?" Lens flares and shaky cam or GTFO. :bear:
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x3 + everyone else who is willing to post after me on this topic <--- No denying it, it's true xD

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Re: How has the hobby made a difference in your life?

Post by TritioAFB » Sat Jun 16, 2012 6:14 pm

"How has the hobby made a difference in your life?"

I will say it: I've never been the same after I first entered into the AMV World.
Everytime I go out it's like I can see several concepts through the different situations I have to deal with. Everywhere I go it's like the people gets interested into what I actually do with the anime. I just want to know why since I never considered myself as an experienced editor or someone I should be asked about the hobby itself, but people still comes to me. Who knows

At my work, If people doesn't know my name, they simply call me as Tritio, since my editor name is applied also as my nick too. Or even the patients themselves, refer me as the Doctor Tritio since in my own consultory, the word Tritio can be seen with this slogan:

'Look for Tritio if you have questions' -This is because several doctors works also at my consultary too-

If it weren't thanks to this hobby, I would have probably never had this Nick, since the nick came from the AMV-Making.
Also, I would have probably never met my own russian brothers, since I was a former from the russian communities.

The hobby for itself has taught me several lessons. The most important is: If you fail in the funny things like the AMV-Making, how do you expect to succeed in the serious things like Job and Studies?
Or: If you want to improve, you should understand first, the concept of 'Sacrifice'

I even met other editors, like jubjub2. Thanks to this Hobby, I was able to meet the rest of editors. In fact I wonder how my life would have been without the hobby. Thanks to my collaboration the anime has finally started to be accepted again in a country where the censorship really hurted the conception about the anime. Moreover, being also considered a kind of inspiration by the newcomers from my own country was something I would have never thought it would happened to me. Even in the anime fests hosted here being asked to sign shirts or being asked to appear in photos as the 'AMV Tutor'....

All of that since I was 12 years old when I first 'made' an AMV, and almost 10 years later... even if I start forgetting the anime and the AMVs thanks to my Job, I guess it brought me interesting stories.

"AMV's (and the Hobby as a whole) use the above concept on so many levels. How?"

I'll say something:

This is not like the Hobby will stay in a certain level. This hobby will and always continue to evolve, every year, nor, every month, every day.
Those editors that do not progress or at least try to update about what's new in the hobby, will get themselves into a 'same level' that unfortunately will not let them reach a higher improvement.

We should be 'Objective' everytime we tend to criticize a video, even when the 'subjective' component will always pop up.
The success behind a video is not if the video has lots of effects, or a new plot. It's all about its ability to entertain the audience. After all, that's the final purpose of this hobby: Entertainment.

"If AMV's are a form of Communication. What do they Communicate?"

The AMVs are a reflection of the soul and mind of the editor
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