How has the hobby made a difference in your life?

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

Post by Pwolf » Sun Jun 24, 2012 7:16 pm

Phantasmagoriat wrote:"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 would say it's been pretty significant. If anything, the people I choose to be around were/are editors. These people have become my greatest friends. Before I really got into editing, I wasn't really into music all that much either. The hobby has expanded my views on music and also introduced me to many different genres and musical talents. I was also terribly anti-social. The hobby, through pushing myself to be more active in the community on the internet and at cons, as made me much more confident in myself as a person. While I still believe I'm the same person I was back then, I have changed a lot in the past 12 years. And over those past 12 years, through the many rough patches in my life and bad memories, some of the happiest moments in my life have been with the people I met through this hobby. I wouldn't trade them for anything.
Phantasmagoriat wrote:"AMV's use [Effort to Understand; Effort to be Understood; to see through Different Eyes] on so many levels. How?"
I can't speak for anyone else but, for me, I use AMVs as a way to express myself. I'm a relatively private person and I don't like to express myself too much. I use AMVs to almost vent or express what's on my mind. Wither that's trying to express my emotional state at the moment (I Wish You Were Here) or on a larger scope of trying to get people to see things outside of their immediate environment (As The World Crashes Down). And then of course, there's also that desire to get other people interested in something I really love and enjoy (Macross: Angle's Voice). Its incredibly difficult to do this though. I think a lot of people picked up that I made a lot of drama videos over the course of several years. This was a rough time for me but I don't think anyone really knew this was why I was doing it. Even more so with As The World Crashes Down. A lot of people missed the point of the video and assumed it was supposed to be about 9/11 when I was trying get people to not thinking about it in that manner.

I learned early on that you can't assume people will understand or get what you're trying to do. It's just not possible. I'd be happy if someone watched my work and got somethign out of it at all. I was never angry that people thought my video was about 9/11. I was actually rather happy that the video sparked enough of an emotional response from these people that they felt like it was and were upset about it. It means I accomplished something wither or not it was what I originally intended.
Phantasmagoriat wrote:"If AMV's are a form of Communication. What do they Communicate?"[/list]
Music in of itself is a medium of communication as are movies and tv shows. They all have some kind of story or agenda behind them. If not, then there's almost always an emotion(s) being conveyed. I think it's only natural that AMVs would fall into that realm as well. Even if the creator isn't directly trying to communicate said story or emotion, you can bet someone viewing the video will see something. There's no way around it. So in essence, I they communicate everything and anything. It all depends on what the editor and viewer get out of it.

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

Post by Phantasmagoriat » Mon Jun 25, 2012 12:40 am

@Pwolf: This seems very appropriate after reading your responses:
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Re: How has the hobby made a difference in your life?

Post by BasharOfTheAges » Mon Jun 25, 2012 11:00 am

It's a subtle distinction, but one worth making, that even though anyone has to right to get anything they want out of your work, they don't have the right to re-define your actual intent or position based on their bizarre reasoning and interpretation or to even claim their interpretation is the meaning or purpose.

So, remember, always phrase your sentences correctly when doing literary analysis.
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IIRC, Hemingway drunkenly proclaimed once that there was no symbolism in The Old Man and the Sea. This made me lol quite hard after an entire class of discussing the symbolism in said book.
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Re: How has the hobby made a difference in your life?

Post by Phantasmagoriat » Mon Jun 25, 2012 1:24 pm

BasharOfTheAges wrote:It's a subtle distinction, but one worth making, that even though anyone has to the right to get anything they want out of your work, they don't have the right to re-define your actual intent or position based on their bizarre reasoning and interpretation or to even claim their interpretation is the meaning or purpose.
wooooo, I think I agree with you on that Bashar! Now, because of that, here is the so-called "Brick Wall" we all face:

People are going to interpret things the way they want anyway.
(lame but ironic example: The grammar mistake in your quote... or maybe you meant to say it that way... IDK both work: "everyone has the right" vs "everyone has [access] to right" and that's without getting into the "anyone" vs "everyone" thing)

Ima drop the Jesus bomb now: Just look at the Bible and observe the ways people try to interpret that thing. It has gotten to the point that entirely separate religions have spawned due to different interpretations and rejections altogether. So try as we may, interpretation is uncontrollable. Much the same as if I say something, that doesn't mean anyone is going to listen to me. As an example, consider how my initial post can be interpreted as hostile (and I admit I went a little overboard with the theatrics, so I'm sorry to anyone if I came across that way). Nobody has control over the observer. Nobody has control over the viewer. And this extends to AMVs and any form of Communication really. Yet, we do have control over our own interpretations and communications. That is part of the reason why I put the words "Effort to Understand; Effort to be Understood; to See through Different Eyes." in my signature now. If we could all just see through the eyes of each other, everything would change; not just in AMVs, but also in our lives. And that's also why I started this thread. :wink:

On a related note:
It reminds me of that time some kid was looking for Magic Pad on these boards, and he described the AMV as
[paraphrasing] "This dude took his gf on a honeymoon to Mars and they even had a picnic I think..."
I had a good chuckle, but that was his interpretation :P
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Re: How has the hobby made a difference in your life?

Post by Emong » Mon Jun 25, 2012 3:36 pm

Pwolf wrote:I learned early on that you can't assume people will understand or get what you're trying to do.
That's only one side of the coin. The other one is that even you don't really understand or get what you're trying to do. You try to do one thing, then suddenly notice you're doing something else, and when you're finally finished with your product, thinking that it's a unique deep piece of art, somebody informs you about all the cliched tricks and storyline patterns you had used. And this is when you realize: "oh...you're actually right". Sometimes there's more truth in what you actually do than what you think you're doing.

And this, I think, opens up a space for critique that avoids both deadlocks, the snobbish one and the relativistic one. On the one side we have people who claim to possess knowledge of some kind of a universal standard to which all amvs can be compared, and on the other side we fall into this trap of subjective relativism ("Everything is just personal preference and we can't ever understand each other's visions and preferences"). Both options are wrong. Ofcourse, I can't fully adopt your perspective but neither can you so we're ultimately on the same boat here. Therefore, let me make my own judgement of your work. Perhaps I'll even succeed in pointing out things that you "objectively" did without you even noticing, perhaps you'll find my opinions boring and stupid and biased. Either way, we both probably learned something, even if only in tiny amount, in the process.

|:>

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

Post by aokakesu » Wed Jun 27, 2012 9:26 pm

It opened my eyes to skilled deception.
It expanded my mind to encompass the breadth of the media.
It exposed my ears to criticism.
It humbled my ego.
It built callouses to protect my sanity.
Most of all...it opened my heart to new friends around the world.

Not and easy path, but such is Way of Art.

-Aokakesu

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

Post by Phantasmagoriat » Wed Jun 27, 2012 11:48 pm

Emong wrote:
Pwolf wrote:I learned early on that you can't assume people will understand or get what you're trying to do.
That's only one side of the coin. The other one is that even you don't really understand or get what you're trying to do. You try to do one thing, then suddenly notice you're doing something else, and when you're finally finished with your product, thinking that it's a unique deep piece of art, somebody informs you about all the cliched tricks and storyline patterns you had used. And this is when you realize: "oh...you're actually right". Sometimes there's more truth in what you actually do than what you think you're doing.

And this, I think, opens up a space for critique that avoids both deadlocks, the snobbish one and the relativistic one. On the one side we have people who claim to possess knowledge of some kind of a universal standard to which all amvs can be compared, and on the other side we fall into this trap of subjective relativism ("Everything is just personal preference and we can't ever understand each other's visions and preferences"). Both options are wrong. Ofcourse, I can't fully adopt your perspective but neither can you so we're ultimately on the same boat here. Therefore, let me make my own judgement of your work. Perhaps I'll even succeed in pointing out things that you "objectively" did without you even noticing, perhaps you'll find my opinions boring and stupid and biased. Either way, we both probably learned something, even if only in tiny amount, in the process.

|:>
Nicely done. I agree so much with all of this. It is probably the most accurate perspective one can adopt. :up:

Yet, at the same time, it can sometimes be a bit depressing; knowing up-front that you will never be fully-understood by others. But we can try. And in doing so, perhaps uncover any Real Truths, which is the only thing that's actually important. It's like what one of my favourite teachers used to say:

"Don't listen to what I say... listen to what I am trying to say."
--------------------------------

aokakesu wrote:It opened my eyes to skilled deception.
It expanded my mind to encompass the breadth of the media.
It exposed my ears to criticism.
It humbled my ego.
It built callouses to protect my sanity.
Most of all...it opened my heart to new friends around the world.

Not and easy path, but such is Way of Art.

-Aokakesu
Totally :o
I think this hobby has the potential to expose people to realities/realizations they've never experienced before, and ultimately invoke massive perspective-shifts.
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Re: How has the hobby made a difference in your life?

Post by JaddziaDax » Mon Jul 02, 2012 5:47 am

I'm late to the party but I'm going to respond to some of these anyway :P

"How has the hobby made a difference in your life?"
So many friends and experiences I wouldn't have had otherwise. Well many of us can claim that, but for me it is still the truth. I wouldn't have had a social life without you guys. Because, yes, I am a homebody that has no local friends. All of my friends are on the computer. I really don't care if that means "I have no life" because I like the friends I have.

AMVing has been both, detrimental to my health (sitting for long periods of time) and beneficial to my health, when I realized I couldn't keep up with everyone at AWA. I've been walking a lot more for the last couple years. I just might be able to keep up now. At this point I have a hard time sitting at the computer for hours anymore. Who knows maybe by 2013 I will be able to go to AWA again and be able to run around in circles!

"If AMV's are a form of Communication. What do they Communicate?"
A lot of mine are meant to communicate either what I'm feeling at the time. A reaction to the world around me perhaps? but many are also meant to be what feeling I got from the show I'm making the video with. Tributes to my favorite characters, or tributes to the story itself. I am an anime fan and I like to communicate my fandom with my videos. I also make MVs to non-anime sources though.

When I got into anime, I'd often use AMVs to gauge whether or not I'd look into a show or not. I do believe that if an AMV can make me want to see a show then it's not only a good amv but the show might be interesting as well.

Of course not all AMVs are tributes. Lots of the more popular ones seem to be more about the "art" side anymore. I suppose what the videos communicate is really up to whoever is watching them. I assume lots of them are more about making something that looks cool anymore. Maybe that's part of the reason I just haven't been into watching videos as much as I used to.

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

Post by Phantasmagoriat » Tue Jul 03, 2012 11:00 pm

JaddziaDax wrote:"How has the hobby made a difference in your life?"
So many friends and experiences I wouldn't have had otherwise. Well many of us can claim that, but for me it is still the truth. I wouldn't have had a social life without you guys. Because, yes, I am a homebody that has no local friends. All of my friends are on the computer. I really don't care if that means "I have no life" because I like the friends I have.
Yeah, you know that's one thing I find to be really neat about this hobby. I has the ability to connect you together with other people that share similar interests as you; which often doesn't happen with local people that simply share the same geographic location as you.


JaddziaDax wrote:I do believe that if an AMV can make me want to see a show then it's not only a good amv but the show might be interesting as well.
Totally :up: I wouldn't have seen half the anime's I have seen; let alone be familiar with any of them if it wasn't for AMVs.
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Re: How has the hobby made a difference in your life?

Post by Nipahcha » Mon Jul 30, 2012 8:30 pm

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

So I'm a fairly new editor and my opinion/story is less then important, but after this year's Otakon, I felt like the audience understood my work and what I try to portray through it. That and I understand the audience's emotions towards my video, the wide variety told me it made them feel sappy and teary-eyed, and that was exactly what I was trying to evoke. Being an editor in general has taught me, as a Graphic Design/Video Production Student, to give and receive constructive criticism effectively. It's not a hobby anymore, it's a job. And I love my job.

"AMV's use [Effort to Understand; Effort to be Understood; to see through Different Eyes] on so many levels. How?"

Effort to Understand: It takes effort to understand what type of story you want to tell with the characters and shows you are given. Is this character a happy character? Are you trying to tell a happy story? It wouldn't make sense to show a happy character doing happy things if the song and theme you want is sad and depressing. Making a theme and sticking to it is key in my opinion. Try not to mash scenes together that have no coherency.

Effort to be Understood: What mood do I want to give off? A good AMV in my opinion consists of a theme, mood, and story. I define the 3 as different things but they can be considered the same. I usually make the song choice first then pick my anime(s). That way I know right off the bat what mood I am choosing. The theme almost naturally follows the mood after I choose it. Now for the story, the beauty of AMVs are that you can make any story up that you want. It allows for complete artistic freedom. All of these elements combined generally reflect yourself as a person and an editor to the audience. How do you want your AMV to be perceived? Also, how much effort did you put into the AMV? If you didn't pour your heart and soul into it, odds are it will reflect on the audience.

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

They communicate emotion. Comedy makes people laugh, Action gives people adrenaline rushes/excitement, Romance/Sentimental makes people feel sappy, Drama/Serious makes people feel... serious in which it evokes serious thought, Trailer Parodies can vary in all emotions, and Upbeat/Dance is supposed to make you want to dance or feel good.

All in all these are just my opinions on these things.
Nipah~

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