How do you plan/start your amv's?

[Ultimatetransfan]

Think of a song you like. Think if any series you've seen has any parallels with the lyrics. Listen to the song with your eyes closed and picture what scenes fit.

[Kionon]

I'm song first. Similar to Ileia, I hear a song, and I begin to storyboard in my head. Then I sit down, look at my source, and build a screenshot storyboard. I place those screenshots on a timeline roughly approximating the change in scenes. Then I actually go about placing footage onto the timeline.

If you were to watch one of my storyboard timelines, it'd be pretty similar to some very low-effect M@Ds, actually.

[ibabrak]

If I have an anime I wanna edit with I rewatch it while thinking up the idea (plot/concept) while trying to catch anything that would lead me to music selection.
If I have a song I wanna edit to and I don't have an anime I just listen to it over and over and try to think of an anime that would go well with it. If the amv is supposed to be multi sourced and you are trying to focus on lyric sync you can write down the song's lyrics and try to think of scenes that would go well with it. When I was editting my Daybreak amv I had like an .doc file with the songs lyrics and I would try to fill it with ideas. (Like, Wasted gain - angel beats scene where a guy lets go of his paycheck or whatever it was... I think it was like his school application ticket )

Now when I actually have all three things needed (idea, song and an anime) I try to set like guidelines on what will happen at what part of the song. I sometimes even edit the end of the song before I edit the start of it.

Well, that's pretty much how I do amvs.

Oh and one more thing. Once you put the project on hold you will mostlikely not comeback to it! The best thing you can do is to edit for long periods of time instead of like one hour a day. When I edit a project and I only edit one hour a day I usually loose my passion for the project and my idea vision of the idea will get clouded. There's also the possibility you'll find something else you wanna edit if you edit the project for too long it will hinder your overall passion input and the result will not be as good. (I don't mean edit for like 2 days straight I mean when you edit one project 2 months).

I did a lot of writting saying "you" but this is just how it goes for "me"!!

[Kireblue]

If I find a song I want to use, I listen to it on repeat for a week. Walking, gym, whatever, that's my song. I see the visuals clearly enough in my head so that by the time I sit down in front of a computer, I know what's going where and it takes me very little time to actually edit it.

I do this as well, but sometimes I accidentally storyboad a AMV that's dependent on a scene that doesn't exist (or is different than I remember).

[Kionon]

If I find a song I want to use, I listen to it on repeat for a week. Walking, gym, whatever, that's my song. I see the visuals clearly enough in my head so that by the time I sit down in front of a computer, I know what's going where and it takes me very little time to actually edit it.

I do this as well, but sometimes I accidentally storyboad a AMV that's dependent on a scene that doesn't exist (or is different than I remember).

I've ended up rotoscoping romance/drama videos because of this and hoping that no one notices.

[AMVGuide]