Your Life Story

[Haus Haberdasher]

How you got into AMVs: I attended my first anime convention in 2005, and happened to wander into one of the late night video rooms that was running AMVs. I vaguely remember seeing an Evangelion/Bohemian Rhapsody AMV.

How you came up with your screen name: Haberdasher is my second favorite word in the English language, but that was already taken on the org, so I combined it with part of my surname for lack of any other/better ideas.

How you discovered the Org: My best friend (who took me to that first convention, and who I still attend conventions with) told me about it.

Tell me about your studio, like how you joined/created it, etc... (If you're not in a studio, say why ) Not in a studio, never had a desire to join one. Also, I’m just not that good at editing.

Favorite genre to edit and why: I haven’t edited enough AMVs in different genres to have a favorite.

Favorite newbie mistake you've made: (Give us a good cringe-worthy one!) Threw a bunch of incoherent, unrelated scenes from different series together with no thought to the AMV’s structure.

First contest experience: Nebraskon 2011. I watched my video for the first ten seconds to make sure it looked decent on a large screen, then buried my face in my hands for the next five minutes until the video ended and the audience applauded.

Best experience you've had thus far with the community: The Disney MEPs.

Worst experience with the community: None yet since I’m not too active.

Why you edit: (If you don't edit anymore, explain yo'self!) I watched AMVs for years (and have been reading the org forums since 2005), had ideas, and thought it would be a fun hobby. It turned out to be an incredibly frustrating hobby, but I like the end result.

Future goals: (Editing, non-editing, whatevers) To be the Pirate Queen.

[Vlad G Pohnert]

How you got into AMVs:
I uses to make MVs (Sci-Fi & Fantasy) in the late 80s so it was natural to move into AMVs. I did my first AMVs without even knowing others made them
How you came up with your screen name:
No screen name... I like my name... and besides, at my first contest the front row chanted "Vlad.. Vlad.." when I went to get my finalists prize and then people would not believe me that that was my real name
How you discovered the Org:
Pretty much here almost since it started... just stumbled onto it
Tell me about your studio, like how you joined/created it, etc... (If you're not in a studio, say why )
Why the need for a studio? I create the AMVs myself so I never saw the need for it.
Favorite genre to edit and why:
Use to be Dramatic, but now I do anything that I find challenging (if anything, crossovers)
Favorite newbie mistake you've made: (Give us a good cringe-worthy one!)
Not knowing other AMVs excited and I was the first! Honestly the only one I can think of!
First contest experience:
Being in a room prejudging AX 2000 with Brad DeMoss, Kevin Caldwell, Joe Croasdaile, Tim Park, Hsien Lee, Nic Neidenbach and others I'm forgetting to mention
Best experience you've had thus far with the community:
All the people I met and continue to do so
Worst experience with the community:
The Drama and people who keep constantly complaining about this place being their worst experience (honestly people, it's not that bad)
Why you edit: (If you don't edit anymore, explain yo'self!)
Enjoy the challenge
Future goals: (Editing, non-editing, whatevers)
Keep running AMV rooms and editing to bring more joy to the world

[ngsilver]

How you got into AMVs:
I first got into watching AMVs back in 96 browsing the internet and downloading these videos from a popular Sailor Moon fan site. They were pretty low quality, even for the standards of the day, but I really liked the idea of putting music to the anime, even if they were just recycling the attack and transformation animations and putting them to some of the better tracks from the OST. I started downloading as many of these AMVs as I could find from searching the web, the AMV webring, Kazaa, Morpheus, and other file sharing systems. Brad, Brad Demoss, SSGWNBTD, Vlad, Maboroshi, Kevin Caldwell, Jestmaster, ect were among my favorite editors that I would follow from back in the day.

I got into actually making AMVs myself because I wanted to give back the same feeling I got from watching videos. I lacked the equipment to actually make anything (because the thought of downloading footage and editing with that didn't even cross my mind back then) until 2002 when I bought a WinTV card for my PC so I could watch TV at college on my PC but it also doubled as a capture card. Started off with a Linkin Park and Rouroni Kenshin vid and went from there.

How you came up with your screen name:
I've stated it many times but might as well again. My screen name is based off of the pen name I developed for myself back in my early days of writing short stories and putting my work online. It was N. G. Silver if you spell it out entirely but shortened to ngsilver for username purposes. Basically, it's just a shortened version of my name, Nathaniel Gene Silverthorn. So yeah, pretty boring actually. Just call me Nate.

How you discovered the Org:
Despite enjoying AMVs since 96 I actually didn't discover the org until the end of my first year of college in 2003. I was in the student org office hanging out with the guys from the gaming club watching a ton of AMVs, mostly Descendants of Darkness videos and a bunch of other 'standard' vids that one of the guys had burned on a spindle of CDs. I asked him where he found all of these videos as they were a lot of ones I haven't seen before and he told me about the org. I never found my way to the AMV mailing list back in the day so I kind of never stumbled onto the org. By the time it was created I stopped searching the internet for videos and just downloaded them using file sharing systems. So the idea of a place that catalogs and hosts videos was really intriguing to me. I signed up for an account and 2 weeks later (you had to wait 2 weeks back in the day to access the golden douhnut) started downloading vids and uploading my own.

Tell me about your studio, like how you joined/created it, etc... (If you're not in a studio, say why )
Well, when I first started making AMVs I edited under the 1 man studio NGSilver & Friends Productions. It was my own web company name that I used for all of my online endeavors back then. I liked the idea as it meant that it was mainly myself doing work and then friends helping me out from time to time.
I now edit for Chaotic Bad-Raptor. I was invited to join after I made my Singing 'Parts' and impressed Addy. At first I joined CBR just for my hentai videos, because at the time I actually had friends interested in joining my studio. However after all of that fell through I gave up dealing with my studio and just threw my hat in completely with CBR. I like to think of that time as the day I gave up on standards, because CBR has none.

Favorite genre to edit and why:
I don't really have a favorite genre to edit really. I just edit whatever idea I feel like working at the time. I started off as a drama editor, really liking drama and enjoying the heck out of editing it. I was a little bit of an emotional person at the time and it just fit with my overall mood. I've since mellowed out a bit and overall I'm generally happy now so I most of the time prefer to edit fun and happy videos, if only because that's the kind of mood that I'm in most of the time and I hate having to make myself sad to work on anything else.

Favorite newbie mistake you've made: (Give us a good cringe-worthy one!)
I've made tons of mistakes and I'm sure I still make them. I suppose the one that I keep making apparently is editing long videos.

First contest experience:
I used to enter Sugoi-con's contest back in the day and in 2003 I finally got to attend the con, even if only for Saturday. I entered my Apocalyptic Silence video that year and a friend of mine who doesn't edit anymore had entered his new video as well. He got to know the coordinator a bit at the time, the guy played DDR, and he actually let us have a private screening of the contest that night in one of the unused meeting rooms. It was fun being able to sit down in a room with some of my friends, including staff of the con, and watch the entries. I didn't win, but I was glad my video even made it in. As the coordinator had considered dropping it because it was in his words, 'The LONG one.'

Best experience you've had thus far with the community:
I've had tons of really fun times with the community. AWA has always been a blast to goto and ACEN back in the day when everyone would come out for the con (before the con really started hating AMVs) was a lot of fun. I really do enjoy hanging out with CBR and everyone else at AWA so I think that would be my best experience, just keeps me coming back.

Worst experience with the community:
ACEN 2011. Not that it was the communities fault. Just the year the con died for me.

Why you edit: (If you don't edit anymore, explain yo'self!)
I edit because I enjoy doing it. I enjoy telling stories and imparting emotions on people. I like making videos I want to see. People other then me enjoying them as well is just icing on the cake.

Future goals: (Editing, non-editing, whatevers)
As an editor I'm kind of at an impass. I plan to keep making the videos I want to make and I do keep getting ideas, but I'm getting to the point where to do what I really want to do I have to start making most of it myself. I have a lot of really large ideas for videos that are more the short film kind of thing. Stuff similar to Novem, Interstella, ect. In a way I'm kind of moving more toward actual film production, directing, ect. So we'll see how that goes and where it leads. I plan to work on a script for a short film in November and hopefully start filming by February in hopes of perhaps having it done by AWA, but we'll see considering it'll require a lot of AE work and I've never really been known for enjoying much of that (or really doing any of that at all.)

[Eake4]

How you got into AMVs:
I first noticed AMVs back around 2005 during my early years (single digits living experience during the time) when I saw some naurto with no editing played together with a song. Skip a few years forward and I first saw 2 of the greatest AMVs by comparison to some other linkingpark+naruto crap that I've been watching, thus leading me to actively search for great AMVs similar to those.

How you came up with your screen name:
In middle years of elementary school I typed some letters on pokemon crater.

How you discovered the Org:
In 2010 I had kept much of the momentum which was born from my findings of many "awesome" and "epic" AMVs, I googled amvs and walah, this webpage came out. I was already wanting to begin editing these videos and I thought this place would be a great start.

Tell me about your studio, like how you joined/created it, etc... (If you're not in a studio, say why )
When I first began editing, I really wanted to join studios to meet other editors, I've created one with close friends only but was extremely inactive mainly due to most of us being lazy editors. Nowadays I don't really see the reason to join a studio besides the fact of trolling and dragging the team down I do wish to find a new group though to expand my horizons further.

Favorite genre to edit and why:
Horror, although I have only had the opportunity to edit this genre once I was thoroughly enjoying every second of bringing my ideas to life. I have planned ideas for additional horror videos in the future and they seem to give me most joy thinking.

Favorite newbie mistake you've made: (Give us a good cringe-worthy one!)
With my first AMV ever, all I did was spam grunge footage and effects all over the place while editing with bleach.

First contest experience:
Honestly can't remember, but the most memorable one was definitely SMASH! con.

Best experience you've had thus far with the community:
Meeting all my favorite editors and getting the opportunity to talk to all you guys.

Worst experience with the community:
There really isn't any but the worst for the community is the drama this forum has once in a while.

Why you edit: (If you don't edit anymore, explain yo'self!)=
Frankly my reason for editing has died, rarely I find an idea which i want to express in a video however never having enough motivation to finish it. Nowadays I'm just simply editing to pass the time to create something I find relaxing to watch.

Future goals: (Editing, non-editing, whatevers)
My goals from when I first began editing (my competitive side):
1. Win Akross twice
2. Create 2 AMVs which I myself consider masterpieces
3. Get to at least a stage where I myself believe I am as good as Evanlet in terms of after effects editing

[ViKAMV]

Nice idea

How you got into AMVs:
It was in 2011, a videogame-anime web where I always spend time organized an AMV tournament and I was interested, so without hesitation I joined and did my first AMV.

How you came up with your screen name:

I started with the name of some DBZ character, 6-7 months later I though about create a definitive one.
About the meaning, it's simply an abbreviation of some important family names.

How you discovered the Org:
I started in a spanish-speaking website and I knew about org since long time ago, when I took AMV's as serious hobby I decided to register, follow the web often and upload some AMV's.

Tell me about your studio, like how you joined/created it, etc... (If you're not in a studio, say why )
January 2013, I created my own team since the one where I was got totally dead. We premiered our first MEP at June and we're always working in new projects. I'm really proud of it and with my team-mates. It's called "Legends Team" or LT, as you want.

Favorite genre to edit and why:
I don't know because every one of them are good to me, don't like so much horror though. I edit mostly action and drama so I'm better with them. As viewer, fun, no doubt

Favorite newbie mistake you've made: (Give us a good cringe-worthy one!)

Do again and again masking and always got fps problems, then you ask yourself, why me? Not really cringe-worthy but it was really annoying D':

First contest experience:

None lol, I tried at Akross con 2011, when I almost finished the project my PC got fucked. The next year I joined Japan Expo, this time Sony Vegas lost the file and I didn't get the .bak file. I'm making a new project for Akross con 2013(with a new pc xD), I hope to release it!

Best experience you've had thus far with the community:

Well, nothing to be honest, I only read here and sometimes upload AMV's, I don't participe so much so I can't get experiences at all xD. It's a good site though.

Worst experience with the community:

Same

Why you edit: (If you don't edit anymore, explain yo'self!)

Is fun, I love anime and music, I'm studying vfx and many friends share my hobby here so, why? I enjoy with it so I'm not planing about stop editing

Future goals: (Editing, non-editing, whatevers)

Go on, I like to learn and improve, so I'll continue in this way, I don't care about become the best or something like that xD.

Bye!

[tonyb268]

Yo ! Nice idea you got there !

Spoiler :

´´

How you got into AMVs:

It all started in 2011 I believe. I was just lurking around youtube trying to find good Katekyo Hitman Reborn videos and I ended up finding an AMV called "Will power" By Luciole. I was so excited with the video, actually it made me start editing.


How you came up with your screen name:
Well, its not really a screen name, I just used my name and some numbers, altho I'v been using it for years so why changing it for AMV's.

How you discovered the Org:

I discovered the Org when some friends told me that I could learn more in this website, here and on AMVNews, but they also told I should be ready to have to take the criticism, which some times is really harsh, but needed.

Spoiler :

Tell me about your studio, like how you joined/created it, etc... (If you're not in a studio, say why )

I don't have one at the moment because I find it a bit useless. Althought me and some friends join IC's under the name of "LetsKillSimbaTeam" just for the trollz.

Favorite genre to edit and why:

I like to edit all genres, in the past I'd only edit action, but I'm really trying to make something different with my new videos.

Favorite newbie mistake you've made: (Give us a good cringe-worthy one!)

Rmvb 44 episodes converted to even smaller size mp4 episodes with yellow portuguese subtitles all over the place...pliz no judge, i crai too.

First contest experience:

I'm doing Level up this year. :p

Best experience you've had thus far with the community:

I'm not really active in the Org, I only comment sometimes, but I'd say the best was meeting new League players. xD

Worst experience with the community:

Like I said, not really active in this community, but everyone seems to get along pretty fine, just like a family !

Why you edit: (If you don't edit anymore, explain yo'self!)

Editing is one my passions these days, such as anime, but I'd say I want to strive for something more, mainly surpass the 2 editors who inspire me and make me edit I guess. :p

Future goals: (Editing, non-editing, whatevers)

Like I said, I wish to strive for something more, also college would be nice. xD


Nice idea again !

[imp]

This is quite interesting, reading about the lives of people I don't know.
I probably should get a bit more active... but mmhmmeh...

How you got into AMVs:
Been watching anime since I was still a little kid. Ended up finding AMVs here and there on the internet. Then about 4 years ago I wanted a new hobby and thought, why not?!

How you came up with your screen name:
I played World of Warcraft, my character’s name was Impmistress, a lovely little gnome warlock lady. Ended up raiding, and people started calling me imp because both the character name and my real name are quite too long to shout at ‘critical’ situations. So, since then I’m imp, like everywhere.

How you discovered the Org:
I googled “amv forum”, but actually didn't joined the forum until I read most guides on the main site. and finished up my first amv.

Tell me about your studio, like how you joined/created it, etc... (If you're not in a studio, say why )
I’m not in a studio. Mostly because I still have no freaking idea what that is/means… but also because I hardly know anyone outside the Dutch AMV community.

Favorite genre to edit and why:
Serious stuff, doesn't have to be drama, but never comedy-ish-like.

Favorite newbie mistake you've made: (Give us a good cringe-worthy one!)
“Favorite” mistake? I used different AR animes without cutting edges, twice…

First contest experience:
Last year, august, Abunai 2013! It was quite fun, meeting other editors for the first time. That was also my first experience with conventions :’D

Best experience you've had thus far with the community:
Questions are answered helpful. And most OP’s I received are constructive and really, really long!

Worst experience with the community:
Leaving opinions on 1:1 exchange threads and never hearing back.

Why you edit: (If you don't edit anymore, explain yo'self!)
I edit because I like this hobby and the friends I got from the conventions. Yeah, that’s a really vague way to answer the question. So, eh… I like music a lot and love to make stuff move to it but I’m terribad at dancing.

Future goals: (Editing, non-editing, whatevers)
Editing, keeping this hobby as long as I can stand it :p I’m always trying to win at conventions, so I hope I’ll be good enough to actually win one day. Non-Editing, finishing my study, working my ass off and steal all of Bill Gates’ money.

[Otohiko]

How you got into AMVs:
Back around 2000, I was first getting into anime (beyond what was on TV).
In grade 11, I had a physics class... this was when I realized I had absolutely no interest in it. Halfway through the term, I basically gave up and stopped even paying attention. Our teacher was a really chill dude and once I told him I no longer really gave a damn, he was like "suit yourself, there's computers at the back!" So, every day I'd mostly spend my physics class looking up stuff online with a decent school connection - a luxury back in those days. Among other things, I spent time reading about anime, Japanese culture, and since back then it was hard to find downloads (and I couldn't install Kazaa on a school computer), I found a couple of sites that had anime openings for download, and would watch them over and over. Then among them, I found a few AMVs, and was like... "holy shit, this is cool"
Then I got a broadband connection at home and downloaded a few on Kazaa. One of the first I downloaded was Kevin Caldwell's "Engel". The rest is history

How you came up with your screen name: It's just a normal (though not common) Japanese given name. One of the main reasons I picked it is because it's not associated with any well-known anime creators or characters. It was probably just a "development" of an older screen name I went by on Megatokyo forums, which was "Otoko no hito" (lit. "man" or "male person" in Japanese).

How you discovered the Org:
A couple of years passed after I first discovered AMVs; I'd bumped into videosand even went to an AMV Contest at CN Anime in 2001 and 2002. I LOVED some things I saw, but eventually I started getting annoyed at all the LinkinballZ stuff and became angry that music I liked wasn't represented in AMVs at all. Then I got on the .org and got even more angry about it for some reason. Then I discovered the AMV scene was actually awesome, and it was the people more than the videos that made it so.

Tell me about your studio, like how you joined/created it, etc...: I'm against the idea of "studios" and taking them seriously, but after going to ACen 2009 I met almost everyone in my current studio, CDVV, and was like "...these guys are actually honest-to-god my best real-life friends! :O" I couldn't say no after that!
I still don't take the whole studio thing seriously

Favorite genre to edit and why: There are two, for different reasons. For personal reasons, I actually like moody, melancholic, dark drama/character videos the best. Working on them feels satisfying and matches my predominant tastes in music.
But then there's awesomecore videos (I'll let Fall_Child42 explain those). I will sometimes work on completely idiotic ideas with completely idiotic sources in a completely sincere fashion (because I actually love said idiotic sources without irony). It makes me giggle like a little schoolgirl whenever I work on these

Favorite newbie mistake you've made: Telling everybody on the .org that they don't know shit about music. And hating on koopiskeva.

First contest experience: Entered my first video in CN Anime 2004 (aka the year nobody got their prizes). It got shown. People said they saw it. That's all I know
Never been especially into competition myself.

Best experience you've had thus far with the community: I can't think of just one - there's too many. But one thing I really miss is the "golden days" of the community before the Off-Topic sections were removed on the dark day of December 6, 2003. That was a very different community back then; it was silly and had its problems, but if it weren't for the personalities I met there and the fun I had, I would've been gone from the .org within days of joining. I'm here 10 years later, so the silly OT junkies bunch clearly did something right!

Worst experience with the community: No comment. People have let me down before, and I've seen some really awful, 4chan-level abusive behaviour from people here on occasion.

Why you edit: Because I love to see the end product! And because the community is a lot of fun, and my friends always encourage me.
(seriously, I hate almost everything else about editing. Ain't even kidding.)

Future goals: Actually have more time to edit. I know for a fact my ideas and sources will never run out.
My biggest goal is probably to get more and more involved in helping the AMV scene out into the "real world". It's been a pleasure working with Vlad in AMV rooms at cons over the past couple of years, and it's my goal to be more and more involved in non-competitive, audience-oriented public AMV programming in the future.

[qyll]

How you got into AMVs: Youtube! I was watching Love Hina around 2007 and chanced upon an AMV.

How you came up with your screen name: Well, originally it was for a multiplayer game. I thought I could be clever and say "You just got qylled" every time I killed someone, and then it stuck.

How you discovered the Org: The Org was basically the hub for AMVs at the time (6 years ago) so there really was no other place to go if you wanted to find quality videos.

Tell me about your studio, like how you joined/created it, etc...: Joey and his crew are cool people, and I enjoy chatting with them, so I joined his studio.

Favorite genre to edit and why: Ah, recently, it's been action. I love sync.

Favorite newbie mistake you've made: Just take a look at my first few videos uploaded on this site. Typical WMM, subtitled, horribly compressed videos. After that, it was the "let's inject as many effects into this video as possible" phase.

First contest experience: I've never been to a contest in person where my video was screened, so my contest cherry remains unpopped.

Best experience you've had thus far with the community: Sad to say that I can't recall a great one, as I don't really interact with the people here, but my experience here has been mostly positive.

Worst experience with the community: Aaaand because I don't hang around here a lot, I haven't had many negative experiences either.

Why you edit: Because I'm the only one who can make the videos I see in my head. I want to watch them, and no one's going to actualize those AMVs except me.

Future goals: Try to edit at least for another year. Talking about my life, get into my school's PhD program and graduate and find a job.

[Centurione]

This is kinda fun, yay!

How you got into AMVs
Actually back in 2009 there was a guy I kinda liked and he was generally a bit into video editing. Once he said he would make an AMV (neither of us was into anime actually) so we challenged each other to make a vid (lol, I won). But that would be it if in the meantime I wouldn't have discovered amv.com.pl. I uploaded my 1st vid there and then I saw this glourious forever favourite video of mine:

And since that was one of my favourite songs and since that editing was just totally my type and since I generally fell in love with it I've decided to make some more vids, right

How you came up with your screen name:
HERE
I used to be really into Extreme Card Manipulation and this was my totally favourite deck. I never came up with the idea it actually comes from the greek ancient officer. So I added 'e' at the end to make it a bit more ladyish.

How you discovered the Org:
Through amv.com.pl, most of editors uploaded their vids here so as you see my registration date is from 2009 but I started being active around late 2011 cause before my English had been too weak to get what this whole thing is about lol.

Tell me about your studio, like how you joined/created it, etc...:
I was invited to be in Sugasugashi Studio - the guys kept gathering around the area of amv.com.pl so one day (after XXX vid, I think) they asked me if I wanted to join. We're more like a group of friends rather than an actual studio tbh

Favorite genre to edit and why:
Action. It just goes fast and brings a whole lot of fun.

Favorite newbie mistake you've made:
I didn't even have subtitles in my first vid! But well... I accidentally rotated the whole track a bit and just let it be. So... My whole vid was rotated a bit, yay xD

First contest experience:
The Quickening. That was fun but MAN, IT ALMOST KILLED ME, I wanted to show I'm not this bad at editing so badly

Best experience you've had thus far with the community:
The Quickening - cause I 'came out of nowhere' and everything was so new and I think that was when I kinda got into the community.

Worst experience with the community:
If we're speaking about the community in general then there were none, I think.

Why you edit:
Cause I wanna do pretty stuff. And it's fun. And I just love winning and getting positive feedback. But I do appreciate all the negative feedbacks cause thanks to them I get less each next time

Future goals:
Win a category in VCAs 10 times (so 9 more), get into top3 in Akross and get that golden Asuka (hai, Animated )