How you got into AMVs: Year: 2002 Scene: First Anime Convention, Anime USA. Blew my fragile teenage mind. After that, I found a whole bunch of them on a shitty 2003 internet dial-up, low-res, quicktime, etc. I initially tried editing one myself back then, but ended up crashing and burning when I couldn't figure out how to make Windows Movie Maker behave the way I wanted it to. I didn't try again until years later.
How you came up with your screen name: It's a screenname I've had for a long-ass time. I can't remember why I initially got it, but I picked it when I was still in middle school.
How you discovered the Org: I had watched This Is Otakudom with a friend (it was passed around by disk at our high schools anime club), and he later invited me over to check out a cool Naruto video, I asked where he found it and he showed me the Org. Was hooked instantly.
Tell me about your studio, like how you joined/created it, etc.?? Made my studio name originally a variant of "Outside the Box", but I also wanted to convey the feeling of something like a cult classic or a hidden gem. Something you would find underneath an old pile of junk. I was told by a friend that it sounded dumb. Didn't care. Been using it ever since.
Favorite genre to edit and why: I seem to wildly swing between Dramatic/Emotional videos and Trailer Parodies. I do drama because I edit slowly, and even though I'm getting faster, my time is short and precious, and I want to make sure I can achieve maximum audience impact. The best way to do this is Drama and Comedy. I don't feel I'm as good with comedy, so I stick to dramatic and leave satire to the brief moments in my trailer parodies. Trailer Parodies are also easy to do so I can churn them out quicker (with the exception of my latest, that I shall upload shortly), so I use them as breaks in between my big dramatic stuff.
Most of them are action-oriented, but it's pretty easy to sneak in a chuckle here and there without worrying about compromising the video. I've always been surprised at exactly what the end audience laughs at. For example, I give hints at a Light-L shipping in my last parody. I meant to play it straight, but people thought it was funny. Meanwhile, I had a blatant joke in Expendable Waltz giving a small little girl Arnold Schwarzenegger's voice and the joke fell flat.
Favorite newbie mistake you've made: Oh geez. My two videos, not hosted on the Org because Avatar: The Last Airbender. They are No Avatar for Old Men and A Million Little Gods. True, I made a bunch of classic newbie errors (Windows Movie Maker for the first one, some bad sync, etc), but what takes the cake in my opinion is the encode. I ripped the discs as xVids and re-compressed the final results. Then for youtube upscaled the second one to 1080p. When my second made it into some contests, I had just read the AV Tech guide and was just utterly shocked that it didn't look like a total mess on screen. Except for its first appearance.???
First contest experience: Getting A Million Little Gods into Anime USA. Due to tech problems, that contest was run of SVHS. My video had its whites washed out completely. It's one other appearance looked pretty damn good though.
Best experience you've had thus far with the community: The tremendously positive feedback I got on was absolutely critical to me continuing to do AMV's. I was moved that this many people had enjoyed something I made, and haven't ever stopped.
Worst experience with the community: Seeing people leave it for Youtube and beyond. Hearing about skilled editors passing away. I still think there is something here. I have been planning a post for a few weeks now with ideas on ways to improve/renew/revitalize the org, which I have no clue how to begin implementing so I've been hesitant to post it. This place was my big watershed moment in choosing to make this hobby a big part of my life so seeing it diminish has been incredibly disheartening.
Why you edit: For the final cut. The finished product of taking a vision in my head and making it a reality. The chill in your spine when you see a really good sync moment, and a video coming full circle. that's the nerve center of art. That's what makes it worth it.
Future goals: To advance my career to better support myself until retirement. To branch out into other styles and genres of editing. To get better at comedy videos. To one day live in a place I can be utterly proud of, not just an apartment. To one day visit Japan.













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