Year of Slump

This forum is for the general discussion of Anime Music Videos.

Postby aluminumstudios » Thu Oct 03, 2002 2:08 pm

I have to agree with much of what you said Nightowl. Even though my name as been associated with AMVs for a few years and many people know me, I've been all but absent from forms because of the negativity that I witness.

However, cons have been the opposite. There is a real sense of mutual respect there. I love hanging out with people. I've even made friends with several people at cons who I wasn't completely friendly with on-line.

So really understand where you are coming from Nathan.

One of the resons I'm here now is because I put faces to SO many names at AWA and everyone was so decent. I'm kind of giving the on-line community a second chance because the sampling I got at AWA was such high quality (in terms of the people and what they were doing.)

While there are many others who've been around much longer than me, I showed up before the on-line AMV explosion. In that time much has changed. I think it might be better to describe this past year as a year of growing pains for AMVs rather than a slump.
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Postby DiemondDagger » Thu Oct 03, 2002 3:17 pm

Wow, I kinda don't want to destroy the whole Karma on this post. All these good AMV creators. And then...I post.

But anyways no time like the present, so I disagree with Ian.
Only in my opinion though. I always get ideas but for some reason I can't bring myself to make them. I think it's because my expectations for myself are to high for my ability. I read some of the Adobe guide that my friend 'mysteriously' found recently and most of it flew over my head.
I picked up on little quarks that make my editing life easier but some of the more complex tricks, (that are in many videos by the following creators who have posted) just, perplex me. I get confused with the numbers and times. I haven't given up on editing. By far no. But instead of going about and flopping around on a video, and only discouraging myself, I decided to take a Communications course, which deals with editing video. When we get into it further I'll ask him about Adobe Premiere, and perhaps he has heard of it.
Then maybe after being taught by someone physically here and someone who has more expertise in the subject, i'll be able to go about editing much more differently.
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Postby AbsoluteDestiny » Thu Oct 03, 2002 3:35 pm

I'm not actually sure how you are disagreeing with me.

I never once specified that technical expertise was a prerequisite to great amv making. I know my videos have recently become synonymous with "effects" (which is a word I really hate) but essentially all I was saying was:

'Many thought this year was full of crap amvs, but I went to AWA and loads of amvs ROCKED!'

I didn't specify anything about technical acheivements, although there have been a few notable ones, I was just commenting on the overal quality of the videos in general. My favourite videos this year are very simple but there are some very very good highly technical videos too.

My point is that the popularity of the hobby has not swamped over creativity in the way that some people predicted.
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Postby DiemondDagger » Thu Oct 03, 2002 3:37 pm

Hey if I say I'm disagreeing with you...I'M DISAGREEING WITH YOU! :twisted: :P

^-^
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Postby paizuri » Thu Oct 03, 2002 3:38 pm

I'm just here because I'm an AMV creator groupie. 8)

Kusoyaro wrote:I don't particularly a year of slump. I've been attending contests since '98, and way back then, you were lucky to get one or two well-edited videos. Now, EVERY video is well-edited. The quality of the editing is hardly an issue any more 80% of the time. I think we're just so used to seeing universally decent videos nowadays, it's much less of a rollercoaster ride, and we're less enthused when a truly good video comes up. Or something.

I'm not sure if we're seeing universally decent videos so much as mediocre videos. I don't know about you all, but I think a good music video needs to be able to evoke some sort of feeling within me as I watch it. Whether this be wonder, excitement, longing, fear, nostalgia or what have you, it is this ability that sets apart a video that is merely well-edited from a great video.

I think the problem is that people are focusing too much on the technical side of things to the detriment of the artistic/conceptual aspect of their videos. Editing music videos isn't just about "beat-matching" or "image matting". These are just techniques. Tools. Just because it takes a bit of effort to achieve an "effect" doesn't necessarily make it EFFECTIVE. Yes, timing is important, but so are well-placed scenes. And by good placing, I mean scenes that flow together or not (depending on their purpose). Does this mean that every video needs to tell a story? No. But if you're trying to make an action-oriented video, don't make it lag. If you're trying to make a dramatic video (which DOES need to tell some kind of story), think about exactly why you put one particular scene after another. When making any video, think why you are using any particular effect on it and what you hope to achieve in the viewer with said effect. Hell, just think about if the overall video seems to have the desired impact that you want to give it.

And what is this preoccupation with getting a good song/show combination or with making the visuals follow the exact wording of a song? If that's what you're trying to do, that's fine, but that doesn't mean you HAVE to. If you like a particular song and a particular anime, but they don't seem to "fit" well, then MAKE the footage fit the song. Isn't that what video EDITING is about? And if it doesn't fit it 100%, what's the big deal? Do live action music videos make 100% sense and match the lyrics exactly? No! So why should AMVs be any different?

Anyways, this is threatening to go off-topic I think (I should of stopped a couple paragraphs ago), so I'm just stop soon. The bottom line is: if you're not sure what exactly you're trying to do with your video, you may very well end up with a mediocre video.
My favorite video: Grilled Steak Trigun I LOVE THE COPS! Rargh!
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Postby The Wired Knight » Thu Oct 03, 2002 6:06 pm

AbsoluteDestiny wrote:I never once specified that technical expertise was a prerequisite to great amv making.


I don't consider them to be necessary. A lot of people love doing them now and that's great, thing is "effects" easily impress a crowd now and it's rather annoying in my opionion. If you do an effect right you could probably create a really crappy AMV but if the effect is correct you could probably get a very good crowd response. I'm with Hsein (as he said in another thread) and prefer to stick with straight cuts, I don't like doing fancy things especially. And there are plenty of newer videos out there that don't use them either.
BANG

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Postby Darkseid » Mon Oct 07, 2002 11:53 am

Hmm... I was thinking about some things when I read through this topc and happened to see the comments William and EK left about my Cobra vid. Needless to say I was honored and humbled to see this. I'll have further comments when I get through with my journal post.

As to this being the year of the slump.. I'm sorry, but I do not see this at all. There were many excellent videos present for AWA's contests (that I got to see at Quu's place) and several others that I found quite enjoyable before that con (The Gundam 08th Team "Shell Shock" and Urusei Yatsura "It Wasn't Me" vids, though enormously different methods, really stuck in my head.)

I had the opportunity to enter into this subculture via the school equipment available to me and was happy to contribute to it in a small way. I hope others continue to do the same and learn from each other.

Hmm... starting to turn into a speech. Better do my journal really quick where it's better to expand longer thoughts....
"Had I known one human's death caused you pain, I would have killed MORE... and kill more I shall!"
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Postby jescaflowne » Tue Oct 08, 2002 6:53 pm

paizuri wrote:I'm not sure if we're seeing universally decent videos so much as mediocre videos. I don't know about you all, but I think a good music video.... The bottom line is: if you're not sure what exactly you're trying to do with your video, you may very well end up with a mediocre video.


Woe! A serious post on AMV's from paizuri... what is the world coming to? :shock:

I'm not good at speeches so i'll just say I agree that there were some kickin' vids as AWA this year. Hooray for editing! Hooray for anime!
Men should be like Kleenex. Soft, strong and disposable.
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Postby paizuri » Wed Oct 09, 2002 12:21 am

jescaflowne wrote:Woe! A serious post on AMV's from paizuri... what is the world coming to? :shock:

Yes, run for the hills and hide your daughters! paizuri is in love!

Or not.

Gosh, that'd be cool if they made a movie called "Paizuri in Love". It'd be a box office smash! :roll:
My favorite video: Grilled Steak Trigun I LOVE THE COPS! Rargh!
I ain't 2 proud 2 beg! haha school rumble is great
Why do I always have the most preposterous sigs???
My current favorite thread. I'm a huge fan of GA-JAMMING.
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