The Nature Of AMV Making

[rubyeye]

1. What motivates you to make AMVs?

2. Everywhere I look I see contests, opinion boards and various AMV critiquing, would you say that the growth of the AMV community is built primarily upon competition and if so, why?

3. Does the wider availability of video editing software account for the large amount of growth in cutting edge AMVs or is it rather a product of the competitive nature of making AMVs?

4. What are the most popular video editing techniques and how have they developed over the past 5 years?

5. When you make AMVs and use such video editing techniques, are they achieved simply by the video editing software or are the basis and execution of them derived and evolved from other AMVs that you have seen?

6. Who do YOU think is ONE of THE BEST AMV creators and why?
(it can be for any reason, maybe one of their AMVs really touched you, maybe you think they're very devoted to the art, etc, etc)

1) Exposing people to better music than what mainstream media feeds them. The expression of themes and narratives as well as exercising my editing skills.

2) It is built on the marketing and commercialization of anime. Period. More fans = More amv fans (few become editors).

3) Technology has made editing faster and easier to learn, but also more difficult to master. There is no competition except during conventions, but with the shallow quality of videos coming out these days...it's no contest.

4) Barring Photoshop & After Effects plugins, these are the basis for all video editing techniques:
cuts
dissolves
overlays
split screen / cropping
motion controls
timing (fast or slow frame)
text
compositing
color corrections / alterations
layer masks
"flash" frames
still frames
fade to/out

Nowadays, overlays and "piano bars" are overused...badly.

5) You mean are my ideas "stolen" or "inspired"? All ideas are stolen and inspired, nothing's original.

6) I am one of the best! 8) Seriously, I'm no master but I strive for uniqueness as much as possible in terms of music/anime selection. It's really individual videos that capture my attention, though there is no denying that certain editors stand out equally for thier body of work.

[TobinHood]

6) I am one of the best! 8) Seriously, I'm no master but I strive for uniqueness as much as possible in terms of music/anime selection. It's really individual videos that capture my attention, though there is no denying that certain editors stand out equally for thier body of work.

Well rubyeye, you are one of the editors I really respect in this community and I agree that most the videos seen now are to shitty music with a bunch of effects added. However; I think your kind of cranky, somewhat because no one listens to dragon metal anymore (not meant in a mean way or anything)

Some dragon metal is just plain bad, till even bad dragon metal is better than most of today's crap.

Cheer up man, there just appears to be less good videos because there are so many more videos nowadays than when we first appeared here.

[Bote]

1. I started cause I enjoyed what I've seen the first time I watched videos. It was just so I can satisfy my strange desire to see videos to the songs I like.

But now, my only motivation is to make a video that'll get 100 ops. and be rated among first on Top10%. O.o

3. More programs get developed and there are more and more strange, but effective, ways to do something in your video. I myself got ahold of 2 wonderful programs that give numerous amounts of combinations you can pull off. And I mean "new" combinations. Will be seen in my next video. 8)

4. If you mean popular by the number of creators that use then I'd say Opacity Rubberbands a.k.a Cross Dissolving.

But if you mean in the way what most of the viewers like to see then I'd say multiple Photoshop maskings, teh piano keys , new effect looks etc.

5. I'm one of those people that think there isn't a "necessary" editing program, but there is YOU. If you have a good knowledge of your editing program of course you can pull out something extraordinary if you have imagination.

Hey, multiple editing software doesn't hurt . Plus, each program'll have something different than the previous and thus you gather more knowledge and your way of imagination spreads.

6. Best Creator? My current fave. creators are Koop and Vlad Pohnert. I like Koop's creative way of applying effects and of course the enormous amount of effort he puts in his videos. Vlad cause of great themes and unique artistic approach in his videos. Those maskings in "Transcending Love" took ages to make to.

My goal: To make a video that'll be a synthesis of both Koop's and Vlad's techniques + something of my own little imagination.

I won't answer 2 since I won't say the same over and over.

[Farlo]

I'm doing a research paper on the art of AMV making and I'm wondering if some of you can answer some questions for me:

1. What motivates you to make AMVs?

boredom

2. Everywhere I look I see contests, opinion boards and various AMV critiquing, would you say that the growth of the AMV community is built primarily upon competition and if so, why?

not really

3. Does the wider availability of video editing software account for the large amount of growth in cutting edge AMVs or is it rather a product of the competitive nature of making AMVs?

combo of anime being more and more so mainstream, and the availibility of affordable softwarez

4. What are the most popular video editing techniques and how have they developed over the past 5 years?

no idea

5. When you make AMVs and use such video editing techniques, are they achieved simply by the video editing software or are the basis and execution of them derived and evolved from other AMVs that you have seen?

again a combination

6. Who do YOU think is ONE of THE BEST AMV creators and why?
(it can be for any reason, maybe one of their AMVs really touched you, maybe you think they're very devoted to the art, etc, etc)

flint: strong editing skills, ability to greatly tell a story through audio and video.

[godix]

1. What motivates you to make AMVs?

Boredom. Or more accurately, the neverending quest to avoid boredom.

2. Everywhere I look I see contests, opinion boards and various AMV critiquing, would you say that the growth of the AMV community is built primarily upon competition and if so, why?

Nope, there are roughly 30,000 videos listed on the org and the average contest appears to have 100 to 200 videos submitted. I'd say the drive for competition is actually fairly trivial.

3. Does the wider availability of video editing software account for the large amount of growth in cutting edge AMVs or is it rather a product of the competitive nature of making AMVs?

I'd say the fact that windows comes with a free preinstalled video editor probably plays a large role.

4. What are the most popular video editing techniques and how have they developed over the past 5 years?

Don't know, haven't been around for five years.

5. When you make AMVs and use such video editing techniques, are they achieved simply by the video editing software or are the basis and execution of them derived and evolved from other AMVs that you have seen?

I most definately get ideas based on what other people have done although I spend a fair amount of effort to make sure I'm doing something semi-original instead of just ripping off other people.

6. Who do YOU think is ONE of THE BEST AMV creators and why?

AD. He's one of the best for technical aspects (after all he is one of the authors of the guide everyone points to) but despite that some of his best videos look like simple but effective editing, unless you happen to know the source well you don't catch that he modifies the footage alot.

[Sephiroth]

1. What motivates you to make AMVs?

It varrys from video to video. Situation Comedy Blues and Natsuko Tayama where attempts at mixing concepts (SCB especully). A mighty wind and All You Need To Win An AMV Contest are Anti-videos and created because of the growing stagnation in videos. Then the Video i made because i though they would work and i wanted to see that combination.

My main focus with all videos was to do something different everytime. Deifference not sameness It's not a popular path but it's one that somone has to take. Last and most importantly To convay something.

2. Everywhere I look I see contests, opinion boards and various AMV critiquing, would you say that the growth of the AMV community is built primarily upon competition and if so, why?

No it's built upon those that see a AMV and decide to make one. There will always be more good videos out there it's just the ammount of junk that one has to go through to find them is changing. I don't care about any of the 'Master' editors i already know their videos. I care about the guy with the great video i missed.

3. Does the wider availability of video editing software account for the large amount of growth in cutting edge AMVs or is it rather a product of the competitive nature of making AMVs?

It does. It's all Economicly Based. In the old days all anyone could afford was 2 VCRs and anime tapes were alot more exspencive. A few of the top editors back in the older days had better editing equipment.

When i started (besides a brief video edit i did with nothing but a ton of clipson my computer which i used all of the footage on, needless to say it wasn't good by todays standards). it was at a local cable station and i had acess to a casablanca editing suit. Which at that moment AMV wise was pretty impressive. I made a video on it useing the tenchi OAVs and showed it to my friends (Ironicly Pwolf was one of them). Looking back, by todays standards i made a bad video. Because its the standards that have also changed.

One of the other reasons that AMVs are getting more popular is that anime itself is. Argueably there shuld be less bad video's because there's help not to make many of the mistakes that the earlier creators did. THere's a-m-v.org and the guides and a whole slew of people to help you that didn't exist before.

Before the Org there was a ftp server called by many Waldo's magic. Before that tape trading because there was no way to have AMV's on your computer if you were lucky you had a gig and several of the encoding methods didn't exist. So it's not only editing software but hard drives and the internet that have changed AMVs.

4. What are the most popular video editing techniques and how have they developed over the past 5 years?

cuts and fades. I argue that's all anyone really needs and they are the most populare because they are used the most. With Edits AMV trends do pop up, Eurphoria being the most recent one. People see something for the first time and they think that the edit is the key to success. Thus the video suffers. Though people shouldn't make there videos for other's, like Brad Demoss once told me you should "make them for yourself". Though I also say that you should make them for the people that don't like AMVs because if you could make an AMV that would make somone that dosent like them like them then you have something there.

5. When you make AMVs and use such video editing techniques, are they achieved simply by the video editing software or are the basis and execution of them derived and evolved from other AMVs that you have seen?

Everything you see and do influences you. But i don't look at any one AV for any way to edit. Editing your signature everyone does it differently.

6. Who do YOU think is ONE of THE BEST AMV creators and why?
(it can be for any reason, maybe one of their AMVs really touched you, maybe you think they're very devoted to the art, etc, etc)

The best AMV creator. Is the one ive never meet. The persons who's video i have not seen. ANd i am looking forawrds to seeing his video.

[NME]

Jesus christ Moulton. Shut the fuck up and go away.

[Castor Troy]

1. What motivates you to make AMVs?

Many things but mostly just expressing an idea I want to share with others.

2. Everywhere I look I see contests, opinion boards and various AMV critiquing, would you say that the growth of the AMV community is built primarily upon competition and if so, why?

In a way, yes. Through competition we learn something about ourselves and our editing skills. We also learn other's motivations and techniques for their videos. It's human nature to compete and see how well you stack up against the rest of the world. Competition isn't the ENTIRE reason for the amv community's growth but a really good part of it. I personally see competition as a good learning experience. I doubt I would have gotten as far as I am now without competition.

3. Does the wider availability of video editing software account for the large amount of growth in cutting edge AMVs or is it rather a product of the competitive nature of making AMVs?

Yes, in both ways. With more advanced editing software available, people can start doing more of what they want to do.

4. What are the most popular video editing techniques and how have they developed over the past 5 years?

Too many to count...

Just simply being able to time a scene to a beat used to be the most amazing thing out there then it turned into cross dissolves, motion settings, masking, compositioning....etc.. At first they seemed to be really hard to do now they can be done with the flick of a wrist. Of course now we have videos with a combination of them all.

5. When you make AMVs and use such video editing techniques, are they achieved simply by the video editing software or are the basis and execution of them derived and evolved from other AMVs that you have seen?

Of course I borrow an effect or 2 from another video once in a while and kind of twist it in my own evil way.

6. Who do YOU think is ONE of THE BEST AMV creators and why?
(it can be for any reason, maybe one of their AMVs really touched you, maybe you think they're very devoted to the art, etc, etc)

This answer changes on a yearly basis.[/b]

[Otohiko]

1. What motivates you to make AMVs?

The desire to actualize my own visions of the music, or find visualisations for music I like. What pushed me into the AMV community is the lack of representations for certain musical artists and styles in the database, which I wanted to represent.

2. Everywhere I look I see contests, opinion boards and various AMV critiquing, would you say that the growth of the AMV community is built primarily upon competition and if so, why?

Yes and no. Competition strengthens it on a popular level, helps bring it out into the wider anime fanbase (just makes it seem more exciting). But on a more niche level, there is respect for non-competitive AMV making. Myself, I am not very motivated by competition, though exposure I consider a good factor.

Also, the best growth I've seen recently was based on cooperation rather than competition - look at multi-editor projects and editing studios for evidence of that.

3. Does the wider availability of video editing software account for the large amount of growth in cutting edge AMVs or is it rather a product of the competitive nature of making AMVs?

Yes. It's the software.

4. What are the most popular video editing techniques and how have they developed over the past 5 years?

The so-called 'effects' - noone is actually sure what they are, but they generally involve flashy, moving overlays of limited symbolic significance but with a lot of contribution to music sync.

In response to this, there is also an emerging trend to go against that, where editors seem to try and avoid complex software etc. on purpose and go back to 'oldschool' basic editing techniques.

5. When you make AMVs and use such video editing techniques, are they achieved simply by the video editing software or are the basis and execution of them derived and evolved from other AMVs that you have seen?

Neither, really. I don't really look to 'steal' editing techniques from others very much, or push the software to the limit. My motto here is 'honor sufficiency', which means I generally follow what the video seems to call for in the simplest possible technical way. I think my own experience is the best guide here.

6. Who do YOU think is ONE of THE BEST AMV creators and why?
(it can be for any reason, maybe one of their AMVs really touched you, maybe you think they're very devoted to the art, etc, etc)

Hmm... well, really, I have trouble picking and choosing like that. There's a lot of different ways of approaching editing, and I don't feel particularly good about singling out one.

Or, the other way of answering this would be: if I see AMV's as art, I don't believe there's such thing as an 'AMV creator'. Though that's just a personal view on art.

[Scintilla]

1. What motivates you to make AMVs?

Usually it's when I hear a song and think "OMG [insert anime here] would be PERFECT with that song" and then I search here and I'm either astounded (if the song is well-known) or unsurprised (if it isn't) to find that nobody's done it yet.

And then there are times I just get insane ideas in my head that just won't leave me alone until I realize them (like my newest vid).

2. Everywhere I look I see contests, opinion boards and various AMV critiquing, would you say that the growth of the AMV community is built primarily upon competition and if so, why?

3. Does the wider availability of video editing software account for the large amount of growth in cutting edge AMVs or is it rather a product of the competitive nature of making AMVs?

4. What are the most popular video editing techniques and how have they developed over the past 5 years?

I do not consider myself competent to answer these questions, as I've only been watching AMVs for 2 years or less really, and making them for a year and change.

5. When you make AMVs and use such video editing techniques, are they achieved simply by the video editing software or are the basis and execution of them derived and evolved from other AMVs that you have seen?

Most of the effects that go into my videos are effects I just make up on the spot, oftentimes for no better reasons than (1) they look cool and (2) so that I know how to do them; I don't watch very many effectsy videos (ex. "Dueling Videos: Under Ice" uses "piano keys" at the very end, but to this day I still haven't seen "Evolution"), so I don't really know what kinds of effects most people do.

One major exception to this: At Otakon 2003 I saw MeriC's "Deceptive Passions", the first time I'd seen the "duplicate, then zoom and fade out one of the layers" effect (for lack of a better description)... I loved how it was used, and have since used it myself a fair bit (mostly in DV:UI and my RoS segment).

6. Who do YOU think is ONE of THE BEST AMV creators and why?
(it can be for any reason, maybe one of their AMVs really touched you, maybe you think they're very devoted to the art, etc, etc)

I'm not touching that one with a 39.5-foot pole.