Anime in Academics

[downwithpants]

hatter (another member) wrote an english paper on amvs. you might find the following helpful.

http://www.animemusicvideos.org/phpBB/v ... hp?t=33000
http://www.animemusicvideos.org/phpBB/v ... hp?t=33243
http://www.animemusicvideos.org/phpBB/v ... hp?t=33537

1. Chris Lee

2. downwithpants

3. 2 years

4. my friend showed me them on his comp a few years back. then i started collecting some on kazaa when i came to college.

5. i began making amvs when i found windows movie maker on my comp. i did it because i liked the amvs i saw and wanted to see if i could do something like it myself. when i found i could, i became addicted.

6. 1) an idea plagues me while i listen to music 2) i decide that the idea is worth trying 3) i listen to the song and jot notes about the lyrics, music progression and structure 4) i rip the footage and search through footage for appropriate scenes 5) i edit and think evil thoughts whenever teh computer freezes 6) i watch my finished product and become disgusted 7) clean, compress, and upload to the org.

7. i edited to the cues in the lyrics when i started and transitions only came on beats in the music. now i try to edit to more cues in the music.

8. it got me more interested in the auditory and visual perception. i'm currently taking 3 related psych classes..

9. see links above.

10. at first, brad demoss, kevin caldwell, lostboy. their videos make it look like they have so much control over what they do - everything in their videos fits well and looks natural. now, i see videos i like from a lot of creators.

11. they do MADs, which are rather different from AMVs in terms of many stylistic elements, but more or less the same idea. i don't think many japanese people do AMVs the way we do them here.

[Pyle]

Wow, Scintilla is a guy? And Coffe54 too?

Next thing you know, AbsoluteDestiny will say she's a guy too.

[post-it]

. The History of AMV's can actually be linked to the Creator of Animation,
Walt Disney.. Many people jumped on the band-wagon of making "toons"
for "movie theatre's ( theatric's" ) to fill a time-gap before the Main Feature
would start in Movie Houses.. They would show a short "flick" at
the beginning of a Presentation to help quiet the "house noise" in the theaters.
. Disney used thise "time-fillers" to promote his companies
newest "Feature Release" by making a "teaser-Commercail" and TA-DA -
the AMV was born. ( yes, it was called a Preview. )
. Not long after these Commercails were released to theaters, using just a
simple 35/70mm "film editer," everyone started making Theater Commercails:
Coke, Pepsi, Car Dealers, blah-blah blah-blah!

. The original VCR was a single-head Reel-to-Reel Video B/W recorder/player
and, yes I've used and repaired more than one of these beast's in my time,
it would have been very easy to edit/cut/sclice and dice Anything with it.
However, they were very very expensive - to own even one of these Boat Anchers!
. VCR Editing became popular when SONY developed the Multi-VCR Controller
and a process that TV Studio's already had, at the time, call a "time-Base-correcter!"
With it, came the first one-man-operation Video Editing System.

. Today, most of us do not even understand how people would have had
the nerve to even try to Edit things "that way" - and so, we don't!
. Electronic Editing is what we do here, and we're happy campers

[aznfs]

from the unknown annoying guy that rants about vegas second to bum

1// Alex Lin
2// Aznfs, Dimension_EX Productions
3// 2 1/2 years
4// hmmm... by accident;; when i dled kevin caldwell's engel amv
5// well;; even before amvs i had already had prior experience in video editing;; i just incorpared old techniques to my new found AMV knowledge
6// well;; for my speed videos, i would admit i do them out of plain boredom;; but for others i usually have a story mapped in my head;; of course for the story driven amvs.... they take me forever
7// when i first started;; i would usually think of a story and use whatever source i had;; because in the past i didnt know of very many dvd ripping techniques nor did i even have the space to accomdate good quality rips;; now i plan my projects including my source
8// in high school i took a video technology class that would produce a newscast for the school once every two weeks;; i generally did final editing as well as music videos promoting or advertising something
9// not very well
10// that would be kevin caldwell;; since his accidently dled amv started me up in all of this, and ermac his styles drive quite a bit in my video editing schema
11// errr... ill get back to u on that

[rubyeye]

1. Danniel Cecava

2. rubyeye / Rubyeye Pictures

3. 3 years

4. Started with my first visit to an Anime Convention (Project A-kon), and continued with downloading many AMVs off the internet. It wasn't until I came across Aluminum Studio's website, where he detailed lots of information about video editing, that I decided to try it myself. Given the level of technology at the time (editing programs and DVDs), it seemed an ideal moment to attempt something different and learn something exciting.

5. With all the AMVs I had seen prior to making my own, there were a number of Anime that was not being used (yet). Also, given my unique musical tastes - I was eager to show people something different than what most videos were using for their audio track.

6. I'm probably the only person whose collection of AMVs were made on a computer with less than 4 GB of total memory. Except for my last one (Phenomenon) everything was done on an old Hewlett Packard Pentium II. Videos were DVD source but encoded in MJPEG. Given my limited resources, I would rip individual clips of scenes that I wanted to use, burn everything on CD, clear as much room as I could on my hard drive, copy everthing back onto the computer, set up Adobe Premiere and begin editing.

Conceptually, it varied with each video. My first two were just practice to learn about editing and develop my own style. I tried an Action video, A dramatic Ballad, but it wasn't until SHELLSHOCK that I really outlined (or scripted) exactly the kind of video I wanted to make - deciding on every kind of detail from the Font to the selection of images and clips.

7. My method of making AMVs is still the same; following the new guides that are posted online. The "equipment" may have upgraded with better codecs and editing programs, but I still work better with cutting clips I intend to use instead of scrubbing through episodes. Stylistically, I haven't changed much. My editing is more refined (perhaps tighter) and I'm certainly putting more thought into it.

8. Except for my production classes, and my own personal education in editing & motion graphics, making AMVs has no cross-over value into "real life". However, it has made my criticism of music someone bothersome - I keep analyzing songs for their potential use in a Music Video, what Anime would fit well with it, and so forth.

9. I know little in the history of AMVs, but it's evolution is no different than the history of film and animation. Before DVDs and Laser Discs, computers and non-linear editing programs ... there were VHS tapes and BETAs. Editing was done on a Linear system using two tape decks - one for your source, one for your "master". I don't know who were the first pioneers in making and releasing AMVs but they most certainly would have done it this way.

10. For inspiration, I assume you mean AMV editors. Well certainly one of the first was William Milberry of Aluminum Studios. If nothing else, the information on his website was my 'blue print' to begin making music videos. Tim Park of Doki Doki Productions was inspirational for showing how much fun (and how funny) AMVs can be. And finally there was Jesse (Jesmasters) Menendez's Anime Palace, where I downloaded many AMVs that sparked my interest in making them.

11. I don't know of any Anime Music Videos in Japan. What they seem to proliferate in making are MADs. These videos are more "Motion Graphic Animations" rather than "Edited Film/Video". They tend to often use dating-sim or hentai game footage and characters. I don't know why we never hear of any fan created music videos in Japan. Maybe they have strict laws enforcing the illegal copywriting of DVD footage or something. Maybe they think it's better to make your own "animation" than just cutting and splicing pre-existing animation. I don't know.

[Sephiroth]

1. What is your name?
Isaac Fischer

2. Do you have an online nickname/ studio name?
DMRA (Duo Maxwell Rei Ayanami productions)

3. How long have you been making AMVs?
almost 5 years

4. How did you get interested in AMVs?
A friend of mine named Brian showed me a tape of the anime expo AMVs, Later he made an amv to info high for a class and i decided to make one.

5. How and why did you begin making AMVs?
There's a local cable acess station in auburn ACTV. I used the facilities there. I started making AMVs because i want to make my own series some day. That being the case i also want to be as prepared as possible for it so Iv'e taken it on myself to learn/master every aspect of the media including editing which is where AMVs came into the picture. If i can master editing i surely can master eveything else.

6. How do you make your AMVs (concept, procedure, style, etc.)?
It depends on the video. But i allways start with the music and come up with something to go with it. Since we end up useing all of the music it's important to make sure you got something good to work the footage into. AFter that, concept, idea, ect. THere really are alot of things that go into a video.

Most importantly a video has to have a point and i make sure that every frame of the video has a point. Even though everyone wont see it at least it's there.

7. How do you think your style and method of making AMVs have changed since you first started?
Everythings changed. People no longer make AMVS with 2 VCRs, the computer has become the main tool of editing now. I'm a poor collage student so just about everyone has a better computer then me. But that dosent matter. The only thing i havent liked is how with the computer came people reliance on effects to make there video, and this trend is not at it's peek yet.

8. How do the skills you have learned from making AMVs help you in real life?
Well i'm going to collage to learn animation because of them. I havent really been helped by them yet. If anything ive lost tons of money because of this hobby. AMVs have given me something to do that i enjoy, and many questions to ponder. So the kind of help that i get from AMVs depends on how you look at them.

9. What do you know about the history of AMVs (when people began to make them, who made them, how they made them, etc.)?
Well id say it started with phantasia, of coarse that was people making fottage to go to music but the basic idea behind an AMV (Visuals in sync with music) was there. I'm sure there was some guy that timed things out to music before that.

As for the history of AMVs now. When the video casset recorder came out in hte 80s and people started releasing movies on them. At sci-fi cons (which anime cons are an offshoot of) i imagine the first AMVs were made to things like star wars and whatever else the fans of the time could get thier hands on.

10. Who were some inspirations to you and why?
Everything i see hear and do can inspire and influence me. As far as AMVs go it's the different kinds of videos that inspire me. Over 90% of the videos I love arent even on the top 10% list. Same thing goes for my all time faverate videos. I consider it very inspiring that these people make these wonderful videos. I also find it discouraging that these peoples videos don't get seen by that many people. But if you can look you can find them. That's what keeps me from giving up on videos.

11. What do you know about AMVs in Japan?
Well in japan they have mads which arent AMVs. It's interesting that japanies fans developed similar idea but exicuted it in a very different way. until DDR 4 i don't think we had anyone in japan doing AMVs.

I also consider it kind of wrong to to mention all of the other nations that have started making AMVs.

Anime music videos in the next few years will become a global thing. If they arent allready. So many people from different countries worked on animix, it's only a matter of time before that happens.

[AMVfreak]

1. Shouhei Tanaka
2. AMVfreak
3. 10 months
4. Came across an AMV online, and it inspired me.
5. I started making AMVs because of the inspiration as explained above. I made my first AMV by using Windows Movie Maker.
6. Depends, really.
7. Better all around. (timing, effects, scene selection, etc.)
8. I may run across a job with digital media: who knows?
9. Not much, really, instead of the VCR method they used to make them back in the old days.
10. Well, a lot. Too many to list here. Reason? They made great AMVs that inspire me more.
11. Don't even get me started.

[Qyot27]

1. What is your name?

Stephen Hutchinson

2. Do you have an online nickname/ studio name?

Yes. ASI Digital Chaos Studios.

3. How long have you been making AMVs?

Since July 2002

4. How did you get interested in AMVs?

I was looking for MTV music videos on some of the P2P networks and found out about AMVs that way. I watched a few, watched some more, then more, and eventually thought to myself, "I'd like to make my own."

5. How and why did you begin making AMVs?

See above.

6. How do you make your AMVs (concept, procedure, style, etc.)?

I usually connect a song and anime first, then hash out some basic premise, followed by weeks of letting the idea sit dormant in my brain, to finally be spilled out inside of Adobe Premiere at an undisclosed date sometime in the not-so-recent to almost infinite future. The ones I've made have just come out sooner rather than later. ^_^

7. How do you think your style and method of making AMVs have changed since you first started?

I guess, for me, the biggest change was the dynamics, not necessarily the feel or a distinctive change in style. Most all of my *good* AMVs have something in them that reminds me of me and contains some signature kernel of my editing. My earlier good videos had that kernel completely by chance before I 'locked onto it', so to speak and was able to duplicate it (essentially, when I moved away from editing with VirtualDub to editing with Premiere). From there, I've gradually grown more technical with my editing, incorporating more and more complex techniques to acheive a *hopefully* better result.

8. How do the skills you have learned from making AMVs help you in real life?

I can't really think of specific skills, except maybe patience and being able to accept something for what it is, not necessarily what you hope it will be (of course, this rule doesn't hold true for everyone). I've learned it's more important to make a video enjoyable to you than to whore yourself out to a crowd. Personal integrity vs. shameless begging for attention ("selling-out", if you will, even though I despise that terminology and application of its' concept). If a crowd happens to like a video I do (which has happened before, in the case of How Not To Be Seen), I make it more for myself. Granted, audience response may inspire me to complete a vid or pull out all the proverbial stops to make it better, but I'm not going to make a vid I don't want to do just to please a crowd and win an award.

9. What do you know about the history of AMVs (when people began to make them, who made them, how they made them, etc.)?

From the descriptions for some of the oldest AMVs on this site, I've pretty much come to the conclusion it started up around the late 80s or early 90s, even though there were probably professionally-animated examples of them produced by the actual anime firms during previous years. The fan aspect is most likely just around 15 years old. I can't exactly list the who's of it, but most of the earliest members of the Org are of that camp, and happen to be some of the more established members of the community to this day. For that matter, just look at a tracklists for one of the DDR Projects - those are chock full of some of the pioneers of the hobby. In the early days, of course, S-VHS (Super VHS) editing decks were king, and digital non-linear editing was in its' infancy.

10. Who were some inspirations to you and why?

I can predict the standard answer here is going to be several of the super high-profile editors, such as Kevin Caldwell, Vlad Pohnert, Tim Park, Brad DeMoss, and the list goes on. While I can say I greatly enjoy their videos, I'd at least like to think my inspirations come more from some of the techniques that they happened to use, not necessarily their style in doing it (even though I know one of the videos I'm currently working on is very 'Caldwellian', for lack of a better term). I'm really the type of person that will watch a video, see what kinds of innovations were used, and see how easily the underlying principle can be assimilated into my own editing rather than simply try to duplicate or make homages to popular videos. I think it works a lot better that way.

11. What do you know about AMVs in Japan?

I know there are several Japanese editors registered on this site, but the impression that I got from some of the threads that popped up earlier this summer is that the Japanese side of the scene is more focused on MADs, which are geared toward greater displays of visual style and technical innovation that your typical AMV wouldn't immediately have, such as the tendency to use still images and heavy effects and self-rendered CG in AE or other animation editing software, animating the actual frames themselves rather than relying on what the anime gives you (although there is still quite a bit of produced animation that plays out in said videos).

[mystryl_shada]

1. What is your name?
2. Do you have an online nickname/ studio name?
3. How long have you been making AMVs?
4. How did you get interested in AMVs?
5. How and why did you begin making AMVs?
6. How do you make your AMVs (concept, procedure, style, etc.)?
7. How do you think your style and method of making AMVs have changed since you first started?
8. How do the skills you have learned from making AMVs help you in real life?
9. What do you know about the history of AMVs (when people began to make them, who made them, how they made them, etc.)?
10. Who were some inspirations to you and why?
11. What do you know about AMVs in Japan?

1. Allison McMullin
2. Shada.
3. February 2004
4. Watched a few a friend of mine had, and wished I could make them. Mainly because many vids I saw had good concepts, but reeeeally bad editing.
5. A friend of mine told me that Movie Maker could do AMVs. I realized that I had had this computer for almost a year with MM on it, and after smacking myself several times for stupidity's sake, sat down and experimented with the program till I ended up making my first vid.
6. I come up with a concept, and usually have an anime and song planned. Sometimes I listen to the music several times and plan the whole thing out in my head, other times I just smack in whatever looks good and fits what I'm going for. I tend to drift away from reeeally showy/fancy/flashy editing, because I think that usually distracts from the vid. Sure it looks cool, but it's not my style, and it interrupts the flow. But I do use some effects sometimes.
7. My editing has gotten far better, and I've stopped using effects because they look cool, for reasons mentioned above. Now if I use effects, it's because I have symbolic meaning behind each one.
8. Since I'm trying to become a professional editor (trailer editor specifically), by doing AMVs I'm practicing editing, timing, and syncronization.
9. Pretty much squat. My interest in history is usually about nil, unless it is important or really interests me.
10. Friends are inspirations. I bounce ideas and vids off them, and they point out what's good or bad that they see. Also, just sitting and listening to music can inspire a vid. I'll be listening to one song, and then think "Oh, this song matches this one character perfectly", and the next thing I know, I'm making a character vid.
11. Uh...not much. Most AMVs I've seen havn't been done in Japan.

~Shada~

[MeriC]

Dana, I sent you my reply via email a few weeks ago. Did you ever get it, or do you want me to re-post it here?