So was it hard for you to come up with your first AMV idea?

[Wonka]

There is a little known fact about me.

See, I AM Kevin Caldwell, but in an unfourtunate Taco Bell sour cream disspencer accident, I lost all abilitys to edit and had to learn anew, hence HypeOdermic Studios.



Actualy, just see Beowulf's post and add a "me too" and you have my history.

[SarahtheBoring]

Newbie's answers!

<i>I mean how did you decide you wanted to participate in this hobby?</i> I started as, and am still, more of a console-roleplaying-game fan than an anime fan. I first saw AMVs/game-MVs through a site where I went to download gaming MP3s. (bigmog.net, by the way.) After a few of those, I started to surf outward to a few creators' sites. It was something like two years until I started toward trying it out myself, though. I first decided to visualize the montage that ran in my mind to Erasure's "Drama!" (which I made, too fast and with too little skill, as my second hugely titled vid "Just One Psychological Drama After Another..."). More ideas followed, 99% of which will never be made.

<i>Were you an anime fan first or did you happen to see some others and decided you wanted to see more anime and eventually try to make some for your own?</i> I don't quite understand the question, but I've watched anime - on and off, then a bit more often - since high school, when the Sci-Fi Channel had anime on Saturday mornings. Back then there were about three people in my entire town who watched it; it barely registered even as a subculture then. (Heck, few things did. This was pre-grunge, and there weren't any goths or alterna-kids in my high school until after I graduated.)

So in short, yes, anime then AMVs. See previous question.

<i>Were you motivated by good feelings about another's vid or did you feel like you saw an AMV and just had to top it?</i> Oh good heavens, of course the first one. I have no driving need to prove my manhood by dominating everything I see. Anyhow, no. Since childhood I'd always liked to visualize pictures to songs I heard - I'm sure many children of the MTV generation have done the same - and this is an extension of that, more than anything else.

<i>Also, was it hard to come up with your first ever idea and song/anime combination?</i> Nope, it was there already. I tend not to have problems coming up with ideas - whether or not they're good, they're at least <i>there</i>. What stops me is lack of skill and a relatively narrow base of anime knowledge (I've only seen in the vicinity of 30 different works, including partial ones.)

<i>After all the negativity this board has seen, I think we could use a bit of positive energy and the best way to do that (at least to me) seems to be to go back to the beginning and remember how we got here...</i> Indeed. Capital idea.

[Chaos Angel]

After all the negativity this board has seen, I think we could use a bit of positive energy and the best way to do that (at least to me) seems to be to go back to the beginning and remember how we got here...

Yea positivity!! Yea!!

I positivity.

I mean how did you decide you wanted to participate in this hobby?

Prepare for a long story... ^_^

Well, I accidentally found AMVs on KaZaA when I found a Gundam Wing/Kryptonite video by, I believe, Tyler Loch, while surfing around. I downloaded it, loved it, and went on to download and love others. It wasn't until I saw Pain of Ryoko's Heart by Eric Jones, however, that I attained the desire to make AMVs for myself.

My primary anime source at the time was Cartoon Network, and I was madly in love with Cowboy Bebop. There was also a certain song that was really popular on the radio at the time that I really liked. After I had finished the series for the first time, and was left immobile and mute during the entire end credits, I immediately had a vision of Cowboy Bebop with this song.

As you have probably already guessed, that song was Chop Suey by System of a Down.

I downloaded digisubs of eps 5, 12-13, and 25-26, and the song, and went to work. DivX gave me crap, but I made it work. Thus, my first video was born.

Although my abilities have grown since that time (Jan 2002-ish), this video still holds a place in my heart. I think it has it's own merits, particularly the ending sequence, which I am still VERY proud of.

Were you an anime fan first or did you happen to see some others and decided you wanted to see more anime and eventually try to make some for your own?

Until I finished Cowboy Bebop, I was only into anime as an off-and-on thing (re: I watched some Toonami infrequently). Then, Bebop made me want more, more, MORE!! I started really looking into various series, through AMVs, this site, personal research, what looks good on the racks at Best Buy, etc.

Nowadays, I tend to go crazy with the DVDs if I don't check myself. There's so many series and movies I want to see, I don't think I'll ever stop.

YEA!!

I've also started buying OSTs, as well. I already have the four Bebop discs, and I shall soon have FLCL and Trigun.

Were you motivated by good feelings about another's vid or did you feel like you saw an AMV and just had to top it?

Definitely the good feelings one. I continue to be awed and inspired by various people, and I try to incorporate a little of what inspires me and moves me into my own database of knowledge. I feel no need to top people at all. Hell, I'll be happy if one of my videos just elicits more than a passing glance from people.

Also, was it hard to come up with your first ever idea and song/anime combination?

Nope. It came pretty easily to me. All of my videos just came from ideas that popped in my head at some point. It's not easy or difficult to come up with ideas. It just happens when it happens. I don't worry about it until then.

[temaranight]

It all happened by accident...literaly...
I was looking for Queen stuff on p2p..*cough* kazaa *cough* when I found a video for "Who Wants to Live Forever"...I was thinking it was a Queen video..and after it d/led and I watched it...it was an AMV to OMG...and it kicked ass! I loved it! I had to find more of this stuff! So I downloaded random OMG vids...and then stumbled upon Kid Rocks "Cowboy" set to Trigun...and it was then that cupids arrow flew true...I was hooked. Through various links from anime clubs I found online..I found a-m-v.org...I had stepped thru the gates of Heaven at last.. After watching a few more vids..I finally figured out what was needed to make these wonderful peices of eyecandy called AMV's....after aquireing such needed componants..I decided to try my hand at it myself.
After listening to a few Queen songs..my muse struck me...and so was born Vash, the Hero....I have learned much since then......

[NPC3000]

I'd been an anime fan for...maybe 9 months before I got into AMVs.

So I was over at the house of a friend of a friend and she was showing us AMVs and I immediately wanted to make some of my own. But I forgot about them for a while. Then at about december of last year when started downloading AMVs from kazaa I knew I had to make some of my own.

Wow. My AMV career isn't even a year old yet though it feels like it's been a lot longer. Does that mean I'm still a newbie? Because I don't feel like one anymore.

At the time, I think the AMVs that motivated me the most were Caldwell's Engel and Kusoyaro's Transformation (which was a BIG inspiration for my most recent video). Both videos really taught me something about what possibilities there were in AMV making.

My first AMV was created amazingly fast (in retrospect I haven't a clue how I did it so quickly). I'd just gotten premiere and was playing with Cowboy Bebop Knockin' on Heaven's Door footage. The song was easy because it was in Italian which I don't understand so I didn't have to worry about what the lyrics meant. The video was finished in about a week, though I actually spent about 4 days all together on it. The result was my first video Lord of the Butterflys, I still think it turned out to be a pretty good video .

[Vancore]

I was introduced to AMV's before I was into anime. The first AMV I recall ever seeing was a DBZ one done to Particle man during a network gathering. I thought it was interesting but I really didn't get into it. The first AMV to actually catch my attention was an Evangellion one done to Vann Halen's "The final Countdown".

After a few veiwings of that and making several guesses as to what the series was actually about. I had a good impression that a lot was going on but I couldn't figure out what the hell was happening. At the time I thought everything that didn't look human was an alien. Even the Eva's, but they seemed to help the humans defend the planet. I didn't even think they were piloted, but thats another story. I was interested in seeing what the series actually was, I bought some, loved it, and finally collected the entire series. The addiction with the Eva series lasted a good 2 years ending with the fansubbed movies.

I didn't get into Anime just then, but one of my friends that I had introduced the series to (Who didn't know much of Anime either) was hooked everafter. He was the one that actually sought out new Anime leading to the likes of Cowboy Bebop and Trigun. Thats when I really got into Anime.

As for AMV making, I so happened to hear a song by Bush that got me thinking about Eva and how well the two fit togather (The song was "Letting the Cables sleep"). I wanted to do that video (Which I finally did not long ago) for many months but new I hadn't the skill to do it right. So I decided to make a starter video so I could learn the tools of the game. I didn't know about AnimeMusicVideos.org back then, so that helped make the decision.

Well I thought about a training video for a few and the only song I could think of was Will Smith's "The Wild Wild West" done to Trigun. Incidently I also saw another music video that had already done this (I think it was SailorDeaths) when I mentioned it to some friends but I didn't like it. The song and the series had so much more potential to be put togather that I had to do it. I had many idea's for that song and I be damned to let the "Those two have already been done" reasoning stop me from implementing my own idea's. Besides if I ever choose not to show it because of that I'd still end up making my Eva video, which I hadn't seen done before and none of my friends had either.

Well I ended up working on it for 8 months. Hybernating near the computer for many many hours. Testing, retesting, redoing, restoring, resaving and so on. It was all good, for I knew that I could get to that Eva video all the sooner once I was done... Thats until I stopped thinking about the Eva Vid and started loving my Trigun vid. I had a lot of fun with this vid, more than I had predicted. And at the end of the eight months I didn't really care that the idea had been done before, I was proud of what I had made, it had been everything I had envisioned and more and I thought it should be seen.

After the long 8 months of adding to this project of mine, I started making the rounds, not at a convention, just with my friends. Many of them were surprised at what I had done, nobody had anything to say bad about it. The closest one to thinking it was just a good AMV was my friend Jason who had been downloading a variety of AMVs from a site called AnimeMusicVideos.org and had seen many many different AMVs.

Before AnimeMusicVideos.org came along, the few excellent vids I had seen were from Kevin Caldwell, Brad Demoss, and a few others. Suffice to say I was a little surprised at just how many people there actually were out there creating AMVs. After a-m-v.org came along I never looked back at all the hard times I had searching for websites on Webcrawler (My search engine of choice at the time).

I had heard about the contests, and after so many months working on mine and with the knowledge that everyone I had showed it to had liked it, I sent it in to Acen 2002. Just my luck that it (The contest itself) didn't go over well and mine was not shown (For various reason's I've explained in another story for the vid itself). It was a great con experiance, better then even the next contest I went to (Otakon 2002) this year. It was probably because I hung out with a lot of other people that were big into AMV's. Koopiskeva and Senta to name a few. To me that night of waiting for Patrick (Or Quu) to go through the pile of last minuite AMV submitters and chatting about AMV's won't ever be forgotten. For the whole two days I was there I felt like I was on speed or something. Conventions are such a rush.

Well, thats my trip down memory lane. Its a longer post then I thought I was going to write, guess I'm feeling in a good mood today. I think I strayed from the general discussion though, o well.

[Rozard]

Vancore, not to be nit pinking, but "The Final Countdown" was recorded by Europe.

[Kai Stromler]

AMVs got me into anime.

I was reading Penny Arcade back in September 2000, and Tycho linked to OV's "Bitches" video in his newspost. This was hella funny, and looking around the site yielded Eric's "My Own Savior" video, which sealed it. If these AMV people knew about Iced Earth, and could produce something of such mastery, then this scene was worth following.

For about a month I was watching mostly metal AMVs, and already separating the wheat from the chaff, as I was running a metal a/v archive at the time. Ofcourse I did eventually get into anime, but even now I approach my work as a video editor much more from the standpoint of a metalhead fitting video to the music track than as an anime fan selecting music to work with a certain title.

What I think saved me from a lot of typical newbie mistakes (though not all, as anyone who's seen some of my early work will attest) is that nine months passed between the time I saw my first AMV and the time I started work on the first one to roll off my personal presses. That time included a bunch spent watching AMVs, reading guides, and getting a feel for what was decent, possible, and consonant with the other stuff I was doing creatively.

In terms of ideas, the kickoff to this thread, my first idea came pretty easy. If you have to cast about for an idea for your next vid, you're in trouble; just wait until one comes along instead of trying to force something. If you're off, you don't have any ideas, and you feel that you NEED TO or SHOULD be just making another AMV, doudemoii, then there's a part of you that's using this hobby as a time-kill, and that can get ugly if unchecked. I've done a few time-kill vids and regretted every single one -- one even refused to progress in the editor until I killed the project and started in on something I actually cared about.

Fortunately (??!), my to-do list is running about 40 videos ahead of the production pace, so that aint a problem no more.

--K

[Ashyukun]

This should be fun. Of course, it could also read like an intro, but oh well.

I mean how did you decide you wanted to participate in this hobby?Were you an anime fan first or did you happen to see some others and decided you wanted to see more anime and eventually try to make some for your own?

I was an anime fan for several years (starting when I started school, in '93). I lived in a house with a bunch of other anime fans, and we watched all sorts of stuff, including a lot of 'classic' AMVs (Bobby 'C-ko' Beaver's vids, etc.) We had a 5-disc changer on the stereo in the house, and would randomly throw in CDs out of our respective collections. One day someone tossed in my 'Last Action Hero' CD, and after the first track someone said "Hey, that would make a neat anime music video...". So, we grabbed a bunch of tapes and started playing around with our VCRs ot see what we could come up with, and had a lot of fun. Shortly thereafter, we discovered the school had a video production computer for general use, and the rest is history (at least at our school). We had lots of fun fighting with that computer (this -was- 1995, the computer we were using was like a P-266 or something..., and Premiere and its fancy capture card quite often didn't like each other...), and eventually made 5 vids. We never really had any trouble thinking up ideas- the hard part was deciding which ones to do first and finding the time to do them in.

7 years later, I'm just starting to get back into making AMVs, largely because of how much I enjoyed it back then. It's not the same, working on it pretty much entirely by myself (with my wife occasionally looking over my shoulder and offering such sage advice as 'That sucks.", "That anime looks really weird.", or "Ooh, pretty." She was a communications major, and takes great delight that her engineer husband spends almost more time doing comm. major stuff than she does...) as opposed to having several other people offering input and making suggestions, but I still love doing it, and can't wait to finish up the project I'm working on so I can get on to more.

Even if the 'org didn't exist and there weren't competitions, I think I'd still be doing this, just for my own enjoyment and satisfaction and to show my friends. I'm definitely glad for the 'org being here though, because I've learned a lot and gotten lots more good ideas and seen lots of good videos.

[silver vaporeon]

well, I was into anime for about three years and I started off downloading some Pokemon/Team Rocket AMVs which while, were cute and somewhat amusing, didn't have intrest me too much. Then I went to Otakon 2001 and the quality of the AMVs just blew me away. So when I went back to California, I started downloading other AMVs from KaZaA and such and found other AMVs by Doki Doki Productions which motivated me to make my own AMVs (and I finally got to meet the guy at AX2002 and thanked him and such. yay. ^^)

*ahem* anyways, my first AMV didn't even start out with a plot; I just took a random tape of pokemon episodes that I had collected in the past and messed around with my newly aquired basic movie-making program; the odd music and the first few clips matched so I just continued playing with it and I thought it turned out alright for a first "attempt". And that was fun so I continued on making a few more and finally got enough footage of other anime so I was not only bound to pokemon/team rocket-themed AMVs.

...rah.