Are we in another slump of amvs?

[Ingow]

You all have terrible taste in music and anime.

That's all there is to it really.

[AquaSky]

I think, rather than a decrease in quality overall, there have just been fewer standout videos. The bad videos have always been there, it's more that now the good videos are becoming more formulaic. Just slap some blurs on a Shinkai anime and there you go.

Even when something good is produced, if it's by a well-known editor, we're less inclined to be impressed by it. "Oh, yeah, his new video was pretty good. But I expect that from him anyway."

The progression of this hobby is like the progression of sex in a relationship. Everything's exciting at first, then it slowly becomes more routine as time goes on. Eventually, you're breaking out the scuba suit and rubber chicken just to try and bring back that spark.

[» AceMan]

After all, everything comes down to whether you like the music or not ;)

[Sephiroth]

Everyones spoiled, also more and more people are making vids each year, its gotten to overload there's no way anyone can shift through through every single video so a lot of what people see is crap because that's a lot of what there is.

It gotten to the point where you can't make anyone happy because people have these inflated expectations of what videos should be. Ive been editing for 10 odd years it doesn't get any better then the way things are now. People are just used to seeing AMVs now. The new thing factor is gone and it never was as special as we thought it was.

I don't care about the elitists anymore it used to get on my nervs alot until recently when i realized that those same people just kept setting themselves up for disapointment. Now i'm enjoying the hobby for the sake of the hobby which is why i started editing in the first place. Its fun to create.

Things aren't downhill just what people are perceiving.

Or AMVs are getting like movies in that there's a few really hyped ones that are done by a Michael Bay who makes something that looks cool and is what everyone wants but as we can tell from these topics, No one needs.

Either way i sit here and i point and laugh. Cause from these topic i'm the only one who can still have fun anymore, the rest of you are just grumpy and acting way older then you should be at your age.

HA.

[Phantasmagoriat]

http://www.aieli-ileia.com/trythil/awesome.png

I think that's the general case for some of us, but awesomeness is a little subjective. Rather, as an indirect measure of awesomeness, I would use "total count of videos that wow the viewer" vs # amv's watched:

...IMO, its a sense of desensitization I'm guessing, not necessarily time.

[mandyleighstorm]

my husband wants to add this:
how do you make your amv's? Take a bunch of footage and cut/cross-fade/splice it into a cohesive whole to a song?

Does anyone do anything with After Effects to bring a new dimension to the footage? Have a look at www.videocopilot.net for amazing free tutorials and inspiration. I mean, you could use the camera tracking stuff in AE to plant some anime heads on live-action people. You could create fake 3d corridors with Photoshop and AE, and then attach anime video's on some of the walls, or in the puddles, or something. Get the camera mcving about.

Or what about collaborating with some talented artists (like on deviant or something)? Doing some original anime inspired stuff.

Just some suggestions if you're getting despondant about the state of the scene.

Sorry to barge in. Interesting thread.

[Sukunai]

We've *ALWAYS* been in a slump. Most AMVs really really suck. You get like two good ones a year. We all remember Odorikuruu or I Wish I Was A Lesbian or any of the other great ones but do you remember all the pieces of shit that were released around the same time as them? Face it, finding a good AMV is like wading through a river of shit looking for a rose.

That's it in a nutshell.

I would only add, that there is a finite limit on ways some things can be done.
Most of the more clever ideas have been done.

Lame copies if an already done to death idea remain lame copies.

If I find one great amv in a month, I call that a great success.
The trouble is looking at all the shit first before finding that one good one.

[DriftRoot]

I don't know if I'd term it a slump so much as the bar has been raised so high in AMV-land that it's rare when something comes along that actually makes it over the top. Videos which would have had a huge impact even a year or two ago are now not only mainstream, they're expected. It's pretty depressing, actually. I get the strong impression the height of the bar is discouraging to people who want to make great videos, but feel like they need to be some kind of AMV prodigy to succeed.

As several other people stated, when so much has been done with AMVs - technically and thematically speaking - it takes a lot more to stand out from the crowd. Originality, fortunately, is something that doesn't have to be learned. In this respect, the newbie and the veteran editor can actually be on equal footing.

[Vivaldi]

my husband wants to add this:
how do you make your amv's? Take a bunch of footage and cut/cross-fade/splice it into a cohesive whole to a song?

Does anyone do anything with After Effects to bring a new dimension to the footage? Have a look at www.videocopilot.net for amazing free tutorials and inspiration. I mean, you could use the camera tracking stuff in AE to plant some anime heads on live-action people. You could create fake 3d corridors with Photoshop and AE, and then attach anime video's on some of the walls, or in the puddles, or something. Get the camera mcving about.

Or what about collaborating with some talented artists (like on deviant or something)? Doing some original anime inspired stuff.

Just some suggestions if you're getting despondant about the state of the scene.

Sorry to barge in. Interesting thread.

I just wanted to point out that people already do this, check out "spoil" for the corridor thing in particuler. It's just that whenever anyone uses anything other than fades and presets, it automaticuly becomes "one of the many brainless effects videos that's killing amvs."

Anyway, I don't really see where this thread is coming from, I've seen quite alot of great amvs this year. Arugia, Chimera, The freedom MEP, Paper Image, ect. Alot that have either redefined (at least somewhat) the style, or have just executed the style masterfully. In general, the quality of amvs has increased dramaticly over the past few years. What Nowadays gets a "hey, that was pretty cool, I'll be keeping this" would've shot to the top of the charts a few years ago. It's just that the increase in quality seems to have been such a shallow slope that no one has noticed it.

About effects, effects are valuble. They widen the scope of what's possible in an amv. Cut and fade amvs can certinly be great. but it's been like that for 30 something odd years. The hobby is growing, and it's good. If you seriously think there are too many amvs with effects, I'd say it's probably just nostalgia speaking (looking at the actual ratio, you could objectivly say there's way to many cut & fade amvs). Even today, if you go to the announcment thread and pick an amv at random, there's a high chance it'll still be a "normal" cut and fade amv.

I guess what I'm saying is that you can make a decent amv by either mastering the technical side, or using awesome creativity. But you need both to make a great amv. I don't want to just see a lightshow. And I also don't want to see the same thing I've watched a couple thousand times already. It works both way. But I think amvs are doing great, and they're peaking still.

[Kitsuner]

my husband wants to add this:
how do you make your amv's? Take a bunch of footage and cut/cross-fade/splice it into a cohesive whole to a song?

Does anyone do anything with After Effects to bring a new dimension to the footage? Have a look at www.videocopilot.net for amazing free tutorials and inspiration. I mean, you could use the camera tracking stuff in AE to plant some anime heads on live-action people. You could create fake 3d corridors with Photoshop and AE, and then attach anime video's on some of the walls, or in the puddles, or something. Get the camera mcving about.

Or what about collaborating with some talented artists (like on deviant or something)? Doing some original anime inspired stuff.

Just some suggestions if you're getting despondant about the state of the scene.

Sorry to barge in. Interesting thread.

I just wanted to point out that people already do this, check out "spoil" for the corridor thing in particuler. It's just that whenever anyone uses anything other than fades and presets, it automaticuly becomes "one of the many brainless effects videos that's killing amvs."

Wait, it's when someone DOESN'T use presets that it's called brainless? How does THAT work?