Do aged AMVs still hold weight in 2009?
- lynit
- Joined: Thu Oct 21, 2004 12:59 pm
- Location: Edmonton, Alberta
Do aged AMVs still hold weight in 2009?
Damn technology these days.....*grumble*
A few years ago, I used to see - on a frequent basis - editors releasing great videos using the most basic of editing techniques, 'basic' compared to the style of AMVs we see today. Some editors even got pigeonholed or typecast as the 'old school editor'. Now, AMVs have changed a lot since 2001. In fact AMVs have changed quite a lot in the last few years, the factor mostly being technology.
The question I'm asking to all editors is do you think older videos, and videos emulating that style have aged rather badly? Would a video using simple editing techniques hold up really well against an AE-produced video? I'm asking this because I see a real lack of the former nowadays, most of what IS released tends to be simple 'I did this in a few days' hoopla. I'm really worried by this. I don't want to see every video in 2010 having nothing but the grandest effects money (or a fast Internet connection) can provide.
A few years ago, I used to see - on a frequent basis - editors releasing great videos using the most basic of editing techniques, 'basic' compared to the style of AMVs we see today. Some editors even got pigeonholed or typecast as the 'old school editor'. Now, AMVs have changed a lot since 2001. In fact AMVs have changed quite a lot in the last few years, the factor mostly being technology.
The question I'm asking to all editors is do you think older videos, and videos emulating that style have aged rather badly? Would a video using simple editing techniques hold up really well against an AE-produced video? I'm asking this because I see a real lack of the former nowadays, most of what IS released tends to be simple 'I did this in a few days' hoopla. I'm really worried by this. I don't want to see every video in 2010 having nothing but the grandest effects money (or a fast Internet connection) can provide.
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- ngsilver
- The Old School Otaku
- Joined: Sat Jun 28, 2003 1:22 pm
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Re: Do aged AMVs still hold weight in 2009?
At cons I tend to find older and simpler videos can outshine even the most effects laden video. One fan favorite that always gets requested when I'm running a room or an event is Lazy_H's , and that is one of the simplest videos I've seen. It uses an old series, the quality of the source and subsiquent video is low, and there are no visible effects and only simple edits. It just never get's old.
I try to see myself as an 'old school' editor since I try to stand by using simple cuts and edits in order to put a video together and tell a story. I don't really think these videos have aged badly. Sure, we can look back at videos that are nearing 10 even 20 years old and can tell that the video quality isn't as good, but what made those videos great then still make them great today. If someone uses the same equation today with better looking footage the result would still be the same, it just looks nicer.
At least that's my view on it.
I try to see myself as an 'old school' editor since I try to stand by using simple cuts and edits in order to put a video together and tell a story. I don't really think these videos have aged badly. Sure, we can look back at videos that are nearing 10 even 20 years old and can tell that the video quality isn't as good, but what made those videos great then still make them great today. If someone uses the same equation today with better looking footage the result would still be the same, it just looks nicer.
At least that's my view on it.
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- のヮの
- Joined: Sun Jul 01, 2007 5:08 pm
Re: Do aged AMVs still hold weight in 2009?
No amount of effects will ever be able to cover up a badly edited video. That being said, just because a video has effects it does not mean it's badly edited either.
- Vivaldi
- Polemic Apologist
- Joined: Sat Sep 29, 2007 9:39 am
- Location: Petting mah cat..
Re: Do aged AMVs still hold weight in 2009?
Effects can only be used on top of already good editing. Even if a video is designed from the ground up to be an FX extravaganza, It still has to have good editing principles behind it or it's worthless. I also don't like the idea of two camps. (The effects users and the regular editors) since good editing is an ability that's needed regardless.
Effect aren't a different means to make a video. They're not inherently "better". They simply open up a whole tree of possibilities for the editor with regards to how they want their amv to look and feel. In that light, yes. While I wouldn't use the term better, There's the possibility for a good effects video to be more interesting because there's more creative output and control on the side of the editor.
Of course with that in mind, this question is like asking if being able to play an octave stretch triple shuffle on the violin makes old regular violin music worthless. Of course not. Interesting to be sure, but an additive.
To answer the question directly, Aside from quality limitations, older videos have aged just fine. 'Cause when you get right down to it, creative editing is at the base of it all. And they have it in spades.
Effect aren't a different means to make a video. They're not inherently "better". They simply open up a whole tree of possibilities for the editor with regards to how they want their amv to look and feel. In that light, yes. While I wouldn't use the term better, There's the possibility for a good effects video to be more interesting because there's more creative output and control on the side of the editor.
Of course with that in mind, this question is like asking if being able to play an octave stretch triple shuffle on the violin makes old regular violin music worthless. Of course not. Interesting to be sure, but an additive.
To answer the question directly, Aside from quality limitations, older videos have aged just fine. 'Cause when you get right down to it, creative editing is at the base of it all. And they have it in spades.
- Megamom
- Joined: Fri Mar 31, 2006 1:05 pm
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Re: Do aged AMVs still hold weight in 2009?
x2... The answer is simple but accurate.Pas wrote:No amount of effects will ever be able to cover up a badly edited video. That being said, just because a video has effects it does not mean it's badly edited either.
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- Otohiko
- Joined: Mon May 05, 2003 8:32 pm
Re: Do aged AMVs still hold weight in 2009?
I don't think basic montage will ever get old. There is really no logical reason for it to. I think it's easy to get the opposite impression when you're in the community of editors many of whom are technologically-fixated, but new editing techniques will never really 'replace' the older ones.
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- Qyot27
- Surreptitious fluffy bunny
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Re: Do aged AMVs still hold weight in 2009?
That's like asking if Engel will ever stop getting enjoyed. And aside from overexposure, I think that's pretty hard to claim.
The divide happens because the technical prowess involved in editing has advanced beyond simply making the video look its best, quality-wise, or doing creative things within that basic set of editing standbys (at least for those who felt their ideas for such were depleted). Effects are practically the only thing left after those have been exhausted, and the early, very creative effects vids were so popular that they spawned imitators, and then with technology advancing to such a point where stock effects are at the level they are, they get abused just like wipe transitions and all were in the earlier group.
But a well-edited video is a well-edited video and doesn't lose any of its impact, whether effects are present or not.
The divide happens because the technical prowess involved in editing has advanced beyond simply making the video look its best, quality-wise, or doing creative things within that basic set of editing standbys (at least for those who felt their ideas for such were depleted). Effects are practically the only thing left after those have been exhausted, and the early, very creative effects vids were so popular that they spawned imitators, and then with technology advancing to such a point where stock effects are at the level they are, they get abused just like wipe transitions and all were in the earlier group.
But a well-edited video is a well-edited video and doesn't lose any of its impact, whether effects are present or not.
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- Enigma
- That jolly ol' bastid
- Joined: Sat Mar 07, 2009 3:55 pm
- Status: Free
- Location: California
Re: Do aged AMVs still hold weight in 2009?
AmenVivaldi wrote:Effects can only be used on top of already good editing. Even if a video is designed from the ground up to be an FX extravaganza, It still has to have good editing principles behind it or it's worthless. I also don't like the idea of two camps. (The effects users and the regular editors) since good editing is an ability that's needed regardless.
Effect aren't a different means to make a video. They're not inherently "better". They simply open up a whole tree of possibilities for the editor with regards to how they want their amv to look and feel. In that light, yes. While I wouldn't use the term better, There's the possibility for a good effects video to be more interesting because there's more creative output and control on the side of the editor.
Of course with that in mind, this question is like asking if being able to play an octave stretch triple shuffle on the violin makes old regular violin music worthless. Of course not. Interesting to be sure, but an additive.
To answer the question directly, Aside from quality limitations, older videos have aged just fine. 'Cause when you get right down to it, creative editing is at the base of it all. And they have it in spades.

- Brad
- Joined: Wed Dec 20, 2000 9:32 am
- Location: Chicago, IL
- Contact:
Re: Do aged AMVs still hold weight in 2009?
I'll slightly play devil's advocate here and say that a few months ago I did spend some time watching some older videos that at the time everybody loved and were by all accounts great, but after watching them now, several of them didn't hold up. I just couldn't get into them the way I and many others did back then.
But the big kicker is, the ones that didn't hold up tended to be the ones that used blatant effects.
So what I took from that was, really solid straight up editing probably never gets old. But certain effects can feel exceptionally dated.
Now of course, that's definitely not a knock against using effects in your videos. But at least from what I experienced, it did have a personal bearing on how I felt about it. I mean, there were others that used effects in other more subtle ways that didn't draw AS MUCH attention to themselves that I still loved (Believe, Playground Love, etc.). So, I dunno. To answer the question though, yes, aged AMV's do still hold weight, just not across the board (for me anyway).
But the big kicker is, the ones that didn't hold up tended to be the ones that used blatant effects.
So what I took from that was, really solid straight up editing probably never gets old. But certain effects can feel exceptionally dated.
Now of course, that's definitely not a knock against using effects in your videos. But at least from what I experienced, it did have a personal bearing on how I felt about it. I mean, there were others that used effects in other more subtle ways that didn't draw AS MUCH attention to themselves that I still loved (Believe, Playground Love, etc.). So, I dunno. To answer the question though, yes, aged AMV's do still hold weight, just not across the board (for me anyway).
- Sephiroth
- Joined: Tue Dec 19, 2000 10:32 pm
- Location: California
Re: Do aged AMVs still hold weight in 2009?
The community has gotten used to effects finally, i think that's why some editors are so quick to call back to 2003-4 as some sort of golden age. Effects burst out of the door and blew most people away at that time. They had the whole new quality to them, now that they're common place it's no longer special to see them and thus a curtain kind of thrill has been lost.
As an editor who's been around for 10 odd years on this site there's been good, bad, and great videos, and there will continue to be as long as people edit. Effects are a tool, nothing more. Same with the non linear editing software.
As an editor who's been around for 10 odd years on this site there's been good, bad, and great videos, and there will continue to be as long as people edit. Effects are a tool, nothing more. Same with the non linear editing software.