Questions questions questions

[Brad]

It's a tricky question to answer because the sample of people this has happened to is very slim. There's a ton of "it depends" involved. Most of all it depends on the person reviewing the reel and the project you're bidding for. Like in Castor's case, the director of the film was very impressed by his AMV's and admired the concept. But that doesn't automatically mean that another director/producer/whatever is going to feel the same way. They might look at is a some cheap hack.

There's also the fact that editing for film is VERY different from editing for an AMV. Sure there are a few similarities, and AMV experience gets you used to the software (but quite frankly, learning how to use software is a far stretch from learning how to edit well). It's the kind of difference that's really hard to fully appreciate until you've done both. When I edited my first short film, I went into it thinking "man this is gonna be such a breeze, I've been editing for years, blah blah blah." About a week or so into I was thinking "holy crap this is barely even close to what I'm used to."

I'm not saying all this to discourage you or anybody from pursuing editing as a career, but you need to be prepared for the idea that your experience with AMV's very well may have very little bearing on your experience in film editing.

Now as far as the whole "getting noticed on the org" thing, just.. make good videos, talk to people, generally be a cool person, be able to take criticism, maybe start submitting to contests, join a multi-editor project, make friends, etc. If the video is good enough, hopefully it gets people talking and gets people to share them with their friends. Then maybe you'll be on people's radar and they'll look forward to what you make next.

[Brad]

It's a tricky question to answer because the sample of people this has happened to is very slim. There's a ton of "it depends" involved. Most of all it depends on the person reviewing the reel and the project you're bidding for. Like in Castor's case, the director of the film was very impressed by his AMV's and admired the concept. But that doesn't automatically mean that another director/producer/whatever is going to feel the same way. They might look at it as some cheap hack.

There's also the fact that editing for film is VERY different from editing for an AMV. Sure there are a few similarities, and AMV experience gets you used to the software (but quite frankly, learning how to use software is a far stretch from learning how to edit well). It's the kind of difference that's really hard to fully appreciate until you've done both. When I edited my first short film, I went into it thinking "man this is gonna be such a breeze, I've been editing for years, blah blah blah." About a week or so into I was thinking "holy crap this is barely even close to what I'm used to."

I'm not saying all this to discourage you or anybody from pursuing editing as a career, but you need to be prepared for the idea that your experience with AMV's very well may have very little bearing on your experience in film editing.

Now as far as the whole "getting noticed on the org" thing, just.. make good videos, talk to people, generally be a cool person, be able to take criticism, maybe start submitting to contests, join a multi-editor project, make friends, etc. If the video is good enough, hopefully it gets people talking and gets people to share them with their friends. Then maybe you'll be on people's radar and they'll look forward to what you make next.

[Brad]

Man I'm awesome.

[Koopiskeva]

I'm kind of a big deal.

[mexicanjunior]

I'm kind of a big deal.

Decent schtick...

[ZephyrStar]

I wouldn't use an amv in my own demo reel unless it was stuff I 100% created myself.

But that's just me. If you wanted to have them on you in an interview, especially if you had one that kindof shows off your strengths in editing, then that might be okay, or you might even cut a small section of a demo reel with animation footage to say "look, I can edit in this style too."

I'd agree with what's been said before though, depends on situation for a job, but making videos is a great way to keep your skills sharp. It's how I've kept mine up, seeing as I don't do editing or animation as a profession.

And now I'm out to create a whole bunch of different motion graphic stuff for a demo reel pretty soon. There won't be any anime in it, but there will be some anime-like graphics I'm creating from scratch.

[Beowulf]

AMVs will get you noticed. Everyone In Hollywood that I've shown my AMVs too has liked them and appreciated them. They've gotten me several jobs.

However if you fancy yourself an AMV editor and think your skills will translate one iota into a narrative feature, short, or documentary, you are completely wrong. Its a totally different set of skills. It takes years, decades, to really learn to how tell a story with film in the most impactful and efficient way. All the tricks you learn making AMVs are pretty much useless.

Not to discourage anyone, because the good news is that everyone thats hired me hasn't been able to tell the difference. I haven't talked to anyone thats said "You know, you're very good at making these music video things, but you've never edited a real movie, and its a completely different set of skills, so we're going with someone else".

Rather the contrary, people have responded with "Oh wow! So hip! So cool! So edgy! How long have you been editing? 10 years?! Welcome aboard!"

As a side note, "demo reels" for editors are completely worthless. The only job you're going to get with a demo reel is a job in some post house slave shop cutting reality TV for 14 hours a day. A bunch of flashy shots of cars and women doesn't display your editing chops, it displays the amount of money they had for lighting. Send your best AMV to them with a note that says "I don't think its possible to show someone how I can tell a story in a 2 minute demo reel, so heres a music video that proves I know what I'm doing"

Its worked for me

[Bauzi]

@Beo:
So... if I understood you right: If you show an amv with popular amv editing (you know this heavy beat sync, effects etc.), it usually wouldn't be judged negativly because of the editing style?

That would be a surprise for me.

[Beowulf]

Nope, in fact the general response I've gotten from Hollywood is that its a cool, new thing that is (here's our favorite word) edgy.

Although I'm hardly a good example because I only show people Dead to the World.

[Castor Troy]

However if you fancy yourself an AMV editor and think your skills will translate one iota into a narrative feature, short, or documentary, you are completely wrong. Its a totally different set of skills. It takes years, decades, to really learn to how tell a story with film in the most impactful and efficient way. All the tricks you learn making AMVs are pretty much useless.

I remember my first day.

Director: "Here's the script"

Me: *reads*

Director: "Now we're going to edit by deviating from the script"

Me: