AMVs that make you want to give up

[seasons]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxEXbsgWYss

I'm watching this and I'm mildly impressed by the complexity of it all, and it's even using a source that I really enjoy, and yet... I don't feel a single thing but complete and utter indifference from start to finish. It's technically impressive and even "works" with the source material pretty well. But it just bores me in a way that even a truly bad AMV has yet to do.

I don't edit like this myself, and -- even as I learn basic effects little by little -- don't know if I'll ever be at the level where I could actually make something like this. And even if I did... well, watching this, I have to ask myself: would it even be worth my time to do so? When someone (who obviously has some level of talent) makes something as impressive-looking as this, something so completely out of my league, and it just doesn't move me at all... then what hope do I have of making a video that would move anyone else? I guess that's the issue that I'm trying to get at.

Obviously, here's where someone comes in and tells me to man up and to "make a better AMV then" or something. I don't know. It's not like I'm not trying. Like anyone wants to watch "simple" AMVs anymore, anyway.

I'll probably regret starting this thread by the end of the night. Oh well.

[BasharOfTheAges]

I didn't find that to be impressive to be honest. Find a better vid to not be able to measure up to.

[godix]

Despite what the org usually acts like, the technical aspect of videos is one of the least important. Concept, good scene choice, clever ideas, or even just catchy songs interest the audience more. So it doesn't really matter if you can do technical as well as that video, what matters is if you can come up with ideas that capture your audience and doesn't leave them with that 'complete and utter indifference from start to finish' feeling

[CorpseGoddess]

I understand what you're saying. Videos like this are what I personally put into my "Sound and fury, signifying nothing" category. All flash, no substance. Conversely, there are videos that aren't edited as well, might have a bit of lip-flap or somesuch and yet I find far more enjoyable.

I think at the end of the day, it all comes down to subjective opinion, which is the essence of what makes art, art. And yes, I do feel editing our little videos *is* art. Any form of creation is such, and most people feel the need to have it in their lives, whether it's fractal calendars, reproductions of the Sistine Chapel, a Velvet Elvis, prints from the Tate Gallery or a Three Wolf Moon tshirt.

I draw in addition to editing, and I do both for the same reason--I create because I want to see what's in my head exist in real life, first and foremost. Secondly for me is that I'd like what I create from inside of my head to connect to what's in *somebody else's* head, so they can experience what Aristotle described as the "pleasure of recognition". I often find that if I edit with the second goal in mind, it often falls flat, because I'm not creating truth for myself for somebody else to discover, but trying to make truth for somebody else that may not be a part of me.

And sometimes, when I *do* edit for myself, I'm pleasantly surprised. My Misa vid, for example, used a very obscure song by a very obscure artist, both of which I'd loved for years. When I decided to make that vid, it was purely for my own enjoyment---I NEVER expected anybody else to "get it". And yet, it won multiple awards at different cons, and I had lot of people tell me how much they enjoyed it---far more people "got it" then I ever imagined. And I believe it's because I made the truth of that video for me, and it drew other people in.

So I would say don't doubt yourself, your motives or your creativity based on your reactions to a video that might be technically superior to what your current standards are; stay true to yourself and your vision and edit what you want because you want to.

/soapbox

edit: And as I was typing that, Godix said it far more succinctly and far less pretentiously than I did. Good show, sir.

[Enigma]

I hate AMVs cuz they lack substance lulz. it all died out sometime in the mid 00's lulz.

[Enigma]

But in all honesty, videos such as those and the fads on whats "good" or makes it big aren't my cup of tea. So i doubt i'll see myself doing anything remotely close to it, it's just incredibly boring. Things such as crossovers and essentially M@D's an all that stuff are what are killing the joy of this hobby for me, the latter one being the more prominent one. So i rarely watch videos these days aside from a few people I've been watching for a few years now. So most of the time i just watch videos from pre-2005 to begin with. Kids and their shit music and shiny colors

[NME]

Effects videos are cool but effects video makers usually have poor editing skills and more adeptness in the realm of composition and pure graphic art.

It's just bad art. There's tons of that. 99% of art is that!

[Castor Troy]

I didn't find that to be impressive to be honest. Find a better vid to not be able to measure up to.

this

[Ikore]

Kids and their shit music and shiny colors

I didn't find that to be impressive to be honest.

indeed everything in that vid is kind of "easy"

this

Holly crap of the gods Dx now I give up.

and well, and srly "I really Don´t care for what other editors can do, if it is a good amv I´ll enjoy it, but im not wasting my time editing to be better than somebody else, I just want to now what I´m capable of. be "better" is not as good as being yourself."

[Ikore]

know what I´m capable of.