"I can do better!"

[Castor Troy]

I confess I've thought this way, but I'd rather focus on my own original ideas rather than remaking someone else's videos.

Now to work on my Eva Chop Suey video /2002

[Nya-chan Production]

You guys all steal my videos with your dick moves! D:

Before I even make them! D:

[l33tmeatwad]

You guys all steal my videos with your dick moves! D:

Before I even make them! D:

Actually, you have no AMV ideas, I use a dream machine to plant your videos ideas in your head.

[CrackTheSky]

I've done it before, and I'll probably do it again. Who really cares, though? If you don't inform the original editor and then he or she finds out, so what? All you're doing is making a video you want to see made. If it was already done by someone else, and they didn't make it how you wished it had been made, then do it yourself. They can look at it as being "shown up" all they want, in the end it's (I assume) about what you want to see done that they weren't able to satisfy in their iteration.

In the case of the video I made, the original frustrated me so much because the song/anime combo was perfect, but the editing was just this side of horrible, and I really wanted to see it done right. If the original editor had found out and been offended, well, tough. Ideas for AMVs can't be patented, if they could there wouldn't have been a new video on the .org since 2005, and possibly earlier than that.

That's not to say don't try to do new things, but ultimately everything (or almost everything) has been done in some way or another, whether you're aware of it or not.

[EvaFan]

I'll just say this... If you copy ANY of MY IDEAS and make them BETTER...




and then prompty congratulate you on a job well done.

[ZephyrStar]

I never go look when I get an idea. I don't really care if it's been done before. Maybe that's a bad thing, though so far I make pretty weird AMVs so it usually doesn't matter. I have however, written several scripts for things I want to make (indie anime shorts/movies) and in one case a live action film I want to shoot.

In the case of the live action film, I was describing the idea to Fall_Child42, and he's like "oh man, that sounds just like Darren Aronofsky's Pi, have you seen Pi?" I had not (shame on me), so we grabbed it and watched it. I spent the whole time going "DAMMNIT" because parts of it were very similar to what I had written.

In the end, I think it's more of a "great minds think alike" thing. Since seeing Pi, I haven't really changed my story, I've just changed the execution. Execution makes all the difference in the world.

[gotegenks]

Well, i have a rule about not doing videos that have already been done as well as i would have wanted, because it seems pointless! The fun in editing is in coming up with what to put down, and although you may not be the most original editor in the world (you as in anyone) as long as you don't go and consciously copy someone else you get the satisfaction, but if something's already been done before, way good, especially when it's better than i could do, it would seem like a waste of time to me because that video would always just be a disappointment. (I don't exactly know where that ileia rip i did falls into this rule because i didn't think my idea was overly original compared to hers or that my editing was better or anything so let's forget that video exists!)

i have, however, seen videos where the combination rocked and i fell in love with it, but the video was done so poorly that i was more motivated to edit it than i sometimes am with original ideas[ocean breathes salty]. Video ideas that are great shouldn't be off limits because some crappy editor (or a good editor on a crappy day) decides to half ass a video cause they only did the video because they "LIKED THE SONG AND THE MUSIC ." It's more of an injustice to amv lovers and (insert musician) lovers to leave a video with one sucky version than it is to the editor who sucked with it to steal their idea.

besides, song and source combinations are such a miniscule part of what an editor really puts into his video, so it's worse to steal some kind of effect or series of clip choices or something like that than to just take the same song/source.

[Hagaren Viper]

This has only started happening recently, where I start planning a video and get close to finishing choosing scenes, and then I find out "Oh crap, someone just edited this...AND THEY ARE COMPETENT D:". Granted, this has only happened with two videos so far, but my version and their version are usually different enough that I think it's ok to release anyway [And if I happen to use the same scenes then...hope I dont get called a copycat].

Actually, in the middle of making Still Here, I found another vid with that song/anime combo and kinda freaked out, thinking that I couldn't do it anymore. But then I decided that again, the two were ENTIRELY different, and if I remember correctly that vid was just kind of a typical youtube vid so I got over it and edited the thing.

[DriftRoot]

I inadvertently made a video similar enough to someone else's that a few YouTubers had minor hissy fits and called me a copycat and thief (not the most troubling or unusual of things in the grand YouTube scheme of things, but it wasn't completely out of line, either, given the similarities). Would I have still made mine if I knew beforehand the other video existed? YES - it was an original idea I had long before the other video was created and I feel confident I did a better job presenting it. Would I have felt some anxiety about making it if I knew beforehand the other video existed? Definitely...but that sort of goes with the territory in this arena. I am very glad I did NOT know about it, because I'm sure it would have affected my video in some way.

Here's the thing, though: if no one has any date information, a well-done video is likely to be assumed the original. Lots of people copy stuff they see from other AMVs, it's a big part of this hobby. People don't seem to mind so much when it's sub-par copying, but one-upsmanship is a little shakier ground. It's how things evolve, but it can also clearly ruffle feathers.

[JaddziaDax]

Here's the thing, though: if no one has any date information, a well-done video is likely to be assumed the original.

Oh I've had that trouble before, and I didn't even use the same video source as the "better video" but I made mine first, still I got several comments from people who said I copied, or mine was a cheap rip-off which is funny because the other didn't even exist for a long time after mine did.