Livetune new official music video, AMV? M@D? Something else?

General discussion of Anime Music Videos
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Kionon
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Livetune new official music video, AMV? M@D? Something else?

Post by Kionon » Thu Oct 18, 2012 3:54 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... yL4pzictu8

Official music video, but should this still be called a M@D? Or can it rightly be called a Japanese AMV? There are Japanese editors who take the title... (Pianos, Niwatori). As an AMV editor who lives in Japan, this is relevant to my interests.
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Re: Livetune new official music video, AMV? M@D? Something e

Post by AceD » Thu Oct 18, 2012 4:28 am

If you search アニメMAD on nico, you will get "Japanese AMVs", there are lots of editors like that besides Pianos and Niwa, especially when you include the Chinese community.
If you search 静止画MAD you will get the type of videos our community recognises as a MAD, still images

Take Niwa's latest videos (http://www.nicovideo.jp/mylist/31064400), they are titled as MAD, not AMV...even though it's in the AMV style. He has no reason to call it an AMV since it's not his country's terminology.
You still get some Japanese people tag them as amv, just like you get some Americans tags there videos as MAD....

In the end both words are just different terminology used by different communities, targeting the same thing....you could just call it either

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Re: Livetune new official music video, AMV? M@D? Something e

Post by Kionon » Thu Oct 18, 2012 4:56 am

Historically, this was not true, though AceD. Early M@Ds did not resemble early AMVs, and the philosophy behind creating them was quite different. You make a case which has been discussed here before, that the two forms have evolved to closely resemble each other if not be indistinguishable unless they follow styles which were established very early in one hobby or the other. I don't disagree, but I also don't need the explanation (useful for newer editors/members, perhaps).

I've unfortunately only discussed this with one Japanese creator in person. Turns out one of the clerks at the 市役所 was a M@D editor, and he saw me editing one day at my desk on the Board of Education's floor. I think he was delivering a note. Japanese creators seem to be very, very strongly tied to anonymity, and so there aren't any real get-togethers like there are for other fandoms I am involved in here in Japan where I may be the only person who isn't ethnically Japanese present. It'd be nice if we could, but then, I think the international community, especially the North American community, benefits largely from the convention scene. In Japan, events are tied to much smaller purposes. The idea of a general anime convention has been discussed by several people (including myself), but the fear is that it might not be popular, nor its purpose understood.

I the case of this thread, I was more interested in what you would apply to this specific work, especially as it is an official music video, not a discussion of M@D vs. AMV.
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Re: Livetune new official music video, AMV? M@D? Something e

Post by AceD » Thu Oct 18, 2012 5:31 am

Kionon wrote:Historically, this was not true, though AceD. Early M@Ds did not resemble early AMVs, and the philosophy behind creating them was quite different. You make a case which has been discussed here before, that the two forms have evolved to closely resemble each other if not be indistinguishable unless they follow styles which were established very early in one hobby or the other. I don't disagree, but I also don't need the explanation (useful for newer editors/members, perhaps).

I've unfortunately only discussed this with one Japanese creator in person. Turns out one of the clerks at the 市役所 was a M@D editor, and he saw me editing one day at my desk on the Board of Education's floor. I think he was delivering a note. Japanese creators seem to be very, very strongly tied to anonymity, and so there aren't any real get-togethers like there are for other fandoms I am involved in here in Japan where I may be the only person who isn't ethnically Japanese present. It'd be nice if we could, but then, I think the international community, especially the North American community, benefits largely from the convention scene. In Japan, events are tied to much smaller purposes. The idea of a general anime convention has been discussed by several people (including myself), but the fear is that it might not be popular, nor its purpose understood.

I the case of this thread, I was more interested in what you would apply to this specific work, especially as it is an official music video, not a discussion of M@D vs. AMV.
I only touched on it briefly, because you asked "should this still be called a M@D? Or can it rightly be called a Japanese AMV?". My only point was that they are one in the same. Mentioning history of such things is pointless when only the here and now is relevant.

So anyway. Same case as FlashBack, yama_ko is a "mad editor", and freelance motion designer. Both are official music videos.....so why try decide if it's a "M@D" or "Japanese AMV", just call it an official music video....i would probably just call it a MV or PV though, since they are official videos and "mads/amvs" relate to fanmade works

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Re: Livetune new official music video, AMV? M@D? Something e

Post by Kionon » Thu Oct 18, 2012 5:57 am

AceD wrote:Mentioning history of such things is pointless when only the here and now is relevant.
I actually disagree with this. History is always relevant. We cannot understand the here and now without a thorough understanding how we arrived at this place and time. Just because the two hobbies have evolved to appear, at the surface level, to be indistinguishable does not make them inherently so.
so why try decide if it's a "M@D" or "Japanese AMV", just call it an official music video....i would probably just call it a MV or PV though, since they are official videos and "mads/amvs" relate to fanmade works
...uhm, because it's fun? And interesting? And because comparative theory is educational and promotes critical thinking? And just because a work is official does not mean that fandom is precluded (see Interstella 5555, which is both an official music video and work brimming with fan oriented intertextual value). In fact, it would be really cool to see more official work which did have fan oriented intertextual value. That'd be pretty darn cool.
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Re: Livetune new official music video, AMV? M@D? Something e

Post by JudgeHolden » Thu Oct 18, 2012 10:02 am

Sorry Kio .. I agree with Aced.

It's original animation done officially for the band, like the Amazing Nuts CD/DVD pack or a Gorillas MV ... so it is neither an AMV or a M@D ... it is what it is ...

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Re: Livetune new official music video, AMV? M@D? Something e

Post by Kionon » Thu Oct 18, 2012 4:44 pm

JudgeHolden wrote:Sorry Kio .. I agree with Aced.

It's original animation done officially for the band, like the Amazing Nuts CD/DVD pack or a Gorillas MV ... so it is neither an AMV or a M@D ... it is what it is ...
C'mon, JH, you've got to give me more than that. I just don't see why "official" precludes definition as AMV/M@D. Not only do I not believe that fandom is inherent in AMVs/M@Ds, but even when it is inherent in an individual AMV or M@D, there is nothing which precludes that video from also being official. If a Japanese studio hired you tomorrow to edit for an official music video with all new animation for some anime series or anime short, and you really liked it, and you were fan, and you worked with the animators to do all the things which we normally do in AMV editing, and your work was released in Japan, would you honestly tell me you hadn't just made an AMV? If you argued because the editing was done in Japan for a Japanese audience, you had made a M@D, I might believe. If you told me you hadn't made an AMV or a M@D, I wouldn't believe you. I'd be too polite to say so, but that's how I would see it.

It seems to me there should be some other criterion for determining why one of these labels does not apply, and that criterion should not be whether or not a video is official and/or authorised. With this particular video, one can argue that there isn't the kind of sync we usually associate with AMVs, and this much looser sync is more reminiscent of M@Ds, but as M@Ds have become significantly more synced over time, perhaps an argument can be made that this video's lack of sync is what prevents it from being considered one or the other. However, this gets into the issue of the literally thousands of videos uploaded to the Org or on YouTube which claim one of these labels but have no sync or what we might say is technically lacking sync. Are those not AMVs?
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Re: Livetune new official music video, AMV? M@D? Something e

Post by outlawed » Thu Oct 18, 2012 7:04 pm

Kionon wrote:Japanese creators seem to be very, very strongly tied to anonymity, and so there aren't any real get-togethers like there are for other fandoms I am involved in here in Japan where I may be the only person who isn't ethnically Japanese present.
http://web.archive.org/web/200304050213 ... e/mad.html
I remember when we translated the MAD info page. Got some amusing commentary on different MAD creator webpages' bbs comments. Pretty much they were like omg who put this up we need to get it down. Unlike us over here where the JP companies have limited power to do anything they also have to worry more about getting shut down. You can bet something like a large scale AMV contest would not fly over there unless it was backed by a particular corporate entity and had the proper restrictions in place. At that point it wouldn't really be the same thing. Let's also remember that it's standard procedure to keep your otaku status in the closet to begin with.

If you take fan out of the picture then you've moved on from AMV or MAD designation. What you have then is professional output. It's not the same thing. Plenty of doujin amateurs go pro but you don't see people making MADs in Japan as a doujin enterprise to go pro because they don't own the footage and music and would be sued into oblivion. To be honest if I was an animator whether pro or an amateur in the doujin scene I would see AX's cash money AMV contest as a slap in the face. Cons over here exist to serve their clientele so it's a moot point and that's getting off topic.

Also what we call typical story AMVs exist as MADs. I had seen several back in 2000. They just weren't as common as all the stuff the VN fans made. Pretty sure VN fans making MADs were less likely to see heat from some company like Bandai so they proliferated more openly. Man now you got me remembering JP warez in the early 00s where you had to use those programs to assemble corrupt fake images files from different download sites and then recreate a lzh file from them. That warez storage method is pretty much how I got my CD worth of MADs back then. Boy did Winny sure change things.

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Re: Livetune new official music video, AMV? M@D? Something e

Post by Kionon » Thu Oct 18, 2012 8:40 pm

outlawed wrote:I remember when we translated the MAD info page. Got some amusing commentary on different MAD creator webpages' bbs comments. Pretty much they were like omg who put this up we need to get it down. Unlike us over here where the JP companies have limited power to do anything they also have to worry more about getting shut down.
I also remember reading it was published. I didn't agree with all of your conclusions then, but I lacked context to really articulate my views. I have that context now, and I find that while my positions have changed on some of your analysis, it hasn't changed entirely.

I am well aware of the difference in how IP holders react inside of Japan and views of Japanese fandom towards anonymity. When I say tied to anonymity, I wasn't saying there wasn't justification for it. I perhaps was implying (as I've explicitly stated elsewhere), that I'm not going to follow their lead, and I would encourage Japanese creators to take a less anonymous role if we ever have any hopes of getting the LDP's safe space legislation passed. Although this is unlikely with the DPJ being so friendly with the IP holders. Doujin has a special place because it refused to back down. Douga creators, regardless of what we are called in Japan, and whether or not I qualify as a MAD creator or not (and that's a whole 'nother can of worm entirely which goes straight to the heart of nihonjinron and personal identity more), need to step up and be counted if there is ever hope to be recognised for our skillsets the way doujin artists are.
You can bet something like a large scale AMV contest would not fly over there unless it was backed by a particular corporate entity and had the proper restrictions in place. At that point it wouldn't really be the same thing. Let's also remember that it's standard procedure to keep your otaku status in the closet to begin with.
I'm not even talking about a large scale AMV contest. Most of our fandom meetings (I'm an active part of Yamato fandom, as an example. And I'm recognised as part of the extended Takada fandom since individuals who are not ethnic Japanese are so rare) are very, very small. Less than twenty people. Maybe as many as 50. Comiket is an entirely different type of event and is just not normal. It's an exception. Sustaining a Western style convention would be very difficult. An AMV contest would be impossible. I can't manage to get 10 Japanese creators in a single room. When I talking about events, I mean events like that.

As for otakudom being closeted... That's no longer accurate, at least not in the five years I've lived here. My students certainly are not shy about showing their fandom, and because of Yamato events and Takada events, I've had the chance to interact with how fandom exists in Japan. Likewise, I've met a number of Sailor Moon fans who are more than willing to discuss with me the finer points of Crystal Tokyo sociopolitical implications... at functions which are anything but anime related. It was surprising at first, but it's pretty cool now.
If you take fan out of the picture then you've moved on from AMV or MAD designation. What you have then is professional output. It's not the same thing.


Not sure if I agree. What if the professional output is created by a fan, as in the example a stipulated in the previous post? I just don't draw the distinction you do.
Plenty of doujin amateurs go pro but you don't see people making MADs in Japan as a doujin enterprise to go pro because they don't own the footage and music and would be sued into oblivion.
This may be true, but it certainly isn't legitimate. There is absolutely no difference from a transformative, derivative work perspective. It is more accurate to say that doujin artists are a legitimised pool of talent for assistantships and eventual headline creators. There are a number of successul headline artists who started off as doujin artists, several of my students are essentially doujin artists who hope to become headline artists, a number of assistants are hired from events such as Comiket, and a number of headline artists continue to put out doujin work under their own name or with a penname.

The problem with the current legislative environment and the DPJ's stance is that it doesn't recognise (as the LDP's legislation would have) that MADs (and AMVs, if there is a difference in Japan) are valid forms of transformative, derivative works which may be legitimised as a pool of talent for positions which required editing skills. We need to see that happen, and the fact the LDP showed knowledge of this value was a major step forward... and then they lost the election.
To be honest if I was an animator whether pro or an amateur in the doujin scene I would see AX's cash money AMV contest as a slap in the face. Cons over here exist to serve their clientele so it's a moot point and that's getting off topic.
Cash prizes are unethical. You'll get no argument from me.
Also what we call typical story AMVs exist as MADs. I had seen several back in 2000. They just weren't as common as all the stuff the VN fans made.
I remember, yes.
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Re: Livetune new official music video, AMV? M@D? Something e

Post by Zarxrax » Thu Oct 18, 2012 8:46 pm

I've always been of the opinion "who the hell cares what you call it, if its an amazing piece of work, you can call it a dead fish for all I care, its still an amazing piece of work."

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