Are AMVs better than real music videos?

[(NERD Studios) Arturo]

I was flipping through the channels the other day and noticed that VH1 was playing some music videos, which I don't normally watch.

I thought, "Ooh, neat. Maybe I can get some editing ideas."

Sadly, I was greatly disappointed. The videos sucked. The only part of them that seemed to have anything to do with the music were the occasional shots of the musicians/vocalists. I saw about three, one of which was Evanescence - Bring Me to Life, and two others with music I didn't recognize.

Now I'm certainly not saying they were worse than all AMVs (I've seen some AMVs about a hundred times worse), but I wouldn't have rated them high enough to make it anywhere near the top lists on this website.

Are most actual music videos like this? Was I just unfortunate enough to see three sub-par examples? Should musicians start hiring the better editors among us to direct their videos?

[(NERD Studios) Arturo]

[MOD835: Gross stupidity by NME and Tab modded out.]

[Lyrs]

Definetly because amvs don't showcase the singers, rather the anime.

also, music video syncing sucks. 8)

/end

[fyrtenheimer]

Shutup Lyrs.

I don't think you can generalize and say, "Hey, this tuna sammich is shit, but damn, amvs are better than real music videos"

Some are better then others, some aren't.

[Lyrs]

yes mam

music videos suck

/end

[trythil]

Are most actual music videos like this? Was I just unfortunate enough to see three sub-par examples? Should musicians start hiring the better editors among us to direct their videos?

You were unfortunate.

Look at some of Kylie Minogue's videos, especially:
"Can't Get You Out Of My Head"
"Love At First Sight"
and "Come Into My World"

I don't know who did the first two, but I know that the third was done by an absolutely amazing fellow named Michel Gondry. You've got to see the video to "Come Into My World" -- it's an amazing feat. It's set up as one continuous shot, following Kylie around and panning through the streets of France, and eventually it gets to the point where there's four Kylies simultaneously on-screen. In the same flowing shot.

I have no idea how he did it, but it gave me some great AMV ideas.

[trythil]

Oh yeah, a few more:

The animated series of music videos done by Leiji Matsumoto for the first four songs on Daft Punk's "Discovery";
The Elvis Presley vs. JXL video that Sierra Lorna based her Elvis vs. Anime video off of;
Hayao Miyazaki and "On Your Mark";

...and one Linkin Park video that was entirely CGed and looked damn cool. Unfortunately I can't remember the name of it, much less the director :/

[Beowulf]

Everyone should go download the music video for "All is full of Love" by Bjork. That is a serious work of art.

In general the best AMV's are edited much better than the best MV's. I think thats due to the fact that the editor of an AMV is really an editor but rather a director, producer, editor, special effects coordinator, and music supervisor. We do everything, so of course a lot more time goes into it.

Where as we create entertainment through superior editing and special effects, they create entertainment by just filming it. If they want a scene, they get their cast to create it. We don't have that luxury, and instead improvise with what we have and throw in some good editing to fill the gaps.

[Arctyc]

And of course, you could go for the videos filled with special effects, like Evanescence's "Going Under" or Alkaline Trio's "We've Had Enough".

Then of course, there's the stranger vein, found in video's like Radiohead's "There There" (well, just about any Radiohead video, for that matter), or Static-X's "Push It".

Dude, the Daft Punk videos rock. The Linkin Park video you're trying to think of was the Gordon remix of "Points of Authority".

[EarthCurrent]

Fatboy Slim's "Weapons of Choice"
Best video EVAR.