Are AMVs better than real music videos?

OmniStrata · Post by **OmniStrata** » Sat Jul 19, 2003 11:33 am

koronoru wrote:
Nightowl wrote:Do any of you have any concept as to how hard it is to create a real music video? Have you shot film, let alone an entire music video with cameras and actors and set designers and continuity? Have you ever created a video work from scratch, rather than using somebody else's footage to create a fan work? Does anybody else realize how inane this thread is? Why in the hell would a producer give his or her two million dollars, give or take, to a fanboy who sits at home playing on the computer when they don't even know how to batch capture? Music videos don't come on DVDs and you can't use HuffYUV to cut them. Sorry.
If the above were actually true, then the low quality of "pro" live-action music videos would be even less excusable. When someone spends $2million and hires "real" talent to make a music video and it still comes out looking like the crap many of the videos shown on MTV are, that's just pathetic.

Counterbalancing Nightowl's argument: do you have any concept as to how hard it is to create a music video when you have to use footage that already exists and was shot for a completely different purpose; where if there's a scene you need you have to either find it in your archive or not use that scene, period (no, you don't get to shoot the scenes of your choice); with no staff other than the director; on the run from the RIAA; for an audience that considers you to be "a fanboy who sits at home playing on the computer when they don't even know how to batch capture"; on consumer equipment; and without getting paid for your efforts? The fact that we can do this at all, let alone get as good results as some of us do, amazes me.

Some others in this thread have mentioned "pro" music videos that happened to be animated, and I'd like to nominate the animated segments from Pink Floyd: The Wall. Great stuff in there.

/me gives Thumbs up...

SarahtheBoring · Post by **SarahtheBoring** » Sat Jul 19, 2003 12:00 pm

I think there is a range of everything, always; to say that one thing is always good and another always bad is foolish.

Thing is, we get to choose which AMVs we watch, and so we go for ones we are likely to enjoy. There's no AMVTV where we have to sit through 20 Linkinball Z videos in order to get that one good one, so people tend to forget how many AMVs really are lame.

(mine included, don't get me wrong.)

I think that may skew people's perceptions. Go and watch a block of really good pro videos - the ones mentioned here, I'd throw in Madonna's "Frozen" as a personal fave of mine, as well - and then watch a block of Linkinball Z videos made from downloaded footage, see if you can seriously say that all pro videos suck and all AMVs r00l.

There is a range of everything, period.

trythil · Post by **trythil** » Sat Jul 19, 2003 12:10 pm

Nightowl wrote:Do any of you have any concept as to how hard it is to create a real music video? Have you shot film, let alone an entire music video with cameras and actors and set designers and continuity? Have you ever created a video work from scratch, rather than using somebody else's footage to create a fan work?

Yes, and I know how much of a pain in the ass it is...hence why I give props to videos instead of blasting them all

Though:

koronoru wrote: Counterbalancing Nightowl's argument: do you have any concept as to how hard it is to create a music video when you have to use footage that already exists and was shot for a completely different purpose; where if there's a scene you need you have to either find it in your archive or not use that scene, period (no, you don't get to shoot the scenes of your choice); with no staff other than the director; on the run from the RIAA; for an audience that considers you to be "a fanboy who sits at home playing on the computer when they don't even know how to batch capture"; on consumer equipment; and without getting paid for your efforts? The fact that we can do this at all, let alone get as good results as some of us do, amazes me.

That is a good point, especially given some of the crap I've seen on MTV...

Also, here's another MV that really stood out to me: the video to Nine Inch Nails' "Closer", which Aluminum Studios based his own Key the Metal Idol "Closer" video off of.

The real music video to Frou Frou's "Must Be Dreaming" is rather trippy, and involves some interesting (well to me anyway) cinematography. Check it out sometime.

jonmartensen · Post by **jonmartensen** » Sat Jul 19, 2003 2:58 pm

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

No amount of AMV editing can create a video greater than that.

EarthCurrent · Post by **EarthCurrent** » Sat Jul 19, 2003 3:11 pm

OmniStrata wrote:Anime Music Video...

Music Video...

the difference is both small and big...

5 letters, "anime..."

Where does Matthew Sweet fit in then?

Lyrs · Post by **Lyrs** » Sat Jul 19, 2003 4:24 pm

www.sputnik7.com

look up artist:

gorillaz

some nice vids

/end

ithaqua · Post by **ithaqua** » Sat Jul 19, 2003 10:03 pm

Music Videos that show quality and artistic vision

Aphex Twin - Come To Daddy
I can't believe something this awesome was created.

Einsteurzende Neubauten - Sabrina
Fits the song perfectly, forces you to pay attention.

Revolting Cocks - Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?
Just great. Words cannot describe.

Electric Six - Danger! High Voltage!
Catchy song, great video.

Skinny Puppy - Stairs And Flowers or Spasmolytic
Mindfuck

Ministry - Thieves
That had to be the most fun concert of all time

When they are done well, and by people who care, they can be great. Just like anything else.

OmniStrata · Post by **OmniStrata** » Sat Jul 19, 2003 10:32 pm

EarthCurrent wrote:
OmniStrata wrote:Anime Music Video...

Music Video...

the difference is both small and big...

5 letters, "anime..."

Where does Matthew Sweet fit in then?

Why not throw in the Japanese MADs as well??

It's just the way the crystal ball bounces... [wtf?!]

In terms of separate topics, in the amv world, there's more crappy ones than good ones. Just find them... [in this realm/area, you can ask for help to fix that though ^_^]

In the Music Vid world, it seems again, there's more crappy ones than good ones. Find them...

In the MAD world [the few who know about them] same thing applies, there's ALWAYS more bad than good... Finding them again, is the problem...

Just accept the fact that the gems are hard to find in any of these media entertainment areas. However, some are easier to change than others...

Saeth1 · Post by **Saeth1** » Sat Jul 19, 2003 10:39 pm

the real video to smack my bitch up by prodigy is pretty good, at least better than almost any AMV i've seen done to it

whereas both AMV and real linkin park videos suck (crawling was pretty good, but in the end like destroyed that with it's horrididty [and i just invented a word])

dokool · Post by **dokool** » Sun Jul 20, 2003 12:02 am

When I was told by several people that See Ya Later Naota was better than the actual MV for Sk8er Boi, I downloaded it, as I haven't watched MTV2 in months.

And I must say, that it was complete crap. Half of the video is Avril playing for the camera and looking like an idiot. What stung me the most is that they TEASE you with the possibility that they have a good concept in the first 30 or so seconds, but then it quickly goes downhill from there.

The argument over what's better, however, is a two-edged sword.

On the one hand, artists/labels have money to pour into music videos. They can shoot any concept in any location with any effect they want. AMV-makers, however, are only limited to what footage they can get their hands on, what ideas they come up with, and what software/plugins they have.

What makes the difference is that AMV editors have more originality than MV makers as a whole. Music videos these days, for the most part, are formulaic uninspired tripe that are made simply to reach #1 on TRL so that the artist can appear to pimp their album. While there are a few amazing videos out there (anything Michael Jackson does, for example), these get drowned out in the mediocrity of everything else.

However, the AMV community, while not totally absent of formulaic uninspired tripe (*cough*LPZ*cough*), is still for the most part incredibly creative, and can create works of art, examples of which we all know and respect.

An interesting line blurring is Sierra Lorna's new vid, Elvis vs. Anime. For those of you who have been living under a rock, she recreated the original Little Less Conversation MV with anime characters, and did an amazing job of it.

-DOKool