The good ol' days

[MistyCaldwell]

O_o


What I was trying to say was a great deal of the older videos were made using this method. A lot of the older creators were either learning or already involved in professional/college editing equipment.

It still doesn't effect the point of your topic though. I have never made a 2 vcr amv in my life, and I was making amvs 3 years before I met an editing computer. I would say a great deal of the 'golden oldies' were made the same way. 2 vcr amvs tend to have that pink tracking line show up when the new edit was made.


And actually, I think the linear method was much easier....

[Klicks]

This topic has already been covered quite thoroughly, but I figure here is at least a slightly unique aspect: Age. The average editor has become much younger it seems as of late. Everyone and their unborn baby sister/brother has a computer. The shareware (p2p) these days makes hundred-dollar-professional editing programs available to anyone and everyone with the patience to download it.

That being said a 10 year old can now edit together his favorite episodes of Dragonball Z to his new favorite song from the radio. A few clips here, a random cut over there. Throw in some of those nice pre-made Adobe transitions and BOOM! Where as, a few years ago no ten year old had the equipment or the proper knowledge to operate the 2 VCR method and create anything.

This is only a minor argument to the case, but, its true. More and more of today's AMVs seem to lack something older(and some newer) ones present. 'Course, there's always the sentimental factor as well. I'll always love Final Fantasy VII the most just because that was the first one I played. I fell in love with it, an none newer or older has been able to surpass it.

Whichever your preference, there are tons of great AMVs both new and old.

[Vlad G Pohnert]

I did about 34 videos with the two Vcr/dvd player method... and now that I've had adobe for a while... i don't miss it at all.

I don't know, I've done about 30 with two VCRS... Maybe not as attractive as digital editing, but it had it's moments and a charm of it's own... I think too many younger poeple are just too spoiled with computers.. One must of lived before personal computers to appriciate what it took to edit....

Vlad

[Vancore]

There was probably as many bad videos back then as there are today but it seems the only ones we remember are the good ones (aka oldies). I think todays AMV's are much like that of a few years ago, only that there are a lot more to choose from. It may take a lot longer to find a AMV you like but the chances of finding a good or bad one are relitively the same... Unless you perfer the oldstyle, VCR quality, well done videos of the past over the newstyle, DVD quality, well done videos of now.

Besides, haven't the story-driven, well themed, concept videos always seem to outlast the flashy stuff?

[SSJVegita0609]

I think the issue is more the massive amount of editors these days mixed with lack of new ideas. So much has already been done that it's getting rather hard to stay fresh. Only a few people can still pump out a radically different and well-executed concept (i.e. Excel Pop-up video, Stop the Rock, etc). Most editors just rely upon the anime they use to supply the story. I was thinking about this very subject this morning when I threw on Vlad's "Destiny of the Dark" and realized what's happened to horror vids of late, they just don't seem to have as much thought put into them.

But the real question here is, what are you going to do about this? Instead of making long, ranting topics, why don't we all just try to be more original like it was in the so-called "Good Old Days"?

[iserlohn]

a radically different and well-executed concept (i.e. Excel Pop-up video, Stop the Rock, etc).

Excel Pop-up is *not* a radically different concept - there was a Pop-up made to KareKano that showed at Otakon 2000 and did a MUCH better job (all the facts were true, the font/image styles matched the real pop-up ones exactly, etc.)

Stop the Rock is your normal random/bouncy clips video with more effects than usual thrown in. I wouldn't call either of these groundbreaking.

[SSJVegita0609]

a radically different and well-executed concept (i.e. Excel Pop-up video, Stop the Rock, etc).

Excel Pop-up is *not* a radically different concept - there was a Pop-up made to KareKano that showed at Otakon 2000 and did a MUCH better job (all the facts were true, the font/image styles matched the real pop-up ones exactly, etc.)

Stop the Rock is your normal random/bouncy clips video with more effects than usual thrown in. I wouldn't call either of these groundbreaking.

I meant comparitively speaking when you look at the average video produced today. I definately found the tetris effects in Stop the Rock to be groundbreaking, and I wasn't aware that anyone else had tried a pop-up video. But even so, its still pretty damn original, I doubt that many other people have tried it.

[Lyrs]

The good ol' days weren't that good if it's anything compared to the general hardship of working with primitive technology.

The good thing then was that the people who made amvs were atleast very technically minded. That's been made easy nowadays.

[DriftRoots]

I can't tell you how many times I've seen similar forum-based discussions on what amounts to "oldies" vs. "nowies."

Where the anime/video game industries are concerned, much comes down to a few basic points - technological advances, genre popularity and public access.

Those "oldies" AMVs would have been just like "today's" had editing tools we use now been available then. How do I know this? Because we ARE using them now, which five years from now will be "then."
On this note, it's ridiculously easy for someone who doesn't know wtf they're doing to produce something crappy (quality-wise, be that technical, artistic or otherwise) that, for those who also don't know wtf he's doing, probably rather impressive. It's not the AMV design they're impressed with, otherwise it wouldn't be a crappy AMV, it's the cool anime images and nifty "fluff" (the former which the AMV designer had absolutely nothing to do with). Think of "blockbuster" movies with lame-ass plots, horrible acting but nifty explosions and "cool" action sequences (no, I'm not going to provide examples) . . . most people will agree such films are entertaining to a certain audience/to a certain extent, but by no means are great achievements. Worse, take someone who's only "heard" of movies but never actually seen one and show them this "blockbuster" well - they will probably be less critical of it than more educated audiences.

Hmm, a reason for existing, there's the thing I was looking for. To make an AMV some years ago was far more a labor of love than it is now, technological resources, anime resources, AMV popularity, the Internet - all have made vast advances in the past few years. Who'd go through all that fuss for so "small" an end result unless you felt a good enough reason to make an AMV? Today anime's "cool," it's everywhere, the term AMV could end up in Webster's as part of our language and almost anyone with a computer can create something with snazzy effects and post it for (potential!) millions to download.

"Why did you make this AMV?"
2000 et al - "I love Sailor Mercury's character, she's so unique/I love this anime and wanted to share with others what I see in it that makes it great/I heard this song and it blew me away"

2003 - "I don't know, I was bored/DBZ is soooo cool/Linkin' Park rocks"
Yeah. 'nuff said.

And don't jump all over me for what's not being said here. Point is, how many good AMV's were made for stupid reasons? uh huh............

[Lyrs]

how many good AMV's were made for stupid reasons? uh huh............

12 that i know of