As someone who can only make lame AMVs...

Chocobuddha · Post by **Chocobuddha** » Tue Dec 02, 2003 5:45 am

...I must ask: has anyone else ever experienced this?

The AMV you're making seems great when you think of it, great when you're making it and great when you finish it, but as soon as you release it into the wild, you realize that it kinda, sorta sucks.

Your friends won't give you an honest opinion and you're biased because you spent days to weeks to months editing the vid. And what if your friends ARE giving you an honest opinion; you won't know because you're so self-conscious that you believe that anything short of gushing praise is insincere. Not to mention that even if you could upload multiple versions to the org, the forum crew is so jaded that you have to be God to please them and the general public is so apathetic that you have to be God to move them.

So: what motivates you guys to make your AMVs public? How do you know when they're "good" enough to stop editing and just leave be? For instance, I absolutely LOVE the one I'm currently working on; I watch the unfinished version and am stunned that I ever produced something like this. Yet, I have no idea if it'll be good enough for the public. Should I try to incorporate more complex effects? While effects don't make a video, the public seems to value them more than content. Should I even be trying this concept? I don't much like action AMVs, so I thought I could make one that has a broader appeal and yet, does it?

Anyway, I don't even know if I should be bothering with the AMV thing. While I deeply love watching and making AMVs, being unable to make good AMVs does, in fact, crush me. Pathetic, yes, but not something I can ignore. It's not enough to make an AMV I enjoy; it has to be something everyone enjoys.

So, how does everyone else do it?

Pie Row Maniac · Post by **Pie Row Maniac** » Tue Dec 02, 2003 6:23 am

I make videos because it's a fun hobby, on many different kinds of levels. As for opinions, I don't take them all that seriously unless they provide some kind of information that would value me and my editing style. Otherwise (depending on what kind of opinion it is), I'd thank them for it and be on me merry way.

I've had the experience of making something, then looking at it from the public's view and thinking it might suck hard. In fact, I've had an End of Evangelion video idea I've been wanting to do. However as of late, many well-edited EoE videos have come out and I'm afraid if I made my video, that it'd get swept up along as just another "recent EoE video".

The idea of thinking of quitting because you supposibly can't edit well shouldn't stop you from making AMVs. Not in the least. Maturing in experience and knowledge of the hobby is what contributes to developing the skills needed to make great videos.

Anyways, just try not to take opinions so seriously.

Btw, nice sig quote.

CaTaClYsM · Post by **CaTaClYsM** » Tue Dec 02, 2003 6:30 am

It's the opposite for me. I think it sucks from munite one and it stays that way pretty much the entire time. But there are a few people that like them ("it" would be a better word.) despite any flaws so I'm ok.

Chocobuddha · Post by **Chocobuddha** » Tue Dec 02, 2003 8:47 am

Heh heh, I wish I was like you, CaT. It's one thing to think your vid bites from day one, then release it anyway.

It's entirely another when you watch your vid the day after you uploaded it to the org and think "What the crap?!". It's only at this point that I am able to easily pick out the hojillion things I could have done better.

Ho-JILLION.

Rorschach · Post by **Rorschach** » Wed Dec 03, 2003 5:16 pm

Well, what works best is just to remember that you're making a free piece of art, not a product that's going to cost someone millions of dollars if it fails, and not to take yourself too seriously. Looking back on my first AMV now, I shudder at its quality. All the same, since I'll probably remake it eventually, I don't let it get me down.

One other method to help ensure you enjoy making and releasing it is figuring out what it is you're trying to say with this video. Every AMV worth watching has some fitting theme or "message" whether or not it's technically well done. Even if you're the only one who understands what you're trying to say, you'll appreciate every download of it. The public is stupid, anyway.

On my last point, one postscript: see to it that your theme is honest, however. I once saw a guy advocating gun control using a Trigun AMV! (If you've seen the series, especially the episode about the well-armed town, it should be self-evident why I find this rather dishonest.) Unless you're trying to be funny, that kind of "message" just will not work.

Leanan · Post by **Leanan** » Thu Dec 04, 2003 8:57 am

Chocobuddha wrote:...I must ask: has anyone else ever experienced this?

The AMV you're making seems great when you think of it, great when you're making it and great when you finish it, but as soon as you release it into the wild, you realize that it kinda, sorta sucks.

I feel that way, but the rest not really. I'm able to see a lot more things that are wrong with it once I've had some distance from any project.

Maybe after you finish a project let it sit for a few days and then go back to it to make an necessary changes. You'll be able to look at it and see things that need to be changed.

Bebop0083 · Post by **Bebop0083** » Thu Dec 04, 2003 7:07 pm

hmmmmm the one im working on now sucks but im still going to finish it because when i started it, it was good. dont know if im going to upload it. i highly doubt it.

Arigatomina · Post by **Arigatomina** » Thu Dec 04, 2003 9:18 pm

Bebop0083 wrote:hmmmmm the one im working on now sucks but im still going to finish it because when i started it, it was good. dont know if im going to upload it. i highly doubt it.

This is me right now, but I'm not sure if I'll even finish it. I want to work on something else and don't really feel like saving the files to finish some other time. It's a day or two away from deletion at a day away from being finished.

It sucks when you start to worry about what people will think.

Bebop0083 · Post by **Bebop0083** » Thu Dec 04, 2003 9:23 pm

Arigatomyna wrote:
Bebop0083 wrote:hmmmmm the one im working on now sucks but im still going to finish it because when i started it, it was good. dont know if im going to upload it. i highly doubt it.
This is me right now, but I'm not sure if I'll even finish it. I want to work on something else and don't really feel like saving the files to finish some other time. It's a day or two away from deletion at a day away from being finished. It sucks when you start to worry about what people will think.

usually when i think im not going to complete a vid for a while i usually just burn what i have into avi format and then save it to cdr and if im up to it ill go back and finish. ive done that to a couple of projects lately.

Wonka · Post by **Wonka** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 12:20 am

If you enjoy watching it, than I say fuck 'em all with a fence post.

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