Story Driven or Effects Driven AMV's? Ranting & Raving

keyboardsamurai · Post by **keyboardsamurai** » Wed Mar 03, 2004 8:23 am

Just wondering which type of amv do u guy perfer? AMV's that are almost completely story driven with no or little special affects or amv's that are almost no story line but has special affects?

Personally I like special affects driven amv's, since all your doing in a story driven one is re-doing the series in under 5 minutes to a song you like or thinks that fits. Where as in special affects you have to ttake the time to do all the affects in adobe and spend time on the video, rather than cut and paste scenes from your fave episodes.

just a rant and rave of mine.

LightningCountX · Post by **LightningCountX** » Wed Mar 03, 2004 8:26 am

personally, i like to see amv's with good editing with a story. I like changing some things around when i edit to make it look like the characters are doing something different then they were in the accual movie/episode. This gives it a boost of originality. I also like a video that has emotion behind it as well.

Zarxrax · Post by **Zarxrax** » Wed Mar 03, 2004 8:30 am

I like videos that tell a story using effects

fyrtenheimer · Post by **fyrtenheimer** » Wed Mar 03, 2004 8:32 am

..I like ones that incorporate both? Unless it's some dance or action video, but even a lot of those have some sort of 'story coherency' that makes it better. I didn't know people are choosing one end of the scale.

We need to take a vote.

Kai Stromler · Post by **Kai Stromler** » Wed Mar 03, 2004 10:36 am

I personally dig videos that visually instantiate the music well, and do something original. Whether or not there's a story or any effects involved at all is immaterial. If it's not a *music video* to the song involved, it'd be better off portraying itself as a short film or something.

--K

godix · Post by **godix** » Wed Mar 03, 2004 11:04 am

Either as long as they're well done, but I don't download nearly as many story vids as effect ones because frequently the story is told with an anime I don't know or care about.

LoST RaiNDRoP · Post by **LoST RaiNDRoP** » Wed Mar 03, 2004 1:45 pm

i always prefer both. a good story with great effects placed on it... but if i was to pick between a video with just all effects making no sense and a video that has a story with little effects, i would pick the one with the story with little effects over the one that has lots of effects but makes little sense... as long as the story is good and matches perfectly with the music, it will be my 1st choice. and adding effects to it makes things better...

Arigatomina · Post by **Arigatomina** » Wed Mar 03, 2004 4:50 pm

It depends on the story. If the anime is a difficult one (I've been told that is the best excuse for poor storytelling), then I'd rather just see the person stick with effects - then I won't feel left out because I didn't understand it. But most of the vids I watch are for anime I've never seen, and the ones I *keep* watching are the ones that have stories which make me want to see the anime. A pretty effects vid to an anime I've never seen will be deleted if the story doesn't hold my attention. I'd just rather have visual entertainment using an anime I like. When it comes to effects vids sans the story - those are eyecandy and nothing more. And I don't need eyecandy for an anime I've never seen, eyecandy that uses more effects than anime - it wouldn't fulfill its purpose since I don't get a rush off the effects so much as the way those effects enhance the characters and scenes being shown. I watch amvs for the anime. Even music is second to that.

Story vids are my favorites no matter what anime is being used, but I do watch the ones using unusual stories more often than others. For instance, I haven't seen Wolf's Rain yet, but my favorite vid for it is a romance featuring a pairing *other* than the main pairing in the anime. So no matter how many vids I end up watching for the anime, that story remains unique - few people will tell that story because you have to take things out of context to do it. The story itself is original. That's what I like. With anime I know absolutely nothing about, nearly any story will seem original at first - but after a number of similar stories, that story will become old and I'll stop watching it. The story vids for that anime which would remain favorites of mine are the ones telling something more than just what you get when you watch the anime itself.

Now don't get me wrong - I enjoy vids that summarize certain aspects of an anime - especially when the story is a minor one in the anime itself. Those are also rare, even though they are not original (as in different from the original anime). And I've found that parodies rarely hold me - even though the stories tend to take the anime *completely* out of context (an entirely original story). It just depends.

For romance (my favorite genre of story vids - drama is second), it depends on the characters and the way the story is told. A vid that uses the main pairing from an anime, adding no depth to the pairing and merely showing the main scenes of that pairing is going to be boring for me. It would be like writing a fanfic about an anime in which you summarize the main romance scenes. If I wanted that, I'd just watch the anime. But if the vid takes some sort of context - retelling the story in a way that gives deeper meaning to certain scenes, brings out emotions the characters didn't express during parts of the anime, and ties up loose ends that left the viewer wondering during the anime - why that is as original as creating a romance that was never in the anime. It's original because you can see the editor's thoughts and opinions in the video - you see more than just the scenes themselves, you see the creator's interpretation of those scenes. And that is almost always interesting and refreshing for me to watch.

But for non-story vids I don't need effects. I actually prefer to see the anime more than something put on top of the anime. Action vids will give me that rush of great timing and sync with the music - that's the only reason I'd watch effects vids. If I can get the same eyecandy and great visuals from a video that doesn't cover up the anime, then I'll watch that instead. Like I said, though - I watch amvs for the anime. Even the music is second to that. And effects, unless it's a crossover necessitating them, tend to be more of a distraction than anything. The only effects I like are pulses or color flashes - things that don't last very long and don't hide the anime clips.

Most of the time when I watch an 'effects' vid, all I get is the music and the effects. The anime is merely a way to match the music and effects. I might enjoy it - and the sync might give me a rush - but I won't rewatch it as much as I would one where I can see anime instead. I like music and all, but in an amv, anime is more important to me - the visuals. I've just never been too big on audio enjoyment. ^_^; I don't have an appreciation of music in and of itself.

Most effects vids might as well be black clips with the effects as the only movement and sync - emphasizing a match between visual and audio - that's what they default to with me unless they're tied to some sort of story that helps me focus on the anime more than the effects. I watch them and all I get is effects and music. If I can't focus on the anime, I don't want to watch the vid - it isn't an anime music vid to me anymore, it's an effects music vid - and I don't care much about non-anime music videos.

trythil · Post by **trythil** » Wed Mar 03, 2004 5:59 pm

Wait a minute, who decided that "story-driven" and "effects-driven" AMVs were two separate things?

I always thought effects were done to enhance the meaning of the video, and therefore it is impossible to have a video entirely driven by effect work -- because you can't accentuate nothing.

By the way, it's spelled "prefer".

paizuri · Post by **paizuri** » Wed Mar 03, 2004 6:55 pm

Personally, I prefer cat-driven videos!

But really, it's hard for me to say "oh I will enjoy a crappy or mediocre effects-driven video over this not-as-crappy story-driven video" or vice versa. Most of the time it depends on what mood I'm in. If a video evokes a sense of whatever I am in the mood for at the time, I will like it. At any given moment I might want to see a gee-whiz-that-was-cool video or I might want to see one that tells an interesting story (which is not necessarily a summary of the footage that was used).

And like trythil said, the two are not mutually exclusive.