Which would you rather opinionate: Good or Newbish?

[Arigatomina]

Or maybe I'm just analyzing these too in-depth.

No, I think you're exactly right.

Say someone makes an upbeat comedy vid and a reviewer says "I don't like it." Most creators will say "why didn't you like it?" And then the reviewer says "I don't like videos that just throw stuff together and time to the music." That 'reason' is actually the viewer's interpretation of the video. He saw it as an intentionally random video. If he'd said "it seems to be a video made for fun, just a combination of similar shots, without any deeper meaning, and a general theme that's loose at best." Having said that, when the reviewer says "I don't like general random fun vids," the creator knows exactly how the person reacted to the video and *why* he reacted that way. If the creator in this instance had intended a story to go with the humor, some underlying order to the footage, then he now knows that this viewer didn't *see* that order. He failed to communicate his intentions through the video, failed to achieve his goal - and he knows this because the reviewer told how he 'took' the video.

Now, maybe he doesn't really care if not everyone enjoys his vids - most creators don't. But it's still nice to know why people do or do not like videos, and I think a great way to explain why you don't like something (or why you do) is to tell how you *took* that video. Your interpretation of a video *is* how you took the video. And when you give scores to a video, you need to have a reason for those scores. If you give less than perfect scores, the video must have lacked to you - something didn't reach the 'perfection' you think it was aiming for, or *should* have been aiming for. I think a good review is one that explains the scores given - if the vid lacks in certain areas, tell how it lacks - you don't have to be nice and helpful and say how it could have been better, but at least you can say what you think is missing.


But it's all a matter of how you look at reviews. If you want to be helpful, then you're aiming to tell a creator how to make his work better. In this case, you want to tell him how you think his video was lacking, and what you think the strong points were - what areas to improve on, and which ones to hold onto. If you just want to say "watched this" then that's all you need to write - no thought necessary.

[Bakadeshi [AuN Studios]]

hmm Arigatomyna has a good point there. I think I will use this in my future reviews along with my current system. I already do it to an extent with my "First Impression" section, But I see where I can go in more depth with it.

[Onyyx]

after I watch each AMV for the first time I ask myself "What is the idea behind this AMV, and how did the editor try to convey it?" Like essays, every AMV has an idea, a concept, a...SOMETHING that it wants to get across, even if that something is as simply as mindless action.

I think you and I have been watching some of the same Naruto vids. Mindless seems to be the ruling artform.

Though I did get one Naruto vid that did have some substance to it when I last did free ops, aside from a mindless middle part, it seemed to be focusing on telling the story of the trials and pain that the characters go through. A meaningful story line makes it so much easier to op.

As for my Op style, I like to hit maybe 5 to 10 time frame points, both good and bad. But I reserve the bulk of my review to how I felt the big picture developed. A video where you get a personal feel for a character (Or group of characters) makes a bigger impact to me than lots of flashy effects.

And as for prefering to review newbie or experienced vids, I prefer to not only review newbie vids, they are also my download of choice. I find alot of them aren't out to prove anything, they just want to have a bit of fun. I've seen some great first timers in the past couple months.

[DemonSpawn]

Man, I'm really going to have to incorporate some of this into my future reviews. There's so many ideas here that I hadn't even really thought about.

after I watch each AMV for the first time I ask myself "What is the idea behind this AMV, and how did the editor try to convey it?" Like essays, every AMV has an idea, a concept, a...SOMETHING that it wants to get across, even if that something is as simply as mindless action.

I think you and I have been watching some of the same Naruto vids. Mindless seems to be the ruling artform.

Though I did get one Naruto vid that did have some substance to it when I last did free ops, aside from a mindless middle part, it seemed to be focusing on telling the story of the trials and pain that the characters go through. A meaningful story line makes it so much easier to op.

So, what about those vids that you haven't seen the anime to, or the story they tell is intentionally different from the anime? (Assuming there is a story.) I did one review where I mentioned that, at first, the story they were trying to convey was hard to grasp, primarily because I had seen the anime they were using.

Another question, is it possible to read the reviews other people have done? I've seen a couple from other people when I review, but not all that often.

[inthesto]

Another question, is it possible to read the reviews other people have done? I've seen a couple from other people when I review, but not all that often.

Only if either the editor makes the opinion public (up to two), or if you've left an opinion yourself.

That's one of the more interesting parts of leaving an opinion too. Afterwards, you can see what other people thought about a video, and contrast their opinions to yours.

[SQ]

My videos suck. So I don't get ops.

But I do give ops to other people.
People with good quality videos tend to know exactly what's wrong with the video, so leaving an op for them is like.. "Pah.. I knew that already!" from the creator of the video.

That said, leaving an op for a good person(unless I see a glaring error) is like... It's like I'm trying to do something and then giving up without even breaking a sweat. Like I'm forgetting something almost, because usually my opinions are three miles long and for good videos they're like... Blah.

So yeah. Even though it takes more work to op a noob video, it makes me feel better at the end of the day.

Well... I highly doubt the noob that I op'ed will feel better though.

I'm so cruel.

Member SQ Date Updated Mar 21, 2004

Rankings Orig. Capture Sound Action Lip Effects Effort Re-view Overall
5 5 8 4 8 5 5
Good You made good use of zooms, and unlike most first vids it looks like you tried to match the beat.

Bad - It's Inu Yasha. What noob hasn't used Inu Yasha? Not to mention that all of them are just like this one.

- DivX logos. They're everywhere, and they're annoying. They're also very.. Very... Bad.

- Subtitles. See above.

- Video Quality. It's downloaded. That says a lot right there.

- Sound quality. Something was up with the song, I had to turn my speakers up to hear it...

- Title screens. The first one was okay, with the zooming in and fading, but the "rated PG-13" was corny, especially the part where it was spinning in.

- Ending. Random scenes at the end are corny and boring. But that's just my opinion, I guess.

- Random, unwanted frames. It seems like you have unwanted frames, but that's probably because you used DivX footage. Please learn how to rip DVDs soon. ;_;

- You miss major beats, and lots of scenes stay for too long. Listen to the song closely, and when you hear a guitar riff or a drum note, you should change scenes there, or have something dramatic happening. If a cymbal crash happens, you should probably put in a white flash.


General I can't do a breakdown of this video because it would just take too long, and about every single second there's something I would've changed. So if you're going to make another video, feel free to IM me and I'll help you while you make it, but otherwise I really can't help you by reviewing your vids this way.

[DemonSpawn]

My videos suck. So I don't get ops.

- DivX logos. They're everywhere, and they're annoying. They're also very.. Very... Bad.

*Makes note to download and review some of SQ's vids*

Are you sure the DivX logos aren't from your player? There's an option in the DivX settings to stop displaying the logo...

Also, having just done a review, I'd say it's far easier to op according to technical stuff. I have no freakin' clue how to review by artistic merit, aside from "you did what you were trying to do".

And come to think of it, I took a lot of art courses in college.

[inthesto]

You know, you really should never grind somebody for their anime or music choice, unless it's in relation to each other. It's really unfair to yell at somebody for doing a DBZ or Inu-Yasha AMV, or for using Linkin Park as the music in and of itself. However, I think it's perfectly fair game to demerit somebody for using Linkin Park for something like...Stellvia of the Universe.

And now that I've posted that, I know somebody's going to take it as a challenge and make it.

[Arigatomina]

It's really unfair to yell at somebody for doing a DBZ or Inu-Yasha AMV, or for using Linkin Park as the music in and of itself.

Unless the person's vid is just like every other IY vid you've seen. I do think you score Originality based on whether or not you've seen something before. If you've seen a lot of IY vids, you'll probably notice they fall into three broad categories:
random IY/Kagome/Kikyo images
random IY killing things images
random Sesshoumaru images

So if I watch an IY vid that is one of these three, then I'm probably going to lower the originality - because it's a vid I've seen before. But I'm not blaming it for being Inuyasha, I'm blaming the creator for doing the same thing with Inuyasha that every other creator does with Inuyasha. When I watch a 'common' anime vid, I tend to look for something to make it stand out against the others I've seen. Excellent editing, some 'trick' or effect to make it unique, focus on a different angle in the typical triangle relationship, focus on a less-used character - there are lots of ways to spice up even the usual.

All the anime does is make it harder since limiting your anime source tends to limit most people's imaginations on what they can *do* with that anime source. The same with songs.

[SQ]

You know, you really should never grind somebody for their anime or music choice, unless it's in relation to each other. It's really unfair to yell at somebody for doing a DBZ or Inu-Yasha AMV, or for using Linkin Park as the music in and of itself. However, I think it's perfectly fair game to demerit somebody for using Linkin Park for something like...Stellvia of the Universe.

And now that I've posted that, I know somebody's going to take it as a challenge and make it.

I find it funny that you say I can't demerit someone for using a music or an anime choice and then go, "But it's okay to demerit someone for these choices..."



Seriously, man.

DemonSpawn - It was in the video. Trust me. If you watched as many newb videos as I have, you'd know when it's not the player.