The Importance of Video Titles.
- pen-pen2002
- Joined: Sun Sep 02, 2001 3:39 pm
- Location: Grinnell, IA Procrastination Meter: Code Lemon-Lime
The Importance of Video Titles.
How do you title videos? I want to hear some peoples philosophy on titling their work.
Personally I think many on the org are rather lazy or even unprofessional about their titles. I often see silly or irreverent titles that, though sometimes appropriate, makes me wonder how much effort was put into the video.
One thing I dislike is naming a video after a song. It is easy and always fits because you are letting the musical artist do your work for you. When I see it I think: "did the video add nothing to the song?" This is not always avoidable, "I Wish I Was A Lesbian" could not possibly have been named anything better, partially because (and I mean no offence, I love that video) in a major way, the video IS the song.
Also, I know AD puts some thought into his titles. "Shameless Rock Video" and "Arima Shinjikun" are both excellent titles, especially the latter. Another one that comes to mind as meaningful and introspective is "The Wasteland" while not his own creation, is also not the song title (Read the comments if you are confused, for that matter just watch the video.)
145 vids have "Linkin Park" in the title. 96 have bring me to life. Character names such as "Bring Chii To Life" add even more. Have these people no imagination or artistic pride? Really I am being to harsh, I myself am considering a title that is related to the song title (Requiem For a Nightmare to Requiem for a Dream) but that is because, by coincidence, the video IS a requiem (song of mourning/song for the dead) and the nightmarish aspect is very important. Probably I'll find a new title because "Requiem" is so well used (50 titles.)
Hope I haven't offended anybody, plenty of great videos Have titles that match the song and it's often apropriate. I'm not trying to put down anyones work.
Great titles:
Circle of Conflict
Mystery Conundrum
2D Transcends
Solace in Destruction
Transcending Love
The Bird Who Flew Too Far
Charcoal Sketched Dreams
Senshi on Springer
Rhythm Animation
The Pain of Ryoko's Heart
This is DBZ Life
Irreverent but good:
Right Now Someone is Reading This Title
Failed Experiments in Video Editing
Sappy Self-Indulgence
NERV Evening News With Dan Rather
Disney in D(wchang) Minor
Personally I think many on the org are rather lazy or even unprofessional about their titles. I often see silly or irreverent titles that, though sometimes appropriate, makes me wonder how much effort was put into the video.
One thing I dislike is naming a video after a song. It is easy and always fits because you are letting the musical artist do your work for you. When I see it I think: "did the video add nothing to the song?" This is not always avoidable, "I Wish I Was A Lesbian" could not possibly have been named anything better, partially because (and I mean no offence, I love that video) in a major way, the video IS the song.
Also, I know AD puts some thought into his titles. "Shameless Rock Video" and "Arima Shinjikun" are both excellent titles, especially the latter. Another one that comes to mind as meaningful and introspective is "The Wasteland" while not his own creation, is also not the song title (Read the comments if you are confused, for that matter just watch the video.)
145 vids have "Linkin Park" in the title. 96 have bring me to life. Character names such as "Bring Chii To Life" add even more. Have these people no imagination or artistic pride? Really I am being to harsh, I myself am considering a title that is related to the song title (Requiem For a Nightmare to Requiem for a Dream) but that is because, by coincidence, the video IS a requiem (song of mourning/song for the dead) and the nightmarish aspect is very important. Probably I'll find a new title because "Requiem" is so well used (50 titles.)
Hope I haven't offended anybody, plenty of great videos Have titles that match the song and it's often apropriate. I'm not trying to put down anyones work.
Great titles:
Circle of Conflict
Mystery Conundrum
2D Transcends
Solace in Destruction
Transcending Love
The Bird Who Flew Too Far
Charcoal Sketched Dreams
Senshi on Springer
Rhythm Animation
The Pain of Ryoko's Heart
This is DBZ Life
Irreverent but good:
Right Now Someone is Reading This Title
Failed Experiments in Video Editing
Sappy Self-Indulgence
NERV Evening News With Dan Rather
Disney in D(wchang) Minor

- Kalium
- Sir Bugsalot
- Joined: Fri Oct 03, 2003 11:17 pm
- Location: Plymouth, Michigan
Well, ideally, a title should be a small bit of insight into the video itself. I know that sometimes titles help me make a bit more sense of the video, when it's very artistic and the description doesn't neccessarily explain a lot. A title also offers a chance to use a different medium of communication in a small way, which is part of why they're so important.
Besides, a title is a good chance to make a truly horrible pun.
Besides, a title is a good chance to make a truly horrible pun.

- pen-pen2002
- Joined: Sun Sep 02, 2001 3:39 pm
- Location: Grinnell, IA Procrastination Meter: Code Lemon-Lime
- LightningCountX
- Joined: Tue May 20, 2003 8:35 am
- Location: Bayside, NY Interests: Your Mom ^_^
- Contact:
ive had some interesting titles for videos...here are some...
Densetsu No Fusion Fukatsu(The Legend of Fusion Revival-->thx for translation Paulo ^^)
that was a dbz video i made to movie 12. The song was kyosono densetsu by dj crono.
2 other dbz videos ive made were Transformed At Last and The Long Awaited Fight. I enjoyed tying in the original episode name with the video.
My latest RK video was titled Soujiro's Frustration to linkin parks lying from you.
Ive also had Vash's Revenge to LP's A.06 and A Cowboy's Darkness to Rammstein Sonne.
Remember(my most popular video) is the only one since i was a noob that I named after the song. But the title fit with the music and the footage used...
The titles arent that bad, but people still flock to the videos
Densetsu No Fusion Fukatsu(The Legend of Fusion Revival-->thx for translation Paulo ^^)
that was a dbz video i made to movie 12. The song was kyosono densetsu by dj crono.
2 other dbz videos ive made were Transformed At Last and The Long Awaited Fight. I enjoyed tying in the original episode name with the video.
My latest RK video was titled Soujiro's Frustration to linkin parks lying from you.
Ive also had Vash's Revenge to LP's A.06 and A Cowboy's Darkness to Rammstein Sonne.
Remember(my most popular video) is the only one since i was a noob that I named after the song. But the title fit with the music and the footage used...
The titles arent that bad, but people still flock to the videos

- Coffee 54
- Joined: Tue May 11, 2004 8:26 am
- Contact:
Titling has never been something I have been very good at. I have a great idea for a video, work hard to put it together, then draw a complete blank at the title page. Sadly on more then a few occasions I've just played off the song, or anime title. This isn't just true of my AMV's either. When I'm game modding or writing elsewhere I always stumble at a title or a name. I love a good title, one that draws me in. But, I have to say I don't mind the lack of one either, ie:The Perfect Drug, one of the best videos I have seen. At any rate I only use the song or the anime in the title as a last resort, I just don't have too many resorts thats all.
- inthesto
- Beef Basket
- Joined: Sat Mar 13, 2004 10:27 am
- Status: PARTIES
- Location: PARTIES
I've always sucked at titles, whether they be for papers or AMVs. For just about all my AMVs, I just took the title of the song and made a clever twist to them to apply it to the video. The exception is "Flowers Shouldn't Fight to be Number One"...but it was at 4 AM when I named that video.
I suppose the only title I really like is "Two Dragons and a Man." It's not as obvious as my other titles, but the song is called "What I'm Made Of," and that's quite literally what Ashton is made of.
And to this day, I'll never know why I didn't think of "Still in the Mist" earlier.
I suppose the only title I really like is "Two Dragons and a Man." It's not as obvious as my other titles, but the song is called "What I'm Made Of," and that's quite literally what Ashton is made of.
And to this day, I'll never know why I didn't think of "Still in the Mist" earlier.
- Otohiko
- Joined: Mon May 05, 2003 8:32 pm
I try to put some thought into my titles, though some of them are not as creative as others...
Out of 7 of my videos, two are titled the same as the song involved, although there's usually some other reason for doing that. ('Dangerous Curves' and 'Damage')
One is titled as a play on the subtitle to a certain movie. (gah... I'm not writing out the entire title
)
One is titled as another track from the same album as the source, but is also an inside joke involving a certain (sadistic) activity I subject people to
('Slaughter of the Innocents')
The other one is titled based on a speech line and as a play on the above video's title. ('The Assumption of Innocence')
One is titled by shifting the original song title geographically, though to a similar landscape. ('Ararat')
And the other one just has to do with the music track's source of inspiration. The landscape fits, too. ('The Wasteland')
So, as you can see, I mostly do research and have fun with titles
Out of 7 of my videos, two are titled the same as the song involved, although there's usually some other reason for doing that. ('Dangerous Curves' and 'Damage')
One is titled as a play on the subtitle to a certain movie. (gah... I'm not writing out the entire title

One is titled as another track from the same album as the source, but is also an inside joke involving a certain (sadistic) activity I subject people to

The other one is titled based on a speech line and as a play on the above video's title. ('The Assumption of Innocence')
One is titled by shifting the original song title geographically, though to a similar landscape. ('Ararat')
And the other one just has to do with the music track's source of inspiration. The landscape fits, too. ('The Wasteland')
So, as you can see, I mostly do research and have fun with titles

The Birds are using humanity in order to throw something terrifying at this green pig. And then what happens to us all later, that’s simply not important to them…
- inthesto
- Beef Basket
- Joined: Sat Mar 13, 2004 10:27 am
- Status: PARTIES
- Location: PARTIES
- Jebadia
- Joined: Fri Jun 01, 2001 8:54 pm
- Location: Parkersburg, WV
- Contact:
Most of my titles have been from random phrases i've heard or from something related with the song itself...but I usually go for the random phrases...

"If you believe in yourself, eat all your school, stay on milk, drink your teeth, don't do sleep, and get your eight hours of drugs, you can get WORK!"
Paperskunk:...PENIS!!!!!!!!! GIANT PENIS!!!!!!!!!! ERMAC WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!!!!!!!! GIANT JUICY PENIS!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHH MY EYES!!!!!!
Paperskunk:...PENIS!!!!!!!!! GIANT PENIS!!!!!!!!!! ERMAC WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!!!!!!!! GIANT JUICY PENIS!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHH MY EYES!!!!!!
- Beowulf
- Joined: Wed Feb 27, 2002 9:41 pm
- Location: in the art house
- Contact:
I agree that there are tons of videos on the org that have horrible titles. If you can look at the title and correctly guess the song and anime combination, the author has done something terribly wrong. "Breaking Spike's Habit" for example or "Bring Asuka To Life". Stuff like that pops up all the time. I don't even give those videos the time of day.
As far as using the song for the title, I have mixed feelings. It really depends on the song title and if it works as a title, frankly. I've mad ten videos and half of the titles are the song names. There are some videos where there is really no better title for it than the song name. "I Wish I Was A Lesbian" is a good example along with "Natural Born Killers". What else would you call that video? The song name is awesome, looks good in print, and sounds great when abbreviated. What more do you want
. "NBK" just looks cool.
Whenever I make a title now-a-days, the top thing I try for is abbreviation. Everyone abbreviates everything on the internet so if your video is more than one word, its acronym better looks good. "Hail to the Thief" for example: You can either call the video "Hail" which is fine or you can call it "HTTT" which looks intriguing
Wonka's "Holy Leaping Redux" can be abbreviated plenty of awesome ways.
"HLR"
"Redux"
"Ninja Redux"
As a counterpoint, I’d have to say an example of the worst title ever would be dokool's "Right Now Its Tricky To Be Shameless". Its way to long, takes up almost an entire line, and is impossible to abbreviate. You can't refer to it as "Right Now" or "Its Tricky" or "Shameless" because those are already famous videos. And if you make it an acronym it just turns into a train wreck.
"RNITTBS"
That just looks like someone with turrets pounded out a spasm on their keyboard. Not to take anything away from the video mind you, the title is just abhorrent.
As far as using the song for the title, I have mixed feelings. It really depends on the song title and if it works as a title, frankly. I've mad ten videos and half of the titles are the song names. There are some videos where there is really no better title for it than the song name. "I Wish I Was A Lesbian" is a good example along with "Natural Born Killers". What else would you call that video? The song name is awesome, looks good in print, and sounds great when abbreviated. What more do you want

Whenever I make a title now-a-days, the top thing I try for is abbreviation. Everyone abbreviates everything on the internet so if your video is more than one word, its acronym better looks good. "Hail to the Thief" for example: You can either call the video "Hail" which is fine or you can call it "HTTT" which looks intriguing

Wonka's "Holy Leaping Redux" can be abbreviated plenty of awesome ways.
"HLR"
"Redux"
"Ninja Redux"
As a counterpoint, I’d have to say an example of the worst title ever would be dokool's "Right Now Its Tricky To Be Shameless". Its way to long, takes up almost an entire line, and is impossible to abbreviate. You can't refer to it as "Right Now" or "Its Tricky" or "Shameless" because those are already famous videos. And if you make it an acronym it just turns into a train wreck.
"RNITTBS"
That just looks like someone with turrets pounded out a spasm on their keyboard. Not to take anything away from the video mind you, the title is just abhorrent.