The Importance of Video Titles.

General discussion of Anime Music Videos
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kitsunebeolnet
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Post by kitsunebeolnet » Sat Jun 19, 2004 6:37 pm

I'm not sure where I fit in in your grand scheme of things. I like my titles to have some relevance between both the anime and the song itself. Two of my middle ones 'Soga doesn't know' (Scotty doesn't know) and 'Naota had a Pimple' (Perry had a Pimple) tie the central character to the song. My first one, 'Busy little Mink' again was a play on the song title (Get Busy) with the main character. (Mink from Dragon Half). My most recent full-length AMV (Ode to Idiots) is the first to break away from that formula to involve another joke in itself. The video features Photon (The Idiot Adventures) but the title is also directed at a couple of guys who left bad reviews without really explaining what they were really unhappy with. :twisted:

One thing that bugs me is those that don't involve the name of the video in the file name. This is a real pain in the neck when a day or two may pass before I get to look at a video I downloaded and then have to figure out which video that was to leave stars for. I updated my profile awhile back and one of my very favorite videos I had originally downloaded from a kazaa-like peer-to-peer network came titled 'Mamboleo'. When I was wanting to list it in my top 100 videos, I found out the name was something else entirely, 'Odorikuruu'.

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Post by Otohiko » Sat Jun 19, 2004 7:49 pm

Well, a general point I'd make about titles is that they have to serve as a bridge between the music and the visual, but a bridge the viewer has to cross - that is, not be too obvious.

So, that goes to say that you probably shouldn't isolate either the sound or the visual as the only source for your title (so, if you use the song title itself, make sure it somehow relates to the visual). So, if (as a generic example) you're making a DBZ video to Linkin Park's 'Breaking the Habit', don't name it 'Breaking the Habit' if there's no habit being broken there (and chances are, there isn't). At the same time, if you call it something like 'Goku's Big Battle', you're isolating the title to the visual only, making the music seem irrelevant - plus, it's just too obvious! I think putting plain and overt descriptions of what you'll see in the video is a mistake. Be symbolic. It's more fun.

And, a real pet peeve of mine when I look at video titles, is when they do fuse the visual and the song, but in a highly unimaginative, or non-sensical (the unfunny kind of non-sensical, anyway) way. Like, to use the above example, I'd think it would be a really bad idea to name the video 'Breaking Goku's Habit' (again, unless Goku is actually breaking a habit and not someone's back...). Please.

Well, then again, perhaps these rules best apply to more serious videos.

...And as for your actual title, I don't think you should hesitate too much Pen-Pen - it's symbolic on more than one level, and it's catchy to boot. I'd go for it :P
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Post by Bakadeshi [AuN Studios] » Sat Jun 19, 2004 7:59 pm

I put some thought into my titles aswell. My first 2 videos were named after the song, only because I could think of nothing better for them. "Run away with me" was named after what the song was mostly about, but not adfter the name of the song (Echo). Angel's Redemption, and my entry to the instrumentality project, Oratorio of Ghibli were titles I specifically put thought into and tried to find something that both sounded cool, and gave insight into what the video was about. AR perfectly fits that video in my opinion, and I would never change the name no matter how many people hold shotguns to myhead ;p It has somehting of a deep meaning to it. It even sounds cool abreviated. Oratorio on the other hand is actually the oposite, seeing as the word means song *without* the help of images/cast to tell the story, and this is an AMV ;p I kept it though since it sounds cool, and Scrapt princess used it, so so can I ;p
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Post by bubblehead » Sat Jun 19, 2004 8:13 pm

My video titles are, imo, pretty bad. So far, I have:
Ordinary Mermaid (Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch and the song "Ordinary Girl")
Izumi's Pain (it's a Princess Nine tribute featuring Izumi, and essentially the title is what the video's about)
Artificial Light (this one is named after a line in the song, but I think it's a very appropriate title for the video as well)

I just have trouble coming up with good titles for anything, but I'm trying, and I don't think I'll give a video a name like "Ordinary Mermaid" again.
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Post by AquaSky » Sat Jun 19, 2004 8:15 pm

For the most part, I try to name my videos using something from the lyrics (but not the title of the song). I see which phrase can summarize the feeling and direction of the video while providing an insight into the deeper correlation between the plot and the song. It's not ironclad though; if I can't find anything suitable, I create one on my own, as I'm not going to settle on a title I dislike simply to avoid breaking the pattern.

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Post by Fluxmeister » Sat Jun 19, 2004 8:42 pm

Most people don't watch my videos for the anime, song, or even editing... it's because of the titles. :roll:

"Dilandau Sings Korn (Part 15)" :mrgreen:

I have used the song title for the video on rare occasion... (New for example) If it fits and is appropriate to the content... why bother to try to come up with an alternate...

I like one word titles... does this imply a lack of effort?
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Post by Kalium » Sat Jun 19, 2004 8:44 pm

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Post by Resk » Sat Jun 19, 2004 8:47 pm

Whenever I'm naming one of my videos, I always like to pick a title that sounds both interesting and mysterious. Usually they have nothing to do with the anime or song that I use, but more of what I'm trying to portray in the video itself. Like my "Memories Never Forgotten" video (yet yo be released! soon . . .) Since the idea of the video is that Rinoa is looking back on her life, the title seemed appropriate.

Of course, since I always do such weird songs, oddly named titles seem to fit well lol.

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Post by downwithpants » Sat Jun 19, 2004 9:50 pm

the quality of the video is more important than its title. but, how a video is titled does slightly affect people's decisions on viewing it.

i find puns on the original song's title rather shallow (no offense to the above posters) -- if the creator can't think of something better than that after working on the video, it suggests the creator didn't really get deep into the video -- unless it the pun is the topic of the video.

other than that it doesn't make much of a difference. i've seen too many good videos with the same title as the song to avoid videos with such nomenclature.

and after watching the video, the title becomes trivial. except for SSSSSSSSSSSOOOOOO-OOOOOUUUUUUUUUUULLLLLLLLL GGGGGGGGGGGLLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOO-OOOOO (dashes added to make the Os show up), which has forever tarnished my favorite videos page.
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Post by SarahtheBoring » Sat Jun 19, 2004 10:11 pm

IcyCloud wrote:For the most part, I try to name my videos using something from the lyrics (but not the title of the song). I see which phrase can summarize the feeling and direction of the video while providing an insight into the deeper correlation between the plot and the song. It's not ironclad though; if I can't find anything suitable, I create one on my own, as I'm not going to settle on a title I dislike simply to avoid breaking the pattern.
My process is most similar to this one, although I usually feel dissatisfied with my titles. I find it difficult to sum things up in a snappy title; I've always been that way, whether it's AMVs or stories. This doesn't mean that my pieces are particularly d33p or anything, just that I can't condense things into one intriguing line. *shrug*
downwithpants wrote: i find puns on the original song's title rather shallow (no offense to the above posters) -- if the creator can't think of something better than that after working on the video, it suggests the creator didn't really get deep into the video -- unless it the pun is the topic of the video.
Seconded on this, too. And what was mentioned before - if I can guess the anime AND the song from the title, I am not going to download your video. Throwing a character's name into a song title ("Bring [Name] to Life") particularly gives me hives - again, personal preference, I'm not ordering anybody to stop. I am very, very unlikely to bother watching those, unless they're comedy. Then, I figure sounding ridiculous is part of the point.

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