A thought on pre-concieved AMV ideas...

[godix]

So what happened to that? It seems so rare nowadays to see a video where the anime's true plotline or character developement is used. Many vids these days seem to just take their own concepts and go with them using effects and whatnot to emphasize their own meaning (if there is one at all).

Several reasons I can think of off the top of my head. Doing these types of videos limits your audience to only those who have seen the series and even if you pick an incredibly well know series there are still many who haven't seen it or didn't like it enough to finish it (I would have difficultly naming more than a couple characters from DBZ, Naruto, Sailor Moon, or Bebop for example). I can't help noticing that my two most downloaded vids are multi-anime and don't require a viewer having seen any of them while my least downloaded vid is basically a character profile and pretty well flat out requires you have seen all of Evangelion to understand what I was doing (besides sucking I mean).

Many series have already been done. I know I've rejected ideas like an Asuka profile becuase I know it'd get compared, negatively, against Engel and I doubt I'm the only one who has realized that. I could of course do some new series but then you run into the 'limited' audience thing again since new series usually aren't as widely seen as the 'old' mainstreams.

I personally usually find character profiles somewhat boring. Assuming I've seen the series then I'm already know the character. A faithful character profile is just rehashing something I already know. Unless it's VERY skillfully done I have no interest in rehashing ground I already know.

Some series just don't lend themselves to this type of video. IE Excel Saga just isn't the type of thing to spawn video ideas closely related to the plot or characters.

My main point is that AMVs are moving further and further away from the actual anime, and becoming more and more their own thing.

I haven't been around long enough to argue this point but I do have to wonder why it appears to be assumed that this is a bad thing. AMVs can be more than character profiles and tightly plot related dramas and I for one am glad there's more to them than that.

[Scintilla]

What about upbeat, fun character profiles that fit the song to the anime/character pretty well yet <i>don't</i> require prior knowledge of the show for to enjoy?


(yes, I say this partially because I've done two such videos)

[Kalium]

I would question why deviating from the plot of the source is a bad thing. If one can fit the source to something else, why not? There's more creativity in that, and it's more challenging.

[Voices_Of_Ryan]

I dont think i've done 3 videos that actually stayed on the course of what the anime ACTUALLY ment...
Maybe thats why i'm not popular .

[Zarxrax]

If you're just gunna regurgitate the anime's damn story in your amv, then why watch the amv at all? Just watch the series instead, and you will get the same thing out of it.
Actually doing something creative with the source allows you to create something new and interesting, but most importantly, something that people didn't watch already.

While I'm not saying these types of videos are bad (heck, maybe I've even made one or two), they certainly aren't nearly as entertaining as more original videos, to me at least.

[rubyeye]

So what happened to that? It seems so rare nowadays to see a video where the anime's true plotline or character developement is used. Many vids these days seem to just take their own concepts and go with them using effects and whatnot to emphasize their own meaning (if there is one at all).

My main point is that AMVs are moving further and further away from the actual anime, and becoming more and more their own thing. So does anyone else still try to make AMVs to bring out specific parts of the actual anime they love? My last video was a character profile that's gotten many comments like "This reminds me of an oldschool character profile vid from back in the day". I didn't realize how true it was that people had just stopped making them so often until I really thought about the past year's vids I've downloaded. Am I the only one who misses "the good ole days"?

What's wrong with trying to come up with something "original". That is to say, an AMV does not neccessarily have to be bound by elements presented in the show (i.e. character drama, action, plot). I've seen some videos that simply use the imagry of the show without any reference to the series itself.

Secondly, it is also a matter of music. It may simply be harder and harder to find songs that "fit" a particular show. Unless there is a musician who is an anime fan and is inspired by anime to write music, you are not going to find many songs that work well within the confines of a particular show or their characters. Music is far to abstract and everyone has different opinions about what a particular song is about - even when the composer says, "this is what this song is about." (and I'm just talking about lyrics....the instrumental side of a songs brings a whole new variable to selections as well)

[Mr Pilkington]

a picture-in-picture shot of someone's tits.

Best vids ever...

or "picture-in-picture shots" of people shitting

[SSJVegita0609]

Oh, incidentally, I included the link to the video because Mr. Vegita, you still owe me an op on that one.

I'm so sorry sir, I'd totally forgotten about that since my hardrive crashed. Expect it done within 24 hours.

As for the rest of you, namely those arguing that I'm trying to slander originality. I think you're taking what I'm saying more extremely than I'm meaning it to be. What I stated was the use of an aspect of the anime (INCLUDING the mood, rubyeye) and using a song that truely emphasized it. I'm not talking about straight rehashing of what you've already seen or understood, I'm talking about EMPHASIZING it, looking at it in a new light. I can go back to Eden for this. Videos like it are taking something out of the anime, in this case a very strong message, and artistically bombarding it upon the viewer. Hell, I know people that entirely missed the philosophical aspects of Trigun and watched it purely for the sake of the comedy and action. But I could show them that video and they could suddenly take the series in a whole new light.

I'm not as extreme in my views on this as Beo is, I'm not proclaiming that anything that shamelessly uses After Effects "sucks". I think people can make and enjoy whatever they want.

The entire purpose of this thread was just for people to discuss why the AMV world seems to be progressing in the direction it is.

[Jebadia]

I think at this rate, people are gonna use amv's more and more to make their own stories involving the animes they use, which should make us look forward to some good stuff...hopefully.

[Zarxrax]

I agree that people will continue more and more making their own creations now. There's been a huge influx of these types of videos in this year alone. As more and more people learn how to actually use effects to convey meaning and purpose in their videos, we can hopefully see some decline in the stuff like piano key effects and plain flashes, and other crap that gets horribly overused.
With quality effects, I also see a shift towards better design and visual style in videos. This is one of the reasons I'm fond of MADs; almost all of them have an excellant sense of design thats all but missing from most AMVs. More attention to text styling and position of elements onscreen, as well as overall visual styles.
All in all, I see a positive change in the scene at the moment, although the gap between the 2 groups of editors may be widening.