Favorite AMV Editing Techniques

[ShonenDizzyCow]

Effects are always an useful optional 'tool' to have when making a video. Some creators do overuse/rely on effects a little too much.

That being said I sometimes use rather subtle or invisible effects, to generate a sequence that I want that does not exist to further the video, that is to say I want my effects to be totally seamless if possible, but that has the downside that people tend to get the impression that I didn't spend enough effort on my videos sometimes, since they don't even notice the effects. Ironic.

Let's not even mention the invisibility of audio editing.

[Kai Stromler]

weird nomenclature stuff here. What is getting called a technique I usually call a trick, or in the other definition that I've seen used, a philosophy or methodology. Then again, what I call a technique might better be referred to as a process.

On the edit subject at hand: I've said it before, and I'll say it again and again, even after I'm SURE everyone's stopped listening: EDIT IS LAW. If your video does not rest on that solid bedrock, NO amount of effects will save it from being consigned to the scrap heap.

If you want techniques, here's one that seems not to have come up so far: audio-color match. Listen to the song, and see what color suggests itself to you listening to it. Once you've got that defined, go through your source anime and look for clips dominated by that color. If you don't have enough to make a color-matched video, go through it again, get clips that look cool and run them though a tint or level-adjust (in the case that you've picked a 'white' or 'black' song) filter and MAKE them that color.

It can be pretty cool if done well and consistently, but if you do it unconsciously in some parts of your video and not at all in others, it can cause problems. Going back to VicBond's "Shining Collection", the audio source is pretty "white", as is most of the video. When the frame starts getting dominated by other colors (green in the most personally disruptive sequence), it starts to throw things.

Of course, different people will associate different colors with different songs. But if you build a dominant color into your video and work at it, the chance is reduced that some idiot like me will come along, point to a sequence and say "that's the wrong color!" Enforce your color vision on others.

--Kai

[Big Big Truck]

If you want techniques, here's one that seems not to have come up so far: audio-color match. Listen to the song, and see what color suggests itself to you listening to it. Once you've got that defined, go through your source anime and look for clips dominated by that color. If you don't have enough to make a color-matched video, go through it again, get clips that look cool and run them though a tint or level-adjust (in the case that you've picked a 'white' or 'black' song) filter and MAKE them that color.

I've been trying this a lot lately, especially with "Pyramid" and "The Edge", neither of which will ever have an audience, probably, but...
With the music I used for the former, I saw blue-greys alternating with vibrant golds, and those are really the only colors that show up in that video.
"The Edge" was very 80's (using "Closer to the Edit" by Art of Noise), so I tried to do that duotone/halftone effect, assigning reds and oranges to the "bolder" notes and cooler tones to the more subdued ones.

It's fun :3

[Rozard]

I still think Pyramid (Well, what I saw of it) is a great video, and I would have liked to see the finished product, if there was one.