We need a leader

[Warheart]

Damn took me ages to read through the thread. And well I'm one of those people that just make "another video", for me it's just that I never have a vision and the abilities or the skills to realize it. Acutally I had one but someone else had the same idea and thus it died. But generally I think according to the 10% Beo isn't that worng but then it always comes to the poin how do you define something new and groundbreaking ? I mean Trauer by Pokich or Scorp's Whisper of the Beast weren't that avantgarde but still I think they deserve their place up there. What you want is nearly impossible. Since actually Kai was right when he said it's always due to the source you use. I mean using underground anime won't work cause no one wants to watch it because it's poor animation quality, using popular anime doesn't work since everyone complaines about it being like everything else since there are already a bunch of videos out there being similar. So having the idea is one thing but finding the source is another, we always use a source given to us and to change it for an alternate universe amv isn't something new as well, so basically something entirely new isn't possible just as Kai said.

For example the modern age suddenly stopped progressing and the postmodern age started, and this term just defines the recompilation of modern aspects (or aspects from other ages). And why did the modern age come to an end ? Because everything had been tried and done so there was no one that actually had a new idea so everyone started to join the plurality and recompilated things. It's the same with amvs only that this progress was way faster. So let's say 1997-2000 was the classic age, 2004 the modern and now we are in the postmodern age and the ghost of the avantgarde has died so we don't know what else to do to bring forth something new.

It's generally not my problem since I don't expect something entirely new because I know that only watching other amvs is alienating ones own ideas so your already not able to make something completely new anymore. It's just that Beowulf has always been claiming that amvs are art but I guess even that has died now, and Ingow is right if you can't cope with that it may be time to leave. And since I'm just a cheap copy of others I always thought why am I still doing this ? And I already thought of leaving the community once, but as for me I'l just stay and see what is becoming of this communtiy, since maybe something like the disappearing of the .org will lead to a new shore, even though I don't think this'll happen. Anyway I'd really like to see if someone's still up to the challenge to do something new.

But as far as I can see now it won't happen to soon, so I'll just stick with Paul Kievitz since his last sentence sound like making alot of sense.

[mexicanjunior]

RDS: bullying the little guys?

More like...

RDS: Lose Your Identity in a Sea of Names

[Shinodude]

I agree with you beo we do need more original ideas and less of all the cheap same over used effects

[JaddziaDax]

I agree with you beo we do need more original ideas and less of all the cheap same over used effects

THEN GET ON IT SHINODUDE!! START WORKING!

I WANNA SEE YOUR NEW VIDEO ASAP!

O.O

CAPSLOCK IS THE BEST O.O

[Tormentor]

@ War: x2

Well see another point. There are ppl I respect a lot. I download their amvs in order to see how much they have improved. I personaly make videos in order to make something I like. I think that some of my concepts are really original, though I lack of technical skills and experience in order to make something for the mainh stream. Another point for dling videos and continuing making them is the feeling. For example Tsukin just received a video full of it. I don't see a moral or story in it, it's just basic action making me feel good. Amvs based on moof and the feelings of the viewer are great as well. I have my concepts and I will continue creating, although the statements on the first page of this thread are really making one desperate.

[Shinodude]

I agree with you beo we do need more original ideas and less of all the cheap same over used effects

THEN GET ON IT SHINODUDE!! START WORKING!

I WANNA SEE YOUR NEW VIDEO ASAP!

O.O

CAPSLOCK IS THE BEST O.O

im working on a video lol it has some effects lol XD im such a hypocrit

[JaddziaDax]

@Shinodude: XD

[Shinodude]

@Shinodude: XD

well effects are sometimes fun to use

[Isenfolme]

The form of an amv depends on what the creator wants to get out of it. By extension, the shape of the amv "community" in general will depend on the attitudes and expectations of its members.

Why do we create amvs? Perhaps seeing it as an artform is the most useful. If amvs are art, we have to remember that there are many many kinds of art. On the one hand we might consider representational art - trying to draw/paint/sculpt something that is as close to the reality as possible. On the other we might think of consciously postmodern art, with artists trying to push the boundaries of perception to create something truly original. Both are valid forms of artistic expression. However, it is a simpe fact about the majority of people that they will appreciate and accept something straightforward far more easily than they will try to grasp something outside of their immediate experience. That's where all the interminable "that's not art, it's just a bunch of paint splashed onto a canvas" comments come from.

I would suggest that the same can be said of amvs, and the general amv audience. The reason the top 10% is so full of the same stuff is because that's what people like - it's the lowest common denominator of things people enjoy. Anime that people know and like. Music that people know and like. If it's edited together in a pleasing and enjoyable way, then people will like it. It's not a tough equation. When the vast majority of people set out to make their first amv, chances are they will be trying to do the same: to use materials they enjoy and put them together in a way plesaing to eye and ear. Perhaps this is the amv equivalent of representational art. You can do it very very well, and you can do it very very badly, but it's it's own genre, and stands as a valid form of the amv art.

The urge to push the boundaries, to find something new, to challenge perception is something that I suggest is much rarer among amv creators and watchers alike. Plus, in being new and thus harder to grasp, they won't be as immediately popular as some of us might hope they would be. Plus, in a community this size, with this many active creators, and the technical skills required to create a basic amv getting less and less, the truly groundbreaking "postmodern" amvs are more than likely to get lost in the crush.

My point? I think the groundbreaking stuff is out there. I think there are "postmodern" creators out there trying to be genuinely original, trying to play with the limits and expectations of the accepted amv form. They are simply hard to find, and they will only get harder to find, as the size of the community grows. Still, I don't think that fact is something we need to bewail that much. I don't like something just because it is new. I like it because it pleases me in some way, whether that be through tight editing, great music, sophisticated storytelling or just plain shininess. There is real quality out there, that is quality even if it isn't the next great step. To go back to the analogy - representational art is still valid. You want to tell me Constable wasn't a great artists because he just painted landscapes, and any fool can do that? I sincerely hope not.

[Heero_Yuy84]

OK...looking over a lot of the back and forth from some of the people in this thread, I feel the need to ask

Is there anyone else on this site still doing AMVs because...you know...they just like doing them...and, to that end, isn't terribly concerned with making the next big hit?
If people like it, OK, good for them...
If they don't...why should you care? Theoretically so long as you're still satisfied with it, that should count for something.

...then again, from the looks of some of these posts, that seems to be an outdated perspective.