Heero_Yuy84 wrote: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?
Yes. But those people will usually avoid threads like this one. A casual hobbyist has no place telling professionals to calm down and stop taking themselves and their work so seriously. There are a lot of people posting in this thread who take their work very seriously, dead serious, as if they were creating amvs to change the world rather than to pass the time. I can't see through their eyes, so I can't enter into the discussion. They're looking for a video that will unite and amaze the community, all the while they're criticizing the community for being made up of people incapable of appreciating greatness when they see it. It seems like a lost cause to me. Why try to lead a community when what you really want is to destroy the community? They want to build up a new commuity where great works of art are instantly recognized, thus encouraging new groundbreaking works of art because the new community won't accept anything less. With a goal like that in mind, it seems redundant to try and argue the need with members of the old unacceptable community. If their opinions had any weight, the discussion itself wouldn't be necessary because the members would already be focused on creating the next best thing this thread is calling for.
I think it really comes down to the community. The next best thing, as defined by the artists, won't be a video the amv community can rally behind. It'll be a video the artists can rally behind. No matter how many serious people post in this thread, that won't change the fact that the amv community itself is comprised mostly of hobbyists interested in entertainment, whether it's entertaining themselves or the faceless masses. If the artists admit that, they have no choice but to compromise themselves and make a great work of art that will be down-to-earth enough to appeal to the hobbyists. Once they compromise themselves, the next great thing won't be so great anymore because it'll be tainted just enough to appeal to the unwashed masses, like an artist doing illustrations for a travel magazine. It seems self destructive for them to push themselves to make something the community will like enough to rally behind. Because they already know what videos the community rallies behind and those are the videos they're degrading in this thread.
There are too many responses in this thread from people who want the next best thing but are unable to make it themselves. It's depressing and painful, because they clearly have a strong need to find some genius. I don't think he'll step forward no matter how long this thread gets. A better approach to finding him would be to start a search for ground breaking videos, with the people searching being the ones capable of recognizing hidden gems. Once the savior is found,
then you can make a thread begging him to create the next great thing and encouraging others to rally behind his video. If the people posting in this thread were capable of making the next great thing, they wouldn't be posting here. They'd be editing.
I think hobbyists like me don't belong in threads like this because we just don't get it. I'm not an artist. I'm not skilled at editing. I think both are requisites if you want to make the groundbreakingly original and technically perfect next best thing this thread is calling for. Even the feedback junkies won't attempt this next best thing because they know there aren't enough artists in the community to make it worthwhile. They're better off appealing to the faceless masses who join amv communities to see music videos made with anime they like. It's easier to satisfy them, and as long as you're making videos for other people, you might as well aim for the bigger audience.
We still have conventions that break editors down into categories according to skill, don't we? Those cons happen yearly, and they're huge and famed. Right? I've read so many journals where the people submitting to those cons speak in hushed terms about their yearly opus. Those conventions would be a better place to look for the next great thing. If you still can't find it in contests like that, then form a mini-community. Handpick editors who have skills and creativity and brainstorm together. With the raw talent gathered together, and so much motivation to make something great, at the very least you'll have more videos that stand out above average. Once you have the videos, it'll be much easier to start a campaign to make the faceless masses appreciate those videos for being artistic, rather than fanservicy top 10 material.
