Charlie Questionset III

[Shin-AMV]

What does friendship mean to you as it applies to the world of AMVs?

More funtimes

Who are your friends? If you're friendly with everybody, who are your best friends?
I'm not exactly looking for specific names (though you're free to share those as well) as much as I'm looking for group names or editing demographics, though specific names could be interesting, too.

I have a lot of friends and acquaintances who are involved in making AMVs now. I'm pretty open to talking to anybody about AMVs and just goofing off and my Skype is readily available for people to add anytime. Youtube or Org, novice or pro as long as you enjoy the hobby we'll probably get along.

We all change groups of friends throughout our lives, somewhat anyway. What other groups in the past have you been involved with?

I dunno. Before AMVs it was just a small group of college friends I guess.

Do you think you would ever have come to be an editor without a community?

It took awhile before I actually got involved in the community and making friends in it, so probably yeah.

Do you think you would like editing as much without a community?

Probably.

What about with a community, but for some reason it was impossible to make friends?
Not that there's anything wrong with you, it's just impossible to make real friends in this example for some imaginary reason.

I'd still be making AMVs but it might not be as fun.

How important would editing be to you if every online community and all traces of one (save for your own memory) ceased to exist when you woke up tomorrow morning?

Dunno for sure. But I imagine it'd be like trying to go to your day job still after the zombie apocalypse happened. Kinda of a waste if the social structure is gone. :/

Have you ever met an editor in real life?

If yes, describe your first experience doing so.

If more than once, describe your last experience doing so.

Yes. I saw a bunch of editors at A Cen 2011, but didn't really meet any until AWA where I remember meeting Kireblue, Pilkington, l33tmeatwad, Vlad, and GloryQuestor. Although I was really timid at the time so the meetings were kinda brief for the most part and I didn't say a whole lot. I ended up meeting a lot of editors at Anime Boston and hanging out with a bunch of them including Kiarrens, Driftroot, BasharoftheAges, Warlike Swans/Cygnet, LantisEscudo, Advent87, drewaconclusion and a bunch of others. Then on the way back from Boston, I ended up in a crazy awesome situation where I got a $400 travel voucher and a 10 hour layover in Chicago and ended up meeting and hanging out with Ileia, Copycat_revolver, Kitsuner, Koopiskeva, and Brad which was super funtimes. (Especially the super slow drive-by staredown as I walked towards the airport terminal, that wasn't awkward at all <.<)

Is there anything else related to this subject you'd like to add?

Meeting/talking with other editors is fun. No real reason to be shy or timid, most of us are generally in the same situation as you and are really open to talking or hanging out so if you know where at a convention feel free to say hi and hang out at different panels/events/breakfast/lunch/dinner etc.

The person posting below you has no friends, whatsoever. Will you be his/her friend?

No, he/she has no friends for a reason. What an elitist jerk.

[DriftRoot]

*peers upwards at Shin*

What does friendship mean to you as it applies to the world of AMVs?

Friends with AMV benefits? Getting to know people over time, so that your conversation progresses past the point of an occasional "oh hey, good AMV" in an announcement thread to actual knowledge and awareness of that person as a PERSON, not "just" another editor.

Who are your friends? If you're friendly with everybody, who are your best friends?
I'm not exactly looking for specific names (though you're free to share those as well) as much as I'm looking for group names or editing demographics, though specific names could be interesting, too.

Friends? I guess they know who they are...I'm not a tons of friends sort of person, quality over quantity has been my lifelong modus operandi. I'm also older than a lot of the anime fans and editors one runs into, so I am very out of touch with anyone younger than oh... Generation Y or so. My interests have always tended towards the same things people younger than me enjoy, though, and so I'm not unused to being around younger folks (omg...I sound soooo old).

We all change groups of friends throughout our lives, somewhat anyway. What other groups in the past have you been involved with?

Identifiable groups in the past? hrm...D&D (3rd edition) and Final Fantasy are probably the only "groups" per se. I'm an equal opportunity sort of person, I don't typically identify strongly with one group or another.

Do you think you would ever have come to be an editor without a community?

Probably not, when I started getting into AMVs, the first thing I did was track down the AMV community (aka a-m-v.org).

Do you think you would like editing as much without a community?

I don't like editing much as it is BUT I don't make videos in a vacuum, and nor do most people. We make them to share with others and that, I'd say, means some kind of enjoyment of community. Whether one's experience WITH that community is enjoyable is a totally different matter.

What about with a community, but for some reason it was impossible to make friends?

This is starting to reach a bit, I think...but I'll play along. Just because (according to my own definition of friendship) I didn't have "friends," that wouldn't mean there still weren't people who were watching and enjoying my videos. They don't need to be my "friends" to do that, and in fact it's those nameless masses I don't know and will never know who are the primary audience for my videos. Does that make those nameless masses of AMV fans a community? I'd say so.

How important would editing be to you if every online community and all traces of one (save for your own memory) ceased to exist when you woke up tomorrow morning?

If the question is "Would you still make AMVs if they couldn't be shared," then editing would probably become rather unimportant to me. Refinishing antiques is the only hobby I have which is a singular pursuit, I think the nature of AMV editing is overwhelmingly communal...

Have you ever met an editor in real life?

If yes, describe your first experience doing so.

Last experience would be at Anime Boston this year - see Shin's post above. It was the first time I got to meet a group of folks all at once who didn't all already know each other and were interested in some casual conversation, getting to know one another, etc. (Wish I'd had more of a chance to spend more time with people, but circumstances made that a little difficult.) At other times, it's just been meeting one particular editor and hanging out for a few hours or maybe a small group briefly. As mentioned above, I'm not the kind of person who has a ton of casual friends, or who makes friends easily. There are some people I just completely and totally "click" with immediately, but that happens pretty rarely.

Is there anything else related to this subject you'd like to add?

I will say this: the online AMV community and friends are the only people with whom I ever do anything with this hobby. None of my "IRL" friends care very much about anime or AMVs, aside from my occasionally forcing a good anime movie on them or turning them into guinea pigs for my latest video. So almost everything I say, think and do with regards to editing is done online, as part of this community (and by "this" I mean a-m-v.org). For anyone who has ever wondered why (or how) I ever got it into my head to be such an active and effusive journal poster, that is why. I have no other "outlet," as it were, to share my thoughts, my ideas, my trials and tribulations with anyone who would really understand or even be interested. I do a little, of course, and my friends commiserate as well as they're able, but when I'm up to my eyeballs in a new video and need to vent, bounce ideas off people or just talk shop, I do it here, not during girl's night out.

The person posting below you has no friends, whatsoever. Will you be his/her friend?

*peers downwards* If they want to be my friend, that's a good start.

[ngsilver]

What does friendship mean to you as it applies to the world of AMVs?

Friends make everything more fun. Doesn't matter what the subject mater is.

Who are your friends? If you're friendly with everybody, who are your best friends?
I'm not exactly looking for specific names (though you're free to share those as well) as much as I'm looking for group names or editing demographics, though specific names could be interesting, too.

Well, I tend to talk more to people in the IRC chat and those who frequent the livestreams. I pretty friendly with everyone so yeah...

We all change groups of friends throughout our lives, somewhat anyway. What other groups in the past have you been involved with?

Many

Do you think you would ever have come to be an editor without a community?

Yes, considering the editing community as far as I knew of it when I started editing was people putting videos up on Morpheus and Kazaa with a file name with 'AMV' somewhere in it. I didn't find out about the org until well after I started editing and then it took a few more years before I actually starting paying attention to the 'community' as I never went to the forums in the early years.

Do you think you would like editing as much without a community?

Well, if by community you mean the people who hang around the forums and I chat with regularly then yes, I'd like editing just the same. If by community you mean the people who keep this site running, then probably not. After all, I have a much easier time finding videos and enjoyable ones here then elsewhere and that mainly what my primary goal is, to watch videos rather then make them.

What about with a community, but for some reason it was impossible to make friends?
Not that there's anything wrong with you, it's just impossible to make real friends in this example for some imaginary reason.

Wouldn't bother me none really.

How important would editing be to you if every online community and all traces of one (save for your own memory) ceased to exist when you woke up tomorrow morning?

Same as it is now. I make vids for whoever decides to watch them and myself. If no one else watched them then at least I'd have myself as a viewer.

Have you ever met an editor in real life?

If yes, describe your first experience doing so.

If more than once, describe your last experience doing so.

Yes.
My first experience meeting an editor was with one of my friends back in College who made videos as well. I forget what his editor name was though, but we had fun both loosing at ACEN '04.
My last experience was at Youmacon. I have a few editors on my staff so it was fun times hanging out with them and enjoying a few cigars and a hookah on Sunday night after everything was torn down and we had time to relax. I'm looking forward to doing similar with SailorDeath and anyone else who wants to join in again at AWA this year.

Is there anything else related to this subject you'd like to add?

Stop lurking when you goto cons. We don't bite... well... most of us don't... I can't really speak for Pilk....

The person posting below you has no friends, whatsoever. Will you be his/her friend?

Yes

[Shin-AMV]

*peers upwards at Shin*

O:
I change my position, we can be BFFs.
If you're at Boston again next year, you definately should hang out more with us.