Newbies: How to make your first AMV

jbone · Post by **jbone** » Mon Aug 12, 2002 11:12 am

NOTE: This guide is severely outdated and has been unstickied. Please consult the guides section of the site for guides on the amv creation process.

http://www.animemusicvideos.org/guides/

-Corran

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This question gets asked several times a day, so I think I'll try to create a definitive "what to do" guide.

First, you need source material. Lots of people start with downloaded clips/fansubs. These will let you make something, but your finished video won't look very good. Rather, you should use DVD source for the best results. (There is an entire Guides section. Read <a href=http://www.a-m-v.org/guides/avtech31/>ErMaC & AbsoluteDestiny's Friendly AMV Guides</a> to learn how to work with your video streams. Don't ask here, as it's already all answered for you in the guide.)

Second, just pick an idea and run with it. Something sound good to you? try it. Work on it for hours or for days. Teach yourself how to do cool things with the software. Your video will most likely suck, but almost everyone's first videos suck. It may take you three or four tries to actually be able to make anything good, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't just throw together something that "sounds cool" - you need that experience in order to learn what to do (or what not to do). Don't worry about people not liking it, 'cause you don't even have to show it to anyone. Just don't post on the message boards that you're new and you want someone's help to start - dozens of such requests are made a week, and nobody's going to hold your hand and/or give you a good idea that you couldn't've easily come up with by yourself.

Third, don't ask stupid questions. Think things through, don't waste peoples' time asking things which could easily be answered by reading the manual/reading the guides/reading past message board posts/using common sense.

Fourth, don't ask people to give you software. Some programs are available for free; some are cheap; others are expen sive. Nobody here will give you pirated software, and many people here will flame you if you start to brag about how you used pirated software.

In case this hasn't already been mentioned....

What NOT to do if you want a good AMV:

Do NOT use a windows media format (usually .wmv or .asf)
Do NOT use Realplayer (usually something like .rm -rf /luser)

Some good video formats are:

DivX 3.11alpha
XviD
MPEG
And just for the hell of it I'll give QuickTime 6's new MPEG-4 a chance.

Some good audio formats:
(There isnt much choice here anyway)
MP3
OGG

In case you are lucky enough to have a clean computer, and you didn't install any codec packs or divx 4/5. Then there is good news, you can now watch those divx4/5 and xvid encoded videos without installing the codecs (YAY)

A good set of codecs, and the only ones you should need for that matter are:

DivX 3.11alpha - if you know how to encode this one stands above 4/5.
ffdshow - directshow filters which allow you to watch divx3, divx4, divx5, xvid, and mpeg4v3 (the microsoft version).
Ogg Vorbis DirectShow Filter Collection - There are two, you'll need both.

Note: The Ogg filters are only needed if you are making and watching .ogm (ogg movies). Ogg movies using xvid for video and ogg audio for the audio.
Mac Users: I'm sure there is something out there that works....

Getting Sources:

If you have the DVDs, then rip them to either DivX 3.11alpha or XviD. My advice if you are new to ripping the source from the dvd is to use GordianKnot and encode to DivX 3.11alpha.

Downloads:
The codecs and filters are available on doom9.net/org in the download section. Obviously the filters will not be in the same place as the codecs and vise versa, and in order to see the ogg stuff you will need to click 'show me more' near filters.
The DVD backup and ripping utils are also there, along with the GordianKnot program and update. And the guides are there as well, hooah.[/u]

[MOD359: Edited 12/19/02]

jbone · Post by **jbone** » Mon Aug 12, 2002 1:03 pm

Addendum: You should use DVD source or footage you capture yourself. I forgot to mention capturing video 'cause I don't use it myself.

SpPANDA · Post by **SpPANDA** » Mon Aug 12, 2002 2:27 pm

[shrugs]

questions have never really bothered me. i'm always up to answering basic stuff. i'll even lend a hand to help new people get off to the right start. ^_^

jbone · Post by **jbone** » Mon Aug 12, 2002 2:47 pm

It's good to help new people, but a lot of the same questions get asked over and over... and many of these questions are very, very simple.

Anyhow, now that this thread's sticky, and because this is the first forum in which most newbies will probably look, hopefully the typical "hi, how do I make my first AMV" questions won't be as frequent.

DiemondDagger · Post by **DiemondDagger** » Mon Aug 12, 2002 3:39 pm

Now, we wait and see if any N00bs will fall for our trap.
*waits patiently*

- As a member of a-m-v.org I have come to notice that Newbies quite often...aren't very smart. And usually dont read other threads before posting.
But we will see not all newbies are the same.

afleetinghope · Post by **afleetinghope** » Mon Aug 12, 2002 5:01 pm

Jbone, if you get some of the new digisubs they're close to being, if not actually, as good as DVD footage. *drools at X TV*

jbone · Post by **jbone** » Mon Aug 12, 2002 5:48 pm

They may look the same to the untrained human eye, but in reality they lack vital visual data, and subsequent recompressions made from that source won't look quite as good.

Remember, DivX removes a ton of "invisible" data which encoders rely on for accurately compressing the video.

afleetinghope · Post by **afleetinghope** » Mon Aug 12, 2002 6:17 pm

I'm quite happy with my DivX rips even if they're not perfect, hell most commerical DVDs you all love so much aren't much better (Weiss Kreuz, X Movie), so why waste your money on overpriced crap?

Chaos Angel · Post by **Chaos Angel** » Mon Aug 12, 2002 8:32 pm

DiemondDagger wrote:- As a member of a-m-v.org I have come to notice that Newbies quite often...aren't very smart. And usually dont read other threads before posting.
But we will see not all newbies are the same.

-No, they aren't. When I first joined, I read the guides a couple different times first thing (actually, this was before I even actually joined) because they looked like they would be helpful. I'm glad I did, too. They are a great thing, and I wish more people would read them.

JBone, you never mentioned video editting software, which is another frequently asked question. Besides Windows Movie Maker, there is also the much-better Premiere, and Photoshop and After Effects for special touches. Trial versions can be downloaded from the Adobe website, if you cannot currently afford the real versions. You have to register with the Adobe site to get them, but it is free of charge.

Just putting in my two cents.

SarahtheBoring · Post by **SarahtheBoring** » Mon Aug 12, 2002 8:58 pm

afleetinghope wrote:I'm quite happy with my DivX rips even if they're not perfect, hell most commerical DVDs you all love so much aren't much better (Weiss Kreuz, X Movie), so why waste your money on overpriced crap?

Because that encourages the companies to release more product overseas (i.e. here), thereby encouraging the industry we claim to support.

That's why.