Is context/story important?

[EvaFan]

How important is story/context to you in an AMV?

I offer you all a short lesson:

What do you see/feel here:


After you've decided... Now check the spoiler:

Spoiler :

This is the last picture that Van Gogh painted before he killed himself titled: Wheatfield with Crows

Now what do you see/feel?

I don't want to go into any more deep explanations about my feelings on this subject, the above explains my thoughts enough.

To me context/story is very important depending on what you are trying to do and how you want your audience to react / feel.

Just thought a small discussion would be interesting. Take it for what you will.

[Fall_Child42]

I agree Context is very important. Personally I love finding out about the histories and contexts of a variety of things.

However all the context in the world will never get around people's individual experiences knowledge and interpretation.

People may know the circumstances surrounding a piece of art but it will not affect them because the thoughts feelings and experiences that individual has will cause them to feel a different way.

So while context might be interesting, it may not be THAT important because people will end up making their own story, or having their own feelings about anything they see.

[BasharOfTheAges]

If you're talking about "this is the story behind why I made this" type explanations, It's certainly interesting - though there's a fine line between context and drama if you happen to be bringing it up as a counter-point or counter-argument in an analysis discussion. It should stand separate from merit, not replace it, or be used as a crutch.

For paintings and the like where you can look at them and browse at your leisure, context can be important to understanding and differentiating the good from the bad (at least in some cases). In fast-paced mediums like AMVs, if you need to know the context (i.e. the back story of the anime) to understand something, you're limiting your audience in the largest consumption setting, the convention screening.

I personally feel AMVs are a story telling medium that very subtle allusions and "in medias res" style story telling require a good deal of skill to pull off. This is why scene selection and pacing is key if you're using a relatively unknown source in a drama video.

[Megamom]

It is important... because an AMV is like the human body!

Alma = Music
Hearts, Anime
Intelligence and feelings = Context/story

[Megamom]

It is important... because an AMV is like the human body!

Alma = Music
Hearts = Anime
Intelligence and feelings = Context/story



PS: Wrong button!

[Dar]

yeah story is really important. i need to work on it lol.

[Chiikaboom]

Depends.

If its a drama, or a sentimental amv, yeah story would be nice, but considering my preference to random action/fun amvs, it isnt something required for me to enjoy one.

[JaddziaDax]

it's important, but it's not the only factor for deciding if something is good/bad

[CodeZTM]

Depends.

If its a drama, or a sentimental amv, yeah story would be nice, but considering my preference to random action/fun amvs, it isnt something required for me to enjoy one.

Pretty much sums up my feelings.

[ngsilver]

There is context in everything. While it's true a random multi-anime video might not have an actual story, it does have a context, a feeling, something that it is portraying. The creator even if they say it's not there it is. After all, by categorizing the video as a fun or dance or action video gives the video some kind of context.

As an example, lets take my series of animated gif videos, the Dance series. While generally there is no real story in these videos, they all are trying to portray a fun feeling and make the viewer want to get up and dance. They all try to portray a sense of nostalgia to those who were alive and functioning during the 90s while also trying to grab the current generation by throwing in jokes and content from more recent years. While yes, the videos may appear random, they still try to convey a feeling, and their context is to just have fun and dance.

I could name off plenty of random videos that are popular that in the end have the same context as my own. However, as has already been stated, context often is subjective. So while one person may get one thing out of a video they see, another may get something else, while the creator may have been going for something entirely different. You could say this is why it takes someone who is really good with their editing and pacing to pull off a video that everyone can grab the same thing from, but that doesn't mean someone who fails to do this is doing it wrong.

When I write poems and stories I often try to rouse an emotion out of the reader or get the reader to take something away from their time spent reading what I wrote. However when I hear reviews and people talk about what they read it isn't the parroting back of what I wanted them to get out of the piece that gives me the most joy, it's hearing the different takes that I didn't even think of. I understand that these interpretations, while not what I was going for, are not wrong but instead offer new insight to me on my own works. The same can be said for my own videos when I try to impart a story or emotion.

TLDR: Yes, context/story is important. Without it you would get nothing from the process of making the video or watching the video. It's that feeling and enjoyment you get from a video that makes you want to keep watching it. It's just the same thing can't be taken out of a video by everyone, because everyone is different.