Kalium's AMV Theory Primer [Written in 2004, Updated in 2006]

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This guide was originally written by Kalium in December 2004.
It is presented as close to its original format as possible, with only obvious typos corrected.

This guide looks at numerous facets of editing theory including Synch, Concept and Effects.

The guide on archive.org

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About This Guide
This is a general guide to basic AMV theory, as I see it. I have tried to keep my opinions out of much of it, but I can’t be sure that some didn't leak in anyway. Thanks to godix, badmartialarts, Zarxrax, Koopiskeva, and Kai Stromler for suggestions along the way. Thanks also to derobert for HTML and formatting suggestions.



Table of Contents

1. Synch
   • Musical
   • Lyrical
   • Mood
2. Concept
   • Storytelling
   • Exploration
   • Examination
3. Effects
   • Meaning
   • Appearance
   • Musical Synch
   • Compositing

About the Examples
The examples I use in this guide are ones I chose that help illustrate what I'm talking about. They are far from the only way to do things, and there are many other videos that I could have used for each example. However, since I didn't feel that ten examples of each subject would be helpful, I opted for one or two.

Update February 4, 2006:
Some of the examples have been updated, and some segments of the guide rewritten. A few assorted typos have also been corrected.

About the Author
My profile can be found here. Any and all feedback is appreciated.

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Synch

Synchronization, or synch, is the idea that in a music video the audio and video should be connected. Synchronization is typically viewed as the most important technical aspect of a video, the medium through with everything else can be conveyed. It is the connection between music and video. Without synch, you have anime, and you have music, but no real connection between them. Synch can be subdivided into musical, lyrical, and mood synch.

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MUSICAL

AKA Beat synch. Musical synchronization is the simplest, conceptually speaking. This is the idea that cuts, fades, effects, or just events in the video are timed to match the audio. While sometimes simple to execute, this can get very complicated very rapidly. Many songs will have more than one musical line going at a time, and sounds of varying volume and tone. As an editor, you have to pick what you think is important, and synch to that. Sometimes the music itself presents a clear lead line to work with, but this is frequently not the case. What you show, how strongly you show it, and how you show it are all choices to be made.

For example, A strong guitar riff might be matched with a hard cut, or a snare drum hit with a lens flare. A bass drum hit might be paired with an explosion, particularly if there are a series of bass drum hits in an action video. Long, slow, lilting musical passages may be coupled with equally long and slow crossfades. This can be layered, with certain characters, visual effects, or types effects bound to specific sounds. Perhaps a series of explosions timed to a particularly hard set of guitar riffs.

Most videos make use of beat synch heavily. To ignore the music itself is generally considered extremely bad form, although there are exceptions. Without extremely good reason, such as comedy, the video ending, etc., missing a significant change in the music is considered a major slip-up on the part of the editor.

Example of Musical Synch: Jasper-Isis and krzT321's "Absolution"

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LYRICAL

AKA Literal synch. In short, you match what is being said to what you show. Lyric interpretation need not be literal, however. Symbolism and other less literal representations are not unknown. The connection between what is said and what is shown may be readily obvious, heavily symbolic, or nearly anywhere in between. One type that deserves special mention is the comedic association: an association made specifically to make fun of something or someone, or something absolutely ridiculous. The associations should be ones that the viewer can understand, though. If the associations are so strange or symbolic that the viewer can't understand them, then the editor has likely slipped up. Unless they're trying to make an incomprehensible video, which is also not unknown.

A second type that deserves special mention is lip-synch. This is where a character (or characters) mouth movements are matched to the lyrics such that the character (or characters) appear to be singing or speaking. It is considered good form to lip synch entire lines at a time, with partial lip synch being somewhat looked down upon.

Example of Lip Synch: istiv's "Shounen Bushido"

Most non-instrumentals make heavy use of lyrical synch. In fact, the common vein of thought is that ignoring the lyrics makes for a nonsensical video.[1] Since the lyrics tend to be the focus of any song where they are comprehensible (songs with completely incomprehensible lyrics can probably be considered instrumentals for all practical purposes), they tend to be the chief route for the viewer to take to understand the video. When you take the lyrics from most songs, the music does not usually convey the story or meaning anywhere near as clearly.

Example of Lyrical Synch: Scintilla's "The NERV Evening News with Dan Rather"


Footnote:
[1]: Kai Stromler adds:
Note that this is in explicit contradiction to the prevailing view among directors of band-official music videos which do not rely heavily on performance footage. In this context, it is usual for the video to develop more or less independently of the lyrics; however, this concept has not transferred successfully to the AMV realm. Viewers of AMVs expect something different from a music video than general audiences do; given the anime context, the creator is somewhat expected to tie the finished video back to the source anime in some manner. If this is not done by conceptually following the plotting of the original, it is usually done by literally portraying the lyrics with the visuals.

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MOOD

AKA Conceptual synch. This is more difficult to explain, in part because it is a lesser explored area. The idea here is not to synch to the music or lyrics directly, but rather to the emotions and mood evoked by the music. This is most commonly seen during an instrumental section of a video, where the cuts are timed musically and the scenes thematically.

Example of Mood Synch: pen-pen2002's “Requiem for a Nightmare”

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Concept

A video concept is a deceptively simple thing. The best way to describe it is as a vision. What you want the video to be, how you want the viewer to feel, what you want them to think, to understand. In short, why you're making the video. This is hardly an exhaustive discussion, so what is possible goes far above and beyond what I make mention of. It should also be noted that sometimes a concept doesn't need to be stronger than an anime and a song - not every video needs a strong concept. Attempting to strengthen a concept in a video that doesn't need it can kill the video. That said, when to apply the concept and when not is a matter of taste and style. After all, the overall goal of an AMV is to communicate something, right?

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STORYTELLING

Storytelling is exactly what the name suggests: using the combination of audio and video to tell a story. The story may have very little to do with either the original video or audio sources, or may have everything to do with them. The easiest form of storytelling, and thus the most common, is simplifying a preexisting story and retell it. Videos that take an existing anime (or more rarely, set of anime) and splice together an entirely new story are typically highly prized when successful, or viewed as a good attempt when not. Stories can and do run the gamut from simple to complex to incomprehensible.

Example of Storytelling: AbsoluteDestiny's "Storytelling - A Gothic Fairytale"

Example of Storytelling: ScorpionsUltd's “Whisper of the Beast”

Note that the first video is the story of the original anime retold with a twist, while the second is an entirely new story.

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EXPLORATION

Exploration[2] is about looking at something, prodding at it, and seeing if it makes more sense. Exploring a concept, or a message. Exploration focuses on an idea or message, not a character or characters. An exploratory video might take an underlying theme in an anime and bring it to light. More generally, an exploratory video will take a theme, idea, or message and present it to the viewer, with the degree dictated by the editor. These videos focus not on a story, but rather on a concept of some sort in a general sense. Possible subjects include war, coping with loss, tragedy, purity, and innocence. Love and romance tend to be subjects in the specific, rather than the general treatment found here, but general explorations of relationships are not unknown.

Example of Exploration: Pwolf's "As The World Crashes Down"

Example of Exploration: bote's "War of wrath"

Footnote:
[2]: The distinction being made here is very fine, as well as poorly defined. As a result, some of this is forcing definition on what has thus far defied it.

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EXAMINATION

Examination[2] videos tend to focus on a single character, couple, or group of characters. Rather than the general view offered by an exploratory video, an examination video deals with a very specific instance of something (i.e., an example of the concept in question). The personality, motivations, history, or other aspect of a character are all viable subjects for an examination video. Videos that examine a couple tend to be about the relationship. Friendships, rivalries, and romances all fall into this grouping. Groups of characters are generally examined in terms of some commonality, as limitations of time and space tend to prevent closer examinations.

Example of a Single Character Examination: Corran's "The World She Knows"

Example of a Relationship Examination: silver_moon's "In My Arms Again"

Footnote:
[2]: The distinction being made here is very fine, as well as poorly defined. As a result, some of this is forcing definition on what has thus far defied it.