what makes a good amv content wise?

[JudgeHolden]

As with others, for me it starts with the music. Often a scene from an anime pops into my head and off I go.

Now, one time it happened the opposite way while I was watching Najica Blitz Tactics and I thought to myself "Now it would be funny if I" ... and I went on to create a few videos I will never live down.

[JaddziaDax]

I posted this to her in another thread but it probably should go here more so there.

the basics are fairly simple:

Sync the video to the music... there are a few ways to do that:

1. Internal Sync - where the movement of the clip matches to the movement of the song.

2. Cut Sync - where you make a cut on the beats or movement of the music

3. Lyrical Sync - where you match the words of the song.

4. Mood Sync - where the mood matches the feeling of the music

What you have to do is decide when to use what kind of sync, you have do decide what is good for your video, and don't let others push you around, and remember that there are many people involved in this hobby and all have different taste. you will never please everyone all the time, so first work on pleasing yourself.

However that doesn't mean that you shouldn't listen to the ideas of others... sometimes a second pair of eyes can be beneficial. Sometimes others have ideas you might not have thought of or they can make you see your work in a different light.

Also don't get into amving cause you think it's a way to make you popular on the interwebs, because thats a bad idea, you should be making amvs because its a fun hobby, you enjoy it, and your a crazy enough fangirl/boy that you wanna do it.

[downwithpants]

from the newsletter interviews

DWP: Do you have everything envisioned before you start editing or just a few ideas and edit as you go along?

Bakadeshi: I usually have a vision of how I want it to come across in the end, I find scenes to make that vision a reality as I go along. ;p Often times the vision is somewhat blurred based on what I remember from the series, and I have to make things work by like creating scenes out of other scenes, or have to diverge from the original vision slightly. But I don't storyboard for the most part.

DWP: I see, how does the vision come to you? Do you think about the anime, listen to music, think of a video theme?

Bakadeshi: Usually they just hit me, I rarely ever try to come up with a theme and get one. It's either from the song, or from a certain character in a series, or seeing something done in a movie or commercial on TV even.

DWP: Ok, well let’s talk about concepts, how do they come to you, and how much thought do you put into the concept before you start up premiere?

Suberunker: Generally I get an idea from just listening to music for a bit. I tend to listen to film scores every once in a while (although I listened to them exclusively in high school). And when I hear it I can generally picture a storyline. So, from that point, every time I hear the same cue again, I adjust the storyline to be more creative/cohesive/interesting. Once I've heard it enough times, and "enough" meaning that I think I can pull it off, then I'll actually fire up Premiere. Since I don't have much time for AMVs, I generally need a very solid and unique concept before I think it's worth making.

DWP: Do you plan out special effects and styles of presentation before you edit, or after you have started?

Suberunker: The style tends to remain consistent throughout the process, although the effects never end up as planned. I'll admit that generally the whole video ends up a lot different from what I visually sought out to make. It's generally a process of "I want to do this", but I end up with "Here's something that does it AND adds another layer/mask/etc." And then I end up getting sidetracked to changing around each effect.

DWP: When you created dgdi1&0s did you have other amvs in mind as a model to refer to or did you try to create something on your own ideas?

Buma: No other videos in mind - actually I avoided watching other vids that used the same source footage (Ghost in the Shell). I actually had a story in mind when I was creating that video, but I really didn't know how to tell it at first. At the time, my only inspiration was from what I was editing with.

DWP: The anime source itself?

Buma: Yes, and the music. Basically how to tell the story using those two parts, and what my mind could come up with to stitch the two together. It still basically told the story of GitS (at one time, very literally), but I tried to add my own twist to it. Yeah, I think I was sort of over my head at the time... I had to resort to subtitles to help with the storytelling aspects of it.

DWP: It was a good idea, I can imagine it'd be intimidating to do as a first video and without a model to refer to.

Buma: It was very much so - many a time I got to a point in the vid where I had no idea of where it was going. And other times, I just sort of re-made the movie, literally scene for scene - all to be chopped and deleted because that I wasn't what I was going for in my story.

DWP: So suppose you come across a gap in the video you need to fill, what's your strategy to fill it?

Buma: Hmmm, good question. Well, my first reaction usually is 'can I cut the song' most of the time, it's a big NO. Its hard to cut a song after you've started to edit with it... If that isn't an option, I usually try to figure out if I can rearrange the video clips to help elaborate the story I'm telling without belaboring the point, or stretching out things.

Buma: I had this very problem with my last video 'Unrequited'. There is a section of the song that I had NO idea of what I wanted to do with it. I know how I wanted to get to that part of the song and I knew how I wanted to leave that part of the song but just that 'bridge' in-between, I just had no fricken clue. I very seriously considered editing out that section of the song.

[inthesto]

(ok... i am making comments from looking at the various you-tube uploaded amvs)

Well, there's your problem right there.

For those of us who use more than three brain cells when editing, "content" (I'd rather use the phrase "scene selection" since that seems to be what you're getting at without implying a boatload of other things) is kind of an intuitive thing after a while. I can't say it's second nature, because that implies it's easy and comes naturally - which it sure as hell doesn't. What I can say is that most of the time when I drop a scene on the timeline, I can pretty readily say either "Yeah, that makes sense" or "Wow, who let that in there" without having to mull over it too much. A lot of it comes from experience, both from editing and watching other (COMPETENT) people's work.

Honestly, a lot of widely praised videos on the Org are pretty deficient in this department. To speculate on why this is, it could be because an outstanding job of scene selection is precisely not that - outstanding. Doing a good job of picking out your content actually means that nothing is going to jump out at the viewer - either as flagrantly "good" or "bad", meaning that the reactions to pure content are going to be either "meh" or "crap". Really, an appreciation of good content selection is only going to be picked up by somebody watching the video with a very active mindset (something I myself don't do most of the time, and I'm willing to bet holds true for everyone else here) and with a comprehensive knowledge of the anime(s) in question - a rare combination, no doubt.

On the other hand, superficial (I use that word in the least pejorative way possible) stuff that's put on top of content ("effects" would be the most common example) can garner three reactions: "crap", "meh", or "awesome". Obviously the last response is going to leave a much stronger impression on a passive viewer, so a crappy job of content selection is more easily forgiven provided the effects adequately compensate. So it's no wonder why there's a clear set of common traits between popular videos here, where content is clearly absent.

How the fuck did I get to this discussion?

PS - I had a major feeling of deja vu while typing up this post. Now to see if godix posts something only to rescind it because I already said the same thing.

[lady_ho]

hmmm, that's definately useful information. thanks guys.
i didn't know about the newsletter feature. i will check out the archives.

well, call me a douchebag but i want to attract a large amv audience so i can show my music. eventually, when i get good (if i ever do) then i hope to put an amv to my own composed music. i think the old skool music composing community is dying quite a bit since midi died. lol

[Autraya]

1.) somebody see what alien possessed 'sto

2.) in response to one of "ho's" comments
Alot of videos are just random scenes thats why they look random "vegeta looks so kewl fighting freeza so I'll put that next to the guy from Fruba turning into a cat and it's awesum!!".
Others look random but the watcher needs to have either watched the anime or read the creators mind, the later happens to me allot .

[Garridy]

Lol. I sent ya a PM without reading hardly any of your posts.

Hit me up on msn and I could maybe make an attempt to be more helpful.

[Bauzi]

I´m the opinion: Do what you like, but don´t complain about the comments you´ll get.

I like to give my vids content. Intense charackter profiles or editing around a theme or mood (I wonder how many people will bitch about my new video being "random" wich isn´t true at all =/ ).
Some stuff is just overdone. I don´t think that there is hardly something (or nothing) left to do in FF:AC, Naruto and especially DBZ. It´s all been done before.

Yeah in the end the best idea helps you nothing without a good/solid execution. When I look at some vids at the tube: Some videos with a good idea, but a more crappy execution get often a lot of attention.
Tube-viewers don´t pay that much attention on editing that´s why they look more onto the idea behind it if it´s obvious. It´s just that a lot of people at the beginning of the hobby didn´t really paied a lot of attention on flawless editing.
Yeah anyway the odd pairings (popular pairings + Linkin Park = instant win) still exits there.

[godix]

i'm finding a lot of people make really admiring comments on amvs which i don't consider to be good.

Welcome to the internet. We love pointless naruto piece of shit videos.

while i'm finding a lot of guides on the technicalities of amv making

Welcome to the org. We love pointless naruto piece of shit videos as long as the aspect ratio is correct.

i appreciate some guidance... i have looked at some award winning ones on this site. i see why they're outstanding but still not grasped the concept.

Discussion about concept, artistic expression, or content? Here? You must be joking. The closest we come is about once every couple months we discuss* if AMVs are art.




*Note: I use the word 'discuss' to mean 'type long boring posts without bothering to read, much less think about, what anyone else has said'

[godix]

Wait, sto took the question seriously? INTHESTO? WTF?

To honor this rather unusual occasion let me reciprocate by actually taking the topic seriously myself.

Here's a few things to consider about concept:

What the hell are you trying for? I've actually talked to people who didn't know what they wanted their video to convey. Usually this is phrased as 'I don't know what category this video is...' Decide what effect you want your video to have on your audience and edit with that in mind. If you're making a comedy it's probably a good idea not to include a scene of a woman crying over her dead child. Unless you can somehow make that funny of course.

Not every video needs a linear story. Most AMVs don't have one actually. But you do need some sort of meaning to the video. Some sort of hook to grab peoples attention. Before you start editing know what that hook is.

Decide right up front if you want to video to be accessible to people not familiar with the series or not. There's nothing wrong with a video that you have to know the anime to get, you should just know ahead of time that's what you're making. If you intend it to be enjoyed by those who haven't seen the series then you gotta show why things are happening. Showing someone crying without showing why they're crying comes off as just another emo. Showing a fight without showing the leadup to the fight is just mindless punching. Even WWE gives a storyline for why these guys are fighting. When professional wrestling does a better job making me care about it than most AMVs you know there's something wrong.

Crossing genres will probably suck unless you know what you're doing and are very good. Pulling off comedy and drama in a 3 minute video takes lots of talent. Not saying you shouldn't try it if you want, just saying don't be surprised if you try and fail.

Proper use of effects. Not to beat a deceased equus caballus but this means more than just 'oh shiny'. My general opinion is that if the video is total crap without the effects then adding effects just makes it total crap with some effects tossed on it. Effects should enhance the video not be the video, with the obvious exception of videos who only exist to show off effects.

Sync of some sort is always nice. Know what the different types of sync convey though, using the wrong type of sync can totally destroy a video. The drama vid that flashes white on every beat isn't really all that dramatic. Mood sync works well with dramas. Lipsync rarely works for anything but comedy. Beat/cut sync tends to be best for action. Lyric sync and internal sync usually work with any style. Also keep in mind sync can get too predictable. A bright flash at the high point of a fight can convey excitement. A bright flash at every single beat of the song can convey 'dear god, stop that please'

Explicit usually isn't as captivating as subtlety is. It's the same principle that can make a woman dressed in a trenchcoat appear more sexy than a buck naked chick standing in front of you. Most AMVs are really bad at this, primarily because most anime is really bad at it. If you're doing a death drama we don't really need to see the person shot, lynched, set on fire, disemboweled, then put into a meat grinder. A good video can show enough of the death to setup things then move on to capture emotion without dwelling on the specifics of how they died. A great video can convey the emotion without ever showing the actual death.

Beware of too much subtlety though. Two people staring at each other for 3 minutes isn't romance. It's just two people staring at each other. Don't try being so subtle that your idea never comes across at all.

Scene choice - most of the above comments help dictate what scenes you'll use. Just keep in mind that if you think to yourself 'this scene will make people laugh/cry/whatever' then it's just an overglorified best of clip thingie. You haven't added anything. So yeah, use scenes that are appropriate and convey whatever it is you want to convey. Just keep in mind it's possible to get so wrapped up doing so that you don't actually change or improve on anything. You should always try to provide something that the audience couldn't get just by watching the anime, even if it's nothing more than just a different viewpoint on a character.

And the most important thing to remember, these are all suggestions. For each other these I can, off the top of my head, name a video that ignores what I said and is still good.