How many things can you find wrong with this?

SnhKnives · Post by **SnhKnives** » Mon Aug 16, 2004 8:34 pm

Scintilla wrote:I tried to make it clear that I appreciated her intent...

Damn Pete......

you laid it down......

what else can be done

billy_wires · Post by **billy_wires** » Mon Aug 16, 2004 8:50 pm

Unfound wrote:
For example, Dragon Ball Z fight scenes go great with tunes from Limp Bizkit, Disturbed and Metallica.
Make it two....

That's really opinion based. For example, I think they go splendidly well together. Why? Heavy music indicates action. You don't expect a heavy metal music video to be full of nothing, do you? I envision flashing lights and headbanging and whatnot. Just action of some kind. Don't believe me? Check out music videos by those bands (I'm not talking AMVs).

Unfound · Post by **Unfound** » Mon Aug 16, 2004 9:18 pm

Scintilla wrote:
I, in the e-mail I just sent off, wrote:Dear Ms. Luther,

My name is Peter Tom-Wolverton, known online and in the AMV community as Scintilla of Aquiline Studios, and I am writing to you regarding your "How to Make Your Own Anime Music Video" guide ( http://anime.about.com/od/howtos/ht/aa070204.htm ). I discovered it through a link that someone else posted on the forums at animemusicvideos.org.

First off, let me say that it is commendable that you're trying to help people get into this fascinating hobby in such a way. However, I must suggest that your execution leaves something to be desired.

A few specific issues I had with your tutorial:

1. Nowhere in the tutorial or in the associated links is there a link to THE best guide to the technical side of AMVs, namely, Ermac and AbsoluteDestiny's Guide, which can be found here:
http://www.animemusicvideos.org/guides/avtech/

2. "Time Required: Can take several hours, depending on your resources"? You've got to be kidding. I have not seen one AMV yet that took only hours to produce and was actually any good. A few days I can understand, a week or two is more reasonable, and some of us take months to make a single video ("Euphoria", currently the #1-rated video on a-m-v.org, took 6 months). But there's no way that anything banged out in a few hours had enough thought and care put into it to be very good.

3. "Start by picking a song that has two qualities: 1) you really like it and 2) it has an anime 'feel' to it." Okay, #1 I have no problem with, but #2 doesn't make sense at all. There are good videos from all kinds of genres of music: J-pop, classical, rock, 80s, techno, etc.

4. "Using purchased DVD's that you own, you'll need to import your selected clips into MPEG or AVI format." It's good that you emphasized that DVDs make the best source and we should be buying them ourselves, but converting DVD clips to MPEG-1 before editing with them is not a good idea, mainly because of the quality loss (it may not seem like much, but when you re-compress for distribution, it makes a big difference). AVI is not a problem, but only if the right codec is used: the AVI should either be uncompressed or use a lossless codec, like HuffYUV. Using things like DivX for source clips is just asking for trouble, because it not only hits the quality hard, but also makes it harder for most editing programs to handle the clips, as well as introducing the problem of nasty DivX logos if you're using something like Windows Movie Maker.
Ideally, you want to serve the DVD footage straight to your editing software without touching it, through programs such as DVD2AVI/DGIndex and AVISynth; more on the various methods for using DVD footage can be found in the guide I linked to above.

5. "Using one of many editing programs out there (Adobe Premier and Pinnacle are both great choices) slice your video clips according to your song lyrics." Firstly, Premiere is misspelled; secondly, a little lyric synch never hurt anyone (I admit to using it extensively myself), but you might also want to mention the importance of things like synching cuts to important beats (very important in action and dance videos) and making the footage generally flow to the music in areas where there are no lyrics as well as where there are lyrics.

6. "All that's left to do now is burn your masterpiece to a CD and enter it in one of the many con competitions! Good luck!" It would be much more helpful if you had included some information as to how to get one's video into a format conventions will take (read: MPEG-2 or lossless AVI). You might also want to give some links to some conventions; also, information on putting up one's video for online distribution is conspicuously lacking.

7. "Pick a song that matches your clips. For example, Dragon Ball Z fight scenes go great with tunes from Limp Bizkit, Disturbed and Metallica." Okay... IN THEORY this should work well, but the sad reality is that there are far, FAR too many of what we call "Linkin Ball Z" videos floating around, and hardly any of them are any good. As a result, mixing DBZ with hard rock tunes has come to have a huge stigma attached to it. So you might want to suggest that, if your readers want to be taken seriously, they should try something else.

Before you dismiss this e-mail as me merely talking out of my hat, let me point out that I have been a finalist in the AMV contest at Otakon two years running and have won Best of Show at AnimeCentral 2004, Best Comedy at the Anime Weekend Atlanta 9 AMV Expo, Best in Class - Journeyman at Anime Boston 2004, etc.
You can find more about my AMVs at my website:
http://www.aquilinestudios.org/

I hope that you seriously consider my comments, that you take the time to do some more research and improve your tutorial, and that it may help to introduce more fans to the great hobby that is AMVing.

Sincerely,
Peter "Scintilla" T-W
I tried to make it clear that I appreciated her intent...

Showoff....

@ billy_wires: I'm not criticizing the bands, I'm criticizing the anime choice. There's too much of it already.

SSJVegita0609 · Post by **SSJVegita0609** » Mon Aug 16, 2004 9:38 pm

Scintilla wrote:
I, in the e-mail I just sent off, wrote:Dear Ms. Luther,

My name is Peter Tom-Wolverton, known online and in the AMV community as Scintilla of Aquiline Studios, and I am writing to you regarding your "How to Make Your Own Anime Music Video" guide ( http://anime.about.com/od/howtos/ht/aa070204.htm ). I discovered it through a link that someone else posted on the forums at animemusicvideos.org.

First off, let me say that it is commendable that you're trying to help people get into this fascinating hobby in such a way. However, I must suggest that your execution leaves something to be desired.

A few specific issues I had with your tutorial:

1. Nowhere in the tutorial or in the associated links is there a link to THE best guide to the technical side of AMVs, namely, Ermac and AbsoluteDestiny's Guide, which can be found here:
http://www.animemusicvideos.org/guides/avtech/

2. "Time Required: Can take several hours, depending on your resources"? You've got to be kidding. I have not seen one AMV yet that took only hours to produce and was actually any good. A few days I can understand, a week or two is more reasonable, and some of us take months to make a single video ("Euphoria", currently the #1-rated video on a-m-v.org, took 6 months). But there's no way that anything banged out in a few hours had enough thought and care put into it to be very good.

3. "Start by picking a song that has two qualities: 1) you really like it and 2) it has an anime 'feel' to it." Okay, #1 I have no problem with, but #2 doesn't make sense at all. There are good videos from all kinds of genres of music: J-pop, classical, rock, 80s, techno, etc.

4. "Using purchased DVD's that you own, you'll need to import your selected clips into MPEG or AVI format." It's good that you emphasized that DVDs make the best source and we should be buying them ourselves, but converting DVD clips to MPEG-1 before editing with them is not a good idea, mainly because of the quality loss (it may not seem like much, but when you re-compress for distribution, it makes a big difference). AVI is not a problem, but only if the right codec is used: the AVI should either be uncompressed or use a lossless codec, like HuffYUV. Using things like DivX for source clips is just asking for trouble, because it not only hits the quality hard, but also makes it harder for most editing programs to handle the clips, as well as introducing the problem of nasty DivX logos if you're using something like Windows Movie Maker.
Ideally, you want to serve the DVD footage straight to your editing software without touching it, through programs such as DVD2AVI/DGIndex and AVISynth; more on the various methods for using DVD footage can be found in the guide I linked to above.

5. "Using one of many editing programs out there (Adobe Premier and Pinnacle are both great choices) slice your video clips according to your song lyrics." Firstly, Premiere is misspelled; secondly, a little lyric synch never hurt anyone (I admit to using it extensively myself), but you might also want to mention the importance of things like synching cuts to important beats (very important in action and dance videos) and making the footage generally flow to the music in areas where there are no lyrics as well as where there are lyrics.

6. "All that's left to do now is burn your masterpiece to a CD and enter it in one of the many con competitions! Good luck!" It would be much more helpful if you had included some information as to how to get one's video into a format conventions will take (read: MPEG-2 or lossless AVI). You might also want to give some links to some conventions; also, information on putting up one's video for online distribution is conspicuously lacking.

7. "Pick a song that matches your clips. For example, Dragon Ball Z fight scenes go great with tunes from Limp Bizkit, Disturbed and Metallica." Okay... IN THEORY this should work well, but the sad reality is that there are far, FAR too many of what we call "Linkin Ball Z" videos floating around, and hardly any of them are any good. As a result, mixing DBZ with hard rock tunes has come to have a huge stigma attached to it. So you might want to suggest that, if your readers want to be taken seriously, they should try something else.

Before you dismiss this e-mail as me merely talking out of my hat, let me point out that I have been a finalist in the AMV contest at Otakon two years running and have won Best of Show at AnimeCentral 2004, Best Comedy at the Anime Weekend Atlanta 9 AMV Expo, Best in Class - Journeyman at Anime Boston 2004, etc.
You can find more about my AMVs at my website:
http://www.aquilinestudios.org/

I hope that you seriously consider my comments, that you take the time to do some more research and improve your tutorial, and that it may help to introduce more fans to the great hobby that is AMVing.

Sincerely,
Peter "Scintilla" T-W
I tried to make it clear that I appreciated her intent...

OMG ELITISM ALERT!

j/k

But on a serious note, wtf guys... There's no need to bash this woman and her effort to add to the AMV world, even if it is with a rather basic beginner's tutorial. She's just doing what she's doing for fun, like anyone else in this hobby. I highly doubt she expected any criticism, or even expected terribly large amounts of people to look at the guide. It serves merely to point people who are very casually interested in the right direction.

Unfound · Post by **Unfound** » Mon Aug 16, 2004 9:40 pm

SSJVegita0609 wrote: OMG ELITISM ALERT!

j/k

But on a serious note, wtf guys... There's no need to bash this woman and her effort to add to the AMV world, even if it is with a rather basic beginner's tutorial. She's just doing what she's doing for fun, like anyone else in this hobby. I highly doubt she expected any criticism, or even expected terribly large amounts of people to look at the guide. It serves merely to point people who are very casually interested in the right direction.

Er...are you sure you're at the right forum?

SnhKnives · Post by **SnhKnives** » Mon Aug 16, 2004 9:57 pm

I never was like....

OMG WTF!!!

i just simply said that some of her information was a little misleading...

like the whole action to DBZ fight scenes...that wont earn you any respect....

and the "time to completion" being only a few hours...that encourages bad AMVs

Castor Troy · Post by **Castor Troy** » Mon Aug 16, 2004 10:12 pm

SnhKnives wrote:I never was like....

OMG WTF!!!

i just simply said that some of her information was a little misleading...

like the whole action to DBZ fight scenes...that wont earn you any respect....

and the "time to completion" being only a few hours...that encourages bad AMVs

Name one part of that post that doesn't reek of elitism.

SnhKnives · Post by **SnhKnives** » Mon Aug 16, 2004 10:16 pm

Castor Troy wrote:
SnhKnives wrote:I never was like....

OMG WTF!!!

i just simply said that some of her information was a little misleading...

like the whole action to DBZ fight scenes...that wont earn you any respect....

and the "time to completion" being only a few hours...that encourages bad AMVs
Name one part of that post that doesn't reek of elitism.

I dont care if you call me elitest, because I know that im not.

so whatever, those are jusy my opinions on that particular subject.

Scintilla · Post by **Scintilla** » Mon Aug 16, 2004 10:20 pm

Castor Troy wrote:
SnhKnives wrote:I never was like....

OMG WTF!!!

i just simply said that some of her information was a little misleading...

like the whole action to DBZ fight scenes...that wont earn you any respect....

and the "time to completion" being only a few hours...that encourages bad AMVs
Name one part of that post that doesn't reek of elitism.

Well, some of her info was misleading, DBZ plus metal won't get you any respect (unless, I suppose, it's done REALLY well), and most people can't complete a decent AMV in only a few hours...

Jebadia · Post by **Jebadia** » Mon Aug 16, 2004 10:30 pm

SnhKnives wrote:I never was like....

OMG WTF!!!

i just simply said that some of her information was a little misleading...

like the whole action to DBZ fight scenes...that wont earn you any respect....

and the "time to completion" being only a few hours...that encourages bad AMVs

Hey some of my better stuff only took a few hours o.O....

....well...maybe not better....