The Side Characters Challenge! ***SPOILERS***

[rubyeye]

Alrighty, folks, this one is a big one. I really love AMVs, but 1200 local videos later, I must say that I am getting extremely sick of seeing videos about the main characters. Maybe it happened when I saw Chi "awaken" for the 40th time, or when Saya cut down that guy on the train with her sword for the 22nd time, but somewhere along the way, I started having a very bad opinion of people's AMV-making abilities. So, with that said, I offer every AMV creator on this website a challenge. I'm going to give you people an fairly extensive list of anime to choose from and some guidelines to go by. What I want is simply this: a video that does not have any main characters in it, but rather focuses on the stories of the side characters and their roles.

- dj_ultima_the_great

I had already made a "side character" video 3 years ago with Digital 'D' set to the anime Key: The Metal Idol. It focuses (more or less) with Sergei, Ajo and his "Sons" (PPORs), although Key and a few others do make brief appearances. Have a look at it if you haven't - it should be just what you are asking for.

[angelx03]

Here's a suggestion. Someone do an Ayashi no Ceres video dealing with the relationship between Yuuhi and Chidori. Those two I felt were pretty much shafted in terms of character development (and the fact Yuuhi is A LOT cooler than Touya ).

As for an X TV video, I really want to see a character profile between Sorata and Arashi (mostly concentrated on their romannce).

[Yok/0]

is it to late for me to join.. Heh bud i got that vid done.

[Yok/0]

here it is!

http://www.animemusicvideos.org/members ... hp?v=48628

[dj_ultima_the_great]

Welcome to the Six O'Clock News at 10! Um, don't ask where that came from. Anyway, I got more replies (*does the got-a-reply happy dance*) and, of course, I'd like to respond to them! After all, I would feel bad if I didn't. So, anywho, here they are!


Marlex - *kicks Marlex's computer* Yeah, I know what you mean about having technical problems. Sometimes, I'm convinced that my computer is plotting something evil against me. But I hope that things are better now. With such a talented AMV creator as its owner, I would be sad if your computer went on the fritz permanently. By the way, I watched your Trigun - "Behind Blue Eyes" video too, and it is very lovely. The song is perfect for Vash, and you edited the video wonderfully. I especially commend you for being able to edit the bridge of the song (the part where you put the Vash/Knives past in grayscale.) That part of the song doesn't have much to do with the rest of it, and you still worked in a story element perfectly. I also watched your Hikaru no Go - "Play the Game" video, and I thought it was decent. It wasn't nearly as good as the two others I've seen of yours, but it wasn't bad. Hey, is that anime any good? I haven't seen it, but I was a little interested some time ago. Hopefully this reaches you. Oh, and thanks Corran for being my message person! ^_^ It's very much appreciated.

SSJVegita0609 - You are very welcome. Considering that this thread is the first time I've ever posted anywhere before, I think it is turning out pretty good. No, I haven't seen Berserk (to be honest, I just wasn't interested in that anime at all.) I DID, however, watch your video and I wanted to say that it was superb. The editing was executed wonderfully. I think that using grayscale worked to your advantage, because it gave more visual interest through variety. Sorry, but I STILL don't want to see Berserk, although I would gladly point fans of the anime to your video. On the other hand, you HAVE introduced me to a very good song. ^_^ Thank you again for submitting that video and please keep AMV-ing!

Bakadeshi - WOW, I'm honored to be a part of someone's AMV creation! I'm very happy to be one of the first viewers. It was an amazing video, and it made me even more interested in seeing Please Teacher. How long did it take you to make it, anyway? Something like that would have taken me months on end to create. Then again, I couldn't have made it at all, considering the fact that I have Windows Movie Maker 2... *sulks* Anyway, it was definitely nice to see a lighter romance video. I like my ballads, of course, but sometimes I just need a change of pace. You gave me just that all wrapped up in one pretty AMV package. You colored in ice cream? Somehow that just amuses me, but it also proves that you pay very good attention to detail. Everything about this video is just great. Even though you reused scenes, you did it so nicely that I doubt most people would even notice, or care. Great job. I'm glad you had fun making the video, because I had a lot of fun watching it. When I finally see Please Teacher, I will be happy to search out your video again. By the way, hug your little sister for me! That was cute. ^_^ By the way, if my comments seem a bit disjointed, it's because I was in between watching your video and reading your comments while I was typing this. So, thank you, thank you, and thank you again. Keep AMV-ing...it'll make me and everyone else happy!

rubyeye - I haven't seen Key: The Metal Idol, but your video has surely made me interested in it. From your video I kind of get the impression that the anime is a cross between Trigun (the violence) and Serial Experiments Lain (the weirdness.) Your video was strange but very, very good. If I ever see that anime, I'll be sure to watch your video again and give you a better opinion on it. Thank you for submitting it, though; I very much enjoyed watching it!

angelx03 - I have to get around to seeing Ayashi no Ceres (it WAS on my list of anime to see...somewhere... ^_^) As far as X goes, I did post a few specific video ideas for Sorata/Arashi videos. Hopefully, someone will take up those ideas - for your sake and for mine! ^_^ Hey, if you want someone to do a Yuuhi and Chidori video, a way to get people more interested would be to give a few song and video plot suggestions. It narrows down all the possibilities and often attracts more people to want to carry out your suggestion. Anyway, thank you for posting!

Yokou Seishirou - I watched your X - "Fiction" video and I enjoyed it. Any Satsuki fan would be glad to see it, I know. I noticed that your file was a .wmv. I suppose that means that you're in the same boat as me and have to use Windows Movie Maker. I know how hard it is to make a good video with WMM, but you did an exceptional job. Although I think that there was room for improvement, you did very well with what you had. I did have one glaring problem, though. The opening was ridiculously long. Those scenes from the movie really detracted from your video - even to the point that I was getting really bored, really fast. The same can be said for the ending credits. I really don't think that all of that was crucial, either. If you really need to have an opening or ending, try to keep it to less than 15 seconds. Most viewers will agree with me when I say that a video that can't just get to the point is very unappealing. Besides that, though, you did a fine job and I commend you. Thank you for submitting your video to me. I enjoyed it! ^_^

Well, that's all for now. This is a pretty big post, so I'll save my video suggestions for another time. If I forgot anything, tell me!

So, until next time, Farewell, Good Luck, and Happy AMV-ing!


- dj_ultima_the_great

[angelx03]

Welcome to the Six O'Clock News at 10! Um, don't ask where that came from.

You got that from "Whose Line is It Anyway!"

[dj_ultima_the_great]

angelx03 - Crap, my joke was foiled... ^_^

[Bakadeshi [AuN Studios]]

Here's a suggestion. Someone do an Ayashi no Ceres video dealing with the relationship between Yuuhi and Chidori. Those two I felt were pretty much shafted in terms of character development (and the fact Yuuhi is A LOT cooler than Touya ).

As for an X TV video, I really want to see a character profile between Sorata and Arashi (mostly concentrated on their romannce).

actually I would like to see that. hmmm.... ideas.... I do have ceres...

problem is their footage is even more limited than the one I just finished


dj: Glad you liked it It took me roughly 25-30 hours of editing, and another 10-15 hours of getting the cleanest export and optimizing the best xvid encode (size to quality) I could come up with for distro. And most if not all of what I did can be done in movie maker.... just harder to do it ... but it can be done (especially since all of the image work was done in Gimp, which is Free GNU software.)

rubyeye: that was sweet. great mood matching and visuals in that. I had to download it once I saw it was key. that show was very intruguing for me. makes me want to watch it again ^_^

[dj_ultima_the_great]

Well, this post is because I need to make another tiny revision to my challenge.

I encountered a problem when I was typing up my many video suggestions. There were some things I noticed about X and Tokyo Babylon that lead me to an annoying conflict. The name of those things are "Subaru Sumeragi" and "Seishirou Sakurazuka." Though quite possibly my two favorite characters ever in anime, they did cause me a problem. You see, in Tokyo Babylon, Subaru (and somewhat Seishirou) are main characters, whereas in X they are side characters.

So, this is the solution I came up with...
If you'll note, I said in the original post to not use Subaru and to avoid Seishirou for Tokyo Babylon. Well, what if someone wanted to make a Subaru/Seishirou X video and he/she wanted to use Tokyo Babylon clips as well? I decided to allow those two to be used, but ONLY IN CONJUNCTION WITH X. If you're NOT using X in the video (just Tokyo Babylon,) then Subaru is still NOT ALLOWED and Seishirou is to be AVOIDED.

I hope that fans of those two series will understand what I mean. After all, it is difficult to classify two characters who play completely different roles in two completely different anime.

Anyway, I have another pair of video suggestions to add. I think I've given up on themes for these things. Also...

WARNING! SOME OF THESE IDEAS MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS FROM THE SERIES, SO IF YOU SEE AN ANIME YOU DON'T KNOW HERE AND DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED, RUN AWAY AS FAST AS YOU CAN AS THOUGH HINOTO WAS ABOUT TO TRAP YOU IN YOUR OWN DREAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

X TV – Saiyuki – Mirai – “Open Up Your Mind” – Hinoto, Kotori, Kakyou – this would be sort of a Dreamgazer tribute (check out the lyrics on www.animelyrics.com to see what I mean.) I’ve always thought of Hinoto as a rather neglected character, so I think that she deserves something like this. Kotori never has any videos done about her dreams, just about her relationship with Kamui. And Kakyou...well...I don’t really like Kakyou, but he DOES fit into this category. One warning: the song is sort of long (topping out at 5:46) in comparison to the amount of footage available, particularly if you’re using fansubs. Even between the three of them, I think finding appropriate footage for this song to make a good video might be a little difficult. Also, anything that appears in one of their dream sequences is acceptable (I know that Kamui is in/appears in several dreams, and he IS a main character, but I’ll accept seeing him in order to further the story of the Dreamgazers.) Hokuto would probably fit into this video as well, since she was with Kakyou.

Any Anime (though preferably one/some from the list I gave – Savage Garden – “Gunning Down Romance” – Okay, let’s start off by saying that I LOVE THIS SONG. Of my top ten favorite songs, this one is in the top five for sure. I’m a big fan of Savage Garden as it is, but this song is just the top of the heap for me. I had actually thought of an idea for this video myself many months ago, but it would be stuffed with main characters – which obviously isn’t what I want in this challenge. So, I leave it to you people to give me something good with side characters. A few vague suggestions of good anime to use in this video would be Ah! My Goddess, Angel Sanctuary, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Noir, Trigun, X (I would REALLY push for this one,) and Yami no Matsuei. These anime, in general, seem to have the general mood of the song, if nothing else. Again, I absolutely promise a long, in-depth review to anyone who tries this idea and shows me the results.

It just wouldn't be a post without: Farewell, Good Luck, and Happy AMV-ing!


*has fallen in love with the live version of Savage Garden's "Gunning Down Romance"*
- dj_ultima_the_great

[Yok/0]

i believe u shouldn't count my credz in my amv nor the intro duction. Or what ever u call it.