'concept' videos |:>

[Sub0]

This is why I try to stick to the noob videos this time around.... It's just funny that we just happen to be discussing this very same matter.

[Jnzk]

I like this thread

Personally I wouldn't go so far as defining these "concept videos" as non-AMVs. They still combine music and anime, and that's good enough for me. However, the examples Koop mentioned don't really do anything for me as a viewer. As someone said, the lack of connection is what prevents me from enjoying many of these. Same applies to some videos classified as action as well. You could really use any footage for these and it wouldn't really matter.

On a side note, I liked the dinosaur videos even if they were just jokes and still have some of them on my hard disk. Hope to hear that mp3 soon.

[Beowulf]

Hope to hear that mp3 soon.

http://www.animemusicvideos.org/phpBB/v ... hp?t=80097

[CrackTheSky]

Alright, I've been mulling this over all day and I think I've finally figured this out for myself.

Oh no you didn't. Silencio is an experiment. Enjoy it as much as you want, but it does not advance AMVs AT ALL. Maybe it advances your brain, or the world, but not the artform of AMVing. On the other hand, "daydream" is a masterpiece that shows AMVs cannot, MUST NOT disappear : It could not be made in any other media, at all. Not even close. And THAT is art.

Okayokayokay. I see what you mean, and I agree.

But. I think I need to explain what I mean when I say the 'evolution of AMVs'. I don't know the history of AMVs very well, but when they first started out they were simple, often messy-looking. This was because the technology of the time didn't allow for anything else.

But as we've gotten better and better editing programs, AMVs have, logically, progressed to exploit this better technology. With AMVs like Naruto's Technique Beat and True Fiction, both created specifically to show off effect work and essentially take effects to a new level, other videos have, naturally, emulated this way of thinking.

However, lately I've noticed the downplay of effects in videos, actually. More recent videos have not focused on effects as much (or perhaps I'm just watching all the wrong videos). Instead we've been getting videos like Vertigo, Yoko ~ Remaining Deep In The Ocean, Time Waits For No One...videos that are very much conceptually driven. We've been getting videos like daydream and Spukhafte Fernwirkung, neither of which uses any flashy, over-the-top visual effects like NTB or True Fiction but can still be called technical videos because they use effects in a much more subtle, original way.

What I'm getting at is that because we have the technology, because we've been using that technology for years now and some of the most effects-y videos ever have been produced because of it, we have to find another way to be creative. Flashy effects aren't cutting it anymore, in general (this is all my opinion, mind you). We have to find ways to be totally original with the software at our disposal, or we have to find other ways to do new things.

The fact that editors like Kael and Plain of the Shepherd are trying new things shows that the artform is advancing. I suppose you'd be right in saying that the videos themselves don't advance AMVs, for the reasons you stated, but I hold that the fact that the videos were created in the first place shows that AMVs haven't come to a dead end yet.

But again I feel I have to stress that these videos aren't the only ones helping advance the evolution of AMVs. I'll mention Daydream again because it's a great example of AMVs that do something completely revolutionary and at the moment is probably the most prominent example of this.

That's not to say that effects can't continue to help advance the artform. I believe Skittles is a perfect example of a video that uses totally new effects and such to help AMVs along. But this is getting harder and harder to do, because effects-focused AMVs have been so overdone. Exceptionally few editors can still come up with unique effects; Koop and Kisanzi are the only two editors that come to mind in that regard.

And then there's an editor like trythil, who uses software like Blender that isn't in wide use, and does really friggin' awesome stuff with it (see: Spukhafte Fernwirkung).

So that turned out way longer than I had anticipated. But the fact that editors are trying new things, especially now, when it seems like everything's already been done, is good enough for me.

[-GfN-]

what I said in beos new thread

~Jannis

[Koopiskeva]

Instead we've been getting videos like Vertigo, Yoko ~ Remaining Deep In The Ocean, Time Waits For No One...videos that are very much conceptually driven.

See... I don't feel as if these videos fall in the same category... yes they are both 'conceptually driven,' but the difference is that the concept for the latter video is taken from the anime itself, and perpetuates that concept using the anime in the video, as opposed to Vertigo which simply uses the anime as a visual representation of a concept without actually using the what the anime is about and what it stands for.

The fact that editors like Kael and Plain of the Shepherd are trying new things shows that the artform is advancing. I suppose you'd be right in saying that the videos themselves don't advance AMVs, for the reasons you stated, but I hold that the fact that the videos were created in the first place shows that AMVs haven't come to a dead end yet.

However, although they may be 'trying new things' if they don't pertain to the source whatsoever other than using them as a visual medium, then what good does that do for AMVs? I could just easily watch some effects composer's demo reel and apply those techniques into AMVs. So, if you're going to make a 'concept' AMV, why not actually take advantage of the sources? You can still drive your video with the concept, but actually use the source to help make that connection to the viewers.

[Nessephanie]

Just because a video has a concept, doesn't mean that it's a "concept video" as koop has been describing.

...I don't like videos that you can't tell the concept of them by simply watching them. Video's like Silenco look pretty sure, but have nothing to connect you to them at all. Technically it's considered and amv cause it uses anime and music, but I don't view them as amvs :\

[shaister]

I have to say I don't really understand the hostility towards artsy videos. I completely understand not liking them or not watching them, but just trashing them as saying nothing, contributing nothing, and failing to advance AMVs perplexes the hell outta me.

Is it pretty? Yes

Is it interesting? Yes

Does it keep you watching? Yes

Are you emotionaly engaged? No

It sounds to me like you just described a typical action video.

And what's all this rubbish about "advancing AMVs" anyways? Is the Org a collective consciousness working towards some predefined goal? Is an AMV not worth making or entering on the Org just because it doesn't "advance" or refine the state of the art? Is an absolutely gorgeous painting of a scene from the Bible or a boat on the ocean or a cat licking its fur simply an exercise in masturbation because there's no deep message (other than praisin' Jesus) or emotional engagement beyond "here is a pretty picture, enjoy it for the sake of enjoying something beautiful"? Isn't an AMV that strikes you as weird for the sake of weirdness or pretty for the sake of prettiness stimulating you intellectually or emotionally even if you can't pin down a specific message to take away or a particular story that has been related or an exact memory that has been triggered? Is there a minimum number of people that have to feel some sort of personal connection with an AMV before it's deemed to be a worthwhile contribution? Was a painting of a Biblical scene a bad example? Are my sentences way too long and my paragraphs dying for some indentations?

[OropherZero]

dammit i was waiting for a topic like this but lack the time to make a decent argument at the moment :/

[OropherZero]

okay quick summary for now: I don't think there can be ONE way to define an AMV, and I think the AMV community can grow if it is accepting of both the typical defined AMV and what I see as 'digital art', because at the end of the day these are != to each other but since there are some AMVs which do attempt to be the latter, it challenges the traditional perception of an AMV, and that's where the 'wtf is an AMV' conflict comes from. I'd love to see more conceptual and artistic AMVs because there is a severe lack of them compared to the typical audio and visual synch video which as describes try to 'promote' the sources, which catters for the fans of the sources. Conceptual AMVs to me have a much larger audience and can be appreciated by those who may not even know what an anime is. Digital art videos aren't meant to synch, but do have flow, but some of the mentioned AMVs do indeed synch, ie, they cannot fully break out from the traditional AMV realm but in saying that, an AMV like Silencio takes synch up to a new level, it focusses on dynamics and tries to transfer this sensation to the viewer, it doesn't 'break down' the music and anime into separate components and even further decompose these components into more detailed elements, but rather it is more of a 'how can carry this sensation or feeling from start to end, using the song as a medium'.