So You Want To Be An Anime Music Video Editor? [split]

[Kalium]

Stickified For Great Justice.

[Orwell]

Didn't we have a guide like this before but it got de-stickied?

[requiett]

I'm still confused.

[JaddziaDax]

hmmn perhaps this will slow down the number of posts we get on "how do i make a vid?" i hope...

if not people will just get replies "read the sticky"

[Kionon]

Was "So You Want To Be..." too quick for you? Here's some more information. If you have more specific questions, do not hesitate to PM me... as long as you promise me you've already read all of this. On second, hesitate, that way you can be sure you've done your part before asking me to do mine.

Read About Editing Suites Here:

Sony Vegas 6
Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0
Final Cut Pro 5
Windows Movie Maker 2.1
iMovie

Tools You'll Need:

AMVapp includes:

DGMPEGDec to 1.2.1
DVDdecrypter to 3.5.2.0
Premiere Avisynth Import Filter version 1.2 Premiere 5, 6 and Pro
Avisynth 2.56 Beta 1
dvd2avi - Donald Graft Edition 1.0.0
BeSweet v1.5b26
BeSweetGUI v0.7b4
TooLame 0.2i
Lame ACM 3.95.1
HuffYUV 2.1.1 and yuvdecoderfix.dll
AviFrate - Avi frame rate changer
FFDshow (April 5th 2004 build)
XviD 1.0
Helix YUV Codecs v1.2
VirtualDubMod 1.5.4.1

Many of the programs, codecs, scripts, etc. may have newer versions available elsewhere. AbsoluteDestiny, one of our British editors, used to maintain AMV app but no longer does. I may collect the new versions and place them in an easily found location for the betterment of all.

Guides to Help You Do What You Need To Do:

There are several guides, but the ones that are most relevent to beginners are as follows:

Phade's Guide to Good Anime Music Videos
This guide is a general overview of what makes a good anime music video.

Kalium's AMV Theory Primer
This guide looks at numerous facets of editing theory including Synch, Concept and Effects.

AbsoluteDestiny & ErMaC's Technical Guides to All Things Audio and Video Mark 2
This is THE guide to video quality and performance. A must read!

VicBond007's Guide to Working with DVD Footage
This is a PDF document that VicBond007 created for his AMV panel and is now available for download. It is an excellent step-by-step guide that can easily be printed for reading on the go.

Kirin's Guide to Making AMVs with iMovie
Just so you Mac users don't feel too neglected, here's a guide to editing using Apple's free editing program iMovie.


Kionon's Mac Recommendations:

The "So You Want To Be..." guide was, as you can see, very PC oriented, so as an avid Mac user, I wanted to make sure that new editors that own Macs are not left out. You can use many of the same processes as the PC user can, it's just that your programs will be different. I'll walk you through it, and I fully intend to do a much more involved write up in the future. I will even do a Mac AMVapp collection.

Ripping

Mac users will use a program called "mac the ripper." It is free. It functions exactly the same way as DVD Decryptor, except it has a cute little bomberman like cartoon mascot that pops up when you have succesfully ripped.

Converting

You will not need to use AVS or the like to convert your files. A program called Diva does it all for you. It comes with a wide range of codecs to choose from. I chose DV NTSC, for instance, in order to edit with. You can crop, deinterlace, etc just like in AVS/VirtualDobMod. You can then drop these files into iMovie or Final Cut Pro, and the steps are very much the same. Unlike VirtualDubMod, Diva only converts from Vob files, it will not convert from other formats to other formats. See Exporting.

Editing

Your choices, as shown up above, are Final Cut Pro or iMovie. Or really old versions of Premiere. I don't recommend the old versions of premiere, but they're out there.

Exporting Software

D-Volution is used to convert exported DV files, like the ones you will be working with, into DivX 4.1.2 files. FfmpegX is used to convert QuickTime MPEG4 to XviD 1.0.1 files. Although as mp4 becomes more and more popular, you may wish to export in mp4 with the h.264 codec.

I'll post the a fuller Mac Guide and the MacAMVapp tomorrow... Thanks goes out to the writers of the tech guides mentioned here for making my job hella easier.

[amvwizard]

This has been needing to be written for awhile =/.......

[downwithpants]

since this is intended at newbies, you may want to define the jargon and terminology you've used first, or define them as they appear in the post. or wikify it.

[Kionon]

That's a good point. I tried to be as clear and concise as possible. This was supposed to be "down and dirty" and not comprehensive. It's an attempt to counter the "Oh crap, I can't read all this, so I'll ignore it" reaction to the more comprehensive guides.

[Dragon19]

Where do you go to upload clips?

[Kionon]

Where do you go to upload clips?

You must first Enter New Video, available on your left hand menu on the normal a-m-v.org website. Then

This site is entirely free for you and any other member to use. Please be aware that this site depends on donations by members in order to keep this site alive. You and any other member of this site may be asked to donate from time to time. However, you and all other members are under no obligation to actually donate to the site. All donations are purely voluntary and are not required in any way in order to upload or download local videos at this site.

Local Video Hosting Introduction:

AnimeMusicVideos.org allows members to upload anime music videos to the local server for other members to download. There is no charge for this but you do have to follow the rules listed on this page. Rule breaking may result in your video being removed and in some cases your account being banned.

What you may upload

You are only allowed to upload music videos that are entirely or mostly created using:

* Japanese Animation. As in animation produced in Japan generally for a Japanese market. NOT western animation that looks-kinda-like-anime.
* Japanese Videogame Cutscenes. Final Fantasy and the like.
* Anime-inspired stills or animation created by you. However, we reserve the right to declare any 'original animation' entry as unsuitable for the site if it is not in the spirit of anime music videos or the amv community.

You can upload any commonly playable compressed video file such as mpeg-1, wmv, divx avi and so on. Instructions on how to compress your video can be found in the How-To Guides.

What you should NOT upload

This is the important part. Uploading things that are on this list may result in a ban.

* Non-anime videos,It's already been said but it's worth saying again that videos using a source we class as non-anime are not allowed. This includes...
* Live action videos. May seem obvious but no videos where the footage isn't animated.
* Pornographic videos. Videos explicitly depicting sexual acts are totally forbidden. Uploading porn will result in an immediate ban. Nudity is permitted provided it either has an artistic function in the video or is not depicted in an overtly erotic context.
* Excessive graphic violence. Examples include seeing innards, dismemberment and decapitation. If you think a video is borderline, contact an admin and get it cleared before uploading.
* Video files larger than 100M. This should be more than enough: the average video size on the org is ~30M. Special permission to upload larger files may be requested on the next page. Special conditions include things like very long videos and multi-editor videos.
* Compressed archives such as zip, rar, etc. Upload video files only, please.
* Project files from editing programs. Seriously folks, these are of no use to anyone but you.
* Warez/Crackz/Serialz. Upload these and an immediate ban awaits.
* Works In Progress. The hosting here is not for beta versions of videos. Final versions of videos only, please.
* Videos you did not make. Please do not upload other people's music videos.
* Videos using someone else's editing. All the editing work in the video must be your own - any footage edited by another music video creator must only be used with their consent and with full credit given to their work.
* Videos that make personal attacks on other members of the site. Like the rest of the site, personal attacks on other members are forbidden.
* Anything else that isn't listed as something you may upload. If you aren't certain that your video qualifies, ask about it in the forum first or email an admin.

We will remove any videos that we find breaking these rules. If you find any videos that break these rules then tell us and we will deal with them. Do not break these rules simply because you saw somebody else do it as it will probably result in both of you being banned. We also reserve the right to remove any video that may contain objectionable content not listed above.

How the Upload Process Works

First of all you request a video to upload by choosing one from the list below. You will then be given the login information for an FTP site which you will upload the video to. If you do not know what an FTP site is then you should read this. When using the ftp site, do not make any new sub-directories, simply upload the video file directly into the folder are at when you log in.

Once the file is uploaded to the ftp site (this may take a while depending on your internet connection), you will have to confirm the file before the file will go live on the site. Here, you will be able to test the file you uploaded to see that it still works by downloading it from the site. If it corrupted during transfer and is now broken, you can cancel the upload and try again. Once the video is confirmed, the video cannot be changed and becomes a permanent part of the video library, so make sure that the uploaded file is the final version of your video.

Videos you can currently upload:

Below is a pulldown list of the videos that you are currenly allowed to upload. Videos that are not currently eligible for upload are listed at the bottom of this page. If a video is not on the list then it will be for one of the following reasons:

* The video's premiere date is in the future.
* The video has no listed music.
* The video lists no anime source. Anime sources have to be confirmed by the admins so if you entered a new anime then you may want to ask on the forum if it can be confirmed for you.
* The video is already locally hosted.

By uploading a video, you understand and agree to the above rules, understand that breaking these rules may result in videos being removed and/or a site ban, and you allow this site to hold and make publicly available the video file you provide.

You will be able to choose the video you just entered at the bottom of the screen. Link Here.