How do you go about selecting your clips?

[Kariudo]

I start out like Taite. I have one specific section in my mind that is concrete, and then I go from there.
I play the current section I haven't given up on I'm editing and try to work out where the mood and action are and were, and then try to visualize what should happen next.
I then set out, browsing through eps to find the stuff I pictured in my mind
I usually don't find it

When all else fails, throw random (unused) clips onto the timeline and see what looks decent

[gotegenks]

Same. I pull 'em all down into the timeline, line 'em up and try 'em one by one. Up until I actuallly finish a video, my timeline is a mess of unwanted clips.

i hate that crap so much, but it's the easiest method for me.

every half hour or so i find myself shift+click'ing all of the timeline that comes after the actual amv portion and deleting it all...

this is especially a huge problem when i edit kingdom hearts since there are about 600 different clips, so at least a quarter of the time spent editing is dragging clips into the time line and deleting them when you find out that a certain flashback is in a completely different cutscene.

[Nya-chan Production]

What Castor Troy said

Also

1. Get the whole filemounted file in the editor
2. Select clips randomly as you remember them
3. Epic accidental sync
4. ????
5. PROFIT!!!

[Kionon]

I story board from memory. I then watch the episodes where I think my scenes exist. If they do not exist, I alter my story board. If they exist, I make a note of the time stamp, and I clip them. When I have laid out those clips on the timeline, I then go back and adjust, add effects, change speed, add stills, and replace clips that might not have worked the way I expected them to.

[Enigma]

I follow my heart.

[NS]

I go from memory. I'm very thankful for this since it saves a lot of time clipping and whatnot, but For any show that I've watched.. I can know if there is a scene or type of scene that I want, I don't always know which episode exactly, but this kind of works to my advantage, because I'll be searching for one clip I know exists and either find a better clip for the spot or stuff for parts later on in the timeline.

[post-it]

Masking is part of everything. From Sounds to the Videos themselves; you can do sooo much with it

1) When following a song,
. a) I make the character the focus and ignore the backgrounds changing (that can always be masked.)
. b) I look to see how much background will need to be rebuilt after the masking.
. c) the only other problem is, "how many people can be added & when -- before it becomes distracting.

2) When following an Idea ( no music has been selected )
. "b" then "c" with Masking and finally "a"

I've found that Drawing your own characters and/or animating "bone structure with clips" ( looking like
Blues Clues reconstructions of your characters ) quite often 'really doesn't work!!! it just looks tacky

. . There is one more type of design which is rarely used at this organization; the 3rd Party Perspective.
To understand this concept, you'll need to follow someone to somewhere, and see things through "there eyes."
Example .. here's a set-up of such a concept:
1) find a video clip with someone male/female/dog/cat/moose quietly stocking something ( cutting across the screen to its middle. )
. a) Change the background to a moving/scrolling growth if Bamboo/Sugar-Cane stocks.
. b) there is a 45° off-set to a view of what is hidden, "the character can see it, you can't"
2) Opening theme to "Record of Lodoss War" song = Kiseki No Umi (Sea of Miracles) 'starts with its drums.
. a) you are now seeing things through the hunters-eyes'
. b) 'voices start their chants join the drums' as the scene now begins to display -- what was happening "as they saw it".
3) the music starts it "BOOM" 'chabi-yaak! "BOOM" 'chabi-yaak! .. with whatever they are watching
The 3rd Party Perspectice can be a lot of fun to toy with but, it does require some time to make the set-up work properly.

as you can guess, this is the one I like to work with the most

[Castor Troy]

Since I edit with avs files, all my source is at my fingertips.

This.

I remember when I worked with huffy files and realizing I didn't make a huffy of an important scene I needed.

[JaddziaDax]

I start out with the clips I have already planned in my head, then I do what Prodigi and Ileia said - put random clips in random places until I find what fits... Sometimes I storyboard (text) but only if I get an idea when I'm away from the computer, or setting up/converting clips and I don't want to forget my ideas.

[Megamom]

I follow my heart.