Disclaimer: This interview project is not affiliated with animemusicvideos.org and is the product of CodeZTM. These questions do not reflect the opinions of Animemusicvdieos.org or its administration.
Description
Welcome to the Lip Flapper! Each week, we delve deep into the community and get a good look into both individual members as well as group discussions on various issues that surround our hobby.
This Week in "The Lip Flapper"
This week, I conversed with Pwolf, a collaborator in the hit 2011 AMV "Hold on to that Feeling", and the developer of the AMVApp for mobile smartphones. Pwolf answered some questions about his editing, his collaboration and the development of the AMVApp
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"The Interview"
Q: First of all, let me thank you for taking the time to answer my questions. Now, for the readers at home that may not know who you are, why not introduce yourself and tell us a little about yourself?
A: As you know already, at least I hope, I am Pwolf but my real name is Scott. I've been editing for almost 12 years now, of which, I've been an active member of the org community for about 11 years. I've used several different editing programs along the way but I primarily use the Adobe Suite of software.
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Q: Also, (because I’m dying to ask this), what’s the story behind the [P]waffle?
A: Well, a long time ago, I want to say 2003 or 2004, I was in the old AIM chatroom and someone had made a typo while typing my nickname. So instead of "Pwolf" they typed out "Pwalf". It was then that either Ashton, an old editor from back then, or Jay, better known as Koopiskeva, had replied "Pwaffle". I can't remember which of them was the one to do it first but after that, it stuck. It was mostly an inside joke until I created the Pwaffle character for a project. I then started using the character as my avatar and more people started calling me "Pwaffle". It stuck.
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Q: Ok, ok, I’ll get back on track. How about you tell us how you got involved in editing AMVs?
A: As I mentioned before, I've been editing for almost 12 years. I first thought about editing back in January of 2000. I was really big into Final Fantasy at the time and had just acquired a bunch of the soundtracks. While listening to one of them I thought, "how cool would it be if I mixed this to scenes from the game?" and from that thought, I tried it out. So I made my first video using Final Fantasy 8 and a song from its soundtrack. It wasn't until a friend of my mine had shown me an AMV that I decided to actually edit to anime. I wasn't really even into anime that much at the time either so it was an interesting way to express my creativity and also jump into this new fandom I didn't really know a whole lot about. At the time I played with the Adobe Premiere 5 trial but ended up buying a cheap Mpeg joiner/cutter with no audio track. If you watch a lot of my older videos from that first year (2000 - 2001) you'll see that the timing is off, which is because I would have to play the song and then press play on the editor at the same time to do my syncing. It wasn't very effective but I didn't care much, I was having fun. That said, please don't watch my old videos, they suck.
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Q: So what goes through your mind while you’re editing? Is there anything special that you do during/before/after editing?
A: This is a difficult question to answer because my methods have changed over the years and they also change depending on the project. At first I really had no idea what I was doing, I had no plans of really showing these videos to anyone other than friends, so it really was me just having fun and learning something new. It was also a good way to kill some time on a Friday night. Back then I didn't worry about any of the technical stuff or even timing so I would just grab a song I liked at the time and threw some clips on the timeline. When I thought it was done I would render it out and watch it. Most of the time my sync was crappy but I didn't care. Nowadays I'm way more serious. I can't really do what I did back then. I really have to think about the video I'm going to make and even then most of my ideas fall flat. So before I even edit, I look at the song and use that as a script. I look at the song and base my concept and ideas off of that. Most of the time I keep it all in my head but occasionally I'll write down my ideas or even break everything out in time codes. That basically creates a script for me to go by. So while I'm editing, I have an idea of what I want to see on the timeline and I'll look for a scene and cut accordingly. I'm not a huge special effects editor. I like to keep things simple. Most of the time though I'll do a bit of masking but most people will never notice it unless I point it out. Hope that answered your question.
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Q: You recently edited a collaborative video with Ileia in the Project OrgEditor contest. From online reaction videos, it was extremely well received, and got an entire audience to get up and groove with it. So what was it like editing this with Ileia? How did you divide up the responsibilities? What made you two decide to edit this particular video?
A: This wasn't the first time Ileia and I collaborated on a video but it was definitely the first one where we had to work closely with each other. The other collab I mentioned was a video I did for the Nan Desu Kan 2010 Contest into. I'm not much of a comedy editor so I asked her if she was willing to help me out. I basically gave her the track I needed and she sent me a video the next day. Basically, it was my video but she made a small part of it. The difference with this one was that we both actually worked together through the whole process of making it. Ileia and I are good friends also so it really wasn't all that difficult to get started. She had suggested the idea to use "Don't Stop Believin'" initially and I thought it was great. I had been wanting to make a video with the song for years, I just never had any concrete ideas. From there I decided I would handle all the technical stuff and cut the song up. We decided to use whatever anime we wanted but we still wanted it to fit. We weren't terribly worried about using the same sources since we could always go back change something if needed. We pretty much did our own thing though. She would send me a beta when she had one and I would throw it into the timeline and render the whole thing out for her to see. There were also times when she would make some cuts into my tracks that worked a lot better then what I had done so I would just use her stuff. I think we both really enjoyed it and liked how it turned out. I doubt I would have ever had done the video on my own so I'm happy I just made a video using that song.
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Q: I’m also happy to say that were the mastermind behind the very successful AMVAPP for mobile smart phones (Thank you, by the way). What made you want to do something like this?
A: That I am. I've been programming small little applications for the pc for years. I don't know how many people know but I've made an FTP client for people to use to upload their videos to the org and also various scripts to take care of tedious pre-editing tasks. I'm responsible for porting the Premiere CS4 Avisynth Plugin for use in CS5/5.5. I've also written some experimental programs that do cool stuff like convert an Adobe Premiere 6.5 project into an avisynth script. So this wasn't really something I jumped into blindly. I originally had the idea to do an app for iOS a while back. At the time I had no idea what I was getting into so I wrote a simple aspect ratio calculator. I hated it. The whole thing turned me off so I really didn't think much about it. Then I bought an android phone. I had been thinking about jumping into Android development but didn't have a project. It wasn't until another editor, Begi, created a thread on the forum asking about the possibility of a smart phone app. It started off as more of an experiment that I didn't really expect to complete but the more I did the more I wanted to work on it. After the Android app was created, some users expressed that they wanted an iOS version as well. Another member that goes by “The_TEKnician" supplied me with an iTouch to develop with so I decided to try out iOS development again.
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Q: How much time/effort was involved in this project? Care to go into a little detail about what you had to do in order to get it up and running?
A: Well I started working on the Android version about mid-May and had a version ready for testing in the middle of June. Then it was finally released towards the end of July, so it was about 2 months of solid coding every day. As I mentioned earlier, someone had provided me an iOS device to work with so I started coding the iOS version around late September and finished all major coding about a month after that in late October. So about a month of coding every day. In hind-sight it felt like it was a lot longer honestly. I did spend a considerable amount of time working on it after all. I would get home from work and just code for hours on end. I think I burned myself out a little bit to be honest.
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Q: Any plans on expanding the app to other platforms?
A: I've got the two big ones done already so all that's left is Windows Phone 7. I would love to make an app for the WP7 platform but I don't own a device. If anyone is willing to donate one to me, I would be more than willing to go forward with that. Until then, I'm going to focus on maintaining the ones that are already out.
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Q: What was the most difficult part of this project? The easiest? Did you have a fun time doing it, or would you rather go bake yourself in a toaster oven than attempt this again?
A: Both platforms had their ups and downs. The biggest issue I had with Android was that some devices didn't work the same as others so I spent a lot of time fixing things that, in my opinion, should've just worked. It was very frustrating to say the least. iOS gave me a lot of headaches due to my lack of knowledge with the programming language and framework. Also Apple has strict guidelines you have to follow so that was kind of annoying as well. Overall though, the iOS version was easier because I had already done all the hard work with Android, it was only a matter of getting the logic to work on iOS.
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Q: What’s the future look like for the AMV APP? Is there anything that the community can do to help you out?
A: The AMV .Org App isn't done yet, that’s for sure. When I finally decided that I was going to make this happen, I had a vision of where I wanted to go. The app in its current state is just what I wanted the app to be at its most basic level. At some point I had to get it out there for people to use. I've already started planning out a home screen where users will be able to access the search that's already been implemented but also view the journals as well as other site features. On top of that I've been planning on implementing a playlist feature and also allow users to download the videos to their devices so they download them at home and then show their friends later. As much as I want this app to be something of my own creation, it's an app for the community to use. I want to know what people think about it and I want to hear their ideas. I'm very open to suggestions people give me. I actually have a list I've been adding suggesting to. So if someone mentions something I hadn't thought about, I add it. I'm also looking into getting the community to design the layout of the app. There were some great ideas in the org rebuild threads and I'd like to try and tap into that talent for the app. Look forward to seeing a post in the future asking for help.
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Q: Speaking of the community, you’ve been a part of A-M-V.org for quite some time now. How is the org of today different than the org that you originally started out with?
A: There's a lot more people. It was really small back then. I think over the years the community part of the org has sort of went away though. When I say that, I mean, the org feels like more of a place to hang out rather than a place where we all work together. Seems like everyone's goal is to win instead of help each other. Not to say that we don't help each other, it just feels like our priorities are messed up. I think back then we were just content with participating. Didn't matter if someone or a group of people won a bunch of awards. We congratulated them and strive to do better the next time. I think this super competitive attitude we have now pushes new people away who are just looking to have fun and find people who share their same interests. That's why I joined 11 years ago.
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Q: So what do you think of the A-M-V.org community in general?
A: Despite my thoughts about how different the community is now, I think we are still the best place for anything AMV related. We have a lot of really talented editors and a lot of people willing to help those who want to learn. I see the org as more of a resource for people to use. I think that's its greatest strength and what makes us different from YouTube and other AMV websites. We provide all the tools necessary to get started and help is just around the corner.
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Q: Anything you’d like to say to the A-M-V.org community?
A: I would like to see more people step up and contribute more. Whether it's running contests like Project Editor or Brad's Online Iron Chef, or doing interviews with members of the community, like this. Or just donating money to help improve the site. I would like to see the community become more of a community again and work towards making this place better instead of complaining about it.
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Q: Well, thank you for your time and energy in answering all my questions. As we end off this interview, is there any advice you might want to give to newcomers to the site, or just something you’d like to say in general?
A: Don't give up and have fun. It's not all about winning contests and collecting awards. Take your time and enjoy what you do.
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After-Thoughts
If you haven't already, you should seriously consider downloading the AMVApp for the iPhone or Android. It is an extremely fantastic tool, and it's great for AMV'ing on the go. With future updates will come more amazing features. Also, please consider donating to the cause on Pwolf's website. This great developer went out-of-pocket on this one, and the least we can do is try to help support him and the development.
Oh, and go watch Pwolf's other AMVs. He's one of my favorite sentimental/romance editors, and has consistenly edited great stuff. Here's just a few of my personal favorites:
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Next Time in "The Lip Flapper"
Join me next time when I speak with long time member Scintilla, and get his opinions on things both past and present.
January Calendar
January 2nd: Scintilla Interview
January 9th: Lip Flap Discussion
January 16th: AimoAio Interview
January 23rd: Youtube Discussion
January 30th: Kosmit Interview
Past Interviews/Discussions
Shin-AMV
Pwolf
Nevertheless, I think this site was made for the fun and cooperation of making AMVs so a more community-based forum would be nice. 
good read.
