AMV Planning

[TheNightmaster]

Hallo everyone.

I have a little request. I have a problem with the planning of my AMV's. I tried serveral times, just to start with one but the most failed .

Have you a bunch of tips how to plan an AMV in the firstplace, like how do i note where i place the scennes. And how do you note which FX and how i want to use, before the ideas get lost. Not which FX i have to use but really just the planning. I would realy like to know your oppinion.

I have lots of stuff like programms, plug-ins, and more or less skill . but i have really a problem in this situation.

I really would like to thanks you somehow.

[Pwolf]

Write down time codes or frame numbers. Depending on the program you use, you can place down markers where you want a cut or action to take place. And of course, there's always storyboarding.

[hasteroth]

If you're doing anything complicated with effects, yeah you might want to storyboard. Which is a simple enough process, there's plenty of story boarding guides on film making sites and such.

[gotegenks]

if i ever formally plan out a video, i usually separate the video by parts like chorus, bridge, verse 1,2,etc. and then specify the types of clips i want to put there. How i pick or label those types depends on what i'm going for with the video. If it's a series summary type thing i'll say parts of the series that'll go with each piece of the song. If it's a character profile then i'll probably label them according to the characters different conflicts and relationships through the series. most of the time though, i don't do much on-paper planning and just start the video, but when i do that i take into account what parts repeat themselves and when i do a part that repeats itself i make a note to edit the repeated piece of the song really similar to what i just did.

[Castor Troy]

I never write anything down or storyboard. I usually know what I'll put during certain parts of the song and will adjust if things turn out differently.

However, I don't recommend you follow my method.

[AMV_4000]

Meh, I don't plan, just throw clips in and automovie... or throw them in random places...

[DriftRoot]

Write down time codes or frame numbers. Depending on the program you use, you can place down markers where you want a cut or action to take place. And of course, there's always storyboarding.

Now see, that's how I first started off trying to make AMVs, and it got me absolutely nowhere. Couldn't see the forest for the trees. Once I threw all that out the window, things went much better, not great, but hey - I actually made an AMV after trying and failure for something like six years straight. To this day I wish I could storyboard, but that's never worked out for me. I can only edit when I'm inspired/motivated, which is not to say I edit randomly, but the pieces all sort of have to fall together just right for it to work out.

Bottom line: lots of people edit lots of different ways. There are definite advantages to carefully planning, but if it doesn't help you make an AMV, then maybe it's not for you. Most important thing is to have a concept/vision of what you're trying to accomplish, and then work towards that goal. For some people this will mean meticulously planning things out, for others it's just going with the flow. Regardless, if you don't know where you're trying to go, it's going to be a challenge to get anywhere.

[Pwolf]

Yea, just try different methods and see what works.

[ibabrak]

I never write anything down or storyboard. I usually know what I'll put during certain parts of the song and will adjust if things turn out differently.

That's my case as well.
I usually have like 4 scenes in my head that are in the strongest parts of the song and I just edit the rest the way that ties them all together so that it isn't random.
I did write something down when I was in school thinking about how to make my amv but it was more of a guide line.

But when I was making Daybreak I did write down this on a paper and thought about what to put where... considering that I was trying to do as much lyric sync as possible

Spoiler :

1 Yesterday I died, tomorrow's bleeding 
2 Fall into your sunlight 
3 The future's open wide beyond believing 
4 To know why hope dies 
5 Losing what was found, a world so hollow 
6 Suspended in a compromise 
7 The silence of this sound is soon to follow 
8 Somehow sundown 
9 And finding answers 
10 Is forgetting all of the questions we call home 
11 Passing the graves of the unknown 
12 As reason clouds my eyes, with splendor fading 
13 Illusions of the sunlight 
14 And the reflection of a lie will keep me waiting 
15 Love gone for so long 
16 This day's ending is the proof of time killing all the faith I know 
17 Knowing that faith is all I hold 
18 And Ive lost who I am 
19 And I can't understand 
20 Why my heart is so broken 
21 Rejecting your love 
22 Without love gone wrong 
23 Life 
24 Less words 
25 Carry on 
26 But i know 
27 All i know 
28 Is that the ends beginning 
29 Who I am from the start 
30 Take me home to my heart 
31 Let me go 
32 And I will run 
33 I will not be silenced 
34 All this time spent in vain 
35 Wasted years 
36 Wasted gain 
37 All is lost 
38 Hope remains 
39 And this war's not over 
40 Theres a light 
41 Theres the sun 
42 Taking all the shattered ones 
43 To the place we belong 
44 And his love will conquer 
45 And Ive lost who I am 
46 And I can't understand 
47 Why my heart is so broken 
48 Rejecting your love 
49 Without love gone wrong 
50 Life
51 Less words 
52 Carry on 
53 But i know 
54 All i know 
55 Is that the ends beginning 
56 Who I am from the start 
57 Take me home to my heart 
58 Let me go 
59 And I will run 
60 I will not be silenced 
61 All this time spent in vain 
62 Wasted years 
63 Wasted gain 
64 All is lost 
65 Hope remains 
66 And this war's not over 
67 Theres a light 
68 Theres the sun 
69 Taking all the shattered ones 
70 To the place we belong 
71 And his love will conquer all 
72 Yes his love will conquer all 
73 Yesterday I died, tommorrows bleeding 
74 Fall into your sunlight 

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Well, I made it as a table in a microsoft excel but I can't copy that here
I think you should get the idea, though

[Phantasmagoriat]

I always look at the overall structure of the music first. Then simply edit my AMV around that.
In my humble opinion, this is the most important thing you can do when making an AMV, seriously.

Because once you break down the music into musical sections, it's quite easy to assign a purpose to each section in your overall AMV. Timing of your mood shifts will be much better too. Even if that means pairing the perfect scene with the perfect part of the song, and that's the only thing you are confident with, just build your AMV around that. (This should make your amv flow better too because it gives the viewer time to digest the smaller ideas in each section which build up to higher-order ideas.) It also allows you to introduce parallels amongst sections, like in the timeline above, the first double-repeat can focus on the protagonist, and the second double-repeat can focus on the antagonist... which gives rise to parallel structure (and each of those can be broken down further into Setting/Character or whatever you like for even better parallelism). Then it would be appropriate to have the two meet face to face in the quad-repeat, perhaps in a four-part fight or something. Be creative, but keep it simple too. I mean, there's only so much you can cover in an AMV-- remember all those different parts to a short story you learned in grade school? Those actually help. Look that shit up right now, really it's not just BS your english teacher wanted you to learn... But anyway, I strongly encourage this method since you are far more limited by the song than you are by the anime, so for me, it just makes sense to structure your AMV around the music. Plus I think it makes it easier for both you and the viewer to focus on multiple smaller ideas which come together afterwards. Really, you'll finish your AMV faster (particularly with clip hunting), and it will probably be easier for the viewer to follow too. All it comes down to is developing your ability to recognize the musical shifts, and organize it's structure in your timeline. Then just mix and match ideas to the different sections until the overall structure looks like something you can live with. At that point you are basically done your AMV-- and all that's left is to edit the darn thing. But hey, that's just what I do...