Animeme Music Slide

[SailorTardis]

I'm working on a video for Momocon 2020. While the video started off as a comedy, it eventually became an upbeat look of different animations. I like how it looks so far, barring the ending which I plan to change, but I was looking for feedback on how to make it better. Also, I think I might need a better name for the video.

[Rider4Z]

Hi, I've got some feedback for ya. I've been entering contests for over a decade and running some for almost as long. Most well run contests have judges that will notice what I did. I got through a little over a minute of your video and that was enough for me to start with.

Footage: Most if not all of your footage has been zoomed in and/or shifted, possibly to hide watermarks and/or subtitles. Judges will notice and not take kindly to it. You also have mixed aspect ratios (i.e. fullscreen and widescreen) so have black bars appear with no reason. Keep your ratio consistent. If your footage has watermarks and/or subtitles that you can't remove I suggest either not using those sources or using blu rays.

Transitions: Some of your fades don't end cleanly. Example at 0:07 - you start your fade on one shot of Your Name, but it cuts to another shot in the middle of fading into Yuri on Ice. This is a big distraction and looks sloppy.

Concept: In terms of creating competitive AMVs, originality is very important. Assuming 2 videos are executed in quality equally, judges will typically favor the more original entry. And because they have to sift through dozens of videos their attention span is shortened. The kind of video you are making - an upbeat/dance video with flavorful shots everyone knows - has been done and redone several times for decades. Now that's not to say these types of videos aren't worth making. What I am saying though is if you're going to go in that direction you need to do something spectacular to it that grabs the judges attention. There needs to be a strong sense of direction and style to keep the viewer engaged.

Here are a couple examples of videos executed well in a similar concept to yours:


Now, this one is heavy on special effects but don't let that intimidate you. The foundation of this video is what I want you to look at because it wouldn't work with special effects alone. The editor, one, used all sources from the same studio so there is a unified look thru out - it also specifically focuses on female protagonists. Two, lots of internal sync meaning the clip footage appears to be reacting to the music itself which gives a stronger sense of unification. The whole point of AMVs is to bring two foreign pieces of media together and make them look like they naturally belong together.


Here's another one that uses a big variety of sources. Something important the editor does with this one is he utilizes the same source for multiple clips while still showing off other series. Reason that's helpful is so the audience can connect with something, it keeps the video grounded so it doesn't look like it's just going all over the place with no direction. Another great trick they use is towards the end with the montage of various kissing/intimacy shots. They're all different series but they match together in feeling.


I hope you find all this helpful and not discouraging. Everyone starts somewhere. But if you're really serious about being competitive these fundamentals are a necessity. Cheers

[SailorTardis]

Thanks for your feedback!

[SailorTardis]

So I thank you For your feedback, and have decided to focus on a different AMV for now. I am now focusing on an AMV specifically about Magical girls, which hopefully will flow better. I have also worked on getting better quality sources.