The good ol' days

jonmartensen · Post by **jonmartensen** » Wed Sep 17, 2003 6:52 pm

I was just thinking about how much more effort was needed to produce videos of a much lower "editing" quallity in years past versus the rather recent (5 years?) simplification of editing. It seems that, percentage wise, there tend to be more older vids with a story being told, and thought put into the making of the video, than videos made currently/in recent years.

Is this due to the higher availablity of editing programs and anime? Is it because editing something is easier? Why are things the way they are?

It seems that with the (relativly) simple methods available to make highly technical videos, people don't need to plan out a video or have it tell a story, unlike in the past. I'd be willing to bet that many people can edit (don't get that confused with make) and AMV of their own more easily than they could make themselves a web-page. It really seems that the majority (note: there are many exceptions, but they make up a small % of all the amv's) of newer AMV's have used the greater editing flexibility provided by new programs as a crutch for a vid that is lacking in thought, rather than taking a very good story/idea and making it even better (I could point the ones that are very good, but that would take up too much space)

Anyways, that disjointed rambling is just me "thinking out loud" and trying to get a discussion started. What are your thoughts on the amount of effort needed to make amv's and their overall quallity?

NME · Post by **NME** » Wed Sep 17, 2003 6:55 pm

It's due to the fact that people like shiny effects and shiny effects are easy to do.

FLOATING TRIANGLE.

Org Profile · Post by **Otohiko** » Wed Sep 17, 2003 6:58 pm

Shit, I guess I should lay off them a bit now...

Having just gotten into trying funky floating sqares last week - it's just something that's fun to do. I now realize that they do detract a bit. On the other hand, hey, it's better to try.

My motto is still 'Honor Sufficiency'. Do what you have to for the vid, and don't go overboard.

Nemoxs · Post by **Nemoxs** » Wed Sep 17, 2003 7:09 pm

I don't really think there ever was really great days, it's like when my grandparents talk about their "gooddays"

But really it was a time of depression across america with peral habor, and the korea thing,

Then again I don't think people purposly try to remember the bad, just the good, and that might be a good thing, but it still lies the point out,

I understand where you're coming from, I myself use alot of story in most of my videos instead of shapes and stuff, then again, MAKING a video (a crappy one) can really help you out in many more ways then 1, perhaps the things most people don't like to remember are,

The two VCR method (Personaly I used a 1 vcr, 1 Dvd player method),
The bad quailty (even kevin caldwells videos had bad quailty, not really their falt),
The REALLY endless stream of bad videos you didnt see in the first place,

The example is, are they bad if you didnt see them?
And that's something we'll never know.

Maybe their where times when people put more love into videos, then again,
maybe there was a time where watrisses handed out ice cold milk shakes and guys said "gee wilakers thank ya mam!".

We'll never know.

Hybrid Monkey · Post by **Hybrid Monkey** » Wed Sep 17, 2003 7:21 pm

Thats a good point! But Older Amv's In my opinion are better than some of the new ones , these days its all shapes and stuff no plot all spastic things flieing everywhere no plot included . Not all vids these days are like that though for example , Euphoria. It has shapes everywhere but atleast it has a plot , I find if a video has a plot that doesnt really happen in the anime is good. Its a change.

But then again if people tried to remaster oldies it would be AWSOME! oldies with the best of quality's and plus there would acouple of added effects like ne video would have!

OLDIES RULE!!!!

Nemoxs · Post by **Nemoxs** » Wed Sep 17, 2003 7:32 pm

Meh, I try to make videos that I like, romance and drama, a soft touch.. actaully I'm uploading one right now thats like just soft, but hard at the same time, No shapes, but still fun

Org Profile · Post by **Vlad G Pohnert** » Wed Sep 17, 2003 7:36 pm

Hybrid Monkey wrote:
OLDIES RULE!!!!

Cool... being an oldie myself

Vlad

Hybrid Monkey · Post by **Hybrid Monkey** » Wed Sep 17, 2003 8:02 pm

I've Seen one of your vids before*Love Hurts* i didnt see the anime of that until i saw ur vid! Thats an oldie i wont forget!

You Do Know that eventually all the videos we make today will be oldies and as the time passes ppl will say that there old and crap and we will always think there cool , oldies are just a collection of creators before us*some exceptions*

Chaos Angel · Post by **Chaos Angel** » Wed Sep 17, 2003 8:32 pm

I think that if people want to make shiny-glitzy videos, they will, and if people want to make narrative videos, they will, and if people want to make symbolic videos, they will, and if people want to make videos based more on emotional response to key scenes than story, they will.

Editting equipment with greater control and an ability to create fancy effects just gives people more options for what they want to make. It's not necessarily easier to make an FX vid than a story vid, it's just different portions of the creative mind. An FX video can take just as much planning as a story video, it's just different types of work and talent involved. Story requires a solid grasp of narrative flow and relation between scenes, an ability to choose scenes that work with the story you want to tell and won't distract from that higher purpose. FX requires a good grasp of visual aesthetic, an ability to envision the scene not as it is, but as you want it to be, and create that, without having the elements of the scene detract from one anther or look like a jumbled lump of crap. Both have their own purpose and their own use in making a video.

Honestly, I don't think narrative and story are as important as many people seem too. I've seen many people say that story is the be-all-end-all element of videos, and I honestly don't entirely agree. I've seen many videos that don't so much have a story as they do a theme. The scenes are selected with a specific idea in mind, for the effect they will have on the viewer, be it blood-pumpin' action or heart-tugging emotion. Focus is not on telling a narrative, but creating an atmosphere. Someone can do that with frikken WMM for cripes sake.

Org Profile · Post by **Vlad G Pohnert** » Wed Sep 17, 2003 9:38 pm

Hybrid Monkey wrote:You Do Know that eventually all the videos we make today will be oldies and as the time passes ppl will say that there old and crap and we will always think there cool , oldies are just a collection of creators before us*some exceptions*

And being the oldest, my videos should become legendary when I pass away before all your other young ones and be imortalzied forever in text books and mandatory viewing material for future generation

...yea...right

Vlad