So...what exactly makes a video "good" or "bad" to you?

[Shui]

For somebody which bitches about too many effects and heavy editing you seem to contradict yourself by saying you like Upbeat AMVs.

[CrackTheSky]

For somebody which bitches about too many effects and heavy editing you seem to contradict yourself by saying you like Upbeat AMVs.

?

It sounds to me like what FlamingMangos meant when he said "heavily edited" was "effects-heavy". Upbeat videos don't necessarily need a lot of effects, so I don't think there has to be a contradiction there.

[macchinainterna]

Copy/pasted from my tumblr when someone asked me a similar question.

What makes a video stand out to me as good is effort. The videos that clearly show the thoughtfulness of the editor’s choices in scenes used and when to make their cuts. You don’t need a bunch of crazy effects to make your video good. You just have to care about what you’re making, enjoy making it and be happy with what you’ve made.

[mulraf2]

Basically, what do you like to see in an AMV?

creativity and either a concept or a storyline that's done without voice-overs.
also the atmosphere can be pretty important but you don't really need to much of an atmosphere for a action video or so...

On the other side of the coin, what things will absolutely ruin a video for you, no matter how much else the editor might get right? Are there certain effects that just slap you across the face with unpleasantness?

i really don't like it if the effects used aren't clean. i'm fine with videos that use lots of effects. but a very good example is when it comes to 3d. many people have scenes or objects in 3D scenes of their amvs, that don't last long enough, and so they suddenly dissapear while they were there just a momoent ago. there are very few things that can happen instantly. in most of the cases it's better when effects progress trough time.
if you want something to disappear at least fade it out. (only exception i can think of are the scenes themselves (=hard cuts)).

Are you able to enjoy a video that uses a song and/or anime that you hate, if it does everything else correctly?

yes. but it's harder to get me to like it :p

How important are technical things like visual quality?

so-so. there are standards, but they aren't too high. but it isn't to hard to achieve a decent quality, so you should just inform youself a little bit at least.