- 2005-05-19 14:30:10 So far this week I’ve edited 40 seconds of a new video then realized it was crappy and started over from the second clip. I’m currently about 28 seconds in and hopefully I won’t have to back track again. I kind of wonder what the driving force behind this video is for me. I don’t expect many people to actually *enjoy* it much less watch it very repeatedly. I also doubt that many people will even watch it in the first place because it’s likely to be fairly spoiler heavy and judging by the short number of videos made with the anime, it’s not too popular. It’s also going to be a ton of work, more than any other video I’ve ever completed in the past. Nonetheless, I have this aching sense that I *must* get this thing made. I suppose in part I’m trying to prove to myself that I have yet another video in me and I’m not completely exhausted on the AMV front like I felt I was for about a year. I keep telling myself is that this video has to amaze me. It has to be the most impressive thing I’ve ever made or else all is for nothing.
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2005-05-16 02:49:42
Wow, it's me O_O
After Acen I feel like posting here again. When I got home I listened to a bunch of songs on my itunes and have made a list of videos I might try to edit. I've got only seven written down so far and some of them have been gestating in my mind for more than a while but they seem to be coming pretty steady. Since it's been about a year and a half since I've finished a video, I'm thinking I'd like to start with something short as a warm up. But micromanaging and creativity don't play on the same floorspace very easily for me so most likely I'll just end up trying to do whatever I feel like doing. And that considered, it's probably best to remain skeptical about all of this until I actually finish a video. -
beep beep beep ah beep beep
2003-12-04 17:20:21
Just last night I rewatched my FLCL video, Nugget. I was surprised to discover that even after a year and a half, I still thought the video was pretty fun. I used to consider it a Haruko character profile but...it's really not. It also doesn't have much in the way of a message. The video is simply a celebration of the energy and madness of FLCL. Anyway, I decided that the video, being about as fun as I remembered it, was still worth giving people a chance to download so I put it on the local server:
http://www.animemusicvideos.org/members/members_videoinfo.php?v=7412 -
grind grind grind...
2003-11-17 19:06:29
This video just won't come to an end and I feel so ready for it to do so...
Editing videos is not a skill that can totally stay with you wherever you go, like driving or biking or swimming. It's something you have to maintain. You have to keep it alive. You have to keep practicing so it doesn't drain away.
I'd lost my edge a couple months back both for editing and thinking of video ideas. I've been intently churning vids out since september, trying to finish a new one every month. I figured if I just keep pushing, my videos will get consistently better. Now my skills seem to be back to where they were and I feel very creative again. The one problem is that I'm stuck with this video that I've been working on for a while. Though it's turning out okay, I'm not very excited about it. It feels rather unimaginitive (I am after all, using an anime that's been used well over 400 times). I like it well enough to keep it alive but I wish it would freaking end!!! I have better videos to edit now, I'm sick of this one using up all my time. :(
I plan to finish it before the end of the month and after that, I'll be off to fry bigger fish. It had better be over by then or else I'll go irreperably insane. I'm tired of it and I want it to be over. -
These women don't have anything to wear and they're not complaining!
2003-10-29 15:05:49
Interesting to see all this debate on the IMPORTANCE OF AMVs. I feel like putting in my two cents...
If I only considered making amvs "fun", I wouldn't put anywhere near the amount of effort into them that I do. I wouldn't put any consideration into how much this song works with this anime. Hell, I've been trying for months to find a song that fits with a favorite series of mine. If the video I want to make wasn't at all important to me, then I would probably just pick a favorite song, one that has nothing to do with the series and edit them to my liking.
I do agree that these videos we make are not part of some great artistic movement and they ultimately won't add up to much at all. I also think that EK is very right that if you attach some great importance to making amvs, all the fun will be gone. Creativity is always chopped down when it starts getting "serious." But nonetheless, there has to be some degree of importance attched to amvs because dicipline is needed to make a good video.
If I didn't care, I would NOT put in the effort!
The videos that I make wouldn't matter much to the world around me. But creativity is something that DOES matter to me, as does music and anime. Anime music videos are my means of being creative. And for someone who is determined to do something creative as a career, there's not a doubt in my mind that the videos I'm making today will to SOME extent, affect whatever creative practices I participate in in the future.
Granted, they probably won't matter THAT much, but I feel that they will matter enough for me to strive to be more creative.
There is a difference between GOOD videos and FUN videos!!! Not that they aren't often the same thing but just because someone has a fun time making a video does not mean that they did a good job. And just because someone has a miserable, tedious time making a video does not mean that they didn't get anything out of it. Nor does it mean no one else will.
Besides amvs having a little (STRONG emphasis on a little! I'm not going to blow this out of proportion!) importance as a creative practice, there's something else that matters to me.
A couple weeks ago I got an e-mail from someone who said that my Nugget video was one of their favorite videos ever. That was important to me. That means that whenever that person watched that video, four minutes of their life was made a little (again, emphasis on the "a little" part!) more enjoyable. That. to me, makes it worth the six weeks of editing that I put into that video. That someone's time can be just a little more fun.
Honestly. the LAST thing that I want to do is make it seem like AMVs are of fantastic importance and that we're all ingenious revolutionary artists, striving for a better future. That's rediculous. But the "amvs are pointless" concept is something that I can't quite swallow. There are things that we do here, that I believe are of importance. Granted, most likely, extremely little importance but I believe it's still there.
To sum it up, it's important to me that we're creative and it's important to me that people get something, even a little something out of the videos we make. And if anyone disagrees with me, I'd like to hear their definition of "importance." Because to me, creativity and enjoyment are intrinsic goods. I'll be honest about how little these goods are probably generated here in the AMV community. But I'll be damned before someone convinces me that what we do is totally stupid and arbitrary. We're at least better than that.
JOURNAL: NPC3000 (Nathaniel Cohn)
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