Lets get this party started

Post by **Amaren** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 8:19 pm

what editing programs do you guys use? I used Adobe Premiere Pro.

YouTube · Post by **otakuforlife** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 8:55 pm

I like using vegas though sometimes it can be a pain.

Post by **Amaren** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 9:15 pm

otakuforlife wrote:I like using vegas though sometimes it can be a pain.

lol i used to use vegas, but the problem is I no longer have a PC I have a Mac book pro and the Premiere works with the videos I have to edit for school (majoring in film) I learnt more about premiere by editing my amvs and I feel it works better than vegas (for me that is) I couldn't find how to work with vegas properly all the way and when I was about to get a hang of it, my PC (side) crashed and doesn't work any more... so yeah lol I realize Vegas is the no.1 for amvs, but I can't work with it well lol

chaobunny · Post by **chaobunny** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 9:42 pm

I use Vegas, too. It's not perfect and doesn't have all the fancy special effects that After Effects does, but I like the user interface. And it really has everything you need, if you know how to use it. Sometimes playing around with different effects and panning/zooming can have a really cool effect. While it has limitations, it can do quite a bit. Unless you want to cover your video with sparkles and crazy 3D stuff, you can probably make it in Vegas.

And I've been using it for over 4 years now and I still discover new things I can do. Just yesterday I realized that you could split tangents while masking. Suddenly bezier curves became my friend! =D

Post by **Amaren** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 9:47 pm

chaobunny wrote:I use Vegas, too. It's not perfect and doesn't have all the fancy special effects that After Effects does, but I like the user interface. And it really has everything you need, if you know how to use it. Sometimes playing around with different effects and panning/zooming can have a really cool effect. While it has limitations, it can do quite a bit. Unless you want to cover your video with sparkles and crazy 3D stuff, you can probably make it in Vegas.

And I've been using it for over 4 years now and I still discover new things I can do. Just yesterday I realized that you could split tangents while masking. Suddenly bezier curves became my friend! =D

sweeet! =D now i really wish i can use my vegas

lol

YouTube · Post by **otakuforlife** » Tue Jan 31, 2012 6:16 am

Honestly for me it's Vegas for the UI and Adobe for the options.

YouTube · Post by **basharoftheages** » Tue Jan 31, 2012 8:47 am

Premiere / After Effects. Was using CS3 for a few years, but I moved on to CS5 a little over a year ago. It's finally super-stable with my work flow, which is useful... Still set the auto-save for 3min intervals though.

As to the original topic, I had an interesting weekend. Finally managed to start a timeline, storyboard the video line-by line in the lyrics, and reduce my footage pool from ~26 hours to ~7 hours. Started clipping that, got bored, and decided to mark my timeline (using unnumbered markers) for sync purposes. After about an hour of doing that by ear (waveform is no help because of the type of music being used), I realized my PAR was off on the sequence. Somehow the project got made 16:9 with 16:9 pixels as well. Now, once you create a project sequence in Premiere it locks all sorts of attributes like frame size and PAR and whatnot, and the markers I had just spent a lot of time setting up aren't selectable, so you can't just copy/paste them to another sequence. Well, crap. What do I do? Turns out the premiere project file (.pproj) is actually a giant XML blob (i'm talking near 100 pages for a project with a blank timeline). I open the project file in notepad, root around for elements that sound like they fit what I want to change, and manually edit the file. It opens up just fine and everything's fixed. I talked to pwolf about it and he made a tool: http://www.animemusicvideos.org/forum/v ... 7&t=108147 I have no idea if it works or how well it performs, but there it is.

Post by **hamstar138** » Tue Jan 31, 2012 12:03 pm

I'm a cool person and use Final Cut~ (go on laugh! I don't care if I use a mac! I love my Mac!!)

DriftRoot · Post by **DriftRoot** » Tue Jan 31, 2012 1:27 pm

Premiere Pro/AE CS4, plus Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and whatever else is handy. I'm a graphic designer, so I lean prettily heavily on those skills/software which benefit my videos and try to select the best tool for the job. This AMV I'm working on right now is the most intense use of combined video/graphics I've ever done, and the great integration between these various CS4 products has made it much faster and easier than with previous Adobe iterations.

I sound like a walking, talking Adobe ad.

Post by **hamstar138** » Tue Jan 31, 2012 3:09 pm

DriftRoot wrote:Premiere Pro/AE CS4, plus Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and whatever else is handy. I'm a graphic designer, so I lean prettily heavily on those skills/software which benefit my videos and try to select the best tool for the job. This AMV I'm working on right now is the most intense use of combined video/graphics I've ever done, and the great integration between these various CS4 products has made it much faster and easier than with previous Adobe iterations.

I sound like a walking, talking Adobe ad.

Remind me DriftRoot that we need to talk to each other about graphics. I have so many things I wanna do but not sure how to do them. I can use the advise~

Post by **Amaren** » Tue Jan 31, 2012 3:25 pm

DriftRoot wrote:Premiere Pro/AE CS4, plus Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and whatever else is handy. I'm a graphic designer, so I lean prettily heavily on those skills/software which benefit my videos and try to select the best tool for the job. This AMV I'm working on right now is the most intense use of combined video/graphics I've ever done, and the great integration between these various CS4 products has made it much faster and easier than with previous Adobe iterations.

I sound like a walking, talking Adobe ad.

Nice! I taught my self to use Premiere Pro because that's what was on the computer and everyone in class used "Final cut" HAHA now we're being taught how to use Premiere and it's more of teaching the teacher how to use it lmao. It works way better than other video programs when it comes to film making. I'm lucky it came with the computer (previously owned by my grandpa who is a animation/graphics professor). It also helps learning Premiere more by making the amvs so it can prepare me for editing my 90 minute film I'm filming at the present moment. The film should be done filming by AB time!! I have a lot of work ahead of me and sooo glad I already got the amv outta the way!! I'm happy with the way it turned out this year :3

It's interesting to learn and see how you guys make amvs. with storyboards and charted out ideas. I never thought of that! I just go with the flow and if I don't like the way it turns out, try new things until I call it prefect. It makes me feel more like an amateur now that I think about it :/ I really hope and pray that everyone else gets to see my work =D I mean as quickly as It took me, I did put a lot of thought into it.

I'm glad I get to talk to you guys and learn from all angles on the process it took (taking) you guys :3 I really appreciated the videos from last year and looked up to them. If you guys would like to take a look at the amv I made, I can give you the link! I would really like feedback even though I already submitted it, I can learn what not to and to do for next year =D

Reinforce · Post by **Reinforce** » Tue Jan 31, 2012 11:30 pm

DriftRoot wrote:Premiere Pro/AE CS4, plus Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and whatever else is handy. I'm a graphic designer, so I lean prettily heavily on those skills/software which benefit my videos and try to select the best tool for the job. This AMV I'm working on right now is the most intense use of combined video/graphics I've ever done, and the great integration between these various CS4 products has made it much faster and easier than with previous Adobe iterations.

I sound like a walking, talking Adobe ad.

Omg, you're a graphic designer too!? Sweet, I finally know someone now in my profession who makes AMV's too. By god, you are my hero now. I know my AMV's would probably benefit from my design skills as well since I have the software such as Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and After Effects. But, I've never really done any homemade graphics before, and I'm not really sure what I COULD do that would spark some life into my amv's. So, I've usually hanged back on ever utilizing my design knowledge into editing and I just tend to fall back and rely on whatever weird combos I can come up with in Vegas. I'm using a PC after all and while Vegas has been known to crash on me multiple times during progress, I've just become patient with the program and dealt with its follies. It's strange, every time it crashes on me the program just makes me want to work harder anyways. lol

Post by **Sayoria** » Wed Feb 01, 2012 1:57 am

otakuforlife wrote:I like using vegas though sometimes it can be a pain.

This, all the way. I use Vegas 7.0, yeah, old.... but it gets the job done. Issues I have are usually after the video is rendered. Video sometimes saves laggy or plays for a second or two, and cuts the video footage overall. Also crashes, moving a clip sometimes gives me a pop up telling me to save and reopen the program and more. Blah.

Post by **Amaren** » Wed Feb 01, 2012 8:08 am

Yukito Kunisaki wrote:
otakuforlife wrote:I like using vegas though sometimes it can be a pain.
This, all the way. I use Vegas 7.0, yeah, old.... but it gets the job done. Issues I have are usually after the video is rendered. Video sometimes saves laggy or plays for a second or two, and cuts the video footage overall. Also crashes, moving a clip sometimes gives me a pop up telling me to save and reopen the program and more. Blah.

And that was one of the reasons why i dislike vegas lol the only problems i have with Premiere is rendering and exporting. It takes forever I think it's because either I have a older version of Mac Book Pro and CS3 in premiere or I just put too much in my videos lol

Breeman · Post by **Breeman** » Wed Feb 01, 2012 12:50 pm

I finished my second entry, and I'm ready to submit both of them! (zarx-ing them at this moment!)

This is probably the first year I've been this prepared. Two solid entries, one drama and one romance, both ready to submit a month before the deadline! Now I think I'll go revisit some of my other videos I never got around to finishing.

DriftRoot · Post by **DriftRoot** » Wed Feb 01, 2012 7:23 pm

Reinforce wrote: Omg, you're a graphic designer too!? Sweet, I finally know someone now in my profession who makes AMV's too. By god, you are my hero now. I know my AMV's would probably benefit from my design skills as well since I have the software such as Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and After Effects. But, I've never really done any homemade graphics before, and I'm not really sure what I COULD do that would spark some life into my amv's. So, I've usually hanged back on ever utilizing my design knowledge into editing and I just tend to fall back and rely on whatever weird combos I can come up with in Vegas. I'm using a PC after all and while Vegas has been known to crash on me multiple times during progress, I've just become patient with the program and dealt with its follies. It's strange, every time it crashes on me the program just makes me want to work harder anyways. lol

I think there are a number of graphic designers who make AMVs - can't name them off the top of me head, but I know they're out there. For me it's mostly valuable in terms of having a few extra tools at my disposal to bend some unfortunate anime to my will. This is both a good thing and a bad thing - if I could make a good AMV without resorting to such tactics I would, but unfortunately my AMV concepts have dictated rather significant manipulation, in large part because knowing how to pull it off makes those concepts more attractive to me. Consequently, my AMVs have been labeled with a certain special effects stereotype, which I wish wasn't the case. I don't use these graphic effects/skills JUST to use them, I use them because I couldn't make the AMV without them. It helps make up for the stuff I don't do very well. If the AMV I'm working on now gets into the finals at AB, this will be taken to a whole new level. Please please please please please....

hamstar138 wrote:
Remind me DriftRoot that we need to talk to each other about graphics. I have so many things I wanna do but not sure how to do them. I can use the advise~

I'm happy to help anyone, anytime! Worst case scenario is I can help you steer clear of stuff you really don't want to get involved with.

But seriously, a lot of times graphic stuff is pretty simple, if you're willing to put in the time and effort to learn something new (i.e. proper use of the pen tool for masking).

Post by **Cave** » Wed Feb 01, 2012 7:47 pm

breeman wrote:I finished my second entry, and I'm ready to submit both of them! (zarx-ing them at this moment!)

This is probably the first year I've been this prepared. Two solid entries, one drama and one romance, both ready to submit a month before the deadline! Now I think I'll go revisit some of my other videos I never got around to finishing.

Nice! Ironically, Brian's (otakuforlife) submitting 2 AMVs also one to drama and one to romance. xD

He is actually working on lipsynching for once. O_O It's hilarious watching him... heh

YouTube · Post by **otakuforlife** » Thu Feb 02, 2012 12:16 am

Lipsnyc for me is so painful, it's the most boring editing of all..

Warlike Swans · Post by **Warlike Swans** » Thu Feb 02, 2012 1:28 am

I'm finishing up a comedy AMV presently. Most of the remaining work is improving lip sync-- which is tedious, but probably not as tedious as masking.

YouTube · Post by **basharoftheages** » Thu Feb 02, 2012 8:19 am

Warlike Swans wrote:I'm finishing up a comedy AMV presently. Most of the remaining work is improving lip sync-- which is tedious, but probably not as tedious as masking.

But... lipsync is mostly masking.

evaunit24 · Post by **evaunit24** » Thu Feb 02, 2012 12:54 pm

I'm all over the place at the moment... lol My primary computer is a mac, which makes getting .vob files easy enough, but then I drag everything over to my windows laptop for all the AMVapp stuff. On my mac I have Premiere cs4, but don't use it that often. On my windows machine I run Vegas 7.0. I feel more comfortable in Vegas still. I guess it's all about preference really.

akisearu · Post by **akisearu** » Thu Feb 02, 2012 4:56 pm

I have misgivings but still I continue!
I don't think a single homosexual pairing has ever made it to finals in the Romance amv section though. I don't think predominantly sad amvs are terribly popular either.
Oh well. For the fandom.

YouTube · Post by **otakuforlife** » Thu Feb 02, 2012 5:20 pm

akisearu wrote:I have misgivings but still I continue!
I don't think a single homosexual pairing has ever made it to finals in the Romance amv section

Ya never know, maybe one will get in

people in the know, know what I'm eluding to

YouTube · Post by **basharoftheages** » Thu Feb 02, 2012 5:39 pm

I tried to submit one to romance once... it got moved to comedy, despite the fact that nothing ever gets moved around.

Kiarrens submitted this in 2009 and it didn't make it in: http://www.animemusicvideos.org/members ... p?v=167445
Lantis sent this in last year and it didn't make finals either: http://www.animemusicvideos.org/members ... p?v=182051

Post by **Cave** » Thu Feb 02, 2012 6:07 pm

otakuforlife wrote:
akisearu wrote:I have misgivings but still I continue!
I don't think a single homosexual pairing has ever made it to finals in the Romance amv section
Ya never know, maybe one will get in
people in the know, know what I'm eluding to

I am hoping beyond hope.... I think it's really good!! But not everyone always agrees. xD

I watched it about 20 times in one day. -_- I don't think I've ever watched one AMV so many times at once, but it is pretty short too.

Warlike Swans · Post by **Warlike Swans** » Thu Feb 02, 2012 7:00 pm

BasharOfTheAges wrote:
Warlike Swans wrote:I'm finishing up a comedy AMV presently. Most of the remaining work is improving lip sync-- which is tedious, but probably not as tedious as masking.
But... lipsync is mostly masking.

True... when I said "masking" I meant spending hours in photoshop with the lasso tool.

akisearu wrote:I have misgivings but still I continue!
I don't think a single homosexual pairing has ever made it to finals in the Romance amv section though.

I didn't realize that same sex relationships hurt one's odds in romance. My drama entry last year was a male/male pairing that could be taken romantically, maybe that's what hurt its odds here (though I suspect the gentle violin music didn't help).

Oh well. At least it found an appreciative audience at Yaoicon.

evaunit24 · Post by **evaunit24** » Thu Feb 02, 2012 11:22 pm

akisearu said:

I don't think predominantly sad amvs are terribly popular either.
Oh well. For the fandom.

I think you make a good point, but I also think there is any many types of AMV's as there are audiences that want to see them. I know we all have our own motivations and drives but I personally feel like, if you are only making the video's to pander to an audience then you are missing the point. I make the video's I want to make and should then happen to work for people great, and if not, well I'll try again. However that doesn't mean I am not happy with what I have created.

Post by **Amaren** » Thu Feb 02, 2012 11:35 pm

evaunit24 wrote:akisearu said:
I don't think predominantly sad amvs are terribly popular either.
Oh well. For the fandom.
I think you make a good point, but I also think there is any many types of AMV's as there are audiences that want to see them. I know we all have our own motivations and drives but I personally feel like, if you are only making the video's to pander to an audience then you are missing the point. I make the video's I want to make and should then happen to work for people great, and if not, well I'll try again. However that doesn't mean I am not happy with what I have created.

Strongly agree with you there :3

akisearu · Post by **akisearu** » Fri Feb 03, 2012 12:30 am

evaunit24 wrote:akisearu said:
I don't think predominantly sad amvs are terribly popular either.
Oh well. For the fandom.
I think you make a good point, but I also think there is any many types of AMV's as there are audiences that want to see them. I know we all have our own motivations and drives but I personally feel like, if you are only making the video's to pander to an audience then you are missing the point. I make the video's I want to make and should then happen to work for people great, and if not, well I'll try again. However that doesn't mean I am not happy with what I have created.

That's wise! I'll try to make it only for myself, I guess.
If worst comes to worst, I can drag my friends and No. 6 fans to overflow

akisearu · Post by **akisearu** » Fri Feb 03, 2012 12:35 am

Warlike Swans wrote:
I didn't realize that same sex relationships hurt one's odds in romance. My drama entry last year was a male/male pairing that could be taken romantically, maybe that's what hurt its odds here (though I suspect the gentle violin music didn't help).

Oh well. At least it found an appreciative audience at Yaoicon.

I'm pretty sure same sex pairings don't hurt the amv odds... (I hope)
I think it's just that good anime featuring same sex pairings aren't as common so it's harder to make good videos, and fewer videos of the kind are submitted. (I'm right right?)

Congrats for Yaoicon though! ^^ I'm curious about your video now~ What series was it on?

YouTube · Post by **otakuforlife** » Fri Feb 03, 2012 12:37 am

I used No6 as my source too

[for 2 videos]

akisearu · Post by **akisearu** » Fri Feb 03, 2012 12:50 am

otakuforlife wrote:I used No6 as my source too [for 2 videos]

FAN LOVE!!!

Even if they're parodies, FAN LOVE!!!

Warlike Swans · Post by **Warlike Swans** » Fri Feb 03, 2012 1:15 am

akisearu wrote:
Congrats for Yaoicon though! ^^ I'm curious about your video now~ What series was it on?

Thanks! It's a Gankutsuou AMV: http://www.animemusicvideos.org/members ... p?v=181464

mikami · Post by **mikami** » Fri Feb 03, 2012 1:21 pm

I had a yaoi in hentai that a lot of fans seemed to enjoy 2 years ago, but that was the year my husband kicked my butt. Rightfully so though, his editing was far superior. There's now a golden tentacle right next to our wedding portrait o.0

Post by **Amaren** » Fri Feb 03, 2012 7:25 pm

mikami wrote:I had a yaoi in hentai that a lot of fans seemed to enjoy 2 years ago, but that was the year my husband kicked my butt. Rightfully so though, his editing was far superior. There's now a golden tentacle right next to our wedding portrait o.0

LMFAO!!! I can't stop laughing right now XD

YouTube · Post by **basharoftheages** » Fri Feb 03, 2012 7:40 pm

Sticking with this new process idea. Not a clip on the timeline yet, but over 200 subclips in the bin so far.

Post by **Cave** » Fri Feb 03, 2012 9:01 pm

mikami wrote:I had a yaoi in hentai that a lot of fans seemed to enjoy 2 years ago, but that was the year my husband kicked my butt. Rightfully so though, his editing was far superior. There's now a golden tentacle right next to our wedding portrait o.0

I am so jealous!!

Brian, win a golden tentacle to put next to our (future) wedding portrait!! ><

Warlike Swans wrote:
Thanks! It's a Gankutsuou AMV: http://www.animemusicvideos.org/members ... p?v=181464

Awesome video! Loved the overlaying and movements. The reason why it didn't get in though was probably the text which is apparently a very bad thing (Brian found out the hard way).

Also: Can you put your "Now Hiring" video on the org? I want to add it to my collection.

YouTube · Post by **otakuforlife** » Sat Feb 04, 2012 4:04 am

Actually text is okay, just don't spoon-feed people a story or they'll get mad

Warlike Swans · Post by **Warlike Swans** » Sat Feb 04, 2012 2:02 pm

Cave wrote:
Awesome video! Loved the overlaying and movements. The reason why it didn't get in though was probably the text which is apparently a very bad thing (Brian found out the hard way).

Also: Can you put your "Now Hiring" video on the org? I want to add it to my collection.

I think I'll resume blaming the song (though there are other issues with the AMV).

I've now uploaded Now Hiring: http://www.animemusicvideos.org/members ... p?v=185784

Sorry it wasn't up before, I had wanted to change a couple things but never managed to re-collect my attention for it.

mikami wrote:There's now a golden tentacle right next to our wedding portrait o.0

How romantic! <3

Post by **Cave** » Sat Feb 04, 2012 3:42 pm

Warlike Swans wrote: I've now uploaded Now Hiring: http://www.animemusicvideos.org/members ... p?v=185784

Thank you. ^_^ Got it now.

akisearu · Post by **akisearu** » Sun Feb 05, 2012 3:01 pm

Warlike Swans wrote:
akisearu wrote:
Congrats for Yaoicon though! ^^ I'm curious about your video now~ What series was it on?
Thanks! It's a Gankutsuou AMV: http://www.animemusicvideos.org/members ... p?v=181464

This was beautiful! Now I really want to watch this anime

Warlike Swans · Post by **Warlike Swans** » Sun Feb 05, 2012 4:12 pm

akisearu wrote:
Warlike Swans wrote: Thanks! It's a Gankutsuou AMV: http://www.animemusicvideos.org/members ... p?v=181464
This was beautiful! Now I really want to watch this anime

Thank you! It's an amazing series, you should definitely check it out

Breeman · Post by **Breeman** » Mon Feb 06, 2012 12:53 pm

Mizukaze Nari wrote:what editing programs do you guys use? I used Adobe Premiere Pro.

I use Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 (Tried CS5 and CS5.5 but had problems with them, also my .avs files work best in CS4). I used to use Ulead Media Studio (6.0, 7.0 and the final release 8.0). Abandoned it when they stopped developing it and didn't support Windows Vista/7, because the only way I would have been able to get it to work again was to put Windows XP on a computer (which I didn't want to do) or video edit in a Windows XP virtual machine (which was not ideal at all). It was a nice editor, but the transition to Premiere Pro was very smooth, and I'm very happy with it.

Post by **hamstar138** » Mon Feb 06, 2012 3:46 pm

No one has posted here for awhile. So I thought I'd swing on by back in. Man still so much to fix in my AMV. ARGH!!

Breeman · Post by **Breeman** » Mon Feb 06, 2012 4:27 pm

evaunit24 wrote:I think you make a good point, but I also think there is any many types of AMV's as there are audiences that want to see them. I know we all have our own motivations and drives but I personally feel like, if you are only making the video's to pander to an audience then you are missing the point. I make the video's I want to make and should then happen to work for people great, and if not, well I'll try again. However that doesn't mean I am not happy with what I have created.

This has always been my philosophy when making AMVs. For the past four years every video I have entered besides one, has been a finalist. That one non-finalist being a simple comedy video that I did not spend enough time on. None of my finalists have won awards because I don't make videos to cater to the audience, I just do what I want to do, and getting people to see it is enough of a reward. Also, if I ever do win, it will be that much more meaningful, because it'll be something I really put my heart into, rather then something I did to please someone else.

That said, one of my entries this year happens to be more "audience friendly" than my other videos, while still being meaningful to me and something I'm proud of. I hope I managed to find the balance between my tastes and the audience with this one

Post by **Cave** » Mon Feb 06, 2012 7:11 pm

Breeman: I remember both your Dogs of War video and Older Guy video. The Older Guy video especially since there aren't many Black Heaven videos out there. I should go download it for my collection~.

DriftRoot · Post by **DriftRoot** » Mon Feb 06, 2012 8:49 pm

breeman wrote: For the past four years every video I have entered besides one, has been a finalist. That one non-finalist being a simple comedy video that I did not spend enough time on. None of my finalists have won awards because I don't make videos to cater to the audience, I just do what I want to do, and getting people to see it is enough of a reward. Also, if I ever do win, it will be that much more meaningful, because it'll be something I really put my heart into, rather then something I did to please someone else.

I agree, finding that magic balance has a lot of rewards and is certainly the best possible outcome. It can be a goal in and of itself to make something pleasing to others, though, and there's nothing wrong with that. My first impression of an AMV competition was that here was a fantastic opportunity to contribute something incredibly entertaining and memorable to people's con experience. It's what I aim for when I make a video for a contest: showing people a rip-roaring good time. I can't personally make a video I'm not enjoying, though, or one that I'm not throwing my entire heart/effort into, so there's never been a conflict of interest, in this regard. I'd say I've been accused of pandering way too much to myself, in fact. LOL

Unfortunately, certain videos can be perceived as overly focused on pushing all the right buttons, as it were. Well, if it's someone's goal to push those buttons and win an audience award, why should they hold back? They're in it to win it, after all, and everyone's throwing their hats into the same ring (hence all the judges awards and suchlike, the "other" ring). Sometimes an AMV can win over both the audience and the judges, of course, which is great, because that usually means it's a really outstanding specimen.

Breeman · Post by **Breeman** » Mon Feb 06, 2012 11:08 pm

You raise some good points DriftRoot, it is a competition, and there's nothing wrong with catering to the audience to win the competition. My tastes just often differ from the audiences.

I admit that in the past I've been a little bitter when a video won that took most popular song at the time and most popular anime at the time, and put them together in a half decent video, that I could have done better. When my video had much deeper meaning but used source material not many are familiar with.

But I've gotten over that. The audience votes for what they enjoyed most, and that's what wins. Can't deny that. (Also is it just me, or does the audience just get younger and I get older?

).

chaobunny · Post by **chaobunny** » Tue Feb 07, 2012 3:47 pm

The catering to the audience thing is key, or at least that's what I've learned for all the years I've been entering the contest. I might make a sad and depressing romance AMV that nobody votes for not because I edited it poorly because of the fact that it's sad and depressing. (I own too many sad and depressing series for my own good). People tend to vote for the happy, upbeat, comical romance AMVs. I can't say I blame them. The one year I won was when I made a fairly upbeat romance video that was specifically intended to cater to fangirls. While I don't think that was my best ever romance entry, it's way more popular than the sad ones. Screaming fangirls > heart-wrenching plot, almost every time.

Of course, I'm not going for romance this year, but I'm applying the same general principle. I don't expect my drama AMV to be super popular because the anime isn't that well-known here (yet, at least), whereas I expect my other entry to have a lot more appeal because of the source material and concept. Even though I've spent probably 20x as long on the drama.

Post by **Sayoria** » Tue Feb 07, 2012 4:35 pm

^ Yeah.... there is also a good chunk of audience members that will vote on the anime they like moreso than the video itself. Doesn't need to be upbeat, or flashy or whatever. Pretty sure in many cases, a mediocre Naruto or Bleach amv can generate a hefty chunk of votes over a terrific and flawless video to say.... Zipang, Touch, or something else very, very less known of. Doesn't mean that less-known video won't win, but it is definitely a disadvantage. (I know, Tutu won in 2006, it shocked everyone, but it WAS really well done)....

I think my anime of choice is in the 7-8/10 popularity area. I have used some lesser known anime in the past that haven't really made it in though. (Saikano, Full Moon wo Sagashite, and even Air back before Clannad was really known).. Hoping for the best though. Competition is always good at AB..... atleast in the categories I get into.