#amv talk

[marshmallowgoop]

Since my first DaVinci Resolve AMV turned three last week, I thought I should update my "Video Editing is My Passion" VHS tape. But instead of rendering a whole huge compilation in Resolve as I did initially, I should simply place finished pieces in a folder, open it as a playlist in Media Player Classic, and record that.

So, I completed Step 1:

And it got me thinking.

The time component of AMVs is a constant in my mind, to the point of obsession. It's a neverending stream: How long should this take? How long are you spending on it? It took me so long.

"It took me so long!" With every video completed, those words always seem to tear their way out of me.

There's a basis to my fixation: my time's recorded. Whenever Resolve is open, there's a clock counting the seconds I'm there. I can get a pretty good guess of how long each AMV takes, and it varies, of course, by complexity and difficulty and familiarity, but around one hour of work per one second of AMV is fairly standard.

So, Step 1. Thirty-six videos, about thirty minutes long combined. Sixty times thirty. Eighteen hundred AMV-editing hours in the past three years, give or take, for completed videos only, not even including my WIPs?

It maybe seems like a lot. And maybe it is a bit too high. But that makes this next part even more amazing. For all the time spent editing, YouTube tells me that audiences have devoted more to watching:

And that's not even counting #24 above, which was removed from YouTube after being my most popular video there, nor is it counting views on Tumblr, where I posted AMVs first. Over two thousand watch hours!

It's mindblowing. That all the time I pour into my work is exceeded by those watching it.

All this is to say: thank you. It's easy for me to get lost in the time, to get fixated on it, but that so many people have taken a moment out of their lives to press play on my work, to the point where it goes beyond what I put into it, is truly heartening and humbling. Thank you to everyone who's given my AMVs a watch!

[levy120]

2 weeks ago I uploaded a new AMV

Today it’s short before breaching the 10k views mark (with 400+ likes and 40+ comments)

I am not used to this level of ‘attention’ and it’s giving some sort of anxiety (the best kind). But geeze louise, I’ll have expectations to fill now and I’m making no progress whatsoever on the followup video.

...

Panic?

Panic!

[mikaelahykuya-moved-blog]

celldweller is s o great to edit too

[pinkadelia]

I love how the animes change but the angsty early '00s songs stay the same...

[animepleasurexo]

the fact that my best amv is my least viewed one makes me so sad. i might just post it here. someone pls. just watch it. it's good. it's angel beats. it'll hurt. 

and ugh i want to make more, but i have so many incomplete ones ;c and i'm not even good at making them. it's just for fun. but agh 

[uwupunpun]

i havent edited anything in so long the best i can do is crack

[marshmallowgoop]

About Lip Flap...

So, Ending 72 of Detective Conan got me thinking about lip flap:

What do I mean by that? Well, in some circles of the AMV-making world, it's maybe viewed as a "sin" to leave lip flaps unedited when there are no audible words. You either cut out the movements entirely, or you sync up the movements to match the lyrics of the song. Lip flap is distracting and immersion breaking.

Yet... this Detective Conan ending—mixing anime and music just like an AMV!—has lots of lip flap. Characters are talking and living and spouting out conversations, and there's no effort at all to hide or remove that. In fact, this sequence was deliberately animated that way.

And it's far from the only Detective Conan example in this vein. Which brings me to my next thought: early episodes of Detective Conan include instances of montages or characters otherwise moving their mouths without sound, but the FUNimation English dub seemingly found this so uncomfortable that words were added in:

Sometimes, I really love this choice! Conan's voice fading into Shinichi's in Episode 39 is one of my all-time favorite moments in the dub. Similarly, Conan's added little "but"s in Episode 32 are adorable.

But I feel like the montage in Episode 37 is weakened by the added dialogue because we didn't need any words to understand the story, and while Episode 42 might be argued to be more compelling and "show don't tell" without Conan's narration, we do miss a fair amount of information from that narration.

Overall, though, I think the changes indicate a cultural difference. Lip flap without audible words is fine for Japanese audiences, but overseas, it's seen as awkward and jarring.

So, is it a "sin" to include unedited lip flap in your AMVs? Well, it probably depends on who you ask!

But personally, my mindset has changed to not at all. I think there are moments where the indication of words can be quite powerful, just like in Detective Conan Ending 72 or the montage in Episode 37. While I mostly try to remove or sync lip flap in my own AMVs, there are also definitely times where I leave it. What's wrong with showing that there was a conversation?

That said... I gotta come clean. One of my first reactions to Ending 72 was to almost cringe at all the lip flap! But then I thought about it some more. While I'm rather inexperienced with making MMVs (Manga Music Videos), ever since I started, I've been a fan of leaving the speech bubbles unedited, text and all—despite the fact that this, similarly, seems to be somewhat of a "sin." I liked providing context, I liked that there were creative things you could do with the dialogue... and hey, is that really so different from leaving in some lip flap from time to time?

In the end, AMV editing is very subjective. Everyone has their own preferences and styles that speak to them, and that's part of what makes the art form so beautiful to me. But Ending 72 made me step back and reconsider some of the "rules" that I'd drilled into my head. Maybe what I've become so used to seeing as a "flaw" can actually be quite powerful in its own right!

[levy120]

But yeah when it comes down to it, the old videos are just so simplistic for the most time and this is what I preferred back then and really well made ones I can still appreciate today. I can't really put my finger on what did improve over the years, but I would guess it's something about clip choice and... sense of timing.

More interesting Clips that have a better synergy with each other and "flow together" than just be chop chop chop placed next to each other and also a better understanding of image alignment and an eye for the details - like you shouldn't place two frames with the same image section/display window right next to each other and vary in sizes. (Combine Full Shots with Long Shots and Closeups instead of rowing a bunch of Full Shots next to each other). Zoom in if it's necessary - although that was hardly possible with wmm to begin with. Do not cut the motion of a pan-shot but do cut while characters are moving and not necessarily only when they are done for it keeps the attention and expectations high, etc. pp. 

Bottom Line is that the newer videos just feel a lot more "whole". 

The progress is so gradual that I'm still hardly aware of it but it's comparing stuff like this where it seems like that first apprenticeship was useful in some way after all.

[mikaelahykuya-moved-blog]

Youtube AMV/MMV tag!

1) YouTube username: passionx3

2) How you met: I started talking to her years ago but it's only recently that we get to speak in calls and stuff and it's great!

3) Favourite video of theirs: i'm a little biased, heh. this one.

4) Last video of theirs you watched: that one!

5) Want to tag them back: sure.

6) About their style: gooorgeous flow and so much emotion, i envy her editing :')

About you —

1) YouTube username: cuddlytier/youlazybum

2) What got you into editing: I saw katethegreat19 edit something and thought.. I WANT TO DO THAT.

3) Link 5 6 AMVs you love:

one: beyond by inverse two: danse de raven by chiikaboom three: angel's music by okamiRVS four: memory flash 3 into the mirror by amv france five: continuous play by lleiaamv six: magic eye by shinamv

4) AMVs or MMVs: AMVSSS, though mmvs are so pretty wow

5) Favourite editors: oh man..

chiikaboom, shinamv, inverse, megamv, thefopsvids, xshywings1, malster3, tophergasm, passionx3, lilsora06, tautingly, fadingforya, nostromo, kristynvb95, xkatnip, hydrazoite, lingerings, eatyourpanty, Lina, zeldaa1234, carl (aritoriousuvd whatever), like a lot idk can't think straight atm omg

6) Editing styles you use: idk is it flowy or something i have no idea what to call it

7) Editing styles you like: flowflowflowflowflow, sync sync sync sync sync

8) Program you use and why: Sony Vegas 12 with plugins on the occasion

9) Youtube family?: i don't have one sobs 

10) AMVs or MMVs you’re working on: a few omg

11) Overall thought: i like editing it's cool