AMVs

[Fauna]

Some of you guys have been into making AMVs lately, and I wanted to make a thread to show off videos, or ask for help on them. Let's get started with the ones I've made!

Think For A Minute
Anime: Cowboy Bebop
Song: "Think For A Minute" by The Housemartins
Warnings: massive spoilers for the last episode, blood
Easily the best one I've ever made, using only Windows Movie Maker, notable for how I matched everything to the beats (i.e. Faye firing a gun right at the 'ding' on 2:07). Paul Heaton (lead singer of the Housemartins) actually watched this one and called it "really great". I sent this in to a convention and won nothing.

Kenji Can't Forget Otaka-chan
Anime: Tetsujin 28: Hakuchuu no Zangetsu
Song: "Forget You" by Cee-Lo Green
Warnings: squicky implied shotacon
I used the censored version of the song, as well as cut out a verse since I ran out of footage. This one was to showcase the I-hate-you-but-I-love-you relationship between two of my favourite characters, Kenji and Takamizawa. I'm pretty proud of this one...I'm submitting it to Anime Blitz 2011 with full knowledge that none of my videos win.

I have two other ones, but they're not as good, and I might only post them if people get interested enough.

Does anyone else have their own AMV? Or is anyone looking for video editing advice?

[Xenops]

My ABSOLUTE FAVORITE: "Tainted Donuts"-Trigun meets Cowboy Bebop. I can't describe how cool it is. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9e_WIoJJnI

I'm curious as to how to make these, too.

[Fauna]

Oh man, I can only dream of making a video with that much quality...


Now, tips! AMV making is pretty simple once you get the hang of it; you just need a surplus of video footage, the proper song and the right motivation. (For example, I planned to put Super Dimensional Space Fortress Macross to "Sergeant Rock Is Going To Help Me" by XTC, but I ran out of enthusiasm.)

I can go in-depth on how to make one sometime soon, but for now I'll put together some tips:

*Sony Vegas 9 or 10, Adobe Premiere Pro or Windows Movie Maker are highly recommended software, but are not without problems (Vegas causes inexplicable black flashes in large source files, Premiere has large output file sizes, WMM tends to crash during intensive editing).
*Don't reuse footage, or use footage with subtitles, since it distracts your audience.
*You'll get bonus points for matching the beat of the song (the AMV Xenops linked to shows this off very well).
*Transition effects (i.e. a diamond wipe, a ripple effect, or a linear wipe) are seriously not recommended.

[Astronomical girl]

Why does that happen with windows movie maker? Becuase Ill be using that for my future AMVs with it

[Fauna]

Why does that happen with windows movie maker? Becuase Ill be using that for my future AMVs with it

WMM was more or less designed for older computer users to make slideshows. When you start bringing in 100+ MB files or cutting up very short repetitive clips, the program lags down. I can only recommend saving every 3-5 minutes just in case. (I made both of the videos in my first post with just WMM, so you can get stuff done with some patience.)

[Astronomical girl]

Thanks
is there a difference in what program you use, they do the same thing? Also music where so you get the music?

[Fauna]

They all get the job done, give or take a few editing effects. WMM is pretty basic, while Premiere Pro is up to professional movie editing standards, and Vegas has quite a few effects to work with - personally, I like Vegas because I can reverse clips (although I always wind up using it to make Youtube Poop and that's not cool).

As for music...you can either pull it off a CD with Windows Media Player (open WMP, put the CD in the disc drive, and the "Rip" screen should come up very soon), or off Youtube with a web program. (From my videos, "Think For A Minute" is from a CD, while "Forget You" came from Youtube.) I'd highly recommend Vid To MP3 or Media Converter.

[Astronomical girl]

Thanks again when my computer gets uploaded I'll download the media player and maker from the site and with my pics and your advice I'll make loads

[Fauna]

Thanks again when my computer gets uploaded I'll download the media player and maker from the site and with my pics and your advice I'll make loads

Actually, if your computer came from Microsoft, it should have Windows Movie Maker and Media Player pre-installed!

[Astronomical girl]

It's a Windows Vista and it did but now The movie maker doesn't work but the media player does it because it will be uploaded they will be removed