Anime music videos-- how do you start?

Shampoo · Post by **Shampoo** » Fri Sep 16, 2005 11:32 pm

Hey gang!

Well.. Im getting kinda bored w/ this hobby

and I really
need something to keep me sane as I build up my art portfolio

Obviously, I cant do art-art as a side hobby since art is my work lol

I dont wanna get burned out

but I would like to do something
where my creativity would be in use so I thought

"Hey! Why not make some anime music videos off to the side."
Honestly I havent seen any good ones for Naruto
except for 2 or 3 so I'd really like to do one. ^_^

But I really dunno where to even begin. O_O
What programs I need to download.. do I have to add copyrights
at the credits.. etc etc..

I found this site
http://anime.about.com/od/howtos/ht/aa070204.htm

However, they stress the importance of using DVD's for your
source of clips (so did AMV.org) but Naruto isnt licensed and quite frankly
I'd like to use raw (w/o subs) clips from the show.
Sooo.. why is this a big deal? Can you get in trouble??

Where would you upload the music video once you
make it so ppl can see it??
ANybody that has experience in this please enlighten this
newbie

Japoro · Post by **Japoro** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 1:46 am

Some of your questions might be answered on the http://www.animemusicvideos.org/guides/ but it sound like you have already skimmed through some of it.

Most places recommend using DVD foot as DVDs can be read by most computers these days and it's the easiest way to get the best looking videos, as DVDs "should not" have much in the way of video noise (macroblocking, dot crawl etc..) in their video. It is also possible to use small .avs programming scripts to further enhance the video quality after transferring the DVD to your hard drive.

As far as getting trouble for using video footage and music, that seems to be a gray area, that most of the major labels seem to be overlooking these days. But that can change.

http://www.animemusicvideos.org/home/home.php will also host your video for you if the overall size is under 100Mb, deals with anime, and is in certain formats.

The only thing I recommend is that you have quite a bit of free hard disk space and a decent amount of RAM, just to make the editing more pleasant.

Hopefully this helps a little.

Katrina · Post by **Katrina** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 7:38 am

First and foremost, AMVs are fun and they're for you. You can always make an AMV using the footage you want - can it get into cons is another question.

I wouldn't recommend using downloaded footage anyway simply because the quality isn't as good. As far as bootleg DVDs go, sometimes it's really hard to "tell" bootleg DVD footage from commerical DVD footage. The idea behind using your own footage is you're not illegeally copying someone else's DVD, or using a copy that someone else made illegeally (ie bootlegs.) AMV's are kinda on the borderline of copyright infringement as it is, and adding illegeal copying to the mix doesn't really help. For now, companies tend to allow AMV's at cons and the like as long as they follow certain guidelines.

Here are the rules at most AMV contests...

You can use:
Japanese audio tracks
Your own subtitles
Your own dubbing
Music/Footage you own

You cannot use:
English audio track or DVD subtitles
Footage or music you downloaded illegeally

For series such as Naruto where no NA company actually owns the rights yet, Japanese footage seems to be acceptable. Hope this helps.

As far as actually creating the AMV goes, Adobe Premiere is my program of choice, but I've been editing for a while, so I felt the investment was worth it. If you're looking for less expensive programs, I've seen some nice AMVs done with Movie Maker for Windows. I don't recal the name of the standard video editing program for Macs, but I know one of my friends made a beautiful Haibane video with it.

I admit, I think AMVs are a little more rewarding than cels, just because you're making something of your own. But that's my opinion, for what it's worth.

Baakay · Post by **Baakay** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 7:40 am

It's primarily about the video quality. But of course, ripping the clips from a DVD proves that you (or someone) has paid for the clip.

As far as the legality is concerned, I don't think there's much gray about it, if you wanted to get picky. (just as with our next-favorite issue, fansubs). But the intelligent studios recognize that AMVs actually attract more viewers to shows, and don't worry about it. In fact, some of the distributors offer prises for AMVs, so...

I never would have watched Trigun if not for "Tainted Donuts" and now I own it. No harm, no foul

Shampoo, I'll bet you'll be great at it. You'll need Premiere or Movie Maker or some equivalent piece of software, and prepare to spend absolutely HOURS getting stuff just right! Beware the "rendering" phase, though, as it can bring everything on your computer to a complete halt if you have lots of other stuff running. It's intensely memory and space hoggish.

Can't wait to see your first one!

Krafty · Post by **Krafty** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 10:34 am

AMV are brilliant but you'll have to set asdise a lot of time to get them done. I made two several years ago and they each took me about 5-6 days to complete.
They feature Akira [10.5mb] and Cyber City OEDO [58.6mb]

These were made on proper editing equipment, not a home computer so I can't advise hat's best to use at home. I used to use Adobe Premier but haven't in a while so I don't know if it's been superceeded by another programme.

When people are recommending that you use DVDs it's just easier and looks better. The vidz I made were from VHS, before the DVD editions came out so it was the best at the time, I know DVDs are easier to work with because you can simply rip the whole programme as a VOB track and use on on your timeline without having to que up your scenes on tape.

The copyrights are an issue, of course, because you're playing around with someone elses content. As long as you keep it hush-hush it's OK.
Actually it worked out pretty well for me, the music track I used for the Akira video- "Witness" by Dearly Beheaded, the lead singer got in touch with me and was impressed and wanted a copy ^__^

Getting Started: First thing is to decide which anime you want to pay homage to, in your case that's already settled

Secondly think of a theme for your video- a storyline or concept perhaps. A video that's just made of clips jumbled together can be boring and uninventive so gie it some thought, this will also effect which soundtrack you choose to combine the visuals with.
If you have a song in mind, that might have an impact on the clips you choose, images that echo the sentiment of the audio.

The next stage wold be to plan it out on paper. Don't get ahead of yourself and commit tons of clips to your hard disk yet, this in itself will take time and HD space so you dont want to be wasteful.
Writing stuff down will help you focus on the important shots to build your video around. Keep it tight and formulate a plan you will stick to.
Being the artistic person you are, drawing a storyboard can help too!

Organisation is the key. When you come to add video it would help to number the shots on your storyboard/timecode sheet and then rename the video clips you capture to correspond accordingly. If you have random video clps floting around you may have difficultly remembering what they were for and even where the are!

If you need any specific advice on certain aspects be sure to let me know, I'll help if I can

Best of luck with your new projects Shampers, keep us posted on your progress!

Snakeskii · Post by **Snakeskii** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 12:44 am

How cool! I've been wondering about AMVs for a long time, but never actually tried making one. Now I have a place to put my first attempt!

http://www.animemusicvideos.org/members ... hp?v=89547
(Or do a member search for Snakeskii)

It's Bleach of course....couldn't resist!

Thanks for all the great info!