THE PACK Message Boards

I don't expect too many people to like this, but...

I've noticed, with the advent of sites like youtube, an explosion in music videos, more specifically, videos from television shows set to music. I've seen one or two that were...okay. But for the most part, I think these things are uncreative trash. Here's why:

1. The maker of the music video has nothing to do with the show. Taking clips from someone elses vision and putting them to music is creative bankruptcy. Make your own animation, of film if you want to make a music video. Don't steal from an already established show.

2. Schmaltz. Sappy, sentimental music, often set of scenes of characters LOOKING at each other...as if this were the video maker's wishful thinking.

3. The anime factor. MOre often than not its animae videos...as if the animae itself weren't good enough...now it needs music to make it work. usually action scenes set to death metal or something...which makes the silly looking characters look...well...more silly.

Just my two cents...

I'm a fan of Anime music videos myself. They've got a cult following, and they're shown at conventions. Well done ones are a good demo of what editing entails--taking context and footage. Still, I do agree that they should be done in a manner respectfully acknowledging that it's fooling around with other peoples' work. I don't upload my videos to YouTube by virtue of the permission factor. Still, I wonder how many of the better videos could end up lost to history because of copyright issues, as their very existance is touchy and their distribution is illegal.

I've seen those on YouTube. They show up often in my search results. Usually they're made by teenagers who think they can use AfterEffects to make a "professional-looking" video, when in reality, these people have no knowledge of film or the program other than how to crop scenes, drop in a music track, and transition from one scene to another. I'd rather watch the real show.

Oh, dunno, some of them are fun http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m66godpj ... ed&search= (moderately NSFW)

I can agree that the lionshare of AMV out there is crap. There are very few that I truely enjoyed, but there were some. I even took a crack at making a couple, which sucked so were never released.

I do enjoy making videos of battles in the game Steel Battalion, but is mostly only viewed by the fans of the game in the official-unofficial forum for the game. At least in that case, we participate via XBox Live in creating the action, and the replay features allow me to set up my camera angles exactly the way I want. Much more room for creativity outside of just editing clips together.

If you hate Anime Music Videos, you'll actually love AMV Hell 3. They just like to be creatively hilarious rather than "cool". If you forget they are using anime, it's as if they recorded a whole different idea. It's one of the very few I ever enjoyed, so give it a watch. It really picks up on the humor in the middle, but it's all good. (Cept the opening sequence. That animation is crap.)

I just think it's uncreative, really.

Is there anything you won't complain about, Matt?

I just demand higher quality and excellence instead of mediocrity.