I'm Jason. This is A3. Let's do this.
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| On the road to independence
Independence
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"But Jason you devilishly handsome and charming rascal," you may object, "Without anime, AMVs wouldn't even exist. They're made by anime fans, for anime fans, and to separate the two is just insane."
Undoubtedly, there can be no argument there. I am indeed both devilishly handsome AND insane. Unfortunately for you, however, I'm insane enough to write a blog on AMVs, so let's give this a try.
On My Terms
Remember that when I say AMVs are "separate" from the music, video, and other media used to create them, I do not mean that they could simply go on without them. AMVs need music, they need video, and they definitely need anime. What I mean is simply that you do not have to enjoy any of those medium to enjoy the AMV itself.
Here's an example. A few people reading this may have heard of Fullmetal Alchemist. A few people may even have seen it. Now if you go to Youtube and search "Fullmetal Alchemist AMV", you'll get a whole slew of titles ranging from comedic to depressing to simply amateurish.
If you haven't seen the show before, and you were to watch any one of these AMVs, you would probably leave with an impression of what you believe the show is about. For instance if you watched Everyone VS Father - Not Ready to Die you might think the show was some sort of steampunk-fairy tale mixup. Now if you had watched a different AMV before that one, such as Traumerei, you might think the show was about one boy's struggle to save his family in a cruel world full of sadness and dead kittens.
Whether or not either of these views is correct is beside the point. The important thing to notice is that the anime does not make the AMV, rather the AMV was able to give you an impression of the anime through the feeling it portrayed. Most importantly, having never seen the show before did not stop you from enjoying those AMVs*. Though anime is critical in defining the AMV community, it is still only one tool AMVs use to present the main idea or emotion.
That leads me to my next point. The AMV community.
The Community
AMVs have a large, and rapidly expanding, community of fans. There are Youtube channels, websites, forums, contests, and even blogs (I know right) all dedicated to publishing, viewing, and talking about AMVs. Though many of the people who partake in these communities may be fans of anime, I can guarantee you that animemusicvideos.org is not an anime fan site that does AMVs on the side. It is a site dedicated entirely to AMVs.
This is where AMVs stop being a subcategory of anime, and start being an independent interest. AMVs already have their own thriving, growing community, and an impressive amount of people who partake in them. This alone distinguishes them from anime, which have a cult following all their own.
I believe I've made my point, so I'll go ahead and wrap this up. Before I go, I'd like to give any curious AMV hatchlings an idea of where to find this majestic "AMV community" I speak of. This is by no means a comprehensive list, but it's a place to start.
animemusicvideos.org is a site where editors can post their AMVs and have them viewed and rated by like-minded individuals. As far as I'm concerned, the forums there are the best place to start learning about AMVs.
If you don't want to produce or even talk about AMVs, but just really like watching them, them Youtube is your best bet. While there scores of AMVs on Youtube that are easy to find, people new to AMVs may find it difficult to find good AMVs. Fret not, for I have just the thing. If you're looking for a good place to find good AMVs, you need not look any farther than TheBestAMVsOfAllTime Youtube Channel. He pulls a large collection of the best AMVs you'll find anywhere all to one place, and when it comes to AMVs, there is no better place to look.
Lastly, After you've gotten yourself introduced to AMVs and find yourself wanting more, follow the yearly contests put on by the anime community. This is where you'll find the best AMVs anywhere before they get a lot of views. The biggest ones are AkrossCon and Big Contest, but there are many more that probably have just what you're looking for.
Well this post is too long already, so I won't bore you with a long conclusion. This is Jason, this is A3, and I wish you all happy editing.
*That was a terrible example. Doing a random Youtube search will almost never pull up good AMVs, so if you didn't enjoy those AMVs don't give up -- those are by no means the best ones out there.
Undoubtedly, there can be no argument there. I am indeed both devilishly handsome AND insane. Unfortunately for you, however, I'm insane enough to write a blog on AMVs, so let's give this a try.
On My Terms
Remember that when I say AMVs are "separate" from the music, video, and other media used to create them, I do not mean that they could simply go on without them. AMVs need music, they need video, and they definitely need anime. What I mean is simply that you do not have to enjoy any of those medium to enjoy the AMV itself.
Here's an example. A few people reading this may have heard of Fullmetal Alchemist. A few people may even have seen it. Now if you go to Youtube and search "Fullmetal Alchemist AMV", you'll get a whole slew of titles ranging from comedic to depressing to simply amateurish.
If you haven't seen the show before, and you were to watch any one of these AMVs, you would probably leave with an impression of what you believe the show is about. For instance if you watched Everyone VS Father - Not Ready to Die you might think the show was some sort of steampunk-fairy tale mixup. Now if you had watched a different AMV before that one, such as Traumerei, you might think the show was about one boy's struggle to save his family in a cruel world full of sadness and dead kittens.
Whether or not either of these views is correct is beside the point. The important thing to notice is that the anime does not make the AMV, rather the AMV was able to give you an impression of the anime through the feeling it portrayed. Most importantly, having never seen the show before did not stop you from enjoying those AMVs*. Though anime is critical in defining the AMV community, it is still only one tool AMVs use to present the main idea or emotion.
That leads me to my next point. The AMV community.
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| Don't underestimate the community |
The Community
AMVs have a large, and rapidly expanding, community of fans. There are Youtube channels, websites, forums, contests, and even blogs (I know right) all dedicated to publishing, viewing, and talking about AMVs. Though many of the people who partake in these communities may be fans of anime, I can guarantee you that animemusicvideos.org is not an anime fan site that does AMVs on the side. It is a site dedicated entirely to AMVs.
This is where AMVs stop being a subcategory of anime, and start being an independent interest. AMVs already have their own thriving, growing community, and an impressive amount of people who partake in them. This alone distinguishes them from anime, which have a cult following all their own.
I believe I've made my point, so I'll go ahead and wrap this up. Before I go, I'd like to give any curious AMV hatchlings an idea of where to find this majestic "AMV community" I speak of. This is by no means a comprehensive list, but it's a place to start.
animemusicvideos.org is a site where editors can post their AMVs and have them viewed and rated by like-minded individuals. As far as I'm concerned, the forums there are the best place to start learning about AMVs.
If you don't want to produce or even talk about AMVs, but just really like watching them, them Youtube is your best bet. While there scores of AMVs on Youtube that are easy to find, people new to AMVs may find it difficult to find good AMVs. Fret not, for I have just the thing. If you're looking for a good place to find good AMVs, you need not look any farther than TheBestAMVsOfAllTime Youtube Channel. He pulls a large collection of the best AMVs you'll find anywhere all to one place, and when it comes to AMVs, there is no better place to look.
Lastly, After you've gotten yourself introduced to AMVs and find yourself wanting more, follow the yearly contests put on by the anime community. This is where you'll find the best AMVs anywhere before they get a lot of views. The biggest ones are AkrossCon and Big Contest, but there are many more that probably have just what you're looking for.
Well this post is too long already, so I won't bore you with a long conclusion. This is Jason, this is A3, and I wish you all happy editing.
*That was a terrible example. Doing a random Youtube search will almost never pull up good AMVs, so if you didn't enjoy those AMVs don't give up -- those are by no means the best ones out there.
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