h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Anime Music Videos - A2911583
Author: Legatodnl - U786576

This is my first contribution. It was in writing workshop for a month during which it had doubled in content. I'll be greatful for any comments.

Dan

I suspect that you're treading on some thin legal ice here, but I'll leave it to the Scouts and Italics to advise you there. At any rate, even if they decide some of it looks too much as though it's encouraging copyright violation, that would still leave plenty of worthwhile stuff here.

A bit more on the commercial ones would have been nice, not least with Interstella 5555 actually in the shops. Some professional anime music videos are made in Japan that don't make it over here; if you mentioned Shinkai Makoto's 'Egao' you could link to A2654787.

You could talk about stylistic as well as technical aspects... Maybe there's not that much that's specific to AMVs, but 'the Cowboy Bebop intro redone with Eva characters' aused something of a stir at my university's Anime Soc. when someone brought it in, and is quite an interesting way of mixing two series in what's essentially a music video.

One other thing: the Entry contains links to unedited Entries. Edited Entries, such as the Entry this one will hopefully become, are allowed only to link to other Edited Entries.

Thanks mate. I'll have a look at that reference and remove the unedited guide links when I get a bit of free time. I'll wait for the official telling off before trying to rephrase the legality bits. until then I'll look at expanding the commercial section. I don't really know what else I could write about the style aspects. An example of what you would like me to add would be helpful.

Dan

Mmmm... Not being terribly au fait with AMVs myself, what I find myself asking is, what makes an AMV distinctive, distinguished from non-anime music videos, apart from the fact that it uses clips of anime? Are there any distinctive ways of choosing the clips to be used, or any way in which different scenes, even different anime, are mixed to present particular themes? I know the example I gave was one of the reworking of an existing anime series intro, but it's one way in which two series have been mixed together. I don't know whether one actually can identify such distinctive features, but I'd be interested to hear whether there's anything about the way in which clips for AMvs are put together that strikes you as peculiar to AMVs. Are they interesting purely by virtue of being anime, or do their creators have particular ways of using the anime?

I have a horrible feeling I'm being terribly unclear.

Hey. I've added more to the commercial videos section and seperated from the fan made one and I've gone through the article to make it less encouraging of copyright violation. (Sadly its becoming more like a wikipedia entry).

RFJS: That eva bebop opening is ace. Many amv's like this are aimed at anime fans. Its always good when you see an amv which shows a different level to an series. For example Cowboy Bebop goes well with the james bond theme and is upbeat and full of action. but put cowboy bebop to "let it be" and that also works and you get a totally different mood. I've seen lots of consept amv's which use a mixture of series most are novelty and many don't work too well.

Can I get a community artist do a picture for this article? I'm thinking a mecha with a saxaphone.

Dan

I like the improved commercial section.

You've perhaps read the Community Art thread by now... Edited Entries get images only if the h2g2 Editors decide to commission one, and to the best of my knowledge nobody's ever managed to influence them.

No worries, I'll get over it. I'll try to do some ascii art or something.

I'm inclined to doubt that ASCII art, or table art (occasionally used to brighten up Personal Spaces), would survive editing; even Smileys aren't allowed in Edited Entries. If you really want to decorate this, you could create a different version (just copy the GuideML to a new Entry) and decorate that, keeping this one within the Edited Guide's (rather staid) approach while it remains in Peer Review. Then you'd have a decorated, unedited version, and a version that will hopefully and up in the Edited Guide.