On AMVs

[gaudior]

So anime music videos (the downloading and watching thereof) are one of my more favorite hobbies. The really good ones do a splendid job of pointing out cool things you hadn't noticed about the series, the bad ones are at least a chance to watch the art (which is, honestly, my more favorite part of anime). And they all take you out of narrative and into deeper, primary-process thinking (the level of subconsciousness, emotions and dreams), which is one of my more favorite places to spend time.

But I cannot help noticing that there seems to be an unwritten law that every series commonly vidded has at least one shot which must be in every single vid. Usually because they're really cool, powerful images. Which is fine, but after you've seen them in five thousand amvs, they start to lose something.

Such that I would pay money to see good videos which did not contain the following shots:



That very sakura-ful shot of Muraki raping Hisoka

Heero pushing the self-destruct button

Utena pulling a sword out of Anthy

Van (sp?) spiralling down out of the sky toward Hitomi on wings (omg, wings!)

the kid from FLCL's forehead exploding

Eva 01 punching at Gendo through the glass

Naruto "kissing" Sasuke (I love slash as much as the next rabid fanatic, but no they aren't, they tripped. Deal with it.)

Vash reflected in his own sunglasses

Tomoe's scarf slipping out of Kenshin's hand

Spike falling out the window (special dispensation for the vid to The World's Shortest Song)

Nina splattered against the wall (Ow. Also? Ew.)

Sephiroth! In! FLAMES!

Chihaya with HAIR! (oh, and also wings)

Hideki pulling Chi's skirt down (or, by the magic of sophisticated video-editing, up) as she lands on top of him

Belldandy appearing to protagonist boy in a wave of light

The Naked Credits Shot of Tamahome and Miaka

Gojyo collapsing in Hakkai's arms

Shuichi and Eiri-san falling gently toward the bed... (Huh. I was planning to make this a whole series of people falling gently to the bed, but now I can't think of any. That can't be the only really popular show with clearly implied sex scenes, can it?)

Totoro rising up into the sky on a spinning top (oh, who am I kidding, you can show me that one as often as you like and I'll still get all awed-sniffly)

Comments

[occultatio.livejournal.com]

The idea of an AMV "talking around" that could actually be cool, but unless it was *really* damn good, it would need to eventually resolve the dramatic tension (I use the term in a literary sense). You can pan around Johan all you want, but sooner or later you've got to show his face. It's no fun to tease without eventually giving in.

[rax.livejournal.com]

It's no fun to tease without eventually giving in? Bah! :)

I personally think that resolving dramatic tension is overrated. I mean,
yes, you have to resolve some of it, but I think a short piece like that
where the audience already _knows_ the answer to the question you're
asking is better when it makes you go dig out your DVDs of the series
and skip around looking for the right image to sate yourself. In general
I think it's more worthwhile to leave people with a question than an
answer; saying that having an AMV where you don't show the pivotal scene
is perhaps a bit much but I think it's headed in the right direction.

"This attitude may explain why I am not widely read"

[reversepolarity.livejournal.com]

"It's no fun to tease without eventually giving in? Bah! :)"

I am so VERY glad my girlfriend doesn't see things that way.