Anime Music Video - Fanlore

Anime Music Video

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Synonyms: AMV, AMVs
See also: Vidding
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Contents

Anime music videos (AMVs) are a derivative art form similar to, and arguably an example of, vidding. Generally, an anime music video combines footage from Japanese animation (anime) with music, but increasingly, the art form has expanded to include the creation of music videos with fanart, and sometimes music videos are created from manga scans.[1]

History

The earliest known fan music video made using anime is Jim Kaposztas's comedic Space Battleship Yamato video to "All You Need is Love" by the Beatles, produced in 1982 using two VCRs.[2] The hobby, in parallel with fan dubbing and fan parodies, was largely spread via VHS tape trading by anime fansub distribution services and by performance at anime conventions.

By the mid '90s, anime conventions began holding contests[3] for anime music videos, and a distinct anime fan AMV subculture developed. As video editing technology became more accessible, and as video distribution over the Internet became more common, AMVs became an integral part of online anime fandom. As of 2009, the major online hub for anime vidding is the website AnimeMusicVideos.Org, with listings of well over 100,000 AMVs.

Notable AMVs

Notable AMVs include (among many others):

  • Jinnai and the Bugrom LIVE! by Studio Hybrid. Best known for the catchy and bizarre music and expert lip-synching.
  • Mystery Yaoi Theater 3000 by Zarxrax of Anime-Fansubs. This hilarious AMV parodies various classic anime series as well as the ways in which straight male otaku relate to yaoi fangirls. It's possibly best known for the unorthodox use of that big, phallic monster from Evangelion and the subsequent subtitle of: "Oh my god, you defiled Berserk!" It was shown at YaoiCon 2002 to great acclaim.

Popular Anime Sources

Some of the anime most commonly featured in AMVs include:[4]

Popular Music

Mainstream contemporary rock and pop are the most common types of music used in AMVs. Linkin Park is especially popular.

Contests

Most AMV contests are held at anime conventions. Some, like AnimeMusicVideos.org's Viewers' Choice Awards, are run online. Major contests include:

AMVs vs Fanvids

Because of relatively little overlap between anime and Western media fandom, much of the development of AMVs happened parallel to but separate from fanvidding. Also, thanks to the differences between anime and Western media, AMVs feature different stylistic focuses. While fanvids often emphasize emotions and reinterpretation of the source canon, AMVs are more likely to be visually oriented; many AMVs are purely action-based, with close attention paid to matching the rhythm of fight sequences to the beat of the music. Some AMV creators may also use more advanced AV technology than many fanvidders, as in AMV.org's elaborate guide to AV software and technology.[6]

However, the stylistic distinctions are becoming more blurred, both as vidding software becomes more accessible, and as more fans cross between fandoms; some vidders vid for both anime and Western media, and carry over techniques from one form to the other.

Related Communities and Practices

The derivative video art form developed by Japanese fans technically also falls under anime music videos, but is a separate tradition known as MADs [7]. Contemporary MADs focus heavily on the use of anime video game footage. A popular sub-genre of MAD is the segisha (still picture) MAD.

See Also

References

  1. ↑ For example the Berserk vid The Wonders At Your Feet, which uses several different animation techniques.
  2. ↑ Patrick Macias, "Remix this: anime gets hijacked", The Japan Times Online, Nov. 15, 2007
  3. ↑ Otakon's 1994 AMV Contest is one of the early examples. (Accessed 1 March 2009)
  4. ↑ This list is adapted from AnimeMusicVideos.org's list of 30 most used anime, accessed January 7, 2010.
  5. ↑ Final Fantasy games, though not technically anime, are also included in the AnimeMusicVideos.org list. Several games are popular sources of AMV footage.
  6. ↑ A&E's Technical Guides to All Things Audio and Video mk 2 (Accessed 19 February 2009)
  7. ↑ Outlaw's Mad Info Page
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