cheztuffy
04-01-2010, 01:42 AM
OK, this is sort of a critique in general of recent episodes, but especially episode 7. AMV Minis has become increasingly dependent on parody songs and source material from comedy shows. (I'm looking at you, 8989364364 'Family Guy' entries).
As is said in the rules, which I think has been forgotten: "making a character lip sync to a funny audio clip does not make a funny video" When creating a video, I think it's important to ask the question:
"Is this clip creating any new humor?"
Or perhaps more specifically:
"Is this clip funnier than the source audio?"
And in many recent cases, the answer is a clear No. It doesn't matter how well you are syncing up the characters and voices, if all you're doing is transferring someone else's joke onto different video. Even if a clip is funny in Family Guy, or The Simpson, or in a parody video, redubbing it to an anime clip isn't making anything new out of it.
Look at some examples from the early AMV Hells: Most of them are either serious songs/clips set to less serious anime, or something slightly less serious clips set to absurd anime, but in almost all cases they were creating a new joke. Osaka mixed with the Apple ad is funny, because you can see the connection with the spacey girl in the ad and the spaced-out character. Putting "Staying Alive" over a montage of Excel Saga is funny because it takes the metaphorical meaning of the song and applies it in a literal sense. Seeing a Family Guy clip set to Evangelion animation? No new joke is created out of that.
And you can start with humorous audio and create something new out of it. The Weird Al song "Young Dumb and Ugly" mixed with 'Akira' comes to mind. In this case, it enhances the original song by illustrating what the song is describing.
(and I realize I have contributed a grand total of 8 seconds to AMV hell, but I'm going to defer to the fact that I have actual experience in the movie/TV industry.)
So yeah. Sorry if this sounds harsh, but there's loads of talent and some great editing on display, but I think we've become dependent on letting other people write the jokes for us. :sweatdrop:
As is said in the rules, which I think has been forgotten: "making a character lip sync to a funny audio clip does not make a funny video" When creating a video, I think it's important to ask the question:
"Is this clip creating any new humor?"
Or perhaps more specifically:
"Is this clip funnier than the source audio?"
And in many recent cases, the answer is a clear No. It doesn't matter how well you are syncing up the characters and voices, if all you're doing is transferring someone else's joke onto different video. Even if a clip is funny in Family Guy, or The Simpson, or in a parody video, redubbing it to an anime clip isn't making anything new out of it.
Look at some examples from the early AMV Hells: Most of them are either serious songs/clips set to less serious anime, or something slightly less serious clips set to absurd anime, but in almost all cases they were creating a new joke. Osaka mixed with the Apple ad is funny, because you can see the connection with the spacey girl in the ad and the spaced-out character. Putting "Staying Alive" over a montage of Excel Saga is funny because it takes the metaphorical meaning of the song and applies it in a literal sense. Seeing a Family Guy clip set to Evangelion animation? No new joke is created out of that.
And you can start with humorous audio and create something new out of it. The Weird Al song "Young Dumb and Ugly" mixed with 'Akira' comes to mind. In this case, it enhances the original song by illustrating what the song is describing.
(and I realize I have contributed a grand total of 8 seconds to AMV hell, but I'm going to defer to the fact that I have actual experience in the movie/TV industry.)
So yeah. Sorry if this sounds harsh, but there's loads of talent and some great editing on display, but I think we've become dependent on letting other people write the jokes for us. :sweatdrop: