My top AMV's of 2022: 50 - 41
Jan. 4th, 2023 09:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
katranatOh hey, we've reached the first post where we're counting down! Which has made me realise I completely forgot to explain how this all works in my previous honourable mentions post . Every day this week starting yesterday, I'll be posting my top 50 AMV's of 2022. Today we'll be going through entries 50 - 41, and then I'll be posting 10 each day until we reach the top 10 on the 8th January.
I would like to reiterate that this list is entirely my own personal preference, these are all AMV's I love for many different reasons. The presence and placement of some of the videos on this list may not make sense to other people, but it's what my heart tells me.
Here we go!
50
Video title: Hey Driver
Editor: Extraterrestrial Elephant
Anime: Odd Taxi
Song & Artist: Hey Driver - Lucky Boys Confusion
Comments: “Hey Driver” is a video that’s grown on me the more I’ve watched it, it’s a great example of what is essentially a simple concept elevated to the next level. On the surface Extraterrestrial Elephant goes through the narrative here in very obvious ways. After multiple watches though, things start to stand out which allude to the more complex nature of the anime’s story.
I find it to be such a lovely and nuanced video, and the song is an absolute banger.
VPR: Red emphasis scenes, motion, flashes to white, vignettes
49
Video title: 腐敗 Corruption
Editor: Drakmalar
Anime: Various
Song & Artist: This Hurts - Mindless Self Indulgence
Comments: Drakmalar has spoken in length about this AMV in their YouTube description, giving unprecedented detail into the processes/thoughts/emotions that went into creating “Corruption”. I find there aren’t many editors who are this open about their more personal works, and it’s a fascinating piece of insight which I would recommend reading. Since there’s no way I’d be able to top Drakmalars' own comments, I’m going to focus my words here entirely on the aesthetics in “Corruption”.
“Corruption” is probably made up of around 80% anime intro scenes. There’s nothing wrong with this, anime openings are very dynamic and the visuals are often interesting. Drakmalar however goes all out in not only finding the best matching dynamic scenes for their video narrative, they also make them even more visually engaging by layering these scenes with each other in several sections. It’s an especially clever feast for the eyes.
VPR: All
CW: Nudity
48
Video title: The Upside of Trust
Editor: Shark Tooth Goosie
Anime: Patema Inverted
Song & Artist: The Upside - Lindsay Sterling (FT Elle King)
Comments: “The Upside of Trust” is quite a change of pace for Shark Tooth Goosie. The majority of their editing is quick cuts, snappy beats, high octane action/drama videos. Even the romance pieces I’ve seen from them tend to be tightly synced with upbeat music.
In “The Upside of Trust” several scenes are left to play out while being only lightly synced with the music - this is especially notable during the choruses where the music ramps up. Instead of doing one of the many things most editors would choose to do here to try and keep sync with the quick synth beats, Shark Tooth Goosie instead simply moves the AMV into more dramatic and emotionally heavy scenes which shine during these moments. Overall Shark Tooth Goosie seems to have put priority on lyric sync above anything else, and this is what propels the video forwards (or should I say upwards?) and gives it a monumental amount of heart.
VPR: Fades to black, flickering, motion
47
Video title: Neon Theater
Editor: PantsAMV
Anime: Neon Genesis Evangelion
Song & Artist: Finale (Can't Wait To See What You Do Next) - AJR
Comments: I’m not normally in the market for slick productions like “Neon Theater”. Don’t get me wrong, tightly edited Evangelion AMV’s using the rebuilds are absolutely amazing and I love them, but they simply don’t often connect with me in any meaningful way. There’s a couple of things PantsAMV has done which gives “Neon Theater” the edge here. The first is the beginning of the AMV - moving from the older version of Evangelion into the newer one is such a neat idea and I love the way it’s executed. The second is the vocal sync - for me the main driver in this song is the singer's voice, and there’s quite a bit of emotion which PantsAMV has tapped into extremely well. Quite often PantsAMV is syncing to things other than the vocals, but they also ensure that the entire time the intensity of the scenes perfectly matches the words being sung and it’s glorious.
VPR: All
46
Video title: The Yassification of Disney
Editor: CamiChan19
Anime: T/wisted Wonderland
Song & Artist: Wonderland - Natalia Kills
Comments: “The Yassification of Disney” is the most recently released video on my list. CamiChan19 made this back in November for round 1 of Project Org Editor, and it quickly wormed its way into my heart and got a spot in my top 50. I’ve had no exposure to this source previously, and my brief investigations seem to sum it up as “pretty anime Disney boys”, which I guess is a thing now, but hey, I’m not going to complain.
I think the thing that tips “The Yassification of Disney” over from eye candy into something special for me is the undercurrent of malevolence that CamiChan19 waves into it. That’s not unexpected, the round 1 theme for POE was “Villains” after all, what is unexpected is just how damn addictive it makes it to watch. Apparently “sophisticated evil guys” really does something for me.
VPR: Red Emphasis scenes, motion, peripherals, flashes to white
45
Video title: Pink Nightmares
Editor: EloquentFaun
Anime: Madoka Magica
Song & Artist: Pink Nightmares - Infected Mushroom
Comments: Infected Mushroom is one of my all time favourite music artists. I hoard any AMV’s I find with their music like a dragon - they’re all precious to me, so I was thrilled to come across “Pink Nightmares”.
I was not kidding in my YouTube comment, Infected Mushroom songs are not easy to edit with, they often have many different elements it can be hard to choose what to sync to. EloquentFaun has made an excellent choice using the complex visuals from Madoka Magica to complement all the crazy sounds from the song. There are so many moments in “Pink Nightmares” which I find incredibly satisfying to watch.
VPR: All
44
Video title: I'm good (Blue)
Editor: HDV AMV
Anime: Chainsaw Man
Song & Artist: I'm Good (Blue) - David Guetta (Feat Bebe Rexha)
Comments: HDV is an editor who I feel either doesn't have any knowledge of the unwritten rules of AMV creation, or simply doesn't care and they make whatever the heck they want. To be clear I love that unpredictability about them, I never know what to expect when I load up a new HDV video. Sometimes flouting these rules can create awkward, almost borderline unwatchable content for me. Other times, videos like “I'm good (Blue)” happen.
Let's address some elephants in the room. Yes, this is a Chainsaw Man AMV. Yes, it only uses footage from two episodes. Yes, there are repeated clips. Yes, there’s unnecessary overly stylised text. Yes, it uses a fairly popular song which for some reason samples “I’m Blue” by Eiffel 65. Yes, this entire premise is utterly ridiculous.
I get the feeling though, that ridiculousness is kind of the point. Combining a massive bloodbath fight with the lyrics “Baby, I’ma have the best fucking night of my life”, and “I’m good, yeah I’m feeling alright”, are not choices you make if you’re trying to make a serious video.
I haven’t seen Chainsaw Man, so I’m not sure I can even rule out HDV going as far as to make a satire video here - although, considering how obnoxious the characters come across to me from this short amount of footage, perhaps not. I’m definitely getting old.
“I'm good (Blue)” has managed to gain a large amount of views in a very short amount of time. I can only assume this is because of the timely combination of a hugely popular anime and a decently popular song. I like to think though that it’s also because everyone else finds it as addicting to watch as I do.
VPR: Red Emphasis scenes, Motion, peripherals, flashes to white
CW: Violence/Gore
43
Video title: FINAL final, an Autobiography (fixed)
Editor: Sean.PNG
Anime: Various
Song & Artist: Work This Body - Walk The Moon
Comments: I’ve never been able to engage properly with AMV con culture, I’ve also only fairly recently in my editing journey felt able to begin participating in online AMV contests. Anime Weekend Atlanta’s Accolade’s contest was one such event I joined in 2022, which is where I first saw “FINAL final, an Autobiography”. The Accolades contest is semi unique in that the competitors are also the ones who vote on which videos win the various categories in the contest, so obviously we were all given each other’s videos to watch. I don’t know how the initial order of the videos was decided, but somehow “FINAL final, an Autobiography” was the very first video on the list so naturally I watched it first. I genuinely thought this was an introductory AMV to the contest, it took an embarrassing amount of time before I realised what I was watching was actually a competing entry and not something the contest coordinators had slipped in to kick it off. I now understand that the narrative is of the editor relaying their prior experiences with this particular contest as well as throwing in a lot of meta references, however I do still feel my initial naive interpretation is just as valid. As someone who has been editing a very long time, but is still new to a lot of things, watching this video and having it play out with “welcome, this is what the future holds” vibes, was incredibly uplifting and motivating and was such a wonderful message.
Honestly, if you’ve ever edited anything at all, this is an incredibly relatable video.
VPR: Flickering, motion, film effects, flashes to white, peripherals
42
Video title: Playing House
Editor: Seasaltmemories
Anime: Penguindrum
Song & Artist: Fake It - Bastille
Comments: I fell in love with “Playing House” way back at the beginning of the year when I saw it as part of the RICE contest. I’ve seen many, many Penguindrum AMV’s, but none of them actually made me want to watch the anime quite like “Playing House” did. Seasaltmemories takes a highly original approach and uses several scenes which I’d never seen in AMV’s before - I find this softens the lofty drama of Penguindrum and gives it a very human and down to earth feeling in a completely unique way.
VPR: Fades to black, flashes to black, motion, red emphasis scenes
41
Video title: Growing Pains
Editor: TheLazyDaze
Anime: Fruits Basket 2019
Song & Artist: Human - Ellie Goulding
Comments: I’m going to come right out and say it, this is possibly the best Fruits Basket AMV I’ve ever seen. Not that my opinion on this means much when I’ve only watched the first season, but still, I feel that TheLazyDaze has found the absolute heart of the anime with “Growing Pains”. This is one where honestly anything I say about it is not going to be adequate, please go and watch it yourself, many, many times. Even if you’re unfamiliar with Fruits Basket, the emotions and struggles on display are palpable.
VPR: Flickering, flashes to white, fades to white
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no subject
Date: 2023-01-04 10:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-01-04 11:03 pm (UTC)You absolutely succeeded with that!
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Date: 2023-01-25 02:00 pm (UTC)腐敗 Corruption: Editing is a little too all over the place for me on this one. I don't hate it though -- it's squarely in "ok" territory for me. If nothing else I appreciate its personal nature.
The Upside of Trust: Felt underedited at times, but I still enjoyed this. Most Patema Inverted AMVs don't really do anything different from each other, and this one's no exception, but STG tells a clear story here and the emotions are undeniable.
Neon Theater: Was skeptical about this one because I generally do not like this musical artist but the editing here was so smooth, and the conceptual execution so spot-on that it won me over almost immediately. Really great stuff.
The Yassification of Disney: Eh, for a number of reasons I won't get into here, this didn't do anything for me.
Pink Nightmares: Was hard for me to really enjoy this one when there was another Madoka/Infected Mushroom AMV from 2022 (JCD's Timering) that I liked so much more. I know I shouldn't compare AMVs like that, but I'm only human.
I'm good (blue): This is definitively not my thing, sorry!
FINAL final, an Autobiography: Hard to deny that the concept is really clear and communicated super well, but I have a bias against this video simply because I made an AMV with this song that happens to be one of my favorites of my own videos. I have some other issues with it as well that are borderline petty and that aren't worth writing down and which I need to just get over. This is a fun video, AMV editors everywhere should appreciate it!
Growing Pains: This was in the running to be somewhere on my list -- it's a very good video, edited in that seamless way that TheLazyDaze has pretty much perfected. I really like it, especially the final scene/effect -- it just works really well visually and feels very satisfying. Love it!
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Date: 2023-03-05 03:16 pm (UTC)I must admit I don't much care for AJR either, however Pants has really done some excellent work with their music last year.
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Date: 2023-02-12 06:52 pm (UTC)I'm not into "腐敗 Corruption" as much as you but it's a got a rewatchable quality that I wasn't expecting and it does make me think about why the editor made the choices they did, which probably sounds like I'm not on board with their creative decisions but that does not sum up my feelings about it.
I don't really like Patema Inverted, or maybe it's just one of those movies that frustrates me because there's a lot I DO like about it and it seems 75% of the way there towards being the movie I want it to be or something. Sometimes these thoughts rear their head when I'm watching a Patema Inverted AMV. As expected, that's exactly what happens when I watch "The Upside of Trust" but it is one of those videos that gradually pulls me in over its runtime and effectively wins me over by its final act.
I'm not as open-minded as I should be when it comes to AMVs that use songs I don't care for, or songs that I THINK I don't care for. I do NOT like the band AJR one bit! And that should not have stopped me from enjoying this PantsAMV video, but maybe it did for most of last year. But the video is actually really good, the song isn't something I will ever listen to on its own but it provides a good theme for the editor to work with and lots of big moments that are very effectively woven together with the visuals. I underestimated this one a lot and it's very enjoyable.
"The Yassification of Disney" isn't really an AMV that was made for me, so to speak, but I can appreciate what the editor was going for and the technical aspects of the video are still impressive on their own terms. CamiChan19 is a great editor!
"Pink Nightmares" is one of those AMVs where I don't have much to say about it except "yep, that's a solid AMV," and that kind of feels like a disservice to it but I honestly did enjoy it. Comparing Madoka videos gets harder and harder over time. So many AMVs like this will have a hard time "competing" with faster-paced or more technically complex edits of this anime. Maybe that's true for all anime series but something about Madoka just feels like it's harder for new editors to make a compelling AMV that really stands out compared to so many others that have come before it. I actually like the somewhat slower pace of this one, it just feels like the editor is doing what they want and is confident in their concept and scene selection.
This Chainsaw Man AMV is completely ridiculous and I absolutely love it. I have no idea if I'm enjoying this as the editor intended me to or not, but I love that feeling and it's so rare to experience it. I definitely never would have seen this video if you hadn't included it here. The onscreen text and the looping scenes starting at 1:49 are just... so perfect. I've avoided watching any AMVs that feature this series until it's completed (I think it might be now?) or until some more time has passed and I can be assured that the videos that people are making with it aren't rush jobs that are being made just because the series is hot and new. I think this is only the 2nd Chainsaw Man AMV I have ever watched. This one was worth the wait!
"FINAL final" is a very good AMV. It's not fair to the editor but I kept it off my list because there's another AMV I love that uses this song and I keep a running tab in my head for all songs about whether they can/should still be used or whether they've been overused or if certain AMVs have used them so well that they've effectively "claimed" them in the process. This is silly and it needs to stop. Anyway, I can definitely see this working as a contest intro-style AMV and I can see how it could have tricked you or myself into thinking that it was. It's really fun and upbeat and it's relateable to anyone who's edited more than one AMV or entered a video into a contest and I don't think it's pandering in the way I was worried it could have been. sean.PNG is always reliable and this is one of his key works.
"Playing House" is pretty great and Seasaltmemories is obvoiusly an editor I can't keep sleeping on. Thanks to you and CrackTheSky for bringing them to my attention, although I'm starting to realize this editor has been pretty well-known in the Bento-sphere for quite some time and I'm just late to the party.
"Growing Pains" was my favorite AMV from TheLazyDaze last year. Very good stuff, definitely works as a drama video but it has such a catchy pacing that brings energy to this story-focused video that I wasn't anticipating.
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Date: 2023-03-05 03:18 pm (UTC)I love what you've said here: "I have no idea if I'm enjoying this as the editor intended me to or not, but I love that feeling and it's so rare to experience it."
You've put into words how I feel when watching pretty much any HDV AMV.