(Note: this was going to be a contribution to an UnCon vidshow, but it got out of hand. Badly out of hand. So I figured I'd post it here and spare all the virtual con-goers a lot of scrolling
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Live-action vidding had this, too, but I have only the vaguest clue about it.
My bad, I should have been clearer. The difficulties involved in getting Japanese Animation in the US before about 1985 necessitated writing letters across the country to people who had friends in Japan. The Japanese friend would tape something off the TV & send it to their American friends. They would then make copies and trade to other people, shipping VHS tapes across the US. If you were very lucky, the more industrious fans would make up scripts and hard-sub the videos. (I should note that this was all long before my time.) Thus you would try and follow 42-episode series piecemeal at varying levels of translation (or not). The very first AMVers were usually subbers or distributors with access to the right equipment (flying erase heads FTW) who put 'em together for their friend's amusement. Somewhere down the line, they'd just stick the vids on the end of the tapes they were distributing as a free extra for whoever had asked for a copy. They weren't actually distributing the vids on purpose, it just kinda ended up that way, filling up whatever extra space was on the tape.
Re: Contests (I noted your question of doki above) I think AMV contests pre-dated my own personal experience by about a year, but I've never been very clear on that. (Can't get out to many cons.) However I can point you to the true Alpha of AMV contests: Daric Jackson (aka jingoro). He started his first AMV contest at AWA 1 (it's on 13 now) with the sole intention of "getting everyone to send me their videos." Since it was never an actually "distroed" hobby before, a lot of AMVers simply weren't interested in the hassle of copying their tapes and sending 'em out. He'd been collecting those he could get his hands on for years, but the more reticent could only be lured out with the idea of a mass showing. The contests (as thoroughly promoted as he could) got him a bumper crop for two or three years. (Contests that pre-date his are largely forgotten, I think, as his were clearer, more courteous, and better organized.) Unfortunately, God disapproved, a tornado came down, tore the top of his house off, and destroyed the entire collection. (No, I'm not kidding.) A lot of those turned out to be irreplaceable (the makers unreachable), but Daric rebuilt and carried on for several more years.
As for how the contests affect the hobby? Well... I could go into that for pages and pages. I'll just say 1) ENORMOUSLY increased volume 2) increase in creative quality (though not nearly in proportion, making it appear diluted) 3) visible appearance of trends and imitations 4) general raising the bar as to technical quality (all vids playable) 5) some newbies found it intimidating 6) some wankery 7) some ego-related web horrors 8) breakneck pace. Some good, some bad.
I don't think live-action vidders ever had this pretense.
Too bad. The idealism and togetherness was a sight to behold.
Seriously? Oh, please do. I'm curious!
It's really more my opinion, but I've asked around and everyone who was there (a member of the org at the time) pretty much agrees. Unfortunately, it's not my story to tell. Essentially, a f***ing troll showed up, harrassed a well-liked, exceedingly creative AMVer, & the AMVer left. For good. The thing to understand was that had never happened before.
Which means there is AMV meta being posted out there, and I'm just not finding it.
Uh... not really. I just write a hell of a lot. (I regularly used to break the lj wordlimit before I got it under control.) What little meta there is on lj is just a matter of having a lot of AMVers as friends & seeing when they talk about their hobby. I couldn't even point you at someone who's done it more than a couple times.
Re: Mean girls
Huh. Never heard the term, but I think I get the idea. Not entirely sure of the connotation though, but I bet that shifts.
My bad, I should have been clearer. The difficulties involved in getting Japanese Animation in the US before about 1985 necessitated writing letters across the country to people who had friends in Japan. The Japanese friend would tape something off the TV & send it to their American friends. They would then make copies and trade to other people, shipping VHS tapes across the US. If you were very lucky, the more industrious fans would make up scripts and hard-sub the videos. (I should note that this was all long before my time.) Thus you would try and follow 42-episode series piecemeal at varying levels of translation (or not). The very first AMVers were usually subbers or distributors with access to the right equipment (flying erase heads FTW) who put 'em together for their friend's amusement. Somewhere down the line, they'd just stick the vids on the end of the tapes they were distributing as a free extra for whoever had asked for a copy. They weren't actually distributing the vids on purpose, it just kinda ended up that way, filling up whatever extra space was on the tape.
Re: Contests (I noted your question of doki above)
I think AMV contests pre-dated my own personal experience by about a year, but I've never been very clear on that. (Can't get out to many cons.) However I can point you to the true Alpha of AMV contests: Daric Jackson (aka jingoro). He started his first AMV contest at AWA 1 (it's on 13 now) with the sole intention of "getting everyone to send me their videos." Since it was never an actually "distroed" hobby before, a lot of AMVers simply weren't interested in the hassle of copying their tapes and sending 'em out. He'd been collecting those he could get his hands on for years, but the more reticent could only be lured out with the idea of a mass showing. The contests (as thoroughly promoted as he could) got him a bumper crop for two or three years. (Contests that pre-date his are largely forgotten, I think, as his were clearer, more courteous, and better organized.) Unfortunately, God disapproved, a tornado came down, tore the top of his house off, and destroyed the entire collection. (No, I'm not kidding.) A lot of those turned out to be irreplaceable (the makers unreachable), but Daric rebuilt and carried on for several more years.
As for how the contests affect the hobby? Well... I could go into that for pages and pages. I'll just say 1) ENORMOUSLY increased volume 2) increase in creative quality (though not nearly in proportion, making it appear diluted) 3) visible appearance of trends and imitations 4) general raising the bar as to technical quality (all vids playable) 5) some newbies found it intimidating 6) some wankery 7) some ego-related web horrors 8) breakneck pace. Some good, some bad.
I don't think live-action vidders ever had this pretense.
Too bad. The idealism and togetherness was a sight to behold.
Seriously? Oh, please do. I'm curious!
It's really more my opinion, but I've asked around and everyone who was there (a member of the org at the time) pretty much agrees. Unfortunately, it's not my story to tell. Essentially, a f***ing troll showed up, harrassed a well-liked, exceedingly creative AMVer, & the AMVer left. For good. The thing to understand was that had never happened before.
Which means there is AMV meta being posted out there, and I'm just not finding it.
Uh... not really. I just write a hell of a lot. (I regularly used to break the lj wordlimit before I got it under control.) What little meta there is on lj is just a matter of having a lot of AMVers as friends & seeing when they talk about their hobby. I couldn't even point you at someone who's done it more than a couple times.
Re: Mean girls
Huh. Never heard the term, but I think I get the idea. Not entirely sure of the connotation though, but I bet that shifts.
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