Anime music video

An anime music video (abbreviated AMV) is a music video consisting of clips from one or more anime series or movies set to songs; the term usually refers to fan-made unofficial videos.

Most are not official music videos released by the musicians, but rather amateur fan compositions which synchronize clips with an audio track. AMVs are most commonly informally released, often over the Internet. Anime conventions frequently run AMV contests or AMV exhibitions. While AMVs traditionally use footage taken from anime, video game cut-scene footage is also a popular option.^[1] Music used in AMVs is extremely diverse, using such genres as J-Pop, rock, hip hop, pop, R&B, country, and many others.

AMVs should not be confused with professional and original animated films produced as music videos for such groups as Daft Punk, or with such short music video films as Japanese musical duo Chage and Aska's song "On Your Mark" by Studio Ghibli. AMVs should also not be confused with fan-made "general animation" videos using non-Japanese video sources such as western cartoons. "Anime music videos" are a sub-genre of the more general "animated music videos". Parallels can be drawn between AMVs and Songvids, non-animated fan-made videos using footage from movies, television series, or other sources.

AMV Creation

The creation of an AMV centers on using various video editing techniques to create a feeling of synchronization and unity. Several techniques are available to achieve this:

• Editing: Using different clips from the video source and changing between them at specific times is the most important tool the AMV creator has. Often both the events in the video and the transitions between the clips are synchronized with events in the music.
• Digital effects: Using video editing software (commonly a non-linear editing system) the video source can be modified in various ways. Some effects are designed to be imperceptible (such as modifying a scene to stop a character's mouth from moving) whereas others are intended to increase synchronism with the audio, or possibly create a unique visual style for the video.
• Lip-sync: the synchronization of the lip movements of a character in the original video source to the lyrics of the audio, to make it appear as if the character were singing the song, often the purpose is comedic. Lip-syncing is also commonly used in parody AMVs. These songs come from musicals to the latest on the pop charts.
• Some editors use original and manipulated animation, both two-dimensional and three-dimensional, in AMV works. Such additions are often used for visual effect or to convey a story that is otherwise incommunicable using only the original video source.
• Rubber-bands, Keyframe manipulation or Dissolves: These are techniques in which the editor makes points in a video source on the timeline of the non-linear editing program, that they can drag to different positions which makes the video either fade in or fade out. This can be to another video clip, or to a different color, most commonly solid black or solid white.

Publicly Available AMVs

• YouTube: Many AMV editors submitted their works to the video-sharing site YouTube as it allows for simple and straightforward uploading and viewing processes. Due to the popularity and large user base of the site, YouTube is an option for an editor whose goal is heavy non-traditional AMV viewership and wide proliferation of their work. However, some creators have expressed an aversion to using the site to host their works due to the high level of video stream compression applied by YouTube. Google Video is in the same category as YouTube, and the sites share many of the same advantages, drawbacks, and characteristics.

• Animemusicvideos.org AMV Aggregation Site: This is a site that has a community-based approach to the creation and dissemination of AMV material. It has a more extensive rating, feedback, categorization, and search system than YouTube or Google Video. The site also a discussion forum with boards designated for the discussion of specific topics in AMV creation. Concerns regarding the Animemusicvideos.org site are those of stricter requirements for uploaded videos (limiting uploads to only anime-derived content) and the fact that the site is under the control of a single administrator. Many users were upset when the site received a copyright violation notice from Wind-up Records and the administrator issued a unilateral decision to disable access to all videos containing Wind-Up's copyrighted content. In some instances, the site held the only available copies of some editors' work and they had to contact the site administrator to reacquire their own videos if the video creator had no other backup copy of their works.

AMV competitions, evaluations, and rankings

• Iron Editor competitions: Two or more editors compete directly with one another, editing videos on the fly in a real-time contest in the style of Iron Chef. Most commonly these bouts go for the length of one or two hours and they are held either in person, at an anime convention, or over the Internet. In both cases there are designated judges who compare the videos, either by the theme, the timing or overall production quality of the videos made during the competition. Judges will declare a winner and most commonly this winner goes on to compete against other editors who have won previous parts of the competition. The other alternative is an individual Iron Editor competitions, in which there is only one part to the competition and most commonly only two editors, only one of whom wins.
• AMV Viewer Choice competition: The editors submit videos to competitions that are held either at anime conventions or on Internet websites. In both cases the winners are decided by the viewers and sometimes the editors themselves are allowed to vote. In conventions AMVs are usually judged by the category they are competing in, for example an action video would compete with other action videos. Viewers watch the videos and they submit votes at the end of the viewing portion of the competition. The other way that this competition is held, is through an Internet website. Some websites have a similar way of judging the AMVs, by the category they are in. While on other websites the videos compete against other videos of the same or different categories and are judged on which is a better AMV overall, not solely on the theme of the video.
• The AMV website Animemusicvideos.org is used to compare AMVs, as the site implements a review and rating system whereby viewers and other creators can comment on and rate the AMVs using a 1–10 scale for each of the aspects of AMV creation (see above), and for creativity. AMVs that are on the website are ranked in assorted categories, including a top 10% list (based on viewer evaluation), a top rating list (scores on a 1–5 scale), a top favorites list (based on the number of users who consider a music video among their favorites), top commented list (based on most comments or reviews received, regardless of rating), and various other criteria.

AMV and copyright infringement

This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can (October 2006).

In certain jurisdictions, the making of AMVs may be permissible under fair use provisions. Distribution of AMVs is not likely to be protected by fair use provisions as any distribution is likely to constitute public use, whereas fair use is generally restricted to personal use.

AMVs inherently consist entirely of copyrighted and unlicensed material, including entire songs and substantial portions of television series or motion pictures. Thus, legal concerns vary depending on several factors. As a general rule of thumb AMVs can be seen as illegal in the de jure sense, however, legalities concerning copyrights are subject to variation based on the copyright holders' consent. Many AMVs have so far been viewed as acceptable under fair use provisions or have otherwise gone legally unmolested, implying (albeit potentially falsely) a de facto legal validity.

The Japanese culture is generally permissive with regard to the appropriation of ideas. Works such as doujinshi, unauthorized comics continuing the story of an official comic series, are actually encouraged by many anime makers.^[2] These doujinshi take an original copyrighted work and expand upon the story, allowing the characters to continue on after, before, or during the original story. Most anime makers encourage this practice, as it expands their series. Some see it as a tribute, others see it from a business viewpoint, that it draws in more support for the anime than it would have had otherwise. Some mangaka create their own doujinshi, such as Maki Murakami's "circle" Crocadile Ave (Gravitation (manga)).

Comiket, a convention that occurs twice a year in Tokyo, manages to pull in a crowd of 350,000 fans and artists, most of whom buy, sell, and trade doujinshi. Lessig has stated, "This market exists in parallel to the mainstream commercial manga market." Furthermore, cosplay (costume-play) conventions persist across Japan. These are conventions in which people will dress up in homemade costumes made to match specific characters; this practice is not discouraged or prosecuted in any way under Japanese copyright or trademark law. Many notable anime and manga authors will attend both of these types of conventions themselves, and convention participants have historically taken this as a sign of the authors' approval. In a similar sense, several original anime cartoonists have flown to various places in the U.S. to attend AMV conventions, especially the larger ones such as Anime Expo and Otakon. Many of these animators have also expressed approval of the making of AMVs.

The question has been raised of how such works can continue to exist, or such organizations to flourish, when they do so in legally muddy waters. The answer is that many of the Japanese authors encourage it - several of these authors began their careers with the same kinds of projects they witness anime fans working on today (ex. Clamp).

While some believe that many U.S. vendors who have acquired anime series or motion pictures have expressed disapproval of AMV works or have insisted said videos be withdrawn from distribution, such is typically untrue. These concerns may be attributed to the way anime conventions who show AMVs as part of their video programming have taken exceptional measures to safeguard themselves against possible liability issues. A prime example of such extreme measures can be seen in the waiver used by Otakon's AMV Contest, which utilizes heavy legal wording.

In actuality U.S. vendors are known for their willingness to overlook such use of their properties much in the same way the Japanese industry has, however the reasons are not entirely the same. The unofficial stance of U.S. vendors is that AMVs are seen as a form of unpaid advertising for said properties (creating interest in a particular series, and promoting sales) and the relationship between U.S. vendors and AMV creators is commonly considered mutually beneficial. However, U.S. vendors are often legally bound to officially and/or publicly oppose such use as they typically have a contracted responsibility to protect said properties from illegal use. In general, though, they will not aggressively take action as long as they are not explicitly confronted about it. An adage exists in the AMV community that states "the industry knows, but they don't know", meaning that U.S. vendors are aware AMVs exist but officially cannot acknowledge them, lest they be required to take potentially-expensive legal action.

In recent years there has been an increased demand, primarily on the part of the record industry, for the removal of AMVs from sites like YouTube, Google Video, or the Animemusicvideos.org aggregation site, with particular regard to YouTube due to its hyper-popularity as compared to other AMV sources, as well as its for-profit status. Musical performers and their representative record labels have been requesting the removal of some music videos from websites where they are made available for download. Public discussions and perspectives give varying accounts of exactly how widespread these actions have become. In November of 2005, the administrator of Animemusicvideos.org was contacted by Wind-Up Records, requesting the removal of content featuring the work of the bands Evanescence, Creed, and Seether.^[3] This action, along with a perceived lack of contest from the Animemusicvideos.org site administrator, generated tremendous ill will, among fans of both the bands and AMVs, toward the label and the site alike, and rumors have posited that the label threatened legal action against the site that would likely have resulted in the cessation of operations at the site.

With regard to legality, as has been previously stated, AMVs exist in a legal "gray area" that encompasses a wide range of current copyright-related matters.

References

See also

• MAD Movie
• songvid

External links

• Animemusicvideos.org, an AMV community site
• AMV Hell, a popular AMV series
• Anime Remix, an AMV Hell spinoff
• Creatives face a closed Net FT.com, 17 January
• "Anime music videos at the Annenberg Center for Communication
• AMVs aggregation site
• amvj -remix sessions-cs:AMV

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