Creating videos and watching anime can be combined into one general task called an AMV. AMV stands for “anime music video” and they are made by taking clips from an animation, cartoon, manga, or web comic and matching them to a song of choice. The creative opportunities are endless as it can essentially be anything you make it to be. My personal passion for making AMVs stems from my love for both creating videos and watching anime. I discovered this interest while browsing through Instagram, and since I was curious about video making, creating AMVs was a perfect solution. 

An AMV, to put it shortly, is a fanmade music video. There are many different styles of AMVs which makes it a unique hobby. To name a few, there are lyrical, raw, typo, and candy styles. Lyrical edits have minimal effects but are usually three to four minutes long. The raw style is one of the more common types that have many simple transition movements. Typo edits have text that match the lyrics to the song and consist of many unique styles of transitions. Candy edits are similar to typo but the name is derived from the idea that the video’s colors are like candy. Each editor has a different style of editing which makes the videos vary in their own unique ways. Making AMVs can express opinions through the creativity of each video. Editors can bring an insightful meaning to their specific AMV.

Common editing programs on phones are Videostar (IOS only), Cute Cut Pro, and Alight Motion. Two programs used on computers are Adobe After Effects and Sony Vegas Pro. A tip when first starting to use these programs is to be experimental. Feel free to play around with different styles and if it is too complicated, do not fret. Find some tutorials on Youtube because there is so much helpful content posted. There is a lot of information on the internet that can help. Another general tip about the editing community is to make friends. Editors are very open to new friendships so they are easy to find. Most are very friendly with new members of the community.

Choose AMV making as a hobby because it is an impressive talent to have and it is simply fun. It is a unique way to be creative. When people see my edits they always ask me, “Did you make these?” While editing is a cool hobby, it does require a lot of patience and practice. From personal experience, you cannot be good from the start and there is no way to cheat and become proficient immediately. The only way to improve your editing skills is to continuously try editing and watch others’ edits. Then one day, you can make your best edits.