Underrated AMV Gem: How do I define it? Plus We can(not) endure by katranat

[violet_skies]

 

I don’t watch a lot of AMVs like other editors do. I don’t actively seek them out, and I’m really bad at clicking YouTube links because most of the time I see them on my phone (I hate watching things on my phone). So I really just don’t watch as many as I should, and I definitely don’t watch a fraction of what I could. My primary mechanism of seeing AMVs is typically only at contests. Sorry friends reading this–if it hasn’t played as part of a contest, I probably haven’t seen it. Seriously though, just send me your videos or tag me when you post them. I will watch anything sent to me directly.

Given how few AMVs I actually watch, then how do I even find underrated AMVs? Well, as it turns out, the larger the competition, the larger the pool of videos for me to enjoy. Accolades 2022, for example, had 87 videos. It’s really easy for videos to fly under the radar there. Project Org Editor (POE) 2022, the competition that this video was made for, received a total of 230 submissions across 6 rounds, plus five finalists. There’s a lot of opportunities for videos to fall through the cracks. Plus, due to how POE videos are created, they may not be considered “beautiful pieces of art” due to the 1. Restriction to a specific theme 2. One week editing window. Still, some amazing stuff comes out of POE, and it doesn’t all get a lot of attention due to being in a massive pool of videos. The video I’m going to talk about in a little bit is We can(not) endure by katranat.

But first, I wanted to define what I mean when I use the phrase “underrated”. Because of how I primarily watch AMVs, at competitions, a lot of people have probably seen them before. As a scientist, however, I need hard data. I want to define “underrated”. Unfortunately, the only good data I have that’s readily accessible is YouTube. I know that not everything goes on YouTube, and certainly not everything sticks around. But YouTube is my data point. Second, something has to have existed for a period of time before how successful it is can be calculated. So, to that end, I have arbitrarily determined that MY criteria for a video to be underrated is that 

1. It is at least 6 months old

2. It has fewer than 500 views

Note that, moving forward with this series, in addition to applying these two mathematical criteria, I’m going to self-impose these other limitations… 

1. Video must be longer than 90 seconds (no shorts)

2. Video must have been edited in a somewhat conventional manner (no Iron Editor videos or two hour edits). POE videos are based on a theme, but with a full week to edit them and (usually) no restrictions on song or source, they are at least somewhat conventional.

3. Video must have been edited by a single person (no MEPs or collabs)

OK, now that I’ve gotten all of my arbitrary rules out of the way, on to the video! We can(not) endure is almost exactly 6 months old and currently has 191 views.

Project Org Editor Round 5 was themed on Dungeons and Dragons attributes: Strength, Constitution, Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. Luck was added as an optional 7th attribute. Katranat chose Excel Saga, another show that I haven’t seen, and Constitution. I’m guessing the theme of my Underrated AMVs will be shows that I haven’t seen because they are more likely to surprise me that I like them. Another surprising thing about this video is that it uses In the Hall of the Mountain King, a fully instrumental song. Given my previous posts about how much I rely on lyric sync, you can understand why seeing an instrumental done well, and that holds my attention, always impresses me. Internal sync is also the bread and butter of well done AMVs. This video just oozes with internal sync (and blood). Furthermore, I usually hear Hall of the Mountain King and see dramatic, epic stories. This AMV, however, is comedy verging on crazy. It accelerates in insanity at a slow and steady pace, matching the tone of the song in an unexpected way, and getting increasingly unhinged as the video progresses. While I feel this video is definitely underrated, it’s hard for me to explain exactly why I like it. Most POE videos aren’t flawless masterpieces, and while I think this video is great, I also acknowledge that it’s not flawless. But an unexpected song, an unexpected source, thoughtful internal sync, and a slow descent into madness help me treasure this video as a unique composition that must be experienced.