Welcome everybody to the second issue of the LOOP Newsletter. We have something special for all of you today. Karoshi, Drip$tick, and Blax sat down to discuss editing and AMVs. All three had considerably different methods and styles, despite using the same medium, so they sought out to have a meaningful discussion. The segment has something for everyone, not just editors. This will also be our first audio segment, and with that being said, we hope you enjoy this segment and follow along.

Programs

Is too much control bad?

Sometimes, there is beauty in simplicity, and too much freedom can make something simple take hours upon hours.

The Goldilocks Spectrum

In this trio of editors, there is a pretty linear spectrum

Are visuals taken for granted?

It depends on what context you’re talking about. In most cases, the answer is yes, whether or not the majority can admit it. As people, we get accustomed to things; when something different pops up, you notice it. Whether the media is good or bad doesn’t matter as much as differing from the norm. Your video can be great, but if it falls in line with what others are doing, then it's just another good video.

Is it due to the nature of nerdcore’s video ecosystem?

Unfortunately, yes. In nerdcore, the consensus is that people need to release on a fairly tight schedule. There is a stock standard routine that people from the top to bottom follow. It is hard to really put your heart into a video to try and make it so creative in only a week. Videos take time, and given the current circumstances, you have to just operate within that deadline.

How are nerdcore AMVs Different from Instagram & Youtube AMVs

In Instagram communities, the environment is significantly more technical than nerdcore AMVs. You are left to your own devices to figure out your style and identity. You are judged much more intensely on your technical skills. Of course, like nerdcore AMVs, you have to have appealing visuals. However, in that environment, looking good isn’t enough.

Is there any incentive to stray from the norm?

Again, another instance of yes and no. In the early stages, it is important to experiment and be willing to do things differently where you can. That is how you stand out, and it is also how you garner an audience interested in experimentation. However, if you’ve followed that stock standard norm and built yourself up that way, it feels risky to try and do something differently. However, in both instances, there is a time and place. It is a sliding scale and a slippery slope to balance, but there will always be an average bar.

How do we deal with mistakes in releases and typos?

Everyone has their way of dealing with mistakes. As Drip$tick said, once he is made aware of the typo or audio issue, he tends to never revisit the video. With Blax, it is just incredibly frustrating and the desire to go back and change things is just so overpowering. Karo didn’t touch on mistakes and typos, but the general philosophy used there is that imperfections are natural, and if no one noticed the mistake to the end, then it is unlikely many people will notice on watching. If they do, it can be a good thing for interactions.

Editing is tiring at times

It can take a lot out of you to spend hours upon hours on video, especially if you have other priorities and goals. The more projects you take on, the less time you have, which minimizes the amount of effort you can put into each. This can devolve into you making videos consistently that you don’t enjoy and you aren’t having fun. Having fun with editing is how people can edit for hours and hours on end.

Trying to balance other hobbies and passions and editing

Out of most passions or even just hobbies like gaming, video editing by far takes the most amount of time. It can eat at your other passions until you start to dislike video editing. Especially when you put all that time in and you feel like you aren’t making as much as you want, making as many videos as want, or even just having fun. It is time-consuming.

How do you pick your clips?

Blax

Primarily just focusing on matching the visuals to the references in the lyrics. Having full pages of references and scenes open to try and match the video to be as 1-1 with references as possible, as well as putting hype clips with hype parts of the songs.

Drip$tick

Similarly to Blax, a lot of matching where you can. However, it is a lot less strict with Drip$tick, more focused on going with the flow. Inserting himself and a bit of character where he can, or when he doesn’t know what else to add. Just trying to match the video to the vibe of the audio as best as possible, but not stressing it if it's an overabundance of work.

Karo

A visual learner and emotional memory. I am unable to force a video, if the song in my brain doesn’t properly correlate to scenes and effects I can't work. Once the visuals and references are gathered, they are then used to create a detailed storyboard and constructed off of that. Or I see the video and I do it all at once.

Advice to nerdcore editors and artists

You will never be able to properly find your style if you are only looking at what your community is doing. One of the most important things you can do is look at how those smaller editing communities do things. Even looking at the bigger AMV YouTubers like sc6ut, ACE, and Toxic will open your mind to ideas you didn’t think possible.

Find inspiration in other mediums

This doesn’t end with just looking at other AMVs. Find music videos you like, movies you like, and graphic design you like. Look at what those pieces of media are doing well. What do they do that you don’t like? What are the motifs? Broadening your horizons will allow you to focus on your goals.

Be a student of the game if you want to succeed

Some people naturally have a vision, have inspiration, have goals, or have skills. All those things are great for a couple of projects but you won’t always be able to rely on those. Things aren’t gonna workout and you’re going run into blocks and walls. If you can only act when motivated you’re gonna make things significantly harder on yourself.

WATCH TUTORIALS

A piece of advice that applies to any creative in any field is to watch tutorials. A lot of people dismiss tutorials because people can easily fall into the trap of simply recreating what the tutorial says. However, this is a good thing if you use it correctly to break your block.

Mind the Gap

Everyone in design and videography reaches a point where they know enough to know what they want the design to look like. However, no matter what you do it never looks how you want it to. In design, this is known as “The Gap”. This is also the point that many people who aren’t committed throw in the towel. To truly be successful in any artistic capacity you have to acknowledge the gap and allow yourself to grow.

Finish the videos (even if they aren’t perfect)

Not every video will be a perfect 10, and that's perfectly fine. Perhaps you struggled with the color correction you envisioned, or you couldn't quite master a transition you marveled in your favorite editor's work. These challenges are normal and shouldn't obstruct you from sharing your content. You may believe that a video you've created is subpar and wish to keep it private, but by posting it, you could find someone that appreciates it. If you confine yourself to a solo echo chamber, it will hinder your growth and development as a creator.

You will fail, so allow yourself to learn from it

There isn’t anything more to that caption. That is just the nature of things, you will fail but there is grace in failing and there are lessons to be learned. The only question is are you going to learn from those moments or let them define you and give up?

With that, we wrapped up our second issue of the LOOP newsletter we were trying things out and just experimenting with what’s possible. We hope you can take something from this and apply it to your creative fields or simply just enjoy hearing us ramble. Remember to head to the bottom and check out any new LOOP drops or leaks. Check out the community discord and Twitter as well. Thank you all for stopping by have a great weekend.

The News Cycle

IAMCHRISCRAIG - “FUGA!”

Drip$tick x Jeesh - RED ALERT (Official Lyric Video)