The rise of hour long AMV’s

This post is mostly just a ramble of thoughts. Also, happy American Thanksgiving to all out there who celebrate it!

Within the past couple of years, I have noticed an increase in the amount of incredibly long AMV projects that editors have created by themselves.

Long AMV’s are not a new thing. Since AMV’s have existed people have been creating 10+ minute long magnum opuses. However, AMV’s that are 30+ minutes in length are usually the realm of multi editor projects only, where each editor creates their own segment and these are then combined into one much longer video. So to have several AMV’s recently that are 30+ minutes long and are the sole creation of one editor is quite astounding.

I’m unsure whether I’m coming across these now due to frequency bias, my own knowledge of different AMV spaces advancing, or people’s ability/desire/time to edit increasing. I suspect it’s the last one. I don’t really have any way to prove this, but speaking from my own experience, I too am working on my own hour long project. The only reason I have been able to make any headway into it whatsoever is because I have had more time due to the pandemic. I would be making it anyway, regardless of how much time I had, but it does make me think that other editors have also been able to achieve this for the same reason.
It’s not only 30 – 60 minute videos on the rise. I have been coming across newly created 10+ minute long magnum opuses fairly frequently. I find this particularly interesting as the general trend in AMV’s these days is the exact opposite, often squashing down the experience of a video to under 30 seconds. I might be wrong, but I feel like these two types of content are fulfilling different needs. Short bursts of entertainment to help the editor and others feel good, and then long sprawling epics as a space for the editors own emotions/desires.
If you’re someone editing something longer than 10 minutes, then it’s most likely completely for yourself.

I can only speculate on the different reasons people choose to dedicate themselves to these kinds of projects, though the most common seems to be the desire to visualise an album or a mix of music.

I’ll finish this off with links to some of these projects I’ve found. There are definitely more out there, and I do hope people continue, even though extremely long AMV’s are not everyone’s cup of tea.

VPR – Flashes to white, Flickering, Fire/Explosions