Anime: Final Fantasy 8 FMV
Music: "Breathe" by Sia

Anime: Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex
Music: "Before I'm Dead " by Kidneythieves

Anime: Berserk
Music: "Bring Me My Bride" by A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

"Stand aside everyone, I take LARGE steps!"

The opening line from the song sets the tone for the video. This, my second comedy video, is a satirical look at Guts from Berserk. Not really a character profile, instead it features Guts singing the song “Bring Me My Bride” from the Broadway play, “A Funny Thing Happened On The Way to the Forum”.

I used Lip Sync techniques I learned from Brad Demoss during our AMV Panel at Anime Expo. This technique focuses on editing the lips of the character while still allowing the action to continue properly in the background through the use of cropping and overlay. If you compare the Lip Sync in this video to the Lip Sync in Jinnai and the Bugrom Live, I think there is a noticeable improvement. While this video depends heavily on Lip Syncing, I tried to break that up through the use of reaction shots.

Staff Award: Anime Expo 2005
Best Lip Sync: Anime Weekend Atlanta 2005
Best Video & Judges Award: Anime Los Angeles 2006

Anime: Neon Genesis Evangelion
Music: "Meteorlogy" by Overseer

I had sworn long ago never to make a music video featuring footage from Evangelion. I think it was done as a reaction to the sheer number of EVA videos out there. The cliché phrase, "Never Say Never" came to mind when I first got the idea for this video.

The video is a surreal examination of what's going on in Asuka's psyche during her withdrawal after her defeat at the hands of Arael the 15th Angel.

Almost every frame of this video was manipulated individually, and then reassembled back into a QuickTime move. I edited the individual segments in their raw footage format, and then exported the edited tracks as sequences of individual frames. The frames were imported into Photoshop, where various filters were applied. The initial filter was a Neon Edges filter, designed to place the edges of the Eva footage in front of the zooming fractal background. Later I applied various Photoshop filters to shorter segments to give these scenes texture and create a sense of distorted reality.

The dialog Asuka lip syncs is Icelandic. I think it sounds close enough to German though. Although I expect my Icelandic and German friends would dispute that.

Judges Award: Ani-Magic 2004

Anime: Cowboy Bebop & Lupin the 3rd
Music: "Lupin the 3rd '78" by Ventura

This video is my track in the fourth and final DDR AMV Project. When I first received this track, someone on the mailing list for the project mentioned that they hoped to see a "crossover video". However, as the video developed, it became more of a "parallel video", where I attempted to show ways in which the two anime were similar by showing clips of a similar nature that blended together.

I don't recall the name of the 3D effect filter I used as the gunshot transition between my track and the others, but I truly appreciate that the other creators sent me small clips of their videos for me to work into it. I think it added to the overall appeal to this track.

Anime: Big-O
Music: "Horndog" by Overseer

An early version of this video was submitted into the AWA Masters contest in 2004. I revised it a little since then, tightening a few cuts. Despite the title, the video doesn't have much of a link to the Grand Theft video game series. Originally, I was going to use a gimmick of putting a weapon, health and wanted rating overlay in the upper right hand corner. After the video was completed, I realized that it didn't need that, although someday I might make a version with it just for fun.

Big O has its own style; I wanted to create an Action video that conveyed that same sort of style. The car sequence in the middle of the video is a bit of homage to the Mitsubishi ad that uses the same song. Even after I ditched the overlay idea, I decided to keep the original title.

Best Action: Ohayocon 2004

Anime: Various
Music: "Music" by Habegale

Another great DDR project in 2003. I think I'm getting better at designing these short videos. I decided on a theme, using anime that is either about music or features music as a component of a story. This video used more anime sources than any video I've made in the past. You can find clips from Macross: Do you Remember Love, Macross Plus, Macross 2, Macross 7, Mospeda, Bubblegum Crisis, Fatal Fury, Perfect Blue, Megazone 23, Magnetic Rose, Excel Saga, FLCL, Black Heaven, Big O, Escaflowne Movie, Tenchi Muyo and even Heavy Metal.

I used this video for my portion of the AMV 101 workshops that Brad DeMoss and I have done at AX '03 (along with Anthony Bennett), AWA 9 and Ani-Magic 2003

Anime: Happy Tree Friends
Music: "Safety Dance" by Men Without Hats

This isn't stricktly an AMV, the animation itself was created in the United States. The idea came to me a few weeks before the contest deadline for AWA 2003.

Anime: Escaflowne Movie
Music: "The Voice" by The Moody Blues

The initial idea for the video came to me while watching videos on the huge screen at Anime Weekend Atlanta. I would not call this video a failure as much as a concept that was never fully realized. I attempted to blend the emotions of the Escaflowne movie with the parallels I found in this Moody Blues song.

The video doesn't seem to "click" with very many viewers. I'm not sure if it's the age of the song or if I simply didn't assemble all the pieces together in the best way possible.

Anime: Black Heaven
Music: "Cautionary Warning" by John Sykes

This was my entry in Anime Weekend Atlanta 8's Masters AMV contest.
It is an extra-long comercial for a VH-1 style Behind the Music special for the band Black Heaven. Assuming that the events in the anime took place, how would the rest of the world view them?
Looking back on this video now, I really wish I'd used voice over instead of text. I think using a voice would have made the video more immersive. There is also the problem with the text simply not being displayed long enough.

Most Original Concept: Anime Central 2003

Anime: Outlaw Star
Music: "Boom Boom Dollar" by King Kong and the D. Jungle Girls

The DDR projects are a blast. Where else can so many AMV creators pitch together to create something? This is my track for the second DDR project. This video follows the beat of the music with lots of gun fire followed by the Outlaw Star getting _very_ lost during the space race. There are a few quest appearances by the SDF-1, Bebop, Swordfish II and Soyukaze.

There are a few spots in this video where the cuts don't really keep the momentum of the song. I think I improved on that with "Music" and "Lupin the 3rd '78".

Phantom Somewhere
Anime: Boogiepop Phantom
Music: "Somewhere Else to Be" by VAST

With this video I tried to take the confusing and sometimes disturbing imagery of the Boogiepop Phantom anime and convay that through VAST's music. The best feedback I've recieved on this video so far is "It gave me the creeps." Can't ask for much more than that! ;)
I used Specular Infini-D to create the opening titles. Its not the best 3D program in the world, I think the visible ray effect this software produces is inferior to software like lightwave and 3D Max. However, one must make do with the tools available. The sounds during the titles are actually part of the song, the sweeping light effect blended very well.

I tried to match the sounds in the music with various visual queus and effects. The "thrum" sound with the fading zoom (in/out) was the third effect I settled on. The others were to busy to intigrate smoothly into the video.

Never realized just how muted the colors are in Boogiepop Phantom until I stared at the footage for weeks. They also used an effect to distort the corners as well. I later realized this was done as part of the story. When the Manticore's energy is dirupted at the end, the world returns to normal, as is show in the final episode.

Anime: Trigun
Music: "Just Another Day" by Oingo Boingo

I had a lot of fun putting this video together. Trigun is one of my favorite animes and my favorite sort of video to create seems to be a mixture of action and drama. I tried to use the music's sense of endless trial to the struggles Vash goes through. I tried to keep away from the comedic aspects of the anime.

I think I made a mistake in ripping the footage, the quality isn't as high as it should be.

Honorable Mention: Otakon 2002

Anime: Angel Sanctuary
Music: "Chop Seuy" by System of a Down

This video came together quite differently than the others. I really didn't know where the video was taking me as I was working on it. I got the idea shortly after AX 2001 after hearing the song for the first time. It was first entered in AWA 7's Masters contest.

Best Drama Video: Ani-Magic 2001
2nd Runner Up Best Video: Ani-Magic 2001
Demon Kitty Productions Talent Award: AWA 7

Do It All Night - DDR Project 1
Anime: Jubei-Chan the Ninja Girl
Music: "Do It All Night" by E-Rotic

Track #9 for the DDR 3rd Mix project. This is the first track I worked on. My advice; don't listen to the lyrics to closely if you know the anime well. :)

Anime: Dual
Music: "Rock Beat" by

Track #11 for the DDR 3rd Mix project, which became known as DDR Project 1. A list minute video, I put this together in three days while working 20+ hours a day fighting the Nimda virus. I compleated the video and rushed it over to Brad's house the day before he headed to Atlanta for AWA. Since then, I've corrected some mistakes with the lyrics. I believe the offical release of the project will have my track with the corrected lyrics.

AKA: Hubba Hubba Zoot Zoot!
Anime: El Hazard OAV
Music: "Hubba Hubba Zoot Zoot" by Caramba

My most nutorious video to date.

Ever wonder what Jinnai is singing? Check out the lyrics!

Cajones Award: Anime Expo 2001
Honorable Mention: Otakon 2001
1st Runner Up Best Video: Ani-Magic 2001

Nadesico Lost in Space
Anime: Nadesico
Music: "Lost in Space Theme" by Apollo Four Fourty

This is one of the Infamous Three Lost in Space Videos that screened at AX 2001.

Finalist: Anime Expo 2001
Finalist: Anime Weekend Atlanta 2001 Pro Contest

Anime: Lupin the Third (Various)
Music: "This is the Life!" by "Weird" Al Yankovic

This is one of my favorite videos. I recently remastered it in DV on my G4. I discuss the remastering process here.

Honorable Mention: Otakon 2000
Finalist: Anime Expo 2000

Anime: Record of Lodoss War OAV
Music: "Unforgiven" by Metallica

I originally entered it in the AX'98 Music Video contest and it was disqualified for being to long. I then entered it for AX 2000 when they extended the max time from 5 to 7 min.. It got a pretty solid reaction, but the video source quality worked against it in the contest.

This was the last video I made before getting a Macintosh G4, which always posed a number of technical problems. This is one of the videos I would like to remake on the Mac someday.

Honorable Mention: Otakon 1998
Finalist: Anime Expo 2000

Anime: Ghost in the Shell Movie
Music: "Skin" by Oingo Boingo

This was my attempt at an introspective, dramatic video using the first Ghost in the Shell movie. Both the anime and the song deal with concepts about identity and the "true self", this video was an attempt to meld them together. Original sounds from the opening credits were used to create the opening title of the video.

Finalist: Anime Expo 1999

Anime: Project A-Ko 1 & 2
Music: "SuperRad" by The Aquabats

This was another fun video to put together. I wanted to play on the hint in Project A-ko that A-ko was supposed to be the daughter of Superman, so I even tossed in a brief clip of Superman from the animated series. While the first Project A-ko was letterboxed, the second wasn't, so I had to create a mask to simulate the bars in video clips I used from part 2. While other videos don't seem to address this, I find popping between letterbox and regular mode to be very distracting. This was another experiment with the credits, I scrolled the credits up one side of the screen, while showing clips in a smaller window on the other, this simulated the credits of the original Project A-ko. Oh, I also used a clip of the Superman series for the audio in the opening bumper.

Finalist: Anime Expo 1999

Heart of the Ninja
Anime: Ninja Scroll OAV
Music: "Guilty" by Gravity Kills

Most of the ideas for this video were suggested by a friend of mine, Michael Surbrook. I took Mike's suggestions for what scenes would look good in what areas and combined it with other scenes I liked to produce the finished product. This was a fun video to put together, working with a friend added a new dimension to the process. While I did enter this in Anime Expo 98's contest, it didn't make the final cut and wasn't shown.

Hero Blues
Anime: Moldiver
Music: "Jimmy Olsen's Blues" by Spin Doctors

This was a fun video to put together. I tried to put emphasis on the superhero nature of the anime. It is, by and large, a more relaxed video than my earlier work. While it lacks the intensity of More than Human and drama of Unforgiven, it does produce a few good laughs. This video also features a 3D rendered title sequence and my first use of scrolling credits. Unfortunately, this video was shown as part of AX '97's comedy video category instead of action and it didn't quite live up to what the audience expected.

Finalist: Anime Expo 1997

More than Human
Anime: Various
Music: "More Human than Human" by White Zombie

This was the first time I used anime from several sources in one video. Clips from Battle Angel Alita, Black Magic, Bubblegum Crisis, Midnight Eye Goku, and AD Police are all worked together to produce this one. The video itself turned out quite well, but the Master tape has a severe Audio problem which really cuts down on the effect of the video as a whole. I saw Ghost in the Shell shortly after creating this video, if I could have gotten hold of clips from that, I think it would have fit in perfectly. It didn't fare well at Anime Expo '96, I had a hard time with the audio levels.

Finalist: Anime Expo 1996

Anime: Tenchi Muyo OAV
Music: "Unbelieveable" by EMF

This video had a number of problems plague it. A hard drive crash spoiled the first completed movie, so I had to re-do much of it from an older backup. While this version turned out okay, I'm always haunted by the first version, which I can't help but think of as having been just a little better. Originally it was going to be my music video entry for Anime Expo '95, but the crash killed that idea so I entered the new version in AE '96. 1995 was the only year I didn't enter an Anime Expo AMV contest.
The CG title sequence was designed by a friend of mine, Ric Turner.

Like my Unforgiven AMV, I'd like to remaster this video with higher quality source footage.

Honorable Mention: Anime Expo '96

Anime: Silent Mobius OAV 1 & 2
Music: "Epic" by Faith No More

This was my first music video, and it won best video in the first contest I ever entered. The musical choice was pretty unique at the time. Faith No More's "Epic" was one of the first songs that mixed Rock and Rap together to gain serious popularity. I didn't do much to match the lyrics to the visuals at all, it was more a mixture of moods. The Silent Mobius OAV was very popular back in 1994, but today it is almost unheard of.

As with "This is the Life" I redid this video at a much higher quality audio and video source. The original version had an audio sample rate of 22Mhz. This remake was also the first video I made on my Macintosh G4.

Best Video: Anime Expo '94.