Digital Collage

   As we saw in a previous post, collage and montage goes together especially when it comes to AMVs.We could say that they are most important “ingredients”, when it comes to AMVs’ creation.

“Collage is not the only parallel technique to montage, however. The use of collage and montage can be seen in poetry, such as in the writing of T.S. Eliot, where sets of seemingly arbitrary words are strung together to create new meanings. Furthermore, the collage/montage device can even be seen in the music of today, where producers create “mash-ups” of songs to create a new unique hybrid song. Thus, while collage and montage are usually associated with visual art, they actually apply to a wide array of mediums.”  (Jared Leibowich,montage,2007.)

   It’s easy to ignore and not notice the power of collage in every frame of an Anime music video. The fact that the AMV creator has to write a scenario, or at least a quick overview of the video in order to make it, is often ignored. But the truth is that behind every image, every second we see, there is usually a lot of work and processing, in order to attribute the creator’s vision. Lots of masking ,rotoscoping, camera tracking,VFX and other creative procedures, are required in order to visualize the creator’s vision.    The reason why one may not realize this complexity, I think, has to do mainly with the lack of knowledge, either on the technical aspect or on the raw material, which the creator has to work with. That is understandable and expected for someone who has not been involved in this type of activity. It is hard to understand what is supposed to be edited and what is not, what is part of the show and what has been added or is original creation. The same goes for the part of music, whose work is often not appreciated or overlooked.

So whether you are talking about compositing or remixing or any other form of collage, it is important to recognize the effort and attention to detail, the creators put on their videos. That is why it is necessary to understand the importance of collage in this area. From a simple crossover ,to intricate creations of new environments and entities.

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