Explain the difference between PMVs? Please?

[SticksLikeGlue 91]

So, I'm kind of confused as to what a PMV actually is. I know that it's a pony music video, but there are different styles of PMV and I would like to know which style is which.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The one I consider a PMV

 

[ponylaces 1,870]

It's all about opinion. When I think of a PMV, I think of a song with some fitting clips from the show and a few fancy effects. The videos you posted are animations, but they can be considered music videos too. Once again, it's all about opinion.

[On-Locoweed 108]

The first video, in my opinion, is more expressly an animation than a PMV, because it is an animation accompanied by music, whereas the second video and the one found with the link are two types of PMVs which I like to call (by my own very amateur and possibly inaccurate monikers) "Source PMV" (because it uses edited show footage) and "Slide Show PMV" (because it has abstract visuals that kind of look like a big, colorful Prezi where things are morphin' around and shootin' this way 'n that). Some effective examples of this style include the animated intro sequences for both "The Brony Chronicles" documentary and the first Equestria Girls movie; both have the fluid, solid-figure and flashy shapes animation with a song behind it that resemble a lot of the Slide Show PMV type.

 

The technical terms for the different animation and compilation styles are probably a little more nuanced than I know of, but the two PMVs you give above are pretty good examples of two of the different types. A PMV, in its simplest definition, is a combination of visual and musical elements that acts like a music video in that there is either a narrative purpose (like a full-fledged animation would have) or lyric slides mixed with stills or source clips that complement the meaning of the song. This doesn't mean that every animation that has music in it is a PMV, because a PMV, one would assume, has a greater focus on showing off the song as opposed to an animator's project.

 

So, "Children of the Night", or "Smile HD", or "Once Upon a Time in Canterlot", for example, are not PMVs, because, while the video contains a song, the animation is the intended product. DuoCartoonist, MisterDavie, and kanashiipanda consider themselves animators and not PMV-ers, like, let's say, the The Acleps, The Collaboratory, or (this guy is both, I think) BronyDanceParty.

 

Speaking of BronyDanceParty, his videos are of another type which I call "featured artist" PMVs. These PMVs feature the OCs of the actual musicians who created the song in the video, and the action typically follows some sort of narrative arc. Now, this type could definitely qualify for being an animation without the PMV label, since perhaps the creator feels that it can operate as an autonomous work, free of just being visual entertainment that accompanies a song. The label is up to the artist, truly.

 

Something I have wondered for a while is how to classify videos of songs from popular music that become the inspiration for accompanying animations or PMVs. For example, Viva "IMMATOONLINK" Reverie's video for "The Last Saskatchewan Pirate" could go either way, since it is an animation and it is a video where the characters' mouths are dubbed to the words and appears to follow a narrative arc. I think at this point (besides reading way too into the matter of "what's a PMV and what isn't), the question of a video being exclusively an animation or exclusively a PMV is up to the creator and what he or she feels is the purpose of the video. On this note, I would still continue to classify the "Centuries PMV" in the post up top as a 'Source PMV", since, although it is popular music and clearly not a pony song, it still uses show footage to create a video as opposed to an animation created especially for it. 

Edited February 4, 2016 by On-Locoweed