Thank you, Tsunami, Kisanzi, and Scott. I enjoyed both of the AMV panels I made it to.
I missed the Friday night panel because it was already overflowing out the doors by the time I got there, but I managed to make it to the Beginner/Expert panels (I even got a chair on Sunday!). I enjoyed both of them, and certainly got a fair amount out of them. For one, it's nice knowing that the DVD Decrypter -> DGIndex -> AVISynth/VDubMod -> (NL/effects editor) process I managed to figure out over time is the "right" one. I was also somewhat surprised that I was the only one who knew what an orphan frame was. Guess that's why it was the Beginner panel, eh?
A suggestion for the Expert panel for next year (aside from "one hour isn't enough") is to structure things a bit more. I did enjoy the After Effects examples (my wallet is cringing as I type that) but I'd like to have seen a little more theory in what goes into making a good AMV, and what differentiates a good AMV from a great AMV--perhaps taking a few of them and dissecting them as you play through them, showing what helps make it a better AMV.
In addition to that, it might be good to have in mind a fairly advanced effect that you can do in its entirety during the panel, describing what you're doing at each step and why you're doing it. I think it would be good for showing not just the actual process of creating the effect, but also the decision-making and problem-solving processes for tackling larger, more complicated effects. Obviously something that would take several hours is out of the question, but maybe choose something that someone might not be able to figure out if they haven't spent much time in After Effects.
