ErMaC Studios Front Page

I'm currently a sophomore at the University of California in Irvine where I'm now majoring in Japanese. Previously I was majoring in Information and Computer Science, but I switched out because, well, I love computers but I hate programming.

The first Anime I ever saw was probably Mysterious Cities of Gold =) but at the time (I was maybe 6 or 7) I had no idea what I was watching was Anime. After that came Robotech, but I never really got interested in Anime from those two. What hooked me was Sailor Moon. Yes that god awful butchered crap they show on American television. Still, it's a testament to the quality of that show that even after all the horrible things DiC did to it, I still enjoyed it. Then I went and got fansubs of the entire last 3 seasons and I never looked back. After buying only one commercial tape, I began collecting DVDs in the latter half of 1999. They cost the same as subbed tapes and looked a heck of a lot better, it was like the best of both worlds! My Anime DVD collection now has over 300 discs. I am by no means an authority on Anime - I haven't been watching it for the 15 years that some people in my local anime club have been, but I would like to think of myself as one of the more hardcore "Otaku," even if I haven't been one for a long time.

I made my first music video, now titled "Protect Your Kind," back in August of 2000. I think it's a decent video now, but most of my projects since then have been much better. What inspired me to start making music videos? Well, I've been running various websites (SenshiTV, long since dead, as it merged with Parasite Anime to form Fumei Anime) that dealt with Digital Video for a long time (2 years now, in the Internet world that's a DAMN long time) and I finally decided to whip out Adobe Premiere and just try something. Protect Your Kind was made without ever seeing a real AMV, other than the Animetronic thingy on the first Sol Bianca disc, but subsequent ones were influenced most notably by Kevin Caldwell. I guess he's the real reason I'm making music videos. His projects are always absolute masterpieces, and I just hope that someday I can produce something of the same quality that he churns out. My favorite music video that isn't mine is still "Engel", and my second favorite is "Believe," both by Kevin. It's a shame that I heard he retired from AMV making, since I was looking forward to competing against him at AX in 2001.

I'm currently President of the local Cal Animage chapter here at UCI, Cal Animage Epsilon, which meets here on campus. They're the only ones who've seen my music videos up I started this webpage and began entering competition, and their encouragement has been appreciated. I'd also like to extend a special thank you to Shaun Hendricks, former CAE technical genius, but also better known as the former Music Video Competition Director for AnimeExpo. When I first met him and showed him my video, I had no idea he was in charge of the competition, but his encouragement and that of the other club members has made me strive to better myself, not only to create something of artistic merit but also to impress them. =) There have only been a few times in my life when I've felt better than I did after watching the club's reaction to the first showing of The Anime Polka, and that's a rare thing.