Fan anime music videos prioritize differently than those of professional musical artists. Here the video clips are for the promotion of the visuals, not the music. Anime music video contests have become a staple for many anime conventions. In 1999 the Anime Weekend Atlanta convention began a Professional Anime Music Video contest. D. Scott Jackson, the director of the Anime Music Video contests at AWA, says that anime music videos were always meant to be a part of AWA.

"When we decided to run a con, I knew I wanted music videos there, and I wanted to run it," states Jackson. "Every year since [the first AWA] we have packed our Main Events room to the gills for each contest. Things got to be so popular that last year we created an entire 24-hour programming track just for music videos." However, when asked if any fans have submitted original animated material in conjunction with music, Jackson admits that he has never received a music video completely animated by a fan. Always open to new possibilities, Jackson enthuses, "I'd strongly encourage people to do this, and I always look forward to seeing what people can come up with. I also don't recall any music videos being sent in that use original music composed just for that music video, which would be pretty cool too."

Anime's future in music videos may lie somewhere between the disparate goals of professional musicians and fans. Daft Punk, a French electronic musical duo, enlisted Leiji Matsumoto, the famed creator of "Galaxy Express 999" and "Space Pirate Captain Harlock," to design video for each of the tracks on their new "Discovery" album. The practice of getting renowned anime artists to create music videos is a practice which Japanese bands, such as the J-rock group Glay, have been doing for years. But for a European band with global marketing inroads to recognize the artistry of anime may be a boon for what many label an atrophying industry.

"And the fact that Leiji Matsumoto, one of the living gods of Japanese animation, was entrusted with the task of designing the video for the first single 'One More Time' (which has now reached number one in Canada, Japan and Portugal and on Billboard's Hot Dance/Club Play chart), is just one of the many surprises that the two will be springing on us in the months ahead," reports an article by MuchMusic.com.

The story and images behind the video for "One More Time" even contort and layer the song's meaning. A review of Daft Punk by The Arizona Republic, an online entertainment guide, states, "While the cartoon band sings, 'Music's got me feeling so free / We're gonna celebrate,' masked alien invaders use the party as a distraction to execute an assault from space. The video silently turns the title refrain to 'one last time.'"

Daft Punk's innovation creates a hybrid use for animation in videos, capitalizing on new anime visuals to promote themselves, and focusing on an original anime storyline. The video for "One More Time" ends with a cliffhanger, the story for which picks up on the video of their next single, "Aerodynamic," which was released on March 26.

Collaborating with Leiji Matsumoto, and allowing him to sculpt an engaging narrative around their music, Daft Punk has opened more arenas for anime to reach western mainstream audiences and, in doing so, has cultivated an art form uniquely its own.

You can purchase the latest Daft Punk CD and read reviews at Amazon.com.

AWA music video categories include music video exposition, professional awards and a dance music video contest (the videos entered in the professional awards are judged by participants). For more information regarding entry requirements, etc. on the AWA's Music Video awards and contests, check out their website at www.awa-con.com/VAT/.