Multi-Editor Project

A Multi-Editor Project, or MEP, is a type of collaborative project in which various people make individual segments of a longer video. An MEP can also be simply referred to as a collab, although that term refers to any collaborative project, regardless of whether it is an MEP or not. The term MEP is also sometimes used in animation communities because some artists make MEP-inspired videos that follow roughly the same framework but feature original animation instead of edits - however, videos made exclusively with original animation are typically called Multi-Animator Projects, or MAPs.

Creation process
The way in which MEPs are made varies somewhat, but the process is fairly formulaic overall. Typically, the individuals involved each play at least one specific role: host, participant, and/or backup.


 * The host organizes the project. The host selects the audio, divides it into segments, and posts about the project so that others may find it; the post takes the form of a simplistic video displaying placeholder imagery and a number corresponding to the the segment which uses the specific portion of the audio being played, possibly alongside other information such as the title of the song. In the video description, they include any rules they want participants to follow (typically specifying what imagery should be used, and often including a password which anyone attempting to join the project must include in their request, in order to prove that they read the rules), and a list of all of the parts and whether they have been claimed yet. The description is updated with new information whenever possible. The host may or may not claim some segments themself. The information provided also includes whether the project is open for new participants and/or backups. When all parts are completed, the host assembles them and uploads the completed project.
 * A participant discovers the project and asks to claim some number of segments, often via a comment on the initial post. If their request is accepted by the host, the participant then creates the claimed segments of video, using the provided audio and any permitted imagery, as dictated by the rules set by the host.
 * A backup may be contacted by the host and asked to become a participant if a participant is unable to complete all of their claimed parts.

The host may cut a participant's part for them (meaning that they provide a file which contains only the piece of audio which corresponds to that segment of the video), or ask the participant to cut the audio themself. When all parts are taken, the project will be either closed, meaning that nobody can join until and unless it opens again, or open for backups, in which case someone can ask to be a backup. Parts can either be uploaded to filesharing sites for the host to download easily or simply uploaded to a video site for the host to download using a special tool that allows them to download videos from that site.