Anime Boston 2011 Unofficial Ballot and Winners

[kiarrens]

Actually, I don't have it online, and don't know when/if I will anytime soon. Will see though. There is a few more things that would need to be done before actually putting it online, and to be honest, though I hate to say it, post-con editing has always been something I always find myself having a hard time to push myself back into. I got way too many bad habits to kick.... that, my anime slump, and the fact I still got, and have started well over 20 anime I have to still finish watching. Yup, I am an incompletionist. Oh well. Some day.

*lower lip tremble* *puppy dog eyes*

[Sayoria]

Actually, I don't have it online, and don't know when/if I will anytime soon. Will see though. There is a few more things that would need to be done before actually putting it online, and to be honest, though I hate to say it, post-con editing has always been something I always find myself having a hard time to push myself back into. I got way too many bad habits to kick.... that, my anime slump, and the fact I still got, and have started well over 20 anime I have to still finish watching. Yup, I am an incompletionist. Oh well. Some day.

*lower lip tremble* *puppy dog eyes*

Hahaha. Like I said, it is a nasty habit of mine I really got to kick. Hell, to be honest, I have been making AMVs since what.... 2006ish? And still haven't even uploaded a video here since then. It is that bad. I just hope one day, I WILL get this video up here. Time will tell I suppose.

[kiarrens]

Hahaha. Like I said, it is a nasty habit of mine I really got to kick. Hell, to be honest, I have been making AMVs since what.... 2006ish? And still haven't even uploaded a video here since then. It is that bad. I just hope one day, I WILL get this video up here. Time will tell I suppose.

I've fallen into that habit before... usually what I do these days is encode the distribution copy RIGHT after I encode the convention one, then immediately upload it here, and set it to not go live 'til the Friday of whichever convention it's premiering at. I am a terrible procrastinator too.

[Sayoria]

Hahaha. Like I said, it is a nasty habit of mine I really got to kick. Hell, to be honest, I have been making AMVs since what.... 2006ish? And still haven't even uploaded a video here since then. It is that bad. I just hope one day, I WILL get this video up here. Time will tell I suppose.

I've fallen into that habit before... usually what I do these days is encode the distribution copy RIGHT after I encode the convention one, then immediately upload it here, and set it to not go live 'til the Friday of whichever convention it's premiering at. I am a terrible procrastinator too.

Sounds like a good idea to keep in mind. Yeah, that is also how I am too. I have my friends venture with me to the con, and we all, whoever were to get in, would let it show at AB first, since it is all of our hometown con. Every year, atleast one of us has made it in, so, it would always be cool to you know.... keep it pretty hush until the day, so that is why I would never bother putting it up, atleast in planning until it has shown atleast once. I will say, I think you are onto something there. I will definitely keep that in mind, thank you.

[dokool]

I am a terrible procrastinator too.

WHERE'S THE XX PROJECT, KIARRENS?

[CodeZTM]

I am a terrible procrastinator too.

WHERE'S THE XX PROJECT, KIARRENS?

#linesupwithdokoolwithtorches&pitchforks

[kiarrens]

I am a terrible procrastinator too.

WHERE'S THE XX PROJECT, KIARRENS?

#linesupwithdokoolwithtorches&pitchforks

>.>



<.<



*hires some 15th century Italian whores and sics them on dokool & Code, then makes a run for the rooftops*

In all honesty, I think I might just release it with no "opening" and some simple credits. Just to get it out there. I still have all of it on a small pile of DVDs.

*cough* Back to AB?

[Sayoria]

While I can say, I was surprised the Romance one won (no offense to the creator at all), it really shouldn't be shocking at the same time. Think about it this way....

There are alot of anime fans out there, that just hates romance. Some will call them "chick flicks", others will say "mushy gushy love" stuff, and so on. The romance video that won, was not really that. It was pretty much borderline comedy. It got people laughing. When you have an audience full of people who do not like romance, yet, they feel they need to vote for something in the category, what do you think they will vote for? Obviously, the comedy-like one, because it wasn't that "mushy love" stuff, but was entertaining enough for them.


In short: Almost anyone that hates romance will most likely go for something that is humorous, which that romance video was obliviously to most of the audience.

[kiarrens]

When you have an audience full of people who do not like romance, yet, they feel they need to vote for something in the category, what do you think they will vote for? Obviously, the comedy-like one, because it wasn't that "mushy love" stuff, but was entertaining enough for them.

This is a really good point.

[snapxynith]

I looked at it as a trend of the average. Separating romance and comedy tends to be an odd artificial thing. Especially when romance movies that are nothing but romance/drama are much rarer in terms of numbers in America. Especially of word of mouth in a equal gender diversity audience. Popularity tends to side with romance comedies when dealing with popular norms here. Many of the animes that are romance take a lot of cues from one or two Romance sims groups that found success with the push-pull-push formula. This is where the main character is given the initial encounter with the girl(s) and is then taken in circumstance to be pushed away in distance or a social boundary that acts like physical distance. This sense of loss makes for a strong pining in the audience. Then near the end the audience is reintroduced to the girl(s) and the reconnection is a very strong thing to respond to emotionally.It is no surprise that a large average of anime took advantage of these source materials and try to simulate it in anime. Which is why we have so many.

You'll have to excuse me as I usually don't focus or study the Romance categories but in the few minutes we are given it's very hard to pull off this push-pull-push progress and I see it rarely used, if ever. I can remember no personal favorite in the category that does this. This is contrary to the medium we tend to source. From what I have been able to see people focus on the visual relationship tropes that are apparent in the anime available, then display that each person has a lot of emotional investment within the show, and then give a climax. After all this, we as editors hope that something in that display relates with the viewer. It is a very shotgun response method.

Rough love on the other hand played the romance/comedy card which instead of showing nothing but the pains and spurring joys of reconnection. It gave us the result of two bumbling, clumsy characters that don't know they are in love and slowly come to terms that they cannot be apart. The light-hearted direction of the film is much easier to handle than a depressive mindset given by the push-pull-push, especially when an audience is not willing to feel sad. In the past I have thought that any attempts to put comedy in with any other category is frowned on. It is directly assumed that it should compete with other comedies in the comedy section. This is a disadvantage when there are pure comedy constructions that have little substance beyond giving people a gut punch laugh. Having anything that is supposed to be subtle and complex that in a small part includes comedy or where comedy is not the focus goes against the categorization of most AMV Contests. It's like putting a slice-of-life production which is light hearted against a stand-up comedian. We all understand this as editors and so ideas that may be more subtle or interesting will not be winners and only be given a chance to display. This is unless someone with magnificent talent can meld what people expect AND layer the other concepts on top in the same time.

In the end every category has a history. They were made that way because it allowed people to create things that the audience would enjoy while knowing the grand average of people that can submit are learning the art of editing film. The community is growing and we are slowly beginning to learn to do in a short 3 minute span what film has learned to do in larger spaces. With time I hope we can build beautiful, long lasting works that transcend beyond the animation quality or the effects to become true classics to our overall group.

Just remember, romance comedies are looked down on by critics for their simplicity but make money. There's a reason for that. That does not mean romance comedy is not complex or cannot be good but it is simpler at the core to have an audience enjoy it. We may just need to change how AMVs are categorized to allow for the growth of our community. Though that will be a thing of slow progression. I certainly don't know what the end result should be but I'm not a coordinator or a judge so I'll just sit here on the sidelines with popcorn and pocky with a smile.