Post
by AnimeNorthAMV » Thu May 28, 2015 5:53 pm
I do feel transparency of the judging process would be useful, and as such I'll try my best to explain a bit about how it works. I will admit there are flaws in our system, but I feel we have minimized them as much as is possible without having the equivalent of an olympic style list of controls.
Gippy is correct in that one our main instructions to judges is to keep discussion about the amvs to a minimum during judging. This it to prevent the group from influencing any judge one way or another. We want to have each judge to be as uninfluenced as possible, to provide a large range of opinions on the amvs.
Though I must clarify one point, the instruction on special effects is how they are used and how they detract or add to the overall amv (ie a difficult seeming effect may increase your editing score, but if it detracts from the visuals, or the overall presentation of the amv it may lower it in the other categories).
The judging itself is done on a scoring system. Each judge judges the 5 categories and gives a score between 1 -10. This allows for the overall average and score to be found out at the end by the judging coordinator. This makes it so that there is no voting on a winner, but rather a score based on all of the judges individual scores. This can lead to interesting things, as if some judges believe an amv is extremely original but others do not, the overall score may be lower than an amv where all judges agree it is somewhat original. Usually scores for most amvs are above 5, as 5 is classified as an average amv (for which the definition of such varies based on judge as if one only watches winning amvs, or if one browses youtube).
It is for this reason judges with a range of experiences and ages are sought. Older fans have seen more amvs, and have a different way of judging creativity, and can sometimes miss (or see new angles) in messages that rely heavily on knowing the source material. New judges may judge different in creativity, but have a higher understanding of themes relying on knowing source material. There are weaknesses to this set up, but I believe that it's a strength to draw on old and new fans, as everyone can enjoy amvs.
As to bias, this is a problem that we've taken steps to minimize. The first four categories (editing, cinematography, creativity, and artistic vision) are supposed to be objective. That is to say, we ask our judges to look at each individual category and to try to avoid scoring based on song, anime, or personal enjoyment. While avoiding all bias is perhaps impossible, by instructing the judges to be aware of their bais and to avoid it, we have minimized it. As humans we can't completely avoid it as personal feelings will influence our perception to a degree, we can try to keep these four categories as objective. Thus hopefully an amv will be judged on technical and artistic merit separate from it's theme or style.
The fifth Category of Judges choice is an entirely subjective score. It's a score of 1 -10 of how much an individual judge liked the amv. Judges will score based on personal feelings and enjoyment (which may vary based on anime, song, style, ect). This is the category that often varies the most because an amazingly well made amv may just not do anything for a particular judge.
I hope I've been able to illuminate a bit about how the judging process works. While I am aware of flaws within the system, I strongly believe in our style of judging for this competition. I'm aware other conventions do things differently but I rather like the current categories, as they look at an amv slightly differently than most contests. It is for this reason sometimes good videos may not win any one category despite being very good amvs (my favorite this year did not win anything, for which I was sad). But trying to score amvs in this manner is something that creates a different way of looking at them, and in judging them. I hope my explanation is somewhat helpful. And while I don't check the forum often, I can be reached via the amv contest email that can be found on the contact page of the anime north website.
