Otakon's optional theme

[Superios]

Hey guys, Geoff here again

I'm posting a link to a poll as to which would be the best theme for this years contest, as I con not decide myself...


you have your choices from Bizzarro
-For those of you who watch Sealab 2021, there's an episode (17 I think, named...bizzarro...download it off of Kazaa or something, that's how I saw it) I saw this episode and immediately thought of amv's once it was over (doesn't help that I sat through a marathon of Red vs. Blue and I had too many drinks the night before)

Conflict
-There's lot's of conflict in anime, and it's a recurring theme...It works on many levels and in almost every category; romance, action (especially action), humor (my brain at work thinks of some odd things...use your imagination). Couple that with the fact that last year there were over 100 different songs dealing with confrontation or just straight out conflict...and that's before you get to Linkin Park's Meteora album. As an example, Trapt released a song titled, "Headstrong". Had I my own computer at the time I would have made a vid with that song to Final Fantasy Unlimited. If you need inspiration, take a gander at WWE:Raw or WWE:Smackdown! and they'll undoubtedly mention an upcoming Pay-per-view event and pimp some sort of song that'll be the theme song for it. You also may want to listen to the wrestler's theme songs, as that's been a good inspirations to some. My favoite is Kane's theme "Slow Chemical" by Finger Eleven (I'm sure you can find that on the newer version of the "Forceable Entry" soundtrack released two years or so ago)

Speed
-At Nekocon I saw a card for otakon with the mascots in racing suits...implying some sort of race, I guess. No one consults with me as to what the themes are. Speed is just somethign I came up with off the top of my head, so don't get too upset with me.

anyway, here's the link for it.
http://quickpoll.rap.cx:80/polls/poll.a ... 1266514194


vote early so I can get an idea as to what to confirm the theme as. Just as a reminder, the theme is optional and you don't have to follow it, however, I am giving an award to the video I think best diplays the theme, and that does not apply directly to the contest, but to any entry submitted. That's the only award that's all-inclusive and no other.

And before anyone goes and asks me why I'm making such an award, I will only say this. Why should anyone go through the trouble of making an amv with a pre-determined theme in mind and not have it recognized? Now some of you may think it's a bad idea, and maybe your right, but I'm trying new things out this year and this is one of them.

I also say this...if I made the theme mandatory, I wouldn't make the award all inclusive to all the videos submitted, and instead make it applicable to the contest only, but since it is optional and no one has to do it, I am making it inclusive. Also, because I am too lazy to create a method to have everyone vote on which video best followed the theme, I'm selecting it myself, and before someone starts typing up an email telling me why I'm full of it, you all should know that I'm not changing my mind on the subject, so it is, as of now, final. So I'm kindly asking everyone reading this not to flame the forum (flame my email "amv2004 at otakon dot com")

Thank you.

P.S. vote on the theme, which was the whole point of this post in the first place

[BogoSort]

Hey guys, Geoff here again

I'm posting a link to a poll as to which would be the best theme for this years contest, as I con not decide myself...

<random chatter>

P.S. vote on the theme, which was the whole point of this post in the first place

I dunno, I'm not too sold on any of those themes. They just seemed to be a bit too generic, and at that rate, you might as well just have a Judge's choice style of award. You could try to make it coincide with the Otakon theme(Like last year had remberance or something like that, which could've worked). Or maybe you could try asking us the creators for ideas for themes... Just a coule of thoughts about it.

[hackerzc]

Hey guys, Geoff here again

I'm posting a link to a poll as to which would be the best theme for this years contest, as I con not decide myself...

<random chatter>

P.S. vote on the theme, which was the whole point of this post in the first place

I dunno, I'm not too sold on any of those themes. They just seemed to be a bit too generic, and at that rate, you might as well just have a Judge's choice style of award. You could try to make it coincide with the Otakon theme(Like last year had remberance or something like that, which could've worked). Or maybe you could try asking us the creators for ideas for themes... Just a coule of thoughts about it.

Damn you Bogo....you don't have to be sold......just pick one. Thems the choices.

[Superios]

I dunno, I'm not too sold on any of those themes. They just seemed to be a bit too generic, and at that rate, you might as well just have a Judge's choice style of award. You could try to make it coincide with the Otakon theme(Like last year had remberance or something like that, which could've worked). Or maybe you could try asking us the creators for ideas for themes... Just a coule of thoughts about it.

Funny thing...I believe I mentioned that I DON'T KNOW what the theme for otakon is this year. So I came up with two themes that loosely border it. Are they generic? Kinda...but I gave background on all of them and that's what I came up with. I asked in an earlier post in another thread (like when I started posting here, I'm not too sure) if anyone would suggest a possible theme and I got nothing from anyone...I spent some time thinking these up (well, not speed, I hate that idea...I just wanted people to have a 3rd choice), and bizzaro and conflict are what I came up with.

Everything you mentioned just now I thought of before I finalized my decision, and, obviously, it's not stellar. Guess what? I attended the pre-screenings last year and the only videos that even remotely had a remembrance theme in them were the "Kenshin" videos. Now I may be wrong, and I'll double-check at home, but I think only 2 or 3 vids in the contest followed the theme at most.

I'll reopen the topic of suggested themes for otakon...but you should know, unless I think it's really good and would improve the contest for the con (which is my job, btw) I might not consider it.

(BTW, I'd like to thank the moderator or whoever edited the post for teh contest rules to properly reflect my address. I appreciate that.)

anyway, that's what's what.I'm out...and I won't be back on until sometime next week. later!

[BogoSort]

Bah! Reading comprehension is completely overrated! Still I suppose if you're picking the best of the the videos that happen to hit a particular theme that could work. Still each of your prefered themes tends to focus on one or two of the 5 Otakon categories(though I'm not 100% sure on your bizarro theme is other than my guesses that it's just a video that's just contrary to your preconcieved notions.

Though in argument to last year's theme, I'd like to make the argument that my entry was a tribute video to Otakon videos(and amvs in general) that highlighted the many different editing styles and effects that are present in the entries...

[iserlohn]

I also say this...if I made the theme mandatory, I wouldn't make the award all inclusive to all the videos submitted, and instead make it applicable to the contest only, but since it is optional and no one has to do it, I am making it inclusive.

OK, this is enough to make me break my forum silence. What you're saying, according to this long and confusingly worded sentence, is that all videos that make the finals must adhere to the theme. So if someone made an incredible, asskicking video and it didn't follow the theme it would be disqualified? Of course, you could then make exceptions, but then the "well why did my vid not get one" issue comes into play. Add in the fact that some of us start our videos early (I know of at least one editor (besides myself) of far greater repute than myself who has been working on his video for over a month now). Oh gee, the videos that we've spent months working on are now disqualified from the finals on principle because we couldn't guess the theme before it was even announced.

Everything you mentioned just now I thought of before I finalized my decision, and, obviously, it's not stellar. Guess what? I attended the pre-screenings last year and the only videos that even remotely had a remembrance theme in them were the "Kenshin" videos. Now I may be wrong, and I'll double-check at home, but I think only 2 or 3 vids in the contest followed the theme at most.

Guess what? It's never been a high priority for most creators to follow the Otakon theme because there's never been an award or anything to motivate people to do so (plus the fact that it's traditional for some to cross-submit to AX and an increasing number of people to cross-submit...well...everywhere...). The only cons, AFAIK, that reward people for following a theme are ACen and AWA. That said, I don't agree with forcing people at Otakon into following the theme. Either give a special award for it as a perk, or let the tradition of most editors not even knowing the theme continue.

While I know that things change with new people, forcing people onto the theme (and trying to "inspire" them to use a song you really dig) doesn't really settle well with me...

BTW, with the site's official anti-piracy stance, telling people to download eps of Sealab (a US production) off Kazaa is really not a good idea.

[BogoSort]

OK, this is enough to make me break my forum silence. What you're saying, according to this long and confusingly worded sentence, is that all videos that make the finals must adhere to the theme. So if someone made an incredible, asskicking video and it didn't follow the theme it would be disqualified? Of course, you could then make exceptions, but then the "well why did my vid not get one" issue comes into play. Add in the fact that some of us start our videos early (I know of at least one editor (besides myself) of far greater repute than myself who has been working on his video for over a month now). Oh gee, the videos that we've spent months working on are now disqualified from the finals on principle because we couldn't guess the theme before it was even announced.

Ummm.. He does say that the theme is optional. He just happens to be giving out an additional award for it...

[hackerzc]

iserlohn: The tradition of creators not knowing the theme is due to the ignorance of the creator.

What Geoff is basicly saying is (now listen carefully. I will try to use small words so everyone understands),

You do NOT need to base your video on the theme.
ANYONE who submits is elligable for the special theme award. Not just those who make the contest final cut.

Now I am sorry to sound like the ass hole here, but someone has to do it.

LET THE MAN RUN THE DAMN CONTEST!
You are all bitching about the stupidest shit imaginable.

Matt supports Geoff in ANY decission he decides to make, so show some respect and stop whining because things are a little different this year. You are all just going to have to get use to the new changes.

The AMV contest is experimenting with some new things to keep everything new and interesting.

Just chill people!

[Vlad G Pohnert]

Now I am sorry to sound like the ass hole here, but someone has to do it.

LET THE MAN RUN THE DAMN CONTEST!
You are all bitching about the stupidest shit imaginable.

Matt supports Geoff in ANY decission he decides to make, so show some respect and stop whining because things are a little different this year. You are all just going to have to get use to the new changes.

The AMV contest is experimenting with some new things to keep everything new and interesting.

Just chill people!

Yes, I agree with you in primciple, but then again I don't see any reason for not providing feedback and opinion. I always feel the AMV contest is for the fans by the fans... Frankly I always welcome feeback, opinions and even critism for any contests I run... Badmouthing or slander is a different thing, but I don't really see the case here...

Vlad

[Freako]

question: Is a crappy and/or confusing AMV contest going to effect my chances to attend future Otakons?


me: YES. plain and simple.


i know this isnt a thread for polls , but it would be nice to see everyone else's reactions too .


leave the damn contest the way it has always been for God's sake.