Animaritme 2004 (New Brunswick, CANADA)

This forum is for the announcement and discussion of anime music video contests.

Animaritme 2004 (New Brunswick, CANADA)

Postby thecleric007 » Wed Feb 11, 2004 8:36 pm

Animaritime 2004 is a first year convention held by the "[Insert Catchy Name Here]" Anime Club at Mount Allison University, in Sackville, NB, Canada. From March 19th through the 21st, Animaritime 2004 will be holding events such as day long anime showings, panels and workshops, cosplay contest, an artist's alley, vendor room, card and board games, RPG's, console games, and much more.

For more general information about the convention, please check out the following website: http://mtaanime.org/animeritime/index.html


This convention will include an ANIME MUSIC VIDEO CONTEST. You do not need to attend the convention to participate. The contest is being overseen by myself, and more details will be posted shortly.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at thecleric007@hotmail.com




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Postby dokool » Wed Feb 11, 2004 8:38 pm

The cross-post was unnecessary. This is a forum specifically about AMV contests, so you should only post info about the AMV Contest here...

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Postby thecleric007 » Wed Feb 11, 2004 8:57 pm

I realize that this information is posted on the other board, but I felt that it was important for the contest to be connected to the contest, because preferably people who enter the contest will attend the con if they are able.



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THE CONTEST RULES

Postby thecleric007 » Thu Feb 12, 2004 6:09 pm

Ok, well the contest rules have been approved, so here they are.


Anime Music Videos Contest Rules:

1. Videos must be either .avi or .wmv files. If you are unable to submit in this file type, please get in touch with the contest director at thecleric007@hotmail.com

2. Video entries must be mailed to the contest director at: this address:

Vicki Martin
Mt Allison University
152 Main St, Unit 1943
Sackville, NB, Canada
E4L 1B3

Videos may be collected at the convention by the entrants. Otherwise, they will not be returned.

3. All entries must be postmarked no later than Friday March 12, 2004. The club does not take responsibility for any videos that do not arrive in time for the convention,

4. Entries must include the following information: name of entrant, email, title(s) of anime(s) used, spoiler warnings, studio (if applicable), and any other information about the video deemed necessary by the entrant.

5. Winners will be announced at the convention, and on the website, on Sunday, March 21, 2004.

6. Entries will be judged in the following categories: choice of song, choice of clips, quality of clips and sound, unity and originality. Extra marks may be awarded for use of effects and lip syncing.


Once again, if you have any questions at all, feel free to email me at the address listed in the rules.

Good luck to everyone who enters!



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Re: THE CONTEST RULES

Postby dokool » Thu Feb 12, 2004 6:14 pm

thecleric007 wrote:1. Videos must be either .avi or .wmv files. If you are unable to submit in this file type, please get in touch with the contest director at thecleric007@hotmail.com



...Wow. Just wow. .avi and .mpg, I can understand. But .avi and .wmv? Making WMV a mandatory file type for a contest is probably the worst thing you can do, as the quality will go straight down the tubes...

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Postby thecleric007 » Thu Feb 12, 2004 7:44 pm

HEY! My videos are all .wmv files!

Those files are just the ones my computer runs best. Though I probably should have put .mpg on the list...forgot about that type.




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Postby dokool » Thu Feb 12, 2004 10:52 pm

thecleric007 wrote:HEY! My videos are all .wmv files!

Those files are just the ones my computer runs best. Though I probably should have put .mpg on the list...forgot about that type.


You should strongly consider a better way to display the AMV contest other than *your* computer. If you have to use a computer, it should be one that can handle ANY file type well. Or you could put the contest on a DVD or VHS tape...

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Postby thecleric007 » Thu Feb 12, 2004 10:56 pm

As I am the contest director, the video files need to be playable on MY computer. It is there that they will be judged.

I appreciate the insight of someone who has more experience in AMV contests than me, but I will be running the contest in MY own way. People can either abide by that, or choose not to enter.




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Postby Vlad G Pohnert » Fri Feb 13, 2004 12:21 am

thecleric007 wrote:As I am the contest director, the video files need to be playable on MY computer. It is there that they will be judged.

I appreciate the insight of someone who has more experience in AMV contests than me, but I will be running the contest in MY own way. People can either abide by that, or choose not to enter.

The Cleric 007


I don't think anyone is trying to say not to run it, I think it's that they are trying to provide some suggestions. Most AMV creators like myself put a lot of time and energy into our video and so want them to look the best on a screen during a convention. I realize there might be a limitation in terms of the formats you are able to handle as well. I do have to agree that although wmv may look ok when played on the computer, but when projected onto a video screen the artifacting and relativly low data rates will show quite predominently... It's not the best format by far..

Even if your planning to play then using media player, you can download various codex that will play back mpg and even DivX files. I myself master everything into Mpeg2 and then playback can be done via DVD playback software if on a real cheap budget or a realtively cheap mpeg decoder card (via a playlist)

Just some things to consider....

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Re: THE CONTEST RULES

Postby Ashyukun » Fri Feb 13, 2004 9:25 am

thecleric007 wrote:1. Videos must be either .avi or .wmv files. If you are unable to submit in this file type, please get in touch with the contest director at thecleric007@hotmail.com


First off, I agree with Dan and Vlad- MPEG is a very, very common standard and realistically if your computer can play back most AVI files, it can handle an MPEG1. Personally, I like mastering files out to MPEG2 like Vlad (and a number of other people) since you can get quality as high as the original source DVDs were (as MPEG2 is the format DVDs use). If you're going to be running contests or just playing videos back on something other than the computer monitor, I'd highly recommend picking up something like the Netstream 2000 MPEG/DVD decoder card- it's what some of the most high-profile contests are played back from and they can usually be gotten for under $50US on eBay.

Additionally, I'd highly recommend being more specific about what you can take in the way of .AVI files.... WMV & MPEG are specific codecs. AVI is not, there are many many flavors of AVIs, from exceedingly low bitrate DivX files that are under 10MB to the lossless HuffYUV files many of us use in editing that can easily end up being over 5GB. If your system has problems playing back MPEGs, I would doubt you'd be able to play back HuffYUV files smoothly. One thing in contest rules- you can never be <i>too</i> specific. The more specific you are, the easier you life will be- most people are fairly good about following the format specifications of a contest, and I'd imagine you'd much prefer to have the entries that come in work perfectly right off the bat and not have to spend lots of your time converting them over to a format your system can handle.

2. Video entries must be mailed to the contest director at: this address: *snip*


You don't anywhere specify what mediums you will accept for sending in the videos. This would be good to make quite clear to avoid someone sending you something you can't handle (I know people who submit DV AVIs on MiniDV tape, for example). Even if you think you can handle anything, list out everything that you think you can handle- you never know what some people may consider as 'standard'. Also, if you're accepting submissions on DVD, make sure you specify as to what format (+R, -R, or either) you can take and whether they should be data, video, or either.

6. Entries will be judged in the following categories: choice of song, choice of clips, quality of clips and sound, unity and originality. Extra marks may be awarded for use of effects and lip syncing.


You might want to let people know just who will be doing the judging- listing out the exact people isn't necessary if it's not being done as an audience vote, but people like to know these kind of things in general...

Running a contest isn't an easy thing, even at a smaller convention, and the more planning and knowledge you have the smoother it should run. We just want to give you the benefit of our previous experiences with contests to try and make sure yours goes off as good as possible...
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Postby thecleric007 » Fri Feb 13, 2004 11:39 am

Even if your planning to play then using media player, you can download various codex that will play back mpg and even DivX files.


The reason I listed specific video types is because I WILL NOT be downloading codecs just to watch one entry. I did though say that people can contact me if they want to use a format other than .avi or .wmv

I also do not know what method will be used to show the videos at the convention. This is the first time Animaritime has been held, and we are trying to do the best we can.

First off, I agree with Dan and Vlad- MPEG is a very, very common standard and realistically if your computer can play back most AVI files, it can handle an MPEG1. Personally, I like mastering files out to MPEG2 like Vlad (and a number of other people) since you can get quality as high as the original source DVDs were (as MPEG2 is the format DVDs use). If you're going to be running contests or just playing videos back on something other than the computer monitor, I'd highly recommend picking up something like the Netstream 2000 MPEG/DVD decoder card- it's what some of the most high-profile contests are played back from and they can usually be gotten for under $50US on eBay.


I don't have the money to be buying anything for the convention, as I am a cash-strapped university student in Canada. Even with the exchange rate being rather good for us reight now, something that costs under $50US will be more like $100CAN when all the shipping and handling is accounted for.

Also, I have admited that I should have put MPEG on the list, as I realize my computer can handle it. Once again, my email is there for inquiries about different file types. The reason I put those two types are because they are the most common ones that I have seen.


You don't anywhere specify what mediums you will accept for sending in the videos.


Oops...once again, I'm new at this, and thought I had the bases covered. Apparently not. Entries will be accepted on CDs or DVDs, since they do have to be able to run on my computer.

You might want to let people know just who will be doing the judging- listing out the exact people isn't necessary if it's not being done as an audience vote, but people like to know these kind of things in general...


The judging will be done by club members. I'm not sure about the exact number of judges, as that has yet to be decided.

Running a contest isn't an easy thing, even at a smaller convention, and the more planning and knowledge you have the smoother it should run. We just want to give you the benefit of our previous experiences with contests to try and make sure yours goes off as good as possible...


I do realize this, and I do thank you. The only reason I was getting a bit upset was the fact that, from my perspective, the first comments seemed to be rather condenscending towards me. This may not have been intentional, but it was how it came off to me.

But I do realize that these concerns are well-founded and helpful for me in the organizing of this contest.




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Postby dokool » Fri Feb 13, 2004 11:55 am

thecleric007 wrote:
Even if your planning to play then using media player, you can download various codex that will play back mpg and even DivX files.


The reason I listed specific video types is because I WILL NOT be downloading codecs just to watch one entry. I did though say that people can contact me if they want to use a format other than .avi or .wmv


But you're missing the point entirely. There are DOZENS of formats that an AVI file can be in, it can be DivX, XviD, HuffYUV, MJPEG, etc etc etc. Saying you want AVI is almost as vague as saying "send me video files!"

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Postby thecleric007 » Fri Feb 13, 2004 12:12 pm

I have never had any difficulting opening any file that ended in .avi

I am not a big computer person, so I really cannot say about all the other codecs I have on my computer. All I know is that I have never had problems with files marked "avi" at the end of them.





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Postby dokool » Fri Feb 13, 2004 1:35 pm

thecleric007 wrote:I have never had any difficulting opening any file that ended in .avi

I am not a big computer person, so I really cannot say about all the other codecs I have on my computer. All I know is that I have never had problems with files marked "avi" at the end of them.


You're more or less asking for trouble when you say that. Ask Quu, he'll tell you that there's no end to people's creativity in selecting completely obscure codecs.

In all honesty, while I'd like to phrase this as lightly as possible, this contest sounds like it's going to collapse very, very quickly. It seems like you haven't really thought everything that goes into something as complicated as an AMV contest through, and that you're going to run into massive problems when things actually get rolling. You may want to consider waiting a year until you have the resources and knowledge to pull off a contest properly...

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Postby thecleric007 » Fri Feb 13, 2004 2:24 pm

Well, I really hope you are wrong. I'll let you know in March.

Now, for the rest of you who have optimism, PLEASE PARTICIPATE IN THE CONTEST. If you have any issues about file type, just email me and we'll try to work it out. I know my computer has a fair amount of codecs on it, I just don't have a list of them. I have rarely found any videos online that I haven't been able to play.

I'm sure that everything won't run smoothly, but when does it ever?



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