ANTDrakko wrote:Heh, thats another thing that kinda urks me: Why is audience voting such a bad thing?
I mean, I dunno about everyone else, but I create videos for the audience.
Not that I don't trust the judges of any convention, I think the people that organize these larger AMV contests are highly trustworthy. I just think that it kind of defeats the purpose of having the contest screened in front of the Audience.
::shrug::
Just my two cents...
::prepares to get flamed::
To put it simply: HA!
1) Go back and look at the numbers. In order for the audience to fairly judge the entries, they would have to see them all.
All of them. All 250+. For Expo alone.
You want to help us judge the videos? Come by Quu's the week before the con. We'll be there. For three days straight, watching all the videos.
Who's qualified doesn't even enter into it. I wouldn't want to try and get one audience to sit still for a 4 to 6-hour showing that would be necessary for the Pro contest, much less the three day marathon that is Expo.
Otakon gets around this by trimming down what they actually show. As you said, ~200 gets trimmed down to around 30. That's fine. It's their con, they can do what they like, and what they think is fair. We try another track. Everyone gets at least one video shown at the con, in the VAT track or in the main display. If possible, we work to make sure we show a particular creator's video when they're present in the room. The VAT is an expo for creators first, and a platform for contests second.
Every vid, when being considered for awards, gets the same consideration, 'cause we've got the same judges sitting through them all.
2) Ballots are such a hassle. : )
Seriously, though. We don't consider ourselves some great authority-on-high, massive think-tank, while the audiences are the uneducated rabble. We do our best to try and get a wide variety of opinions by getting everyone we know who likes AMVs in to judge Expo, and then discuss as a group to select winners. If we could get a full-sized audience for Expo judging, we would. But we can't subject the audience at AWA to that. At the con, viewings are just supposed to be fun, not a requirement to stay glued to your seat for hours and hours lest you invalidate your judging of the videos by missing some.
To take your own example, you make the videos for the audience. What happens if your vid doesn't get shown at all?
I've gotten this question every year now, but no-one ever seems satisfied with the answer...
Als Gregor Samsa eines Morgens aus unruhigen Träumen erwachte, fand er sich in seinem Bett zu einem ungeheueren Ungeziefer verwandelt.