Sakura-Con 2005 AMV Contest

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Sakura-Con 2005 AMV Contest

Postby TaranT » Sat Apr 09, 2005 3:19 am

I don't want to start a row like last year, but there are some things worth discussing.

First off, I think that it's clear the contest came off well. Despite being packed in shoulder to shoulder, and despite A/V playback that makes Fifties TV look good, people had a good time. There was plenty of applause and laughter and no "hazing" (it was against the rules!). The low point was right at the start of the third Hoshi no Koe video: there was a collective groan and several conversations started up. But by the end when the comedy vids and commercials started, everybody was back on track.

From the standpoint of the AMV entrants, I think we can at least say there were no interruptions. A couple of very minor glitches is all that I noticed. There was one vid where the screen went black for maybe 3-4 seconds, but apparently that's the way it was supposed to be. (I would have preferred several more seconds between AMVs to clear out the applause.)

Now, the "issues"...and I'll emphasize the obvious, that these are opinions. Agree or disagree as you like.

1. Three mid-size screens are not the same as one large screen (comparing to SK 2003 here). This was personally a major letdown as soon as I walked in the room. The center screen was well below head level even ten or twelve rows back. Fortunately, I was only a few rows behind the right hand screen, so viewing for me was not a problem.

2. Traveling scan lines throughout the show. Signs of bad cabling, a poor multiplexer, something like that.

3. Very poor picture quality, worse on some vids than others. Low contrast and over saturation were chronic. Any kind of subtlety in imagery or effects was effectively washed out. This was apparent on all three screens, so a single worn out projector was not the cause.

4. Unbalanced audio. Not left-right balance, but frequency balance (equalization). In short, way too much bass and low-mids. In some vids - my own, for example - the melodic line was essentially destroyed. And I don't think I understood even half of the lyrics/dialogue in the entire show even without the noise of applause.

5. Unsynched audio? Maybe. I would swear that some videos were off their beats at times. And this was in AMVs from people like Vlad and Lynn who I would not expect to make mistakes like this. Again, I could be wrong and it could just be my sense of things. The individual AMV makers would know better than I would. I did not notice any serious synch problems with my own entry.


Now, regarding my own vid, I'll give more detail. In part, because it's the only one I'm really qualified to speak about. And also, because it had the worst problems that I could see of all the vids that were played. I always keep a direct copy of my entry media, so I was able to check out the same file that I sent in to SK and make sure the problems were not at my end (which I did tonight).

In tune with what I listed above, the dark scenes were washed out and unintelligible, as was most of the vocal line by the heavy bass. The entire thing was playing too fast by maybe 20%. And the video was squeezed vertically by about 10%. I had to focus a second time before I could believe that. Basically, it was a mess.


I'd be interested in hearing from other attendees, especially AMV creators, if only to know that I'm totally off-base here. I scribbled notes on every vid throughout the show. I'll try and post something about those later, maybe tomorrow.
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I saw this effect before

Postby RutKiskasca » Sat Apr 09, 2005 4:25 am

I remember at Metrocon last year, they did a pre-screening, so that everyone that entered could see their video play, even if they didn't make the finals. They had rampant problems with a/v sync, scan lines, all the things you mention here. They ran the video from a remote location in the hotel to the screening room. I know when my videos showed, the audio somehow played faster than the video, and the two streams gradually got farther and farther out of sync as the videos went. My theory on this was that they used an MPEG compression app that didn't support the bitrates it was being fed. (I have gotten warnings from bbmpeg and tmpgenc regarding bitrate on some projects) and there were some mux errors. Or, perhaps there were some conflicts in framerate when the settings were configured for conversion to MPEG. Either way, it made for a lot of pissed off editors and a very confused crowd. They had the same problem in the Finals videos, so I don't think it was cabling, since they played them off a system in the room.

I am having a hard time picturing what you are describing for monitor setup. Are you telling us that they had three televisions down a center aisle or something? I certainly hope not, because the cost of three large televisions adds up to just about the same as an entry level projector. If they borrowed the equipment to set up the contest, it would still be easier to borrow one projector than three televisions, and easier to move, too.

When are the results supposed to be posted? Do you happen to know how the videos placed, or who won in each category? It kind of sounds like, regardless of the outcome, the results are tainted by the playback issues. That's a shame. I know that the people working on this con did their best, and I feel bad for them that the end result wasn't desirable, regardless of how my video may have ended up looking.

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Re: Sakura-Con 2005 AMV Contest

Postby trythil » Sat Apr 09, 2005 4:40 am

TaranT wrote:2. Traveling scan lines throughout the show. Signs of bad cabling, a poor multiplexer, something like that.


Ground loops?
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Re: Sakura-Con 2005 AMV Contest

Postby Infinity Squared » Sat Apr 09, 2005 8:36 am

Yeah, that's one thing I want to know... results, how long before we know anything? My assumption is that they will be released at the closing ceremony and hence that night, Sakura con time, we will hear something... unless the organisers are dead tired which I'm certain they will be...

TaranT wrote:From the standpoint of the AMV entrants, I think we can at least say there were no interruptions. A couple of very minor glitches is all that I noticed. There was one vid where the screen went black for maybe 3-4 seconds, but apparently that's the way it was supposed to be. (I would have preferred several more seconds between AMVs to clear out the applause.)


Erm... did that happen to be a Vampire Hunter D video?
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Re: Sakura-Con 2005 AMV Contest

Postby Voices_Of_Ryan » Sat Apr 09, 2005 8:42 am

Infinity Squared wrote:Yeah, that's one thing I want to know... results, how long before we know anything? My assumption is that they will be released at the closing ceremony and hence that night, Sakura con time, we will hear something... unless the organisers are dead tired which I'm certain they will be...

TaranT wrote:From the standpoint of the AMV entrants, I think we can at least say there were no interruptions. A couple of very minor glitches is all that I noticed. There was one vid where the screen went black for maybe 3-4 seconds, but apparently that's the way it was supposed to be. (I would have preferred several more seconds between AMVs to clear out the applause.)


Erm... did that happen to be a Vampire Hunter D video?


It's scheduled for the closing cerimonies on sunday night.
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Re: Sakura-Con 2005 AMV Contest

Postby burntoast » Sat Apr 09, 2005 9:13 am

TaranT wrote:The low point was right at the start of the third Hoshi no Koe video: there was a collective groan and several conversations started up.

Uhoh. :shock: Hope you'll keep us posted TaranT!
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Re: Sakura-Con 2005 AMV Contest

Postby Voices_Of_Ryan » Sat Apr 09, 2005 10:41 am

burntoast wrote:
TaranT wrote:The low point was right at the start of the third Hoshi no Koe video: there was a collective groan and several conversations started up.

Uhoh. :shock: Hope you'll keep us posted TaranT!


Ditto...
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Re: Sakura-Con 2005 AMV Contest

Postby RutKiskasca » Sat Apr 09, 2005 11:22 am

Voices_Of_Ryan wrote:
burntoast wrote:
TaranT wrote:The low point was right at the start of the third Hoshi no Koe video: there was a collective groan and several conversations started up.

Uhoh. :shock: Hope you'll keep us posted TaranT!


Ditto...


Tritto
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Postby TaranT » Sat Apr 09, 2005 1:16 pm

Some quick replies since I want to make it to Vlad's panel and I've got a one-hour drive to do...

Contest results are announced at the closing ceremonies. That's 3 PM on Sunday.

The displays were three screens (projectors, not TVs), one in the center, one on the left and one on the right. The center one was at the back of a deep stage.

The HnK video was "Ballad for Two" according to my notes. I don't remember who the creator was.

The long blank screen...might have been VHD. I didn't mark it down and there were several VHD videos.

<edit> I wouldn't worry about the results being affected by playback. That might have been the case if there were 2nd and 3rd place prizes. But the vids that were most popular did well despite the A/V. As I wrote above, the audience liked what they liked.

AND...Sakura-Con sold out in the first hour today. Good work by staff getting an announcement on the Web site by 10:30AM.
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Postby Voices_Of_Ryan » Sat Apr 09, 2005 2:10 pm

TaranT wrote:Some quick replies since I want to make it to Vlad's panel and I've got a one-hour drive to do...

Contest results are announced at the closing ceremonies. That's 3 PM on Sunday.

The displays were three screens (projectors, not TVs), one in the center, one on the left and one on the right. The center one was at the back of a deep stage.

The HnK video was "Ballad for Two" according to my notes. I don't remember who the creator was.

The long blank screen...might have been VHD. I didn't mark it down and there were several VHD videos.

<edit> I wouldn't worry about the results being affected by playback. That might have been the case if there were 2nd and 3rd place prizes. But the vids that were most popular did well despite the A/V. As I wrote above, the audience liked what they liked.

AND...Sakura-Con sold out in the first hour today. Good work by staff getting an announcement on the Web site by 10:30AM.


I think you just insulted Burnttoast...
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Postby Seijin_Dinger » Sat Apr 09, 2005 2:53 pm

I wish to appologise about a few points

With the AV Set up in Emerald Ball Room
the Speakers mixer etc are Sakura-Cons new this year. The Projectors Screens Lights are contracted out. and I had no control over that set up and I personally winced when I heard the line "Why are we running composite lines and not component lines to the projectors?"

Also the 3 lines on the screen were projector caused.

With Synch issues, I honestly did not catch that on my home DVD player or TV, I had roughly 14 days from screening to con to finish the contest and I got really depressed when I heard it happen as I was right behind the speakers and the side screen and I was going to myself that I just screwed up.

With that center screen, I wish I could have had control over it, I saw it also cut off half of the title that I put over each video and those titles were made with action and title safe margins, I hope if I do this next year I can have more say in what that room has.

Audio, We found a problem after the contest that was a cabbling issue, they ran 4 of the main lines to speakers from the mixing board to speakers over a bundle of power cords. As for washed out audio, I tyried and a few places failed to get audio equalised to a close to same audio level point so the mixer wouldnt have to be used, a few videos when I tried the audio would start clipping and I chose to leave them at lower level to try and prevent problems.

I also noticed some videos darkening (mauinly the darker toned ones such as the VHD Bloodlust videos) and at that point I no longer had time or DVDs to burn (I burned through my personal stack and I ran out of DVDs)

I do appreciate the lack of "Hazing" This year I meant heckling but I had been up since 7 am thursday and my brain was fried and I meant to say "heckling". With me using a MC, I did because I have a big problem with stage fright and well I also am recovering from bronchitis and m y throat hurt to talk.

If I do this next year Please, any and all help is appreciated. and again I do appologise for the errors that did happen.


With the announcement of videos that win prizes (Winner and runner up) I as was said I will be making that announcement on Sunday approximately 3:00 pm or so, but please understand if I do not announce them here until roughly Monday or Tuesday as I have to pack up and head home, and hook back up there and sleep because I am physically drained. but I will have announcements.

and for those that did enter, thank you, hnestly the videos that did make it in (irregardless of technical issues) as I did say durring the contest, were some of the best videos I have seen in a while and I enjoyed doing this job.

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Postby Seijin_Dinger » Sat Apr 09, 2005 3:10 pm

Forgot

and I do appologise to both Danny Jun and Roy Duran
for having that name mix up involving videos, I was basically copying and pasting info from my database (AKA the approved list on the site) into a template in photoshop, and was working as fast as I could, I reallty am sorry, and I wish I could have printed off the approved list before the contest because I left my copy at home, that way I could have announced the creator of the video, instead of not wanting to try and pull it from my fragmented brain which in my eyes would have been a bigger insult if would have screwed up on the Roy Duran's name a second time in front of the audience.

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Re: Sakura-Con 2005 AMV Contest

Postby Seijin_Dinger » Sat Apr 09, 2005 3:45 pm

Infinity Squared wrote:Yeah, that's one thing I want to know... results, how long before we know anything? My assumption is that they will be released at the closing ceremony and hence that night, Sakura con time, we will hear something... unless the organisers are dead tired which I'm certain they will be...

TaranT wrote:From the standpoint of the AMV entrants, I think we can at least say there were no interruptions. A couple of very minor glitches is all that I noticed. There was one vid where the screen went black for maybe 3-4 seconds, but apparently that's the way it was supposed to be. (I would have preferred several more seconds between AMVs to clear out the applause.)


Erm... did that happen to be a Vampire Hunter D video?


I think that was the DBZ video in Exhibition
That black was overlayed over a bumper (No viodeo at all just bumper) that I couldnt just slice off, and it tuned out I forgot to do the same for the bumper at the end. Again I do appologise, and I did give a little more leeway to the exhibition as they were non competition

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Dinger and everyone involved did their best

Postby RutKiskasca » Sat Apr 09, 2005 4:20 pm

I didn't get to go to the contest, but I did observe dinger working like crazy on it for the past two months at least, and I know that he and everyone involved in the con did everything they could to put on a quality con. I am hearing about the technical issues second hand, so I can't really comment on them, but I just want to make sure that it's put out there that running a con is no small chore, as anyone who has done it can tell you, and aside from the sheer technical knowledge you must have, alot of other aspects must come together for you in order to pull off a quality production, and you don't always have control over all of them, especially as just one person.

I appreciate everything Seijin Dinger did and everything everyone else did to make this the success that it was, and I hope that those of us that did little or nothing to contribute to the preparations for the con show a little gratitude and understanding for the oppertunity he and others worked to make possible for us to showcase our videos. I don't know how mine placed yet, but I know it showed in the finals, and the fact that Seijin Dinger worked so hard to bring my video and everyone elses to such a great group of anime fans has earned him my sincere gratitude. I wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors, and hope very earnestly that he will continue to be involved in Sakuracon, because I am sure that next year's AMV competition will be even better.

Great Job Dinger, and congratulations on surviving the convention. Great job to all the editors that entered videos, too. I downloaded them all today (except Vlad's, which I hope will be available soon) and they were all very impressive. I am proud to have been involved in such a worthy and well received competition.

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Postby Seijin_Dinger » Sat Apr 09, 2005 4:35 pm

thank you on the support, but about surviving...

well con isnt even half over yet and I am working on the AMV Dance dvds for tonight....

Not enough time
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