Sakura-Con 2005 AMV Contest

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Postby Vlad G Pohnert » Sat Apr 09, 2005 4:42 pm

Yea, a few issues were present with reqards to the audio and video, but I agree that a lot were due to more of the setup then anything else... Lights contracted out are always an issue as they finally turned all the spotloights off the main screen avout 45 minutes in...

Yea, there were a few bumps.. The audio was out of sync on my video just slightly and with instrumentals it does show a lot. As any creator would think, I was horrified for the first few seconds, but then after dicussing it with seijin_dinger after, I feel that the effirt was there to have a good contest and human error just crept in... I was pleased that tghe effort to make this contest work was there and the crowed did enjoy the videos...

The only other obaservation I did have was there were a few videos that we in the wrong catagory... they were good but unfortunatly the audiance glazed over them in some confusion... One I felt would of been hard to place to begin... It's getting harder to make placement of videos into the traditional catagores. It'll be intereting to see if the audiance votes for a comedy video in the wrong cataglory, but again it's a contest and the important thing is having videos shown to a crowed....

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Postby TaranT » Sun Apr 10, 2005 3:25 am

Just wanted to make the point that I'm not upset about the situation either. A little annoyed at first, but I didn't have anything at stake in the exhibition. I can appreciate the amount of work that's involved and the fact that much of the setup is out of the organizer's control. I suspect Dinger underestimated how much would have to be done, but I'm sure every one who takes on the job of AMV contest organizer makes the same assumption.

The main thing is that the audience had a good time. They are the "customer" so that makes the event a success. AMV creators can bitch and moan about stuff, maybe even help improve things. But in the end, we're not much more than part of the volunteer <strike>staff</strike> independent contractors. :wink:
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Clarification

Postby RutKiskasca » Sun Apr 10, 2005 3:53 am

Just to clarify, I certainly did not mean to imply anything negative about TaranT's comments. I appreciate your reports from the con, and hope you will keep them coming. Your original post was clearly respectful, yet honest.
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Postby TaranT » Sun Apr 10, 2005 4:55 am

Well, since you asked, :) I might as well get these posted before the contest results are known.

These are the notes I took during the show. They're in italics, and where possible, I've followed them with some additional comments (not italicized). I keyed off the titles and didn't have the time to notice or write down the creator names.

I tried to take note of any unusual audience response. If I don't mention it, then assume that there was a good round of applause and cheering. This was the rule for all vids; there was no boo-ing and no "polite" applause.

And keep in mind these are just one guy's opinions, not to be taken too seriously. All of these vids, except for one or two, I've only seen one time each. Also, I can't remember everything that happened, so there are some blanks here.

P.S. RDS Radio is playing in the background while I type this. So, if some of this sounds twisted....


**********


EXHIBITION (non-competing)

1. A Kaleido Star video, missed the title
Nice timing and energy, but...
At the time I decided this was a good video to launch the show. But I have to admit, I was just getting exposed to the audio and visual problems and not really paying attention.

2. Necromatic Power (Final Fantasy)
Fangirl response
That means "screaming fangirls". Which seemed to follow every appearance of a certain Final Fantasy character.

3. DB Busters (Dragonball, obviously)
Good fan response. Scene selection ok; slow in spots. Tires about 1/2 through. Too long? (Divx watermarks)
This video experienced what I noticed several times in this contest. The video begins with lots of audience noise and cheering that lasts maybe two minutes. Then, there's silence. The gimmick is done and the video is not carrying it forward. Or, it just lasts too long. It's the real danger in doing this type of video. Only a few manage to grab audience interest all the way to the end. Other than that, this video was pretty damn funny.

4. Destroy She Said (Metropolis)
Too artsy for this crowd. Speed too high. Way too much bass. No vocals. Re-encoded ? Too dark. And squeezed vertically.
My entry.

5. Mitternacht (Vampire Hunter and Blood)
Same imagery problems, too dark, colors washed. Nice action edits. Some steppiness? intended?
I should probably download this one to watch it again.

6. Fallen Hero (Haibane Renmei)
Oversaturated whites. Overbassed; kills lyric synch. Slow.
Can't recall this one either. I guess I thought it wasn't matching the music well. And if you can't understand the lyrics, then this type of vid isn't going to make much of an impact.

7. New Year Special
Euphoria clone? Some scenes have no FX. More teenage angst. FX execution ok, but consistency?
If it's going to have big-time effects, then it should have effects at least most of the time. The clean, no-FX scenes were kind of unsettling. The effects themselves were well-executed.

8. Message Through Time (Hoshi no Koe)
Nice mood. Needs slow, gentler transitions
This one needed a softer touch: fewer cuts, much longer crossfades. AMV makers seem to have a reluctance for long (several seconds) transitions even though they are very common in real movies.

9. Van D (Vampire Hunter)
Not fast enough; more scenes. Better scene selection
Good audience response. Trailers for real action movies are edited for impact: short clips, cuts, implied and actual action. The idea is to grab the viewer by the throat and beat him until he buys a ticket. This vid was a great idea, but lacked impact.


ACTION/ADVENTURE

10. Chibi Things...Ma Deuce (plushie annihilation)
Funny. Good fan reaction.
This should have been in the Comedy category. It's wrong to admit it, but I love watching plushies explode. ("Who doesn't?!" - Vic Romano)

11. Truly (Nausicaa)
Good action edits. Timing feels off, but might be over-bass again. Does it go anywhere (plotted?) ?

12. Eternal Hime
OK, but ?

13. Classical Flight (miscellaneous Ghibli)
Timing badly off in some parts Doesn't make sense, though...Too many cuts. Not enough fluid motion.
When I say, "doesn't make sense", it's because this is one of Vlad's videos. I can't believe he would miss beats like that. Maybe he was doing something that I couldn't grasp at the time. Anyway, my problem with this was the concept. Short clips and fast cuts are not the way to present "flight". Miyazaki himself presented it in these long scenes of fluid motion of the object or person. So, this one didn't work for me (good song, though).

14. Stand Your Ground (VHD Bloodlust)
Pretty.
I guess that says it. Sorry, can't remember this one now.

15. Bang Bang (Area 88)
Not enough action editing. Too long.
Nice flight scenes in this, but the story or plot scenes dragged.

16. Memories
Good song (as always). Attempting to be moody, but not quite there.

17. Pain of War (Kenshin)
Odd synching. w/ blank space.
Not sure what this comment means. I'd have to watch it again.

18. Flight of the Stars (Crest/Banner of the Stars)
Cute idea. Needs more fast edits. Running too long. It's not Caffeine Encomium.
This was a good concept that, like so many AMV concepts, wasn't carried far enough. Better if it was about half as long.


DRAMA

19. Space and Time (Hoshi no Koe)
Inconsistent beat matching. Inconsistent use of piano keys. Out of synch??

20. The Tomorrow Sky (Millenium Actress)
?
I remember this as an OK vid. Guess I brain-locked at the time.

21. My Evil Alien (FLCL)
Good edits, but means what ?
There are some videos that just stand out and say, "This guy knows what he's doing." This was one of them. Unfortunately, I didn't catch the meaning of the vid.

22. Escape (Animatrix)
Odd combination of scenes, but it seems to work.

23. Halos Beneath Us
Angsty guitar rock. Done well enough.
Confession time: I have this thing about teenage angst in rock music (i.e. it bores me). It's a personal defect. I'm working on it. Sometimes I take medication. And I'm sure this type of video has an audience somewhere. And it was good editing.

24. Contego Temptatio (did I spell this right?)
Video game (HALO?)
Kind of an odd story. Didn't make it with me, although the crowd seemed to like it.

25. Idealistic Dreamer (Last Exile)
(Imagine) Out of synch on piano notes. Photoshop cutouts: needs blur edge.
As long as I'm making confessions...<cough> I don't like Lennon's "Imagine". This song was decomposing even when I was in high school. Incineration in a nuclear furnace is called for, but probably wouldn't work. <end of rant> It's a nice enough video; not terribly inspiring, but that's me. Oh, and the figure cutouts really need feathering or drop shadows or something.

26. Omoidaite Ida (spelling?)
(Gasaraki theme song) Fast fades washed out.
Can't remember this one, so I'm not sure why I made this comment.

27. Silence of a Black Heaven (Black Heaven)
Too-literal lyric synch. Odd scene selection at times (filler?).
There were parts of this that I really liked, but the scene selection seemed a little heavy handed at times.

28. Love In Digital (Video Girl Ai)
NICE, but you have to know the anime.
As I was watching this, I thought it would be cool if it avoided any of the fantasy elements in the actual story; just keep it a simple teenage romance triangle (quadrangle?). I guess this was my favorite video in the whole show. Even better than exploding plushie guts.

29. Touched (Cowboy Bebop)
Not matching the rhythm/music well enough.
I'd have to see this again. The comment is about more than just beat synching.

30. Push Away (Sailor Moon)
Was that something at the edges? Overlay is too large (safe area).
We don't see many Sailor Moon vids anymore. There was kind of a mix of "OMG!" and cheers from the audience when this started up. Nice enough, but yeah, those overlays were too big if you wanted anything behind them to be seen. All I saw was some flickering around the edges of the screen.

31. Ballad For Two (Hoshi no Koe)
<audience disconnected!> Timing off here, too. (contest masters?) OK, but...another HnK?
This was actually a nice video. Unfortunately, it was unlucky. There is not much footage to get from HnK to begin with. So, the third one was not going to stand out. Personally, I think the audience over-reacted.

32. A Tribute to Mahoro
<more audience groans> Strobing is annoying. Better with the crossfades and overlays. Sweet and...?
I'm not sure why the audience was down on this one. That might be because I have not seen the anime. Is it Mahoromatic? The strobing really bugged me, though.

COMEDY/PARODY

33. Hold Me For Awhile (FF X-2)
Very smooth. Hope this isn't the original music.
This was so good I thought it might have been pulled completely from the game. Of course, that was not the case; people would have known. Damn fine editing job, but it shouldn't be in the comedy category.

34. Simultaneous
Nice idea, not taken far enough.

35. Gunsmoke Outlaws (Trigun)
Needs faster edits. More of same. Major audience response.
This video like the previous one suffered from what I call "lack of commitment". This is when the creator has a good idea, gimmick, or whatever, and doesn't push it far enough, long enough, fast enough, etc. Sometimes you need to kick it in gear and keep the moves coming. This rap vid, for example, could have been slipping, wiping, PiP-ing on every single beat. Otherwise, you get what I saw this afternoon: the audience cracks up half a dozen times. Then, it's silence, waiting for the next new thing.

36. Jungle Boogie
needs faster edits. Scenes are lasting too long. Suffered from bad contrast/video.
Same problem. Good idea. A few really funny scenes.

37. Disney in D(wchang) Minor
Can't hear above laughter
I was looking forward to this, but the humor appeared to be in the lyrics - which I could not understand at all.

38. I Like Birds (Evangelion)
Cute stops. Weakens after midway. Turns into drama.
This was strange. The Pen-Pen scenes were real gut-busters. Then things turned depressing. At the end, the audience is like, "WTH ?"

39. Against All Odds
<fangirl city> This is comedy? Some cute scenes, but what ?
Sorry, can't recall this one. I guess there was plenty of screaming, though.


My onsite comments get really short from here on since the videos were very short; i.e. not enough time to write anything.

TRAILERS/COMMERCIALS

40. The Prescott Affair (Evangelion)
Some dialogue incomprehensible. Not a trailer or commercial.
I'm ready to change my mind and admit this was a trailer, but it didn't feel like one at the time. It was more like an actual story. The audience was really into it while I was struggling to hear the dialogue.

41. Somewhere Else
Great ending!
Short, sweet, and perfect. It really took the audience by surprise.

42. Duellists of the Caribbean
Not bad.
I'm not familiar with the anime or the characters. The audience appreciated this better than I could.

43. Ace Combat Zero Trailer 2
Nicely done.
Can't remember this one.

44. Lord of the Transformers (Transformers)
Cute. Fangirls again.
Must be a local favorite. Screaming....again.

45. Ramen Feel Great
Lips flap too fast. Can't understand most of the dialogue. Good audience response.
Real lips don't flap like that - except maybe on fangirls (OK,OK, bad joke!). If I had not already downloaded this one, I wouldn't have understood it at all. Too much noise.

46. Hellsing Boy (Hellsing)
Nice edits.
Done the way an action trailer should be.

47. Pimp My Ride Intro
Fun
The images were there, but I didn't get the connection with Ranma characters. I could see it, but didn't feel it. This may have worked better with a car-oriented anime like Initial D, Gunsmith Cats, or maybe YUA. It did get a positive audience reaction, however.
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Awesome Con Review

Postby RutKiskasca » Sun Apr 10, 2005 5:18 am

Thanks, TaranT, for the great con review. Very informative. I am sorry to hear that Vlad's video appeared to have technical playback issues. I am sure that, when it is available for download, the quality will show clearly.
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Postby trythil » Sun Apr 10, 2005 10:11 am

TaranT wrote:1. A Kaleido Star video, missed the title
Nice timing and energy, but...
At the time I decided this was a good video to launch the show. But I have to admit, I was just getting exposed to the audio and visual problems and not really paying attention.


Doh!

Ah well.
This is a block of text that can be added to posts you make. There is a 512 character limit.
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Postby Osakaness » Sun Apr 10, 2005 10:24 am

TaranT wrote:39. Against All Odds
<fangirl city> This is comedy? Some cute scenes, but what ?
Sorry, can't recall this one. I guess there was plenty of screaming, though.


I was thinking the samething... I actually entered this into drama/romance, but it got changed to Comedy :shock:
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Postby Voices_Of_Ryan » Sun Apr 10, 2005 10:49 am

TaranT wrote:DRAMA

20. The Tomorrow Sky (Millenium Actress)
?
I remember this as an OK vid. Guess I brain-locked at the time.

23. Halos Beneath Us
Angsty guitar rock. Done well enough.
Confession time: I have this thing about teenage angst in rock music (i.e. it bores me). It's a personal defect. I'm working on it. Sometimes I take medication. And I'm sure this type of video has an audience somewhere. And it was good editing.


TRAILERS/COMMERCIALS

40. The Prescott Affair (Evangelion)
Some dialogue incomprehensible. Not a trailer or commercial.
I'm ready to change my mind and admit this was a trailer, but it didn't feel like one at the time. It was more like an actual story. The audience was really into it while I was struggling to hear the dialogue.


: ]
I'm glad (as most of us on the team were) that The Prescott Affair got quite a bit of Audience reaction. And I'm quite pleased with Halos even if you didn't like the audio I'm atleast a little happy that you remembered it enough : P.
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Postby Voices_Of_Ryan » Sun Apr 10, 2005 7:57 pm

Anyone got the results yet?
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Postby genestarwind21122 » Sun Apr 10, 2005 8:01 pm

17. Pain of War (Kenshin)
Odd synching. w/ blank space.
Not sure what this comment means. I'd have to watch it again.

Yeah I'm curious what are the results. And well this was my second only true action video. So I think I should have faded just a little bit more in it so it wasn't a rough cut. I'm not sure what was odd about the syncing?
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Postby Seijin_Dinger » Sun Apr 10, 2005 11:25 pm

I am posting results on the Sakura-Con Message Board now, when I finish that I will post a new topic here.
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Postby Pwolf » Mon Apr 11, 2005 12:58 am

TaranT wrote:5. Mitternacht (Vampire Hunter and Blood)
Same imagery problems, too dark, colors washed. Nice action edits. Some steppiness? intended?
I should probably download this one to watch it again.


Includes Hellsing also... what do you mean by steppiness? o.O

TaranT wrote:26. Omoidaite Ida (spelling?)
(Gasaraki theme song) Fast fades washed out.
Can't remember this one, so I'm not sure why I made this comment.

Omoidaite Ima

TaranT wrote:43. Ace Combat Zero Trailer 2
Nicely done.
Can't remember this one.


can't remember?!?1 nuuuuuu.. oh well :P

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Postby TaranT » Mon Apr 11, 2005 3:37 am

I thought I'd point out that I did not vote in this contest, nor did I discuss the vids with anyone at the showing. So, if anyone is concerned that my op's affected the placement of their entry, there's no need to be.


trythil wrote:Doh!
Ah well.

Well, I can say there was a lot of cheering going on. The first one out usually gets that, but I think the audience liked it.

genestarwind21122 wrote:17. Pain of War (Kenshin)
Odd synching. w/ blank space.
Not sure what this comment means. I'd have to watch it again.

Yeah I'm curious what are the results. And well this was my second only true action video. So I think I should have faded just a little bit more in it so it wasn't a rough cut. I'm not sure what was odd about the syncing?

Again, I can't remember why I wrote that. But it may be that the playback had the timing problems that some of the other vids had. If you're convinced the timing was right, then don't worry about it.


pwolf wrote:Includes Hellsing also... what do you mean by steppiness? o.O

That would be something like dropped frames. Like when something is moving across the screen at 10 frames per second. Again, this could have been a playback or encoding issue, not really a problem with the vid itself.

pwolf wrote:can't remember?!?1 nuuuuuu.. oh well

Sorry! The trailers were so short and coming one right after another, I barely had time to scribble something down.

I also wanted that long post above to be as "raw" as possible. So I avoided reading any of the video d/b pages - which led to some minor errors. Actually, in most cases I didn't even know who did what.

That was probably true of the audience as well. With exceptions like Vlad who is world-renowned :o . When the title card for "Classical Flight" came up, I heard someone behind me say something like, "Pay attention!" to whomever they were with.
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Postby Vlad G Pohnert » Mon Apr 11, 2005 8:29 pm

TaranT wrote:
13. Classical Flight (miscellaneous Ghibli)
Timing badly off in some parts Doesn't make sense, though...Too many cuts. Not enough fluid motion.
When I say, "doesn't make sense", it's because this is one of Vlad's videos. I can't believe he would miss beats like that. Maybe he was doing something that I couldn't grasp at the time. Anyway, my problem with this was the concept. Short clips and fast cuts are not the way to present "flight". Miyazaki himself presented it in these long scenes of fluid motion of the object or person. So, this one didn't work for me (good song, though).


Since it's a instrumental with fast cuts, any sync issues (as was present) will show up to be very painfull and make it look not very smooth... I don't think flow has to be exacly fluid so as long as it works with the beats and music... The only comment I would have is to watch it with original sync once I have it for download.

There were a few other videos I did notice with slight sing issues as well but it was not as evident (I thought I'd mention it since I do notice you making references to that in your reviews and in some cases).

TaranT wrote:
28. Love In Digital (Video Girl Ai)
NICE, but you have to know the anime.
As I was watching this, I thought it would be cool if it avoided any of the fantasy elements in the actual story; just keep it a simple teenage romance triangle (quadrangle?). I guess this was my favorite video in the whole show. Even better than exploding plushie guts.


I did not think so many people would like this video as not a lot of younger anime fans as were in the audiance can identify with an old series such as Video Girl Ai. I was actually very amazed that out of so many Drama vidoes (the largest catagory) it was runnerup :D

The only other comment I would have, that format worked quite well for the contest, however, I feel that having the audience pick the best technical video and artistic didn't really work as the general audiance I feel don't quite understand what they are looking for... Idealy these types of cataglories are more suited for a panel of judges with some experience or better understanding of what they should be looking for

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Postby Lady Shinsei » Mon Apr 11, 2005 9:22 pm

Hey, I heard the words to D Minor. I also know that song already and it was
freakin' hilarious at that one point in the vid when Sakura was used for the
whiny, bitchy part in the song.....I burst out laughing...

Overall, I highly enjoyed all of this year's entries despite flaws (both seen
and unseen) and give my best regards to everyone who's vids were used.

Only gripe I have is my own damn fault. I was so excited by several of the
vids that I was yelling too loud (saying things like "Atsui") and it really hurt
my voicebox. Though I made things worse at the Cosplay contest, but unless you were actually there you wouldn't want to hear my account of that night.

Still wish that Entry #62, "Trial By Combat", could've made it..... *sigh*

(especially after the pain in the ass I went through to submit it via FTP)

LOL.....in all truth, however, the one vid I loved most wasn't in the contest,
but the one they created from photos taken during the con and shown at the
closing ceremonies. There's nothing more awesome than sitting with two of
your friends and seeing all three of you in one of the shots and the joy of
high-fiving each other over getting major publicity for your Cosplay gear.

(Note: I was dressed Kankuro, and my buds were Rock Lee and Jiraiya...)
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