AWA Reviews

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AWA Reviews

Postby SQ » Thu Nov 15, 2007 1:23 am

I kinda can't tell you why, but I need some reviews/testimonals about AWA and how it relates to AMVs.

Possibly how AWA makes you feel about AMVs, and vice versa. What AWA does different regarding AMVs, and how you as an editor feel AWA is the best con.

If you're just a regular con goer, what makes you go to AWA every year (or most years)?
What makes AWA better than other cons, and why is AWA different? etc., etc.

You can give negative feedback for the sake of discussing a thread(I'd actually kinda like to hear it too) but I'm really looking for positive stuff.

Keep in mind that if/when you post here, you are likely to be quoted and attributed (using your .org screenname) someplace else.
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Postby ZephyrStar » Mon Jan 07, 2008 9:38 am

AWA is kind of like the academy awards for AMV's. The staff has gone a long way to take our videos seriously, and the contest seems to draw a big crowd. I never would have guessed 3 years ago what the environment was actually like, until I attended for the first time. Needless to say, I was very suprised, in a good way.

Suprised at the atmosphere, suprised at the amount of people in the audience, suprised at the skill I saw represented. Suprised enough to start taking my own AMV's a little more seriously (actually finishing them!), and change my attitude towards the culture. I've also met many great and talented people who I consider close friends. :3
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Postby GloryQuestor » Mon Jan 07, 2008 5:58 pm

I, also, didn't quite know what to expect when I started going 2 years ago. Since I've been a IRC channel regular, I've gotten to know many people on this side of the screen, but never met them in person before AWA 12 & 13. (The first people I've met both times I've gone, actually, were ZephyrStar and Stratus. :) )

Since then, I've met a lot of people I didn't think I would, most from the chan environment but never in person before then. The entire environment feels like standing in the middle of the Org chatroom or Org IRC channel -- there's people everywhere watching videos, both non-editor and pro editor. There are panels for all sorts of topics and video projects. It's certainly a humbling experience the first time you see it, but later it becomes a rather friendly and loose environment that is a lot of fun to be at.

As ZS mentioned, the contests and awards are probably the biggest event of the convention. It's a very tough field to win in, as you normally go up against the best of the best in them. They have a few unique contests that make them stand out quite a bit: SAST, Masters, and Pro. The SAST and Pro contests allow both audience and blind video editing peer voting alternatives, respectively, which is rarely effective in other contests I've seen (or been to), but seems to work for AWA.

Overall, it's a place that an AMV editor should visit at least once. Between the contest format, the large video room environment, and some of the best panels around, it's a trip of a lifetime for an AMV editor. :)
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Postby ngsilver » Mon Jan 07, 2008 9:34 pm

I always heard of AWA as the best convention for AMVs, and most certainly the biggest. Before I started attending in '06 I would enter the contests, and always liked the fact that they accept every video. I had always viewed it as like the academy awards or something similar of AMVs. It always seemed prestigious and out of reach.

When I had the money to make the trip I did. What really impressed me the most about the con was the dedication it seemed to have to AMVs, while still catering to the other elements that make a convention fun for people. However, the lack of panel programming I always have found to be odd, since I'm very used to back to back panels in many rooms, a trait I see often at Midwest conventions.

While the fact that AMVs seem to take center stage was one thing I really enjoyed, it was the laid back atmosphere and friendliness of the convention as a whole that really stuck me. AWA isn't a small convention by any means, and despite the vastness of it, it still has the feel of a small convention where nearly everyone knows each other. It's something I see lost oftentimes at other larger conventions that I attend throughout the year. Of course, the fact that people will come up to you randomly and want to shake your hand or get your autograph because you made such and such AMV kinda helps to inflate the ego a bit.

Probably the most interesting thing about how AWA handles AMVs, as I haven't seen it at any other convention I've attended to submitted to, is the Pro contest. The whole fact that it isn't one person, or a group of people that know AMVs, or even the randomness of attendee voiting; it is a group of your fellow peers. More then just the peers, it's the same people who entered the contest like you did. You can have 10 videos up for the action award, and each of those editors are the ones who choose who wins (though in reality they are not the only ones.) It's a fierce playing field, but in the end winning or even being nominated has a bit more of a meaning then getting say, even the master's jacket. It just means more that way. And of course, being able to seem some of the best, newest, and most interesting videos for the year, and doing so before the majority of the connected world, is always a plus.

I'll continue to attend AWA for these reasons, but more so because of the chance to fellowship with other creators. I know, like GQ had said, that I do get the chance to chat through the IRC channel and somewhat on these forums. I didn't actually check the IRC channel out until I attended AWA for the first time. And while it is nice to chat, the whole putting SN to face and RL conversations just can't be beat. It's like a bunch of old friends gathering, having a great time, getting piss drunk, and doing it over and over again each year.
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Postby Kalium » Tue Jan 08, 2008 12:05 am

The people. I go solely for the people. Three days when the rest of the world can go hang, and I can spend time with people who mean a lot to me? Sign me up in a heartbeat.

The events are kind of a fringe benefit, to me.
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Postby The Wired Knight » Wed Jan 09, 2008 3:42 pm

I'm with Kalium, mostly it's for the people. AWA is far and I wouldn't normally consider going to it on my con circuit but two things make me attend each year.

The AMV presence, hands down AWA is the best con for AMVs and I appreciate that greatly, having the multiple contests, video room dedicated and panels from the editors makes it different from what other cons have to offer and makes me feel a little bit less like a loser who edits these blasted things.

The second is the people; got a lot of friends in the AMV community and this is a great place to catch up with them and hang out wheras the rest of the year I do not have said oppertunity. The AMV crew is a truley unique bunch of people who can be very serious and have an intelligent discussion one minute and the next all turn into a group that looks like a crowd of drunke villiage idiots (no offense by that, I'm including myself in that statement).
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Postby Pwolf » Fri Jan 11, 2008 11:44 pm

the amv contest = awesome

the con = sucks :| even with the people :| the people made it worse actually.


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Postby SQ » Sat Jan 12, 2008 12:26 am

PWolf: How so?
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Postby Beowulf » Sat Jan 12, 2008 12:35 am

AWA always get me pumped about AMVs. Theres always brainstorming of ideas, and people showcasing their new hot shit, so it gets the juices flowing. I was sitting in the airport with NME and we came up with my current video idea. Bonding with like minded individuals: heaven

When Wonka and I first went to AWA in 2001, he was so inspired, that he went home and cranked out Appetite For Dynamite in 2 weeks. A classic to this day. The 2001 AWA was when Machine, Wonka, MJ and I all got drunk and came up with the idea for the NES project.

As for the contest, I've never won a proper award there so it sucks :lol:
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Postby SQ » Sat Jan 12, 2008 12:46 am

LOL that's not true, you won "The year-late boring everyone with a too long of a video award award" or whatever it was called.

An award with award in it's name twice must be DOUBLEY AWESOME.
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Postby Castor Troy » Sat Jan 12, 2008 2:36 am

AWA is always awesome-ness.

I was a little worried in 2007 that the normal people I usually hung out with weren't coming, but I got to hang out with a bunch of new people and others who I haven't hung out with in the past.

I have yet to win an actual awa award besides the guest ones, but I like how different the contests are in comparison to the audience based judging ones.

Not sure if I'm going this year, but I'll be back in the future. :up:
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Postby CrackTheSky » Sat Jan 12, 2008 3:56 am

From someone who attended his first AWA last year (and only my second con ever), I can say that the best part of the experience was definitely the people. I got to meet so many people I look up to and talk to online, and it was awesome just getting to know them in a more human setting. I've never really been a part of any sort of group or clique in my life, so hanging out with so many people that share the same nerdy interest as I do was by far one of the best experiences of my life.

As for the AMV stuff...well, yeah, that was awesome too. It's funny, because people always say that ACen and AWA are the two biggest cons for AMVs, and as ACen's AMV contest was the only con I could compare AWA's to, I thought it ironic that ACen looked like a joke in comparison, at least when it came to the number of people who attended. Seeing so many people congregate in one place just to watch AMVs was unlike anything I'd ever seen before, and getting to walk in front of all of them to accept my award was something I'll never, ever forget.

All in all, AWA is something I'll be attending every year from here on out, no doubt about it :up:
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Postby Pwolf » Sat Jan 12, 2008 12:12 pm

SQ wrote:PWolf: How so?


too many people + drinking = problems for me... plus other bs...


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Postby dwchang » Sat Jan 12, 2008 2:49 pm

Pwolf wrote:
SQ wrote:PWolf: How so?


too many people + drinking = problems for me... plus other bs...


Pwolf


It's cause I wasn't there.

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Postby inthesto » Sat Jan 12, 2008 11:05 pm

What the hell is an AMV?
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