AkaiCon 2013 AMV Contest DEADLINE: September 20th 2013

[YamiTenouStudios]

Accepting submissions! Deadline: September 20th 2013!

Rules are subject to change.

AMV Categories:
Action, Drama, Comedy, Con Theme: Post-Apocalyptic, and Pro.

Contest Rules
AMV Restrictions
Maximum Length: Soft cap at 2 minutes, hard cap at 6 minutes.
Content: G-PG-13- No excessive nudity or violence.
No Intros or Outros.
No text in the video that does not pertain to the video itself.
Accepted Formats:
Video: AVI, mp4,
Audio: wav and mp3
Files only. Physical Media will NOT be accepted.

Submission Restrictions

NO ENTRIES WILL BE ACCEPTED AFTER SEPTEMBER 20TH 2013.
NO ENTRIES WILL BE ACCEPTED AT THE CONVENTION.
You may submit TWO videos in any category.
You must attend the convention to be eligible for awards due to it being the first year.

How to Submit a Video

Complete and submit the form for each AMV submitted. Click the link for the form: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dGxMUjlvaXQtSGoxekU1NWR2dExnUHc6MQ#gid=0
Choose ONE of the following methods of delivery:
a) E-mail a link to your video to akaiconamv@gmail.com (I'd prefer DropBox or snailmail)
b) DropBox the video to akaiconamv@gmail.com
c) Burn a single copy of your AMV to a CD or DVD as a File. Snailmail it to:

AkaiCon AMV
736 Winding Bluff Way
Clarksville TN 37040
For any further questions or concerns please email: akaiconamv@gmail.com

Visit AkaiCon at http://www.akai-con.webs.com

[Scintilla]

I think the most important question to ask here is: Can you describe the Pro category?

Other than that, what codecs are acceptable for the AVI and MP4 video formats?

And what do you mean by the "soft cap"? The majority of non-trailer videos entered to AMV contests tend to be over two minutes long.

[YamiTenouStudios]

Basically here are examples from what I think are my opinions on the category: (The videos below are NOT mine but examples.)

Action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQRiwKlMy4U ( Anything with battles, Action really is self explanatory)

Drama: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8tcoPAltIo (Anything romantic, serious, literally a tearjerker, emotional scenes (don't be too graphic with excessive blood or sexual)

Comedy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1c0Lle01_M ( Anything funny, fun, dance, upbeat)

Con Theme: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrX-0UI3HOk (Anything that can happen when the world is destroyed. Either space, zombie, futuristic)

Pro: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMm6wvzDosI (Anything goes with majority of lots of graphics, video going with song, lip syncing)

Codec wise? The DVD that the whole contest will be on will have to be only AVI, MP4 or WMV. So that the DVD player will be able to play it without any issues. Our tech that we have for our con will be meeting with me before the con to make sure it works so I don't have to go all ghetto and get the videos from my computer and click on them one by one. I am going to be pretty fancy about the contest itself.

Soft cap means nothing under two minutes. I like seeing videos that are longer, keeps people entertained and not saying " That was too short" or "That was great! Just really slow.."

Does this help at all?

[Scintilla]

I asked specifically about Pro because some other contests have had trouble in the past with categories with similar names, with confusion between the coordinators and the contestants on just what the criteria were.

I saw that it said AVI, MP4, or WMV only, but I asked about codecs within AVI and MP4. For example, if we're sending an AVI, should/can we encode the video as uncompresed, or HuffYUV, or Lagarith, or UTVideo, or XviD, or...?

... Also, you have a DVD player that can also do MP4 and WMV? I'm impressed.

Thanks for clearing up the two minute rule. When I saw "soft cap", I assumed cap meant maximum rather than minimum, which led me to the rather odd interpretation that you discouraged (but didn't outright prohibit) entries over two minutes.

[YamiTenouStudios]

When I meant contest on a DVD, I meant on a computer..I did not clarify that enough.

Codec wise XviD is the only one I know to tell you the truth, I never really have been asked that question.

As I said Pro basically on beat with the song, how it impacts me and the audience when viewed. More so me, because I am the one with final say along with my staff.

[YamiTenouStudios]

Still accepting submissions.


www.akai-con.webs.com

[l33tmeatwad]

When I meant contest on a DVD, I meant on a computer..I did not clarify that enough.

Codec wise XviD is the only one I know to tell you the truth, I never really have been asked that question.

As I said Pro basically on beat with the song, how it impacts me and the audience when viewed. More so me, because I am the one with final say along with my staff.

XviD is very outdated and not great quality for accepting submissions. If I were you I would only accept AVIs that use lossless codecs. If you have any technical questions concerning codecs and what would be best for codecs for future contests, feel free to drop me a message or hunt me down on skype and I'll try to answer any questions you may have !

[YamiTenouStudios]

Awesome. Thanks so much. I will be sure to make that change. AVI's are a lot easier, I agree. Thanks again!