AXNY Winners

Scott A Melzer · Post by **Scott A Melzer** » Mon Sep 02, 2002 4:24 pm

In their defense, Megazone (the guy who ran the contest) seemed like a really nice guy who was trying to do his best. He seemed like someone trying to deal with a huge pile of things going wrong. The crowd was getting unruly while waiting in line (not much, but enough to annoy the security people) and I'm sure that the mood in the room wasn't the best.

People chose their own categories. Not their fault. But it did seem weird for some of them. At Otakon, I had wanted my video to be a drama one, but felt that it had too much action in it so I put it in the action category, even though it also had some sad parts. But there were a lot of fast paced "drama" videos there. At AX, I put it in Drama. I found it funny that "Bebopping" also moved its category from Action to Drama. Funny...

BUT, it did sick that the videos weren't really in any order. If you check the list (I posted them under conventions) you'll see that videos seem to be in the order in which they were received or something. Putting that one girl's videos all at the beginning kind of sucked. I also thought that her reaction (she was sitting next to me) was pretty bad. She said, "No one who goes first ever wins!" She was also almost crying during the showing and got up and ran out after her last one was shown. I thought, "That's not the right thing to feel about your AMVs being shown." People are far too worried about winning, about competing with others.

Personally, I feel that videos have been really mediocre lately. maybe it's people not sending their best to local cons and saving them for AWA. I only saw the drama videos, but I just wasn't very moved by any of them (including mine, which I feel is pretty mediocre). Most videos that were pretty good were good in parts, but then kind of died in others. Why is that? I don't know, but I think that people are too concerned with competition rather than making something moving. I've heard the term, "I'm making a XXXX killer!" far too often, wich people just trying to beat other people or particular videos. I've seen some of these "killers." Usually they just suck. You make something for the wrong reason, it falls flat.

Congrats to the winners. I'm sorry that I didn't get to see three out of the four videos that won this year. *sigh*

jbone · Post by **jbone** » Mon Sep 02, 2002 4:42 pm

Scott A Melzer wrote:In their defense, Megazone (the guy who ran the contest) seemed like a really nice guy who was trying to do his best.

I agree, the guy running it seemed to mean well. It's not his fault that the so-called "democratic" method for selecting winners is inherently flawed.

Scott A Melzer wrote:Congrats to the winners. I'm sorry that I didn't get to see three out of the four videos that won this year. *sigh*

There were only three winning videos... the comedy winner was also best od show.

Paul Kievits · Post by **Paul Kievits** » Mon Sep 02, 2002 4:49 pm

Scott A Melzer wrote:I also thought that her reaction (she was sitting next to me) was pretty bad. She said, "No one who goes first ever wins!" She was also almost crying during the showing and got up and ran out after her last one was shown. I thought, "That's not the right thing to feel about your AMVs being shown." People are far too worried about winning, about competing with others.

Personally, I feel that videos have been really mediocre lately. maybe it's people not sending their best to local cons and saving them for AWA. I only saw the drama videos, but I just wasn't very moved by any of them (including mine, which I feel is pretty mediocre). Most videos that were pretty good were good in parts, but then kind of died in others. Why is that? I don't know, but I think that people are too concerned with competition rather than making something moving. I've heard the term, "I'm making a XXXX killer!" far too often, wich people just trying to beat other people or particular videos. I've seen some of these "killers." Usually they just suck. You make something for the wrong reason, it falls flat.

Amen to that, I should quote you somehere, but then again no one listens to me...

ellji · Post by **ellji** » Mon Sep 02, 2002 5:04 pm

I was very surprised that Beboppin' had won for Drama. Although I suppose I shouldn't be; fans love their fanservice. I, myself, found it very difficult to choose, but finally decided upon Gravity of Utena. I *did* try to keep the category in mind. ^_^

Super Smash Bros Melee was a great video (better the second time I saw it), but I thought Once Upon A Hero (also by DJ Fritz) was deserving of the award. It was dramatic, moving, built suspense with great timing and sequences, and fit the Action/Adventure category best. (There were really a lot that didn't, IMO)

West Side Bebop was the one winner I thought was definitely most deserving of Best Comedy. It does fit the category as it is a parody. And certainly received its own laughs from the audience both showings. The time and effort Kevin C. and Bryon Y. must have put into making that video was very impressive. I'm not surprised it won Overall.

I agree that I had hoped there would be amvs of better quality at the contest overall, but I think the entries that ultimately won don't disappoint. :)

ellji

Scott A Melzer · Post by **Scott A Melzer** » Mon Sep 02, 2002 5:49 pm

D'oh! I mean, I didn't see the "best of show" one twice. Yeah, that's it..

As flawed as viewer voting may be, I still prefer it. Each video should be equally represented and all the right data should be on the ballot (not having the show makes it hard, since most people remember "That Big O video!" or something).

I really don't want all (some, yes, but not all) cons to move to a peer voting system. I think it's good to have an award for a judged video, but if creators are the only ones judging, then we lose our audience. Yeah, the crowds don't pick what WE think are the best videos, and you wouldn't want creators to make only "sell out" videos. Ah, enough whining from me...

MistyCaldwell · Post by **MistyCaldwell** » Mon Sep 02, 2002 6:32 pm

Scott- By saying that most of the videos lately have been mediocre, were you implying all the amvs from all the cons you have been to this year or just AXNY?....Or maybe I should wait to ask this question after you've been to AWA...

I was just thinking that it does seem a lot of videos lately seem to be made for winning. They over use effects or fan service. But I guess it's a matter of perspective because I still think there were a lot of great ones drama videos at Otakon. I especially liked the Pompoko one which had little to no effects at all.

I was watching my Otakon 2000 and 1999 tapes today (since I can't make it to any more cons since October I'm having some minor withdrawl ^_~) and I realized they didn't have a lot of effects but they were pretty good videos. Are you comparing the newer ones to these older ones or maybe something else? I'm just curious to know what you mean exactly

Maybe just some videos are relying too heavily on effects and have no heart you mean? I don't know what all videos played at AXNY, but I thought the crop at Otakon this year was pretty memorable.

dokidoki · Post by **dokidoki** » Mon Sep 02, 2002 6:36 pm

Scott A Melzer wrote:She said, "No one who goes first ever wins!"

That's not true. It can be trickier in some respects, but it happens. It sucks that all of her videos were shown first, but not enough to warrant that reaction, IMO. I agree with the rest of the stuff you said.

Scott A Melzer · Post by **Scott A Melzer** » Mon Sep 02, 2002 6:56 pm

Heya Misty!

Over all, I've been disappointed with videos for the last year or so. I thought that Otakon 2001 wasn't as good as 2000, and that 2002 wasn't as good as 2001. Yes, there were exceptions, of course. One of my all time favourite videos has to be Vlad's "Memories Dance" which was from last year.

So, I didn't mean just AXNY's videos were disppointing, but that the ones at all the cons that I've gone to this year were. I'm not saying that they ALL were, just that over all it's not been exciting.

I sort of judge a contest (subconsciously) by the number of truly remarkable videos that I've seen in it. Some of it may be the relying on effects, and to be fair, some if it may be the disappointment in my own work. I don't know. But, for whatever reason, very few have actually grabbed me. It's been a while since my jaw has hit the ground and I just think "Wow!" Most of my favourite videos, I'll admit, are old ones with few if any effects. People seem more interested in lens flares and strobing and such, and that seems to get other people excited. So, maybe it's just me, but I feel that there's been less "heart" as of late. Most drama videos seem to be more action, and the action videos seem to be all about rapid cuts and strobing. I mean this to be no insult to people creating some fine videos today. They just seem to be... too few and far between. I personally feel that my last "good" video was made in 2000, but it's one that didn't get much response, so maybe that's me.

There ARE a lot of fan service videos, and I don't really think that there's anything wrong with that. It's a type of video. Standing next to a subtler, more powerful video they don't look so good. And there have been good ones lately. Maybe it's that we're all so overexposed to each other's work that we haven't been experimenting so much, or that we care a lot more about competing than making something memorable. Are we sacrificing subtlety for overt crowd pleasing? Are we trying to follow the "bigger is better" credo? Is it just that there are SO many of them now, so that every Trigun video looks the same?

I can't tell you why I've been finding videos to be... lacking lately. I just don't know. I'm glad that you think they're still strong, though. It's been a long time (except for Memories Dance) since something's moved me like Bobby Beaver's "Forever Young." I think we're lacking concept. Not just the "I'm doing X to Y" but the actual CONCEPT. I think we're lacking depth in our work.

Okay, enough whining from me... again...

Tom the Fish · Post by **Tom the Fish** » Mon Sep 02, 2002 9:22 pm

Hey Scott,

I thought your Tenchi video was the best of the Drama! I didn't vote in the drama catagory however since my wife's video caused a conflict of interest...

It was nice to see Tenchi portrayed as the potential hero.

Tom

MistyCaldwell · Post by **MistyCaldwell** » Mon Sep 02, 2002 10:23 pm

Thanks for clearing that up Scott

I believe personally I can tell the difference between a video that uses a lot of effects and one that uses too much...although that is probably just my opinion disguised as judgement.

Anyway, I think I agree with you that the older videos were quite good. Maybe the reason some videos lack nowdays isn't because people are different but the technology is. It's easier/faster to synch, fade, mix, strobe, etc. and people just aren't focusing on the actually video over the delivery. So they focus on keeping the time and form and don't see what they are actually making as one whole piece. Maybe this is the case.

I have to agree that fan service videos don't look that good compared to videos with heart...well at least not to me ^_~ they have little appeal to me in the first place.

But even all this said, I still think that isn't the case with all the amv's coming out. I've seen some pretty good ones the past year. There is always next year to show you it can be good...at Otakon of course