Downloaded Footage and AMV contests

anneke · Post by **anneke** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 9:29 pm

I can't find the post, but I know it's been discussed before. Using Downloaded footage is in general frowned on. Sending a video to an AMV contest that uses downloaded footage is even more frowned on. So if people want to discuss or point me to the original discussion it would be appreciated.

Recently I watched a contest where an entire video was made out of downloaded footage (it was obvious from the quality). The video went on to win the contest. AND the anime they used is Licensed and on DVD in the US so there is no excuse for using downloaded footage.

Opinions?

-Anneke

BasharOfTheAges · Post by **BasharOfTheAges** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 9:40 pm

Yea, that happens in small contests. Quite often too. Since a lot of people seem to be against entering small cons they're not going to if they're good at this, they get the bottom of the barrel to work with. Couple that with people rigging votes by getting lots of friends to vote for them (again, not that hard in small cons) and you get things that win that look very poorly made from fan subbed or tv capped sources. It's all in the sake of fairness though, right?

Org Profile · Post by **Otohiko** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 9:42 pm

I think it's up to the contest organizers to manage this. Personally I have no problem with it BUT there are a lot of grey areas and just plain old bad compression. I'd personally be more inclined to disqualify on the basis of quality rather than ethics and source - source is much harder to figure out (and let's not forget that it's possible to download DVD images, too).

There's nothing inherently bad in downloaded footage, but if there can be a fair way of identifying unethical uses of it and disqualifying from contests... fine. Otherwise I don't see how this'd be distinguished from plain old poor quality.

For the record, it's well-known that a number of top-ranking and VCA-winning videos on the .org have been made of fansubs

x_rex30 · Post by **x_rex30** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 10:38 pm

Since a huge chunk of videos on the top ten % have videos using downloaded footage it isn't a big deal. A lot of them you can't even tell use downloaded footage. Like WOTB.

mangamannumber1 · Post by **mangamannumber1** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 10:41 pm

Many popular videos use download, both fansubs and raws trust me I'v seen them, though it's more aparent in betta's. Using downloads are alsomore easy for people that have trouble with all of the technical aspects of editing like encoding, ripping and compressinglike me, but hey I'm trying.

I know most cons. have a rule about no downloaded fotage, but if they can't prove it they realy can't do anything to prove it unless you can see subs.

godix · Post by **godix** » Sun Feb 04, 2007 1:38 am

There's a reason no one ever really pays attention to who won the small cons.

Small cons get fewer submissions and fewer submissions mean a often a choice of either letting in total crap or canceling the AMV competition entirely.

Smaller cons tend to have less technical people in charge. For a change I don't mean that to insult someone, it's just the guy dealing with a couple hundred videos submitted is gonna have to learn more than the guy sorting through 20 videos.

Most good editors don't submit to small cons unless they're gonna attend them. Most poor editors don't submit to small cons unless they're gonna attend them. Considering there are around two dozen good editors and thousands of bad ones guess what the ratio of good editors vs poor editors attending a small con is like.

When almost anything is allowed in by sheer necessity then it's easier to play to the crowd and win a 'You didn't suck quite as badly as the others' award. Speaking as someone who's won several awards this way, it's easy to do even if you aren't intentionally going for it.

So, lesson of the day, make a naruto comedy/action video with lots of flashies. Submit to every con you've never heard of that posts in the amv contests forum. Sit back and collect the free anime/trophies.