AWA 2005 Pro Contest Discussion Thread

AquaSky · Post by **AquaSky** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 6:42 am

Not just a location thing; I'm in Florida and still no DVDs for me yet.

aoi_neko · Post by **aoi_neko** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 9:17 am

First, I wanna say that judging these isn't as damned easy as I thought it would be. Before seeing them, I expected that it would at least be very easy to toss 3/4 of them to the side and say "these didn't make the cut," but with a few exceptions these are all pretty good.

One thing I think it's perfectly safe to talk about (and where, blind judging or not, it's desirable to have some discussion) is categories -- Of the pred-determined categories, "action", "drama," and "comedy" are going to be huge, while a couple of the others are pretty slim. The AWA rules suggest that we can certainly add categories in the nominations as we see fit, but doing that in complete isolation just adds noise. If I say "well, we need a 'best technical,'" and you say "well, we need a 'best effects,'" for example, they'll almost end up as the same thing. I don't think trying to come together on that issue violates the spirit of blind judging at all.

Some thoughts: There isn't a "best technical" in the pre-determined list. Is it a worthwhile category, do you think? There were a few trailers, for example. Do you guys think there were enough to nominate a "best trailer" as distinct from just "comedy." Heck, at least one of the trailers that I recall offhand was closer to drama anyway.

Anyone have any thoughts on how to sort out "drama?" If "drama" means "anything non-comedy that isn't obviously action" it really needs to be broken down some...

Is it kosher to ask questions like "Umm, I should know the anime in #63. Can someone remind me what it is?" (Mods: any number in the 60's is just an example. They don't go that high.) And do we pretty much agree that it's not kosher to ask "is #64 more action or romance?" or am I being my grandma to worry about that?

anneke · Post by **anneke** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 10:09 am

The only thing I will say about the contest is that you should watch and pay attention to EVERY video in the contest. It's only fair that way. I knew when I entered the contest I would have to sit threw every single video. Last year there were some that I wanted to shot myself in the head due to how much I hated them, but I sat threw the entire thing. The idea of skipping over a video is horrid. I wouldn't want anyone to skip over my video because they didn't like the song or something, and so I give other people's videos the respect I hope my own gets. There is a form where if your a minor you have to fill out, because your suppose to watch every video and some may contain adult material. If watching ever video wasn't important to this contest, they could send out edited version of the contests to minors, so they wouldn't have to fill out the parental consent form. (shrugs)

Anneke

StudioKZ · Post by **StudioKZ** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 10:17 am

First of all, let me say that this is exactly what I had in mind:

aoi_neko wrote:First, I wanna say that judging these isn't as damned easy as I thought it would be. Before seeing them, I expected that it would at least be very easy to toss 3/4 of them to the side and say "these didn't make the cut," but with a few exceptions these are all pretty good.

I agree, I was definitely expecting more entries, but with fewer that actually could make the cut. To say the least, I'm pleasantly surprised. In that 'great, now I have to work harder' sort of way.

Is it kosher to ask questions like "Umm, I should know the anime in #63. Can someone remind me what it is?" (Mods: any number in the 60's is just an example. They don't go that high.) And do we pretty much agree that it's not kosher to ask "is #64 more action or romance?" or am I being my grandma to worry about that?

I'm not really sure at this point. In past years, blind judging only referred to knowing who made the video, the source materials were still available. This year, not so much. As for categories, I'm sure there's a particular process for it on the site, but it's best to try reaching a consensus and then again, if you get unlimited nominations individually, there's nothing to stop you nominated #64 for both Action AND Romance...

Kusoyaro · Post by **Kusoyaro** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 10:26 am

Bit of a tangent here...
Does anyone have any idea when the deadline for the first round of nominations is going to be? My schedule is extremely tight for the next few weeks, and going through all the videos is going to take a considerable chunk of time...it'd be helpful to know how long it'll be until I absolutely have to carve out the time to do it.

aoi_neko · Post by **aoi_neko** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 10:59 am

Was that directed at me, anneke? I didn't at all mean to imply that I was skipping videos or expecting to. What I was expecting was that out of 60-some-odd videos, I really thought that at least half could be excluded from any further consideration after the first viewing. To be real precise, I though that the first pass would allow me to scrawl down a category and a star-scale, and then I could simply eliminate everything I'd scored low. I was just (pleasantly) surprised at how many made it to the "watch these again" pile.

Yeah, StudioKZ, I could. I just kind of hate to have 3 categories with 15 each while 3 others have 5 each. The idea of "#65 is better than #66, but I'm voting for #66 for an award because the competition is much less stiff in the 'blah' category," bothers me a bit is all.

anneke · Post by **anneke** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 11:15 am

Wasn't directed at anyone specifically. Directed at anyone who would skip videos because they didn't like the song or footage or what ever.
As long as you watch them all once that's fine. Reviewing is not neccessary for some videos, but you have to give everything the same fair chance the first time. (shrugs) I tend to have my friends come over and help me with the voting. Just because they like to sit and watch AMVs. We have a blast discussing each video.

Only 56 videos this year? Wasn't there like 75 last year or something?

Anneke

doughboy · Post by **doughboy** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 12:15 pm

Illia Sadri wrote:I do miss simple videos and I wonder if it is seen now that a good video HAS to have well crafted effects

I noticed that as well, my first reaction after seeing the first few videos (whether I personally cared for them or not) was, "well, I'm boned."

It's kinda annoying how the community only accepts pulse-jockey action videos as above par, when people who try to be more conservative get slammed for being "boring." Anyone who has never consistently touched an editing timeline otherwise will tell you that flashy videos are bothersome and that they prefered "the one that just showed clips and timed them up nicely." [/rant]

I've only watched the first 2 discs so far, and only about 4-5 of them imho were "frightful rubbish." I'm actually quite surprised at which ones I'm enjoying. I tend to dismiss many videos that are obvious ploys for fan reaction yet a couple of them I can't help but imagine will have my vote.

Looking forward to the rest, but there are a few animes I'm already quite sick of. There were thankfully a bunch so far that I was quite pleased to see represented. I'm really glad I participated this year, as it's really neat to see the full range of videos that find themselves in a contest.

Beowulf · Post by **Beowulf** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 12:15 pm

I can't wait for my pro DVDs to arive.

That said, I find the best way to judge is to watch a disc a day until the judging ends. Watch the videos over and over

Castor Troy · Post by **Castor Troy** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 12:50 pm

Since judging is actually done by editors as opposed to fans, I think they'll look at the videos from a different perspective and hopefully judge on editing as opposed to like/dislike the song/anime combo.

I personally enjoy watching videos on a big screen (with my surround system) as opposed to my computer so maybe I'll be a bit easier to please.