godix wrote:Speaking as the winner of the 'They all sucked but I guess we have to call one of these pieces of crap the winner' award I'd just like to give a tip for anyone considering next year.
The saddest part is that I had to look at your profile to see which category you meant.
The problem with the Theme category was that the Theme absolutely sucked. People hear Movies/Stolen Scenes and immediately think Trailers. Even if last year's Broadway theme didn't get many submissions, at least we know there are
good videos out there to Broadway musicals. Anything Movie related is just inviting the crap.
I'll oblige dokidoki and admit that I'm probably stating the obvious here (although he probably represents one of the few exceptions): The fundamental problem with Comedy videos is that they're either AMV Hell Jr- a poorly organized mish-mash of punchlines, or a single funny concept stretched out over four minutes. My Comedy submission last year would be guilty of the latter if it was any longer than 2.5 minutes. Now, even as recently as Otakon '04, I remember some good comedy entries (and I remember being pissed that AMV Hell 1 beat them), and even ACen '05 had a couple enjoyable entries. But these days, how many editors can consistently produce comedy videos that sustain the laughs for four minutes? I'll put the over/under at three... then take the under.
Point is, the odds of getting five good Comedy submissions in a contest are next to nothing. My question is this: why does this category still exist?
The five traditional categories create a big, gaping hole in the typical convention format. Romance and Action are self-explanatory and you know when a video fits there. Drama is reserved for pure angst. Dance/Upbeat is reserved for an After Effects parade like that stupid Dual video that won it this year. Videos that are simply out to be whimsical and entertaining, without being LOL funny, are totally lost in the mix. My Kino's Journey video was totally out of place in Drama this year, but I submitted it there because it wasn't at all meant to generate laughs, used action only as a plot point, and I didn't dare submit it to Upbeat because I knew something like that stupid Dual video would win. There are a lot of decent videos that simply try to make people smile rather than laugh or cry. The Org has categories like Fun and Character Profile, and I really think conventions should start to follow suit instead of simply forfeiting awards to half-assed "comedies."
