Anime Expo 2010 Anime Music Video Contest Rules Up

[Radical_Yue]

It's true. This is a basic standard that would drop down the amount of entries to be screened to a minimum. After all, if you don't care enough to encode properly, then you obviously don't care enough about whether you make it into the contest or not :/

Let me further amend that. If my standards were imposed, we might not even make it to 28 videos.

For example, got fake letterboxing to hide subtitles? DQ. Got crystal clear source yet you accidentally let one single ever-so-brief frame of subtitle slip by? DQ. Y'know those vids that appear to have pristine source yet have those itty bitty NHK network logos? DQ. Got jagged edges? DQ.

Subtitles and logos in AMVs are always a no no.

However, not everyone can get their sources picture perfect, I know in heck I can't. I can get by with pretty good quality but it may never be picture perfect. I say if the quality is good enough to blow up on a giant screen and doesnt look like utter crap, then it should be fine.

Focusing too much on the quality and not the editing can also make up a bunch of not so good lineup. An amv can have the best quality in the entire world... but if it's just one sequence of an episode put to music, that defeats the purpose of an enjoyable and well edited amv...

Basic quality means:
-Subtitles
-Bouncing AR
-Clean Source (No amounts of massive pixelation/macroblocking/interlacing)
-Studio/Editor Name/Logos
-Bumpers/credits
-Standard requirements of encoding such as format/etc...chosen by the con

Small TV logos can be forgivable, but normally those who care enough will either work around them or cut them out of the source.

No need for perfection. Just standards.

[Hagaren Viper]

In the time it took me to type, leave for 15 minutes, and them come back and finish typing, it seems that my point has alreayd been stated, but whatevs...

A group of ten to fifteen staffers (mostly AMV fans and/or people whose opinion Michael trusts) are invited to the office. They sit and watch a vid. They write a score for that vid on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 to 10 for AMTV) on the criteria of "Fun", "Tech", and "Concept". They move on to the next vid. Repeat until ridiculously late hours.

This part here sounds pretty sketchy to me. I really don't know how other contests are run, so I could be off the mark here, but wouldn't it make sense to have some people who actually make AMVs in the judging? 'Mostly AMV fans' sounds pretty vague - 50% of youtube is made of AMV fans, and they're the kind of people to see a barely edited AMV of the newest fight from [Insert anime here] and declare it the best AMV ever.

I'm sure you do have people on the judging team who really do know a good AMV from a bad one [I mean, why else would they be there otherwise?], but I feel like there needs to be more presence from some actual editors as well - just look at the announcement forums, AMV editors are great at judging each other

But in all seriousness, having another editor or two would probably help keep things like that from happening. Like take last year with Blue Orchid, I'm not familiar with Zetsubou Sensei at at all, but I figured something was up when there were credits in the video. Later, my non-amving friend came up to me and mentioned how she liked the 'Zetsubou video with all the effects'. >>

I dunno, I just feel AMV editors have a better eye for this as they have worked with the medium more. Many people here know what makes a good video and a bad one, they have an eye for quality, they're bound to be familiar with many anime. The majority of the editors here seem surprised with the finalist results, and seeing things like My Drive Thru and....anything by the guy who made Death Note Rhapsody make it in over editors like Rider, Castor and Kaz... I may not know all of the entries that people may be talking about, but I honestly say I'm not too surprised at the backlash.

I guess my point is that either have some editors volunteer their time to judge, or as Yue says, use the wonderful world of the internet. Upload the entries to an FTP, have some quality editors look at them. I'm sure a lot of people would be willing.

On a related note, it seems like the judged lean towards 'concept' in some cases rather than editing. Death Note and Bohemiean Rhapsody is really a pretty interesting combo - 'Story of a Girl' and Mamimi from FLCL seems like a pretty great combination [Admittedly, I havent seen all of FLCL yet]...but the editing was so bland, that they really didn't work.

Also, I mean no offense to xstylus - He's a creator, and has already stated that his methods of judging are more strict than DP's...he just happens to be outnumbered, it seems.

[Kisanzi]

I'm gonna make my own videos from video game openings with ACTUAL EDITING, so this dude doesn't get in next year.

Nooo...that's the one AMV I'm actually editing this year. :O


As for the rest of this rant-a-thon, yes, the judging needs to be overhauled. More creators need to be involved in screening and judging, and of those creators there needs to be a couple who know the tech side of editing, especially for the Pro category. If AX wants to continue having a category for the explicit reason of judging technical editing then they better have people who know technical editing picking the vids. If this seems to be too much of a task for the staff then why not drop the "pro" from the category and make it into just AMtv again?

[Niotex]

First of all, everyone needs to calm down. I'm going to run down a few things that I feel should be addressed.

People shouldn't be faulting DP entirely for this. By all means he's probably the least at fault with all this. I probably more then most people posting here understand the amount of work he has to do. I'd like to think I have the perspective from both the coordinator/host as well as the editors. Now let me be very clear with the fact that AX is vastly different from the contests I run over here in Holland. While I do take care of almost everything from start to finish the sheer volume of AX is indeed considerably larger. I'm not going to draw a direct comparison with DP but for reference sake I will list a few things that fall under my duties.

• Writing rules
  Accepting/Confirming submissions
  Cross check against org database
  Re-encode/Trans-code if needed
  Create opening/Intermission visuals
  Test run in venue
  Present/Host
  A lot of running around

Now people understand what I do for a couple of cons. This is also inherently different from DP's duties and method of working. So I would actually like to ask people don't draw a comparison between DP and myself. The sheer volume of entries makes a big difference as I'm able to do a live ~40 man judging panel 50% editors, 50% crowd. Also makes thing's like crosschecking and weeding out video's a lot easier. Granted considering I did/do this multiple times a year the numbers do add up as-well.

Now a inherent problem that I see with all this is the judging panel. My biggest concern is how 'educated' the judges are. As this latest blunder with the Persona video is hard to get around considering the large pool of judges. I'm having a hard time believing that none of the judges noticed the obvious opening. I'm not going to talk about possible other video's that didn't make it for reasons unknown. But this brings up something that I myself personally have found a decent remedy for at my contests. However you want to set up your judging panel be it live,prejudged,editors choice etc. I would highly recommend you would take some editors in who actually know what they're doing. I can imagine that I'm possibly offending some of the possible judges reading this. But one must understand how we as editors must feel in a situation like this. I'm not going to speak for my own video on this though. But this truly is degrading for both the people who made it into the finals as well as those who didn't. For those who didn't make it the reason is obvious. But even for those who did make it, who spend weeks and months working on their projects. And then have them deemed on the same level as a video of such caliber is somewhat degrading.

Now personally I feel like DQ'ing the video's in question would be the right thing to do. As keeping it like this is surely to demotivate people from working as hard next year. As well as completely ruin the mood for everyone entering and attending.

Now to straighten some things out with people tossing my name around. As for me holding off on posting initially. I've discussed my concerns with some people off board as I felt that voicing my opinion as I am now would generate a 'shit storm'. Which is something I had wished to avoid. A lot of what people are saying are true for the most part, however everyone seems to be getting a few things wrong making me look bad. I'm not out to belittle or kick people down. Nor am I in a position to flame anyone or even get remotely pissed off at someone. I am not Jesus I do not walk on water nor do I automatically turn shit contest into awesome-gasm events. People generally seem to have the wrong impression of me. I'm sorry most if not all of you are wrong on at least some points. And to address something specifically to Rider. While I'm not particularly fond of you I don't see why I would laugh about this or belittle you on the matter.

Turning back to the issues at hand. It needs to be fixed and I'm sure it will get fixed. Hopefully sooner then later but I'm sure DP and the other judges reading this agree. I hope I've given some insight on everything without being biased.

Now in this spoiler tag I address my own video. This stands separate from what I just posted above.

Spoiler :

Now with that out of the way I'm going to be absolutely cocky and biased. How did Eidolon, one of the most technical advanced video's in the community to date NOT get to the finals of a technical specific category?

[Castor Troy]

Now in this spoiler tag I address my own video. This stands separate from what I just posted above.

Spoiler :

Now with that out of the way I'm going to be absolutely cocky and biased. How did Eidolon, one of the most technical advanced video's in the community to date NOT get to the finals of a technical specific category?

I wanna see this rotoscoped rain.

[Niotex]

Now in this spoiler tag I address my own video. This stands separate from what I just posted above.

Spoiler :

Now with that out of the way I'm going to be absolutely cocky and biased. How did Eidolon, one of the most technical advanced video's in the community to date NOT get to the finals of a technical specific category?

I wanna see this rotoscoped rain.

I ditched that comp for a 26000x19000 VPE [dirty/proxy] comp with real DoF. Due to con rushing I was unable to include the DoF compatible rain. Final will include this so rest assure that once it is released you'll get your rain.

[Brad]

Can I just go on the record and say, in the case of the Persona video, I certainly wouldn't have assumed he just ripped the opening and stuck it on some music. Never played the game. Would that fact have made me a fail-judge?

[Sephiroth]

OH MY GOD THE AMV CONTEST HAS DISBANDED!
*JUMPS OUT A WINDOW*
Rider: No the contest is still going on

*Jumps back in the window*
Me: Oh

In that case i'll cast my vote assuming we have any such abilities for this issue to the DQing and possible banning of the editor from next years contest at the least.

A clear message that says this isn't OK to do needs to ring out loud and clear.

Other then that i do wonder what vid will end up replacing it. Id of coarse like it to be mine but i already got into my one vid per decade into AX finals.

I hope this doesn't happen again next year also i should be in the LA area again come spring i am offering judging help if you want it for next year. After all it's not like id make it in anyways.

[Niotex]

I think banning the editor from future AX contests would be going overboard. As there is no indication of false intend or trolling.

[Radical_Yue]

I think banning the editor from future AX contests would be going overboard. As there is no indication of false intend or trolling.

I agree, if you read the comments the kid leaves for the video on youtube...he doesn't seem to know exactly what he's doing.
He's just putting "Persona clips with *insert song title here*"
Since AX kept taking him in, why should we punish the special child with the protective helmet?