Anime Expo - Questions about the AMV Contest

TaranT · Post by **TaranT** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 11:30 pm

Put light meters up front, vote by waving cell phones.

anneke · Post by **anneke** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 11:52 pm

I don't know about others, but what does Xstylus know about crowd reactions when he's only made two videos? And one was done just to get 'negative' reaction.

I had videos in the finals for the last two years, and had no problem with the crowd reactions my videos got. Last year my video got what I would call 'awed silence'. It had some nice applause but there was nice whispers in the crowd about it. There are videos that put you in to a nice calm state, where you don't want to cheer. Where you relax in the awsomeness of a great video. But you can't compete with the fangirls sceaming when they see their favorite Naruto couple maybe kissing. Regardless of how good/bad a video is.

I don't think an audience needs to be yelling and screaming to enjoy an AMV contest. One of my favorite AMV contests, had my friend and I dancing in the asiles, but we weren't screaming at all. I love to hear that a video moved people to tears more then that they screamed for it.

-Anneke

XStylus · Post by **XStylus** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 1:20 am

anneke wrote:I don't know about others, but what does Xstylus know about crowd reactions when he's only made two videos? And one was done just to get 'negative' reaction.

Thank you for pointing out the obvious -- that I know the same as any other spectator. Your point? I don't need to have made even one video to be able to chime in my experiences in simply attending an AMV competition.

The point I was making is that reaction is contagious, and audience reaction has been low, thus creating a weak competition compared to older years. It's my hypothesis that the disappearance of the applause meter is the reason for this.

A lot of the points others had raised in regards to the applause meter being susceptible to shrill fangirls at the front is valid. The solution is simple though. Covertly use multiple dB meters in multiple locations. Also, people cheering for the footage used rather than the AMV itself is a valid problem too, although the same happens with ballots as well.

BasharOfTheAges · Post by **BasharOfTheAges** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 2:49 am

xstylus wrote: A lot of the points others had raised in regards to the applause meter being susceptible to shrill fangirls at the front is valid. The solution is simple though. Covertly use multiple dB meters in multiple locations. Also, people cheering for the footage used rather than the AMV itself is a valid problem too, although the same happens with ballots as well.

And the point that some of the best drama and romance videos tend to elicit emotions other than thunderous applause? Plans to address that?

KagatoAMV · Post by **KagatoAMV** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 10:26 am

xstylus wrote: The point I was making is that reaction is contagious, and audience reaction has been low, thus creating a weak competition compared to older years. It's my hypothesis that the disappearance of the applause meter is the reason for this.

I don't know, if that hypothesis were true, would it mean all other AMV contests were poorer for the lack of applause meter?

Using an applause meter might create a louder audience reaction, but thats only during the "voting" process. It certainly wouldn't make the audience's cheering louder during/after the individual video is played. They don't measure the applause during the initial video's showing, they measure it during a recap at the conclusion of a category.

So sure, the audience cheering is going to be less without an applause meter, but thats only because you're telling the audience to cheer extra loud for their favorites in order to vote. With ballot voting, you take out the whole "extra cheering" period the meter requires.

I don't think an applause meter is nearly as fair as a balloted vote. With ballots each audience member's opinion holds equal value, a louder person doesn't have more influence over the outcome than a quiet person. Nor would an extroverted person's over an introvert's. Plus I think each AMV stands more on its overall merits than how much it inspires someone to scream.

Of course, an AMV creator might enjoy a contest more thats based on audience reaction volume, but I think thats a different point than what sort of contest is more fair.

YouTube · Post by **Rider4Z** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 2:43 pm

does to applause meter also read for how long the applause lasts?

anneke · Post by **anneke** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 4:10 pm

We are also assuming that they will have multiple readers. And those multiple readers will work. They don't want to spend the time to count ballots, or spend the money to send out prizes later on, so what makes me believe they will spend the money to buy multiple decible readers (which are not cheap).

And audience screaming is not a basis for a good/bad AMV contest.

-Anneke

XStylus · Post by **XStylus** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 11:41 pm

anneke wrote:They don't want to spend the time to count ballots, or spend the money to send out prizes later on

All right, that's enough. Anneke, get your head out of your ass. You know damn well it's not about James and Katy being lazy and not wanting to count ballots. They counted them before in previous years and didn't have a single problem with doing so, and would gladly do so again if there was a post-competition ceremony to announce the results at.

As for spending money to send the prizes, I seem to recall multiple cases where James has mailed out ballots before, so that argument doesn't mesh either. As for spending the money, he'd have a friggin' AMV academy awards gala if he had the budget and upper management support. He has neither, so he does what he can.

The reason they're doing the applause meter is so that they can announce some sort of result immediately at the end of the competition, since that's the only opportunity they have been granted to do so.

They do this under the assumption that the creators would rather have an at-con result announced to all and sundry rather than a post-con result posted to the website that gets read only by the interested few. If that is an incorrect assumption, then that is the issue you need to be addressing, and in a manner bereft of your trademark bitchiness.

If the majority of creators are cool with a post-con announcement, then I am certain they'll have no problems bringing back the ballot system next year (which is actually easier on them because then they can then count the ballots post-con with as many staff as they feel like) and announce it afterward. The creators need to step forward and tell them that.

You keep implying that James and Katy don't give a fuck about the competition or are just plain lazy, when you haven't a damn clue of how many political bullets they keep dodging in order for AX's AMV competition to continue to exist. As James had explained in posts on the AMV mailing lists last year, there are people on the upper staff who have thrown a barrage of roadblocks at AMV (and its related panels) and ultimately want it to go away. So then please explain to me why James and Katy are fighting so hard to save AX's AMV competition if they didn't care or were lazy. If it's people such as yourself that they're doing this for, then perhaps they should just give up.

I humor your bullshit when its directed at me, but James fights damn hard for this competition's continued existence. Granted, he's not perfect, but don't you dare claim he's intentionally trying to pull a half-assed job.

anneke · Post by **anneke** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 12:15 am

They do this under the assumption that the creators would rather have an at-con result announced to all and sundry rather than a post-con result posted to the website that gets read only by the interested few. If that is an incorrect assumption, then that is the issue you need to be addressing...

If the majority of creators are cool with a post-con announcement, then I am certain they'll have no problems bringing back the ballot system next year (which is actually easier on them because then they can then count the ballots post-con with as many staff as they feel like) and announce it afterward. The creators need to step forward and tell them that.

I have been mentioning that the decible reader is not a good decision FOR MONTHS (not counting after previous contests) and that I would prefer the ballot method even if it means results post-con. I've been stating so for awhile now. Other creators are also stating the same. Atleast supporting that the decible reader method is not fair. yep I guess we are not stepping forward enough.

Where did they ever get the assumption that we would want the decible reader back with all the hatred it got in the past? Did they bother to ask the creators who entered for their feed back? No. Would it have been so hard to e-mail the creators and ask them? Then people have had problem with them emailing about if their entrys even arrived.

Then we've gotten use to being ignored when it comes to the AX contest. And it being brushed aside. I won't even spend the time to explain how fan media is now becoming popular by companys as a marketing scheme, and AMVs more accepted.

-Anneke

KagatoAMV · Post by **KagatoAMV** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 10:23 am

On a more positive note, the AMV contest is once more a ticketed event.

http://forums.anime-expo.org/index.php?showtopic=5992#

Earlier they were insisting that AX Idol draws more people than the AMV contest and they wouldn't need to ticket it anymore. Of course they also said the contest didn't "sell out" last year too.