NEW AMV Contest in Colorado!! (Deadline 31-Dec-15!)

[Geirr]

Hello:

A new anime convention in Colorado wants entries!!
This is their first year, but they are hoping for up to 2,000 attendees:

http://www.coloradoanimefest.com/site-a ... 6d6b793e70


CATEGORIES:

There are FIVE categories for the 2016 contest:

UPBEAT / DANCE MUSIC
We're looking for fast-paced fun.

INTENSITY
Action, suspense, wild digital effects, conflict, triumph, and despair!

INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC
Any style of AMV, but no words in the music.

RANDOM AMUSEMENT
Weird. Funny? Surprising!

TRAILERS
Now playing at an AMV contest near you...
Fake commercials also fit in here.

MAXIUMUM FILE SIZE for an AMV is 330MB.
Maximum AMV duration is 5:00 minutes.

Submit up to FOUR AMVs total, and TWO in any one category.
(Note: The judges panel may move AMVS around as they see fit,
and if no category is declared they will try to fit it into a category first.)

CONTENT IS PG-13.

I will be helping them get going for their first year, so feel free to
PM me with URLs for download entries, or email me at guy1656 [at] centurylink [dot] net

Thank you all and GOOD LUCK!

[Xophilarus]

No drama focused category? o-o

[flamefield]

I think that's the 'intensity' category....
but in any case hey I live in CO so I'm definitely entering and attending now. I'll be entering my amv's late in December

[Pathos Prime]

This seems interesting. It's like action and drama have been combined into one category?

Quick question - do submitters have to choose one category (i.e. "Intensity" OR "Instrumental Music") when they submit? Or will any video set to lyricless music automatically qualify for the Instrumental Music category in addition to Intensity/Upbeat/Random?

[The_McLaughlin]

I may submit something to this. I live in Colorado so I may attend next year, I don't have money to go this time, but I had heard of the convention after NDK and I'm interested, but broke. So maybe I'll try and get something done for this so I can kind of participate. Yay more anime conventions in Colorado.

[Xophilarus]

Hmm, I just think it is a really not sound decision to put the two biggest categories together xD. The intensity category will get probably 2 -3 times as many submissions as any of the others.

Edit: In addition to this, a lot of drama videos like most romances, and more sentimental things can't even really qualify for a category called "intensity" since that is the opposite of what they are xD.

[BecauseImBored1]

How many can we send? I got an instrumental and a wierd one

[Geirr]

Alright, thanks for the interest everyone! I contacted them with these questions and get 'official' answers as soon as I can.
Meanwhile, I think I can GUESS that they'll allow up to 4 entries per participant (I'll confirm asap.)
I am also asking them to confirm MAX TIME limits for the AMVs.

About DRAMA styles: If you make it instrumental at the same time, a drama-style AMV can compete there. Romance in an instrumental music mode can be very compelling - the lack of words allows a different kind of concentrated viewing and experience.

'INTENSITY' is *anything* that glues eyeballs to the screen: so this includes action, effects, and YES even DRAMA, *but* the situation which creates the drama has to be INTENSE! So: a conflict of two strong-willed characters can work, a relationship that cannot be destroyed (despite INTENSE intervening forces) or a relationship that cannot be SAVED despite intense, sincere attempts - all of those drama themes and more - WILL work for 'Intensity.'

Unfortunately for DRAMA or drama/romance as its own category, a LOT of con audiences treat this as 'the bathroom break,' and I can't count the number of times (like when I went to Kumoricon) that I saw 1/5 to 1/4 the room dump out. Blame the convention fans (as opposed to online contests mostly judges within the AMV community, I suppose.)

Drama AMVs also tend to be the ones that push right up to the time limit duration-wise, which means that for portion of the audience that bails on the category, they have the longest most excruciating wait before the contest gets back in gear (for them,) and they may end up wandering off into other panels. (Just relating what I've observed at cons.)

- G

[Geirr]

This seems interesting. It's like action and drama have been combined into one category?

Quick question - do submitters have to choose one category (i.e. "Intensity" OR "Instrumental Music") when they submit? Or will any video set to lyricless music automatically qualify for the Instrumental Music category in addition to Intensity/Upbeat/Random?

You get to pick the category(s) for any AMVs you submit.
You can also NOT pick a category and let the judges see where it might fit best.

The judges make more than one pass through the categories, and so typically an AMV which drops out of one category but qualifies for another will get tested at least once in the other categories that it counts for. You don't have to ask for the second category, if they think it might fit, they'll give it another go for you. This *does* mean that you *might* see your AMV pop up in an unexpected place if it fits there.

So the upbeat, SILLY/FUN, instrumental AMV will get a whack at each of those possibilities.

Thanks for your question,

- G

[Xophilarus]

Unfortunately for DRAMA or drama/romance as its own category, a LOT of con audiences treat this as 'the bathroom break,' and I can't count the number of times (like when I went to Kumoricon) that I saw 1/5 to 1/4 the room dump out. Blame the convention fans (as opposed to online contests mostly judges within the AMV community)

- G

The easy way to.fix this is just have drama categories go.first. A lot of contests do it that way I have attended, and they never have those kinds of issues.