Discussion: Editor Opinions on Convention Contests

Announcement & discussion of Anime Music Video contests
User avatar
PieandBeer
Most Important Meal
Joined: Fri Nov 23, 2012 12:57 am
Org Profile

Discussion: Editor Opinions on Convention Contests

Post by PieandBeer » Wed Feb 15, 2017 9:46 pm

Hiya guys,

Spurred by an article in the upcoming February AMV Monthly, I wanted to start a conversation about anime convention AMV contests. With the con season quickly coming into full-swing, I thought this would be a good time to solicit some opinions and/or rants from editors about the present and history of these contests. I posed some pointed questions at the coordinators, some of them being active editors themselves, to get their perspectives as the people running these contests (well, Kireblue did, but I take all the credit). Their answers will be available the February edition of AMV Monthly. Now I would like to get your opinions. I have provided some starter questions, but feel free to allow the discussion to evolve. Just remember to keep it cool, dudes ;)

1. How do you feel about the way categories have changed over the years and between contests? Has this caused any struggles or confusion while you are entering videos?
2. How do you think audiences and contests differ between smaller and larger conventions?
3. How do you feel about freshness vs. award limits on videos?
4. What method of entering videos do you believe is the easiest?
5. What is something you would like contest coordinators to know that might make the convention contest experience better for editors?

User avatar
TritioAFB
Ambassador of the AMVWorld
Joined: Fri Sep 04, 2009 12:38 am
Status: Doctor
Location: Honduras
Org Profile

Re: Discussion: Editor Opinions on Convention Contests

Post by TritioAFB » Wed Feb 15, 2017 10:41 pm

first question: Can I participate?
Specialist in Geriatric Medicine

User avatar
PieandBeer
Most Important Meal
Joined: Fri Nov 23, 2012 12:57 am
Org Profile

Re: Discussion: Editor Opinions on Convention Contests

Post by PieandBeer » Thu Feb 16, 2017 7:42 am

iiiii dunno, are you cool and an editor? if so, then yes :D

User avatar
SilverLugia345
Joined: Wed Mar 26, 2014 3:40 pm
Org Profile

Re: Discussion: Editor Opinions on Convention Contests

Post by SilverLugia345 » Fri Feb 17, 2017 12:25 am

Um sure I would like to answer those questions, if I may. ^_^

How do you feel about the way categories have changed over the years and between contests? Has this caused any struggles or confusion while you are entering videos?

I really haven't entered into many amv contests (maybe its just because I'm shy to let others view my amvs. Not sure though xD). This year though I just realized that I have entered 3 separate ones (wow). From what I saw I think new categories are being added or changed to match anime releases and just general favorite categories editors like to enter. For me this hasn't cause any confusion or struggles because I'm always trying to think of different videos to edit. It brings a new challenge for me.

How do you think audiences and contests differ between smaller and larger conventions?

That I can't really answer from personal experience because to be honest I have never went to an anime convention. I do want to go to Anime Boston since its near where I live but unsure if I could get any transportation to it. From pictures I have seen though from many conventions There may be less categories in a contest for smaller audiences than for larger conventions but other than that I can't point out any differences. I think everyone enjoys them no matter if its a small or large convention.

How do you feel about freshness vs. award limits on videos?

When certain limits are place I think it's good that they benefit the editors. When bring out the freshness limit (I believe that refers to the premiere date of the video), its great to see the newest work that editors can create. It shows their improvements and also puts their best work forward. Now for award limits (I'm not entirely sure what that refers to) but if it refers to the amount of awards present to editors I think it shows fairness, giving everyone an equal chance to be a winner when entering. So when it comes to limits I think as long as it benefits both the convention and editors they are good to have.

What method of entering videos do you believe is the easiest?

Just for the three contests I just entered I have used three different methods. Out of them all I think the best one I believe is uploading directly from the site. The reason for this and this is just me personally I get really nervous when posting download links and sending emails because something could happen and the video may not be received. That could also happen when uploading directly on a site but I don't feel as nervous when using that method.

What is something you would like contest coordinators to know that might make the convention contest experience better for editors?

Since I have never attended a convention contest in person I don't know if there is a lot I can offer for suggestions. I think as long as everything is set up for the editors to enjoy themselves then that makes the convention contest experience good for those attending.

I hope that I answered these questions okay. ^^ I think it's great to discuss what others think of conventions because it opens up ways to improve them even more and make them better.

User avatar
MaboroshiStudio
Joined: Mon Jan 01, 2001 9:16 pm
Status: Reports of my death were greatly exaggerated
Contact:
Org Profile

Re: Discussion: Editor Opinions on Convention Contests

Post by MaboroshiStudio » Fri Feb 17, 2017 2:55 pm

1. How do you feel about the way categories have changed over the years and between contests? Has this caused any struggles or confusion while you are entering videos?
Overall I haven't had much issues with the categories, but I wish Parody & Live Action / Non Anime was allowed more at contests. Often I see parody sub categories (Trailer, Commercial and Intros), but at many conventions outright parody videos are not allowed. I can understand the reasoning behind not allowing them just like AMV Hell videos, but I don't see why contests couldn't have a restriction on parody where it could only win a category award. The Crowds like parodies... but I can understand how editors might get upset saying they are not AMVs.

2. How do you think audiences and contests differ between smaller and larger conventions?
No thoughts on this...

3. How do you feel about freshness vs. award limits on videos?
I am all in favor of freshness / award limits. When I first got into making AMVs back in the late 90s there was a code between editors. If a AMV of mine won at 2 conventions I pretty much retired it as I felt it was disrespectful to other editors to troll. When I came back to the AMV scene over a decade later I as surprised seeing some editors troll so much. This way also more people got recognized and could win.

I will admit I trolled my Scott Sterling pretty hard last year which was in part because I was lazy / didn't make anything new. I felt a bit guilty trolling it and Unstoppable so much to be honest. If there were more freshness / award limits we simply would be forced to make new AMVs... not the end of the world. I think there could be a good balance to be had and a discussion to be had.

4. What method of entering videos do you believe is the easiest?
Form + Link to Dropbox

5. What is something you would like contest coordinators to know that might make the convention contest experience better for editors?
Reserved seating is pretty sweet.. I also love how some cons give winners a free badge which is something I have tried to fight for at MTAC.
Reports of my death were greatly exaggerated...

www.maboroshistudio.com
YouTube Channel

Tarage
Joined: Tue May 01, 2001 1:22 am
Org Profile

Re: Discussion: Editor Opinions on Convention Contests

Post by Tarage » Sat Feb 18, 2017 11:50 pm

Semi novice editor here.

1. How do you feel about the way categories have changed over the years and between contests? Has this caused any struggles or confusion while you are entering videos?
I like the divides. I remember back in the 2000s when the loudness meter was still being used at AX. The contests now seem to be more broken up, and I think this allows for more types of AMVs and more people to get shown.

2. How do you think audiences and contests differ between smaller and larger conventions?
I don't really know. I've only ever really been to AX and Sakura Con, so I have no idea what the smaller contests are like. I will say though that my few wins have come from these smaller cons. Sorry I haven't been able to go in person...

3. How do you feel about freshness vs. award limits on videos?
I like it, but it's also restricting. I'll give you an example. I don't really have that much time to make new videos, so when I do make one, I have to keep in mind the freshness rules for each contest I enter. Specifically the ones I go to, AX and SC. Because of this, I can never debut a video at AX because by the time SC rolls around it's not fresh anymore. This puts a huge strain on me because I HAVE to have a video done by SC otherwise I can't enter one that year. Yeah, it's my own personal restriction, but not being able to see my video on the big screen is a huge limiting factor.

4. What method of entering videos do you believe is the easiest?
FTP. I mean, nowadays any site where you can upload stuff is easy, but FTP is fine.

5. What is something you would like contest coordinators to know that might make the convention contest experience better for editors?
This is a tough one. I feel like I've bitched at Troy enough that he knows what I like and don't like. I guess the only thing that would be nice to know is to know when cons show your video in subsequent years. My Cosplay Bargain Bin was shown at AX during one of their blocks and I just happened to be in the room. Had I known I would have planned around it. I always love seeing the reactions of the audience.

User avatar
Pathos Prime
Joined: Sun Aug 18, 2013 11:41 pm
Org Profile

Re: Discussion: Editor Opinions on Convention Contests

Post by Pathos Prime » Mon Feb 20, 2017 2:03 pm

1. How do you feel about the way categories have changed over the years and between contests? Has this caused any struggles or confusion while you are entering videos?

I think the main thing people need to keep in mind is that if you're running a small contest, you're going to get a small number of entries, and thus should have a small number of categories. I've seen first- and second-year cons that have, like, six to eight categories, and without fail some of the categories end up with two entries or one entry or even no entries. At AMV League, we don't even separate entries into categories anymore unless there are at least four in each category, since a contest between two entries isn't really a contest.

2. How do you think audiences and contests differ between smaller and larger conventions?

As someone who's run contests at both small and large conventions, there's not as much difference as you may think. Yeah, for the bigger cons, the audiences tend to be bigger, and thus seem more high profile. And we do get LOTS more entries at bigger cons. But there's always an audience. We've never had an event yet (knock on wood) that didn't reach the eleven-entry minimum. And no matter how small the con is, people DO go watch the AMV Contest. People hear the music from the hallway and filter in. It doesn't fail. AMVs are still popular at conventions, even if they seem to be overshadowed by cosplay and video games.

3. How do you feel about freshness vs. award limits on videos?

The main reason we don't accept any video more than once at AMV League is because, like Maboroshi Studio said, we were seeing too many cases of veteran editors spending all year making one really good video and then spamming it around to every convention ever and winning boxes and boxes of awards, leaving less-seasoned editors in the dust. However, with our AMV League Nationals, those "one really good" videos still tend to rise to the top, but other editors aren't forgotten at the individual convention level. We WOULD like to see more competitivity, particularly at smaller conventions, but so far we think the AMV League system is working pretty well, at least in this respect.

On the other hand, "debut rules" i.e. "This video must be shown at this contest before you show it anywhere else" are buuuuuuuullshiiiiiit. AMV League will NEVER implement a rule like this.

4. What method of entering videos do you believe is the easiest?

We <3 Google Drive. Cloud-based entries are generally quicker, more reliable, and don't take up 43 GB of our host's server space.

5. What is something you would like contest coordinators to know that might make the convention contest experience better for editors?

DO. NOT. USE. AUDIENCE. VOTING. There are so many problems with audience voting. People who come in late and haven't seen every video can still vote. The video with the most popular anime tends to always win. You don't put the Academy Awards to an online poll to determine who wins an Oscar, you leave it to folks who have experience with AMVs and can examine it more on a professional basis.

Other than that, well... as someone who runs 10+ convention contests in a year, I would LOVE to get some feedback from folks on how to improve AMV League and get more of y'all fantastic editors to participate. So, everyone, feel free to send me a PM. :)

User avatar
Tigrin
Joined: Sat Sep 24, 2011 3:36 pm
Org Profile

Re: Discussion: Editor Opinions on Convention Contests

Post by Tigrin » Tue Feb 21, 2017 1:55 am

1. How do you feel about the way categories have changed over the years and between contests? Has this caused any struggles or confusion while you are entering videos?
I've only been entering contests for a few years so from my point of view the categories haven't really changed. But I still struggle a lot trying to decide what category my videos belong to. If the tone is the video is very mixed it can be hard to decide where it belongs, especially because the definition of "drama" seems to change between conventions and encompass a lot. I feel bad pushing that decision onto coordinators.

2. How do you think audiences and contests differ between smaller and larger conventions?
I mostly only go to Anime Expo so I don't know much about the audiences at smaller conventions.

I think from the point of view of an editor there can be a difference... back when I was submitting my student film to film festivals, I once asked someone for advice on which festivals to submit to, because I wasn't having any luck. They told me "It's better to be a big fish in a small pond" or something along that line. Basically that the big festivals were too competitive and overcrowded and I'd have better luck with some of the smaller festivals. I kind of think it works the same way with AMV contests... I tend to have more luck getting into or doing well in smaller conventions. but as usual, I tend to focus more on the bigger conventions... I guess because it feels more of an achievement to compete with the other big fish. Inevitably it also means I'm disappointed pretty often haha.

3. How do you feel about freshness vs. award limits on videos?
To be honest I wish there was just more self-policing amongst editors. It gets really frustrating to see the same names and the same videos over and over again in every contest. I don't think that freshness or award limit rules manage to curb that enough. If you're the type of person who makes a lot of videos and inevitably makes the finalists at every convention you submit to, maybe knock it off a bit and give the rest of us schmucks a shot. ಠ_ಠ

4. What method of entering videos do you believe is the easiest?
Definitely just filling out a form and linking to a Dropbox or Google Drive link. Just about anything more than that gets really frustrating. Requiring a certain amount of black space before or after the video, requiring certain file names, making editors create an account or sign up on a database, uploading over FTP, filling out a TXT or document file and emailing it, etc... I'd probably try submitting to more conventions if it wasn't something that required me to sit down and spend an evening doing to make sure I hit all the particular rules or requirements of a convention and avoid disqualification.

5. What is something you would like contest coordinators to know that might make the convention contest experience better for editors?
Uh I can't think of anything, I guess, just make the rules clear and make it easy to enter the contest while following the rules. Also an easy way to find out if a video made the finalists or won an award.

A dream nice to have might be crowd reaction videos for editors that can't make it to the con. :) That's tough though.

User avatar
ngsilver
The Old School Otaku
Joined: Sat Jun 28, 2003 1:22 pm
Status: She/Her
Location: Detroit area
Contact:
Org Profile

Re: Discussion: Editor Opinions on Convention Contests

Post by ngsilver » Tue Feb 21, 2017 3:13 pm

1. How do you feel about the way categories have changed over the years and between contests? Has this caused any struggles or confusion while you are entering videos?
Even when I was first starting out 15 some odd years ago I found it hard to pigeonhole my own videos into one specific category over another. Sometimes it's easier when a contest combines 'similar' categories but in the end I honestly can't stand categories in contests because of this. There is also the issue that when you have categories you basically 'evenly' space the number of entries in each category most of the time. This can cause videos that are very good to get cut from a contest just because of the fact they were submitted to a category with more videos and as such weaker videos can make it into a contest because they are in a lighter category. Just some of my personal annoyances with the use of categories in contests and that hasn't really changed. Thankfully, there have been more contests/competitions that have opened up over the years that did away with categories so it really is just video against video.

2. How do you think audiences and contests differ between smaller and larger conventions?
I've entered, been at, and ran contests in both large and small cons. TBH, I don't often see much of a difference between the two as far as audiences go. Smaller cons I often see packed rooms for contests while larger cons it can be difficult to get a packed room due to room sizes and just competing with great content happening at the same time. This isn't anything new really, I was seeing this over 10 years ago so the 'social' thing people have talked about I honestly haven't seen have any real impact. I do know there are large cons with large rooms for AMVs that do get filled, but I've not been to any of those.

3. How do you feel about freshness vs. award limits on videos?
A video is a video. Jingoro said it best in the newsletter. The grand majority of con goers only go to one con. By limiting entries based on 'freshness' or number of awards (either contest imposed or personal rules) your limiting the ability of your audience to see great videos that they miss because of a rule. Of course, the only form of this I do like is a freshness rule where the same video should not be submitted to the same contests/convention from year to year.

4. What method of entering videos do you believe is the easiest?
Having a digital submission of some kind is a must. I prefer some database form of some type to enter entry data in. Compiling text files and emails just doesn't cut it anymore. Why not use google docs?
ImageImageImageImage

User avatar
Ileia
WHAT IS PINK MAY NEVER DIE!
Joined: Mon Aug 09, 2004 12:29 am
Status: ....to completion
Location: On teh Z-drive, CornDog
Contact:
Org Profile

Re: Discussion: Editor Opinions on Convention Contests

Post by Ileia » Tue Feb 21, 2017 9:10 pm

I'm just gonna address question #3 because I keep seeing the go-to "people only go to one con!" response and that reasoning bugs me of late.

Yes. Most people only go to one con per year. But did we forget that most people also have the internet? And people who would want to see an AMV contest at a con have probably also seen AMVs online - might even seek them out! Weird! :P

Cons have different freshness rules and that's cool and obviously at the discretion of each coordinator depending on their convention needs - but don't tell me that your reasoning is that people only see AMVs at cons and only go to one con. It's 2017, gosh darnit.
:cupcake: :cupcake: :cupcake: :cupcake: :cupcake: :cupcake: :cupcake: :cupcake: :cupcake: :cupcake:

Locked

Return to “AMV Contests”