Otakon: General Screening Playlist + Reserved Seating

hackerzc · Post by **hackerzc** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 2:13 pm

The playlist for the AMV General Screenings at Otakon have been announced along with information on reserved seating.
All of this can be viewed on Otakon's website at http://board.otakon.com/viewtopic.php?p=151667#151667
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Adv1sor · Post by **Adv1sor** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 9:59 am

Will the contest be in a bigger room this year?

I know a few people who were upset when they couldn't get a seat last year.

Looking forward to another great show!

hackerzc · Post by **hackerzc** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 12:05 pm

Adv1sor wrote:Will the contest be in a bigger room this year?

I know a few people who were upset when they couldn't get a seat last year.

Looking forward to another great show!

This year.... that will NOT be an issue

My personal recommendation to everyone is that they try to make it to the Friday screening if you can. Everything will be made clear.

dwchang · Post by **dwchang** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 6:56 pm

I might have a hazy memory, but looking at the Otakon schedule (now up yay!) and the con site map, will the contest be in the huge airplane hangar-like area that has really bad acoustics and echoes a lot?

I *think* it was in there last year and in previous years the Saturday Showing was in there and frankly, I hated it. As I said, the acoustics and echo are really annoying and can really destroy a video if their music doesn't work in those circumstances. Usually really quiet videos or really loud ones.

I really hope we get the room on the fourth floor (like we did in 2003, 2004 and 2005). It has an *awesome* sound system and I'd say out of all the cons I've gone to, is my favorite place to view AMVs. I already mentioned the sound, but just the room make-up is perfect.

PLEASE tell me we have that room and I'm wrong on assuming that the "Main Events" and "Video 1" being connected isn't just a larger 'hangar' room. It's bad for AMV Contest imo.

It's probably too late to change things if that's the case, but I'd still like to voice my concern, at least for next year's considation.

hackerzc · Post by **hackerzc** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 7:23 pm

dwchang wrote:I might have a hazy memory, but looking at the Otakon schedule (now up yay!) and the con site map, will the contest be in the huge airplane hangar-like area that has really bad acoustics and echoes a lot?

I *think* it was in there last year and in previous years the Saturday Showing was in there and frankly, I hated it. As I said, the acoustics and echo are really annoying and can really destroy a video if their music doesn't work in those circumstances. Usually really quiet videos or really loud ones.

I really hope we get the room on the fourth floor (like we did in 2003, 2004 and 2005). It has an *awesome* sound system and I'd say out of all the cons I've gone to, is my favorite place to view AMVs. I already mentioned the sound, but just the room make-up is perfect.

PLEASE tell me we have that room and I'm wrong on assuming that the "Main Events" and "Video 1" being connected isn't just a larger 'hangar' room. It's bad for AMV Contest imo.

It's probably too late to change things if that's the case, but I'd still like to voice my concern, at least for next year's considation.

Did you actually GO to the AMV contest last year? Sorry if that came out wrong but it's just that there was carpeting, drapery, and the room was acoustically treated to provide better sound quality than the Ballroom ever did. We even had sound tests preformed, and the room with all the equipment met THX sound standards. In fact this is the first time I've EVER heard of anyone having issues with last years sound quality. Everyone is always going on and on about how much better it was.
To get the sort of sound reproduction I think you might be looking for, would require a few hundred thousand dollars to achieve, and that's just unrealistic.

The Ballroom will never again be used for any single event. It's been permanently split up to provide additional panel/video rooms. Maybe after the new hotel is ready to be used in 2009 (if we use it) the ballroom may be changed back... but that's too many maybes and too long off to worry about now.

dwchang · Post by **dwchang** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 7:46 pm

hackerzc wrote:
dwchang wrote:I might have a hazy memory, but looking at the Otakon schedule (now up yay!) and the con site map, will the contest be in the huge airplane hangar-like area that has really bad acoustics and echoes a lot?

I *think* it was in there last year and in previous years the Saturday Showing was in there and frankly, I hated it. As I said, the acoustics and echo are really annoying and can really destroy a video if their music doesn't work in those circumstances. Usually really quiet videos or really loud ones.

I really hope we get the room on the fourth floor (like we did in 2003, 2004 and 2005). It has an *awesome* sound system and I'd say out of all the cons I've gone to, is my favorite place to view AMVs. I already mentioned the sound, but just the room make-up is perfect.

PLEASE tell me we have that room and I'm wrong on assuming that the "Main Events" and "Video 1" being connected isn't just a larger 'hangar' room. It's bad for AMV Contest imo.

It's probably too late to change things if that's the case, but I'd still like to voice my concern, at least for next year's considation.
Did you actually GO to the AMV contest last year? Sorry if that came out wrong but it's just that there was carpeting, drapery, and the room was acoustically treated to provide better sound quality than the Ballroom ever did. We even had sound tests preformed, and the room with all the equipment met THX sound standards. In fact this is the first time I've EVER heard of anyone having issues with last years sound quality. Everyone is always going on and on about how much better it was.
To get the sort of sound reproduction I think you might be looking for, would require a few hundred thousand dollars to achieve, and that's just unrealistic.

The Ballroom will never again be used for any single event. It's been permanently split up to provide additional panel/video rooms. Maybe after the new hotel is ready to be used in 2009 (if we use it) the ballroom may be changed back... but that's too many maybes and too long off to worry about now.

To answer your first question, yes I attended. I've attended every Otakon AMV Contest since 2003 and every one that I've submitted to.

And it's not OMFGAWFUL, but I prefer the ballroom area significantly more. I found the sound system in 2003 - 2005 and acoustics to be quite a bit more superior in that room that in the airplane hangar. In fact, it's not only superior, but it's probably the best place I've seen and heard AMVs. And this is coming from someone who has seen AMVs at places like AX and even AWA.

In fact, I have fond memories of seeing the contest in the ballroom and thinking "Wow the sound system really kicks ass, I should make a video to take advantage of it." Unlike most con sound systems, it isn't overly loud (a common mistake...loud != good quality) and you can actually hear the lyrics and instruments without being overwhelmed.

I do understand it'd take a lot of money to make the 'hangar' acoustically sound, but currently I think it falls below that of the room on the fourth floor and by a large margin. I honestly don't think it'd be worth it and what changes have been made don't make too big of an impact because frankly, that room isn't made for audio. It really just feels like a giant hangar with lots of echo'ing. I mean to me it seems obvious the top room was made for such events while the 'hangar' was not.

My argument would be, don't spend that money on the hangar and just go back to a room that works well

. However, I realize it's too late in the game to really do anything (so don't worry), but I'm still voicing my opinion (and I know others who would agree on the hangar vs. top floor).

hackerzc · Post by **hackerzc** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 8:15 pm

While I don't agree about the Ballrooms sound superiority I will say I like the feel of the ballroom (the lower ceiling makes it seem more comfy and it just looks nice). But the thing is that having the ballroom split up is far more beneficial to the convention as separate rooms. I won't go into all of it (as even I do not know all the reasons involved) but what I do know is that as things are now it provides more/larger panel rooms, and allows for much more usage of the rooms there (which in turn affects con cap).
I've had this sort of discussion with many staffers, discussed how to move things, etc. and in the end using the ballroom as we currently do is just better for the con as a whole.

If you really want to make your opinion know (and count) you really should come to the con feed back session. Everyone who is responsible for making the decision to split the room up in the first place will be present.

jbone · Post by **jbone** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 11:29 pm

It's probably more a matter of staff not knowing how to set up quality audio than the acoustics of the room.

That was my impression, anyway.

hackerzc · Post by **hackerzc** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 9:39 am

jbone wrote:It's probably more a matter of staff not knowing how to set up quality audio than the acoustics of the room.

That was my impression, anyway.

At Otakon? Cause our staff does not actually set anything up. It's all done by Contracted Union based A/V Techs from DSL Sound (http://www.dslsound.net/) and has been for MANY years.

Ashyukun · Post by **Ashyukun** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 10:02 am

I'd have to agree with DW that the showings in the ballroom upstairs always sounded better to me than the ones elsewhere. Though I don't remember the Hangar being terribly bad last year- it was definitely an improvement over the setup in there from past years. I remember 2003's hangar setup the best because it was so awful- the projectors were set <i>way</i> too bright and videos with a lot of lighter/pastel colors like WLTFO and trythil's Eva video were so washed out it was impossible to see what was going on in some scenes, and the sound system was <i>way</i> badly tuned resulting in lots of echoing and distortion.

I don't explicitly remember those being a problem last year so I'd assume that it was because things were better- but then there's also the fact I didn't have anything in the contest and was likely not being quite as nit-picky.

Since I haven't seen anything mentioned about it, are the issues with the 'dead zones' behind the projectors being addressed in the setup this year as well? That was the only really big gripe (size aside) I remember hearing from last year...