A suggestion for the Otakon 2010 AMV contest.

[dwchang]

I've never been to Otakon (nor do I plan to because of the enormous number of people), but usually big cons like that don't tend to have crap make it into the finals, mostly because they have literally hundreds of entries (because they have such big numbers).

It's probably the elitism in me, but not so much lately. Awhile ago that was definitely the case and I could see why the bigger cons had more respectable contests. It was deserved, but lately not so much. Again, probably my elitism, but I haven't been impressed with an AMV Contest since like 2005 or earlier. I even remember contests I've submitted to where ~180 - 200 entries were submitted and yeah, that one whittled down to one of the best contests I've seen. I'm not sure why there are less submissions, but that's probably another topic altogether.

As for the original comment, I understand where the OP is coming from since frankly I also hate watching a lot of AMVs that I find mediocre...or worst, BUT I agree with everyone's reply in that the contest isn't for me. It's for the con-goers and they seem to have a good time regardless.

[Scintilla]

Scintila, you had to sit through RehDogg too? I'm sorry.

Don't be: it was the only video entered that earned the distinction of being played *twice* that weekend, just because it was so hilarious.

[Mr Pilkington]

The difference between the POV and of an editor and a fan is what this argument boils down to.

The entire idea of the exposition is to entertain a fan-base. And lets face it most fans will just enjoy a good concept, song selection or source. They couldn't care less the technical aspects of a well edited video. An editor on the other hand sees even the most minor imperfection in a video and will judge based on its technical merit. Which in most cases is why editors complain about the quality of winning videos, not because there is a lack of talent but a critical eye is able to see minor imperfections. The same reason some of us can't stand to watch our older videos.

Now why simply poor videos make the cut sometimes is a topic from another recent thread. Contest entry has been down as of recent, I know that some of the really experienced editors have been moving into small film and other job/hobbies that just don't allow time for AMVing. Myself (not that I consider myself a good editor by any respects :p) can't even begin to tell you how hard it is to find even an hour to myself lately. Between full time school and 40 hours a week at work, then calculate in travel and film shoots on the weekends by the time I finally sit down I'm usually ready to go to sleep. And I'm not the only one, a good number of editors are moving into cinema and short film. After all when you have honed a talent for so long the move is only natural. So not only could the critical aspect be taken into consideration but also the time constraints.