AMV Contests and Creators

[Fall_Child42]

Absolutely nothing beats a live screening. I used to think that live screenings and awards were the main reason why so many editors enter cons in the first place.

Sadly, alot of the editors that started before youtube, hell, even before the .org's local hosting are just moving onto other things or have just lost interest. The youtube generation has literally de-valued videos in a sense that it's not so hard to get your work shown anymore. Got rejected from a contest? Fuck that, just put your video on youtube.

I thought the digital age was going to bring even more participation to contests because of the ease of accessing the technology. Apparently, the biggest contest now is seeing how many hits and subscribers you get on youtube.

If we could only have these people see what it's like to have your work shown on a massiv screen in front of a huge crowd while you sit with them listening to how much they enjoy your stuff. To me that gives me a great thrill, a great rush, and it's a million times better then having someone comment that they liked it on youtube.

[Castor Troy]

Plus the advent of YouTube is making newer editors work <i>less</i> hard because of the ease of getting feedback online (99.8% of fans like everything and can't criticize worth a damn). When they come here to the .org and realize we're all "elitist", or enter a contest and don't get in with their mediocre work, their egos are so bruised that they say "fuck the .org and contests", resulting in less entries for contests.

I always expect the fear of not getting into a contest whenever I enter and that fear actually makes you a better editor because you have to work harder to get in. Most YouTube kids don't want to put in that amount of work nowadays.

[Castor Troy]

.1% is godix and the other .1% are reviewers who are not godix.

[BasharOfTheAges]

Interestingly enough, submitting to too many contests use to be a real controversial subject (tolling, etc) however seeing there are so many contests screaming out for entries, I wonder how this has changed that perception.

Some people are still stuck in their ways regarding this. They don't realize it's about providing the fans a good time more than bruising the egos of the locals that sometimes only get in because the con is hurting for entries.

Do people feel loyal to a particular contest? What actually draws creators to enter a specific contest? It is loyalty, the person running it or the way its run?

Probably a bit of each. I submit to the same general contests year after year if they coincide with the general deadline for the one big con I always go to and they don't do anything I see as a slight to me or the community at large. I will hold a grudge against a con.

Ironically though, AMV rooms at cons (at least the ones I run or know about) seem to be very popular and continue to grow. At Sakura-Con, only three years ago the room size was 90 and today it’s 840 with many hours at full capacity. So is that people want to actually go and just enjoy videos rather then watch them in a contest?

A dedicated programming track for AMVs sounds great - how many cons actually do this though? I can surely see it catching on if there's the will for it in a given area.

[Vlad G Pohnert]

A dedicated programming track for AMVs sounds great - how many cons actually do this though? I can surely see it catching on if there's the will for it in a given area.

Actually, it is a lot of work to make it successful. For the rooms I run we come up with original programming that puts a spin of showing AMVs in a non traditional manor. So far that has provided to be a HUGE success... Actually to a point it's moving too fast. For Sakura there was even talk of getting a even bigger room, but that comes with it’s fair share of politics and issues too.

The problem is to do it at that kind of level means a LOT of hours of prep work and you really have to have a passion for it to commit all that much time. Not everyone can sacrifice that much time to it or want to jump through all the hoops you have to in order to get what you want and know works.

Vlad

[BasharOfTheAges]

A dedicated programming track for AMVs sounds great - how many cons actually do this though? I can surely see it catching on if there's the will for it in a given area.

Actually, it is a lot of work to make it successful. For the rooms I run we come up with original programming that puts a spin of showing AMVs in a non traditional manor. So far that has provided to be a HUGE success... Actually to a point it's moving too fast. For Sakura there was even talk of getting a even bigger room, but that comes with it’s fair share of politics and issues too.

The problem is to do it at that kind of level means a LOT of hours of prep work and you really have to have a passion for it to commit all that much time. Not everyone can sacrifice that much time to it or want to jump through all the hoops you have to in order to get what you want and know works.

Vlad

Tangentially related to both the reply and your OP: We've actually had the contest coordinator and the panel coordinator at Anime Boston suggest doing a whole block of AMV programming, but with the implied request that some of the regulars (myself, dokool, kiarrens, lantis, driftroot, etc.) actually become staff to run it. Most of us prefer to be able to compete in the contest too much to agree to that. So yea... loyalty in action.

[ngsilver]

Most of us prefer to be able to compete in the contest too much to agree to that. So yea... loyalty in action.

It's really annoying that I can't compete against everyone for ACEN, no matter how much I want to.

Back on topic, it can be a lot of work to get an AMV room setup as well as the politics involved with trying to keep it running and make it grow. I'm currently dukeing it out with the head of live programing at Youmacon right now in order to secure more room at our new venue. We both want the space to grow, but the venue only has so much. In the end it really all comes down to who has bigger pull with the rest of the administration.

For getting convention rooms and programming it really seems to matter who is in charge and how much passion they have for the content. Though, having access to lots of videos helps too.

[OzzieAlThor79]

I am one of those "loyal to the con/amv-runner" people.

Personally I really only do a video or two a year and they are all for Anime Detour. That convention is my main anime fix for the year (vacation time used before and after FTW) since it's the big one in my area and I find it to be well run. I like the idea of my fellow midwesterners seeing something I made (hopefully well) and enjoying (hopefully) it.

I don't feel the need to upload the videos here sometimes as the goal was to just have room full of people react to what I did. That's it for me really. It's my weekend to geek out and serve my fragile ego.

[Infinity Squared]

For getting convention rooms and programming it really seems to matter who is in charge and how much passion they have for the content. Though, having access to lots of videos helps too.

This is probably one of the biggest things that matter when it comes to a competition. Back in Manifest 2007 when I was both AMV coordinator AND Executive of Scheduling and Venue, I was able to place the competition and AMV events in dominant slots in the con and this equated to solidifying the AMV stuff as the second most popular event of the con. Prior to that in 2006, we also had the biggest number of entrants AND audience due to my being a lot more involved in the general AMV community and taking an active approach to advertising the convention.

So I think, a coordinator can be dedicated, but on top of that they need to be able to relate to the community and be part of it to bring the convention with you. Sadly I think this is where last year's Manifest didn't do so well in because the coordinator though dedicated, didn't have enough presence in things like the org. The giant conventions have a pull of their own which have been built on years of presence, but for the rest, I really do think the coordinator makes the AMV events happen.

[Beowulf]

I stopped entering contests because I already think so highly of my own work. When I entered Dead to the World in the AWA Pro competition, and it lost after going to the EXPO judges to break the tie vote, I gave up on trying to win contests. I knew it was a masterpiece, I knew it was ahead of its time, and I knew they didn't know wtf they were talking about.

I've always been loyal to AWA though, because out of all the conventions I've entered, they are the smartest classiest group of dudes running things. AWA was the AMV oscars. Every other convention I've entered is either ruled by a mob of drooling virgins, or judged by a group obese 30somethings and their girlfriends, non of whom have ever edited anything. I remember working very hard to not punch this AKON judge right in his fat face after he explained to me that the reason Wonka's video just screened with no audio was because "IT WAS SENT TO US THAT WAY I PROMISE".

Jesus I get furious just typing that shit.