AnimeNEXT 2010 AMV Feedback and 2011 Suggestions

[ReligionX]

Hello folks,

I have finally achieved what I have been working very, very hard to accomplish. I would like to share with all of you my experience as the 2010 AMV Head, and what my plans are for 2011, based on this experience. I would like any feedback and suggestions you may have.

I have presented flawless presentations, where no video skipped, no audio skipped, and there were no emergency modifications needing to take place. I did, however, need to constantly adjust the volume control on the speakers since some editors had very loud audio, and some editors had some extremely quiet audio.

I would like to raise the bar in this area, and expand what types of videos and genres we are accepting. I would like to create:

New Genres
Trailers (movie trailers, tv show intro or closing, or other wise spoken audio parody)
AMV Hell (several distinct breaks in song, topic, and scenes. Comedy only.)
NC-17 (All videos that would be disqualified on the sole count of language, violence, sexual content, or general inappropriate content for younger audiences)

I have no idea if there is mass interest in these sorts of things, but I have received a few submissions for all of these, and have not had an appropriate place for them, leaving trailers to go in with Comedy.

Scheduling, Location, Seating Arrangement, and Noise Control
While I feel that the overall attendance was improved due to the scheduling, and the mob mentality generated by a smaller room size, the layout and ambient noise was a little off. The ballot count reached a little over 200, but not all ballots were complete for a full attendance of the beginning or end, so we are saying there were approximately 180 complete ballots.

I got better scheduled timing for the 1st AMV Screening on Friday, and better timing for the 2 AMV General Screenings. The 2nd AMV Screening on Saturday, and Encore on Sunday weren't at the best of times, but at least they were a little after the time the convention opened, which is a vast improvement over 2010. My hope is to continue this, and get another 1:00 - 3:30 start time on Saturday. Not as much goes on early Sunday morning, and I feel that having the AMV Encore play first thing is a good idea.

It would seem to me that they could shrink Main Events a little, on the sides, by about 6-9 feet, thereby sliding the side rooms toward the middle of the floor plan, remove anyone from having to sit behind a support beam in those side rooms.

My hope is to also work with other department heads, with the scheduling department, to not have loud events side by side, or at least make sure other departments can control their volume level. The hanging walls actually block a substantial amount of noise.

Communication with Editors from Staff
I feel that I was not able to communicate with AMV Editors where they were checking for information. I feel that I was able to adequately respond to editors by e-mail and on the forum. I did not create a place for editors to check for updates. My plan is to set up an AnimeNEXT 2011 AMV Twitter account and Facebook account. The rules will have a link to those locations, as well as forum links to main topics for the AMV Contest.

Editors are interested in how their videos have been and will be rated by the pre-screening judges.

10 Point Scale
1-5 : General Opinion of video (1= strong dislike, 5= likes very much)
5 of those 10 points are technical deductions for:
-1 for poor video quality (low resolution, blurred video, interlacing, and color blocks)
-1 for poor audio quality (low bitrate, too quiet, too loud, audio skips, or has bad cuts)
-1 for incorrect or mixed aspect ratio (should be in a forced 4:3 or 16:9, not anamorphic)
-1 for use of unnecessary text (watermarks, logos, subtitles, fan-sub hard sub translations)
-1 for use of non-video related bumpers (any sort of needless, or obvious inclusion of editor name, title of video, title of anime or video game, name of musical artist, or name of the audio used. Establishing clips for intro or closing are fine.)

I will also make a point to include better information on how to send me your videos, and alternatives if your method does not work. I will make sure to note that FTP uploads from AnimeNEXT will NOT be available for the 48 hours up to the deadline, and any requests for FTP uploads must be made the 48 hour mark-- and even then, that there will be no guarantee that that enough logins will be available.

I will make sure to have times and locations where AMV Contest winners are announced. It is our policy generally to play a DVD of the winning AMVs during the Masquerade Intermission and during Closing Ceremonies. The AMV runner up videos are announced, but not played at this time, and runner up editors do not receive any prizes. Prizes are to be redeemed at Con-Operations, or will be mailed to editors not present at the convention.

AMV Panel
There will be another panel next year. I am severely disappointed in my performance, and the quality of the presentation. My hope is to find reliable assistants to help me with the panel, before the presentation, and not interject throughout the presentation as a general attendee. That was my first time addressing an audience since my one year of college in 2003, and I was more than a little nervous to address people that time. Otaku what?

My plan is to run just 1 panel, and do AMV Basics again. Once I have established that I can do at least that, I can move onto more AMV panels showing more advanced topics.

Other editors are invited to host a panel either by themselves, or with a group of assistants. They may pick any AMV related topic they would like. Now that I have first hand experience doing a panel, I feel that I am equipped to answer questions regarding how the experience will go.

[Midnyte]

-1 for incorrect or mixed aspect ratio (should be in a forced 4:3 or 16:9, not anamorphic)

Are you refering to the video's final output? Incorrect aspect I get. Mixed ratio source content can be used effectively for many different things. Most commonly for a jarring effect but still it can be useful. So your going to remove a point for videos designed to use mixed ratio?

[ReligionX]

Are you refering to the video's final output? Incorrect aspect I get. Mixed ratio source content can be used effectively for many different things. Most commonly for a jarring effect but still it can be useful. So your going to remove a point for videos designed to use mixed ratio?

What I mean by mixed aspect ratio is-- Some videos use more than 1 source for their videos. Throughout the entire video, 1 anime source uses 1 ratio, and the other source uses a different ratio. Say a newer source uses 16:9, and the older source uses 4:3. If the aspect ratio is NOT stretched to meet the other, instead of being cropped, letter boxed, zoomed, or any other method to match the main aspect ratio, there will be a deduction. An example would be using the first episodes of Bleach (TV), mixed with the current episodes of Bleach (TV), or the Bleach Movies.

If a video uses a different aspect ratio, as part of a special effect, that is totally different. Feel free to warp, stretch, shake, move, and whatever you want, for an effect. If there is a reason for it, great. Otherwise, it just looks weird, and jarring-- like cutting back and forth between clips with subtitles, and then without subtitles.

[ReligionX]

Video Tutorials
I have given a lot of thought to creating some video tutorials for submitting videos. This may seem a little strange, but I think that it will benefit many eager editors. It is my intention to design these videos so that any convention running an AMV Contest could use these general tutorials. My hope is to help editors who are not as willing to ask questions (directly), to use these guides, and submit their AMVs, when they might not normally have done so. I would also like to get less AMVs that are immediately rejected from the contest for fixable technical issues. If such a thing already exists, can someone point me in this direction?

Video 1
Editing your video file to remove technical deductions (if possible [before you delete your project file]).

Video 2
Exporting / Converting your video for DVD or PC playback.

Video 3
Properly labeling your video files and sending your video (by mail, internet upload, or convention FTP).

[ReligionX]

AMVs in the Program Guide
I would like to have a full page or two dedicated to AMV information is the AnimeNEXT 2011 Program guide. If I were to have the play list printed, and the names of editors who submitted non-disqualified AMVs listed in the program guide, I would need to make the deadline significantly earlier for submitting AMVs.

I can have, in print, a link to where the play lists (with download links [if available]) will be made public after AnimeNEXT 2011. This will tremendously help the attendance of the AMV Contest and help people find the videos of editors who submitted. For example, "http://animenext.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=9894" would have been printed for 2010.

At-Convention General-Screening Submissions
Depending on any number of conditions, I may be able to do this. I won't be able to determine if this is plausible or not, until after the deadline for the AMV Contest.

If editors have made a last minute AMV that they would like shown during AnimeNEXT 2011, I will set a time and place to meet up with me, so that I can take your DVD, watch your video, and determine if it can and will be played during a general screening. I may also be able to use your AMV during my AMV panel, where we can discuss or critique your AMV, if you would like. This would most likely be on a first come, first serve basis.