Anime Los Angeles 2011 - Feedback and Suggestions

[Yuusharo]

I know its a bit early, seeing as how ALA is a good six months away, but I'm still coming down from my Anime Expo high and figured now would be a good time to get some suggestions while people are still interested. This isn't the official announcement of the contest since the rules haven't been finalized, but I wanted to get some feedback from past and future attendees about our contest and what we can do to spruce it up. We plan to have a few surprises in store this year...

I realize there hasn't been much communication regarding AnimeLA's contest in the past, so I wanted to open it up to discussion. What do you like about our contest? What changes do you think we should consider? Has having four categories worked well (action, drama, comedy, pro), or should we take another approach.

One area I'd like some feedback on pertains to the "Intros" we play before the show and each category. Specifically, for the last three years, we've opened up each category with a little AMV showing clips from that year's finalists and an appropriate theme song. The idea is to lead in the audience to get them in the mood for what they're about to see, as well as giving our show a little unique charm. I'm curious how people feel about this, especially from creators. How do you feel seeing parts of your entry being used this way? Do you enjoy seeing them each year, or should we ditch them?

Here's a link to an example of what I'm talking about, and thanks for your input! Sorry for the long post - hope this discussion belongs on this board. I'm new at this =).

Main Introduction - http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p ... YgGhKa-iek
Comedy Introduction - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EDFWbJw ... playnext=1

[HalOfBorg]

I've seen a few introduction movies, and they were always cool to see. Someday maybe something of mine will be in one. (One was, but they had trouble using my video with their editing software. Just my luck.)

One idea I have is for the amv contest to be filmed and posted on youtube. So many of us aren't even able to go to the more or less local conventions, let alone the far away ones. I've only ever found a few clips, but they were cool to watch.

I imagine there could be all sorts of copyright issues though.

I also found one awards ceremony on youtube - and I even won a certificate (that I never DID get) for Animerata. THAT was very cool to see.

[Rider4Z]

last year was my first time at ALA. my only complaint was asking the coordinator to be more prepared and not have to cut out any of the categories due to time restraints (i do acknowledge however that it was corrected and handled nicely.)

other than that i'm really cool with whatever. intro vids are a neat idea but i won't die without em either.

[NightHawk]

Personally, I really enjoy the intro videos, man. Awesome job on those.

As for the contest in general, I know there has been a history between ALA and the ORG, which is why there have been no official threads for ALA as far as I know recently, but I'm very glad to see it open back up. This opens you to a lot more videos for the contest which is never a bad thing.

If there's any way you'd like me to help, just let me know.

Other than being a panelist on the AMV 101...I really suck at that. hahaha

[Ryvannis]

Personally you need to accept outside entries, that's a huge restriction. Some people enter your contest and don't even show up, most cons, or I think all cons don't even enforce this type of rule. Don't play nice with entries so that everyone gets in, it's a great thing to do but you lower the quality of the contest when you starting showing low quality videos. It's really not that hard to put that type of enforcement in really.

If you can show some professionalism in accepting outside entries from the org then you're already set on creating a enjoyable contest because you'll be getting a flock of videos in. And look through the videos and judge them, take the time to include judges who aren't unbiased to help in the process. I don't believe that's even happened or assumed since you've never had enough entries. But I won't make the assumption that you haven't watched them beforehand, but the catastrophe that happened this year makes me a bit curious.

Follow Stryyder's example with Anime Vegas's AMV contest, he is going to turn that thing upside down and I'm sure it's going to be quiet amazing. You can tell by just checking out how he updated the rules and his effort just shows. But you really need to put some work into the contest, instead of holding it out until the last minute to compile everything. I myself don't mind lending help if it's needed.
I apologize if I'm sounding brutal in any way, but I'm just trying my best to help out here, so hopefully what I'm pointing out can be put into consideration.

[Castor Troy]

Is this con worth going to?

[Rider4Z]

it's small but local and you'd get to see our lovable faces again :3

[Yuusharo]

Sorry for the long write up. Figured now would be a good time to put some things out on the record, so you guys understand where I'm coming from, and we may clear up a few misconceptions.

I wish I could type up a juicy story of love and betrayal between AnimeLA and the ORG, but to be perfectly honest, if there is a history there, I honestly have no idea what it is. I think I recall overhearing someone one year saying that some guy posted some nasty comments about our contest, something about the judges or the people running it. After that, I suppose people assumed the silence from us meant that we were somehow boycotting the ORG, or that we didn't want to be associated with "that" community... whatever that means.

What's the real reason we don't post on the ORG forums? Its simple - we just never got around to it. We've *NEVER* barred anyone in this community from participating in our contest. In fact, I see many familiar names here... Nighthawk, Ryvannis, Rider4z, Nic Neidenbach with Studio Hybrid, etc. I'm glad that you guys have kept coming back to us year after year, and hope to see you guys again this year!

Let me give a brief history of the contest. Mikal Saltveit has been in charge of managing the contest since the first ALA in 2005. Back then, he did everything himself - organize submissions, contact creators, handle all the technical issues and playback on his personal PC. There was no budget at all, so he did his best with what the equipment and time he had. When I first participated in the contest back in 2006, I remember he had a lot of trouble with several of entries, particularly those that required Quicktime to run. So, I decided to write to him and volunteer my laptop to him for the following year in 2007. Things went much smoother that year, and I asked if I could help them out again. Well that's when the contest had its first evolution. Until then, we didn't really have any categories, and were still playing the original files off a PC. In 2008, we borrowed from what we knew about the bigger contests (Anime Expo in particular), and decided we should start rendering a DVD for the contest. This added an ungodly amount of complexity for someone like me who had never done that sort of stuff before, but the end result was as much more polished and professional presentation. In 2009, we changed the structure of the contest to have four different categories, each with an equal amount of entries. We continued that formula through 2010.

Now, while I was busy with all that, Mikal began taking on more general responsibilities related to AnimeLA itself. Any free time he had was devoted to other areas of the convention, which was eating away at his time to the AMV contest. This was a good thing, because it allowed us to expand the con in unique ways. For example, for the past two years he's managed to organize our first AMV video room with Rex Witzel, a room dedicated 100% to playing AMVs throughout the weekend. But it came at a price - since he wasn't able to devote as much time to the contest anymore, he wasn't able to do much in the way of promotion or feedback. He had to keep things as simple and consistent as possible just for his own sanity. This is why we haven't really changed much in terms of rules or expectations.

That's why I've come to you guys so early before the contest this year. Let's figure out what our strengths have been and what weaknesses we need to improve. I think communication has been our biggest fail so far, which is why I'm opening this dialog. I figure we have about two months to take in considerations and work on restructuring the contest, and maybe take a few of you up on your offers to help out. Sometime in September, we should be posting a revised set of rules, as well as announce any new changes or special surprises. We obviously won't be able to use everyone's suggestions, but if enough of you express a similar interest or criticism, we'll definitely be taking that into account.

Don't worry, I'll be posting the official announcement on this board as well! Count on that. And Castor Troy, you're more than welcome to come ^_^. I'll be honest, there isn't too much in the way of events each year, but we are getting bigger and a lot of locals come out each year. Its a fun little party in January.

[Yuusharo]

To Ryvannis, no need to apologize. The whole point is to get everyone's input, as brutal as it may be sometimes. It gives us a chance to look from the outside in, so we can learn how to improve ourselves.

The only part I take issue with is the idea that we don't, or have yet to, accept 'outside' entries from the ORG. That isn't true at all. We have always welcomed all creators who took the time to enter our contest, no matter where they heard it from. Many of our entries have been finalists in other Anime Cons, like Annake's "Waiting For Tomorrows," Nic Neidenbach's "Bride of Berserk," Nighthawk's "Be a Man," and even your video "Monsoon" went on to Anime Expo last year, which made my friend cry in a good way, by the way (she loves that song).

We try to have as many creators as possible see their videos at the show, but obviously we cannot accept everyone. How they decide is a secret I think most cons keep to themselves. Heck, I don't even know how its done - I am a contestant after all. But from what I can sense based on who has gotten in the past few years, they try to have a balanced show between different types of anime, styles and creator abilities based on the variety of entries that are submitted. For example, if some fictional contestant submits 5 AMVs that are professionally made and have all gone on to win various awards at other conventions, they would probably only select 1 or 2 so as the contest is not "stacked in their favor." Likewise, if another fictional contestant submits 5 AMVs that looks like they were thrown together in Windows Movie Maker the night before, they most likely wouldn't have any of their videos shown due to lack of effort. If 10 different people each submits 2 or 3 Kingdom Hearts videos each, chances are they would accept no more than 1 or 2 videos total out of all of them, to keep the variety of anime fresh.

At the same time, we're not discouraging you from submitting your video, whether its your 1st time or your 50th. There's obviously no set formula to who gets accepted into the contest. If the result is a fun show that audience members enjoyed watching, and creators are encouraged to participate in, then we've done our job right.

Hopefully, by getting the word out there, this year's contest will be bigger than ever before. Of course, that also means more complexity. Everyone knows the kind of pressure Michael Underwood goes through to put on Anime Expo each year. Its not like our contest is that big yet, but it does mean we have to take into consideration the extra work its going to put on us and how we're going to address it. Hey, at least we have until September to figure it out! =D

[Scintilla]

Some people enter your contest and don't even show up, most cons, or I think all cons don't even enforce this type of rule.

Hasn't JACON been requiring people to register for the con in order to enter their contest, for years now, and somehow still getting a pretty good contest out of it?