AWA 2010 - Pro downloads active; Expo 4 days left, August 20

[kholaras]

Marking them or not, scattering or collecting them...it's really a moot point. Skipped after 10seconds or skipped outright because of the label (or just from the title/source material), it amounts to the same thing. It's the implications of that action that are at debate and I'll make sure that jingoro and everyone else that needs to be aware sees the thread. Beyond that it's worth knowing, for anyone that's unaware which is probably everyone, I'm by far the junior member of the VAT directorship. I took the lead on these contest threads a few years back when MCWagner was too busy to do it himself and kept doing it because it just made more sense, considering I was the one processing entries, burning discs, and managing the website. The last thing I want to be doing is setting policy =/ It's not what I signed up for and I don't want to be the one making that call.

That said, and this is completely my own opinion, if you're going to enter but not participate in the voting process of a contest that, by it's very nature, is defined BY the voting process then what's the point. And to fairly vote and judge, you need to have viewed the entries. At the same time, if I were a participant in the contest (past or present) I can't in good conscience say that I would have watched all the H entries all the way through. But at the same time I can absolutely tell you that I wouldn't vote in those categories (or one in which it/they were competing) either by virtue of not having a fair reference. But unfortunately that leads to situations as someone (I've already misquoted once today, I'll leave it at that) mentioned about haunter's video last year. The category as a whole just didn't have enough votes and withered away due to neglect.

[BasharOfTheAges]

This whole thing has been really telling. It sure says a lot about who you can trust to be a fair and honest judge. Probably a good idea to archive this thread for posterity.

[madmallard]

Back in the late 90s, we were all hearing the murmurs circulating on the mostly still text-based internets that people were getting passed over in favour of editors who either produced spectacular work, or who produced work at a rapid interval. Additionally, the murmurs also were being critical of the 'tastes' of contest coordinators being unfair to some people who didn't make videos they liked, but that were thought to still be of quality.

Pro's base intent was to cancel out perceived bias towards/away from certain creators and editors over others. The first thing was to blind the judging. The second was to remove the judging from the hands of the coordinators that (rightly or wrongly) they didn't want judging.

Back when the contest was circulated on judging VHS tapes that I had copied over and over again to put in mailers stacked up in the corner of Quu's house, it was less of an issue keeping who made what a secret because you typically couldn't watch AMVs without going to a con. Now thats not the case, and its very easy to negotiate around the 'blind' part if you want to.

but the latter notion, to remove judging from the coordinators SPECIFICALLY SHIFTS THAT BURDEN TO THE CONTEST PARTICIPANTS. The impetus, benefit, motivation for pro was not only for someone to be able to take advantage of anonymity to prevent their work from being the victim of bias, but was ALSO SO THEY COULD IMPART THEIR OWN JUDGMENT IN PLACE OF THE COORDINATORS WHICH HAD BEEN PREVIOUSLY UNSATISFACTORY.

Of course we can't force you to watch videos, and we worded it diplomatically in the rules between re-written revisions of Jingoro, McWagner, myself and Kholaras...

...but the notion that this judging was not a MAJOR part of the explicit goals of Pro's organisation is a very false assumption.

[godix]

Perhaps we need more discussion on videos and less on dramas now. Especially since I think everyone made their point very clear, including the people who are in charge of the contest. Since these pages and pages of dramas have kinda buried talk about the videos....

My review of the videos

Ileia's review of the videos

Sanya's review of the videos

If there were others, I missed em.

[Prodigi]

This whole thing has been really telling. It sure says a lot about who you can trust to be a fair and honest judge. Probably a good idea to archive this thread for posterity.

I don't see how not watching a video because it makes you feel personally uncomfortable has anything to do with being a "fair and honest judge".

@Godix - I've written up my thoughts I just need to find the file

[Pwolf]

yea... I'm just not going to enter Pro in the future. kinda sucks but if the intent is to be a judge then I can't knowingly enter a contest and not give it my all when it comes to being a judge at the same time... maybe i will in the future. is it possible to have my video removed from this years contest as well?

[BurningLeaves]

But at the same time I can absolutely tell you that I wouldn't vote in those categories (or one in which it/they were competing) either by virtue of not having a fair reference. But unfortunately that leads to situations as someone (I've already misquoted once today, I'll leave it at that) mentioned about haunter's video last year. The category as a whole just didn't have enough votes and withered away due to neglect.

That's all well and good for the 'adult' category if it stays this year but that doesn't take away the whole problem. I watched all of the videos, including those with H's. While yes there are a few with very graphic scenes they don't all fall under the 'hentai' blanket. So you might not watch them and also skip the judging on the adult category. However in this years contest alone some of the H vids are comedy, at least one could pass for upbeat while another is a drama. Without watching the videos how would you even know what categories to skip voting on? Just because it uses adult footage does not mean that the 'adult' section is the only one in which it would fall. Same thing with live action, just because it happens to use live action footage does not mean it would not be an excellent drama entry (ala video #37 from this years contest).

When entering this contest you agree to be a judge, you also are told that there can be adult content entered. In any other contest would it be alright to submit a video and be declared the loser only to find your submission wasn't even viewed by the judges? To lose a contest because another video was better than yours is one thing, to have one work declared better than another by a judge who doesn't even bother to look at both before deciding is another.

Last year my computer crashed and I only had about half the disc downloaded. I skipped judging all together because it would not have been fair for me to judge a contest having not seen all of the entries. Would it have been fair for me to only vote for the best out of what I had seen and ignored all the others I hadn't? Of course not, and the same applies here.

If you at least attempt to watch the video and find it too graphic or disturbing and turn it off for those reasons a part of me could understand and at least you did give it a shot. But to let the 'L' and 'H' alone stop you is just judging a book by it's cover when you know nothing about it.

[zeiram_00]

This is my first year entering Pro and second year sending entries to AWA and in general think of AWA as THE amv convention. I think of Pro as one of the few chances to have fellow editors judge your work and is similar to a best of the best in house competition. I don't think you have to be one of those famous names in the community to enter the contest but a chance for those "legends" to push each other to greatness and give a chance to 'new kids on the block' to wow a few people. I don't think i'm the greatest editor in the world but i know i produce quality work and enjoy having the opportunity to see how my vids stack up against other such quality editors and not the whims of the unpredictable audience vote.

As far as the watching videos issue is concerned i have watched all of them, was prepared to watch all and expect that all the other editors will do the same. the official or unofficial "requirement" of watching the videos works for me this way; pro contest is judged by your peers so by submitting an entry you agree to be both entrant and judge and thus by being a judge must rate all videos in an unbiased manor (unbiased in theory atleast, because there is always some bias). if you choose to skip videos then you're basically just entering the contest to get a sneak peak at everyone else's vids.


And now to my quick review of the entrants. (i'm too lazy to list all individual so i'm just gonna comment on pieces and parts of the playlist)

-only about 20% of the videos are getting 3 out of 5 or better from me, kinda disappointing
-several videos would have been better as shorts or simply not made because one little part of the song matched the source ~serious~
-several should have been shortened or the editor done more with the video to keep me from falling asleep during the video ~5:30 is a loooong time with a slow paced video
-haven't watched it but i'm already tired of 'Sleeping with Hinako'
- 'hey, they've remade an older series, lets make another video thats the same as all the other videos that were made the first time the series was around' and is NGE cool again because its been redone to look really pretty???
-i like picture-in-picture in my TV not lots of picture-in-picture in my amvs
-to the 2 videos using large collections of movie trailers, woohoo lots of flashy pretty pretty FXs and movement Next

overall a few interesting techniques or ideas presented, not always on good vids, but i'll probably try incorporating some new things into my stuff inspired by those things

Now to start re-watching some videos so i can finish nominating this week

[SailorDeath]

Okay, to get some things semi-back-on-track. So here's my take on all the entries submitted.

Just so you know, I tend to judge things on a more technical side for the majority of videos I see. Stuff like editing, video quality, I'll try my best to also convey stuff like mood or pacing if I can.

1. It had it's funny moments, made me feel some nostalgia for the series, but overall didn't stand out, 5/10

2. Obvious joke to the anime, overall I could see it coming, felt more like a character profile amv, but still couldn't get into it 3/10

3. Edited well, at least by my standards. Conveyed to me a sense of awkwardness and "I'm falling in love with this guy." 6/10

4. interesting to watch, obviously the person did a lot of work creating this animation. Sets an interesting mood. 6/10

5. Lots of dissolves and action scenes. Edited decently but really felt like a generic action amv Still that one knock doesn't hurt it too much. 6/10

6. A lot of quick cuts, but still sets a good pace. Good use of transistions, some effects used in the right spots. Entertaining to watch 7/10

7. Good use of dissovles and fades, I thought the editing was fairly good, video quality was good too. Had good pacing too. 6/10

8. Good use of hiding the mouths are certain parts for the lipsync. The joke was funny and to the point. Short but any longer would have killed it. 6/10

9. DBZ gets overused but in this case it was a good match. Matching of lyrics to scenes was pretty good and the end was great. 7/10

10. I liked Coraline, and this video kinda creeped me out. Good job setting the mood of the video, excellent editing. 7/10

11. This song almost made me fall in love with hinako while watching this video. Actually it was a combination I would never have thought of. 6/10

12. Decent editing, but it felt like an average romance video. 5/10

13. Nice use of scenes from this anime. Good matching of lyrics to the story as well a tiny bit depressing. 6/10

14. Many people made the crack about the similarities to this cartoon and that movie. Edited pretty well to fit the source audio. 6/10

15. I can see what the person was aiming for with this video, or at least I think I can, still video didn't do anything for me. 4/10

16. Felt like a generic action amv with fighting during the heavy bits of the song and and brooding emo guys during the lighter bits. 5/10

17. Use a matte to add a visual effect for the whole video, but other than that the editing was average. 5/10

18. This was definitely different. Dynamic use of effects throughout. Edited well, and uses a series that is known for its humor (and showing none) 6/10

19. a few spots that made me chuckle, lip syncing was off on some parts. (at least it seemed like that's what was going on) didn't appeal to me. 3/10

20. I never thought an amv that used so many dance clips would make me laugh so much. 7/10

21. Tightly edited, very fast paced and conveyed the story well, good use of music to the anime. 7/10

22. Wow, okay, good matching of music to source, slowed down footage was noticable at some parts but still one of my favorites. 8/10

23. I really thought this video was one of the best submitted. Very good at evoking emotions. 8/10

24. Editing was okay, but when I saw this amv but the joke was so obvious its probably why nobody's done it before. Still was above average. 6/10

25. What I like to call a chronological amv as that the scenes progress as they do in the anime. Still it was pretty good. 7/10

26. The song/scenes made me laugh, especially for an ova that was only 30 minutes long. Editing was decent 6/10

27. Very fast paced, decent editing, but didn't stand out as anything special to me. 5/10

28. OKay, I officially hate the creator of this. I have tinnitus and it drives me nuts when I'm in a silent room. THanks for reminding me how much it sucks. Bonus points for accuracy though. 6/10

29. Edits were okay, I laughed at the one use of lip synch, but nothing too special, plus the joke was too obvious. 5/10

30. Edits were good, but I think the message was conveyed well enough without the subtitles, but I won't penalize it for that. 6/10

31. Another of the top amvs in the contest. Excellent choice in music, anime and editing was on the dot for the pacing of the song. 9/10

32. A cute amv with a nice matching of anime and music. Fun to watch. 8/10

33. An okay video with a good mix of stuggle, romance and support. 6/10

34. I thought I developed schizophrenia while watching this amv, the jokes made me laugh and that's why I liked it. 7/10

35. My favorite video out of the contest. The song was perfect, catchy, good editing, good concept and slightly offensive. 9/10

36. The video was edited well, conveyed moods well, but felt like an average amv 5/10 (on a humorous note,when I saw the "press z to make your dreams come true" I exclaimed "WHY WON'T IT STOP PLAYING WHEN I PRESS Z") sorry didn't mean to be cruel, it just popped in my head when I read that bit and giggled. I think I channeled godix there for a moment.

37. A romance video that turned violent at some points. The male lead looks just like one of my friends, which was scary. Good editing, nice transitions still didn't stand apart from the similar videos 6/10

38. A video that used a lot of editing effects in the form of flying windows. Some parts reminded me of my first attempt at making effects in AE. Remained consistent throughout the video. But still needed more work. 5/10

39. Fast paced action video. Lots of action and gore. Good matching of lyrics to anime. 6/10

40. I wanted to fall asleep while watching this AMV. This video didn't exactly keep my interest. It was edited well but the concept was boring. 3/10

41. Somewhat humorous combination of music and movie. Entertaining to watch 6/10

42. Saw this at Acen when it was submitted to our contest. Though it was an okay amv then, still hasn't changed my opinion of it. 6/10

43. FUn video fit the music and anime, had its memorable moments 6/10

44. I felt like I was watching an old 60's anime while watching this. Reminded me of the original Cutey Honey. 5/10

45. WTF indeed 6/10

46. I nejoyed watching this AMV. Really conveyed the feelings of the anime well. 7/10

47. Not quite what I expected. But then I was spoiled on the "DBZ In a nutshell" flash. Still a good amv. 7/10

48. Flashy amv, editing was decent. Choice of scenery was okay but didn't set itself apart from the other karas amvs I've seen. 6/10

49. A nice upbeat amv with decent editing and effects. 7/10

50. Brought back memories of my youth in the 80's when WTTW 11 would show old godzilla, gamera and mothra flicks. Music was a change of pace and I really liked this amv. Aspect Ratio looked wrong though. 7/10

51. I can sum this video up with one word: SPASTIC. 5/10

52. If I could have sex with this amv I would. A fun song to use with the anime used. Fun to watch. 8/10

53. Reminded me of a "Schizo" simulation video I saw. Damn creepy 5/10

54. A funny vidoe that was edited well, Great pacing and the jokes were well timed. 7/10

55. The person had to go through a lo of movies for this video. They took all the good scenes from a billion movies and made one really well edited mish-mash of movies. 7/10

56. Interesting use of music for the series that was used. I always liked videos that focused on the mimaniac than the whole "I'm losing my mind" side of things. 7/10

57. Clipshow amv. Some parts were pretty funny but some parts had terrible quality too. 6/10

58. Another parody of euphoria but with hentai. Seems like it tries to be funny but is similar to the many hamvs I have already. 5/10

59. Fast paced hentai amv that, while has a few moments that made me cringe, really is similar to #58. 5/10

60. MY EYES! THEY BLEED!!!!

10/10 - FOR THE HORROR!

[Nya-chan Production]

-only about 20% of the videos are getting 3 out of 5 or better from me, kinda disappointing
-haven't watched it but i'm already tired of 'Sleeping with Hinako'
- 'hey, they've remade an older series, lets make another video thats the same as all the other videos that were made the first time the series was around' and is NGE cool again because its been redone to look really pretty???
-to the 2 videos using large collections of movie trailers, woohoo lots of flashy pretty pretty FXs and movement Next

- now I want to know WHICH got the above average score to know if I am among them ><
- that's the point of the whole anime, man! ^^
- F/SN, Hellsing, EVA, Gunbuster, everything... works like this. Shiny stuff appeals to ppl, it's sad, but it does...
- see the point right above.