Questions for contest coordinators

[BasharOfTheAges]

I've been looking to get other coordinator's opinions on a few minutia of how they run their contests and why.

1) Do you have a pre-screening process?
2) If yes, do you have some sort of overflow screening?
3) Does a rules violation that leads to disqualification as per your contest's rules mean you don't show the video in the overflow? (elaborate if it's not yes/no)
4) Do you do your duty and add the entry for your contest to the 'org's contest calender?
5) If so, do you bother to check the Video Participation tab to actually indicate that the videos that claim to have been sent were in fact at your contest?
6) If you do, what gets a "yes" mark from you? Video was in the contest? video was screened? Video was submitted? (i.e. do you say "no" if a video is sent to the overflow or is DQ'd or otherwise is not played because you lack an overflow)



From a submitters point of view, I always claimed participation if I sent my vid to the contest, but from a coordinator's point of view, if the video is DQd for a legitimate reason (breaks content rules for appropriateness, subtitles, watermarks, etc.) I don't think it really should be said that it "participated" in the contest. What are your thoughts?

[ngsilver]

1) Yes

2) Normally I make time for overflow screening, though the times available are during free-play style blocks that don't happen at peak times. It all depends on the number of entries. We also allow exhibition entries which automatically enter overflow. In the end if our contest doesn't fill the full blocks we have overflow during the contest blocks, otherwise overflow happens at designated times.

3) If a video is a straight DQ then no, it will not be shown even during overflow. However if a video violates the standard content rules (such as the rule that all videos have to be able to be shown during normal con hours without checking for IDs) then those videos are automatically bumped to our adult contest where they will be shown.

4) Yes

5) Yes, usually after the con I will look at the participants listed and then weed them out. If I am unsure of a name or entry (sometimes people use different names for the final version on the org vs what they listed when they submitted to the contest) I will just leave them un-decided. I periodically go back and check from time to time. though I figure if it's been a few months after the con no one else will mark their video thats legit.

6) I only mark yes if a video competed at the convention. I don't consider a video that was DQ'ed or even one that was on exhibition or put into overflow due to time restraints as an actual entry, so they are marked as a no.

[VicBond007]

1) Do you have a pre-screening process?
Yes. I don't have faith in a system where one or two people decide the fate of the contest. the more people I have contributing scores to a video, the better. Every year, pre-screenings turns out a playlist that's different than what I would have made on my own, so yes, the system works. Interestingly enough, audience voting tends to rank videos almost exactly opposite of what pre-screeners do, but I think that if the entire audience was in on the pre-screening process, then the finalist list would be the same. Pre-screenings is usually 6-30 people and we don't skip anything, no matter how bad it is.
2) If yes, do you have some sort of overflow screening?
Yes. Overflow IMO is necessary unless you get so few videos that it isn't worth taking up a block of time (IE: if the con schedules events in 60 minute increments, and there are only 25 minutes of videos in overflow). AMVs, no matter how bad, were made by the creator, and explicitly GIVEN to your contest. When a con shows a fansub, the fansubber usually doesn't go "Here, I made this FOR YOU, please show it", it's usually just downloaded and run off some guy's laptop. When the industry allows a DVD to be shown at a con, they (usually) aren't giving you some big exclusive. They're using con-time to advertise something that's on sale in the dealer's room in hopes that people will see it and buy it. When an AMV creator takes the time to make a video, and pick out YOUR contest to screen it, all they want is their 4 minutes of time on screen. Without their content, you wouldn't have a contest at all, so I strongly feel that creators that submit, deserve their work to be seen.
3) Does a rules violation that leads to disqualification as per your contest's rules mean you don't show the video in the overflow? (elaborate if it's not yes/no)
A DQ usually means we won't show the entry at all, unless we have time at the end of overflow. The rules of a contest are usually pretty clear. If you break a rule, even after reading the rules, your entry doesn't deserve to be featured because you're really just wasting the coordinator's time. Yes, there are some grey area videos that are DQ'd for content, and I understand those are evaluated subjectively, so it's not cut-and-dry 100% of the time.
4) Do you do your duty and add the entry for your contest to the 'org's contest calender?
Only because Scintilla yells at me every year.
5) If so, do you bother to check the Video Participation tab to actually indicate that the videos that claim to have been sent were in fact at your contest?
Do people actually search for AMVs that way? I kinda figured that "finalist lists" and "spare ballots" made it pretty easy to find the video you wanted. And if you saw something in overflow, you usually remember it. Who actually downloads EVERYTHING that was "sent" to a con?
6) If you do, what gets a "yes" mark from you? Video was in the contest? video was screened? Video was submitted? (i.e. do you say "no" if a video is sent to the overflow or is DQ'd or otherwise is not played because you lack an overflow)
See above. I don't care. The internet is full of trolls, it's not my job to check up on them. I just fixes videos and doesn't afraid of anything.

[Scintilla]

4) Do you do your duty and add the entry for your contest to the 'org's contest calender?
Only because Scintilla yells at me every year.

Please don't take it personally. I do that to anyone coordinating a contest I enter (if they don't already add it on their own).



Backstory for those who don't know me: Back in 2003, when I didn't know very much about conventions or the fandom in general, using the Contest Calendar was how I decided which contests to enter (which ones have deadlines coming up soon and seem pretty reputable?). And I expect that I'm not the only one.
Plus I'm a firm believer in the power of convention showings to get worthy AMVs noticed, especially from promising new editors who don't yet have any name recognition. So I guess I have grown to place especial importance on the calendar over the years and like to remind everyone that it exists.

Before the site staff added the confirm/deny feature, I'd add contests myself if I found out about them elsewhere and the coordinators hadn't done so yet. But I can't very well do that anymore, so I have to remind the actual coordinators to do so instead.

[Infinity Squared]

I haven't coordinated in the past year but the past 3 or so years before that count, so....

1) Do you have a pre-screening process?
Yep... used to decide finalists and judges awards.

2) If yes, do you have some sort of overflow screening?
Eventually when the number of AMVs increased we did. As has been said before, these videos were worked on by people who just want their moment in the spotlight and it'd be incredibly unfair to deny them that. Plus it's the most awkward of moments when an editor comes up to you at the end of the screening and they ask why didn't their video play.

3) Does a rules violation that leads to disqualification as per your contest's rules mean
you don't show the video in the overflow? (elaborate if it's not yes/no)
Pretty much. Exceptions occur as always but after a while when you realise you have to process 60+ videos and an ever shrinking schedule, you just have to remember that there were rules for a reason.

4) Do you do your duty and add the entry for your contest to the 'org's contest calender?
Yep. It's kinda funny actually seeing the multitude of videos that seem to just put in every single piece of contest they can add to their video even if they didn't enter any of them... I just don't get why people would do that.

5) If so, do you bother to check the Video Participation tab to actually indicate that the videos that claim to have been sent were in fact at your contest?
Yup, most of the time.

6) If you do, what gets a "yes" mark from you? Video was in the contest? video was screened? Video was submitted? (i.e. do you say "no" if a video is sent to the overflow or is DQ'd or otherwise is not played because you lack an overflow)
Screened. Whether it be in the main contest, overflow or even exhibition. If someone saw it play in the theatre, it gets a yes mark.

[Vlad G Pohnert]

1) Yes

2) Have a showing of all accepted entires on Sundays in the AMV room or video room.

3) Yes, only accepted entires are shown. However I try to work with the creator to fix a rule violation if at all possible.

4) Yes

5) Actually, I should as the data Admin, but I don't. But I do check the internet and org to ensure compliance of rules as much as possible

Vlad

[scottanime]

1) Yes

2) Yes, a 2 hour overflow event.

3) Yes, the only viable reason we would DQ a video is if it was inappropriate content wise for our audience, as a result in either the main contest or overflow would be inappropriate.

4) Yes

5) Not religiously, most of my time leading into the con is making the necessary adjustments to make the live event as good as it can be.

6) If I do it is if a video was submitted, regardless if it was shown to indicated that the editor did in fact support our show.

[BasharOfTheAges]

Those are some good answers. I wanted to gauge how people handled DQs mostly, I think I got a lot of info. Now, what actually constitutes a DQ is the important bit. Is it as simple as not following your rules?

Would you DQ if the following rules were broken : Content (imagery and/or vocals), subtitles, watermarks, bad footage quality, dub audio, incorrect frame size, incorrect container, incorrect frame rate, incorrect audio, no black leader if you request one, incorrect file naming, <anything you can think of here>. Does how you would act conflict with your previous stated position above? Does it conflict with your rules as written?

[scottanime]

Currently the only reason I DQ a video in my events is if the content is inappropriate for the age demographic of the show. Also one shows Directors may have stricter guidelines than others, but that is just for content. I do have rules that state things like no subtitles, watermarks, etc. but I still get a few videos that send in these anyway. I don't DQ these simply because when there are a large number of entries and a limited amount of time to show videos, some videos simply don't get to be shown.

I try to not DQ videos if I can help it. Sometimes allowing a new editor the chance to enter a contest and not making the cut gives them the drive to improve for their next attempt. Everyone has to start somewhere.

[ngsilver]

A DQ for me is any video that violates the rules. So not adhering to content requirements, wrong codecs/containers, subtitles, ect. If it's listed in the rules as not accepted or not listed as part of the accepted parts of the rules then it's a violation and automatically DQ'ed. I do give everyone as many chances as they need before the deadline to rectify their errors and submit a corrected version that meets the rules. There are also many videos I don't officially DQ until after the deadline, because my system allows for a non-DQ status that basically says there are problems. I find that sometimes it is easier to get an editor to accept that they can fix their error by not specifically DQ'ing their video right off the bat. However once the deadline passes I will straight up DQ the video if it hasn't been re-submitted.

Generally, at least for Youmacon, my rules are a bit more lenient so I can be less strict with the rules. However for ACEN our rules are made specifically to be strictly kept, so actually ACEN has had more DQ's in the past then Youmacon has. I've always found this very interesting, considering the higher number of new editors who submit to Youma compared to the higher number of 'seasoned' editors that submit to ACEN.