AB 2011 AMV Contest - Deadline Extension - March 17th, 11:59

[adferraro]

The AB 2011 AMV Contest is now open and taking submissions! Info has been updated on the convention list, and once again, the contest will be in super shiny, sparkly, Hi-Def! Let's make this the best one yet!

[BasharOfTheAges]

rules page and whatnot - http://www.animeboston.com/events/amv_rules/

[Rider4Z]

whoa... i was all set to enter and then saw this

...The minimum resolution should be 1280 x 720...

sorry but my amvs aren't hip enough for hi-def

[l33tmeatwad]

whoa... i was all set to enter and then saw this

...The minimum resolution should be 1280 x 720...

sorry but my amvs aren't hip enough for hi-def

Just carefully upscale it from your uncompressed source video. If handled properly it can be presented in HD and while not truly HD still look good.

[outlawed]

whoa... i was all set to enter and then saw this

...The minimum resolution should be 1280 x 720...

>This year, the contest will be shown in wide screen format, and in Hi Definition. The minimum resolution should be 1280 x 720, with a framerate of 23.976. All videos should be encoded to H.264
>You may submit your file in a different format and at a different resolution, however keep in mind that while we will convert your file, we will not resize it or alter it in any way.
>Video must be NTSC (not PAL or SECAM).

Those 3 lines. LOLz !

Minimum means the least allowable. Why state a resolution requirement and convert them without resizing? Does this mean your software scales playback to the needed resolution and 1280x720 is in fact not a requirement to enter? PAL or SECAM don't exactly involve digital H264 1280x720 files @ 23.976 fps. This whole section could be worded and defined a LOT better. It's just confusing at present whether you accept anything besides 1280x720 or not because several of your rules are in direct conflict. Also you say H264 standard and link to Zarxgui. H264 is a video compression format that can be used in several file containers. Do you accept MKV files with H264 compression?

[adferraro]

whoa... i was all set to enter and then saw this

...The minimum resolution should be 1280 x 720...

>This year, the contest will be shown in wide screen format, and in Hi Definition. The minimum resolution should be 1280 x 720, with a framerate of 23.976. All videos should be encoded to H.264
>You may submit your file in a different format and at a different resolution, however keep in mind that while we will convert your file, we will not resize it or alter it in any way.
>Video must be NTSC (not PAL or SECAM).

Those 3 lines. LOLz !

Minimum means the least allowable. Why state a resolution requirement and convert them without resizing? Does this mean your software scales playback to the needed resolution and 1280x720 is in fact not a requirement to enter? PAL or SECAM don't exactly involve digital H264 1280x720 files @ 23.976 fps. This whole section could be worded and defined a LOT better. It's just confusing at present whether you accept anything besides 1280x720 or not because several of your rules are in direct conflict. Also you say H264 standard and link to Zarxgui. H264 is a video compression format that can be used in several file containers. Do you accept MKV files with H264 compression?

Sure, I don't mind explaining. Nothing's actually in conflict. There's what I want and would like, and there's what I will accept. I want and would like files submitted to me in 1280x720 format, whether in native 1280x720 or upscaled to that size, and compressed using H264 because the video will look gorgeous, be fairly compact, and definitely stand out. So I do everything I can to encourage that. And really, it's not that hard to do. An experienced editor should have no problem doing that. A newbie should also have no problem if they follow the guides.

However, I will accept videos in 1280x720, or 848x720, or 480x720. Heck, I've accepted videos in 204x160 and weird things like that. And they can be in any file format. Uncompressed AVI, mov, quicktime, wmv, mp4, whatever. But I'm not going to do your work for you and spend my valuable time upscaling and resizing your video.

Here is the catch and how it plays out.

The projectors are Hi-Def projectors, and will be outputting at a resolution of 1280x720. People who submit in the proper recommended format, will have their video fill the screen and it will look really really good.

People who submit a file that is either 848x720 or 480x720, can still enter the contest, but their video will not fill the screen. It will be smaller. Which WILL be noticeable on the enormous screens we use, and of course whether it is in proper aspect ratio WILL be taken into account when the prescreeners judge the videos.

So, if you make and submit a file, which is not in accordance with the specifications above, you have a less likely chance of being selected to participate in the finals, and you have strong uphill battle of of actually winning. It's not impossible, but it will be tough. Because the video editors who took the time to make their videos in the proper aspect ratio, will blow the ones who did not out of the water.

Lastly, I state do not send me Pal or Secam because people still do. Heck, Ive been sent the actual timelines from Sony Vegas and Adobe Premiere. I have tried to spell out exactly what I want and what will give people the best chance of making it into the contest.

I hope that answers your question.

Thanks,
Adam

[Vlad G Pohnert]

People who submit a file that is either 848x720 or 480x720, can still enter the contest, but their video will not fill the screen. It will be smaller. Which WILL be noticeable on the enormous screens we use, and of course whether it is in proper aspect ratio WILL be taken into account when the prescreeners judge the videos.

So, if you make and submit a file, which is not in accordance with the specifications above, you have a less likely chance of being selected to participate in the finals, and you have strong uphill battle of of actually winning. It's not impossible, but it will be tough. Because the video editors who took the time to make their videos in the proper aspect ratio, will blow the ones who did not out of the water.

Sounds then to me like what your saying is if your video is not in 16:9 aspect ratio and Hi-Def it's better then a video encoded to NTSC standard (for example). Yes, indeed, the 16:9 will fill a fancy Hi-Def Screen but how does that make it better? Quality? Well that could be argued as I've seem some videos in 720p that don't look any better (or even worse) then ones in 480p. I'm asuming your only talking about docking points on videos that get encoded to the wrong aspect ration (i.e. 16:9 source encoded to 4:3 with no letterboxing), right? I hope it does not mean a video made in a 4:3 aspect ratio is less likely to make the contest then one in 16:9 just because it does not fill the screen

Vlad

[adferraro]

I'm asuming your only talking about docking points on videos that get encoded to the wrong aspect ration (i.e. 16:9 source encoded to 4:3 with no letterboxing), right? I hope it does not mean a video made in a 4:3 aspect ratio is less likely to make the contest then one in 16:9 just because it does not fill the screen
Vlad

Well for starters, a video made using a 4x3 source, should have black bars added to each side when resized to 1280x720 in order to keep the proper aspect ratio, and it will fill the screen quite nicely. So, yes and no. Just because it's in 4x3, it won't be penalized. If it's just a 4x3 without being resized, then yes, it would be. Doesn't mean it won't make the contest. We had several videos last year that were regular 4x3 make the contest.

That's why I try and stay away from saying 4x3 and 16x9. a 4x3 with black bars added when resized is just as much a 1280x720, as a 16x9 resized to 1280x720. The key really is that the final product, whatever it's original format, really should be in 1280x720 at the end of the day. The guides are plentiful, everyone on the org is helpful, and really, it's not that hard to do. I do think that the creators who take the time, and the effort, of actually going through, following the instructions, and putting out their best, should have a better chance of making the contest then people who don't.

I also do believe in contests being actual contests and they should ideally be pushing the whole art of music videos forward. In our case, the Hi Def projectors are very a significant cost, and we run 4 of them, 2 per screen hooked up in tandem for this contest. It is a very expensive investment that we have made into this contest to take it and the art of AMV's, to the next level.

Cheers,
Adam

[outlawed]

Well for starters, a video made using a 4x3 source, should have black bars added to each side when resized to 1280x720 in order to keep the proper aspect ratio, and it will fill the screen quite nicely. So, yes and no. Just because it's in 4x3, it won't be penalized. If it's just a 4x3 without being resized, then yes, it would be. Doesn't mean it won't make the contest. We had several videos last year that were regular 4x3 make the contest.

That's why I try and stay away from saying 4x3 and 16x9. a 4x3 with black bars added when resized is just as much a 1280x720, as a 16x9 resized to 1280x720. The key really is that the final product, whatever it's original format, really should be in 1280x720 at the end of the day.

Do you work for Funimation?


At any rate.... It sounds like you want to say 1280x720 is a requirement and contestants must resize their video adding black borders to 4:3 content to maintain aspect ratio if necessary. What you replied to me with earlier in this thread is that you want 1280x720 and will accept other resolutions but they are likely to not make the cut. Why not just keep it simple and flat out do 1280x720 no exceptions if that's what you want?

Mind you I can see no logical reason to require the contestants to do the scaling. If you're authoring a Bluray you're going to recompress anyway and chances are having the entrants do a resize (and for some a recompress) against their master is just going to eat into quality at the front end in most cases. If you're doing software playback surely your scaler will handle the needs of making a 720x480 file playback at 1280x720. But if this is what you want my suggestion is to make the rules very succinct. Already in this thread one person seems to be under the impression it's 1280x720 HD or GTFO.

[BasharOfTheAges]

I think he's trying to respond to questions as if everyone asking them is completely inept when it comes to this sort of thing and genuinely in need of simplified answers, not as if they're asking leading, rhetorical questions.

EDIT - ok, I can edit my response too.

IMHO, Adam has always been more of a realist in terms of enforcing tech requirements than the strict "if it's not 100% correct, It's DQ'd" type. With regards to the frame size thing, I think it's a "you're not going to blame me for making the resize look like ass; do it yourself, or it plays as is" kinda sentiment. At least that's how it comes off - I apologize if that's not the case.