P.O.E Season 3 : Semifinals Results - The Final 3 Are Here!

[Radical_Yue]

[Kimberly]

you're such a babe

[Nya-chan Production]

I didn't lower a certain video's score just because I thought the effects were cheesy and ugly. Plus, I wasn't saying that about the original, because as it's already been mentioned, I'm not supposed to judge videos on that. Therefore, I thought the REMAKE's effects were cheesy and ugly. As I said before, the panel says, "Comments", not "Critique". I can post my thoughts however I want and if people don't like it, then sucks.

Just saying it again, I didn't lower my score on that video because I thought it was ugly. Infact, if you read my comment thoroughly, I said the effects were done well.

And I didn't realize that these days, opinions can't differ. If some people don't like what I consider my favorite video, I'll accept it.

A judge is supposed to be picked for their eye and ability to critique videos with set criteria, not for their personal opinions.

Aw, I heart you too.

I honestly think the problem that we're having is that all the entrants go to the comments section expecting to read the reasoning behind scores and not personal opinions. This isn't a personal attack by the way, I think it's honestly a simple misunderstanding that is causing confusion.

EDIT: When someone uses the comments to say "I did not enjoy this video" even if it isn't being brought into the scoring, it really looks that way and that looks bad on the person who left that comment unless they clarify the fact that it is indeed their personal opinion but they scored x, y, & z because yadda yadda yadda.

If I go by that reasoning, I can as well just rate the technical aspect and leave Overall (which I use for the overall liking of the video, like some other judge mentioned) on 20 by default, because after all, there will always be someone who will super-duper like it and I should see it from their point of view.
I mean, I really thought that out of 100 people about 30 COULD like this video, even though I really disliked it personally. I am mistaken, it seems. (It's more like 50/50, btw, from the response of crowd and judges.) Should I take on a course of crowd and personal psychology to better predict how many people will like an AMV and be more objective?

If I overdo the example - if a video is technically epic and awesome, yet the imagery and the video itself makes me literally vomit... should I give the video 20 because there are people who like to vomit while watching videos (and/or just like the video that much that it deserves a 20 to them)?

[Shin-AMV]

If I go by that reasoning, I can as well just rate the technical aspect and leave Overall (which I use for the overall liking of the video, like some other judge mentioned) on 20 by default, because after all, there will always be someone who will super-duper like it and I should see it from their point of view.
I mean, I really thought that out of 100 people about 30 COULD like this video, even though I really disliked it personally. I am mistaken, it seems. (It's more like 50/50, btw, from the response of crowd and judges.) Should I take on a course of crowd and personal psychology to better predict how many people will like an AMV and be more objective?

If I overdo the example - if a video is technically epic and awesome, yet the imagery and the video itself makes me literally vomit... should I give the video 20 because there are people who like to vomit while watching videos (and/or just like the video that much that it deserves a 20 to them)?

Your reductio ad absurdum doesn't fit within my attempt at an objective measurement, which I should note that since there aren't really any objective truths when it comes to editing, I'm using the word objective/objectivity loosely to refer to some theoretical probability regarding a majority of reasonable individuals within a demographic (editors, fans, etc) so its not about finding fringe cases where I could concieve of at least 1 person who likes it and then use that person. Even assuming that there are objective standards based on whatever the current trend is for editing like sync, flow, or what have you, there is still enough wiggle room to get varying results because we all can reasonably put different importance or weight to each of them.

Additionally, the imagery making you vomit isn't what the video is inherently, its what the video caused you to do, so there is no point about imagining fans of vomiting (which would be unlikely in a group of reasonable people anyways). We can pretend it was a comedy or drama video or even more abstractly a funny video or a serious video, and then ask as a fan of comedy/drama/funny/serious(XYZ) videos, are there redeeming qualities or stuff that would make it enjoyable to a fan of xyz. If you're vomiting because its seizure inducing that could be taken as a sign as a poorly crafted video because a majority of reasonable individuals who are fans or connoisseurs of xyz would most likely agree that seizures are bad and they don't like vomiting.

But I'm thinking you're referring to the video at hand with either the gorey/violent/sexual content causing the vomiting. While I get that it is pretty severe to have to endure something you may be really adverse too (I really hate gore even in small amounts) on the flip side those things do have a decent fan following and a fairly sizeable demographic that its possible to extrapolate some ideas of what makes a good video that contains those elements. That being said, I'm not suggesting that we remove subjectivity entirely from the equation since it is an important metric, just that it shouldn't be so weighty that it's basically what makes a video sink or swin alone.

Also, I'm not trying to criticize you or anyone else's judging, I was just providing and clarifying on how I approach judging.

[Kitsuner]

I've only just now watched the videos. As a person who greatly enjoys dark humor, I feel like I should chime in to say there's a difference between "edgy" and "funny". I watched both the contest and uncensored versions of your video, Animated, and each time I only laughed once - the explosion at 1:05. It changed the context of the clip in an unexpected way, and the sound effect made it work. Everything else felt like whatever "nasty" stuff you could find, organized into sections with some lyric sync that for whatever reason didn't connect. Honestly I didn't even notice enough of a difference between the contest and uncensored versions to merit making two videos. Pulling more bits like your "Miyazaki laughs as he bombs him own movie" would have been a good direction to go. It'd be clever, and it would comment on the original video as well.

Overall your video reminded me of a subreddit I frequent. The entire point is to be offensive, but most of the content feels like the same few jokes over and over. Legitimately funny posts are rare, but they pop up from time to time. Mel Brooks has a wonderful quote that I cannot find at all about how comedy is harder than drama, but I'll paraphrase it: with dramatic filmmaking, you have to create great performances, great cinematography, great lighting, great editing, great story, great emotion... when making a comedy, you have to do all that AND make the audience laugh. The same thing applies to comedy AMVs - the editing can be fantastic, but if the joke doesn't work, you can't really call the video a success.

[AimoAio]

Oh I was actually only half right in guessing the editors.

Spoiler :

#1: SilverFreedoms
#2: Animated
#3: afanador
#4: LopezAMV
#5: Radical_Yue
#6: Kisanzi
Though I wasn't sure about #5 because I was basing it on the fact I knew Yue liked Jihaku a lot, even though it didn't really seem like her editing. Then #3 and #4 were just a guess based on what I've seen for the competition so far from those two participants.

As for the judging, this is the layout I set for myself when scoring:

Spoiler :

Concept:
-Does one exist? Yes: 10 points. No: 1-10 depending on close you were you showing one.
-Is it easy to see? Yes: 1-5 points depending on difficulty of interpreting concept.
-Creativity/presentation/development of idea: 5 points. (Mind, if you didn't match the above two criteria, you don't even get any points here)

Video/Audio:
-Watchable/listenable? Yes: 10-15 points depending on how little you make my eyes bleed. (I'm especially picky for newer shows) No: Normally it's an automatic 8, unless it was so poor that it's impossible to discern what's being shown on screen. And I can't imagine in this day and age that people can possibly destroy audio quality so most of the points in this are actually allocated to video technicals.
-Care taken to present video/audio in best possibly quality (filters/crops/not upscaling to HD when it shouldn't be HD etc): 5 points

Sync/Editing:
-Solid editing foundations: 15 points (pacing/transitions/scene selection/cutting/flow/sync/effects etc)
-How engaging the editing is in relation to the video: 5 points (kind of like, does the editing make the video interesting to watch or not?)
This section is really hard to explain because it covers such a broad range of techniques and not everybody will agree with what I think is perfect pacing/flow in a video and that sorta stuff so yes, it will be subjective to what I think is "good" editing.

Theme:
NORMALLY:
-Does it adhere to the theme? Yes: 10-15 points depending on how well it matches the theme.
-Creative approaches to the theme: 5 points.
FOR THIS ROUND:
Resembles the original? Yes: 10-15 points on how easy to see resemblances.
Creative spin to differentiate from original: 1-3 points.
How well spin is incorporated/developed: 1-2 points.

Overall:
Normally I just average the other 4 criteria with a plus/minus of 1-2 depending on how well it actually comes together as a whole.

I will mention that while I try to be as objective as possible during judging, sometimes I can't help but maybe give 1 or 2 more points to a video that I personally thought was better (usually in the overall section) though I did try really hard to not do that (and I don't think I did anyway) but because I'm still relatively inexperienced in judging, please forgive me if I did. I'll get better at this for next time.

As for this subjectiveness/personal opinions or preferences stuff mixing in with the judging, the only area you should find this from me is the Judge's Award I give out. And perhaps in the comments. The comments might not always match up with the scoring because there are some things you should already know yourself even if I don't mention it and I didn't want to go into like 3 pages of me just talking about how your video could do better and blah blah. That being said, I did change the layout I used for commenting this time by separating it into the criteria we were supposed to score it on, which is why if you have any queries regarding what I've said about your video, please feel free to PM me and I'll provide a more indepth explanation.

Anyway congratulations to those who made it this far! Semi-finals are pretty impressive you know! And good luck to those who are moving on to the finals, I'm expecting great videos for this last round!

@Animated:

Spoiler :

It's a shame about your video but hey, you did manage to invoke all this discussion about it so I definitely don't think it's a run of the mill video that'll be forgotten anytime soon. And I'm probably in the minority but yes, I actually did like your video. I do not mind black humour and even though it's somewhat horrible of me, your video did make me laugh quite a bit. Though most of it was me going "whaaaaat the heeeck???!" xD You've made pretty solid stuff for all of the rounds so I know you can edit well in a week, don't let this dishearten you in joining future OrgEditor contests.

[Radical_Yue]

Aimo, are you going to AWA? I want to take you out for drinks.


Shin can tag along or something >.>

[Iron Solari]

Yay for a small break before the last round to recharge my batteries. Thank you Code!

@everyone in thread: Points have been made by both sides, let's just get back to enjoying what we do here again please?

@chiiisus: Thanks for posting your honest thoughts, it only makes me want to pull out all the stops for the last round even more. Granted, I've already been editing myself sick for a couple of the rounds. >.< But I'm having fun, so totally worth it.

Just to clarify, I wasn't complaining earlier just voicing my thoughts. I appreciate everything that Code, the judges, and my fellow contestants have done for the contest thus far. I have greatly enjoyed my time in the orgeditor contests thus far and have to give props to everybody for keeping with it and giving me a reason to get off my ass and actually edit.

You sir, are a madman, in a good way.

[Animated]

Late response to everything written above... all of my anger has already vanished and I can clearly aknowledge my video as a cheap effort to make a shocking parody vid, after all, there were many better examples of parodies in the past, even in POE times. Moreover, everyone has different tastes of humor! In the end, I'm happy that some things went clear, and I'm looking forward to the next big contest.

You've made pretty solid stuff for all of the rounds so I know you can edit well in a week, don't let this dishearten you in joining future OrgEditor contests.

That's what I needed the most, I might say. Thank you Aimo

If the next theme is to present yourselves as an editor... damn, I was waiting for this for so long!

[SilverFreedoms]

Late response to everything written above... all of my anger has already vanished and I can clearly aknowledge my video as a cheap effort to make a shocking parody vid, after all, there were many better examples of parodies in the past, even in POE times.

Oh come on now.

No need to cut down your own video. =(