Round 1

[Radical_Yue]

songs we received in previous years.

Starry Eyed (Starsmith Remix) - Ellie Goulding
Bangarang - Skrillex
Caramell Dansen (Speedycake Remix) - Caramell
Viva La Vida - Coldplay
Good Life - One Republic
Cosmic Love - Florence And The Machine
The Walk - Imogen Heap
This Is War - Thirty Seconds To Mars
How Far We've Come - Matchbox 20
Calvin Harris Feat Ellie Goulding - I Need Your Love
Krewella - Come & Get It

Do people always tend to submit very popular, predictable, or even very overused tracks or was it the luck of the draw that so many were chosen last year? People have the chance to submit any music they want to this and this is what they chose?

Kind of makes me wonder if any music that's just a little off the beaten path is disqualified as "troll audio."

This is troll audio. That is audio I was sent the first year we did it.
Believe me, I personally have eclectic tastes and I can easily find something I enjoy from every genre of music. I'm not kicking out songs because "Oh, this is different or unique. It's obviously a troll song." I kick out a song for being a troll song if it's a drum machine with a guy giving slow poetry about horse dicks or if it's so odd an obscure that not only could it make exactly one kind of video (a video with little to no editing about horse dicks) but I'm 100% certain that an entire group would drop if they got it. I've disqualified maybe 3 songs in the past 3 years for being troll audio.

All but 2 of the songs you listed were in the first year of the contest before I had the overused audio rule. This was my mistake as a rookie to coordinating the contest. Beyond that, I primarily go by Org standards of overused audio. At this point, there are 3 videos on the Org with "Come & Get It" with the most popular being Madara's video from last year at 740 hits. If it had been sent this year as opposed to last, I still wouldn't disqualify it. Yes, there have been some videos using it but nothing notable enough to be the video that it's known for.

Pop music is popular music. Do I want to watch 8 videos to Bangarang? Fuck no. But the 12 people that submit that song the first year we ran this contest sure as hell did. When people send songs I always advise to send songs that can make multiple types of videos or songs that they've always wanted to make videos to but could never get a solid idea for.

There have been suggestions for mulligans and to personally trim the song selections that I'm sent to prevent songs that are similar from possibly being selected but I'm not going to do that. Who am I to say "This shit is generic, I'm going to kick it out."? Or to have a group of people vote out something that an editor who is in the contest personally picked out because they really wanted to see people edit to it. Some of these people send their songs at the very last minute because they spent hours picking out exactly what they wanted to send in hopes that people will make fantastic videos with it.

Sorry if I seem a little hostile. I'm not super upset or anything, I just don't like the implication that I'm tossing songs left and right for being "troll audio" and I'm not quite fond of the editors that work their asses off trying to make videos for this contest getting dissed for sending that kind of audio.

[Fall_Child42]

Is this Troll Audio?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Gf6jtbrBGA

[Radical_Yue]

Is this Troll Audio?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Gf6jtbrBGA

Todd damn it.

[seasons]

Sorry if I seem a little hostile.

You don't.

It would be silly of me to actually suggest that you or anyone else who's ever run this contest in the past -- if it's ever been anyone else -- is actually handpicking what songs make the cut. I would've thought that most editors have a few songs kicking around in their head that they've always wanted to hear in an AMV (regardless of who's editing to it), and that this would be a great opportunity to play their luck and see if it might actually happen. Or not, I guess.

This has more to do with my frustration with the hobby in general than with this contest, specifically. When people have a chance to make literally anything they want, or even to have someone else do it, they opt for generic concepts concepts/extremely-popular audio-video combinations, even if they could go on to Youtube and find exactly what they're asking for in about 5 seconds.

[Fall_Child42]

Also you can totally ask yue directly if a song is okay.

I had to do that like a half dozen times.

but I got 5 great songs in the contest that were not picked.

Also this IS troll audio.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3kworqbeqw

despite how much I like it.

[Radical_Yue]

Sorry if I seem a little hostile.

You don't.

Thank god xD Normally if I take a serious-ish tone most people think I'm seething with rage.

This has more to do with my frustration with the hobby in general than with this contest, specifically. When people have a chance to make literally anything they want, or even to have someone else do it, they opt for generic concepts concepts/extremely-popular audio-video combinations, even if they could go on to Youtube and find exactly what they're asking for in about 5 seconds.

And actually, that brings up one of the things I love about this contest. Sure, you can go the normal route and try to knock the obvious combo is obvious out of the park but a lot of people get really creative and make some fantastic videos.

Like an over the top literal version of a song that's normally uber dramatic.
Rhianna? Nah. Rhianna Quest! The ultimate video game challenge!
Or taking a song that most people picture with shounen shows and turning it into a celebration of youth using moe.
Even taking a cute little romance song and turning it in to a creepy vampire stalker video.

I could go on and on with amazing examples if I wanted to :3

[Nya-chan Production]

Sorry if I seem a little hostile.

You don't.

It would be silly of me to actually suggest that you or anyone else who's ever run this contest in the past -- if it's ever been anyone else -- is actually handpicking what songs make the cut. I would've thought that most editors have a few songs kicking around in their head that they've always wanted to hear in an AMV (regardless of who's editing to it), and that this would be a great opportunity to play their luck and see if it might actually happen. Or not, I guess.

This has more to do with my frustration with the hobby in general than with this contest, specifically. When people have a chance to make literally anything they want, or even to have someone else do it, they opt for generic concepts concepts/extremely-popular audio-video combinations, even if they could go on to Youtube and find exactly what they're asking for in about 5 seconds.

I think it has to do a lot with these people seeing these generic YouTube videos and not being content with them, wanting to make the music better justice. I would send a video because of that if I could, actually.

Also you can totally ask yue directly if a song is okay.

I had to do that like a half dozen times.

but I got 5 great songs in the contest that were not picked.

Also this IS troll audio.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3kworqbeqw

despite how much I like it.

Hanatarash~

[Radical_Yue]

I think it has to do a lot with these people seeing these generic YouTube videos and not being content with them, wanting to make the music better justice. I would send a video because of that if I could, actually.

In my opinion, "song stealing" is nowhere near as sacred as it was 5+ years ago. That's not exactly a bad thing though considering I've got songs that I adore sitting on my harddrive that I won't touch because editors I know claimed them in 2006.

It appears the current generation seeks to emulate or reach the same level as videos they've seen on the internet. Kisanzi has a fun time youtube searching general information from his video Comdemned Memoir for this exact reason. He's found 10+ "wannabes/ripoffs" from different editors trying to emulate the video. One person has even attempted to remake the video several times, each time improving upon their own technical level a little more and getting a tiny bit closer to the original video in question.

While there are some people out there that I know of that say "I haven't seen anyone do it right so I'm going to do it" I don't believe them to be the majority. But this all wraps back around to other theories I have on the current state of AMV editing and is not related to this contest so I'll drop the conversation here. If you'd ever like to discuss it in private I'm always open. =w=


Also, about to do the song randomization for all the rounds.

[Paura]

Also, about to do the song randomization for all the rounds.

'Bout time, woman!

*flees*

[Ileia]

It appears the current generation seeks to emulate or reach the same level as videos they've seen on the internet.

That's not new - that's been around pretty much since the advent of AMVs.