AWA Professional Awards 2017 Category Selection

[Kionon]

I think the goal is important here, and I feel like Rider4Z is saying the same thing, although maybe he's not, and I shouldn't speak for him.

Nearly every good video has conflict. There are some exceptions, but even a lot of comedy videos rely on the humor inherent in a conflict to be amusing. So that's not quite right either...

I just know that it seems unfair to me to put something with a well executed Theme or Message (capital T or M) in the same category as a video with the expressed purpose to explore the complicated nature of a character's personality, experiences, or adversities...

Best Social Commentary vs Best Character Profile? Maybe? I dunno. Maybe I suck at articulating what seems to me to be a chasm in categorisation in my mind.

[Rider4Z]

Also, this may be an award where "best" doesn't work. "Best Theme"? Why is theme x better than theme y? Perhaps "Strongest Theme" might be the way to go.

Best/Strongest Theme

You're right, saying you can't be taught how to develop theme is an exaggeration. But it's much more difficult than learning technique because it's so subjective. I admit the category I'm suggesting sounds a lot like trying to lasso jello with a rope.

A category everything qualifies for is next to impossible for me to administer. Nominations would, by your own admission, include every single video, meaning I get a 70-way tie to break. That's just not going to work. Any category everything qualifies for could just be called the "Best Participation"... nope, that's a non-starter with me.

In that case, what about putting a cap on how many videos we can nominate per category?



Here's an example of why I feel so strongly about theme. My husband and I collaborate on artwork - he's the one who always comes up with the clever ideas but doesn't have the skill/talent to execute them. That's where I come in. He's the theme, I'm the technical merit. One doesn't work by itself. So if we're acknowledging technical merit I think it's fair to acknowledge theme as well.



And I just realized I forgot to mention the pancake video had a ridiculously strong theme as well.

[jingoro]

I feel most awards speak to theme, a you say. Technical merit isn't the focus of any category but best technical or perhaps best video. I think we just need to make sure our thematic categories properly cover the spectrum of what people submit... For example separating horror themes from general dramatic themes. Or giving abstract mood videos a home in best artistic endeavour, instead of them getting lost among more conventional works in broader categories.

I guess I just don't see how strongest theme differs from best actioncomedydramaromancehorroretal...

[SeanPNG]

I would like to make a bold proposal

You've said that Best Mood doesnt work because it fits under Artistic Endeavor, and I agree with you.you've also said Best/Strongest theme fits under Artistic Endeavor as well, which is also true.
I voted for one video in Artistic Endeavor for my own reasons, specifically its "Mood", where someone else voted for it's "Theme" and im sure there were other factors as well. While none of us were wrong, this lead to a group of videos that were totally different.
If you have 5 finalist videos that feel completely different from each other, its possible the category is too vague.
TLDR, my proposal is that, if you are open to possibly increasing the number of categories and wish to improve the variety of videos shown, I propose that we remove Artistic Endeavor, and break it up into multiple, specific categories.

[Kireblue]

Best Artistic Endeavor has tended to be our "abstract art" category... it is rather difficult to describe, but everyone seems to know what goes there when the time comes around.

I've probably approached the Artistic Endeavor category a bit different than most. When I've made my nominations and votes in the past, I've focused more on the word "Endeavor" than "Artistic". For this category, I've always voted for the videos that I felt the editor had done something unusual or extraordinary for the purpose of expressing their artistic vision (or in a sense, made an endeavor for it). Last year, I voted "Just Funkin' Dandy" because I wanted to acknowledge the fact that the editor succeed in the unorthodox task of turning his AMV into a visual comic book. This year, I voted for "Into the Lingerie" due to the editor being able to not only mimic the effects of the original video, but also the nuances of its scene selection. In the case of "Just Funkin' Dandy" and "Into the Lingerie", most editors wouldn't have succeed in making those videos. They required not only vast knowledge of technicals, but also a firm commitment to their concept. And that's what I felt the "Endeavor" in the award title meant. If not, then what isn't the award just called "Most Artistic". I feel that an award called "Most Artistic" acknowledges the end product, and an award called "Best Artistic Endeavor" acknowledges the process. I'm not actually campaigning for a 2nd Artistic category though. I just wanted to verbalize the way I always looked at it.

But anyway, I also said all that to explain why I never understood why Best Mood would fit under Artistic Endeavor. IMO, the 2 have nothing to do with each other.

[SeanPNG]

Thats definitely an interesting way of interpreting the category and while im not saying that's wrong, it's not how i voted this year or last year at all. It's interesting to see how even "Endeavor" and "Artistic" can be interpreted differently. While those names individually may not have the best ring as categories and i know thats not what Erik meant, I think it further proves my point that "Artistic Endeavor" has too many different meanings and is too vague to be listed as a single category.
I mean if it had a specific definition that everyone agreed on, that would be one thing, but if all these different suggestions are "fitting under" one category, that category seems too big and vague.

[Rider4Z]

I feel most awards speak to theme, a you say. Technical merit isn't the focus of any category but best technical or perhaps best video. I think we just need to make sure our thematic categories properly cover the spectrum of what people submit... For example separating horror themes from general dramatic themes. Or giving abstract mood videos a home in best artistic endeavour, instead of them getting lost among more conventional works in broader categories.

I guess I just don't see how strongest theme differs from best actioncomedydramaromancehorroretal...

Well I'll give you an example, I voted Dissonance for best artistic because of theme but I have no idea what generic category I'd put it into. Drama? It certainly was not the strongest drama video of the competition so would it deserve the best drama award?

Different question -
Do we vote for the video we feel bests represents the category it's in or do we vote for our favorite video in the category regardless?

Having descriptions/directions on how to vote for each category would be helpful.

[CeliaPhantomhive]

Best Video About Swimming

I'm sold

Okay but serious time. -knuckle crack-
Here is a suggestion I've been thinking about when it comes to pro categories, it's pretty similar to the way Jingoro was describing it:

Category Nominations
Have standard categories pre-typed, and allow additional write in's. Give each person 10-15 slots they can fill with a combination of standard categories, or their own write-in categories. (manually audit write-ins at your own discretion to merge similar ones)

Standard categories?: EXAMPLE like Best Action, Best Drama, Best Comedy, etc etc basically well known categories that are pre-typed so everyone doesn't write Best Storytelling 15 different ways. Jingoro explained this in his first post and I agree that it's necessary.

Category Voting
Display ranking and vote count for all standard categories, these are the final votes for those categories. Next to them, display all write-in categories and have people check mark which ones they would like to vote for. This way they can see which standard categories look strong, and determine which write in categories would compliment them.

Something like this gives both sides control.

I mean it's not perfect, I wrote this out in an hour. But I think a process close to that would be helpful in guiding us through having categories most people can agree with.

But with all that said, it's still missing something. Why not have a Best Video About Swimming if everyone agrees on it and doesn't take away from the serious categories? We can all agree there have been some really great and memorable videos that never got recognition because they were either too specific to categorize, or were out-shined in categories they placed in. Or heck, maybe we just want to give Shin another award??

Specialty Categories
Allow people to suggest their own special award names for videos that specifically stood out to them and are worthy of being awarded.
Limit people to 2-5 slots where they choose which videos, then type out a fitting title suggestion for. They would NOT be able to choose their own videos. Again, merge or purge at your own discretion.

After the normal category voting stages, display all the special award suggestions (group by video) and have people vote which ones they agree with. It can be restricted by allowing someone to only vote for one suggestion per video (in cases where there are multiple suggestions for one video), and/or limiting the amount of total votes someone has to give out. This way votes hold more value. Final ranking is based on votes per video, not votes per suggestion. Award names for top X (idk 3 maybe) videos are based on the top suggestion for each video.

Now we can have fun categories AND serious categories, yay! Everyone is kind of happy!!

Again, most of this I didn't think too long and hard about so feel free to tear it apart.

[BasharOfTheAges]

Aren't all the other categories just "runners up" for best drama? If your story has conflict, it's a drama after all...

Isn't every single category just a runner up to Best Video?

[Rider4Z]

Ok here's something I think deserves discussion even though it's not about category selections. Hope you don't mind. I'll try to be as brief as possible.

Most of you guys are probably aware (unless you're smart enough to avoid the drama) there was a butting of heads so to speak this year regarding the live streaming and discussion of entries before votes and nominations.

The conflict came from one party pointing out that having live discussion of videos in advance may inadvertently create bias and sway opinions and votes. (The same argument can be said for the posting of reviews.) And the request was to have all group conversations about the videos be postponed until after the final voting is complete, so each and every vote is truly that of the individual voter's with no influence.

The other party argues however, that part of what makes AWA so great is the community and conversation editors can share with each other, and are excited to deliberate as soon as the videos are made available. They fear waiting until voting is complete will kill the hype and take away from the joy of it all.

In short, one side claims the current ways are unfair and create bias. The other side claims they're not and to change would hinder the enjoyment of the con. Both sides have legit arguments. I hope through open discussion we can possibly come up with a compromise. Any ideas?