Warning, this is the LONG version. All the details are in here, including the elaborate technical stuff for digital submissions. For the brief version, check out the "Cliff's notes"
Rules Begin:
AWA AMV Rules, the long version:
The full text. This is what you check for the nit-picky details, technical questions, labeling instructions, and official-sounding language on each contest.
Music Video Contest Rules
The following rules apply to all music video contests at Anime Weekend Atlanta.
All contests operate at the discretion of the Anime Weekend Atlanta and Video Art Track staff. Rules and schedules are subject to change without notice.
Category and Award descriptions available on this website are guidelines only. Staff may add, change, or eliminate categories as they see fit.
Awards have no significant cash value. Often, they have no tangible value whatsoever. Submitted materials become the property of Anime Weekend Atlanta and will not be returned. By submitting an entry to AWA, the video editor grants AWA non-revocable permission to exhibit and distribute that work. The video editor otherwise retains all rights and responsibilities relating to its creation.
Each contest is governed by additional rules and procedures described on individual pages. Please refer to:
Music Video Exposition
Professional Awards
The Masters
Submission Instructions
The following rules apply to all music video contests at Anime Weekend Atlanta. We have been very nice about this in the past and will probably continue to do so in the future. However, by following these instructions you assist us in handling your entry.
General Rules
When you submit to the contest, don't send us your only copy of your video. (You aren't getting it back.) The problem of keeping that many tapes sorted properly prevents us from even considering returning all of the videos to their original submitters.
Anime Weekend Atlanta does not censor content. However, videos containing excessively violent or mature themes may be restricted to exhibition during "late night" hours ( beginning 10:00 PM).
Anime Weekend Atlanta does not regulate decisions of artistic judgment. The format of your entry can be anything you choose and may draw from any type of source material. The Video Art Track encourages all artists to seek out new and original projects. You may enter as many contests as you wish (special qualification rules are in effect in the case of Masters), but a single video may not be entered into more than one contest.
Video Tape Submissions
This is the traditional way to submit your video. Put it on a video tape and mail it to us.
You may include multiple entries from different individuals for several different contests on a single tape. However, a full letter detailing the videos (to be explained later) must accompany the tape and must arrive in time to meet the earliest deadline applicable to the videos it contains.
If videos are submitted to multiple contests, the arrival date of the tape will be used for all submissions on that tape. Submitting both an exposition and a pro video on the same tape does not entitle you to submit late to the pro contest. The tape must arrive at the earliest deadline of the contest it contains.
The tape itself MUST be labeled properly and clearly. The name of the contest(s) contained on the tape must be labeled on the spine as follows:
AWA 10 Music Video Exposition
AWA 10 Professional Awards
AWA 10 Masters
You must also include your full name and either your email address or a phone number on the spine of the tape. If multiple individuals are responsible for the content of the videos, a single contact person must be chosen and that person's name included on the spine. This is to provide the VAT staff with a point of contact if there are problems or, if the detail letter is lost, a way to regain information. Once a tape is received and cataloged in our system, we will contact you at this address (number) to inform you that all is well.
Please include the rest of the creator information on the label portion (face) of the tape. This should include the names of all the people involved, and studio names if applicable (note: we still need a full name even if a studio name is used). If space allows please note the videos created, and by whom.
Please include a letter with the following information:
• For every production group (or individual if a video was made by themselves):
• Production Group Name (if applicable)
• Full legal names of everybody in the production group
• Mailing address (single address for the group)
• Email address (single address for the group)
• Phone number (single phone number for the group)
• For every video on the tape
• Name of the video
• Production group responsible (if multiple groups are submitting on one tape)
• Song Artist
• Song Title
• Footage used
• Contest entered
As a general rule, if your video uses footage from more than 3 sources, you need only list "various".
We can accept submissions on NTSC SVHS, VHS, DVD-Video, or MiniDV, and PAL or SECAM VHS.
Record in SP (2-hour) mode only.
Record at least one minute of blank leader at the start of your tape. This helps avoid manufacturing defects common in even the best quality tapes. Include 5-8 seconds of stable video signal before your video begins and after it ends. If at all possible, please do not pop directly into your video from unrelated (or blank) tape.
Ship your tape in a standard cardboard VHS tape sleeve or a padded mailer for safety. Please mark the package as magnetic media to avoid x-ray or electronic scanning which may damage the tape. Some United States Postal Service safety procedures damage magnetic media, thus you might consider alternative mailing options such as UPS or FedEx.
Your entry's shipping package should be clearly labeled with the full name of the contest you are entering as follows:
ATTN: AWA 10 Music Video Exposition
ATTN: AWA 10 Professional Awards
ATTN: AWA 10 Masters
If multiple contests are entered, list ALL applicable contests:
ATTN: AWA 10 Music Video Exposition ; AWA 10 Masters
Please be certain that the name of the contest you wish to enter is the same on both the tape and the outer packaging envelope.
Mail all entries to:
Attn:
Patrick Bohnet
2955 Lula Lane
Kennesaw, GA 30144
Digital Submissions
Video artists may submit their works digitally instead of via analog cassette tape. All submissions will be archived digitally by Otaku Video for final presentation at the convention. To allow the artist maximum control over the final appearance of the submission when presented, and to prevent conversion degradation, it is in the artist's best interest to handle the digital conversion. Also, if a video entry was created digitally, higher quality can be achieved by maintaining its digital form. Thus, submitting digitally is the preferred method for the AWA contests. If you have any questions, please contact contest@otakuvideo.com.
Digital Submission
There are two ways to submit digitally. The first choice involves burning the files to CDs or DVDs and mailing them to the same address you would use for cassette tape entries. Please do NOT combine different contests onto a single disc, and label the outside of the media clearly with a permanent marker (on the disc, not just the sleeve) with the contest it is intended for. Please be specific (Pro, Expo) and include the year and your name. If a file is too large to fit on a single media disc (such as a 1 gigabyte AVI file on 650 megabyte CDs), please use ZIP (WinZip ) or RAR (Rarsoft ) to break the file into manageable parts and burn those to the media, clearly labeling each of them as part of a set (3 of 7 or XXX of YYY). You may combine multiple files onto a single media if there is room, but again please do not combine files from different contests. Please do not send media formatted as VCDs, SVCDs, or DVD-Video Discs. They should all be data formatted media that is readable in a PC or MAC. We want to treat them as simple files.
Written on the media should be:
• Your Name (Or Studio Name if multiple names)
• The Contest (including year)
• What part of a multi part disc set this is (if applicable) (XXX of YYY)
The other choice involves submitting the files online. You do this by going to http://contest.otakuvideo.com for an account on our server to upload your files and follow the instructions on this site. You must know how to upload files via FTP to use this. The same deadlines that apply to mailed submissions apply to online submissions. Once complete, we will test the files transferred. Note that, for deadline purposes, a video is not considered submitted until after we reply. Once testing has been completed, we will shut down the FTP account. If you wish to change your entries or upload a new file, you must do so through the page at http://contest.otakuvideo.com. If you have any questions, please email them to contest@otakuvideo.com.
The information we will request on the website is:
• Your Name(s) (legal name)
• Your Email Address
• Your Phone Number
• Your Mailing Address
• Your Studio Name (if applicable)
• The Contest (including year)
• The videos you are requesting to upload. Please include the following:
• Song Artist
• Song Title
• Footage Used
• Format of the file, including CODEC if applicable.
For every video art file submitted, whether via optical media or online, please include a text file with the same name (but different extension...use txt) detailing the song artist and title, footage sources used in that file, its format, and your information: name, email address, mailing address, studio name. Also include the contest(s) you are entering, and please be specific. Do not forget to include the year. A lot of information may be duplicated in the text files if you submit multiple video arts to a contest, but that is acceptable and easier for us to track. Please do not include extra files on the media on in the upload that do not pertain to the contest. Adding a directory full of hentai images as a "bribe" will not improve your chances and is considered wasted bandwidth. Besides, we doubt you could show us anything we don't already have. If you wish to include anything extra other than perhaps a logo or anything else that is reasonable, please check with us first.
Contained within the text file should be:
• Your Name(s)
• Your Email Address
• Your Mailing Address
• Your Studio Name (if applicable)
• The Contest (including year)
• Song Artist
• Song Title
• Footage Used
• Format of the file, including CODEC if applicable.
If you are part of a multi-person group who created the files, please list all of the creators in the "Your Name" section of the files and emails. For email and mailing address, please choose one that can be used as a central point of contact.
File Format
There are a lot of formats for digital video available right now. If you have any questions about a file being readable or not, please do not hesitate to check with us at contest@otakuvideo.com .
MPEG
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 are the preferable formats to submit in, as Otaku Video will convert all other formats to the MPEG-2 format for display. If you are using a Windows PC there is a program called Tsunami MPEG Encoder at TMPGEnc.com that we prefer, it has a 30 day fully functional trial. For other operating systems there are MPEG encoders available. Any conversions we do will be done using Tsunami MPEG using the profiles listed below.
For frame rate you have two main choices. You can choose 23.97 or 24 frames per second, and either you can encode it with 3:2 upon playback or our hardware will automatically do that if you forget. Otherwise please use 29.97 or 30 frames a second. We actually prefer the fraction values for frame rates.
For file resolution, please choose one of the follow resolutions, and scale your video up to it: 720x480, 704x480, 640x480, 352x480, 352x240, or 320x240. If your vertical resolution is 480, please encode your videos as interlaced, instead of progressive. If your original source is not once of these resolutions, please choose the smallest one that is larger than your resolution. We would suggest 640x480 only for computer-generated video or video that was captured with square pixels; otherwise use 704x480 over 640x480.
For the bit rate in MPEG-2 files we would suggest setting it to variable bit rate and selecting 16 megabits per second as the maximum. If you want to use two pass VBR, set 2 megabits as the minimum and 8 megabits as the average; other wise simply use constant quality VBR and leave the quality setting at maximum and the max bit rate at 16 megabits per second. For 320x240 or 352x240 resolutions, you might want to consider MPEG-1. If you use MPEG-1 please either create a VCD spec file or set the bit rate to 1.5 megabits per second. It is in your best interest to use the highest bit rate allowed-within reason, of course-since that will increase quality. MPEG-2 will encode a 352x240 file better than MPEG-1 can at the same bit rate, so the choice is yours. We have a lot of hard drive storage space and would rather sacrifice size over quality.
For audio please use layer-II audio at 224 kilobits per second or better, and choose stereo over joint stereo. The higher the bit rate, the better it will sound. Do not use layer-III or mp3, as our hardware cannot decode this.
If you wish to test what your video will look like, please purchase a Hollywood+ MPEG-2 playback card, and attach its TV out to a television. The Hollywood+ is an inexpensive (currently less than $50) card that you can use to output MPEG files to a VCR and television. The hardware we use at the convention will be based on the same technology as this card (Netstream2000).
Here are the sample settings files to be used with Tsunami Mpeg 2.X. (Single zip file with all < http://www.otakuvideo.com/files/template.zip>)
If you are unsure on how or what resolution/frame rate/bit rate/audio settings to choose, please submit the original source file and let us do the conversion for you.
AVI
If you are doing your video work on a PC it is very likely that you manipulate AVI files. Thought it is preferable to get MPEG files, we can accept AVI files (though they will be converted internally at Otaku Video to MPEG files for display purposes). If you send an AVI file with a high compression CODEC on it, such as MPEG-4 or DivX
, the resulting MPEG file will not be as high quality as possible. If we can get a CODEC to play your AVI file all should be fine and we can convert based on that. The file has to be readable in VirtualDub, so modifying an AVI file to disrupt "editing" of it will be counter-productive. Currently we have CODECs for
• Indeo
• Cinipak
• DivX
• Huffyuv
• DV
• MJPG
• Wavelet
And any other CODECs that come standard with windows. If you are not sure, please contact us to see if we have the CODEC or make sure that the CODEC may be easily installed onto another machine. The same goes for the audio CODEC. We have not installed any extra audio CODECs yet, so check with me if you use anything except PCM, MP3, or Windows Media audio.
The resolutions and frame rates allowable for AVI files are essentially unlimited. We will convert the file to one of the profiles listed in the MPEG section using the same criteria that we suggest. When we resize a video, the choice of maintaining the aspect ratio will be determined on a video-to-video basis.
ASF, WMV, Windows Media
The quality on these can suffer during the conversion process. Do not "lock" the files when they are authored. Try to set the bit rate and settings to maximum.
QuickTime
We have QuickTime Pro 6.5 for the PC installed. Use the standard CODECs that are included in both PC and MAC versions. If you are converting the file from a MAC, do not forget to "flatten" the file, otherwise we can not read it.
The resolutions and frame rates allowable for QuickTime files are more or less unlimited. We will convert the file to one of the profiles listed in the MPEG section using the same criteria that we suggest. Again, when we resize a video, the choice of maintaining the aspect ratio will be determined on a video-to-video basis. The only non-standard QuickTime CODEC we have in addition to the normal QuickTime DV CODEC is the Radius DV CODEC.
Flash/Shockwave Animation
We can convert flash files to MPEG but it requires that you send us the SWF file unlocked. We will not be distributing any of the files, so it is safe, but we need to open the file inside the authoring environment and export as an uncompressed AVI.
Real Media Files
No, we do not accept Real Media files at the moment.
Other
If there is a Video Art you wish to submit in any format not mentioned here, please contact us and we will try to make arrangements.
Music Video Exposition
The goal of the Music Video Exposition has always been to give as many videos the chance to be exhibited as possible while awarding recognition to as many deserving videos as is practical.
Entries are judged by the Anime Weekend Atlanta Video Art Track Staff, taking into account primarily artistic elements. Generally only one award is given to any one person and often new awards are created on the spot for inventive entries. Judging is NOT blind due to logistical difficulties, but the staff is considered impartial enough to judge the Expo fairly.
The Exposition adheres to no distinct checklist in respect to specific awards, and thus the award list changes every year. In general, however, there are usually enough applicable entries to predict awards in the areas of Best Drama, Best Comedy, Best Action, and a traditional "Grand Prize," given to the most successfully inventive, surprising, or unconventional presentation in the field.
Contest Rules
These rules are in addition to the general rules. They are the least elaborate rules of the four contests.
All entries must be received by mail no later than August 27, 2004. This is not a postmark deadline. The video must be in our hands by this date. If you procrastinate to the last minute, begin saving up your money for FedEx overnight service now. You may submit as many videos as you can fit on one standard T-120 VHS (or S-VHS) video tape. If you are submitting digitally, you may submit up to two hours of material.
You may include a note letting us know which single video you would most like to see displayed, if we only have time to show one of your videos. We will take your wishes into consideration, but we may capriciously decide to show a different video (usually only when we really REALLY like one of the other videos). We do, however, guarantee we will show at least one of your videos during the convention.
Professional Contest
Four years ago, Anime Weekend Atlanta decided to begin a new and novel manner of judging AMV contests. Instead of having our staff review the videos (which is done for the Exposition), or letting the audience vote on entries (usually leading to logistical nightmares), we had a contest judged exclusively by those who participated.
While we like to consider ourselves of experienced taste in the field of AMVs, we recognize that tastes in this hobby differ widely. We felt that this method of judging would give everyone a chance to express their views on what makes truly good videos. Much like the Academy Awards, this contest represents the opinion of your peers, and hence would represent a higher standard for those who wished to participate. As this contest is the only one not directly judged by a director or staff of the convention, it is also the only contest which they are allowed to enter. Staff only receive the voting privileges bestowed upon other contestants if they themselves enter the contest.
The contest works thusly; the complete set of "blinded" entries to the contest are all compiled onto DVDs, and then copies (or tapes) are mailed back to everyone who entered. Nomination and voting for each category is done online at a designated website, with each participant getting a vote for each category. Awards are given based on these votes.
However, as we will be providing copies of the music videos to all contestants, the following needs to be noted: as the hobby itself has matured and grown, we have seen an increased representation of adult-themed videos. These videos occasionally contain artistic use of violent or sexual themes. As we do not yet know what videos will be submitted for the coming year, and retroactive disqualification of legal minors would be a really crappy thing to do, all competitors in the pro contest MUST BE OVER THE AGE OF 18. To be sure of this, there is a form at the end of these rules which will need to be filled out and sent in with your blank tapes or DVDs. On the form, in addition to all the tape information we need, is an "over 18" or "under 18" box. If you are under 18 and still wish to participate, please have your legal guardian read the paragraph at the bottom and sign the form. DO NOT FORGET to send this form in with your entry, with all the proper info entered. Forgetting to include or fill out the form may result in disqualification. This form is ONLY needed for the Pro contest. Yeah, we know it's a hassle, but we aren't about to get you or ourselves in trouble over our little hobby.
The Professional awards have been very successful and we're happy to continue them into their fourth year.
Contest Rules
By calling yourself a professional and entering in this contest, we hold you to a higher standard than Music Video Exposition participants. Here's the straight dope, in addition to the general rules.
You are a "professional" if you say you are, you submit to this contest, you send in the appropriate signed form, and you follow the rules. There are no other criteria in deciding who may participate in this contest. By accepting, understand that you will be asked to watch and judge as much as six hours worth of video entries.
All entries must be received by mail no later than July 30, 2004. This is not a postmark deadline. The video must be in our hands by this date. Begin saving up your money for FedEx overnight service now if you procrastinate until the last minute. This is significantly earlier than our other deadlines to give us time to prepare the judging tape for review.
You may submit only one video. The total running time of your entry may not exceed 15 minutes. The popularity of this contest over the last few years has increased to the point where the number of competitors has become difficult to handle, so we had to cut down on the number of entries. This is a change to the previous rules that was instituted last year, and we still ended up with an enormous number of entries, so it looks like it’ll be staying.
Your videos must be separate from any title cards or bumpers that identify the creators of the video. We may disqualify or edit videos that do not meet these criteria, and we require at least 2 seconds of black video on either side of each entry. If you want the eventual showing at the convention to include title cards or bumpers, you may include additional, complete versions of your submissions on the tape, appropriately separated from the "blind" entries by 8-10 seconds of black and appropriately labeled on the tape. However, the un-title-carded versions are absolutely necessary. DO NOT forget this rule. We are very tired of having to snip up entries from people who sent videos with their ID embedded, and are getting less charitable every time we have to do it.
You must include four new, blank DVDs, or three blank VHS or SVHS tapes and a stamped, self-addressed return mailer that can hold all four DVDs (or tapes) with your entry (or prepaid UPS or FedEx mailer is also acceptable). If you are in a foreign country and are unable to easily provide this, or are having difficulties with the mailer procedures, please contact us so we can make other arrangements at contest@otakuvideo.com. Please make sure to use proper postage and understand that the sooner you receive the DVDs or tapes, the longer you will have to judge it. Please note that you are required to send these blanks even if you submitted online. If, for any reason, the DVDs do not work, contact us at the information e-mail listed above and we’ll try to work something out.
If you are sending the tapes, send three new blank tapes. You may only send new high grade Sony, Fuji, or TDK brand tapes; we are tired of killing our VCRs when cheap tapes break inside of them. The tapes should still be shrink wrapped.
If you wish to send DVD media, send four new, blank DVDs (three DVDs for the contest, one extra DVD just in case one of the burns fail). The media can be DVD+R or DVD-R as we are using dual format burners. The media MUST be 4X compatible, faster is acceptable, but slower is not. Be sure to purchase media that is compatible with your DVD player. Before being sent out, the first 30 seconds of each DVD will be tested in a Norcent DVD player. This is our first year sending out DVDs, so it is your responsibility to test playback as soon as possible to help find incompatibilities.
If we receive more entries than will fit on three T-120 videocassettes, the Anime Weekend Atlanta Video Art Staff reserves the right to eliminate videos as we see fit, but we hope this won’t be an issue. The total limit to the pro contest is 6 hours.
You will be asked to visit a private web site to vote on videos by a certain deadline. During voting, exactly four videos will be selected as finalists in each category and exactly one video will be selected as the final winner in each category. Initial categories during nomination will be selected by the Anime Weekend Atlanta Video Art Track staff. Participants will be able to suggest additional or alternative categories during the nomination process. Please note: We do not give depreciating or insulting awards under any conditions. We have more class than that. So please do not suggest any during the nomination process.
One video may win more than one award, but only one video may win each award. Ties will be broken at the vote of the VAT staff or the whim of the director, those being the only available methods left after voting has concluded. The only exception to this would be in the case of a conflict of interests due to a competing staff member. Under those conditions, the competitors would abstain from any such elimination or tie-breaker decision.
The Masters
When Anime Weekend Atlanta started the Video Art Track, we wanted to start a special event to set apart things we do here from other contests. With this innovation, Anime Weekend Atlanta became the only convention dedicating a 24-hour room just to Music Videos.
We love this stuff, and we wanted a way to show our appreciation.
None of the existing contests were "ours". They belong to the music video artists. In the Music Video Exposition, it has always been our goal to show something from everyone, and to hand out awards to as many deserving videos as practical. We create awards out of whole cloth sometimes to make sure that recognition is given where it is due, and we try to create a program that is entertaining to both the artists and their audience. The Professional Awards is a contest judged by the creators themselves and there can be little doubt that the focus is again on the creators themselves.
We wanted a contest that was ours. As one of the largest AMV contests in the country, we felt the Music Video Community respected our opinion, and that we had earned the right to endow a new contest where we could bestow a special honor from us to one individual artist.
The format we chose was The Masters, named after a golf tournament in nearby Augusta, GA. The concept was simple; those who had received recognition in a prior contest, either at Anime Weekend Atlanta or elsewhere, would send us just one entry, and this entry would be judged by the Video Art Track Director, in consultation with others, on the stringent evaluation of technical and artistic qualities in the video.
The first years have been very exciting, but we may not have made ourselves clear on our intent-hence the rules that follow.
Contest Rules
These rules are in addition to the general rules.
This contest is open to individual entries only.
You must submit new work to this contest. The entry we receive may not have been exhibited or entered in any contest prior to The Masters. You should not include a title bumper or any identifiable markers on your video, since the judging is supposed to be blind. You may include a second copy of the video with the full titles and credits for display at the convention, but a clean copy must be submitted for judging
Individuals submitting to The Masters must have received some form of formal recognition at a previous Music Video contest. However, the recent explosion in the number of AMV contests across the world require us to be a little more specific about this requirement. NEW: Because online contests have expanded beyond any one person’s ability to keep up with them, awards given via online contests are not eligible for this qualification. This is in no way meant as a slight against online contests, but rather an acknowledgement that if someone made up a fictional or rigged contest we’d never heard of online to give themselves an award, we’d be none the wiser. Second, honorable mentions are no longer eligible for this qualification. Again, this is not meant to ‘dis’ honorable mentions, but there’s a vast sliding scale between different conventions for what an “honorable mention” means, with some conventions technically giving all contestants an “honorable mention”, defeating the point of the qualification here.
You must include with your entry your qualifying video, listing the contest and award won. This is the video that you received the recognition for that allows you to enter the contest. The qualifying video may be entered into another contest at AWA, as it is not competing in Masters. It is just your contest qualification ticket.
All entries must be received by mail no later than August 13, 2004. This is not a postmark deadline. The video must be in our hands by this date. If you procrastinate to the last minute, begin saving up your money for FedEx overnight service now. There is no restriction on the length or content of your entry. We are especially open to concept videos that may span one or more individual songs, or involve audio other than traditional music. If your entry is exceptionally long, we may need to edit it for time during the awards ceremony. We will make every effort to exhibit such videos in their entirety during the convention.
You must include your coat size for a men's sport blazer with your entry. If you do not know your size, please have yourself measured at a men's department of any major department store. Women may include more detailed measurements, if desired. There is only one award in The Masters, and there is no additional recognition for runners up. The award is chosen at the sole discretion of the Director of the Video Art Track, though the director may consult with professionals in the areas of video and audio editing/quality, as well as experienced veterans of the AMV field, non-competing previous winners, and others prior to making a decision. Videos will be processed by a non-participating member of the Video Art Track staff in order to be certain that the judging will be blind, and the Director and his chosen advisors will not know from whom each entry was received. Only the actual entry will be considered on its own artistic and technical merits.
Prior winners of The Masters will be provided a copy of all entries and asked to comment on them. Their opinion will be highly valued input but they will not constitute any sort of official judging panel. The director is not infallible but neither is this a "Favorite Video" contest. The same objectivity used during the director's participation in the judging of the Music Video Exposition is applied to The Masters.
Judging criteria
A) Composition: The final, and most important aspect of an Anime Music Video should be how well it is conceived, and how well the video matches that conception. It’s difficult to list the explicit criteria of such a category, but it includes how well the pacing and flow of the song are matched (or contrasted, depending on the artistic purpose) by the assembled visuals. Appropriateness of visuals, appropriateness of effects, mood matching, timing and synch, coherence of idea or message, and the general engaging quality of a video go under this category.
B) Originality: Does the video explore new ground? Does it try experimental pairings of video and music or unusual effects? Is the central idea of the video an interesting new look at the video source, the music source, or both? Originality is not a prerequisite for a winner. An excellent video may tread ground often used before, but excel beyond all previous attempts. However, original ideas effectively executed should count in the video’s favor.
C) Technical Aspects: As stated above, the Masters Competition is the highest level competition at AWA. The competitors should be well beyond glaring technical errors in their videos such as dropped frames, audio “pops,” or video “rainbows.” Their source footage for both video and audio should be first rate. Therefore, examination of the competitors from a technical standpoint will be on a much more stringent scale. Slightly mis-balanced audio, or visible pixels from elaborate effects, would count against videos in the technical department. We know that we aren’t really qualified to make distinctions on that fine a scale, which is why we’ve asked audio and video experts to help us in this area.
Also in this category are elaborate video and audio effects. Are the effects appropriate, are they skillfully executed, and do they add to the overall impression of the video, are all questions to keep in mind. Videos should not be penalized for “keeping it simple” (unless the concept of the video would require such manipulations to be effective), but attempts at elaborate effects should be flawless. The competitor is setting their own difficulty level in this area, and we judge how well they meet the challenge. A well-made video with few special effects should win out over a video that attempted enormously elaborate effects, but botched them badly in the process.
D) Artistic Aspects: Again, difficult to set strict criteria, this category is really part of the composition category, as it concerns selection of video images and audio tracks. Look for color themes, visual framing, and the degree to which effects or clip selection either enhances these images or interferes with them. This category is largely concerned with how visually stunning and/or aurally entrancing the final AMV (not the source material) is.