Anime Expo [sort of] steals $100, news at 11

Pwolf · Post by **Pwolf** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 10:08 pm

hey now... i didn't get into the whole SOAP thing... then i saw the movie... best movie ever!

Pwolf

Corran · Post by **Corran** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 11:57 am

TommyRude wrote:To be honest I'm kinda glad they DQ'd it cuz frankly I don't like where the genre is going.

I personally don't think the conventions should be the ones defining our hobby, and if they don't like it then it should be clearly mentioned in the rules before hand.

Regardless of what you may think, the video had anime, it was synced to a song and it did not break any rules that AX put out. Even the rule on parodies says they would accept a video such as his. And that is really was my point.

TommyRude · Post by **TommyRude** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 5:16 pm

Corran wrote: Regardless of what you may think, the video had anime, it was synced to a song and it did not break any rules that AX put out. Even the rule on parodies says they would accept a video such as his. And that is really was my point.

Well didn' they have a rule about having the right to refuse any video at their discretion? *shrug*

Illia Sadri · Post by **Illia Sadri** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 5:45 pm

Yes but according to their exact ruling on parodies a video can be a parody if it fits the guidelines of being set to music and not a trailer of commercial which contains dialogue. Suberunker's video fits this entirely.

Typically the right to dq by a convention or corrdinator is for those that are on the boundaries of the existing rules. It might push the content button a little bit without being outright unshowable or it has some non-anime as well as anime and it needs to be determined does it fit the guideline for that material.

Having a clause to eliminate videos NEVER warrants making judgements completely contrary to the rules that exist. Their ruling in that case was complete hypocracy. I will say that in several years of doing contests I have only once had to even consider using the final authority with a video because it bordered on being according to the rules or not.

Corran · Post by **Corran** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 5:58 pm

TommyRude wrote:Well didn' they have a rule about having the right to refuse any video at their discretion? *shrug*

Oddly enough they place restrictions on when they may modify the contest:

SPJA reserves the right to cancel, terminate or modify the contest if it’s not capable of completion as planned for any reason.
SPJA, in its sole discretion, further reserves the right to disqualify any person for (i) violating any of these rules, (ii) tampering with the entry process, (iii) gaining an unfair advantage in participating in the cost, or (iv) engaging in otherwise un-sportsmanlike, disruptive, annoying, harassing, or threatening behavior.

I would imagine, since they showed the video in the contest block, this video was not going to affect the ability of the contest from completing on time which leaves the contest fully in the judge's hands.

...though I should probably shut up now for multiple reasons. My mind is made up about AX but I won't try to convince you otherwise. If you enjoy the con then by all means have fun there...

ssj4lonewolf · Post by **ssj4lonewolf** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 2:25 am

The video still won a damn award at ax for those of you who dont know.

http://www.amv-contest-lists.org/data/axca2006.htm

I'm not sticking up ax for its politics involving the amv contest, however I am sticking up for the people that make the amv contest happen every year, James and Katy Dodd. A lot of people dont relize what James and Katy go through, with the board breathing down their necks about the contest. Mainly because the spja is afraid of getting sued...

No contest is with out its technical issues, its just that ax seems to have the weirdest shit happen. Like this year for example, James' pretty much blew at the last min when they were authoring the dvds for the contest. So they pretty much had to bootleg the contest on someone elses laptop. But even so every year James himself has to sacrifice somewhere around 2000 bucks for a new computer because he destroys his for the contest(mac g4's may I mind you)...and every year both of them get bitched out because of somthing they cant control.

I dont know about your systems, but I know mine (p4 extreme, 2 gig ddr2 ram, radeon x850 xt) still runs fucking hot when authoring dvds...Its kind of fucked up and it pisses me off that these people sacrifice so much and get so fucking little in return. Offer to fucking help them insted of bitching them out about some shit they cant fucking control. If they have the contest next year(and i say if loosely), I've offered my comp for use with their technical issues, and I'm pretty sure that no one else will.

I dont know about you guys but I live in a fucking state where the first anime convention we had was last year, so I dont get to go to many amv contests and such, but the amv contest at ax is way better than anizona's, and I applaud them for even putting it on every year...and just for the pure work and sacrafice that those two put in I can at least submit somthing to keep ax's contest going in some sort, even if its a contest where no "famous creators" submit some shit or not.

I know I might get flamed for this shit but i dont even give a fuck, i just wanna drop my knowledge in the pool, and let people know what happens behind the scenes is all.

(Plus it gives me somthing to do at work lol)

Pwolf · Post by **Pwolf** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 3:26 am

ssj4lonewolf wrote:All People who tell truth are hated, look at Pwolf.

what i do? o.o

anyway... the only reason the video won an award was becuase the AMV mailing list judges broke the rules and gave it an award even tho it wasn't in the contest. We/they all thought it should've been.

Pwolf

Corran · Post by **Corran** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 7:13 am

I've seen their AX forum and amv mailing list posts so I know Katy and James are trying, but I'm not going to support AX out of pity. A lot of things in life don't go as planned despite the time, blood and tears put forth. Hopefully in time they can change my opinion of AX.

As for "helping them out instead of bitching", constructive critism can go a long way in making something better. I haven't attacked anyone personally and I hope that the contest can be better if the things mentioned change. I've aided two conventions this year by lending my hardware since you bring it up.

Mainly because the spja is afraid of getting sued...

Don't they purchase blanket licenses for the con? I asked in the thread I linked earlier but didn't get a direct answer from any AX staff. This would solve a lot that problem. Though someone said they played music all throughout the convention so I would hope they have one...

anneke · Post by **anneke** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 9:51 am

People forget some of the other AX problems. Such as they didn't have the rules posted till a few weeks before the entry deadline. And the authoring of the DVDs. WTH? They waited until the last minute AGAIN and had problems. This isn't the first time they have had problems rendering the DVDs, and knowing that they should be better prepared, but they never are. They then had the audience watch the martial artest for almost an hour waiting, with no word until later that they were there as a stall tactic, which I still didn't believe. They admited they added them to the AMV time because the martial artists had been bumped from somewhere else. The AMV contest was WAY more attended then even the CLAMP panel, and yet it doesn't get any support from the convention. (shrugs) Then this has happened for years. I'll stop by the convention for the AMV contest, but there is a reason I haven't gone to the con in years.

-Anneke

Illia Sadri · Post by **Illia Sadri** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 10:43 am

First rule of running an amv contest is to ALWAYS have a plan B. Main computer blows up or disk doesn't play, you need to have another plan. I've never heard of ANYBODY no matter how bad their luck who has had to replace a computer every year. And burning a dvd should NOT cause any computer to massively overheat. Not unless major overclocking is involved.

I tend to bring the contest for Tekkoshocon on two harddrives in addition to disks. I was in a car accident en route to the convention. Anything can happen.

Honestly there would be a lot less criticism I think if the corrdinators from Anime Expo bothered to speak with the community. They can defend themselves and offer their explanations and perhaps actually listen to some of the suggestions given. With this many screw ups and with not a word from them, it certainly looks like Expo can care less.

The quality of any amv contest is largely based on the quality of the videos. All the staff do is try and make it present properly and look good on a big screen. If people have no incentive to make good videos for a contest that does not care about them, then the contest will look as amature as a middle of nowhere startup convention with a few hundred attendees.