OTAKON (Post-con feedback), Your Input Please

JudgeHolden · Post by **JudgeHolden** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 3:55 pm

erinfinnegan wrote:
Hello! I'm a girl! I love shoujo!! I eat up romance! And yet, I can't stand romance AMVs, for the most part, because 90% of them are made by guys who are in love with Belldandy. I also don't like soft rock, so that elimates a lot of romance AMVs.

Uh? Wow ..... umm might want to expand your search a tad .....

Illia Sadri · Post by **Illia Sadri** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 4:47 pm

Yep there are a lot of good romance vids that don't have belldandy or soft rock. In fact I recommend going through the org and finding vids that fit shows you like. And music too. I know a lot of vids done to soft rock, to power ballads to rock bands.

And it is sad if the category is going away at other cons because they aren't popular. But I know a lot of people who hate action vids or are selective on their picks of comedy. If you go by the loudest people that is what happens. The people who whine are those who want it to be all action and comedy videos.

But I will say, how vids are picked for drama and romance has changed. a lot of times what romance became at otakon was scenes strung together or borderline comedy vids. But I think that ties into revising how categories are selected for vids rather than ditching one of the largest submission categories.

Is nixing comedy really going to improve the contest? not really considering that for various reasons the contest has become weaker in all categories. Fewer submissions and with so few comedies.... it's a surefire way to make it into most contests now. Doesn't make it good nor improve the contest at all.

I just think it is sad to see how poeple more or less take the attitude of if it is not to their favorite anime or song or if it isn't covered with shiny layers and effects then it is not their taste and therefore isn't valuable to have compete. Cons let a lot of people see good videos and it would be a diservice to the editors who might want to have their videos presented equally be told they aren't valid because they lack testosterone and a few people whined about the category.

Scintilla · Post by **Scintilla** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 5:33 pm

I thought it was that the Romance category never existed in the first place at a lot of smaller cons because they don't get enough submissions to support a dedicated Romance category anyway?

genestarwind21122 · Post by **genestarwind21122** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 5:43 pm

Smaller cons have Romance/ Drama categories. At least I know of a few that do. I think the contest is fine the way it is. However I would recommend maybe doing a set up like this:

1st Romance
2nd Action
3rd Upbeat
4th Drama
5th Comedy

Maybe switch it up a little bit in what order the categories are played. That may keep the crowd intrested in the contest longer. Instead of playing Romance and Drama back to back. However I have been seeing a lot more faster paced drama videos in the past few years.

Gene Starwind 21122

dwchang · Post by **dwchang** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 6:34 pm

Don't worry about Romance being there. In time, it will just be comedy videos anyway with a tad bit of romance. I already see that happening in nearly every category so yeah, just give it time. Pretty soon it will just be Comedy video after comedy video with a handful of "real" category videos getting stomped by them in their respective categories

In any case, I'm a bit biased, but I actually enjoy a good Romance or Drama video FAR more than a good Comedy or Action video. Obviously this is the opinion of a single person and it'll come across pretty harshly, but there are not that many good ones (which I guess is your reason for eliminating the category) and thus when I see a good one, I am that much more impressed. Am I willing to "endure" through a few videos I don't enjoy in those categories to find the gems? Absolutely. There's been at least one or two every year and they've proved to be worth it.

In fact, last Otakon my favorite video was a Drama video that didn't even win nor was it even close. If you took out either of the "dramatic" categories, I (and others) would never have seen this awesome video. Given obviously some folks disagree, but the reason their are categories is so you cater to as many people as possible.

To cater to (and let's be frank) the lowest denominator with just comedy, parodies and trailers would make for a weak AMV contest imo.

Adv1sor · Post by **Adv1sor** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 8:35 pm

Illia Sadri wrote:Yep there are a lot of good romance vids that don't have belldandy or soft rock.

What? If they don't have Belldandy and soft rock then they aren't really romance vids!

Take another look at my suggestion and let the fans say which AMVs are in which categories.

Illia Sadri · Post by **Illia Sadri** » Sat Nov 25, 2006 7:24 pm

Scintilla wrote:I thought it was that the Romance category never existed in the first place at a lot of smaller cons because they don't get enough submissions to support a dedicated Romance category anyway?

Um, actually most smaller conventions just don't have the means to give out prizes for many categories so they keep the categories simple. Seriously. I've run conventions' contests for awhile and typically the glut of vids are some variant of drama be it romance, sentimental, serious, angst etc. This is consistent year to year with a couple contests. Heck, even look at AWA Pro on any given year... more than half of the videos entered count as drama in some way.

And yes I agree with dw if you entirely let the fans decide what categories should and should not be presented then you get action, comedy, trailers, and hell videos. Not exactly the best representation of the amv community in my opinion nor how good videos are. A comedy video only has to be half as good as a romance or drama video to be popular.

Just separate the categories a bit. A lot of people will sit through drama and romance if they get a bit of an interlude such as what was suggested with the action and upbeat. Then it is not an hour of serious videos straight.

Adv1sor · Post by **Adv1sor** » Sat Nov 25, 2006 7:44 pm

Illia Sadri wrote: And yes I agree with dw if you entirely let the fans decide what categories should and should not be presented then you get action, comedy, trailers, and hell videos.

Do you really think that the fans would vote an action, comedy, trailer, or hell video as the best romance or drama? Maybe they would, but I don't think so.

erinfinnegan · Post by **erinfinnegan** » Sun Nov 26, 2006 2:41 am

JudgeHolden wrote:Uh? Wow ..... umm might want to expand your search a tad .....

I don't search the org for romance AMVs unless they come up in the top 10% or top favorites. After getting burned by the romance category at many conventions over the years, and at Otakon specifically, I'm never actively seeking out romance videos to watch.

I guess part of my problem here is that a bad romance video is much more painful to watch for me than a bad drama or action AMV. For whatever reason, a really bad romance AMV triggers this gag reflex, like "Wow, whoever made this is actually in love with this character." I can walk away from a bad or mediocre drama/action AMV without feeling creeped out.

As for comedy taking over - it's my understanding that there are fewer comedy submissions than any other category. It's also my understanding that not having the ftp site cut the number of Otakon submissions in half, so the contest was weaker this year because there was so much less to pick from.

genestarwind21122 · Post by **genestarwind21122** » Sun Nov 26, 2006 9:00 am

Actually last year was a stronger contest. A lot of the bad amv's were cut out of the contest because of not having ftp. I was at the pre screenings and saw all the videos. Most of the vids were pretty good last year.

Oh and not to mention it saved a lot of time from going to 2 different screenings to watch 4 or 6 tapes of amv's. I mean I have no problem with watching that many amv's, but it does take a long time.