SUBMISSION GUIDLINES
So, you want to submit to this year's AMV contest? Sure you do! All the cool kids are doing it! However, before you do, please read and adhere to the following rules and regulations.
General Rules
- -- Each entrant is allowed to submit up to TWO AMVs.
-- We accept submissions through the mail, or through our FTP. We will not download videos from your website/rapidshare/yousendit/etc.
-- Submissions must ARRIVE by midnight on December 29, 2006.
-- Late submissions will be disqualified. We'll be compiling the contest the next day and won't be able to accommodate late entries, so please plan accordingly. It doesn't hurt to mail out your entry EARLY...
-- Convention attendance is not mandatory, though it is recommended.
-- The Ohayocon AMV contest screening is open to the public, and because of that, we must be wary of the content we show. Explicit lyrics, violence, or sexual content may be grounds for disqualification. If you would feel uncomfortable watching your video with your mother and your six-year-old sister, chances are we might have a problem showing it.
-- This is an AMV contest, and therefore your submission must have both anime and music (or movie trailer audio). If your video consists mainly of non-anime footage then your video will be disqualified. Video game footage, however, is perfectly fine.
-- Your video can not include subtitles, whether they are from fansubs or from an official release. Subtitles that you add yourself are acceptable.
-- Your video should not include audio from a commercial dub. Any sound effects or dubbing that you do yourself however, is fine by us.
-- The length of each of your submissions may not be shorter than 30 seconds, or longer than 6 minutes.
-- Do NOT include studio bumpers, credits or title cards with your video. Ohayocon will be creating custom, uniform title cards based on the information that you give us. Including a bumper, credits, or title card of your own design may result in disqualification if we can't easily remove it.
-- Ohayocon reserves the right to reject any video that does not adhere to the rules.
- Submissions that are to be mailed, must be mailed to:
- Ohayocon AMV Contest
PO Box 336
Edison, NJ 08818-0636
- Ohayocon AMV Contest
- Submitting through the mail (...on Tape)
-- Ohayocon will accept analog submissions on the following mediums:- § Standard Play(SP) NTSC VHS tape
§ Standard Play(SP) NTSC S-VHS tape
-- Please label your tape's spine with the following information:- § Your real name or your studio name (if applicable)
§ Title of your video(s)
§ Tape format (VHS or SVHS) Sorry. We cannot accept SVHS-ET
§ Your phone number or email address (if applicable)
-- Submissions recorded in modes other than Standard Play (SP) will be disqualified. EP looks horrible, and we can’t even play SLP.
-- When putting your videos on tape, include one minute of black, silent leader before your first video, and 10-15 seconds of silent black leader before your second video. This is to give our VCR time to adjust the tracking, and ensures that there are no “rainbow bars” during your video. - § Standard Play(SP) NTSC VHS tape
- Submitting through the mail (...on Disc)
-- Ohayocon will be screening the contest digitally, so submitting digitally is the best way to ensure your video will be presented at its best quality. However, explicit care must be taken when submitting to ensure that your video will be presented properly.
-- You may submit up to two (2) videos to the contest. Please, only send us the two videos you intend on submitting. Discs with more than 2 videos on them will be used as Christmas ornaments.
-- We will only accept digital submissions on the following mediums:- § DVD-R, DVD+R, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD-RW, DVD-DL, DVD+DL
-- If submitting an AVI file, please make sure it uses one of the following codecs:- § Uncompressed AVI
§ Huffyuv
§ DV
§ DivX 3/4/5
§ DivX Compatible Xvid
§ Indeo 5.11
§ Mjpeg
§ Microsoft MPEG4
-- We can accept QuickTime submissions if they are encoded using the default set of codecs included with QuickTime 7.0- § If you must send us a file encoded with QuickTime DV or Microsoft WMV, we'll try our best to encode it, but we make no promises. We highly recommend submitting on tape as well as a backup. We'll be sure to let you know if there's a problem.
-- Mpeg1 submissions will not be recompressed for the screening, but be advised: at the same bitrate, mpeg2 will produce much better results than mpeg1.
-- Mpeg2 is the preferred method of submitting as that's the format the contest will be screened in.
-- To ensure that Ohayocon will not recompress your video, please follow these guidelines when submitting your video in mpeg2 format:- § Make sure your video size is 720x480 and encoded with a 4:3 playback flag. Anything else will be scaled to this size. Our hardware does not currently understand how to properly playback 16:9 files on a 4:3 display so videos encoded with a 16:9 flag will look horizontally squished during the contest screening.
§ Make sure the framerate is either 29.97 or 23.976.
§ Interlaced or progressive scan videos are fine. If submitting interlaced, please check your video on a television first to ensure the field order is correct and there are no interlacing artifacts. We recommend purchasing a Hollywood+ card by Sigma Designs to do so as it is very similar to the hardware we are using.
§ Please use mpeg1 layer 2 audio using the "stereo" setting and whatever bitrate you feel necessary. 2 channel AC3 audio is also perfectly acceptable.
-- If submitting on DVD, do not author your disc. Simply burn the file to the disc as a data file.
-- If a video is too large to fit on one disc, we recommend splitting the file using WinRAR
-- When submitting on disc, please label the disc surface using a Sharpie™ with the following information. Do NOT affix a label to your disc (They tend to peel due to heat, and then they derail the disc while it’s spinning in our drive. We’ve seen it happen.)- § Your real name or studio name (if applicable)
§ The title of the video(s) on the disc
§ Your phone number or email address (if applicable)
§ If your video spans more than one disc, please label each disc numerically (IE: "Real Cool Video Disc 2 of 4")
- § Download the Submission Form in Adobe PDF format (see website post for file)
-- When encoding your videos, please include 1 second of black, silent video, before and after each AMV. We need this so the audio and video can sync without clipping the first few seconds of your AMV.
- -- Ohayocon will also accept submissions through FTP instead of snail-mail. This can buy you a little extra time to finish your video. However, we can't be responsible for fixing last minute connection problems, so please, request a login early so that you can confirm that you can connect to our server without issue.
-- Submissions sent through FTP adhere to the same rules as submitting digitally on disc. Obviously, there is no disc surface on which you can write down your information when submitting through FTP. Instead, files must be named using the following naming convention:- § Studio_Name-Video_Title-Anime_Used.xxx
§ For Studio Name, if the AMV was produced by more than one studio, pick the studio that is associated with the "primary contact information" as indicated on the submission form. For Anime Used, if your video features more than one anime, just list the dominant title. If your video uses multiple animes and there is no real dominant title, then put "Various".
-- Entries submitted through FTP MUST be accompanied by a SCANNED copy of all 3 pages of the filled out submission form per video. We do this because anybody can forge a text file; it's a bit harder to forge your signature. This is every bit as much for your protection, as ours. If your handwriting is outrageously bad, you can type on the submission forms, but your signature must still be handwritten on the third page, scanned, and submitted for each video. If you don’t have a scanner, you will have to mail in your submission forms separately. - § Studio_Name-Video_Title-Anime_Used.xxx
- -- Submitters to AnimeUSA 2006 were given the option to also include their video in the Ohayocon 2007 contest, provided that the video did not win a first place award. If you submitted to AnimeUSA 2006, did not indicate that you wanted your video to also participate in Ohayocon 2007, and have since changed your mind, simply email amv.ohayocon@gmail.com and we will change that for you.
- -- Bad stuff happens, especially today in the digital age. Ohayocon recognizes that a technical problem with a video's encoding could mar an otherwise excellent video in the public eye. We recognize that the submitters deserve to have their video screened in the best possible light (figuratively of course. Screening rooms tend to be quite dark...) and the audience deserves the best show that we can give them.
-- If Ohayocon notices a technical problem that can be corrected, we will email you with a description of the problem, and how we intend to fix it, given your permission. This includes but is not limited to PAL-to-NTSC conversion, aspect ratio problems, and field order issues. We'd rather not have to correct your entry, but if we see a correction is possible, we won't hesitate to make it so that your submission is displayed properly on our hardware.
-- We will not re-edit your video for you, and we're not magicians. We can't make videos with poor quality, good again. The better quality video you send us, the better it will look. Remember, the contest is screened on large projection screens, not a small TV. Visual anomalies from poor compression will be enlarged.
- -- The contest will be screened at Ohayocon 2007 at least once (most likely twice). The contest will not exceed the length of 2 hours. Should we receive more than 2 hours worth of submissions (and BOY DO WE!), all entries will be evaluated and 2 hours of finalists will be chosen to enter the contest. Videos that adhere to the rules but do not make the final cut will be shown during an overflow period.
-- The contest will be divided into 6 categories: Drama/Serious, Romance/Sentimental, Action, Upbeat, Comedy, and Trailer.
-- The attending audience will pick their favorite video in each category, and their votes will determine the categorical winners, as well as “best of show”. Ohayocon staff will also have their own special ballots which they will use to determine the winners of the “staff pick” award.
-- Additional awards may be issued at the discretion of the Ohayocon staff.
- -- The contest is open to any AMV, regardless of age, that adheres to the content/time limit guidelines.
-- The contest is open to any individual with means of getting their video to us, with the exception of the Ohayocon AMV judging staff.
-- Entries that won first place awards, or best of show at AnimeUSA 2006, are not eligible to compete at Ohayocon 2007, even if you indicated on your submission form that you wanted to do so. This is to keep the two contests different.
-- Entries that won any award at any previous Ohayocon are not eligible for competition.
-- For more information regarding the Ohayocon 2007 AMV Contest, Contact amv.ohayocon@gmail.com
...and brakus no whining if you don't make the finalist cut, mkay... no one wants to hear you whine, even if you didn't enter... by whining you're just making the contest less fun... for those who got in... so don't whine. oh and congrats for the first person to quote nad see this text. =)
