Author Topic: AMV Contest suggestions  (Read 13662 times)

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Offline Sinaj

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AMV Contest suggestions
« on: September 06, 2005, 09:38:12 am »
First of all, grats to all the winners and thumbs up to all the creators that entered their AMVs (I LOVED the Bleach amv! Too funny!)

AMV contest was great, but there were two things I wanted to voice my opinion about.

First, I think whenever you place a video with vocals against a video that is purely instrumental, you put the instrumental video at an unintentional disadvantage. I think that has to do with what the human brain prefers. I understand that they do belong in the same catagory for content and all, but for next year you might think about keeping all videos that are instrumental in the same catagory for fairness. I'm not saying "Centennial" didn't deserve to win, I just want to see more level catagories. I'm not sure which one won the instrumental catagory, but I know there was one that was not instrumental in that group because I think the language that was being used was possibly gaelic but could have been a "fake" language. I would bet that one won that catagory. Again it has nothing to do my opinions on the videos, but the suggestion that vocals add to the experience for the human mind.

Second has to do with the dreaded over-used anime list. One of the winners was just 49 videos away from being on the "over-used" list (it had 1312 and the last one on the over-used list has 1361). Because it won big (though in my opinion it was over-used because I've seen lots and lots of AMVs from that anime) it sort of proves that people like to see what's familiar and popular at the time. I truly believe that there are certain animes that no matter how over-used they are would still win because people like them (like Trigun for instance). I'm wondering that since that is that case, you might think of lifting the "over-used" list rule for next year. I guess it's more an issue of what people find more entertaining verses exposing them to things they haven't yet seen. Fans can really get into something they are familiar with and enjoy the video more, whereas when you give them something they haven't seen yet, it doesn't give them that burst of excitement.

A suggestion would be to keep an Action/Adventure catagory (no restrictions), and a seperate New & Unseen catagory (can't be in the top 25 over-used list, nor older than 5 years).

Offline Pie Row Maniac

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AMV Contest suggestions
« Reply #1 on: September 06, 2005, 01:52:35 pm »
Seeing as how other cons seem to get by just fine without any dedicated anime restrictions, it makes me wonder whether it's really worth it. Correct me if I'm wrong, it's just that I've never heard anyone complain about seeing the same anime in a cons AMV contest.

Regarding the idea of videos with the more popular anime winning, I'd like to think I can trust fellow con-goers to think about how good the video is and not how much they love the anime...  :?

Offline Sinaj

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« Reply #2 on: September 06, 2005, 02:12:22 pm »
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Regarding the idea of videos with the more popular anime winning, I'd like to think I can trust fellow con-goers to think about how good the video is and not how much they love the anime...


I guess I should switch the word "popular" with the word "familiar". All the videos chosen were good, from there it sort of comes down to the viewers' tastes.

Offline HaSanGo

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« Reply #3 on: September 06, 2005, 05:55:24 pm »
Instrumentals should always be just instrumentals. Any vocals even if they are real words are not are called vocals for a reason. I have never known anyone to say, "I play an instrument" and when asked what instrument the response was "choir".

I think overall the contest was decent but could have been better. I believe last year had more creativenesses in it, which made it better.

I completely understand wanting to show something new and exciting but at the same time you have to understand what people consider new and exciting. There were a couple animes I have never heard of that were shown however they didn't get any claps or cheers because they were new, people were more lost in the "what was that?".

Familiarity tends to make better videos for many reasons. A good video to me is more than a popular anime and song. The song has to match the anime and the scenes have to match the music. If I don't know the anime then the music choice to it might not make any sense. I also believe if you are going to have a "new" category then if the show is showing on TV (adult swim, toonami, fox, wb) then it isn't really consider new. A lot of times once a anime gets into one of those spots the market gets flooded with music, toys, commercials, anime, etc.

I didn't enter this year just because of the restrictions, I might enter next year I am not sure. Usually the first question I ask myself is what anime hasn't been done to death or what music hasn't been overplayed. I try to be creative and new. However to have a restriction placed in the beginning sort of limits creativity. What comes as a natural process is more forced as you start just throwing ideas out because they are on the "blacklist" instead of just letting the idea flow naturally. It is sort of the difference between choosing a book for an assignment and having it assigned to you in school. If I choose a book I am more interested in it but the same book assigned to me is another story.

May you have the hindsight to know where you've been, the foresight to know where you're going, and the insight to know when you're going too far.  - - Irish Toast

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« Reply #4 on: September 06, 2005, 09:22:35 pm »
It's exciting to be thinking of NEXT YEAR's AMV contest already!

I f I get to do this again I will throw out about 40% - 70% of the category ideas and then we all build up again based on on-going dialogues and feedback here in this forum (or the 2006 forum, whenever that transition takes place.)

Personally, I like Fun/Comedy to always be wide-open, anything goes. Also, if I get to do this again, I would consider a Drama category because we haven't had one since 2 years - we can pull that one out of the closet and see what happens, or see what we can do to keep audience interest up. (How do you do Drama/Romance without being just DULL? - Comments and advice  please, when it's time to put together the next contest!)

In answer to some comments, there ARE indeed some contests which restrict or regulate incoming content. One rules page I visited was quite explicit and specific: "No Linkinball-Z vids," it said. I have also seen DBZ blacklisted from one other AMV contest category.

If an Instrumental category is created for next time, I -DO- like the idea of saying 'Instumental' would now exclude anything sung. (But what about electronically created chorus sounds?) For other info, I had an e-mail network of 15 language experts for the Suikoden and E. Posemus (sp?) fake lyrics stuff. Two of the 15 thought that the Suikoden may have been Tibetan, one said it was not, and I did spend about a month trying to locate a Tibetan speaker who could finally confirm of deny that one, but I could not get a ny replies in time. Personally I have studied Irish Gaelic and I have hung out with some Scots Gaelic speakers - the Suikoden music isn't Gaelic.

Another thing ot consider: What to do if two creators each submit a work using the SAME SONG? This happened down at AX a couple of years ago, and they decided to run three "Lost in Space" trailers (Apollo 440 version) back-to-back-to-back. In our contest two submissions were made to the same song - the prescreeners decided that at the very least they shouldn't run the same song in the same category. (One of the enties eliminated the other.)

I am always leanring more each tiime I do this - one problem I see with using AMV.org's list to determine 'overused' anime is that I think there's kind of an 'afterglow'  which the database doesn't depict well: A bunch of creators ALL fall in LOVE with, say Vash, or Spike, and they make a TON of AMV's with just that guy, which pegs the series as 'overused,' but then the fad moves on to be ALL ABOUT Luffy and Edward E, and suddenly the first group of guys, having fallen into relative disuse, are no longer 'overused,' and so they should be OK again, right? How do you record that feeling within the 3 - 5 sentences you get to use to define a category?

About newness vs. familiarity - the very BEST sort of AMV is the type that moves you when you haven't seen the show -OR- heard the lyrics; this is your first experience with each. The first time I heard Nightwish was in a Gundam AMV, and as I don't watch Gundam either, the fact that that one made personal Top 20 shows that it worked overtime.

Another statistic to remember was that the 32 entries used 28 series - as opposed to a sameness-lameness of 20% Naruto, 20% Trigun, 20%FMA, 20% Bebpop, and 20% "other." Ho-hum.
 
- G

Offline HaSanGo

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« Reply #5 on: September 06, 2005, 10:30:00 pm »
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How do you do Drama/Romance without being just DULL? - Comments and advice please, when it's time to put together the next contest!

It all depends on your audience, not everyone thinks Drama and Romance is dull. If they were considered dull they would not be some of the best seller animes. That is the whole reason for distinct categories. If someone doesn't like Drama they are free to use the bathroom and come back later. There were quite a few people who only showed up for certain categories and left for others. You can never please everyone but you should try to provide a wide audience with a good variety. The main idea of an AMV contest is to showcase AMVs, not just a specific theme like comedy or trailers.

If you believe Drama and Romance is dull then there isn't a real way to make it not dull. We all have our own opinions on anime, what we like, don’t like, etc. That is why it is important to have a good judge’s panel that prescreen but also are diverse. If all the judges have the same opinion and everyone leans towards one style then the AMV contest just ends up being a show of what their likes are, instead of the vast audience of anime fans.

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One rules page I visited was quite explicit and specific: "No Linkinball-Z vids," it said. I have also seen DBZ blacklisted from one other AMV contest category.

Yes there are some AMV contests that basically say no DBZ. There might be a list of 3 or less but the rules that were setup for Kumoricon were very restrictive and exact. I mean the blacklist rules went on for almost a page and a half, "if this then you can do this, but you can't do this," etc.

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But what about electronically created chorus sounds?

There is no real way to tell if a sound is electronically created chorus or not. You could research the song or if it was self composed you would know. A judge shouldn’t have to research or search to verify if something was electronically created. I believe in K.I.S.S (Keep It Simple Stupid), if it requires lots of research it most likely shouldn’t belong. Most electronically created choruses are actually recordings of chorus type sounds replayed through the synthesizer. Not to mention a chorus is still a voice whether synthesized or not. Even humming gives more "umph" to an instrumental that gives it an unfair edge.

Although the instrumentals were beautiful, those entries are what killed the AMV for me. However like I said I simply waited for the other categories which were what I was interested in. As I am sure there are some that preferred the Instrumentals more than some others.

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What to do if two creators each submit a work using the SAME SONG?

That is part of the pre-screen process and judge’s panel issue not necessarily a rules issue. However you would hope that one person's work wouldn't get thrown out because they have the same song as another entry. If one piece is clearly better than the others great. But if there isn't a large selection and it was decided to make it more diverse, they threw one out and instead let a lesser quality video in, then it wouldn’t be fair.

Entries with the same song tend get judged more harshly though and it is harder for a person to win, it provides more challenge. I download quite a few videos because I like a song. After going through them all though you start to easily pick out which ones you like faster just because of the way the video is done, it has nothing to do with the song. At that point you actually start to look at other identifying features (other than the hook of the song) like quality of video, did it fit the video, how it was laid out, etc. It is basically just the same song but I tend to look at them as a video remix.

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one problem I see with using AMV.org's list to determine 'overused' anime is that I think there's kind of an 'afterglow' which the database doesn't depict well:

This is why I don't tend to put much faith in 'overused lists'. Not to mention a lot of things in AMV.org's database are not real entries. There are a lot of "projects" that have never been completed or even started that are listed. Overused doesn't mean it will be a bad video, that is up to the creator to make it interesting or prove theirs is better than the others. If it isn't then it isn't and it doesn't make it through the judging process. I however never just throw something out because I've seen an anime or song before. If you don't even watch it you'll never know what can be a masterpiece and what can be just a bland video. Some of the best videos I have seen have actually been from overused anime or songs. They are overused for a reason because they are popular anime or music which means people like them.

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Another statistic to remember was that the 32 entries used 28 series - as opposed to a sameness-lameness of 20% Naruto, 20% Trigun, 20%FMA, 20% Bebpop, and 20% "other."

To keep an AMV contest interesting can be hard however you have to look at more than just the statistics. As an example I consider this year's selection bland compared to last years. Sure there was a lot of new animes I haven't seen or may have just seen glances of. However the symbolism of the music and video was lost to me. None of it really moved me at all. If I don't know the characters then I tend to not be able to relate to them. There are some AMVs that even if you have never seen them they can move you, those are great but rare. The majority of people get moved by AMVs because of characters they relate too (have seen). They understand if it is a sad song why a certain character is loved, they understand the relationship between them.

Real music videos move people through music but also through the actions, facial features and the body language of their videos. However with anime a person is very limited with facial features and body language because they are already drawn. They instead have to rely on the music, rhythm, how it matches the anime and how a person can relate to the character. Hence if you don't know the character you can't relate. It is why typically popular anime win, get the loudest cheers and end up getting overused.

That isn't necessarily a bad thing and not all AMVs are popularity contests but majority of them are when judged by audiences. However if you have a New and Unseen type category then the anime should be new and unseen or at least not playing on primetime television.

May you have the hindsight to know where you've been, the foresight to know where you're going, and the insight to know when you're going too far.  - - Irish Toast

Offline Sinaj

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AMV Contest suggestions
« Reply #6 on: September 07, 2005, 08:52:36 am »
Wow, some novels in this thread, hehe. I'll make mine short.

Yeah for the drama catagory. It seems pretty standard in contests, so it would be good for Kumoricon to have one too.

IMO, instrumentals have no vocals, nor anything that is an immitation of a vocal. Just instruments. That is all.

If two creators use the same song there's really nothing to prevent it. Judges should watch them both and judge them on their creativity, quality, and technique. I had this wild idea (which I'm sure has been done before) of throwing a single series and a single song to creators and see the different things they can come up with, but that's more something for amv.org than the con, because seriously - who would want to sit through that? LOL!  Would be interesting tho.

And I agree it takes a good creator to make an amv out of something that hasn't been seen or heard. The first video I ever saw was of El Hazard using the song "Once in a Lifetime". I hadn't seen that series yet, and was new to everything anime (I saw it at DragonCon). It was a romance video that a lot of action lovers would find boring, and it was a older anime even at that time, but it was new to me and the only one I remember from that whole amv room. On the other hand "Tainted Doughnuts" is completely familiar and old, but I love it to this day.

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« Reply #7 on: September 07, 2005, 09:23:13 am »
If you don't believe that popular anime win every time, you probably weren't at the amv contest. when they started playing "always hardcore", people started chearing and clapping. why? because it was full metal alchemist. now i thought that it was a good amv, but i fealt sorry for the other entries in the same category, because they didn't stand a chance.

when i first saw the restrictions for kumoricon i was pretty sad because i had already spent a long time working on an amv that i couldn't enter. but now i am very glad that they made that restriction and kept out the naruto/dbz/trigun amv's that ALWAYS win the contest. no one who actually submits amv's likes to get beat by a crappy naruto amv.

this is the first convention i have been to where a trigun amv didn't win the contest.

Offline Sinaj

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« Reply #8 on: September 07, 2005, 09:35:33 am »
My video was up against "Always Hardcore" and to be honest I never plan on winning AMV contests just because of the popularity factor. In my mind, I "win" if my amv gets shown as part of the contest. LOL.

BTW, whoever the guy was who gave a loud "Woo!" ( or it could have been a "Yeah") after mine played - Bless your kind soul. ^.^

Offline HaSanGo

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« Reply #9 on: September 07, 2005, 10:36:39 am »
Overall I think the categories were fine or at least a good attempt working with what was offered. I know sometimes it can be hard because you want things to be equal in categories, so one video might move to a different category because there were less in it, etc.

Don't get me wrong I enjoyed the show. I am also not trying to make excuses for videos that didn't win. I wasn't entered in the contest so it didn't matter to me not to mention I don't make AMVs to win. I make them because I enjoy them. If others like it then that is a bonus.

With that in mind though I do think some things are misclassified. Mainly being that there were vocals in instrumental. I was like, "wait isn't this instrumental, why is there a chorus". New Action I thought was supposed to be new but then it had FMA (which I do love) but I didn't consider it new. Now next year I suspect there will be Naruto entries. It will hit primetime television and will go through another burst of popularity. With that in mind I wouldn't expect to see it in New Action. If it had played this year that may be different because it wasn't readily available to most audiences unless you torrent, fan-dubs or ordered from Hong Kong, etc.

I would suggest a Trailer category though. I felt bad for Anime in Black, which I thought was funny. However I consider it more of a trailer and to put it against a full length AMV it tends to be at a disadvantage.

May you have the hindsight to know where you've been, the foresight to know where you're going, and the insight to know when you're going too far.  - - Irish Toast

Offline misssarah245

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« Reply #10 on: September 07, 2005, 06:56:51 pm »
Personally, as a vocalist, I consider the human voice to be an instrument.  Perhaps this is not the most popular view, but that it how I see it.  Especially considering that in the song, "Ai wo Koete" the chorus uses their voices as one would use an instrument: as a device producing various tones and sounds (i.e. the intent is not to tell a story with voice, but to showcase pitch, tone, quality etc. of the notes).

Nevertheless, I was certain to make sure that my video did not break any of the rules (see the previous post: the song was checked over by many people familiar with languages.)    

However, I can understand the issues people may have had with my video.  Thank you for honestly expressing your opinions about it :)  (it'll help me improve for next time!)

As for the contest itself: I thought it was very well run!  I liked the wide varitey of series used. (The "Onegai Teacher" amv made me happy inside ^^, and imo, the monte cristo one was gorgeous).  Plus there were just certain techniques within some of the videos that made my mind go "whoa...how'd they do that?"...always a good reaction :).  The order of the catagories was good as well (i.e. I didn't feel that the order influenced the audience reactions in any negative way, like showing drama right after comedy or something).

As for the "series-loyality" mentioned before: I think it's a tricky subject.  Short answer: using familar anime will obviously make more of a connection with the audience, as they will understand the "connections" made to a certain lyric, etc.  That's not saying that newer/unfamilar anime doesn't make good amvs (heck, I'm making a Honey and Clover amv...give ya a nickle if you've heard of it), just that there's a better chance the audience won't "connect" with it.  It can be done, it just takes more work, I think.  The only time I was annoyed with this phenomenon wasn't until *after* the contest, when a group of girls directly behind me starting screaming whenever a character even appeared on screen (1st time it was cute, 5th time it was annoying).

All in all, I really enjoyed the contest, and look forward to next year's :D

--- Miss sarah

Offline Sinaj

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« Reply #11 on: September 07, 2005, 08:13:00 pm »
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However, I can understand the issues people may have had with my video. Thank you for honestly expressing your opinions about it Smile (it'll help me improve for next time!)


I want to make it clear that I have no issue with your video (It got my vote in the catagory). It was beautiful and didn't break any of the contest rules at all.

I was just suggesting that Instrumental be just instruments in the future, because I believe a voice has an impact on the unconscious mind and adds something to a piece that a regular instrument cannot.

Offline misssarah245

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« Reply #12 on: September 07, 2005, 08:38:07 pm »
Quote from: "Sinaj"

I want to make it clear that I have no issue with your video (It got my vote in the catagory). It was beautiful and didn't break any of the contest rules at all.

I was just suggesting that Instrumental be just instruments in the future, because I believe a voice has an impact on the unconscious mind and adds something to a piece that a regular instrument cannot.


Noted, and thank you :D

I don't disagree with the "just instruments" addition to the catagory (as odd as that may sound).  On the other hand, I would find it interesting to perhaps have a "non-lyrical vocal catagory" of just jazz-scat, chant, etc. type videos.

PS: your icon is adorable, Sinaj! what's it from?

Offline Sinaj

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« Reply #13 on: September 08, 2005, 08:09:41 am »
It's from an episode of Saiyuki Reload where Hakuryu isn't allowed in the hotel with the rest of the gang (No pets allowed!) so he ends up hanging out with a trio of cute little kids and having an adventure.  I got the original gif from online and edited it (I took out half the frames to make it smaller, and added the word "Glomp"). Thank you for noticing it.  ^.^

Offline Sinaj

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« Reply #14 on: September 08, 2005, 10:18:18 am »
BTW I made a suggestion about ballots in the Suggestions thread. I was going to post that here, but that's probably where it (and this thread) should have gone. Basically it concerns the massive amount of folks that couldn't vote at the AMV contest. From where I sat which was basically in the middle of the room, I didn't see anyone with their hands on a ballot unless they were there from the Real Life panel. I would guess at least half the people attending the contest never got to vote. Was there voting on the way out or something?

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« Reply #15 on: September 08, 2005, 03:36:41 pm »
I printed 300 ballots and passed them out (as quietly as possible) during the last few minutes of the previous panel. Last year the AV room was 'idle' for the hour before the AMV contest & show, and I was able to get a 'pre-show' going.

Of those, I collected about 117, which is slightly more than only 1/3 of the ones passed out the room.

This time I had expected a similar period of 'down-time,' to warm the audience up. I had also planned to show a number of the runner-ups which did not make the judges' cut, as kind of a nice consolation, but I didn't get a chance to because that other panel butted right up against the contest start time. That would also have been a good benchmark for comparing how the audience reacted to the runner-ups vs. how the judges made their cuts (and also a cue to me for how to re-adjust next year judges' panel and my guidelines for them, so as to conform to what the audience reacts to best...)

That and the box of mini-pencils from last year had gone missing...

Sigh.

Anyways, I am enjoying an learning form these after-actio reports and I hope to make next years even BETTER!

- G

Offline SenahbirdR

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« Reply #16 on: September 08, 2005, 04:13:53 pm »
A mass audience vote is a popularity contest. Isn't that what a popularity contest is, a large number of people vote on what they like best? More people are going to enjoy an amv featuring songs and anime they enjoy. Personally, I did enjoy seeing anime and hearing songs that were completely new to me. I enjoyed that. However i do not find ther restrictions needed. There is already a prescreening by judges to set up the selection so why bother denying what could be an enjoyable amv from winning just because it has pre-popularity? I too found the AMV contest this year to be less interesting overall in terms of watching it. The crowd was not as into the amvs as I have normally seen. Why not add a few Judges' Picks categories that only a panel votes on? That way there is something for both the popular and less popular amvs to have chances of winning. If we want to have the contest be more about artistic styles, techniques and complexity then an audience vote is not the way to go.

Just my opinion
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Offline Negima

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« Reply #17 on: September 08, 2005, 05:28:42 pm »
Quote from: "SenahbirdR"
A mass audience vote is a popularity contest. Isn't that what a popularity contest is, a large number of people vote on what they like best? More people are going to enjoy an amv featuring songs and anime they enjoy. Personally, I did enjoy seeing anime and hearing songs that were completely new to me. I enjoyed that. However i do not find ther restrictions needed. There is already a prescreening by judges to set up the selection so why bother denying what could be an enjoyable amv from winning just because it has pre-popularity? I too found the AMV contest this year to be less interesting overall in terms of watching it. The crowd was not as into the amvs as I have normally seen. Why not add a few Judges' Picks categories that only a panel votes on? That way there is something for both the popular and less popular amvs to have chances of winning. If we want to have the contest be more about artistic styles, techniques and complexity then an audience vote is not the way to go.

Just my opinion

There is a Judge's Pick.  Sometimes one AMV gets Best (Category) and Judge's Choice, sometimes not.  Last year the winner of Judge's Choice was an AMV with Full Metal Alchemist which didn't win another award (and to the maker of that AMV, I liked it, it was funny ^^).

Also, not everyone goes for the popular series/song.  If that were true, the MIB trailer with Cowboy Bebop and Vash would have beaten the .hack//SIGN AMV.  Also, I picked the Monte Cristo (Spelling?) AMV in the category it was in and I had never seen it before.  Why did I pick it?  Because I thought it was well done, the anime went well with the music, and the tone fit (@"Always Hardcore" maker: A really close second and well done job in my opinion).  Please don't think everyone will automatically see a series or hear a song they really like and immediately vote for it because of that.

I apologize if that sounds rude in any way.  I didn't intend it to sound like that.

Offline SenahbirdR

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« Reply #18 on: September 08, 2005, 05:39:03 pm »
Not rude at all! yeah, I noticed the Jugdes pick after I posted that. And I agree, not everyone will vote for the most popular. Not everyone enjoys the same thing, and not every time in an any video is allowed will the  most popular/anime song win. The most popular AMV will win and that tends to be the most popular anime. Personally, having the restriction is not a huge deal to me, I just do not personally feel a need for it and think the contest would be more enjoyable to watch without it.
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« Reply #19 on: September 09, 2005, 09:33:11 am »
OK Gang - many thanks for all the comments!

So far, the changes I would consider (if I get to do this again next year) are:

- Run a Drama category (Tell us a strongly emotional STORY.)

- Vastly simplify or eliminate restrictions on series.

- 'New Anime' which was 4 years lagging (for this year the cutoff was 1-Jan-2001) unfortunately let in FMA which, it was said above, had become so hugely popular that it overwhelmed other 'New' entries by the 'Face Recognition' effect alone. Perhaps 'New' should be tigntened to 3 years out, or TWO years out? (Your comments, please?)

- Only run ONE 'New Anime' category.

- G

Offline Sinaj

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« Reply #20 on: September 09, 2005, 10:59:51 am »
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Perhaps 'New' should be tigntened to 3 years out, or TWO years out? (Your comments, please?)


Heck no! Please don't shorten the years, but rather keep it 5 out and lengthen the list of Overused from 15 to 25. By shortening the years, you start to encourage people to buy bootlegs off ebay because of the 2-3 year delay to get a legally licensed series here in the U.S. For instance, I was hoping to finish my AMV for the con, but the last volumn of PMK isn't out yet - and it was released in Japan in 2003.

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Also, not everyone goes for the popular series/song. If that were true, the MIB trailer with Cowboy Bebop and Vash would have beaten the .hack//SIGN AMV.
Cowboy Bebop and Trigun are not as popular as FMA right now. Last year, yes they were more popular. This year, they are still popular, but their series have been over for years, no new excitement is generated. FMA is everywhere. There is mass merchandise at every store that sells anime, Full costumes on ebay, Cartoon Network Sydication,  and I'm still waiting to see the end of the series as it comes available in the U.S.  As far as the .Hack vs. the M.I.B amvs, those videos are in two seperate catagories that were put into one. The .hack was a comedy/fandubbed piece, and the M.I.B. was a trailer. IMHO, I can't compare the two fairly any more than one could compare an instrumental to an action amv.

Offline HaSanGo

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« Reply #21 on: September 09, 2005, 11:25:36 am »
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Perhaps 'New' should be tigntened to 3 years out, or TWO years out? (Your comments, please?)

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lengthen the list of Overused from 15 to 25

I don't believe tightening to 3 years will solve it. You also don't have to lengthen the list of overused anime. If you look at the list of overused anime the majority have been showing on television in the US. The reason they are overused is lets face it, a large portion of fans can't afford to the buy the videos so instead they make their AMVs from recorded television shows. That is the number one reason why there are so many Dragonball Z AMVs.

The only thing you really need to do is make sure that no anime in the New section are items that are showing on American television, toonami, adult swim, animenetwork and even HBO. Those shows are naturally more popular than the basic anime that people actually have to buy the DVDs or borrow from their friends.

May you have the hindsight to know where you've been, the foresight to know where you're going, and the insight to know when you're going too far.  - - Irish Toast

Offline Negima

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« Reply #22 on: September 09, 2005, 11:43:50 am »
Quote from: "Sinaj"
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Also, not everyone goes for the popular series/song. If that were true, the MIB trailer with Cowboy Bebop and Vash would have beaten the .hack//SIGN AMV.
Cowboy Bebop and Trigun are not as popular as FMA right now. Last year, yes they were more popular. This year, they are still popular, but their series have been over for years, no new excitement is generated. FMA is everywhere. There is mass merchandise at every store that sells anime, Full costumes on ebay, Cartoon Network Sydication,  and I'm still waiting to see the end of the series as it comes available in the U.S.  As far as the .Hack vs. the M.I.B amvs, those videos are in two seperate catagories that were put into one. The .hack was a comedy/fandubbed piece, and the M.I.B. was a trailer. IMHO, I can't compare the two fairly any more than one could compare an instrumental to an action amv.

I was mostly going for the "based on popularity alone" factor and being in that one category.  I was leaving off the FMA since it was in a different category.  I know both series has been out for awhile too, but what I was trying to go for was if decision was based only on popularity, the CB and Trigun trailer would have beaten .hack//SIGN.  When Vash first came on, I remember a lot of people cheering.  When .hack//SIGN first came on, it felt more like "Oh hey, it's .hack."  I agree that the trailer had an unfair advantage when up against a song or fansub but, if we based it entirely on popularity, that wouldn't have been a factor.
I'm just trying to say popularity isn't the only factor some people consider when choosing an AMV.

Offline Sinaj

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« Reply #23 on: September 09, 2005, 12:35:46 pm »
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When Vash first came on, I remember a lot of people cheering. When .hack//SIGN first came on, it felt more like "Oh hey, it's .hack."


yeah, you're right. That was pretty much the way it was. I went off in the wrong direction up there. LOL!

*shrugs* Maybe people just disliked the uneventfulness of .hack (which the video was mocking) more than they felt a foundness for Vash and Jet! hehe

Offline misssarah245

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« Reply #24 on: September 09, 2005, 09:54:46 pm »
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lengthen the list of Overused from 15 to 25


*nods* I agree with lengthening the list.

Offline Negima

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« Reply #25 on: September 09, 2005, 10:20:24 pm »
Quote from: "Sinaj"
yeah, you're right. That was pretty much the way it was. I went off in the wrong direction up there. LOL!

*shrugs* Maybe people just disliked the uneventfulness of .hack (which the video was mocking) more than they felt a foundness for Vash and Jet! hehe

Hmm, maybe.  I've only seen about the first dozen or so .hack episodes and something tells me that AMV just explained the other dozen.  ^_^

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« Reply #26 on: September 13, 2005, 07:55:26 am »
(If I get to run next year's AMV Contest)

Based on comments plus my take on the audience reaction to the last contest, -SO FAR- I am thinking of:

1. Applying 'New/Unseen' (with Overused List) to only ONE category of say, five categories.The other four would be All-Series-Are-Go, but within the definition/description of the category.

2. Since I don't get cable (nor do I want to until you can a. unbundle specific shows and channels, and b. make these decisions anonymously- no tracking of my viewing habits allowed) then if the Overused List needs to be dependent on what's being shown Stateside, I would ask for some feedback in 'tuning' the list.

3.  'New' will stay at FOUR years out, so January 2002 and later. This knocks out 'Noir,' for example. Then next year (Kumoricon 2007,) Naruto would get cut by time limit alone.

4. Include a Drama/Romance category. Maybe call it soemthing a little novel, like 'Emotional Story,' or something?

5. Instrumental would mean -no- scat singing either, and I'd have to have the judges split hairs over what happens with electrionically synthesized voices or chorus, especially if JUST enough distortion is introduced so that the listener MIGHT be able to tell. Some examples are the earlier works of Isao Tomita during the mid '70's to early 80's.

- G

Offline Pie Row Maniac

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« Reply #27 on: September 13, 2005, 11:58:20 pm »
Calling the drama category Drama/Romance is just fine. No need to add anything else to it.


... Kumoricon 2007? o_o

Offline Sinaj

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« Reply #28 on: September 14, 2005, 08:06:22 am »
I agree on just calling it Drama/Romance.  I'm all for the K.I.S.S. policy when it comes to things, and changing the name to something else might just cause confusion. For example "Emotional Story" could be mistaken as action since someone in a furious rage is also "emotional".

Anonymous

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Thread Restart!
« Reply #29 on: September 14, 2005, 09:56:20 am »
OK - Seems like we've zeroed on several good points.

I'm going to re-start a thread inder 'Contests' and we can continue to explore specific categories and definitions.

- G