TheAX AMV Contest 2009 Finalists are...

[Rider4Z]

forgive my being a kissass but AX will always have my support, and i will continue to enter. i've got plenty of vids lined up in my head for next year. Michael's done an awesome job of running seamless shows 2 years in a row so i give him props. and for those of you who don't know, Michael's also in charge of a lot more than just the amv contest at AX, he's constantly running around and on top of that, he tries to be very personal and attentive to all the creators so he really works his ass off for us.

may i also remind people that he was alone in putting the show together this year. anneke wasn't able to help him out like last year. major kudos DP

[milkmandan]

Michael's also in charge of a lot more than just the amv contest at AX, he's constantly running around and on top of that, he tries to be very personal and attentive to all the creators so he really works his ass off for us.

the amount of work Michael does for Anime Expo is astronomical, dare i say he is the only person to be an AMV coordinator but also have so much on his plate. AVS and Main Events for Anime Expo. And for those who know about our concerts and the type of guests that we get at Anime Expo, this is something that leaves absolutely NO ROOM for failure.

[The Wired Knight]

You know, I'm wondering if some of the problems would be resolved if pre-judging to decide finalists had creator input as well. Now I'm not expecting anything like AWA, Michael simply has too much to do to bother setting up an online voting system and mail out discs of entries to everyone year after year.

However, some contests (ca't name names at the moment, for some reason it eludes me) invite the creators to come to the pre-con screenings in order to help decide the finalists/winners. I don't think we need to decide "winners" but I think some extra creative input might be handy. I know a few people on AX staff that attend the screening and some of them don't attend the whole screening, now I'll assume they don't vote on the finalists because yu should never do that if you haven't seen all the entries for that year. Hwoever, if the average staff member is no more versed in AMVs than the audience then I can see where confounding problems like death note raphosdy come into play.

There are a ton of editors down in Southern California that I'm sure would be willing to drive to these screenings whenever michael places them as it would simply require some notice and id check to make sure no one is getting in who shouldnt. But right now I feel that AMV editors are only represented in this judging process as far as Michael, Troy and Anneke. Assuming that the gatherings are much larger I think that voice might be too small.

Like I said, just a suggestion.

[Rider4Z]

don't you think only creators who DID NOT enter that year should be allowed to pre-screen tho?

[milkmandan]

Michael, Troy and Anneke. Assuming that the gatherings are much larger I think that voice might be too small.

Interesting idea, duno how that would fly, but anyways.
I know for a fact that the judges are not just 3 people.
But there are at least 2-3 more.

[Manganate]

That was back in 2006 or 2007, wasn't it? That was under James. There's new people running the show, in case you hadn't heard.

At least as far back as 2006. I can't remember the exact year but I think it is fair to consider that falling within "recent years". As for who ran the event during that time period or now is only partially relevant. You must consider the viewpoint of someone looking at the whole gamut of AX for the last 10 years during the online AMV era. On the whole there has always been a high level of drama. Some self inflicted by AX contest coordinators and some inflicted by entrants, and on several occasions inflicted by the general AMV community itself.

When dealing with AMV contest entrants it often helps to thing of things in terms of customer service procedures. It could take many months to win over the creators to your side but only seconds to lose them forever. That's simply the reality. This is exacerbated even more when you consider the AMV scene 2005-current has a lot of creators who are friends or interconnected through online communities/activities or know each other IRL.

Also keep in mind that it has been popular to hate on the AX con as a whole for many people dating back to near the end of the VHS-era fansub scene when AX started "getting too fucking big" (I heard that exact phrase used in 1998). AX is definitely the biggest con now and thinking in those terms people automatically assume you're the biggest so you should be the best period and never have problems (which is laughable).

Joke an mmo buddy of mine he applied to a particular guild situation once: The bigger a .... gets up in this mutha fucka the more they want to see you fail =p. It's hard for me to describe but from 1999-2009 I've seen AX AMV contests go through a microscope. I think over the years the AX stigma has built up and creators just plain don't trust the con itself because they have the perception that the AX con has the most to lose should any legal situation arise. All the legal mumbo jumbo for entrants which happened at one point and the "legal permissions" or whatever it was for getting stuff to show at the AMV creation panel just made a lot of people say fuck it they aren't one of us so they're against us (thus let's disassociate ourselves from them).

I think it should be noted that AX appears to be reaching out to AMV creators somewhat through their current AMV staff's efforts. It's just they have a lot of baggage to reverse. No one cares if they are new staff running the show they are waiting to see what can they do for them now and most of those they need to convince don't have any "thanks for X in the past" experiences so it's all the harder to woo them.

ACen's contests were definitely not held in good regard within the AMV community for a time period in the 2000s. I think there was a lot of luck involved that didn't make things crash & burn for Sailordeath and later myself when I joined. Even disregarding all the effort and work that was put in if there was enough other factors I think it could have just deep-sixed everything. Sometimes timing is everything. AX AMV contest may have failed to achieve the success it should have because it may in fact be missing the biggest things they should target. I don't have enough data here to work with but I think some of the problems with judging complaints may have less to do with the judges and more to do with the judging processes. The amazingly one-sided talk about how Death Note Rhapsody was mis-categorized seems to indicate a fundamental breakdown or loophole in the process.

Also keep in mind that if your main judging panel isn't experienced or "in-line" with current creators and the scene there is always a worry that the community might perceive judging out of line or uninformed. This is hard to work and something I often worry about as despite being a creator myself I am definitely not in-line with the current AMV scene.

Best post ever.

Puts everything in perspective and offers a real big picture analysis as well.

[Ryvannis]

I'm going to mention that the Best of Show award should also take in consideration of creator votes, since it would seem less biased of a vote. Just in case that wasn't mentioned earlier.
Though I'm still severely disappointed by that information xstylus, 8 AMVs in the Pro category. I know it's going to push for more entries for next year but damn...

[Minimoto]

I'm going to mention that the Best of Show award should also take in consideration of creator votes, since it would seem less biased of a vote. Just in case that wasn't mentioned earlier.
Though I'm still severely disappointed by that information xstylus, 8 AMVs in the Pro category. I know it's going to push for more entries for next year but damn...

You mean if they don't get rid of it next year... with only so many entries, it might not be able to make it alone. Also, simply repeating what was previously stated, now, various weak editors who think they'll make it because of the low amount of entries will swarm and the quality will fall as well.

[XStylus]

There are a ton of editors down in Southern California that I'm sure would be willing to drive to these screenings whenever michael places them as it would simply require some notice and id check to make sure no one is getting in who shouldnt. But right now I feel that AMV editors are only represented in this judging process as far as Michael, Troy and Anneke. Assuming that the gatherings are much larger I think that voice might be too small.

While I'll admit I think I'm the only ex-AMV creator on the panel, there are a couple others whose intelligence, attention to detail, and eye for technical prowess is far and away beyond anything I could ever hope to achieve. There's roughly 7 to 10 judges (some have to leave early, some arrived late, etc), and Michael selected each for a reason.

I think the panel would do well with a few more AMV creators (pending Michael's approval), but don't jump into it thinking you're going to be able to single-handedly bring forth sweeping changes to what quality of videos make it to the finals. Again, what you saw was the best we got. If it were a panel of AMV veterans, at best there'd be perhaps a one or two video change to the drama or action category.

[Vlad G Pohnert]

I find a mix of AMV editors and others works the best, just because a person is an editor does not always guarantee they are a good judge either.

Vlad