Anime Expo 2011 Anime Music Video Contest Finalists List.

[Kazemon15]

Well, actually, two of the people I know who love AMVs yet don't hardly make them anymore would love to become judges and kept asking me how.

They felt that there need to be more judges who know the "technical know-how" and know quiet a bit of editing, but haven't edited much these past years. They only want to see the best of the best at Anime Expo and would want to contribute to that.

When I found out that some of the Judges are "clueless" about AMVs, I just couldn't help but think about random youtubers being judges and commenting on those subtitled/over effected videos saying how "awesome" they are.

My personal opinion, Judges should be editors, even if they only edited a few times, but at least made good videos, like xstylus. None of those "clueless" people anymore.

Like someone else stated before, it's a contest. A contest that brings the "best" videos to the plate. And the Audience will always find something to be entertained about regardless.

[Radical_Yue]

They felt that there need to be more judges who know the "technical know-how" and know quiet a bit of editing, but haven't edited much these past years. They only want to see the best of the best at Anime Expo and would want to contribute to that.

When I found out that some of the Judges are "clueless" about AMVs, I just couldn't help but think about random youtubers being judges and commenting on those subtitled/over effected videos saying how "awesome" they are.

My personal opinion, Judges should be editors, even if they only edited a few times, but at least made good videos, like xstylus. None of those "clueless" people anymore.

Like someone else stated before, it's a contest. A contest that brings the "best" videos to the plate. And the Audience will always find something to be entertained about regardless.

*highfive*

[Pwolf]

Since Yue mentioned my name, let me throw in my 2 cents...

I don't really think it matters if a judge is an editor or not. It comes down to two things, IMO.

1) Does the judge understand what they are going to be watching... Do they understand the basics of editing. Can they differentiate between a video that consists of simple edits and one that consists of many layers of compositions. Can they see how the video was made while they are watching it, is it just a series of long cuts or one scene cut up a million times randomly. Is there structure to it. Can they break it down.

and more importantly

2) Can the judge put aside any bias. Favorite/least favorite song/source aside, can you judge a video based solely on how well it was made.

That said, editors make better choices here because they, in theory, should be able to do the first item I mentioned. But that doesn't exclude non-editors at all. I know a fair amount of people who don't edit but still have a great feeling about how a video is made and understand what they are watching. On the flip side, there are a lot of editors that don't understand what they are watching or making for that matter.

Even then everything eventually comes down to some kind of preference. No two people, judges included, are going to look a the same video the same way. This is why you need a pool of judges with varying opinions. A good example for a contest with a varying degree of opinions in the judging pool would probably be Brad's IC4 contest still going on. I know that my opinion as a judge differs almost the opposite of at least one of the other judge's. Assuming the other judge follows the same guidelines I do for judging, that's pretty awesome. It means that what I think is good or bad is completely different than what someone else thinks is good or bad. If everyone thought the same, you wouldn't need judges.

I think the point I'm trying to make is that it doesn't matter how many judges you have or wither or not they are editors. Its better to have a handful of judges who understand the content they are watching and that their opinions vary. And at some point we all have to accept that this is how it is. Otherwise, every year we are going to be complaining about judges. "I don't think Pwolf is doing a good job, lets get so and so in there to judge!" You just have to accept that this is who judges this contest and let it be. It really comes down to wither or not DP or who ever makes these decisions, wants to change it. If they are happy with the process and the judges that are in place, then they are more then willing and entitled to keep everything the same. I'm throwing this out there because I'm familiar with how other contests are judged and some of the judging pools consist of people who've never edited a video yet those contests don't get any flack or "drama". Part of that is because they might have a better understanding of the videos and the rules are clear but also because I think it's been known and excepted that those are who the judges are. Fist contest that comes to mind is Sakuracon who's judging pool consists of (let me know if i'm mistaken) the Board of Directors and other con staff. All of which, if not the majority, never edited a video. Yet, every year the contest has been pretty good. Yes there's going to be one or two videos that make the cut that people are going to get upset about but overall, i think it's generally excepted that these are who judge that contest and it turns out rather well in the end.

There's my 2 cents. Don't spend it all in one place

[Rapter79]

Would it be possible to know how the judging is based, (ie a score system or point system or RT-style meta-number with a threshold) as well as how the people who didn't make the cut scored relative to the other videos? Maybe a little more transparency? I know this would be asking a lot but i think it would help quell the drama like there was in past years.

[Rapter79]

Since Yue mentioned my name, let me throw in my 2 cents...

*snip*
1) Does the judge understand what they are going to be watching... Do they understand the basics of editing. Can they differentiate between a video that consists of simple edits and one that consists of many layers of compositions. Can they see how the video was made while they are watching it, is it just a series of long cuts or one scene cut up a million times randomly. Is there structure to it. Can they break it down.
*snip*

This is where i have an issue with the AMV contest in general, Is it supposed to be the final product or the editing only involved? Because there are a ton of great videos that involve minimal edits or pure straight-cuts (or even 0-edit films) that stop the hell out of fast action-cuts and effects everywhere but no story told. This comes down to the "what makes an AMV good and place as a finalist" which i think is a big thing that's unknown to the audience as well as a lot of contestants.

[Pwolf]

This is where i have an issue with the AMV contest in general, Is it supposed to be the final product or the editing only involved?

It's both. At least it should be.

[Radical_Yue]

Would it be possible to know how the judging is based, (ie a score system or point system or RT-style meta-number with a threshold) as well as how the people who didn't make the cut scored relative to the other videos? Maybe a little more transparency? I know this would be asking a lot but i think it would help quell the drama like there was in past years.

I believe it was something along the lines of

Originality
Audio/Video Quality
Editing
Fun

[Pwolf]

Audio/Video Quality

In my opinion that should be taken into consideration before judges are even given the videos to watch (talking about visible defects in the video due to poor encoding by the editor like macro blocking or low quality audio). After which, it should be disregarded when judging. In other words, if it looks like shit and it sounds like shit, the judges don't even get to see it. Other than that I believe editors should be able to produce high quality work, they shouldn't be judged because one video is using an older source which might looks worse due to age or another video is using HD sources.

[TrufflePigStudios]

1) Does the judge understand what they are going to be watching... Do they understand the basics of editing. Can they differentiate between a video that consists of simple edits and one that consists of many layers of compositions. Can they see how the video was made while they are watching it, is it just a series of long cuts or one scene cut up a million times randomly. Is there structure to it. Can they break it down.

I dunno, for me personally, I think the emotional impact of an amv is what makes a good amv. (And by emotional impact, I don't mean like it has to make you cry or something...just something that inspires you with its creativity, or its drama, or with its imagination) I mean, don't get me wrong, the editing needs to be clean and coherent, and good editing can add a lot to a creative idea, but I've seen a number of amvs that are incredibly tech-savvy and amazing to look at that don't even scratch the surface of my emotive palate. And then there are some that might not be as well edited that I watch over and over again because they affect me in a certain way. I don't really know how the contest is judged, and I don't think I have any problems with it, but I think its important to have judges with different focuses. Some that focus on certain technical aspects, effects, emotional quality, creative vision, etc. That way the technical gurus and the emotional saps like myself will all be happy

[Rapter79]

Audio/Video Quality

You need to elaborate on this heavily, because I've seen videos in the finals that have some pretty awful video quality. Tends to be more common in comedy than any other category (also Fun/OVA this year) But i don't think that they should be DQ'd because of it, but there is obviously needs to be a minimum standard, but how does one define a video quality and have it as a measurable quantity?