AnimeNEXT 2012 AMV Contest (Winners Announced!)

[xDreww]

Yayy Least I got a runner up from something. xD
Grats to the winners! wish I could have been there!

Dawg i Recorded your videos in the AMV Contest showings Yesterday... do you wanna see it >.<

Yes! xD

[jade_eyed_angel]

Romance/Sentimental
Winner: Stay by Helix (25.8% of the vote)
Runner-up: A Few Wrong Notes... by jade_eyed_angel (AuN Studios)

Awesome! Congrats everyone!

[Shin-AMV]

Congrats to the winners !

Congrats to the meatwad!

NO! We do not feed his ego. You know better than this. :I

[helix99]

Grats to everyone. It feels great to finally win something I really started to have a feeling me and my skills are getting outdated
I would love to see one convention in person..too bad we dont have cons over here..
In case someone filmed the screenings at the con, could you please post the link?

One more thanks to the organizers !

[l33tmeatwad]

Congrats to the winners !

Congrats to the meatwad!

NO! We do not feed his ego. You know better than this. :I

NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM

[Sephiroth]

Yayy Least I got a runner up from something. xD
Grats to the winners! wish I could have been there!

Dawg i Recorded your videos in the AMV Contest showings Yesterday... do you wanna see it >.<

Yes! xD

Do you have pop culture being seen also?

[xDreww]

I just saw Pop Culture that won best artistic. hehe. Interesting win. xD

[Anicsi]

Whoo, congrats to all the winners 8D Gotta check the vids out when I have more time. Damn, life's so busy ;__;

[Scintilla]

As promised, here is the complete list of finalists (format: editor - title - audio - video):

Trailer/Parody
1. DriftRoot - The Kingdom of L.F.S. - Knights of Badassdom trailer - Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (Runner-up and Coordinators' Choice)
2. GloryQuestor - Doctor Crono - "Doctor Who Opening Credits" by Murray Gold - Chrono Trigger
3. MeliChan923 - Evil Island - Trailer from Shutter Island - Resident Evil 4 (Winner)

Romance/Sentimental
4. Helix - Stay - "Stay" by Hurts - 5 Centimeters Per Second (Winner)
5. Anicsi/Fidelity Studios - The Beauty and the Poet - "Beautiful" by Trading Yesterday - Various
6. Pacotacoshell - Surfer Girl Serenade - "Surfer Girl" by The Beach Boys - 5 Centimeters Per Second
7. xDreww / EBullientDesigns - Stay - "Arafax" by Falling Up - 5 Centimeters Per Second, ef – A Tale of Memories
8. jade_eyed_angel (AuN Studios) - A Few Wrong Notes... - "No Mozart" by Natasha Bedingfield - Nodame Cantabile (Runner-up)

Drama
9. BasharOfTheAges (Shin-Ei Gumi) - Madness Quota - "Snake Fighting" by Ellegarden - Soul Eater
10. RiderG - Fairytale of Lies - "Faster" by Within Temptation - Romeo x Juliet (Winner)
11. Pacotacoshell - Abduction - "Tommy's Theme" by Noisia - Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko
12. EimiJ7 - Unlimited - "Defying Gravity" by Idina Menzel - Various
13. MeliChan923 - Friends Forever - "Here's To the Night" by Eve 6 - anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day (Runner-up)

Action
14. Stratos - Revived Studio - Electroshock - "Tao of the Machine" by The Roots and BT - A Certain Scientific Railgun
15. irriadin - Put Ya Guns On! - "Becoming Insane" by Infected Mushroom - Sengoku Basara, Sengoku Basara 2, Sengoku Basara: The Last Party (Winner)
16. Kazemon15 - Bulletproof - "Bulletproof" by Blue Stahli - Katekyo Hitman Reborn!
17. Surfinpika - Versus - "The Brave Shall Rise" by Immediate Music - Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy Versus XIII, The 3rd Birthday
18. TritioAFB - Get Off - "I Get Off" by Halestorm - Neon Genesis Evangelion, The End of Evangelion
19. Stratos - Revived Studio - Rolling Scissor - "Dogfight" by Move - Strike Witches, Strike Witches 2
20. Kazemon15 - Starcraft - "Witchcraft" by Pendulum - Cardcaptor Sakura (Runner-up)

Artistic
21. Janika/JanAnimE Productions - Rebirth of a Dream - "Visionary" by Ramses B - Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitteiru (Betrayal Knows My Name)
22. Porkychoppop - Animatrix/Genius Party - Cracks - "Cracks (Flux Pavilion Remix)" by Freestylers - Animatrix, Genius Party
23. Sephiroth/DMRA - Pop Culture - "Pop Culture" by Madeon - Various (Winner)
24. xDreww / EBullientDesigns - Without You - "Without You" by Camo & Krooked - Various (Runner-up)

Dance/Fun
25. [madaraxD] - Feelings - "Feelings" by Basic Element - Various
26. drewaconclusion - She Loves That Rock and Roll - "Rock and Roll Is King" by Electric Light Orchestra - K-ON!, K-ON!! (Runner-up)
27. Pochomaluv (AuN Studios) - Can't Be Tamed - "Can't Be Tamed" by Miley Cyrus - Durarara!!
28. Two Frame Studios - Gurren Feeling - "Good Feeling" by Flo Rida - Gurren Lagann
29. Dream Team - FLACK SLEEP - "Let It Rock" by Kevin Rudolf, "19-2000 Funk" by Daft Punk vs. Gorillaz - Various
30. Drabaz - Hands Up! - "Dynamite" by Taio Cruz - Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z (Winner)

Comedy
31. drewaconclusion - A Brainless Video - "What the **** Was That?" from Evil Dead: The Musical - High School of the Dead (Runner-up)
32. SatoshiSakura - Coup d'état - "Be Prepared" from Disney's The Lion King - Ouran High School Host Club
33. purplepolecat - Text Me - "Text Me Too Much" by Lucky Princess - Steins;Gate
34. Warlike Swans - Marketing Ploy - "Pop Song" by John Lajoie - Ouran High School Host Club, Clannad After Story
35. l33tmeatwad - Sorry for being Hercule, Sincerely Mr. Satan - "Sexy And I Know It" by LMFAO - Dragon Ball Z (Winner)


What follows are some of my own thoughts and explanations about how this year went.

Selecting and Sorting the Finalists
Our panel of knowledgeable and experienced prescreeners selected the finalists with their votes (and thank goodness, because this year's field was very strong and there would have been some tough calls to make otherwise), but after that, figuring out the categories and the playlists was all on us two (I mean me and Cyanna) as the coordinators. I'm pleased that we were able to get every video into a category its creator listed on its entry form without any big stretches. Also, from the fact that every video that was selected to close out its category came in either first or second, I'd say we did well with the seeding.

Action and Dance were the two most loaded categories this year (and they would have been even more loaded if we hadn't decided to use the Artistic category), but I really can't point to any one category as a laggard -- which is pretty much what I had hoped for with the whole "pick the finalists first and categories second" approach. Every video in the finals ended up receiving votes. In particular, Romance/Sentimental had remarkable parity with no clear frontrunner ever emerging, and Artistic was also a tight race for most of the voting.

Intro, etc.
For the contest intro this year, I wanted to do something a little different from the traditional AnimeNEXT formula of title cards explaining the contest playing over some appropriate music. I hoped to assure the viewers that despite the transition of power, the AMV department was still in good hands.

However, it seems most of the audience didn't get the reference. I doubt we will be using it again next year (don't worry, we've already got another idea that makes us giggle just as madly). So, here is the intro video for download. Maybe AX can take this concept and put it to use in a section of the country where more fans would get it?

At the Con
We had four total contest screenings before the ballot deadline, as I detailed upthread, and the two bigger ones (the ones in the ballroom) were at prime time slots (Friday at 7 and Saturday at noon). We managed to fill the rooms pretty well for all of them without hitting capacity, which I consider a good thing because the big ballroom we had for two of those screenings is a really good space to show the contest in and I'd prefer to keep using it if at all possible.

Even more heartening, however, was the fact that the contest encore screening on Sunday at noon played to a packed room -- and they really got into it. I'm wondering how many of those people came after seeing the winners at the Masquerade and wanting to know more.

Speaking of which, the announcement of the AMV winners before the Masquerade skits (but still after everyone had been seated) as opposed to after them was an interesting experiment. While it did mean we had less time than originally anticipated to compile the winners, the important thing is that this way of arranging things meant that the winners played to a packed Main Events room (capacity 1,170). And the audience really enjoyed it!

Everything ran about as smoothly as I could have hoped for. I really can't complain.

Additional Music Credits
Warning: "AVAN Title" by Shiroh Sagisu (Kare Kano OST)
Contest intro: "Baroque Hoedown" by Perrey & Kingsley (Disney's Main Street Electrical Parade version)
Eyecatch: Eyecatch from Azumanga Daioh
Overflow and winners announcement intros: "Super Affection" by Minami Kuribayashi, Miyuki Hashimoto, Faylan, Aki Misato, yozuca*, and rino (Carnival Phantasm OP)
Contest ending: "Fellows" by Masaaki Endoh (Carnival Phantasm ED)

Overall
The AMVs are BACK at AnimeNEXT, and man, does it feel good.

I want to thank the entrants for sending us such a great field of videos, the other staff for all their support for our department, and the attendees for coming out to show their love for our little hobby. Seriously, guys, this was an awesome first year for us to be running the contest, and we're excited to see how we can make it even better next year.

To all of you who sent in videos and/or attended the convention, we'd love to hear your suggestions. Also, if anyone has any questions I didn't already address about anything that happened this year at AnimeNEXT AMVwise, please ask them here (or privately if you prefer).

Thanks again to everyone, and we'll see you all same time next year!

[drewaconclusion]

I'm not sure I recognize the intro reference either.