Sakura-Con 2024 AMV Contest - DEADLINE: Saturday, February 3rd

[XStylus]

THE SAKURA-CON 2024 AMV Contest!

Deadline: Saturday, February 3rd, 2023, 11:59pm PST

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Now open for submissions!
Here's how to participate:

STEP ONE: Register to participate, then await your entrant code (usually within 48 hours).
STEP TWO: Once you've received your entrant code, submit your AMVs.

Click here to register!
You are encouraged to register early, even if your AMVs are not yet ready.

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Already submitted an entry?
Click here to view the status of your entry!

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Click here for the Official Event Rules!

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THE unofficial “TL;DR” RULES (IN SIMPLE WORDS & AS FEW AS POSSIBLE):
1) Three vids max, except Commercials (unlimited).
2) No super-short or super-long vids.
3) No vids older than July 10th, 2023.
4) Must be age-13 friendly.
5) No janky audio & video quality.
6) No “AMV Hell” clip-show vids.
7) No plugging other events.
8) No “Low Effort” Entries.
9) No subtitles, watermarks, karaoke, etcetera.
10) Video material should be mostly anime relevant.
11) No non-musical stuff (except in Trailers and Commercials).
12) No voice-cloning.
13) If you use AI tech, explain how. Don’t be evil with it.


WHAT’S NEW COMPARED TO LAST YEAR:
Rule Changes:

• Re-wrote all rules for clarity (in the FULL rules version).
• NEW Rule 12 – Music or dialogue created via “deepfake” voice-cloning technologies is forbidden.
• NEW Rule 13 – AI tech is new and controversial. We don’t yet know enough to say how it should or shouldn’t be used. Thus, entries that use it must declare so, and will be accepted/rejected case-by-case. Such entries will be nitpicked heavily, and our decisions will set rule precedents for future years.

New awards: (Eligible to all accepted entries, including non-finalists)

• Coordinators’ Choice – Awarded to an AMV that the Event Coordinator Team deemed deserving.
• Best Classic – Awarded to an AMV deemed to have made best use of any one of the following as a majority of their source material:
  • A pre-widescreen (4:3) anime TV series.
  • An anime motion picture from 1994 or prior.
  • Music older than 40 years old.

The above is an abridgment of the official rules. They are NOT a substitute for them.
Click here to read the FULL official rules.

Questions? Email the AMV Team at: amv(AT)sakuracon.org

We look forward to seeing you and your awesome work at the Sakura-Con 2024 AMV Contest! Thank you!

[Bauzi]

Thank you for your clarifications on the AI matter. This was important to me. It's something to work with now.

[XStylus]

Wow, it's awfully quiet around here, but I bet it'll get noisy soon because we are ONE MONTH AWAY from the deadline!

Hope y'all are editing away, because February 3rd is comin' quick!

[PrincessMareep]

Sent 2!

[XStylus]

We're down to the final few days! The deadline is THIS SATURDAY!

[TritioAFB]

Asking if the videos have been received

[MarshmallowGoop]

Interested in submitting! I just have a couple of questions.

First, are AMVs with voiceovers prohibited? While I could potentially remove voiceovers from my AMVs, as they are always paired with the music, I think that'd really be to each AMV's detriment.

Second, are we allowed to add our own subtitles (for the song and any dialogue, if voiceovers are allowed)? I would like to include subtitles on my entries for accessibility purposes.

[XStylus]

Interested in submitting! I just have a couple of questions.

Hello, and welcome! I'll be glad to answer your questions!

First, are AMVs with voiceovers prohibited? While I could potentially remove voiceovers from my AMVs, as they are always paired with the music, I think that'd really be to each AMV's detriment.

Unless it's a Trailer, Intro, or TV Commercial parody, the answer likely would not be favorable, I regret to say. I couldn't say for certain until we've seen the vid though.

While we're not totally hard-line about it if a video uses a tiny bit if dialogue, the overall focus of the entry should be on how the video blends with the music, not on any supplemental dialogue. What we've often seen in the instances where editors have used dialogue is that they made the dialogue the main focus of the video. That means it's not a music video.

In short, dialogue may be used as a spice, but it shouldn't be the main entree.

Of note, we do grant a lot of leeway for Humor entries, and thus we're receptive to considering exceptions for that category. Here's an example of one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0X-bu5A95pA).

Second, are we allowed to add our own subtitles (for the song and any dialogue, if voiceovers are allowed)? I would like to include subtitles on my entries for accessibility purposes.

Our stance on text is similar to our stance on dialogue, and can be summed up in three words: "Show. Don't tell." I really can't emphasize that enough. If a story is to be told, it should be conveyed through visuals and action, not simply read through words.

That's not to say that we forbid all forms of text. If text is used in an artful and visually creative manner, and if such usage is clearly essential to the video's concept, it will likely be permitted. We used to be much more restrictive, but as editors have gotten very creative with text, we've relaxed that a lot in the past couple years.

If I may reuse my analogy: Text is a spice, but it shouldn't be the main entree.


With all of the above points in mind, if you feel really strongly that your video deserves special review to see if we'd consider granting an exception, we'll be glad to consider it. Sometimes we get a video that breaks new ground in a way we had never considered, but falls afoul of a rule. In such cases, we scrap the rule! The bar for that is really high though.

In any case, although the above answers may not be what you wanted to hear, I thank you very much for your questions!

[MarshmallowGoop]

Hello, and welcome! I'll be glad to answer your questions!

Thank you! And thank you for such detailed responses.

While we're not totally hard-line about it if a video uses a tiny bit if dialogue, the overall focus of the entry should be on how the video blends with the music, not on any supplemental dialogue. What we've often seen in the instances where editors have used dialogue is that they made the dialogue the main focus of the video. That means it's not a music video.

In short, dialogue may be used as a spice, but it shouldn't be the main entree.

I have heard that AMVs with voiceovers don't fare well in AMV contests, so that answer is maybe pretty unsurprising! I just wanted to make sure it wasn't banned completely; I think (I hope!) the entries I was considering veer more in the "dialogue as a spice" direction.

Our stance on text is similar to our stance on dialogue, and can be summed up in three words: "Show. Don't tell." I really can't emphasize that enough. If a story is to be told, it should be conveyed through visuals and action, not simply read through words.

Hm, maybe I should give more background on where I'm coming from!

I'm a professional transcriber and caption videos as part of my work. As such, captioned and subtitled videos are hugely important to me; if I were ever fortunate enough to make finals, I'd be massively uncomfortable if my videos were shown without subtitles. It'd go against my work.

Of course! I understand that subtitles aren't for everyone! What increases accessibility for some people decreases accessibility for others. I recognize that subtitles can be distracting to some audiences. My favorite way to handle subtitles is to have them soft/toggleable—that way, people who want them can have them, but those who don't can easily turn them off.

An event like this just doesn't exactly allow me that option. And since subtitles help more people than they hurt, I would rather go the direction of including them.

My subtitles aren't a creative part of the video (or at least, the subtitles I submit wouldn't be—I like to do karaoke subtitles but understand that those are banned here and would just submit plain ones). I'd simply like to include them for the sake of accessibility.

(As an aside: I've looked into a few AMV contests, and I've practically always been unsure of rules surrounding subtitles. Maybe AMV contests really aren't for me if I'm that adamant about including subs, but I thought I'd finally sum up the courage to ask outright about it!)

Thanks again for the thorough responses! I'd really like to submit because I am planning on attending the con, but even if I don't, I greatly look forward to the event!

[ComplicatedMuse]

Hmm... not sure if this thread is the right place to do it... but interesting discussion regarding subtitle.
I think the spirit is AMVs are MUSIC videos. Therefore, I think the idea is that it's for people to enjoy the music. (so, to some degree, it's already exclusionary, because not everyone enjoys music for one reason or another.) Disclaimer - i myself is quite new to this space... still also learning.
If it's purely an accessibility issue, subtitle by itself actually doesn't help someone enjoy the music (at least I don't think, but I'm capable of hearing). Seems to me, it at best just improves understanding of lyrics. But music to me is so much more than lyrics. Music communicates a mood, an emotion, a feel without a single word, with its tempo, volume, and sound. I don't have the skill for it, but it'd be really interesting if there is a music video designed to be accessible in a way that actually enables enjoyment to those who can't hear... (I'm reminded of the movie Mr. Holland's Opus. I have done work that is strongly synced to the beat - I never tested it with non-hearing community, but I now wonder how that comes across...)