OTAKON 2003 AMV

Castor Troy · Post by **Castor Troy** » Tue Mar 25, 2003 9:59 pm

Cybermat wrote:
Rinny wrote:*already working for a few weeks now* I MUST PREVAIL!! X_X
Oh good... there will be at least two AMVs then.

We haven't received hardly any entries as of yet...

Have the rules and entry form been posted on the main otakon page?

Org Profile · Post by **Vlad G Pohnert** » Tue Mar 25, 2003 10:15 pm

Nope, no rules on the official page yet, but the deadline is May 31 so there still quite a bit of time... I'll be there and yes, I'll be entering into the contest once again... I have a rather interesting video this year so wi'll see how it does.

Vlad

TaranT · Post by **TaranT** » Wed Mar 26, 2003 1:51 am

Important news...

Ashyukun · Post by **Ashyukun** » Wed Mar 26, 2003 9:19 am

I should have an entry as well, assuming work on my ACen entry doesn't drag out for too long. It's been a while since I've done a drama video, it should be interesting if nothing else

You choose Sam,the rest · Post by **You choose Sam,the rest** » Wed Mar 26, 2003 10:36 am

Why can't anime trailers be part of the contest? They're parodies!

Castor Troy · Post by **Castor Troy** » Wed Mar 26, 2003 11:40 pm

You choose Sam,the rest wrote:Why can't anime trailers be part of the contest? They're parodies!

You can get them shown in the fan parody rooms.

You choose Sam,the rest · Post by **You choose Sam,the rest** » Thu Mar 27, 2003 1:50 am

Castor Troy wrote:
You choose Sam,the rest wrote:Why can't anime trailers be part of the contest? They're parodies!
You can get them shown in the fan parody rooms.

Yea and your point is....?

OmniStrata · Post by **OmniStrata** » Thu Mar 27, 2003 2:07 am

Hmm, trailer = Music Video?

DOH!

Castor Troy · Post by **Castor Troy** » Thu Mar 27, 2003 10:16 am

You choose Sam,the rest wrote:
Castor Troy wrote:
You choose Sam,the rest wrote:Why can't anime trailers be part of the contest? They're parodies!
You can get them shown in the fan parody rooms.
Yea and your point is....?

You might get your trailers advertised in a nice little brochure along with the parodies. I think.

Cybermat · Post by **Cybermat** » Thu Mar 27, 2003 9:31 pm

You choose Sam,the rest wrote:Why can't anime trailers be part of the contest?

Yeah, the basic concept and means of production of anime+movie trailers do have a lot of similarities to anime music videos. They're made pretty much the same way -- by putting anime clips on top of an existing sound bed -- and made using the same equipment, and often by the same people.

People love seeing a well-done trailer as much as they love seeing a well-done music video.

But for all their similarities, they're not the same. If you went to an anime+movie trailers web site and every file you found there was an anime music video, you'd be pretty bummed out.

There are significant differences between the two forms that make them distinct from one another. An AMVs is, by definition, a music video first and foremost. A music video made with anime clips. It is tightly focused on the music, or is at the very least heavily dependent on the music. Without its music, an AMV is not a music video.

In an anime+movie trailer, the music is not paramount. It may not even be present. The soundtrack of a trailer is typically a voiceover supported by disconnected snippets of many pieces of music, sound effects, and even dialogue excerpts. It is a little tiny condensed version of the movie it is advertising. [Deep-voiced announcer: "In a world... where Men fought like Dogs, one Man must make a Stand for what he knows is Right <music swells> <dramatic pause...> <huge explosion>" You get the idea.]

The focus of an AMV is to be a statement unto itself, to make you appreciate the essence of the song/music, or the anime, or (ideally) the fusion of both. A trailer is a commercial, plain and simple. It's not originally there to be a self-sufficient artistic experience unto itself; a piece of music or a song is.

It may seem obvious to state, but people are accustomed to watching movie trailers before a movie starts. At a con, it just seems more correct to run them before a longer fan parody. There's no expectation for music videos to lead up to anything further: they run and they're done.

In addition to such abstract ideals, there's the thorny issue of fair competition. An AMV Contest is about competition--and that means a very few winners and a whole lot of losers. For people to accept defeat graciously and respect the winners, rules have to be understandable, fair, and uniformly applied to both the high and the low. Ideally, all biases must be balanced out. An unfair win is no win at all in the minds of the non-winning contestants.

If a trailer wins over a bunch of non-trailers is it because it's better, or just because trailers are newer and more novel than AMVs are right now? If there's only one entry allowed, does a trailer count as an AMV because they're so similar or does it count as a trailer so you can enter one of each?

The solution to this situation would seem to be to dedicate a new category within the AMV Contest just for trailers, to create a separate contest at the convention for anime+movie trailers. One problem with this is that there may not be any more spare time to give the AMV Contest, so adding trailers means losing good AMVs. There may not be enough dedicated people to sustain more than one contest. All cons run on a shoestring.

Time and manpower issues aside, more contests not be the best thing to do. Contests by their very nature disappoint more of their participants than they reward. The more elusive the victory, the more ardently it is pursued. Ultimately, competing becomes more important than creating and the original justification is lost.

When the time comes that there are so many anime+movie trailers that the herd needs to be culled to keep attracting an audience and the exceptional need to be rewarded to keep them interested in participating, then we may have to fire up another contest. Until then, we'll let the trailers enjoy their age of innocence for a little while longer.