Sakura-Con 2023 AMV Contest - DEADLINE: Friday, February 17th

[SilkAMV]

I sent an e-mail a while ago asking if my intended submissions were within tolerance of some of the rules (I think they are, but I'm just being sure). I never got a reply, so I've submitted the videos anyway and hoped for the best.

Also, to clarify, are you sure you meant the cut-off date to be July 15th, 2022 and not 2021? Most cons give at least a year's lee-way but you seem to only be allowing videos made within an 8 month period between the cut-off date and the deadline. My submissions do fall into that period, but I'm just making sure that's intended.

[SpuddStaaa]

I'm a little confused to why the freshness date isn't April 17th, 2022 since that was the last date of the last con. I think this is what you meant because 2021 is kinda far in comparison. I only check because I technically have one video that I made after the last Sakuracon, but was made only a month or two after it ended.

[XStylus]

Also, to clarify, are you sure you meant the cut-off date to be July 15th, 2022 and not 2021? Most cons give at least a year's lee-way but you seem to only be allowing videos made within an 8 month period between the cut-off date and the deadline. My submissions do fall into that period, but I'm just making sure that's intended.

Yes, the rule is as intended. In fact, it has actually been relaxed a bit compared to prior years.

Sakura-Con 2014: No freshness rule
Sakura-Con 2015: "Must not have premiered prior to July 1st, 2014"
Sakura-Con 2016: "Must not have premiered before July 1st, 2015"
Sakura-Con 2017: "Must not have premiered before August 1st, 2016"
Sakura-Con 2018: "Must not have premiered before August 1st, 2017"
Sakura-Con 2019: "Must not have premiered before September 1st, 2018"
Sakura-Con 2020: "Must not have premiered before September 1st, 2019"
Sakura-Con 2022: "Must not have premiered before July 1st, 2020"

[XStylus]

I'm a little confused to why the freshness date isn't April 17th, 2022 since that was the last date of the last con. I think this is what you meant because 2021 is kinda far in comparison. I only check because I technically have one video that I made after the last Sakuracon, but was made only a month or two after it ended.

I'll try to say this as delicately as possible and hope this doesn't come off as elitist or arrogant: The reason is because we sought to encourage more premiere entries. We were fairly successful at that, though I'd like to think it was more by way of building a reputation for putting on a high quality show rather than as a result of any freshness rule shenanigans.

An AMV that premieres at other high profile events between April to September (of which there are several) would have had a pretty lengthy run by the time Sakura-Con rolls around. We get a staggering number of submissions, so we felt we had the luxury of being a bit more picky by tightening the thumbscrews on the freshness rule a bit.

We obviously relaxed that rule a LOT for the 2022 comeback year, and it remains a bit relaxed for 2023 until we get a better feel for where things stand and where the "new normal" is.

And those of you who know my history will probably understand why the freshness rule is July 15th instead of July 1st.

[SpuddStaaa]

Thats fine with me. I was gonna submit more later stuff anyways but wanted to see what the idea behind the dates were.

[Rider4Z]

Should also be mentioned that Sakura-Con doesn't have an award limit rule. I prefer it this way with a more narrow premiere date.

[BladEra123]

Sent one in!

[ResyAMV]

Hello there! Anyone able to help me get some answers about this competition? I've tried emailing the official email twice (once in November and once in December) and no one has answered me.

I am brand new to editing AMVs and have some questions concerning the submission rules for this upcoming year.
Interlacing is listed as a technical flaw, but Final Cut Pro has a video effect called "Bad TV" that will make a clip appear to be interlaced. Will the use of this effect render a submission inadmissible?
I require some clarification about the multiple submission rules. Only three entries will be accepted per individual or group. Do I understand correctly that I can submit three videos in three different categories, and potentially have them all accepted into the competition? But three videos entered into the same category might yield, at most, one competition entry. Commercials/Intros are not subject to that rule. Do I have all of that right?
What is an "excessively large" file? I see the recommended size is 350MB or lower. I can manage that if I export in 780p, but my videos do not look nearly as good as they do in 1080p with a file size between 450 - 500MB. Is that too large?

I appreciate any information anyone can give me!

[XStylus]

Hey there Resy! Sorry that I hadn't gotten back to your email! Let me answer you here for the benefit of everybody.

Interlacing is listed as a technical flaw, but Final Cut Pro has a video effect called "Bad TV" that will make a clip appear to be interlaced. Will the use of this effect render a submission inadmissible?

If you're using interlacing as an intentional effect to replicate a certain aesthetic, that's fine. We recognize the difference between a special effect versus crappy source material.

In general, if you've done something that works and actually adds to the aesthetic flavor and enjoyment of your AMV, we won't DQ for that. However, if something is a blatant unintentional flaw that distracts from the enjoyment of your AMV, then we'd consider DQing for that. And even then, it'd have to be intolerably and unwatchably bad. Our DQ threshold is high.

I require some clarification about the multiple submission rules. Only three entries will be accepted per individual or group. Do I understand correctly that I can submit three videos in three different categories, each of which is to a different category, and potentially have them all accepted into the competition finals? But three videos entered into the same category might yield, at most, one competition finals entry. Commercials/Intros are not subject to that rule. Do I have all of that right?

For the most part you've got it right, though for clarity's sake I made some edits in red.

One other point of clarity: ALL videos submitted to the contest (usually around 200 or so) are technically in the competition, and will compete for a chance to advance to the finals exhibition at Sakura-Con.

And yes, Commercials/Intros are completely unrestricted. Send as many as you like, and whatever qualifies for the finals will play in the finals.

What is an "excessively large" file? I see the recommended size is 350MB or lower. I can manage that if I export in 780p, but my videos do not look nearly as good as they do in 1080p with a file size between 450 - 500MB. Is that too large?

Lots of people seem to have trouble efficiently encoding their AMVs, so we've given up trying to enforce that. We'd rather have submissions that are over-encoded rather than under-encoded, so if you've got a large file, no prob, send it to us. We won't reject it.

Anything is below 1GB is fine, though we'll likely re-encode anything larger than 350MB ourselves for the sake of our judges since we have to send them a copy of each video, and we'd rather not crash their hard drives with hundreds of gigs of AMVs.

For what it's worth, 75MB per minute (10Mbps) is plenty for a good quality 1080p H264/MP4 when the correct settings are used, though video encoding involves a bit of voodoo to some folks and it's easy to get it wrong. So, just send us what you're most satisfied with.

[ResyAMV]

No worries. Thank you so much for getting back to me here!! I really appreciate it.