What's the best annual anime music video contests?

[ANTDrakko]

Good point, I completely forgot about the .org's Viewers Choice Awards.

However, I still have to stick with Otakon. ^_^.

I never knew Otakon gave Prizes! w00t, I really hope I win now. Do they have 2nd and 3rd places in the catageories? Hmmm....

[MCWagner]

What are the best annual AMV contests you can enter globally (U.S/Europe/Asia)? And who hands out the best prizes?

The conversation seems to have drifted away from your point here, and into "prestige", which is damn hard to quantify.

"Best" really depends on what you're looking for. If you're looking for fabulous prizes, than other places probably have us beat. All our budget goes towards the tech stuff to run the VAT room . In the end, we barely have ~$400 to spend on the prizes for everyone. If you're just looking to get your video shown, we may be your best bet, since everyone in Expo is assured of getting at least one vid shown, and we usually get everything in the other contests shown. If you're looking for size of audience, then somewhere else is better, since AWA is a fairly little con, as these things go (5,000 last year, but the pre-reg numbers for this year are starting to look scary...). If you're looking for size of competition, I think we're still top of that heap. Expo last year had 263 entries, Pro had 54, and Masters had 16. If the judging method is important to you, consider that we only have one award that's technically done by audience response (Fan Favorite). The others are judged by committee (Expo), competitors (Pro), or...well...me (Masters'). We don't do audience voting or sound-meter checks

So, again, "best" is up for grabs. We've tried to add a bit of "prestige" to our contests with the Masters' format, but whether or not it works depends on what you think of it.

[ANTDrakko]

Heh, thats another thing that kinda urks me: Why is audience voting such a bad thing?

I mean, I dunno about everyone else, but I create videos for the audience.

Not that I don't trust the judges of any convention, I think the people that organize these larger AMV contests are highly trustworthy. I just think that it kind of defeats the purpose of having the contest screened in front of the Audience.

::shrug::

Just my two cents...

::prepares to get flamed::

[EBwiz]

I agree with Drakko on this one. I mean, shouldn't the people who are viewing the video, the people being the audience who attends the showings, choose what's best in a democratic sort of fashion. I mean, Judges are audience members too, but they don't equal the vast majority of people who like the video.

Granted, we can go on and on about how experienced judges can view technical quality and the like, but really, that's not the point... It's whether or not the audience enjoyed the video. Scrutinizing only goes so far.

[genestarwind21122]

Heh, thats another thing that kinda urks me: Why is audience voting such a bad thing?

I mean, I dunno about everyone else, but I create videos for the audience.

Not that I don't trust the judges of any convention, I think the people that organize these larger AMV contests are highly trustworthy. I just think that it kind of defeats the purpose of having the contest screened in front of the Audience.

::shrug::

Just my two cents...

::prepares to get flamed::

I agree as well. The audience should be the ones to decide what videos they like and what they didn't. Judges are fine if they are experienced and know what to look for. They probably have to be trained to look at every aspect of the video and be able to interpret the songs on so many different levels which puts alot of pressure on them. If the audience vote you get a wide view on the amvs

Gene Starwind 21122

[ANTDrakko]

Heh, I don't even think that is the case in Convention AMV contests.

I, again, personally, post videos on the .org to be viewed @ by the general public, but namely other creators who view and critique my technical aspects in order to further my ability.

I submit my videos to conventions so that a large audience is able to voice their opinion about the competition and select the "best" video in those catageories.

Point being that: I don't think that technical aspects should be held hand in hand with audience enjoyablity unless deemed appropriate (AWA Pro and Master's) . AWA seems to have this relationship downpact. Kudos.

[MCWagner]

Heh, thats another thing that kinda urks me: Why is audience voting such a bad thing?

I mean, I dunno about everyone else, but I create videos for the audience.

Not that I don't trust the judges of any convention, I think the people that organize these larger AMV contests are highly trustworthy. I just think that it kind of defeats the purpose of having the contest screened in front of the Audience.

::shrug::

Just my two cents...

::prepares to get flamed::

To put it simply: HA!

1) Go back and look at the numbers. In order for the audience to fairly judge the entries, they would have to see them all.

All of them. All 250+. For Expo alone.

You want to help us judge the videos? Come by Quu's the week before the con. We'll be there. For three days straight, watching all the videos.

Who's qualified doesn't even enter into it. I wouldn't want to try and get one audience to sit still for a 4 to 6-hour showing that would be necessary for the Pro contest, much less the three day marathon that is Expo.

Otakon gets around this by trimming down what they actually show. As you said, ~200 gets trimmed down to around 30. That's fine. It's their con, they can do what they like, and what they think is fair. We try another track. Everyone gets at least one video shown at the con, in the VAT track or in the main display. If possible, we work to make sure we show a particular creator's video when they're present in the room. The VAT is an expo for creators first, and a platform for contests second.

Every vid, when being considered for awards, gets the same consideration, 'cause we've got the same judges sitting through them all.

2) Ballots are such a hassle. : )

Seriously, though. We don't consider ourselves some great authority-on-high, massive think-tank, while the audiences are the uneducated rabble. We do our best to try and get a wide variety of opinions by getting everyone we know who likes AMVs in to judge Expo, and then discuss as a group to select winners. If we could get a full-sized audience for Expo judging, we would. But we can't subject the audience at AWA to that. At the con, viewings are just supposed to be fun, not a requirement to stay glued to your seat for hours and hours lest you invalidate your judging of the videos by missing some.

To take your own example, you make the videos for the audience. What happens if your vid doesn't get shown at all?

I've gotten this question every year now, but no-one ever seems satisfied with the answer...

[MCWagner]

Point being that: I don't think that technical aspects should be held hand in hand with audience enjoyablity unless deemed appropriate (AWA Pro and Master's) . AWA seems to have this relationship downpact. Kudos.

Uh... I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I don't understand this comment. What did you mean by us having this relationship "downpact?" (Not being sarcastic, I really don't understand what you meant there.)

[ANTDrakko]

I meant that you have audience, creator, AND single judging all in convention. Expo, pro, and masters.

As far as everyone seeing the videos, thats why most, not all, conventions have seperate "overflow" screenings so that each entry is shown . To my knowledge, a lot of conventions trim down to entries to finalists, then showcase those finalists.

The question at hand is who judges the finalists. I understand that you can't get everyone to watch ALL the videos to narrow it down, thats why [using Otakon for example] everyone that entered was invited to kinda trim the entries out to the finalists.

I can't think of anything else to say, plus I'm @ work.

~Seen

[MCWagner]

I meant that you have audience, creator, AND single judging all in convention. Expo, pro, and masters.

As far as everyone seeing the videos, thats why most, not all, conventions have seperate "overflow" screenings so that each entry is shown . To my knowledge, a lot of conventions trim down to entries to finalists, then showcase those finalists.

The question at hand is who judges the finalists. I understand that you can't get everyone to watch ALL the videos to narrow it down, thats why [using Otakon for example] everyone that entered was invited to kinda trim the entries out to the finalists.

I can't think of anything else to say, plus I'm @ work.

~Seen

Ah, but you see, that's the difference. For us, every entry is a finalist. (Or, more accurately, there are no finalists.) We have 3 hours worth of winners to show.

I'm not completely familiar with Otakon's judging process. (Never been.) How is everyone able to trim down the entries to come up with the finalists? I was under the impression that the finalist list was made up before the convention?

(Yeah, I'm at work too...)