Anime North 2006 AMV Competition Rules

[mikestrife]

Hey Resk, haven't seen you around the forums for a while.

Looking forward to seeing your entry at AN this year.

[Uanime5]

Competition entries must use music as the main soundtrack. Vocal and instrumental music from any genre and language is acceptable.

What happens if an AMV is part song, part vocal?

Eroticism, sensuality (ecchi, lemon), violent action and ludicrous over-the-top cartoon violence are acceptable. Coarse language in song lyrics should conform to that which is acceptable on Canadian radio or in a PG-13 film.

Why is moderate violence and nudity permitted, while bad language is not? Also what is the position if the lyrics are controversial?

Videos that do not meet the above requirements and/or include graphic sex, extreme violence, misogyny and sexual violence (hentai) will be labeled Alternative entries. Judges reserve the right to show these videos to a later timeslot. If such a video makes the finalists’ cut then they will be shown late in the viewing.

Can these have 'coarse' language?

[Initial B]

What happens if an AMV is part song, part vocal?

That's perfectly allowable so long as they are singing or rapping. However, if when you say "vocal" you mean spoken word with no music in the background at all, then try and keep that section short.

Why is moderate violence and nudity permitted, while bad language is not? Also what is the position if the lyrics are controversial?

Because there is a lot of nudity used in anime, we don't want to ban it outright. We just don't want parents and their kids to see nudity that involves the kind of stuff you see in "Cool Devices". It's fine for late at night, but we have to be careful with daytime programming blocks.
As for controversial lyrics, what is controversial about them? I don't see how it can be any worse than the suggestive "crunk" music they play on some stations.

Can these have 'coarse' language?

If they can play it on Canadian radio without beeping it (and they don't beep out much after 9pm), then it should be okay to use.
If it puts your mind at ease, we haven't had any problem with entries over the last few years. Last year we had one video that we considered alternative, but it was shown in the open category since it was after 10pm when it aired. So if you want to be daring, go for it. The worst that could happen would be that the entry would be shown sometime after 11pm on Friday or Saturday night.
This year the finalist entries and awards are back to Friday night, so it shouldn't be a problem if we get some alternative entries that make the finals.

[Resk]

Hey Resk, haven't seen you around the forums for a while.

Looking forward to seeing your entry at AN this year.

Hey, yeah, I've been staying away from the forums for a while. Just didn't really have much to say But yeah, I'm hoping to ome up with something good for this year... if I get a break from classes that is >.<

[Uanime5]

As for controversial lyrics, what is controversial about them? I don't see how it can be any worse than the suggestive "crunk" music they play on some stations.

One of my AMVs is about the Special Olympics. As it makes funny of disabled people (in a light hearted way) I was wondering what would happen.

Can these have 'coarse' language?

If they can play it on Canadian radio without beeping it (and they don't beep out much after 9pm), then it should be okay to use.

I don't live in Canada so I don't know what they'd bleep (in one song I heard they censored the word 'gun' (probably because he was taking it to school)). However one AMV uses the F word a lot.

Each entry must include a title, source of music, source of video clips, class, entry category, and a brief statement (maximum 50 words, longer statements will be penalized) outlining the artistic vision/intent of the video.

Where do I find out which 'class' to use?

Anyway as all of my AMVs were made before 1st January 2006 I plan to only enter them under 'Exhibition'.

[Initial B]

Where do I find out which 'class' to use?.

Oops, thanks for catching that. There is no 'class' this year. In fact there hasn't been one for a while. When the entry form comes out on the website, you'll note that there is no "class" field.

Anyway as all of my AMVs were made before 1st January 2006 I plan to only enter them under 'Exhibition'.

What? You don't have any new videos planned? I thought AMV creators were prolific!

Actually, that brings up a point that someone has already emailed me about. This person knew he would be busy with school and actually created his video for this year's AN Competition 8 months in advance. The main reason we set the early creation date is that we don't want people to send in last year's videos from other cons. If creators are stuck for ideas, we created the challenge category to provide idea kernels.

But perhaps January 1st is a bit to tight. Last year we accepted videos completed after November 1st of the previous year. Would that make much of a difference for creators? We don't want to disallow videos based on a simple technicality of completion date. If you can email us a justification as to why it should be included in the competition, I don't see why the department wouldn't allow it.

And about the f-word, that's tricky. It's just about the only word (or any compound word that includes the f-word) that should probably be avoided if you want to avoid the alternative category. We'd probably let one or two get away, but a whole song of those words would definately relegate it to late-night. However, if it's a good entry then it will still be judged with all the rest and might make it into the finalist block.

[Mienai Kitsune]

Perhaps I will send one in, after all...

[Initial B]

This just in: Our video technician said that he would actually prefer if entrants use the huffYUV codec for their .avi files, although we will also still accept DivX.

[Resk]

This just in: Our video technician said that he would actually prefer if entrants use the huffYUV codec for their .avi files, although we will also still accept DivX.

That makes me VERY happy

[Initial B]

The final version of the rules are now posted at the Anime North website here. Good luck to one and all. Let's see if we can break 200 entries this year...