AWA 2005 Pro Contest Discussion Thread

Scintilla · Post by **Scintilla** » Thu Sep 08, 2005 9:44 pm

Echuir wrote:The pro voting deadline is also posted on the www.awa-vat.net site.

At the risk of sounding stupid, I just reloaded the page and no it's not...

Echuir · Post by **Echuir** » Thu Sep 08, 2005 10:55 pm

Its on the hidden pro only site that was listed on your info sheet.

Scintilla · Post by **Scintilla** » Thu Sep 08, 2005 11:00 pm

Oh, that. When did that URL get an actual page instead of just redirecting to that other secret URL? 'Cause last time I tried, it was definitely just a redirect. Good to know it's there though.

doughboy · Post by **doughboy** » Fri Sep 09, 2005 2:38 am

I love how people are picking on the lengthy video for "fanboy self gratification," when no one has mentioned the same for a shorter, more annoying, and severely pointless video that drops in anime characters simply to make people go, "OMG, MY FAV CHARACTER IS ON SCREEN! HUZZAH, FOR ONLY NOW MY LIFE HAS MEANING!"

You're all fixated on dissing one video, when it's honestly 4Xs better than most of the generic tripe submitted on the discs (my entry included). No one has singled out any other videos for lambasting, which is good considering that's the point of this thread: to discuss without complaint.

Just vote and shut the hell up.

WalterScott · Post by **WalterScott** » Fri Sep 09, 2005 6:11 am

I don't think it's fair to just smack down the 26 minute video like that. Is it self indulgent? Maybe. But can't that be be said of a lot of amv's? Whether the video appealed to you or not, it's clear that the creator put a hell of a lot of work and craft into it, and I think it deserves a fair critique of what worked and what didn't, not a flame out.

The message I take from this discussion is, don't ever try to stick your neck out and make a long / serious / ambitious video or you'll just be dismissed. Is that what we want to communicate?

Brakus · Post by **Brakus** » Fri Sep 09, 2005 7:34 am

I think what's crawling underneath everybody's skins (to paraphrase Linkin Park) is that the 55 people who did not create the long-form video project had to sit through the entire thing. They were uncomfortable with it and making their opinions known. If they were uncomfortable with it, just think how Average Joe Otaku would feel if he had to sit through it too.

Moreover, there was absolutely NO indication that the video would be 26 minutes long, unless you turned on the "time remaining" indicator on your DVD player.

I'd think there are places for such long-form projects to be shown; it's just a contest isn't really one of them. After all, that's why many AMV contests have time limits on video length; to avoid debacles like this one.

The argument about not making a long/serious/ambitious video doesn't really hold water -- because it doesn't matter what kind of video you make; if you can't hold the viewer's attention for 3 minutes, much less 26 minutes, then your video isn't going to be effective. It was a herculean task just for the person/people creating the video to think that we could just sit there for 26 minutes in amazement for this video. Obviously that just was not the case.

badmartialarts · Post by **badmartialarts** » Fri Sep 09, 2005 8:11 am

I saw the 26 minute video. It held MY attention...of course, I like reading books like Crime and Punishment...

Lord Rae · Post by **Lord Rae** » Fri Sep 09, 2005 8:36 am

The 26 minute video held my attention... I've said before that I've had no issues sitting through it multiple times. then again I don't have ADD.

In truth it feels shorter in length than the cat video or the dog video (if you call a dog potato you should eat it at the end of the video imho)...

There are several videos that FEEL like they far exceed the manson video in length.

Nevermind the others which qualify as vapid, pointless and mind-blowing in their sheer stupidity.

The Wired Knight · Post by **The Wired Knight** » Fri Sep 09, 2005 8:52 am

Brakus wrote:I think what's crawling underneath everybody's skins (to paraphrase Linkin Park) is that the 55 people who did not create the long-form video project had to sit through the entire thing. They were uncomfortable with it and making their opinions known. If they were uncomfortable with it, just think how Average Joe Otaku would feel if he had to sit through it too.

Moreover, there was absolutely NO indication that the video would be 26 minutes long, unless you turned on the "time remaining" indicator on your DVD player.

I'd think there are places for such long-form projects to be shown; it's just a contest isn't really one of them. After all, that's why many AMV contests have time limits on video length; to avoid debacles like this one.

The argument about not making a long/serious/ambitious video doesn't really hold water -- because it doesn't matter what kind of video you make; if you can't hold the viewer's attention for 3 minutes, much less 26 minutes, then your video isn't going to be effective. It was a herculean task just for the person/people creating the video to think that we could just sit there for 26 minutes in amazement for this video. Obviously that just was not the case.

I have to agree with him here. I never called it "fanboy grattification" nor will I do so now. My qual with the video is just that it's way too damn long and it gets monotonous. A twenty-six minute video isn't bad if it can hold your attention that long, but this one simply couldn't. As I stated earlier, there was absolutely no cohesion between any two portions of that video save for the fact that it was another Manson song so it didn't feel like the video was leading anywhere at all. But to expect people in a contest format to be able to sit through this is something else.

I'm not saying that people shouldn't TRY to make long videos, hell, look at the multi editor projects. These run one to two hours and have no problem holding attention, even though things like DDR are pretty much the same style of music all the way through. The explanation for this? (in my book) is that the videos are varied and are significantly different from one another, the 26 minute felt like you were watching more of the same just flopping the anime.

So there were two ways to rectify the situation, one, vary the style of video a bit more so it didn't feel like a lot of the same. Or, create some sort of binding tie that puts a reason for havinvg all these videos shown as one.

anneke · Post by **anneke** » Fri Sep 09, 2005 10:31 am

I felt it wasn't ONE video, I felt it was five/six videos that were just strung together.

In general a video contains ONE song. Sometimes there are videos that us a mix of songs, but they don't tend to use the full length of the song, much less five or six songs.

The DDR project is called a PROJECT, not ONE VIDEO. It also is a bunch of seperate videos, sure it's one piece of music but it's a bunch of different videos. People wouldn't enter the whole project to a contest, but they do enter sections.

The no time limit was made so you wouldn't be limited by a song's length, not so you can string a bunch of songs together into one long 'video'.

I was annoyed by the video because it felt like five/six videos, and that the creator was in a ways trying to get around the rule about only entering 1 video to the contest by stringing them all together.

-Anneke