Anime Expo 2012 AMV Contest Thread - WINNERS ANNOUNCED!!!

[Radical_Yue]

And yet you're saying anyone who speculates on whether the age of an anime affects the judging of the video must suck at editing and are looking for excuses? You don't need to bite people's heads off because they wonder what the best strategy for making it to finals are. Nobody personally attacked you.

You kinda missed the first part of it. I'm not saying that "old anime doesn't get into contests" is only an excuse. It can also be due to biased judges who vote on what sources they like. But if that's the case of the contest, why would you want to enter it?
Also, I'm not biting heads off or attacking, more like thinking outloud. Sorry that you saw it as an attack.

Whatever. Maybe you meant that at him more than me, but you quoted me as well so I felt targeted. I obviously am not good at conversing with people in general, so back to lurking.

It wasn't targeted at anyone. Like I said, it was more like discussing the topic of "old sources don't make it into cons."

I'm not out to get anyone, just tired of seeing that whole "HD OR GO HOME" mentality pop up.

[milkmandan]

Simply put, the judges will choose what they like. It doesn't matter how many effects, how much time was spent, etc. All they have to care about is the end product and whether it was entertaining or not.

You can put all the effort in the world but if your video puts the judges to sleep, they ain't voting for it.

Remember, there's other contests outside the AX bubble.

Castor Troy hit a great point here.
The point of the entire AMV Contest show at AX as a public event is to ENTERTAIN.
If your video is not ENTERTAINING, high chances yours probably won't make it to the AMV Contest and the judges wont like it as much.

"My source wasn't popular and it's not HD so I don't have a chance."

Having HD should have no effect on whether you make it in or not. Some contests don't even have an HD projector to display some of this stuff. I have no idea what AX has in line for equipment, but having HD source def doesn't mean your video has a 1-up on others. I am not sure if this is true or not, but aren't the judges reminded that they can't knock points off for HD videos vs non-HD?

And its not about source, it comes down to the idea. I made Robots with shab-tastic DVD quality footage. Not to mention Pani Poni Dash inherently is stupid blurry and any amount of fine sharpening or cleaning up didn't really help.

[Radical_Yue]

Simply put, the judges will choose what they like. It doesn't matter how many effects, how much time was spent, etc. All they have to care about is the end product and whether it was entertaining or not.

You can put all the effort in the world but if your video puts the judges to sleep, they ain't voting for it.

Remember, there's other contests outside the AX bubble.

Castor Troy hit a great point here.
The point of the entire AMV Contest show at AX as a public event is to ENTERTAIN.
If your video is not ENTERTAINING, high chances yours probably won't make it to the AMV Contest and the judges wont like it as much.

It's a delicate dance when judging. First you have to look at the technical aspect and then you have to think about it with an audience in mind. The #1 goal is to have a contest of the best videos, but even if your 20 minute tech demo makes me shit rainbows, it'll bore the hell out of a con audience and won't make it into the finals.

"My source wasn't popular and it's not HD so I don't have a chance."

Having HD should have no effect on whether you make it in or not. Some contests don't even have an HD projector to display some of this stuff. I have no idea what AX has in line for equipment, but having HD source def doesn't mean your video has a 1-up on others. Actually I am pretty sure the judges are informed that they cannot knock points off for a video NOT having HD.

And its not about source, it comes down to the idea. I made Robots with shab-tastic DVD quality footage. Not to mention Pani Poni Dash inherently is stupid blurry and any amount of fine sharpening or cleaning up didn't really help.

HD videos are actually more of a pain in the ass to deal with for conventions. You have to make sure that you have equipment powerful enough to play someone's 1080p 60fps video and enough time/space to download their GIANT freakin' file. Time + Money = No bueno

I think the reason that the majority of cons accept HD now is because, well, due to the youtube generation, everyone is encoding their videos as at least 720p. They ignore the rules that say the max is 480p and send whatever the hell they want. So you either turn down boatloads of videos or you adapt and deal with it. It honestly kinda sucks.

And no, they can't knock a video for not being HD because everything isn't HD.

[milkmandan]

Not to mention not everyone has a fancy quad-core to edit on :\
Exporting 720p obviously is more time consuming that 480p as well.

[Niotex]

I understand some people might feel a little demotivated due to their respective videos not making it into the finals. There are reasons for that happening which are not limited to source age, demographic nor visual effects or the lack there of. If an editor takes issue with not making finals and wants to know why? Then that can be answered after the contest by willing judges who will come forward. That's pretty much how it's always been, so speculating about these matters now is useless unless a judge does come forward at this time.

As for the Quad argument there Milkman, I know people who've edited HD videos on 8 year old laptops. So resources aren't the issue when it comes to HD videos, even your average smartphone can render out 1080p video.

[milkmandan]

As for the Quad argument there Milkman, I know people who've edited HD videos on 8 year old laptops. So resources aren't the issue when it comes to HD videos, even your average smartphone can render out 1080p video.

True true, granted I too have seen people video edit in HD on less than optimal hardware just stating that its quicker for some than others. Thats all.

[Niotex]

For what 99.99% of people do in this hobby, they don't need more than a old P4 with 512 megs of ram. And given the extra time it would take for mentioned systems to compute things it really wouldn't put a dent in their overall productivity. Faster systems don't net better videos. If that were the case the guy with the 2 Xeon 5E-2690's, triple SLI Quadro 6000 GPU's and a 128GB ram-pool would have wiped every contest. So honestly system speed, output resolution all that stuff doesn't matter. As long as people can produce entertaining and solid videos it's all gravy.

So people needn't worry about these things too much. I think I have a pretty good idea how things went down during judging. I might not agree with the final listing but I'm sure that the proper calls were made.

[Rider4Z]

I don't think that's necessarily true. I know a lot of people who are turned off by the style of older anime. One of my close friends really dislikes that older style to the point where she usually won't watch any older anime and on a regular basis wouldn't look twice at an amv with older footage- HOWEVER- she LOVED Rider's Arsene of the Crime Video from AX last year, which style-wise is pretty old looking. She also despises Michael Jackson I might add- but that amv made her like both the song and think twice about an aesthetic she's not particularly fond of. My point- even if the judges were biased (which I dont' think they are, especially considering that Yue's "Dreamer" vid is in the finals, and it uses an older anime. I'm sure there are other examples as well that I can't think of right now)...but even if they WERE biased against older anime, a really solid vid can still make them turn their head and enjoy it. Soooo keep editing with what ya like, and just cuz it doesn't get into AX, doesn't mean it won't get in in other cons!

THE FINALISTS!

As announced on the May 31st 2012 broadcast of AX Live:

Drama/Romance
Lum's New Love Song - By "L33TMEATWAD"

^anime = Urusei Yatsura , year = 1981. ta-da!

[l33tmeatwad]

I don't think that's necessarily true. I know a lot of people who are turned off by the style of older anime. One of my close friends really dislikes that older style to the point where she usually won't watch any older anime and on a regular basis wouldn't look twice at an amv with older footage- HOWEVER- she LOVED Rider's Arsene of the Crime Video from AX last year, which style-wise is pretty old looking. She also despises Michael Jackson I might add- but that amv made her like both the song and think twice about an aesthetic she's not particularly fond of. My point- even if the judges were biased (which I dont' think they are, especially considering that Yue's "Dreamer" vid is in the finals, and it uses an older anime. I'm sure there are other examples as well that I can't think of right now)...but even if they WERE biased against older anime, a really solid vid can still make them turn their head and enjoy it. Soooo keep editing with what ya like, and just cuz it doesn't get into AX, doesn't mean it won't get in in other cons!

THE FINALISTS!

As announced on the May 31st 2012 broadcast of AX Live:

Drama/Romance
Lum's New Love Song - By "L33TMEATWAD"

^anime = Urusei Yatsura , year = 1981. ta-da!

Actually, if you wanna talk about old anime in AMVs that made finals:

Drama/Romance
Lum's New Love Song - (Urusei Yatsura 1981)
Comedy
Sorry for Being Hercule, Sincerely Mr. Satan - (Dragon Ball Z 1989)
Clubbin' with Lupin - (Features Lupin III Part II 1977)

[irriadin]

Actually, if you wanna talk about old anime in AMVs that made finals:

Drama/Romance
Lum's New Love Song - (Urusei Yatsura 1981)
Comedy
Sorry for Being Hercule, Sincerely Mr. Satan - (Dragon Ball Z 1989)
Clubbin' with Lupin - (Features Lupin III Part II 1977)

Meatwad is single-handedly representing all old-school anime.