(Click here for the humongeous 64-person bracket)
The Online AMV Iron Chef Tournament v3.0
Hosted by AtomX
Judges: Castor Troy, DokiDoki, Nessephanie, PeroPero, Trythil
EVERYBODY WHO WANTS TO JOIN MUST READ EVERYTHING IN THESE RULES!!!
Who Can Participate:<ul><li>Anybody who meets the technical/time requirements below is allowed to participate.</ul>Technical Requirements:<ul><li>Must own (or have access to) 11 different editing sources (as stated below)<li>Must know how to rip DVD's (or video games) into an editable format.<li>Must be on a high-speed connection (sorry 56k'ers)<li>Must have AIM (or Trillian or something that can go into an AIM chat room. This is required for picking source and meeting for the battle. If you need to, just create a throwaway screenname. NOTE: If you refuse to install AIM/Trillian, you can alternatively use Meebo, which is a web-based chat client. You will still need to obtain an AIM screenname)<li>Must have an FTP program, and know how to use it (logging into a specified server with a login/password and uploading a file)</ul>Time Requirements:<ul><li>Must be able to dedicate at least 3-4 hours of uninterrupted computer time on your arranged battle date.<li>Must also be available sometime 24 hours before your battle date in order to select your editing source.</ul>Eligible Editing Sources:
- Anime footage (DVD only. NO FANSUBS OR RAWS.)
- Video game footage (ONE full game's FMV footage. No in-game footage. Basically this means, Final Fantasy, Xenosaga, etc. Not the sprite footage you captured for your VG projects)
- NO live-action movies or American cartoons (If part of your anime source HAS live-action in it [examples: Otaku no Video, End of Evangelion], this is admissible. Extras that happen to be on the disc like interviews, etc. are NOT eligible)
- ONE Editing Source = ONE Anime DVD or ONE Video Game
- NOTE: If you have a DVD that has TWO separate sources on it (ie; the Yu Yu Kakusho Movie + Ninku, Voices of a Distant Star + She And Her Cat), you are only allowed to use ONE of the sources. However, in the case of a source where the full movie is made up of shorter but separate segments that are all meant to be together (examples: Memories, Animatrix), this is admissible. If you think any of your sources are questionable, ask me directly.
Number of Participants:
- Due to an unprecedented amount of interest in this tournament, we are going with a 64 player bracket (or 4 brackets of 16 players).
- Although I imagine it won't go this far, anybody who signs up after the quota is full will be assigned to an Alternates List. The likelihood that I will have to pull people from the Alternates list is very good, because things happen and people have to drop out. KEEP IN MIND however that this only applies to Round 1. Any drop outs after Round 1 will result in a default win for their opponent.
- IF YOU DO NOT BELIEVE THAT YOU CAN EASILY MEET THE TECHNICAL AND TIME REQUIREMENTS STATED ABOVE, PLEASE DO NOT SIGN UP! You will be taking somebody else out of the running who really does want to compete. So please, don't just sign up and then later tell me "Oh, uh, nevermind."
Scheduling Battles:
- We had some confusion about this last tournament. So just to make this perfectly clear. WHEN YOU DO YOUR BATTLE IS UP TO YOU AND YOUR OPPONENT. Do not come to me and say "So when am I supposed to do my Iron Chef?"... After I post up the full Round One bracket, it will be up to you to contact your opponent and find a time when both of you can be online.
- While I would greatly prefer that all matches be done simultaneously (this also really does add to the "fun factor" since you know your opponent is currently just as rushed and stressed as you are), I do understand that for some pair ups, it'll be pretty impossible to find a solid time for both people to be online (especially considering the number of European editors). So, if this is the case, I will allow some matches to be run non-simultaneously (meaning, one of you might edit at 2pm EST, and the other person edits at 10pm EST). However, it is absolutely against the rules for the person who did their video earlier to show their video to ANYBODY in the AMV community (I'm not going to stop you from showing your dog, is basically what I'm saying).
Round One Match Deadline:
- Right now, I am not setting a deadline for when all of the Round One matches need to be finished. However! This could change if people decide to take a long ass time to get around to doing their match. Basically guys, keep this in mind. The longer you wait to do your match, the longer everybody else waits to continue on to the next round. So, get them done sooner rather than later, okay?
Tournament Bracket Seeding:
- Seeding is done on a random basis using a random number generator. Because there's no real practical way of "ranking" editors, this is the only feasible way to do it. So no bitching about who you got paired up against (including whatever sad sonuvabitch gets seeded with Ileia)
Varying Computer Speeds:
- I realize that because this is an online contest, people are going to have varied computer power/speed, as opposed to a convention's IC, where they use identical systems. Be that as it may, handicaps will not be given to people with slower computers. If you decide to enter the tournament, you are agreeing NOT to complain that you weren't able to get as far as your opponent due to your computer chugging (For this reason, it is HIGHLY recommended that you edit with the "bait-and-switch" method, using fast MJPEG files rather than slow AVS files)
Music Selection:
- If you weren't around or didn't pay attention to the 1st tournament, you might not realize this, but for every match in this tournament (for most of the tournament anyway), the song you edit to is PRE-DETERMINED. You will NOT be choosing your own audio. This is one limitation of doing an online Iron Chef. With IC matches at conventions, it's no big deal for somebody to bring in their own audio since we can clearly see that they're editing from scratch in front of us. Unfortunately, we can't be 100% sure of that online.
- The contestant is NOT limited to WHAT PART of the audio they want to work with. For example if they can see a good part for the chorus and nothing for the intro, they are free to have their video start at the chorus. They can also add any effects to the audio that they wish. Contestants may ONLY use the audio provided to them and nothing else. Meaning, you can't use 1 frame worth of the given song and then switch over to your favorite Linkin Park song. Sorry buddy.
- One point that I wish I didn't have to bring up, but think I should anyway is, this is a competition testing your AMV editing skill and creativity. That being said, you are not always going to get a song that you LIKE or fits your source at all. However, given that everybody is at the same disadvantage as you, this really shouldn't matter. You'll just need to be creative. Some of the most impressive videos that came out of the last two tournaments were ones where the song and source were awful matches, but the editor found creative ways to use them. Basically what I'm saying is, don't bitch about your songs (if BMA can make a kick ass Iron Chef video using Gold Digger, nobody has room to complain about the song they get)
Editing Source Selection:
- For the majority of this tournament, as stated near the top, each contestant will be using ONE editing source at a time (from here on out, I'm just going to refer to "editing source" as "anime", but it's understood that I also mean video games and such). NOT ONE SERIES, but ONE DVD of the series (meaning, not Azumanga Daioh, but Azumanga Daioh Vol. 4)
- You are allowed to list up to TWO of the same series (with different volumes) in your list. Meaning, you can't just make your list “Naruto Vol. 1 – 5”.
- Here is how it goes down.
PLEASE READ THIS PART CAREFULLY SINCE THIS ENDED UP BEING THE MOST CONFUSING PART OF THE FIRST TOURNAMENT!!
24 hours before the battle, the contestants and AtomX will all meet on AIM. Each contestant will send the judge a list of FIVE SOURCES (In the interest gauge thread I had said SIX, but I am bringing it back down to FIVE) that they own (or have immediate access to. Don't forget to pander to friends for varied source if you're limited), and number them from 1 to 5. They will then meet in an AIM chat room, and AtomX will type '//roll-s5-d2' which is a command in AIM to have 'OnlineHost' roll 2 five-sided dice. The two numbers that come up will be the corresponding source selections for each creator, the first number being for the higher seeded creator in the battle. Here's an example: <ul><li>Kevin Caldwell and Duane Johnson are battling and I’m coordinating. Kevin would IM me with a list of 5 sources, numbered from 1-5, something like this:
1. Wings of the Honneamise
2. Cowboy Bebop Vol. 4
3. Jubei-Chan Vol. 1
4. Memories
5. Kodomo no Omocha Vol. 8
<li>Duane Johnson would then IM me with his list:
1. Evangelion: Death & Rebirth
2. Final Fantasy VIII
3. Macross Plus: Movie Edition
4. Kimagure Orange Road Vol. 3
5. Memories
<li>We would meet in an AIM chat room, and I would roll the two virtual dice. The resulting 2 numbers are 4 and 2, and because Kevin is the higher seed in the tournament, his number is first. So Kevin’s source is Memories, and Duane’s source is Final Fantasy VIII.</ul>
- In the rare case of both creator's ending up with the same source (like, in the above example, I could have rolled ‘4 5', and they'd both end up using Memories), I will then do a re-roll.
- During this 24 hour period after you've chosen your source, you must get your DVD ripped, d2v's and AVS scripts written.
- As I stated above, IT IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED that you use the MJPEG/Bait-And-Switch method of editing for these IC matches, since you will need to edit very fast, you do not want to have to chug along using the full-res/full-quality VOB files as your editing source. So you should also use the 24 hour period to encode your MJPEGs to edit with. But if you do this, DO NOT forget to test out the AVS files in Premiere and do some sample edits with both sets of footage to make sure everything is working perfectly. We had too many people have issues with exporting last tournament.
- Another rule to keep in mind (and why it's a pre-requisite that you own at least 11 DVDs), is that you cannot use the same source more than once. Meaning, if you win your first round, and you used Metropolis as your source, you could not put Metropolis in your 2nd list of 1-5. Now, if you’re doing the math, you might not see why you need so many sources even with that rule, but this is keeping in mind that not all of the rounds are going to have the exact same rules for picking source. Certain rounds may call for more than just 5 sources.
- As for how much you prepare your source, it is up to you. Some people prefer to sub-clip the whole source beforehand (taking certain scenes and putting them aside), and some people just go into it with the whole source and just edit. What I will say is that you cannot do any kind of masking, effects-work, etc. beforehand and just slap it onto the timeline wherever it might fit. This includes making big photomosaics to use as your intro (BASHAR). This also means that if you happen to get a source that you’ve already worked with and already have a bunch of masks ready to go, I don’t want you to use them. Obviously, there’s no real way for me to stop you, but remember this is a 2 hour Iron Chef. If we see that half of your video is masked/roto’d, we’re gonna know something’s up. Remember, this tournament is built on the honor system. All in all, don’t be a dick :O
Starting the Battle:
- Before the match, prepare your computer to be editing-friendly. Meaning, turn off all unnecessary programs
- At the pre-determined time (roughly 20 minutes before the scheduled battle time), the coordinator and the 2 contestants will meet online, and go into a private AIM chat room. Therein, the coordinator will give the contestants a link to the song they will be using. The contestants will then have 15-20 minutes from that time (depending on how many minutes away the official start time is) in which to download and listen to the song. Use this time wisely. Start thinking about which scenes you'll want to use and how you're going to make your edits. Close your eyes, put on some headphones, concentrate on the music, visualize the song/video in your head, and go with it.
- Another big thing to keep in mind is that you will want to convert your MP3 (all song files will be sent as MP3's) to a WAV beforehand. Sometimes Premiere can handle MP3s funny (as witnessed by my IC with Pie mentioned in the first section.. My timing was completely off after I exported due to it being a VBR MP3). The quickest and easiest way to do this is to load the MP3 into Winamp, go to Options > Output, and select DiskWriter as your Output plug-in. Then simply play the mp3, and it'll automatically write the WAV to wherever it's set to save in DiskWriter's options.
- You may also use this time to edit your audio. If you think your video would work better if it had a solid beginning and end (instead of just fading out somewhere in the middle), edit the song down to be shorter.
- At the end of the 15-20 minutes, the coordinator will do a short countdown, and then say "GO!", and from that point on, you have exactly 2 hours to edit. (This is NOT one of those 24 hour Iron Chefs. Do not go into thinking it will be)
- During the battle, it is required you keep AIM online, but you'll definitely want to put up an Away Message, so people don't bother you while you're editing. It is required to keep it online so that when the battle is over, you can be notified by the coordinator.
Programs You Can Use:
- You are allowed to use any editing program you'd like (even though I refer to Premiere many times, it's just what we're used to using. But feel free to use Vegas, Magix, Final Cut Pro, etc.). You are also free to use other tools like Photoshop, After Effects, Flash, etc. as long as what you're using is only to edit/manipulate your editing source, and not using it as a roundabout way to bring in other footage.
During the Battle:
- TURN AUTO-SAVE ON!!! Set it to save every 1 minute. If your program doesn't support this, well gees I sure am sorry. But sympathy will not be given to people who lost chunks of their project due to a system crash. And don't forget to save your project file as the FIRST THING YOU DO.
- Many people tend to render previews after every cut to make sure it looks right. And while this is usually not a bad idea, it can really slow you down. So if you have to do a preview to see if an edit looks right, just preview that small section (you do this by setting the Work Area, or, the little yellow bar at the top of the timeline, to span just that small section of the timeline. Then when you go to Export, change the Export Setting from "Export Entire Timeline" to "Export Work Area". Makes for much speedier previews.
- Don't forget that the clock is ticking so try to stick with pretty general cuts. Remember you aren't striving to make an AMV that'll be your new opus.
- One major rule, is that you are not allowed to insert your name anywhere into the video. You can add text, but nothing that includes your name, since this tournament will be judged BLINDLY (meaning, the judges will not know who made which video).
- One last thing.. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO FINISH THE SONG! Apparently some people have this misconception. You only have to get as far as you can in 2 hours! NOT finishing the song will not disqualify you at all (it's pretty rare in online AMV Iron Chef for people to finish the song anyway).
End of the Battle:
- Once the 2 hours has been reached, the coordinator will IM you to let you know. At this point, you are required to make NO MORE EDITS. Save your project, then export. If you were using the MJPEG method, you should of course save a new copy of your project file, change the Export settings to accommodate the DVD settings (My MJPEG's are normally half the resolution of the AVS, so when I render out tests I render at the half-resolution. So basically saying, bump it up to the AVS file's resolution and export to Huffyuv)
- Take your exported Huffyuv into VirtualDub or TMPGEnc and make a compressed version. Keep in mind that one thing the judges will be looking at is the video quality, so don't go for a crappy encode (however, be sensible about it. There's no reason you should be uploading a 90mb XviD CQ1 for a video that's only 53 seconds long. You'll only be wasting mine and the judges time).
- Once the video is encoded, you will upload it to an FTP that the coordinator will have provided you the information for.
- The coordinator will go in to the FTP and rename each video to "VideoA" and "VideoB"
- The 5 judges will view both videos and vote on either Video A or B. They will let AtomX know their votes, and AtomX will reveal the winner to both contestants and the judges. The results will also be posted in the tournament thread, and bracket will be updated.
- In the event that not all 5 judges are present at the time of the battle (which is VERY likely), the final decision will be made when all 5 are present. So for the love of god, BE PATIENT. The judges do have lives so just know that you might not find out who won right away.
Judging Criteria:
- In the end, the judges decision is pretty much going to be a "which one did I like better" choice. They won't be rating things on a number scale. However, they will be looking at certain things like timing, scene selection, video quality, and just the overall tone of the video.
- The LENGTH of the video will not necessarily be a determining factor. Meaning, a video that looks like crap but is a minute long will probably lose to a video that looks awesome but is 30 seconds. However, a video that's a minute long that only looks decent will probably beat out a video that's really amazing but is only 5 seconds. It's all going to come down to the judge’s personal preference (just like in any AMV contest).
Prizes:
Aaaahhh.. What everybody’s been waiting for. Thanks to our good friend (and tournament judge), Trythil has graced us with a kick ass Grand Prize for the winner of this tournament. When deciding what would be best as a prize for an AMV event, we figured we should make it something that anybody can use (and likely is always in need of). So, for the overall winner of this tournament, the prize shall be:
500gb External HD. Pretty nice eh?
So yeah, the basic rules of any contest apply here. If you enter this contest you’re saying that you have the ability to receive packages and are okay with providing me your address and stuff. Obviously, if you just don’t WANT the grand prize, then I’ll just give it to 2nd place 
There will also be prizes for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, all of which are being sponsored by various people (several people have contacted me about giving away stuff and off the top of my head I can’t think of who they are, but I will find out and when the time comes, recognition will be given).
How To Join:
- To join the tournament, simply reply in this thread with the words "Pass The Sugar!". If you do not use those words, for one, I will see that you really didn't read through the rules, and secondly, it'll help weed out people that will reply with things like "Uh maybe I'll join I dunno..." I do not want any wishy-washy contestants.
- If you would like to take an immediate spot on the Alternates list, you may do so by saying "Pass SOME Sugar". But KEEP IN MIND, DO NOT join the Alternates list just because you're interested in joining but you're not sure about your schedule or something. If you are on the alternates list, and you get called up, you will be treated as a normal contestant and will be expected to adhere to the requirements.
- When you join, let me know if there's an alternate editor name you go by that is different from your org name (like, Steakslim's org name is Jebadia, and Xnod's org name is -Xoninmuoshda-, and so on. If you don't specify, I will simply use the Org name you signed up with). This is not an invitation to sign up under the name Emo Wookie or something. Be sensible!!
- By the request of many of our International editors, I am going to be putting country flags next to each competitors name, so along with your “pass the sugar”, please let me know what country you’re in if it is not already specified in your “location” field. If you know that I know where you live, don’t worry about it.
- If you know that I don’t have your screenname (ie; we’ve either never spoken on AIM or rarely do), PLEASE send me a PM after you sign up with your AIM screenname so I can avoid tracking people down.
MAKE SURE THAT YOU HAVE READ EVERYTHING ABOVE BEFORE YOU SIGN UP TO JOIN! YOU WILL BE EXPECTED TO UNDERSTAND ALL THE RULES IF YOU LET ME KNOW THAT YOU WANT TO BE IN THE TOURNAMENT!
Alright kids. GET INTO IT!™
Addendum 1: You CANNOT use sources that are just a DVD of anime trailers. Alternately, if your source has trailers for other anime on it, you may not use those trailers :O Stop looking for loopholes people. You use the source you get. You know damn well what that means. If you get Full Metal Panic Vol. 1, you use the episodes of Full Metal Panic on that disc, nothing more.
