Nekocon 2009 Submission deadline October 1 2009

[Brakus]

After viewing all the entrants in this year's AMV contest, I really have to wonder about some people (for different reasons).

When we say in the rules, "No credits or bumpers," we mean it! This is for purposes of keeping studio names and online aliases out of view. Yes, believe it or not, it does sway some people's votes. the credits get in the way when they're hard-edited into the video - very distracting.

When we say in the rules, "No watermarks or logos of any kind,"...that should go without saying! There's no excuse for leaving DivX watermarks on your final renders. And it doesn't help much to blur out or mask whatever logos exist on your source video. From even a casual viewer's perspective, once a watermark / logo or any trace of one appears the first time we're no longer watching the video. We're waiting to see if what we thought we saw will appear again.

I'm hoping, since it's too late to resubmit considering the con's only 2 weeks away, that those videos whose credits/bumpers you can't easily edit out, nor those videos that have visible watermarks/logos on them, will not be finalists in the contest? I mean, there's just no excuse to send in a contest-presentable entry with the DivX watermark in the lower-right corner, or visible hard subtitles along the bottom of the video.

Personally, I see Romance and Action as being the most competitive categories this year. I'm not gonna fake it: these categories were very tough to score. I wouldn't be surprised to find there had to be a "run-off" of some kind to narrow the fields to 7.

After the crowded fields last year for those Best Buy gift cards, I'm glad you are limiting the field size this year to a maximum of 7. I'm hoping that with the categories you have, we don't have the "we didn't know where to put this so it's going in here" syndrome that plagued the Action category last year. I mean, videos that are obviously upbeat do not belong in the action category. (Now I'm not complaining because my video last year finished a dull 6th out of 11... really, I'm not...)

Nonetheless, it'd be a pleasant surprise if my video I sent in made finals....

[Squancho]

I'm hoping that with the categories you have, we don't have the "we didn't know where to put this so it's going in here" syndrome that plagued the Action category last year.

There may have been one or two cases where we (the viewers - our DH wasn't judging since she knew who did the videos) wondered why such-and-such couldn't be placed in comedy or this other put in that category and so on, but they weren't "obviously" miscategorized or anything. That's where the contestants wanted their videos placed so that's where they went. But no, it was pretty easy to see what went where. The videos this year were pretty well-defined.

In terms of the watermarks and such, this contest would play pretty badly if we left those videos in the finalist lot. Even the casual viewer will spot those and wonder if this was the best we had to offer. I personally hate having to outright disqualify any entries but you have to follow the guidelines and rules if you want to compete.

I'm going to be giving my own judge's award (as yet unnamed) to the creator of the video that didn't make the finals but I really wanted to see on the ballot. Once I see the list, I'll know who this award will go to. The "trophy" will be something fun and in keeping with the convention theme. I'll try and wrangle a little something extra but I can't promise. Just a heads up for those of you who don't see your name on the list.

To be continued...

[Squancho]

In no particular order, the finalists are as follows:

Roland Markovics Stolen Moments
Martin Ibarra One Love
Erin Nguyen Dying Will
Ludek Rajecky Neko Anthem
Jed Hagen Innocence Lost
Katrina Miller 1000 Miles
Pat Castro Death Note Rhapsody
Ryan Cohee No Regrets
Roland Markovics In This Moment
Martin Ibarra Destined Hearts
Solomon Smith Girl, Please...
Ludek Rajecky When We Were
Solomon Smith Of The Heart, Of The Soul
Cecilia Othersen Far Away For Far Too Long
Dave Russell Ninjas Miserlou
Nathaniel Silverthorn Dance 5
Brad Demoss Perfect Day
Michael Mann Crazy
Tom Ackermann The Anime Duet
Heather Watkins Nakago Gay
Erika Thompson Vampire Confections
Peter Vad Number1
Carla Dalton Bye Bye Bloodlust
Erin Nguyen Switchback
Heather Watkins Front Line
Connor Moffitt Rebel Tonight; Live Forever
Erika Thompson Miss Murder
SeeMai Chan Phenomenon

Remember also there is an "at large" award I'll be announcing before we get to the major awards. NekoCon is less than a week away so, if you made the ballot, hope to see you there and best of luck to all..!

[Brakus]

Bleah. Didn't make finals. Well, I can't always make a good video every year.

Good luck to everybody else in the contest.

[machina21]

Yezzir!! Both my vids made it to finals!

Good luck to all y'all, I dont care about winning myself, I just want my stuff to be seen .

[lilith2003tr]

Good Luck everyone that made the finals and see you at the award show.

[Kazemon15]

Yay, my vids made it in too. =3

Good luck to everyone! Let's have a good contest.

[NightMistress85]

Coolios!! That's 2 for 2!! Ossum indeed .

[ngsilver]

noice. Good luck ya'll!

[Nya-chan Production]

2 out of 2! Let's have a good fight-nya! :>