The Otakon 2010 Thread (OK now panic)

[CorpseGoddess]

I despise Haruhi and am sick to death of that dance, but ZaCloud did something really innovative and fun with it. Grats!

Not to be rude, but what was innovative about it? The limitation of footage?

Not rude at all. I thought that re-interpreting the limited footage was an interesting exercise. Using different/reverse speeds and using the footage differently. I also appreciated the fact that there was obviously care made to match physical and emotional queues with the lyrics.

Like I said, I got sick of seeing that dance routine ad infinitum, ad nauseum. This vid just struck me as a new way to use it that kept my interest and interpreted the song well using the dance movements.

[Brakus]

While I'm glad that "Britannia, [Expletive] Yeah!" won, I'm a little annoyed that the description give a link to a supposed uncensored version but the video is still censored.

Lol, I was JUST fixing that on the video description before I saw your post. I'll be uploading the uncensored version to a-m-v.org once I get a chance to sit down at my mac later tonight =D

Sorry for the typo/confusion =0 (To be honest, I HAD planned on putting the uncensored version up on YouTube and linking it, instead of putting it up on here, but the bleeps in the censored version were actually the only thing that got it past the bots interestingly enough.)

Actually, the censored version makes it even funnier IMO. I think you should leave both versions up if you can. There's just something about the bleep that makes some things funnier.

Congrats to Brakus as well. I know you were excited man, lol. XD

I was hinted that I may have placed in the top 2, but when I saw my name up there, all I could say was "HOLY CRAP! THANK YOU! APAAAAAA!" That truly stunned me, in a good way. Heh.

[Gaelstrom]

I am sort of honored to have stirred up quite a ruckus, though. At least I'm memorable.

Don't worry, the love child of your Misa epic landed very very well in AMVS4 I was looking forward to your Misa vid since you described it, and much like Sail On and Girlfriend, you've probably added Poet and the Pendulum to the "Wellp... that one's no longer available for anyone else!" list. As soon as you accept the length, the vid does justice to all the things we discussed before in the other thread. The people who want to get it will. I do remember a very strong cheer on Friday from at least a section of the audience. You could tell that the audience's American A.D.D. mind was struggling to get over itself to enjoy the vid, it's just... well... it's America... so blame Bandit Keith. The fact that the music and video change focus multiple times definitely added to its survivability though.

And very well done, everyone!! I have to say, it's been one of the hardest voting years in recent memory due to all the wonderful entries. I don't want it to sound like a bad thing, but I can't even describe the simultaneous collision of total understanding and utter confusion at seeing ZaCloud's Haruhi dance win. For the first time in a while I sincerely was at a loss for words to articulate why I understood and didn't understand how it won. It wasn't even for lack of loving the idea either, I found it very enjoyable Still can't really find the words, but I'm happy it got recognition.

Now... to watch Macross Frontier and 5cm Per Second so I can watch the videos I had to look away from for spoilerific reasons.

[MrPaper]

Does anyone have a link to the amv used in the trivia game close to the end of the panel? It had alot of different animes and had a techno beat to it.

Thanks :3

[NightMistress85]

Great work, guys. It was definitely a tough decision when it came to voting.

[Doomimus]

The pattern for Otakon video voting has always been really standard. Comedy rules all. The best way to win a category like Romance/Sentimental (which the audience always gives a collective groan to) is to get as much comedy into your video as possible without being moved out of the category. The most blatant example of this was 'Sailor Love Story' in 2005, which was a blatant comedy video that managed to convince judges to let it compete in Romance/Sentimental. This year's winner in that category was an excellent video, but the comedic presence ensured it's victory. The audience just doesn't care for the category otherwise.

100% agreed. I've seen it happen at Otakon as well as other AMV Contests for years now. Unless the folks choosing what goes where properly place videos, it'll continue to happen and you can't blame the audience too much. They vote for what they enjoy, even if it has nothing to do with the actual category. We gotta keep in mind that this discussion is by editors who take the hobby more seriously and (I'd like to think) put thought into our votes. The audience isn't like that and again, you can't blame them. They have a fairly simple voting algorithm:
"Which video did I enjoy the most?"

Rather than:
"Which video was the best AND most appropriate for the given category?"

I've actually voted for videos that were "weaker" than others because I felt the better edited ones didn't necessarily fit the category.

Then again, I think that those of us who take the hobby seriously do take both questions into consideration. Personally, I prioritize entertainment value above all else. I've seen videos that demonstrate superb technical skill (the kind I admittedly wish I had), with all sorts of special effects, lip-syncing, masking, etc., but leave me cold and don't exactly make me rush back for a second viewing. This is taking it to a logical extreme, of course, and I think technical skill can and should be the deciding factor in choosing the better of two videos that are equally entertaining. By this token, I feel that in the past, I've rightfully lost to videos that excelled both these areas.

Keep in mind that not every year does someone make the Romance finals with a video containing comedy (as well as dwchang's wins being 6 and 7 years ago now).

Now to be fair, my last win was three years ago, not six or seven so I'm not THAT old school. Even if my first Otakon win was 7 years ago...OK maybe I am that old...thanks -_-;;.

In any case, I've seen this pattern of editors editing something with as much comedy (or upbeat) as possible and submitting into another category (it's not only romance) for awhile now. It's unfortunate, but you can't blame editors who want to win going for the path of least resistance. Especially when it's so obvious.

I don't think incorporating comedy into AMVs is necessarily going down the path of least resistance (whether your aim is to win or simply to please yourself), provided the comedy is genuinely funny and fits the overall theme of the video. This isn't always easy to do. In fact, I had a heck of a time trying to piece the audio and video footage together in the best way possible for the AMG video. At any rate, I'm very pleased with the results, and even if I hadn't won in the Romance category (which I'm very grateful for), or even made it to the finalists, I would've felt the same way.

Thanks again, you guys. ^_^

[SailorDeath]

I don't think incorporating comedy into AMVs is necessarily going down the path of least resistance (whether your aim is to win or simply to please yourself), provided the comedy is genuinely funny and fits the overall theme of the video. This isn't always easy to do. In fact, I had a heck of a time trying to piece the audio and video footage together in the best way possible for the AMG video. At any rate, I'm very pleased with the results, and even if I hadn't won in the Romance category (which I'm very grateful for), or even made it to the finalists, I would've felt the same way.

Thanks again, you guys. ^_^

Yes, making comedies is hard, something I find hilarious might not be funny to anyone but me. It helps to have a test audience. If they don't laugh at it, you can expect the people in the audience to not laugh at it either. Hence the reason why a lot of my comedies are failures.

[chui101]

So did anyone even notice my AMV (Defying Gravity)? I know it was kind of overshadowed by the ginormous 10 minute one right before it, so I'm not sure if the applause was more "I liked that, yay!" or "the drama category's finally over, yay!"

I'm in the middle of moving at the moment, but once my main computer gets unpacked and back online I'll upload it to the .org.

[DarkBasilisk]

Oh god, I heard so many people complaining about my video. I checked twitter and people were like WTF the Death Note video is SO LONG.

Well, if there's one thing I've learned it's that the audience can be fickle and downright mean at times. For example, that first video in the romance category looks like it took an incredible amount of time and effort to make, yet people barely gave it the time of day.

As far as your video goes, I voted it as my favorite in drama; it's an incredibly hard song to do justice to, yet I think you did a great job. Particularly during the "screamo" segment... syncing Light and Mikami to the action there was perfect.

I don't know, from the only a viewer perspective i'll chime in that not just contest amvs but stuff I watch in general it's usually uncommon for me to have a AMV I like that's over 3 minutes. It can be done, but especially during a extended contest it's a bit of a fight to keep the interest of people in the seat. I've seen some videos that had great starts, good editing, but after a while anything gets old. A good 5 minute AMV has to be either telling a compelling story, keep having new and eyecatching things happen, have a constant stream of varying comedy, or just generally be made for the upbeat/dance category and have some rocking party music.

Making a single tone/image/theme video doesn't work on the five minute scale, or at least really hurts your odds. It's not an absolutely bad move, it just puts a lot bigger burden on the editor to find a way to make much longer footage remain interesting, a challenge not everyone is up to. I think overall we had shorter AMV's this year and the contest was better for it. I usually leave dashes on the listing next to the AMV's I liked even if they weren't the one i was going to vote for, so i can look them up later. Last year it was mostly only the winner/runner-up that got that, this year the majority of the finalists have a dash Saying which ones didn't get one would be overly mean, but to further my point, if i glance at my card sitting here, the handful of one's not marked off are the mostly the one's that ran longer.

Oh, not many people I saw mentioned it, but was I the only one that really liked 'Stupid Couple'? I thought the idea and execution of that was just amazing.

[VivifxAMV]

My friends who actually went to Otakon called me with the results so I forgot to check this thread!

I hope everyone had fun at the contest - false fire alarms aside - I'm so honored to have received 2nd place in Comedy! I was just speechless when I got the results. Congrats to all the other winners and runner ups! All the AMVs were awesome!!