The Otakon 2010 Thread (OK now panic)

[Honou_Miko]

So, remember how we said something about waiting until the con was over to see if fans were upset by the AMVs?

Well, they were.

http://board.otakon.com/index.php?showtopic=19486

Check out all the people complaining about no encore performance. And someone suggested the Arena for the contest to accomodate the amount of people it draws in (HOW NOVEL, IMAGINE IF WE'D SUGGESTED THAT.)

I decided to put my foot down on page 6; I hope I didn't sound too harsh, but I just felt the need to prove that no, it's not just us as creators, it's the fans who are REALLY noticing that something is wrong with the way it's being handled. Hopefully THAT will get the point across. This is NOT a BS event, thank you very much.

[ZaCloud]

Man, I still can't believe my vid even got into the finals, let alone won. o.o I'm still in shock over that. I definitely understand why a lot of folks would be polarized on it; on its surface, it's ugh, Haruhi dance. But at least a few of you pointed out the possible reasons that a lot of the audience voted for it. I just hadn't thought so many folks would, you know, get it. The fact that they did, was definitely a surprise.

(To be clear, I wasn't at all trying to capitalize on the Hare-Hare-Yukai popularity. I don't keep track of what's popular, I'm way out of the loop. I just wanted to make a one-shot dance to the song, Haruhi had a lot of dance, and her face reminded me of KT Tunstall's voice without me ever having watched the anime. I STILL haven't watched Haruhi, and I don't even plan to. It was just a source decision based on an idea and availability. I really hope source-popularity wasn't why I won... That would suck.)

I'm sorry to those who were disappointed. >.< But the way I see AMV contests, is that it's to entertain the crowd and make them happy. Every vid you all did definitely accomplished that too, so a big THANK YOU to ALL of you who just plain make AMVs for everyone. :3

My personal favorite upbeat was "Noise Pollution" (BLT FTW!). Was kinda sad not to see that get runner-up or even first. And I don't understand anyone thinking the Death Note/Nightwish vid was too long. For me, it was timeless. So well edited throughout, so atmospheric, I never got tired of it and had no idea how long it truly was.

The "Diary of Jane" and Clannad vids were also my favorite dramas. I couldn't pick one favorite, seriously. "Journey through the Pages" was a great thematic vid, told a story, had great editing and effects to help it stay as intense as the song. Just a couple repeat clips brought it down slightly, but by no means ruined it. And "Today, Forever" actually made me tear up. Just beautiful.

"Gunsmith Cat City" was my faaaaaavorite action video, just so slick and cool!

And the comedy vids were all so great. And so many were so greeeaaat, I can't even go into detail cuz they were all so greeeaaaat! Aaaaah~! Seriously, this was a great contest, so many great vids, I still don't understand how mine ended up among so many great vids. @_@

Oh well... once again, congrats to everyone, and thanks for allowing a spectacular show to go on for Otakon!

[kickass331]

Man, I still can't believe my vid even got into the finals, let alone won. o.o I'm still in shock over that. I definitely understand why a lot of folks would be polarized on it; on its surface, it's ugh, Haruhi dance. But at least a few of you pointed out the possible reasons that a lot of the audience voted for it. I just hadn't thought so many folks would, you know, get it. The fact that they did, was definitely a surprise.

(To be clear, I wasn't at all trying to capitalize on the Hare-Hare-Yukai popularity. I don't keep track of what's popular, I'm way out of the loop. I just wanted to make a one-shot dance to the song, Haruhi had a lot of dance, and her face reminded me of KT Tunstall's voice without me ever having watched the anime. I STILL haven't watched Haruhi, and I don't even plan to. It was just a source decision based on an idea and availability. I really hope source-popularity wasn't why I won... That would suck.)

I'm sorry to those who were disappointed. >.< But the way I see AMV contests, is that it's to entertain the crowd and make them happy. Every vid you all did definitely accomplished that too, so a big THANK YOU to ALL of you who just plain make AMVs for everyone. :3

My personal favorite upbeat was "Noise Pollution" (BLT FTW!). Was kinda sad not to see that get runner-up or even first. And I don't understand anyone thinking the Death Note/Nightwish vid was too long. For me, it was timeless. So well edited throughout, so atmospheric, I never got tired of it and had no idea how long it truly was.

The "Diary of Jane" and Clannad vids were also my favorite dramas. I couldn't pick one favorite, seriously. "Journey through the Pages" was a great thematic vid, told a story, had great editing and effects to help it stay as intense as the song. Just a couple repeat clips brought it down slightly, but by no means ruined it. And "Today, Forever" actually made me tear up. Just beautiful.

"Gunsmith Cat City" was my faaaaaavorite action video, just so slick and cool!

And the comedy vids were all so great. And so many were so greeeaaat, I can't even go into detail cuz they were all so greeeaaaat! Aaaaah~! Seriously, this was a great contest, so many great vids, I still don't understand how mine ended up among so many great vids. @_@

Oh well... once again, congrats to everyone, and thanks for allowing a spectacular show to go on for Otakon!

I really hated your video, but my mom voted for it.

[Davis 51]

Alright, my thoughts on my favorite vids:

VegettoEx, Ain't No Rest For The Wicked is permanently stuck in my head thanks to you.

Zacloud, your vid was the most unique-usage of the Haruhi/Lucky Star dance footage I have ever seen, bar none. That kind of speed-scaling and editing work takes serious chops, and you did an amazing job. Congrats on your win.

Honou_Miko, I would like to say that I loved your Death Note vid, though for the first 3 minutes I hated it. I'm ashamed to say I didn't get what you were going for, and it was coming across as a very generic death note video. It was only around 6-7 minutes that something clicked and the first 3 minutes began making sense to me. When it was over I slowly came to the realization that what I had seen had totally blown me away. I voted for you in that category, though I was torn about it because I knew there was no way in hell it would win with its absurdly long runtime (not a detractor, just the nature of the vid). Some may say it's too divisive, but I argue that the very fact that your vid was so divisive is what makes it great. Props, man.

Scintilla, you deserve tons of praise for your vid. If we ever meet in person at another Otakon I will treat you to one meal from a fast-food restaurant of your choice.

Brakus, your Gunsmith Cats video has now given me resolve to actually check out that series, something I have been putting off forever. My next cash influx will probably be spent hunting down some DVD's.

Chui101, yeah, I did notice your vid, though I was kind of in post-DeathNote shock. It was a refreshing change of pace, and I am sorry your great vid got overshadowed by some crazy competition. It was nice meeting you in that Sheraton elevator, hopefully we can hang out next year or something.

@Productions, It was also good meeting you in line. Despite the censoring, I laughed really hard at your video. I can't wait to check out an 'uncut' version.

And last but not least,

Oro$hi, your vid stunned me to tears. I found it to be one of the most unique things I have ever witnessed, and it made me really sad to see so many people misinterpreting it. The subtle editing there was masterful. You should be extremely proud of yourself.

All in all, many of the vids I saw this year were extremely unique and masterfully crated. It's no wonder my vid didn't make the final cut with such wonderful competition. I look forward to next year and can only hope it tops this year. Great job guys!

[Saisenseistudio]

Its weird that they named me after my studio wingz of silence when i put the editors name as 'saisenseistudio'. Anyways most likely everyone hated my Fallen Souls amv but hey congrats to the Gunsmith Cat City amv for coming second. is there a download link for it?

[Gaelstrom]

Its weird that they named me after my studio wingz of silence when i put the editors name as 'saisenseistudio'. Anyways most likely everyone hated my Fallen Souls amv but hey congrats to the Gunsmith Cat City amv for coming second. is there a download link for it?

Hah! Bullcrap! I voted for that! So obviously I must have hated it! In fact where da hell is it, it was the first one I searched for and nowhere to be found on the org. Or am I not looking carefully enough?

Anyway, you had some beautiful cutting. I plan to study your vid to get some ideas for mine, if that makes you feel any better. I've only done fanparody stuff for AMVS3 and AMVS4, so this year I've got a lot of studying to do one non-comedic timing cuts to see if I can make my first ever AMV memorable, and yours is up on the list, that's for sure.

If I had to choose one part that may have harmed you, early on, you did a repeating rapid-succession cut of some sort that I don't remember, but I remember it was just a few cuts too many and it made me remember I was watching a music video. After that I remember it being pretty solid, but those moments caused my mind to kind of snap out of it because it was too hard to follow for just a split second. If you want specifics when your vid is available, I'll be happy to mention them if you're interested. Other than that I finished Soul Eater relatively recently on Hulu, and I was very happy to see it represented sooo well. It's pretty consistently understood that this is probably one of the best AMV years Otakon has ever seen, hands down. The fact that you were a finalist this year is an instantaneous "This is awesome" for you. But if you're the type who needs to hear it, then IT WAS EXCELLENT!

[Scintilla]

It's pretty consistently understood that this is probably one of the best AMV years Otakon has ever seen, hands down.

Agreed -- can we finally say now that the even-years curse is over?

[VicBond007]

It's pretty consistently understood that this is probably one of the best AMV years Otakon has ever seen, hands down.

Agreed -- can we finally say now that the even-years curse is over?

OTA-KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!

[irriadin]

Its weird that they named me after my studio wingz of silence when i put the editors name as 'saisenseistudio'. Anyways most likely everyone hated my Fallen Souls amv but hey congrats to the Gunsmith Cat City amv for coming second. is there a download link for it?

Why would you think that everyone hated it? I already told you this on youtube, but your video was really, really good. Some of your transitions and cuts were just awe-inspiring. You definitely put a lot of effort into your video, and you won best in action for a reason. Because of your video, I finally have decided to start using After Effects. So basically, Fallen Souls was awesome. Great job.

[Gaelstrom]

It's pretty consistently understood that this is probably one of the best AMV years Otakon has ever seen, hands down.

Agreed -- can we finally say now that the even-years curse is over?

Huh, wow, you're right... the even years really were the lower points weren't they...? Wow, that makes Otakon this year an even more mystical experience somehow ^^ And don't think that your vids will escape my need for studying, Scintilla

Now that I think about it, in the last 8 years, for me a moment that really got me was when Ready, Steady, Git-R-Done didn't make comedy finals. I friggan lost it in Overflow, and then the comedy finals were relatively lackluster in reaction by comparison. That's the one major reason I hopped in on the Overflow disappearance discussion, because it always stuck with me that there was a diamond in the rough I never would have seen had it not been for Overflow.

I'm probably gonna be hittin' some of you up for critiques down the line if I ever get the chance to do what I want to. Sadly, my biggest drawback right now is the one video idea that perpetually inspires me is a One Piece vid, and the editing will probably be the easy part, because finding raws of that and/or buying that many DVDs is daunting (and they're only up to Skypea). Least some of the subbers are finally doing mkvs, but the DVDs aren't even released from mid-skypea on, dammit.