Anime Expo 2014 AMV Competition - Finalist List POSTED!

[AceD]

It's pretty obvious that a normal bunch of anime fans, will always like the pandering video best. For these American cons which I presume are normally just that, and youtube is the same. Why would't he make a pandering video. You can't really moan about it, hes just done what the audience likes. The guy who makes some epic video using death metal, with 5minutes of compositions and is probably the best amv you ever saw...would just be wasting his time. The masses won't like it regardless of how good it is.

[VivifxAMV]

Heres my thoughts on AX AMV Stuffs as a whole.

The AMV room was awesome - as per usual. Troy, Vlad, Pwolf and all the staff should really be commended on an outstanding selection of panels and activities. I really enjoyed Pwolfs AMVs around the world - I thought it was an entertaining panel and a cool way to become familiar with some new interesting videos. I had fun participating in the Iron Editor and look forward to being a new chef next year! The showing of the 2004 contest (although I didn't get to attend that) was also I really cool idea - I hope that comes back in years to come

As to the presentation of the contest, it was very well done as well. I loved watching the past winners before each catagory, as well as the trailers and commercials. Those were quite fun, and a nice pallet clense between each catagory. The Title/Credit cards were pretty cool too, and the Recap an excellent way to keep track of videos. My only issue was that the sound in that room seemed a little weird at times. The bass felt super overwhelming occasionally. Some videos this really worked for and other times it made the sound kind of muddy. Maybe it's just where I was sitting in the room.

I was a little underwhelmed at the content of the contest, but there were lots of really nice solid entries. I particularly enjoyed Nekokitkats Cosmic Love (Seriously do you know how long it takes to make an MMV? Its hard work) and Haunters Good Clean Fun.I was unhappy when neither of these videos were rewarded for the effort that it must have cost the creators. I was also very disappointed that what I considered the "easiest" comedy entry was rewarded for being the lowest common denominator possible.

The comment above me raises some interesting points about Animu Stew.

The place I draw the line is videos where the source audio provides all the laughs, and the video track is just a token effort to make it look like an AMV, maybe with the popular anime character du jour and some lip sync. THAT is what I call lazy humour, because the editor didn't provide any of the funny. Anime Stew at least steers clear of this pitfall.
.

IMO this is what is the problem with Animu Stew. With the exception of the "Hello Kitty" Skit and the Titan one, any one of the audio portions could have been replaced with any anime and succeeded. Lipsyncing Idolmaster to the "My Band" song could have worked just as well if it was Macross F, K-On (Which I think might have worked better) or even any anime ever. Same with the Pokemon Portion. I think that part really has no logic other than "Pokemon Song is Popular" + Popular Animu = success.

In the last couple years, conventions have been reaching out to editors to create comedy entries because it is a category that is suffering immensely. Last year several cons were talking of omitting it simply because the entries were scarce or unable to be shown. This year a lot of editors made a valiant effort to try and create some interesting new comedies to keep the category a float. I hope this continues in the future. Comedy is a difficult category because you really have to have an understanding of the audience and what the audience will find "funny". While I do think Animu Stew does this, I think it just does in a very lackluster way. I tend to be a harsh judge of the creativity of videos. In this case I think Good Clean Fun, for example, is a unique meal that you could only find at a select restaurant, whereas this Stew could be purchased from any shopping aisle around the country. And maybe that is why it is so successful - it appeals to every person who wanders in to the store.

It got the most laughs, so I suppose in a way it was the Best Comedy. But it was easy mode in the extreme. Every single one of those jokes have been made before. I don't know about anyone else but I can only be pied in the face so many times before I am like okay, I get it. It's a pie. And it stops being funny. It is possible to create a video that is funny that also is creative. (AMV & Humor) It is also possible to do something multisource, generally considered pandering and STILL be creative. ( Good Clean Fun) I hope comedy will continue to trend toward these videos, however knowing BakaOppai's track record, we are all gonna be eating stew until next spring.

This is just my opinion however, and I don't want people to think I am overly salty about the contest. Overall it was a good show.

As to the trailers, I really really loved the DeadSpace Cowboy. THE TECHNICALS. THE TECHNICALS. Amazing work! That's all I have to say. In my opinion it was one of the most impressive feats at the con, and you should really be commended.

Overall I enjoyed AX, and I will be attending next year!

[ShodanKid]

I'm actually happy that people are having the same idea I had in top videos, like I really felt alone that Good Clean Fun takes it for me. Eh, doesn't make me not crazy ^_^

I have nothing to add since most of what I'd say is kinda being said. All I know is my no longer caring about competitions can't be applicable to AX, I must always try to get in. But it will be on my terms with videos I would be proud to say here, you want fun, how's this for fun...or drama, or comedy, etc. If I sink to easy, cheap hackery then I question my existence. The audience deserves better. It may not produce winners but that's not the point.

I will say something that I'm noticing through the thread is honestly I've been here for less than a year...those that have been here longer like to talk about the good time X years ago. Let me share this...I don't like watching AMVs, or rather I'm very specific with how I find them. Why? Because they are terrible, not in effort mind you...but from being too derivative, useless, mindless, scenes could be replaced wholesale and not affect the greater video, blatant not caring of an audience, pandering to friends, etc. What I saw this weekend was not these videos...I truly felt like most (not all in my opinion) were the elite, there was purpose, there was drive, there was reasoning. Sure, this doesn't mean memorable in some cases, but I will always remember this event.

So I'm sorry when I have to say I don't care if anyone feels 20XX was better...it isn't gonna change the way people feel they do AMVs or the way an audience reacts to them. The call to action is those responsible for determining which video makes the pass. And for AX2014 did a pretty good job knowing what kind of stuff is actually out there. It's up to you gatekeepers to steal away the cream and let the hackery fall to the bottom. And hopefully with not a jaded heart ^_^ as in don't make that your goal to seek out and kill pandering videos. But frankly...to the future! Nostalgia for the way things used to be isn't helpful.

[Rider4Z]

I was there at the AMV contest and I noticed that one of the AMVs used subtitles. Isn't that against the rules?

Vids with "unnecessary text" are heavily scrutinized, by me especially. However, because I'm so militant against text, I have my staff confirm my DQs to keep me in check.

I was overruled on Rider's vid.

seriously troy? sorry I didn't have the English dub before the deadline

Fun/Random - Throwback: A very simple and fun video that doesn't rely on gimmicks or effects. It's kinda funny and ironic that Kiszani's winter video won the category due to it being summertime.

ironic? did you already forget how hot and humid it was out there? the audience was happy to get a break


EDIT: I'm glad to hear so many people appreciated the mini tributes to previous best of show winners for the category intros ^_^d. I confess that the original idea of somehow attributing Engel for the contest intro *being it's been 15 years since Kevin Caldwell made his own sweep* was Troy's idea, I kinda ran amuck with it. I thought if we're gonna do this lets do it right. And during the awards troy said we'll be doing them again next year so that's something to look forward to. ...not really sure how it's gonna work cuz eventually we'll run out of best of shows but we'll cross that bridge later.

[Donaithnen]

Okay, now that i've dared to dip my toe in and had the chance to read through some of the comments...

I agree with the people who say that an AMV Hell video doesn't really seem like the right thing for the comedy block to me, or at least not the right thing to win it.

Getting the humor right for each of those 1-15 second clips is definitely something that takes a lot of skill. However it is also definitely a very different kind of skill from what is required to create a "full length" comedy video on a "single" subject. (Obviously not every comedy video is the same and there can definitely be gradations. In my limited experience "Wedding Rings" was a very early prototype for the "tell a lot of jokes using a lot of different anime sources" type video. It did so within the framework of a single story/video, but it probably did help eventually lead to AMV Hell. I also seem to remember it not being considered a "real" AMV for the contest, which seemed a bit silly to me then and even more so within the context of the current AMV culture and contest submissions.)

If there were actually enough submissions of that type it would definitely be worth creating a separate category for that kind of video. (Hey, the more comedy videos in the show the better in my opinion.)

In general, there can certainly be some leeway between what the "pros" think is good and what the "audience" thinks is good, and it's okay to focus on one instead of the other. The greatest successes of course are when you mange to hit both demographics. "Frozen" was brought up earlier, and although it may not be especially artsy it generally got very good reviews from critics while also making buckets of money. Nothing stops a movie with "popular" elements from having a good story and good acting and good production values. You're not really pandering until you actually start sacrificing the basic quality of the art just so you can hit the "sweet spot" of what the audience is interested in as quickly and easily as possible. (They're making a Michael Bay film of your favorite cartoon!)

And on a not very related note, what was the margin of error for considering something a tie? My back-of-the-envelope calculations indicate there were probably 1000-5000 people in the room. So is a "tie" within 5 or 10 or 50 votes? (I'd love to know the exact difference in votes between "Piece of Toast" and "Animu Stew", but expect we don't get to know that detail =)

And just to drift even more off topic, do we ever get to see a list of all the submissions? I was really hoping "Ishvalan Eviction Notice" was going to show up this year *cough*Best Comedy & Best in Show*cough* since it supposedly wasn't "done" in time for the last one. I'm curious to know if it wasn't submitted or if it was disqualified or if it just wasn't judged properly

[Castor Troy]

Okay, now that i've dared to dip my toe in and had the chance to read through some of the comments...

I agree with the people who say that an AMV Hell video doesn't really seem like the right thing for the comedy block to me, or at least not the right thing to win it.

Getting the humor right for each of those 1-15 second clips is definitely something that takes a lot of skill. However it is also definitely a very different kind of skill from what is required to create a "full length" comedy video on a "single" subject. (Obviously not every comedy video is the same and there can definitely be gradations. In my limited experience "Wedding Rings" was a very early prototype for the "tell a lot of jokes using a lot of different anime sources" type video. It did so within the framework of a single story/video, but it probably did help eventually lead to AMV Hell. I also seem to remember it not being considered a "real" AMV for the contest, which seemed a bit silly to me then and even more so within the context of the current AMV culture and contest submissions.)

If there were actually enough submissions of that type it would definitely be worth creating a separate category for that kind of video. (Hey, the more comedy videos in the show the better in my opinion.)

In general, there can certainly be some leeway between what the "pros" think is good and what the "audience" thinks is good, and it's okay to focus on one instead of the other. The greatest successes of course are when you mange to hit both demographics. "Frozen" was brought up earlier, and although it may not be especially artsy it generally got very good reviews from critics while also making buckets of money. Nothing stops a movie with "popular" elements from having a good story and good acting and good production values. You're not really pandering until you actually start sacrificing the basic quality of the art just so you can hit the "sweet spot" of what the audience is interested in as quickly and easily as possible. (They're making a Michael Bay film of your favorite cartoon!)

And on a not very related note, what was the margin of error for considering something a tie? My back-of-the-envelope calculations indicate there were probably 1000-5000 people in the room. So is a "tie" within 5 or 10 or 50 votes? (I'd love to know the exact difference in votes between "Piece of Toast" and "Animu Stew", but expect we don't get to know that detail =)

And just to drift even more off topic, do we ever get to see a list of all the submissions? I was really hoping "Ishvalan Eviction Notice" was going to show up this year *cough*Best Comedy & Best in Show*cough* since it supposedly wasn't "done" in time for the last one. I'm curious to know if it wasn't submitted or if it was disqualified or if it just wasn't judged properly

AMV Hell came out in 2004 and Wedding Rings was 2006. Wedding Rings uses multiple sources to tell a single narrative story in context with a single song. AMV Hell uses different sources with different music in separate segments.

Only the coordinators and the judges know everything that was submitted. I was a judge, so I watched *everything* that was submitted. It's up to Troy to post that list.

[Hika Yagami]

Great contest this year. I was pleasantly surprised that both my commercial and AMV were in the preshow. It was a real treat for me since my mom was there to see them. Thank you so much.
As for the finalist, there were a lot of really great ones this year and I had a hard time choosing for each category (Time Falls Away was the only one I voted for that won.). It just shows how tough these competitions are getting. I'm going to work extra hard for next year.

[Pwolf]

And on a not very related note, what was the margin of error for considering something a tie? My back-of-the-envelope calculations indicate there were probably 1000-5000 people in the room. So is a "tie" within 5 or 10 or 50 votes? (I'd love to know the exact difference in votes between "Piece of Toast" and "Animu Stew", but expect we don't get to know that detail =)

A tie is a tie. The issue with the Best in Show had to do with the creator vote, not the audience. Best of show at Anime Expo is decided based on the judge's, creator's, and audience's votes, each worth 33%. If one video gets the majority favorite of two of the three, they get BiS. The problem was, IIRC, the judges voted Piece of Toast, the audience voted AnimeStew, and the creators were tied for both (which brings up an interesting thought... if AMV hell-type videos are so hated by editors, why did they vote for it?). Instead of trying to figure out which one should win, it was decided that since they were both by the same editor, both should get the title. If the editors had voted, in majority, for PoT, it would've been the sole winner. EDIT: This information is somewhat incorrect... the tie was with AMV101 and Piece of Toast... I apologize. Troy has commented on Page 61 regarding the tie and how Best in Show picked.

In theory, this system should prevent audience pandering videos from winning the top award if both the Judges and Creators vote similarly. However, I believe, in the case where the judges and creator votes are different, the audiences vote decides BiS.

When Troy is fully rested I'm sure he can elaborate more.

[Donaithnen]

AMV Hell came out in 2004 and Wedding Rings was 2006. Wedding Rings uses multiple sources to tell a single narrative story in context with a single song. AMV Hell uses different sources with different music in separate segments.

Only the coordinators and the judges know everything that was submitted. I was a judge, so I watched *everything* that was submitted. It's up to Troy to post that list.

Okay, clearly i came to the AMV Hell party a lot later than i was aware of, which totally screws up my theoretical evolution of AMVs =P C'est la vie!

[Castor Troy]

A tie is a tie. The issue with the Best in Show had to do with the creator vote, not the audience. Best of show at Anime Expo is decided based on the judge's, creator's, and audience's votes, each worth 33%. If one video gets the majority favorite of two of the three, they get BiS.

Wait, are judges votes tallied from the voting ballots ahead of con? Or are they taken from the judges who are actually there?