Contest Rules
Each entrant is allowed to submit two (2) submissions in each category of the Anime California (AC) AMV Contest and up to three (3) in each category of the adult contest. Users found creating multiple studios or using multiple names with the intent of circumventing the submission limit will have all of their entries disqualified.
We will only accept entries that are sent to us through the official AMV email:
amv4anicali@gmail.com. Entries can be sent via Dropbox or Google Drive.
Do not include studio bumpers or video credits. Any lead-in/lead-out that we cannot remove could be grounds for disqualification. We create custom, uniform title cards for every entry, finalist or not. Adding bumpers/credits on top of that just uses more screen time than is necessary.
Your entry must be primarily anime and/or video game footage.
“Anime” footage is loosely determined by the animation studio that produced the art for the show. If it is an Asian studio, then the footage will be allowed. If it is not, then your entry could be disqualified. This is left solely up to the discretion of the programmers and judges.
Your entry’s audio must be primarily music. You are allowed up to 1 minute of narration total.
*This rule does not apply to entries that are sent to the “Trailer” category.
Your entry may not contain any commercial studio logos or TV station watermarks, only parodies of said logos. This includes DivX and website watermarks.
Including a TV station watermark on your footage, even for just one scene, is the easiest way to get yourself DISQUALIFIED really fast.
Submissions to the “Trailer” category which contain the popular green approval screen beforehand may NOT contain any mention of the MPAA. Seriously you do this and we will disqualify you.
Your entry will be disqualified if your footage contains visible subtitles or karaoke lyrics that you did not add yourself.
Your entry must be longer than 30 seconds in running time. 6 minutes is the maximum amount of time total.
Submissions with nudity, offensive language, and/or excessive violence may be disqualified at the coordinator’s discretion. This is a 13 up contest.
*This does not apply to the adult category.
Convention attendance is not required to enter. Attending the convention will not boost your chances of winning and/or making the final cut.
If you do manage to win you must pay for shipping yourself.
The submission form asking whether or not you will be attending is purely for informational purposes.
Anti-Oldie Rule: Any AMV created before and/or shown before August 13th 2014 your entry may be automatically disqualified.
*Adult AMVs are an exception and are solely up to AC's discretion.
The better quality video that you send us, the better it will look. Visual anomalies from poor compression will be enlarged as our screen is bigger than your computer monitor.
The AMV Contest will accept submissions from anyone except for AC staffers/gophers who participate in the ballot counting process.
The AMV Contest Coordinator reserves the right to reject any video on ANY grounds.
Submission Rules
The Contest will accept entries in virtually any file format (At this time we are not accepting .MKV) using almost any form of compression. The more “popular” the codec, the better the chances are of us handling your video properly. If we can’t convert your video, we will let you know.
We prefer AVI Quicktime MPEG or H264 (in that order)
Acceptable framerates are 23.976, 24, 25, 29.97, and 30.
The contest is screened at 720×480. All entries that we receive will be scaled to this size.
The AC AMV Contest is screened on both 16:9 and 4:3 screens. Staff will handle all of the necessary aspect ratio conversions so that your entry plays correctly on both formats. Please refrain from letter boxing (black bars on top and bottom) or pillarboxing (black bars on the sides) your video if at all possible so that we can work with the full resolution copy of your video. Bottom line, send us what looks right to you.
We will email you once your entry AND your submission form have been received and tested. Keep in mind, if your entry arrives close to the deadline, it might be a day or two before you hear from us.
