Post
by noreen » Tue Jul 09, 2002 1:23 am
10. when we tried to enquire from the con offices about what the situation with the AMV contest was we had doors slammed in our faces (no excuses for that - I'm a paying customer -thats a load of crap)
9. The AX newsletter that went out on Thursday had a blurb about how the AMV creators panel was moved to 7pm on Friday. The email that creators got said that the tickets would be distributed at the panel. So when we showed up at 7 and the panel was over we had to go find someone on staff and beg for our tickets. Mistakes happen, people screw up, but this was sorta a big thing, someone could have at least stuck around the panel until 7 with the tickets so we didn't have to go chasing around for tickets for an event that wouldn't even happen. (I feel bad for anyone who waited in line for tickets since they never even checked tickets at the "rescheduled" contest)
8. The rules apparently had no bearing on the finalists. There were overlays, bugs, excessive violence, abuse of unnecessary text etc... I'm so glad I bothered to read the rules let alone follow them.
7. It took them until May to put up the rules/deadline for the contest. Sorry, not acceptible. We [creators] put enough time and effort into these videos to deserve more than a month and half notice of what is ok and when it has to be postmarked.
6. There were no quick 5 second reminders compilations of each finalist with the title of the video at the end of the category to help keep voting less confusing -which I think made the whole process a bit less accurate and definitely not fair to the creators or the audience.
5. Any audience voting was done hastily and without much help from the staff so that people could know which videos the wanted to vote for.
4. No prizes
3. Contest was (for all practical purposes) cancelled -not just delayed by 4+ hours, but cancelled!
2. If you decided to choose the AMV contest over the new Cowboy Bebop screening (see number 1 below) then you got screwed twice cause you waited hours and probably missed both!
1. It was scheduled during the only screening of the new Cowboy Bebop movie meaning you had to choose. (I got email from the film coordinator telling me how this wasn't AX's choice and there was nothing they could do. _Whatever_ if it had conflicted with the Masquerade, you can bet someone would have done something.) I never got any replies from the AMV staff on this situation.
*rant on*
First off, let me say that I know running a contest this big is a challenge. It requires a lot of planning and organization. There are a lot of problems that could happen, and cons are staffed by humans and humans tend to make mistakes. That said, it seems like everything that could go wrong at this contest (and the con in general) did go wrong. I don't know the details, but it would have to be pretty off-the-wall for me to find justification for such a poorly run event. I would not want to be in anyone's shoes who was involved with the "problems" AX had this year.
Here are few things I think someone should have learned from this debacle though:
1)treat creators with respect and decency [they are the ones who make the product that draws the fans, without the videos, and especially without the exceptional videos, you have no event, no matter how special you want to feel with your power trip of being in charge]
2) have backups in case of 'technical difficulties'. I've been to this con 7 years now, every year at least one piece of major equipment has failed every year, plan for it. If its not within the budget then charge more or look for another solution. The fact that the AMV contest, both showings of the Escaflowne film and other films had to be cancelled because of equipment problems is not excusable.
3) don't promise what you can't deliver - the rules had a bunch of stuff about uniform banners and great prizes - none of that happened which makes it look like you didn't bother to get any prizes or get the videos ready to show which I hope is not the real case, but really makes the finalists/winners feel like crap after the past few years contests
4) maybe if this idea of part-time, unpaid, volunteer staff isn't working you should consider putting some of our money towards hiring professionals to run some events -personally I'd rather pay more and get results than hear about how so-and-so "has a friend on the staff" so they get special treatment....
I know this all sounds harsh, but I spent/spend thousands of dollars on video editing equipment, audio/video source material and who knows how many hours on this. I know I'm not the only one. Then I drop $600 in airline tickets and another $600 for a hotel room and probably another $100 to eat. I consider that a significant investment. I expect a return. I know that sometimes I end up waiting 3 hours or have to stand in lines to get it, but at least I know its going to be there. I *never* expected the contest to be cancelled -which was, btw, the way it was announced to me by staff members the only time I was able to get official comments, so I didn't even know there would be a "psuedo-contest" with no prizes the next day- even after all these years of delays.
*rant off*
what a disappointment, I'm bummed
esp the angel sanc. one, I like hearing ppl say thats so wrong
I entered it into drama, but got switched to comedy, If I get around to it I'll make a full comedy version.
