AWA 2005 Pro Contest Discussion Thread

[StudioKZ]

1. I'm amused that there was not a trace of Eva, DBZ, Ranma or Inu yasha in this year's competition. Do you think this is becoming standard, or will we see a series of top-notch videos using these sources once they 'cool down'?

It's already happened, check out: http://www.animemusicvideos.org/members ... hp?v=78843

A Hardrock DBZ video made by somebody with SSJ in their nickname isn't what I had in mind.

[Machine]

And every video is watchable which is allways a plus, though i don't think i'm going to watch the 26 minute video again (no offense).

That's probably one of the best videos in AWA Pro this year. Don't dog it

[Bakadeshi]

My impression of the contest is that the overall quality went up alot from the last one, as in, just about all the videos are edited well. Theres a few weird ones, and ones I didn't like becsause of either concept or song choice, but editing wise, itll be hard to choose nominations this year.

Tech is alot more aparant in this one also. almost all the videos are high in effects and tech usage. especially the noise effect *cough* ahem....

but, I can't say there was an easy favorite this year like there was last year for me with AD's vid. There are some I liked, but none that realy stood out above the rest in my mind.

Comedy is weak this year, and so is artistic. Tons of Drama and action vids though. Romance is somewhat weak also.

[AquaSky]

Yeah, I have to agree about the disproportionate amount of drama/action to comedy, although nearly all of this year's videos are quite good. It'll certainly be a tough choice when it comes down to final voting.
I also noticed the effects trend, seems as if there are much fewer simple videos than last year. Of course, whether this is a good or bad thing depends entirely on who you ask. Regardless, there was a good bit of variety in the sources (morse than I would have imagined), which was a pleasant surprise.

[aoi_neko]

Romance is weak because of the quantity. The first time through the only ones that just yelled "tag me as romance" to me were the Gravitation videos, though I can pull in some moire when I relax my definitions.

And maybe my definition of "comedy" is broader than yours. More "anything non-serious," I guess. Sure, action and drama put togther way outnumbers it, but comedy, broadly defined, has as many as either by itself.

Few of these, I think, are submitted without a look at what's been winning awards lately. AWA Pro isn't really a contest where I think many people are submitting videos just for some exposure and "airtime." Look at what's snagged prizes lately, and there's a clear message: composites, overlays, and effects, babies. Nobody's deaf to that. BUT, y'know, we CAN submit a category for "best non-effects video" though I guess we'd need a better name. I think I will if no one else does first, though I'm going to have to do another run-through to pull out nominees.

Are we bending our informal rules on specific discussions for #5? If we are, then in the abstract, how much do we take the unusual length into account? Is it right or fair to downgrade or upgrade a video purely because of the length?

For that matter, MCWagner are you watching this thread? Is the intent of the blind-judging really to produce opinions in isolation, without discussion -- "independantly," as Corran puts it? Or is is the much less broad "I shouldn't vote for/against Anneke's video just because it's Anneke?"

[MCWagner]

For that matter, MCWagner are you watching this thread? Is the intent of the blind-judging really to produce opinions in isolation, without discussion -- "independantly," as Corran puts it? Or is is the much less broad "I shouldn't vote for/against Anneke's video just because it's Anneke?"

Ayup, I'm watching it.

The original intent of "blind judging" in pro was so that people could judge the video itself in isolation, that is, not comparing the video to previous work by the same editor, and not letting politicing between individuals get in and muddle things up. It lets y'all just judge the videos against one another, without any outside influence.

Y'all appear to be interpreting it as "everyone must come up with their votes in isolation from any discussion with other judges." I've no problem with people voting that way (as a way of being honest with their own impressions), but considering that some people get together with other judges for the first watch-through it's kind of unrealistic to expect everyone else to do the same.

In the final analysis, judges should definitely place votes according to how they really feel things should be judged, and not be bullied by other opinions into doing differently. Remember that judging is also by a hidden ballot, so no one's gonna find out that you preferred "A" over "B" unless you tell them. However, unless I'm missing some problem here, I don't think there's anything wrong with talking over your judgements online, so long as A) we all stay civil and fair and B) someone doesn't try to get around the video "blinding" by telling/figuring out who made what.

My only worry would be that the chatter would ruin the surprise for the winners.

[anneke]

It was an interesting mix this year. There needs to be 3 videos for a category to 'qualify' as a category. I had problems with finding 3 videos for the following categories:

Character Profile
Instrumental (Was there ANY? instrumental)
Trailer
Dance

And people should remember to go back and check the contest from time to time, even if they are done voting/nominating as new categories may have been suggested while you were gone.

-Anneke

[Castor Troy]

I made my first rounds of votes the first day the voting went online.

I'll be making my 2nd round around sept 1-2 since more categories will be added during that time.

[aoi_neko]

There may have been some that could have been *called* instrumental, but none where I think that really fits. I rather wish we had "no award" as a specific voting option. I'm just not nominating or voting for anything in instrumental. Same for dance.

Character profile is fuzzy enough (and non-specific drama is crowded enough) that I'm stretching the point to "anything very focussed on one person." For example, I don't think the Haibane Renmei video or the FMA/Live and Let Die videos are character profiles at their heart, but they were close enough. You could call the Astroboy or the first (#4) Wolf's Rain videos character profiles if you wanted.

Trailers, I know I came up with at least 3, but I'll have to go back and see what they were.

My problems with finding enough candidates are in romance and horror....

[Illia Sadri]

It was an interesting mix this year. There needs to be 3 videos for a category to 'qualify' as a category. I had problems with finding 3 videos for the following categories:

Character Profile
Instrumental (Was there ANY? instrumental)
Trailer
Dance

And people should remember to go back and check the contest from time to time, even if they are done voting/nominating as new categories may have been suggested while you were gone.

-Anneke

There were a few character profiles. Actually a few different types. In fact one character profile video is my second favorite in the contest this year.

Instrumental only has like 2 or three. Yeah it's very limited but it is there at least. You had a Read or Die one and a Fushigi Yugi one that were definitely instrumental. Just off the top of my head.

Trailers.... Nothing struck me as being really trailerish except for 1 on disk 3.

Dance I count exactly two that I would say was definitely dance. Last year Dance was pushed though as an excuse to give Shake It an easy award.

Horror I wonder why that one is thre since I don't think there were any I thought that fit that description at all.

Also Foreign language song. There's a couple but much like a couple of the other categories mentioned there's only enough where all f them would be in there.




Seems to be a lack of variety this year as far as types of videos made.