OTAKON (Post-con feedback), Your Input Please

[dokool]

Take another look at my suggestion and let the fans say which AMVs are in which categories.

No, this is stupid. Anime Boston tried this and it didn't work well, because all of the drama/action videos that MIGHT have had a solid category instead got screwed, plus you had people doing stuff like voting depressing drama videos for Best Comedy and shit like that. This is why we petitioned against the 'open category' method in '05 and got it changed.

[hackerzc]

Uh? Wow ..... umm might want to expand your search a tad .....

I don't search the org for romance AMVs unless they come up in the top 10% or top favorites. After getting burned by the romance category at many conventions over the years, and at Otakon specifically, I'm never actively seeking out romance videos to watch.

I guess part of my problem here is that a bad romance video is much more painful to watch for me than a bad drama or action AMV. For whatever reason, a really bad romance AMV triggers this gag reflex, like "Wow, whoever made this is actually in love with this character." I can walk away from a bad or mediocre drama/action AMV without feeling creeped out.

As for comedy taking over - it's my understanding that there are fewer comedy submissions than any other category. It's also my understanding that not having the ftp site cut the number of Otakon submissions in half, so the contest was weaker this year because there was so much less to pick from.

I think the problem you have with romantic videos comes from how you are looking at them. You assume that the person creating the video is automatically in love with a specific character.
There are a lot of reasons why you might make a romantic video. Perhaps it's meant as a type of video love letter to that special person.... or maybe it's a way to express how lonely you are in a way that is less likely to get you mocked by other people (we all want somebody right?). I've only done 1 or 2 AMV's that were romantic, and in both cases I made them only because I wanted to use the songs I did in a video, and the series used was totally inconsequential.
I'll be honest, Romantic and Dramatic videos are my least favorite to watch (for reasons I won't go into), but they seem to be (at least for me) the easiest videos to make as far as ideas go.
Just my opinion.

As for comedy and FTP.... comedy this year was actually the strongest I've ever seen it at Otakon. There were a LOT of great comedy entries and even the ones that did not make the contest were very good. Upbeat had problems however (not enough entries really).
FTP on the other hand (or lack there of) did play it's hand in the contests total submission numbers. That being said, most of the entries were of a better quality than if FTP were present. A lot can be said for an editor who makes the effort to mail in a disc rather than just upload it.
Do lazy editors make lazy videos? Perhaps.

Take another look at my suggestion and let the fans say which AMVs are in which categories.

No, this is stupid. Anime Boston tried this and it didn't work well, because all of the drama/action videos that MIGHT have had a solid category instead got screwed, plus you had people doing stuff like voting depressing drama videos for Best Comedy and shit like that. This is why we petitioned against the 'open category' method in '05 and got it changed.

dokool is absolutely correct.... while it might be an interesting idea Adv1sor, it's totally impractical.
Everyone already has their chance to say what they think should go where, and it's at the prescreenings. Also, in the past we typically sided more with the creators choice for category. However for this year, we will be putting a LOT more weight on the opinions of the prescreeners.

[Adv1sor]

Everyone already has their chance to say what they think should go where, and it's at the prescreenings.

Good point. I hadn't considered the prescreenings that Otakon uses to select the AMVs for the contest.

Looking forward to another great show!

[Illia Sadri]

And yes I agree with dw if you entirely let the fans decide what categories should and should not be presented then you get action, comedy, trailers, and hell videos.

Do you really think that the fans would vote an action, comedy, trailer, or hell video as the best romance or drama? Maybe they would, but I don't think so.

No but if you say fans pick the categories this is pretty much what they will opt for. Dokool gave Anime Boston as the prime example of what happened. Drama and romance alike are slower paced and thus won't win squat.

of course yes ssomeone makes a hell type multi audio snippet vid or a comedy and enter it elsewhere, we have already seen it win by audience vote over and over. For some reason people have a hard time determining is this video actually a good romance or a good drama instead of 'this is a cool vid but it really is in the wrong place'


I do like hearing that the advice of the prescreeners will be heard though. Again, that will hopefully aleviate the fact that someone does a whole bunch of gags that barely resembles the category from skewing the results for other categories.

[JudgeHolden]

Uh? Wow ..... umm might want to expand your search a tad .....

I don't search the org for romance AMVs unless they come up in the top 10% or top favorites. After getting burned by the romance category at many conventions over the years, and at Otakon specifically, I'm never actively seeking out romance videos to watch.

I guess part of my problem here is that a bad romance video is much more painful to watch for me than a bad drama or action AMV. For whatever reason, a really bad romance AMV triggers this gag reflex, like "Wow, whoever made this is actually in love with this character." I can walk away from a bad or mediocre drama/action AMV without feeling creeped out.

As for comedy taking over - it's my understanding that there are fewer comedy submissions than any other category. It's also my understanding that not having the ftp site cut the number of Otakon submissions in half, so the contest was weaker this year because there was so much less to pick from.

But, to have a romance you need atleast 2 people ... so how can you be sure it wasn't made by a fangirl in love with Kanichii (Or just a fangirl in general in Love with the anime)? Anyway, I think you are thinking more of "character Profiles" and reading too much into them .... or something ....

But the real issue isn't the creators, it's the judges ... if all you see at this con for romances is Belldandy character profiles, then blame the judges for THEY are the ones in love with Bell ..... I bet there where other choices that they ignored for whatever reasons ....

JH

[hackerzc]

On behalf of myself and the entire AMV Contest staff I would like to thank everyone who participated in this topic. Your input will be of great use in the decision making process to come and aid us in creating the 2007 AMV Contest Rules.

[Rinny]

I'd like to suggest that the Trailer category comes BEFORE the comedy. People tend to stop paying attention or leave after comedy and the trailers get no attention, and usually, it's a lower note to end on than comedy.

[Squancho]

I'd like to suggest that the Trailer category comes BEFORE the comedy. People tend to stop paying attention or leave after comedy and the trailers get no attention, and usually, it's a lower note to end on than comedy.

Actually, placing them first in line makes the whole thing flow better. Everyone expects trailers before sitting through a two-hour film, so why not here? Besides, it's also about pacing. The event starts with a spark, cruises a bit, relaxes, builds up, then climaxes with the comedy (which is what we're all waiting for anyway). Honestly, the order should be trailers, drama, upbeat, romance, action, comedy.

[hackerzc]

I'd like to suggest that the Trailer category comes BEFORE the comedy. People tend to stop paying attention or leave after comedy and the trailers get no attention, and usually, it's a lower note to end on than comedy.

Actually, placing them first in line makes the whole thing flow better. Everyone expects trailers before sitting through a two-hour film, so why not here? Besides, it's also about pacing. The event starts with a spark, cruises a bit, relaxes, builds up, then climaxes with the comedy (which is what we're all waiting for anyway). Honestly, the order should be trailers, drama, upbeat, romance, action, comedy.

As a quick note, the order the categories are listed in the rules is not necessarily the order they will be played in.

With that said, we've actually been considering doing something like this as it's been brought up a number of times by a lot of different people. The main advantage I hear is that it breaks up the long Romantic/Serious block that existed before.
I hate changing things even more than they have been (I really like the way Matt did the contest), but we need to be adaptive. The fact this is being brought up again now just shows that it's something you guys are really interested in seeing happen.
So we'll try this during the "prescreening" and depending on how it goes we will port it over to the contest, or change it as needed for better results.