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The Hardest Part of Running an AMV Contest
2005-05-19 17:02:14
First time I've done one of these...
I'm Kurai Seraphim. I've been doing AMVs for the better part of four years now (though it feels like longer) and somewhat regret that real life tends to get in the way of this hobby. On average I get one video out a year as of late, though I consider each one vastly superior to the ones before it and hope to get a lot more done this fall when my production courses kick in.
Introductory material aside, I'm the guy running the 2005 Animazement AMV Contest. I agreed to do it a while ago and it didn't seem like it would be that hard of a way to get my staff badge. Admittedly it is easier and more enjoyable than sitting in the art room and making sure people don't play with the props on display and I've enjoyed getting in touch with so many people from the area who share my hobby. I've tried to personally contact each participant through e-mail and answer all questions within a day of receiving them and in the process feel rather good about the whole thing.
The downside has hit me in recent days, however, as I've run into the downside of being a contest compiler. I'm running things on a time limit and in the wake of last year's non-screened trainwreck I've got the task of screening and pruning entries from this year's contest to both keep it down to the target length and keep the overall quality at the watchable level.
This means I have to choose what stays and what goes. Undoubtedly the hardest part of the job, as I've determined that all entries must be replied to in one form or another. I've sent e-mails to people whose videos are rejected on one ground or another and tried to soften the blow through fair criticism and suggestions for improvement. Even still, I can't help but feel a pit in my stomach whenever I send someone a rejection notice, especially for the mail in entries that were received months ago yet didn't get to me until today.
I reject videos because it isn't fair to the audience or the creators when I show their videos. Our equipment at AZ doesn't have a good quality control track record and as someone who has had video presentations ruined by technical difficulties I don't want them to sit through that.
Case in point: I've received a few dark toned videos that were undoubtedly of fansub origin. Their picture quality is murky to begin with, yet if the equipment at the con is the same as in years past then it will be unrecognizable on the big screen. When anime fans come across these hard to see videos, they usually grumble and mutter amongst themselves until the video passes with little regards for the feelings of the creator. I know for a fact that most of the entries I've received are from people who will be in that room and I don't want them to suffer the silent humiliation of having people unknowingly trash their work right in front of them simply because they didn't understand the importance of source quality and due to our rather crappy equipment.
So if anyone has received a rejection notice from me and is reading this, I hope you understand why I took your video out. It's not a fun experience and I assure you I'm not trying to shoot down your personal artistic vision with my own biases. We're on a tight time limit and if I can remove videos that will make their creators feel bad to get things back on track, then that's what I'm going to do.
Dark thoughts above aside, I hope I can meet up with a lot of you at the convention! We're in this to forge good memories and good times, so let's not lose sight of our goal due to technicalities in the contest!
JOURNAL: Kurai Seraphim (William Bloodworth)
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