AMV News

[gregnostic]

Colorado Anime Fest is returning for its second year in 2017 after a strong first con. We had 2,000 attendees last year and we expect to have grow quite a bit this year. (Check out our website for more info if you haven't heard of us before.) We're accepting submissions for our AMV Contest now.

Submissions are open until end of day on March 5, 2017. (Sorry for the relatively short notice!)


Categories

There are five categories for the COAF 2017 contest:

• Upbeat / Dance Music: We’re looking for fast-paced fun.
  
• Intensity: Action, suspense, wild digital effects, conflict, triumph, drama, and despair!
  
• Instrumental Music: Any style of AMV, but no words in the music.
  
• Random Amusement: Weird. Funny? Surprising!
  
• Trailers: Now playing at an AMV contest near you… (Fake commercials also fit in here.)

In addition, we will award two other prizes: Judges’ Choice, chosen by our panel of AMV judges, and Best In Show, chosen by our attendees.


Content Restrictions

We try to run a clean show. All videos submitted must be PG-13 or below. This means we want NONE of the following: panty shots, exposure or fondling of ‘private parts,’ gross or gory dismemberment, profanity (swear words,) or themes likely to insult or disparage by race, social class, religion, ethnicity, gender, or sexuality – because that’s NO FUN for anybody.

Also, you can make your own subtitles, but you should remove subtitles from your source material. You must also remove any broadcast logos and any other commercial logos (such as DiVX) from your video. (One exception to this rule is if the AMV is a parody of incompetent video editing…)


What counts as anime?

Anime is animation created first in Japan by Japanese artists and studios, including Japanese games. All entries must have at least 90% anime by frame count. Compositing anime onto other stuff makes it count as anime.


Submitting and Video Formats

Submit the form (linked below) with a link to your video.

Videos must be downloadable as standalone video files (e.g. not YouTube) and accessible without a paid account. We recommend download pages from or AMV fansites such as Anime Music Videos .Org, AKROSS, AMV News, etc. where possible. We can also download from SendSpace and similar free services. (We're happy to make alternate arrangements as well if need be.)

Link us to the best quality you can provide because we run our contest in 1080p and we want to show off your hard work as best we can. The minimum acceptable video size is 480 vertical lines because anything less would look terrible. And it’s 2017, so there’s no such thing as a maximum file size. (Just maybe don't send a HuffYUV file.)

Videos should be playable without additional codecs or configuration in VLC or MPV. These support a vast array of codecs and containers, so it shouldn’t be a limiting factor. But if your video can’t be played in either of those players, we would need to convert it to be shown in the contest regardless, and the quality will be better if you export a supported format than if we transcode your ideal format into something that we can easily play.

• Preferred containers: MKV, AVI, MPG, and MP4.
  
• Preferred video codecs: H.264 and MPEG-4.
  
• Preferred audio codecs: AAC, MP3, and AC-3.

The ideal video for our presentation has a 1080p resolution; has video encoded in H.264; has audio downmixed to stereo and encoded in AAC; and is stored in an MKV file. While H.265/HEVC is new and awesome, its ecosystem isn’t as mature as our preferred H.264, so we would prefer H.264 over H.265 even if it’s at the expense of a larger video file (we have lots of bandwidth and storage space).


Deadlines

Submissions must be sent in by 11:59 PM Mountain Standard Time (UTC -7) on March 5, 2017.

A panel of judges will convene to review all entries and select up to six AMVs per category. The judges’ decisions on the playlist is final.

All entries must have premiered or been created no earlier than January 1, 2016.


Prizes

Every winning video will receive a cash prize. (Who doesn't like cash?)

• The winner of each category will receive $50.
  
• The winner of the Judges’ Choice award will receive $50.
  
• The winner of the Best In Show award will receive $100.

Prizes stack for videos that win multiple awards. Prizes will be awarded on-site for any winners that attend COAF. Winners that do not attend COAF will receive an e-mail in the weeks following the convention to arrange receipt of the prize. Winners outside the US will receive the equivalent of $50 in their local currency where possible.


GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE!

[TritioAFB]

it says you need permission to access the submission form

[gregnostic]

D'oh. Sorry about that. Should be good now!

[TritioAFB]

ot's done then. Good luck everyone

[gregnostic]

Entries are now closed. Thanks to everyone who submitted a video. We had more entries than we had even hoped for. You're all awesome.

[Deviant]

[gregnostic]

[gregnostic]

We had 79 entries from 47 different editors. Our panel of judges pared down the entries to the best submitted in each category and chose their favorite overall video (Judges' Choice). Our convention attendees voted on their favorites in each category as well as an overall winner (Best In Show).

Contest Playlist

Trailers

• Baccano Squad — Rider4Z
  
• NerveGear Online — Kireblue & SerenityAMV
  
• Someone On The Ice — Miikitouu
  
• Diebuster: A Gainax Story — shorisquared
  
• Titans RESURGENCE — ProjectTwinsAMV
  

Instrumental Music

• Oevure — Hiroto Sumi
  
• kNIGHT RAID — AMV-X
  
• Saving the World — Maboroshi Studio
  

Drama / Intensity

• Never Give Up! — SliceofLife
  
• My Songs & Stories — Drabaz
  
• Stay With Me — AMV-X
  
• Sacred Scars — Glitzer
  
• Numinous — MrNosec
  
• A Better Place — Studio le Croc
  
• Devoid — MycathatesyouAMV
  
• Eien no Love — AMV-X
  

Upbeat / Dance Music

• Make Love, Not Explosions — Glitzer
  
• Prime — Allegoriest
  
• No More Lost Time — chibidani
  
• La Vida Madoka — shorisquared
  
• #TalkSkatingToMe — Gina Nelson
  
• Burnt Animu — Ramil Anthony (Azukano)
  
• Can It Be Free Day Again? — Arielle Otsuka (numbuh0051)
  

Random Amusement

• Money$hot — MycathatesyouAMV
  
• Yato and Yukine (But Mostly Yato) — joycescookie
  
• Twintails and Music Clubs — Kyci
  
• Tsundere Love Story — shorisquared
  
• Mr. Suave — MomtoCutiePia
  
• Assachusetts: A Wicked Good AMV — shorisquared
  

The Winners

• Trailers — Baccano Squad by Rider4Z
  
• Instrumental Music — kNIGHT RAID by AMV-X
  
• Drama / Intensity — Eien no Love by AMV-X
  
• Upbeat / Dance Music — #TalkSkatingToMe by Gina Nelson
  
• Random Amusement and Best In Show — Assachusetts: A Wicked Good AMV by shorisquared
  
• Judges' Choice — Numinous by MrNosec
  

All winners have now been notified by e-mail. Our congratulations go out to all the winners, and our thanks to everyone who submitted an AMV to our contest this year.