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Contest schedule:

AMV News contest: Do The M@D 2010 will be held from June 10th till August 10th, 2010.

1) Registration of contestants until August 5th, 2010
2) Submission of videos from July 10th till August 10th, 2010
3) Showing of videos starts when enough entries are submitted to showcase continuously 1-2 videos per day.
4) The winners are decided by the joint judges' vote within 10 days after showing of the last contest video.

Video Requirements:

Subject of the contest: the goal is to create a video which resembles japanese M@Ds stylistically (see the corresponding category on site).
J-pop music is not obligatory, the main thing is visual resemblance.

Some recommendations concerning the creation of video in terms of contest subject. Put emphasis on:

1) Use of high-definition static images, fragments of visual novels, manga, etc. in video sequence.
2) Creative work with text and typography
3) Special effects, 3D and particles, which enliven the picture
4) Flying camera moves adding dynamics to the statics of video sequence
5) There are no restrictions on music used (M@Ds are mostly made with J-pop), and synchronization of music and video is welcomed (it's often ignored in classic M@Ds)

The following nominations are planned aside from the main one, "Best theme-based video":

1) Best contest video made of static sources (manga, graphic novels, arts, original animation)
2) Best contest video made of anime and other dynamic sources

Contest video can be made of anime movies, anime series, Japanese videogames, of manga and arts (static images), which resemble anime stylistically, of original animation and original 3D. Other footage is accepted only if it makes no more than 50% of the video. No restrictions on music styles. Videos premiered after July 10th, 2010 are eligible for participation. The contest video can be entered in other contests and published on other websites. Each participant is allowed to submit one video only. Multi-editor projects (MEP) are also accepted. You must know exactly the title of anime/videogame used for your video, as well as the title of the music composition and the name of its performer. Unkown music and animes/videogames are not allowed. The length of contest video may not be less than 60 seconds (without credits).The contest title must be mentioned in the video, how exactly to mention is to participant's choice. A line in credits should be enough. Full contest title is "AMVNews: Do the M@D 2010" and it must not be shortened in any way.

A video won't be accepted, if:

1) There are significant compression artefacts
2) Footage is of poor quality
3) TV resolution of full version is far too low (320х240 or 352х288)
4) There are hard subtitles not justified by artistic intent.
5) Broken aspect ratio or interlace is visible in most parts of the video.
6) There are black bars on the top and bottom of the video (if those are not used in any way most time of the screening).
7) It is obvious that video source is upscaled from SD to HD
8) The video does not match the subject of the contest
7) There are violations of Russian Federation legislation, in particular concerning the incitement of ethnic hatred.

In case there are too many contest videos the voting shall be split in two stages. First the participants for the final round will be chosen from all the contestants; next, the winners will be chosen from the runner-ups. A video wins if it gets the majority of points during judges' voting. In total there will be three prize places.

Nota Bene.

Contest organizers reserve the right to change the contest date, as well as to change/add some details owing to unforeseen circumstances.

Video encoding:

Each contest entry must be submitted in two obligatory variants: full version and efficiently compressed preview version.

Video codecs allowed: Main: x264. Reserve: DivX, XviD
Audio codecs allowed: Main: AAC. Reserve: MP3, OGG
Containers allowed: Main: MP4, MKV (for full version). Reserve: AVI
It’s recommended to use AMVSimpleGUI or MeGUI to encode the video, see the following articles:

http://amvnews.ru/index.php?go=Pages&in=view&id=34
http://amvnews.ru/index.php?go=Pages&in=view&id=7

- Full version is to be compressed at the rate of no more than 25 MB per minute of the video for SD version and no more than 50 MB per minute for HD video. If you wish to extend the limit, you must send a request to administration explaining why the extension is needed.
- Preview version: bitrate of strictly 3 MB per one minute of the video. Resolution width 480 pixels. Video codec: x264, audio codec: AAC.

Recommendation:

1) If you submit an HD-version of the video, it is suggested to add a standard definition version as well.

Prize fund:

1 place – 3000 roubles + diploma
2 place – 2000 roubles + diploma
3 place – 1000 roubles + diploma

Registration of participants

Registration of participants takes place via on-line form. To register, you must have a website account.
Registration is opened up to March 25th, 2010.

Do the M@D 2010 registration
List of participants registered for Do the M@D 2010


How to enter your video::

1) Videos can be submitted from July 10th through August 10th, 2010, by registered contestants only.
2) Files are to be uploaded either on a filehostnig service (http://upload.amvnews.ru is recommended) or on FTP amvnews.ru (you may use an archive protected by password and indicate the password in the "Comment for administrator" field of the application form).
3) Fill in the application form located here: http://amvnews.ru/index.php?go=Files&file=add
Choose "Do the M@D 2010" as one of the categories. Make sure there was the website message "Thank you, your video has been added successfully" after the upload. Here you can see whether your video was added to the list for moderatorial check. Then you either wait for your turn to see the video on site or you get a private message from administrator requesting to correct the deficiencies found during the check. Your video moderatorial check status will be posted on the page with the list of participants. If any questions arise, contact the administrator via the private message.

Nota bene:

1) If your video did not pass the tech check, there is no point trying to solve technical issues with the moderator responsible for checking.
2) The contestant is to be banned from participation if two attempts were not enough to pass the tech check.

Judges

1) The jury consists of the contest participants (accounts the video was posted from), as well as of other registered members and invitees: well-known music videos creators and active commentators
2) In the first round of voting the nominations' finalists are chosen. Participation in the first round of voting is not obligatory, but in case there are two videos with the equal number of votes the priority will be given to the creator who took part in voting. First round judges must watch ALL contest videos (except for those excluded by the contest administration before the first round) and fill in the online form on the site. Thus if you want to participate as the first round judge, be ready to download a huge volume of data.
3) Second round judges must watch all finalist videos and choose the best of them via the online form. Second round judges include those contestants who qualified for the final at least in one nomination, and also specially registered judges. If a finalist contestant did not vote in the nomination where his/her video participates, then the number of points scored by that finalist is reduced by the maximum number of points possible for the nomination concerned (notice, that it can make a considerable difference in the distribution of finalists’ rating positions).

Registration of judges

1) You can sign up as a judge via private message with subject "Judges for BigCon 2010".
2) Entry application for a judge can be submitted up to the beginning of the vote.
3) A user can only be accepted as a judge either if he/she comments actively and in detail on contest videos or if he/she has authority within AMV community (on condition that he/she will watch the required amount of videos).
4) Any judge can be disqualified before the vote begins without giving reasons
5) The contest participants can disqualify any invitee judge before the vote begins. An invitee judge will be disqualified if more than 3 participants cast vote against that judge.

Voting procedure: first round

First round voting takes part via special on-line form. A judge must choose from 1 to N best videos in each represented nomination. N differs for every nomination depending on the total number of videos. Videos with the majority of points qualify for the final round.

Voting procedure: second round

The judges ought to define priorities for N videos in each of the nominations (i.e. place first the best video of the nomination and then others highest to lowest judging from the impression produced). A video gets 1 point if it is ranked last, 2 points if it is ranked second-to-last, etc. Points given by all judges are summarized. A video with the majority of points wins in the nomination.

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